Urban Containment Policies Research Articles

Spatiotemporal landscape pattern changes and their effects on land surface temperature in greenbelt with semi-arid climate: A case study of the Erbil City, Iraq

Urban expansion of cities has caused changes in land use and land cover (LULC) in addition to transformations in the spatial characteristics of landscape structure. These alterations have generated heat islands and rise of land surface temperature (LST), which consequently have caused a variety of environmental issues and threated the sustainable development of urban areas. Greenbelts are employed as an urban planning containment policy to regulate urban expansion, safeguard natural open spaces, and serve adaptation and mitigation functions. And they are regarded as a powerful measure for enhancing urban environmental sustainability. Despite the fact that, the relation between landscape structure change and variation of LST has been examined thoroughly in many studies, but there is a limitation concerning this relation in semi-arid climate and in greenbelts as well, with the lacking of comprehensive research combing both aspects. Accordingly, this study investigated the spatiotemporal changes of landscape pattern of LULC and their relationship with variation of LST within an inner greenbelt in the semi-arid Erbil City of northern Iraq. The study utilized remote sensing data to retrieve LST, classified LULC, and calculated landscape metrics for analyzing spatial changes during the study period. The results indicated that both composition and configuration of LULC had an impact on the variation of LST in the study area. The Pearson’s correlation showed the significant effect of Vegetation 1 type (VH), cultivated land (CU), and bare soil (BS) on LST, as increase of LST was related to the decrease of VH and the increases of CU and BS, while, neither Vegetation 2 type (VL) nor built-up (BU) had any effects. Additionally, the spatial distribution of LULC also exhibited significant effects on LST, as LST was strongly correlated with landscape indices for VH, CU, and BS. However, for BU, only aggregation index metric affected LST, while none of VL metrics had a relation. The study provides insights for landscape planners and policymakers to not only develop more green spaces in greenbelt but also optimize the spatial landscape patterns to reduce the influence of LST on the urban environment, and further promote sustainable development and enhance well-being in the cities with semi-arid climate.

The main drivers of urban sprawl in Portuguese medium cities between 2001 and 2011

Urban sprawl is a widely known urban phenomenon characterized by low density and low accessibility in monotonous peripheral areas. Sprawl is normally perceived as producing negative environmental and economic impacts. Although a global phenomenon, it has been mostly associated with US cities. Cities in other continents, as European Cities, although denser, have been also sprawling. This work aims to address the dynamic and multidimensionality characteristics of sprawl by using five indicators that capture the variation in density, fragmentation, dispersion and irregularity. Using these indicators, this work studies the drivers of sprawl in Portuguese Medium Cities, a subject which has been overlooked, between 2001 and 2011. The aforementioned sprawl indicators are regressed against a series of demographic, socioeconomic, policy, mobility, urban growth dynamics and geographical indicators that are referred in the literature as drivers of sprawl. The obtained results indicate that previous sprawl patterns, population characteristics, economic evolution and specialization, commuting patterns, urban containment policies and geographical features influence sprawl.

The Effects of Seoul’s Greenbelt on Travel Mode Share in Its Inside and Outside: A Spatial Panel Econometric Analysis

The primary purpose of urban growth management policies is to control urban sprawl and induce the diversification of travel mode share. Hence, how the greenbelt, as an urban containment policy, affects travel mode share is one of the important issues in understanding the efficacy of urban growth management. To analyze it for the Seoul Metropolitan Area (SMA), which has designated its greenbelt for more than forty-five years, this study implemented the spatial Durbin panel regression for the years from 2002 through 2016. Results showed that the greenbelt increased the use of public transportation and decreased car use, but it tended not to increase the use of nonmotorized modes of transportation such as bicycling and walking. There also turned out to be U-shaped (convex) relationships both between population density and car use and between the former and bicycling. Meanwhile, an inverted U-shaped relationship was observed between population density and public transportation mode, which was statistically significant. Based on these results, it can be said that a public transportation system outside of the greenbelt is needed for increasing its accessibility. To promote the use of public and nonmotorized transportation, it will also be important to determine the appropriate urban density.

Implications of urban expansion: land, planning and housing in Lagos

With an over 20-fold increase in population between 1963 and today, Lagos has expanded significantly both within and outside its city administrative boundaries. Some paradoxes are identified using mixed methodologies from a qualitative research design. Lagos’s northwards expansion has exerted several externalities on a neighbouring state. Expansion within Lagos, on its coastal south-eastern axis, is defined by real estate activities of a different nature. In both cases, new settlements have emerged with differing social and economic characteristics that have far-reaching impact for housing accessibility and affordability. These differences are explored by establishing pull-factors responsible for attracting specific income groups to each axis, the impact of government action (and inaction), and the implications of these for city growth and management. Formal mechanisms of planning lead to a proliferation of higher end real estate development. This has created unequal access to land and housing for lower income families. The subsequent exclusion of lower income families from planned areas represents a failure of the market system. Lagos presents compelling complexities of the management of urban expansion that spread beyond administrative boundaries, as well as the influence of planning to achieve economic development. <em><strong>Policy relevance</strong></em> City managers and policymakers need to plan for expansion in fast growing cities. Urban expansion will flow with the demand for (and availability of) space and will not respect administrative boundaries. Urban containment policies are not known to have a high level of success in African cities, especially in contexts where planning enforcement is weak. Thus, city managers and policymakers must recognise the positive externalities of urban expansion on their cities and provide resources towards optimising this for the common good. They must also take actions towards monitoring and addressing negative externalities from the expansion of neighbouring cities, especially where planning jurisdictions differ. In both cases, government action is required to ensure that resulting housing and real estate markets work for all income classes.

More Than Thirty Years of Environmentally Sensitive Area Loss in Wuhan: What Lessons Have We Learned from Urban Containment Policy?

In an attempt to curb urban land growth and protect environmentally sensitive areas during the urbanization period, urban containment policies in different forms have been implemented over the last three decades at the national and local levels. In this study, we measure the extent of environmentally sensitive area loss in the rural–urban fringe of Wuhan City, where massive urban development has taken place, using 34 years of land use data. Based on this measurement, the effectiveness of the basic farmland zoning policy, which was employed nationwide in the second round of the general land use plan, and a local ecological baseline zoning policy is estimated using three different econometric models. The results indicate that arable land and water bodies are the two main types of environmentally sensitive areas encroached by urban areas. When the spatial dependence was considered, the basic farmland zoning policy is ineffective in shrinking the size of urban land within the boundaries of the basic farmland zone. However, the ecological baseline zoning policy seems to work well for preserving the environmentally sensitive area in the rural–urban fringe area. Several policy implications are offered on the basis of these findings.

Land use/cover spatiotemporal dynamics, and implications on environmental and bioclimatic factors in Chingola district, Zambia

This study uses remote sensing and GIS techniques to examine the intensity and dynamics of land use/cover change and environmental indices across a four-decade period in the Chingola district of Zambia, from 1972 to 2020 using five classification stages (1972, 1992, 2001, 2013, and 2020). A total of 10 key climate change detection monitoring indices were generated using RClimDex to examine the implications of land degradation on the bioclimatic factors from 1983 to 2020. The findings revealed a significant expansion in Built-ups (7.3%/year), farmlands (3.18%/year), and mining areas (0.82%/year) at the expense of natural resources. The highest human pressure was exerted on Savannah woodlands (−0.78), through agriculture (0.76) and infrastructure development (0.44) between 1992 and 2001.The analysis of the bioclimatic indices revealed a significant decline in rainfall quantity and intensity, and a rising in temperature (warmer days and nights). The Annual rainfall has decreased by −3.25%, while the potential evapotranspiration has increased by 0.04% from 1983 to 2020, resulting in an Aridity Index of 0.60 and a moisture deficit index of −0.42. To offset agriculture’s propensity to spatially expand and further encroach into savannah woodlands and forests, urban containment policies and programs that stimulate agricultural intensification are needed to reduce urban sprawl and protect the city’s remaining forestlands.

Exploring patterns and consequences of land consumption in a coastal city-region

BackgroundThe rapid expansion of built-up areas and land consumption with unsustainable spatial patterns in coastal urban areas has become a global major concern due to its far-reaching consequences for human daily life, environmental sustainability, and living organisms. However, the research on this phenomenon in these areas has received less attention. To fill this gap, we conducted a study to explore the spatial patterns of land consumption at both micro- and macro-levels and to evaluate its consequences in terms of sustainable development in a coastal city-region of Mazandaran Province in northern Iran. To achieve these two goals, we combined two methods of urban land density function and landscape expansion index (LEI) to explore spatial patterns of land consumption and also evaluated the sustainability of the region with two methods of the hierarchical analytical process (AHP) and urban sustainability index (USI).ResultsThe spatial patterns of land consumption in the city-region of Mazandaran from 1996 to 2016 at the macro-level changed from a decentralized-sprawl to a centralized-sprawl pattern. At the micro-level, the dominant spatial pattern of land consumption in the city-region changed gradually from the outlying pattern towards the edge expansion and infilling patterns. Also, the spatial pattern of the built-up patches in the majority of the urban areas had conformity with the dominant pattern of the region. Besides, the spatial patterns of land consumption in the region were in an unsustainable state and were changing towards more unsustainability. The absence of urban containment policies and plans could lead to further destruction of the natural environment and increase its unsustainability.ConclusionsOur results indicate that the urban areas of the coastal Mazandaran have the same behavior in the spatial pattern of land consumption at the macro- and micro-levels and all are in the same direction and follow the dominant pattern of the region.

Planning and Markets at Work: Seattle under Growth Management and Economic Pressure

This paper presents an analysis of Seattle’s redevelopment under Washington State’s urban containment policy and the city’s own urban village plan, with a particular focus on outcomes that arise via a combination of urban planning and land market activity. By comparing the city’s parcel layer between 2010 and 2020, the analysis tracks changes in the form of land consolidation and subdivision, which indicate the intensity of redevelopment activities motivated by the market. It reveals that much redevelopment has happened in single- and multifamily areas, but multifamily areas are more likely to have changed. By implementing an exploratory discrete choice model, the analysis also reveals that urban village policy may reduce redevelopment within Seattle—but one subtype, so-called urban hubs, is more likely to accommodate redevelopment. This leads to further discussion of the goals and effectiveness of this urban village policy. Overall, the findings of this work form a picture of a happy, healthy, and sustainable city that sets a high bar for other cities seeking to achieve the same success.

The Anti-sprawl Policies in Tehran and the Creation of Spatial Injustice

The proliferation of anti-sprawl policies across the cities in the Global South and North appears to be a legitimate backlash to an ever-increasing rate of urban growth and expansion in the 21st century. Questions remain, however, around the outcomes of sprawl-controlling plans, the extent to which the Northern perspectives dominate the anti-sprawl rhetoric across the globe, and whether transferring them to the rapidly expanding Southern cities is rational and feasible. It is essential to acknowledge that the incentives and, in turn, consequences of urban sprawl in the Southern cities are substantially different from their Northern counterparts. Such divergences call for a new approach towards ‘provincialisation’ (Sheppard, Leitner and Maringanti, 2013) of urban sprawl discourses. This paper examines the intersection of anti-sprawl debates and spatial injustice and incorporates both empirical and theoretical elements. The empirical element examines the historical development of anti-sprawl strategies in Tehran since the 1960s and scrutinises the consequences of the urban containment policies and plans, particularly in relation to the creation of peripheral spatial traps and through the lens of spatial justice, citizenship and the ‘right to the centre’ (Marcuse, 2009; Harvey, 2010; Soja, 2013). The theoretical element contributes to the debate on the ‘theory from the South’ by underlining the dialectical interplay of centre and periphery within the trajectories of urban growth in the Southern cities and arguing for the need to develop multiple urban epistemologies capable of explaining the complexities of multiple urban conditions in the South. The core argument of this paper is thus twofold. First and through an empirically supported argument, it contends that anti-sprawl policies and strategies in Tehran act as catalysts in the densification/sprawl dialectical transformation of the cities and intensify the creation of unjust geographies in the peripheral buffer zones through displacement and compromising the ‘right to the centre’ of (non)citizens. Second and from a wider perspective, the paper argues against theorisation of urban sprawl as a universally relevant and applicable category of urban transformation and calls for a reformulation of the concept, its drivers and materialisation, and the institutional responses given to it from the Southern perspective.

Urban growth containment policies for the guidance and control of peri-urbanization: a review and proposed framework

The purpose of this study is a review of urban growth containment policies for the guidance and control of peri-urbanization. The review of selected resources illustrates two policies: "urban growth containment policies based on planning interventions (UGCPI)" and "urban growth containment policies based on financial interventions (UGCFI)". The analysis of these policies reveals their distinct effects inside and outside the metropolitan boundaries, which, despite the positive results, create various practical consequences and challenges. This highlights the necessity of a special framework of growth guidance and control of peri-urbanization in response to the consequences and challenges of previous policies. The proposed framework is based on the four fundamental components, including regular growth, continuous activity interactions, optimal performance, and institutional capacity building that integration between them can make it possible to guide changes during the time. Certainly, the consequence of such an approach is the regular functional and structural landscape of peri-urban areas in the twenty-first century.

The Effects of Urban Containment Policies on Public Health.

Public health risks such as obesity are influenced by numerous personal characteristics, but the local spatial structure such as an area’s built environment can also affect the obesity rate. This study analyzes and discusses how a greenbelt plan as a tool of urban containment policy has an effect on obesity. This study conducted spatial econometric regression models with five factors (13 variables) including transportation, socio-economic, public health, region, and policy factors. The relationship was analyzed between two policy effects of a greenbelt (i.e., a green buffer zone) and obesity. The variables for two policy effects of greenbelt zones are the size of the greenbelt and the inside and outside areas of the greenbelt. The results indicate that the two variables have negative effects on obesity. The results of the analyses in this study have several policy implications. Greenbelts play a role as an urban growth management policy, leading to a reduced obesity rate due to the influence of the transportation mode. In addition, greenbelts can also reduce the obesity rate because they provide recreation spaces for people.

London’s King’s Cross redevelopment: a compact, resource efficient and ‘liveable’ global city model for an era of climate emergency?

ABSTRACT Cities have long been subject to urban containment policies against urban sprawl. Climate change concerns have recently added to the imperative to densify urban space. Urban compaction is often pursued through the creation of ‘exemplar’ urban developments that superficially implement ‘best practice’ ideas from elsewhere. In this paper, we abandon the notion of ‘best practice’ in favour of context-sensitive ‘good practices’. Taking London’s King’s Cross redevelopment as a case study, this paper draws on qualitative methods to examine the contribution of context and path-dependency, as a product of local and non-local forces, to the emergence of King´s Cross as ‘good practice’.

Strategic spatial analysis of urban greenbelt plans in Mashhad city, Iran

BackgroundGreenbelt, known as the most restrictive form of urban containment policy, is a geographical boundary around a city or urban region to prevent urban sprawl. In the present study, the urban greenbelt plans were investigated with spatial, temporal, and statistical attitudes in Mashhad city, Iran. Spatial and temporal data analyses were carried out in ENVI, and GIS programs based on satellite imageries in addition to the expert analyzes of SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) and QSPM (quantitative strategic planning matrix) matrixes to achieve the key strategies concerning the revitalization of a new greenbelt plan.ResultsFour temporal sequences of Landsat imageries were extracted for 1988, 1998, 2008, and 2018 to classify the expansion of real estates and urban sprawl. The results showed that the legal greenbelt plan failed after 10 years because the status of greenbelt in 2018 revealed nearly of occupation by sprawl expansion over than 20%. Then a new greenbelt plan was proposed around the city. Based on the lowest value of the environmental change index (ΔYi), with an average of 0.14, the proposed greenbelt plan will demonstrate an optimum efficiency in the future time intervals (2030–2050).ConclusionsTherefore, expert analyzes of SWOT and QSPM matrixes were shown that the essential weakness of greenbelt planning in the Mashhad city depends on the lack of a legal mechanism to conserve the greenbelt boundaries. Therefore, the total sum score of external factor’s matrix with the value of 2.65 demonstrated that the opportunities for greenbelt planning in the study area are more effective than threats in the study area. Ultimately, six key strategies in greenbelt planning were presented to achieve a general equilibrium through future urban development.

Revived or retired, the green belt must be rethought

Urban containment policies exist worldwide to restrict the expansion of settlements. England’s green belt is one such policy mechanism. Gaining popularity from the late 19th century onwards, local authorities have been able to designate green belt since 1955. The concept has proven popular with members of the general public and, as of March 2018, England’s green belt extended to 1,629,510 hectares (approximately 12.5 per cent of the nation’s land area).1 There are some who contend that the green belt should be sacrosanct. This paper makes the opposite case. It is predicated on the view that public policy should be adaptable and that the emphasis should be firmly on securing the best outcomes. It should be possible to consider both whether the overall effects are beneficial and whether there is scope for improvement. If opportunities exist to deliver development more sustainably, the ability to explore and realise this should not be prevented by dogmatic defence of the status quo. England’s green belt should not be off the table for appraisal and, if appropriate, amendment.

Regionalist principles to reduce the urban heat island effect

Scientists, climatologists, and urban planners have started to recognize the importance of nature at two very different scales: the global (metabolic) and the local (liveability) scales. The regional scale is the one at which these macro and micro approaches overlap. Future predictions foresee an increase of more than 2450 million urban inhabitants by 2050, thus new balanced urban visions need to be developed in order to guarantee the sustainability of urban areas. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a climate phenomenon resulting from unbalanced urban design arrangements. This paper analyses several design principles proposed by the 1920's regionalists from the UHI perspective. The preservation of the regional geographical landmarks, the implementation of urban containment policies (limiting city sizes), the increase of greenery and the development of green multifunctional blocks would help reduce the UHI in future urban developments.

The Effects of Greenbelt Policies on Land Development: Evidence from the Deregulation of the Greenbelt in the Seoul Metropolitan Area

Greenbelt policies are important urban containment policies. On the one hand, they can effectively control the disorderly growth of a city; on the other hand, they can cause other social problems because of their strict control over land development. This paper uses data from 2000 and 2010 and the difference-in-differences (DID) method to evaluate the effects of greenbelt deregulation policies on urban land development in the Seoul metropolitan area (SMA) through a quasi-natural experiment. The results show that first, the deregulation of the greenbelt has significantly furthered urban land development that was not caused by economic development or other factors. Second, the greenbelt deregulation had no significant effects on urban land development in the city centers, but has furthered urban land development near the boundary of Seoul City and greenbelt boundaries. Third, in terms of the effects on land development, the greenbelt deregulation has resulted in regional heterogeneity. Specifically, the greenbelt deregulation has had a significant impact on the urban land development in the southern section of the Han River, whereas the effects of the greenbelt deregulation in the northern area of the Han River are not as obvious.

Regionalist Principles to Reduce the Urban Heat Island Effect

Scientists, climatologists, and urban planners have started to recognize the importance of nature at two very different scales: the global (metabolic) and the local (liveability) scales. The regional scale is the one at which these macro and micro approaches overlap. Future predictions foresee an increase of more than 2450 million urban inhabitants by 2050, thus new balanced urban visions need to be developed in order to guarantee the sustainability of urban areas. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a climate phenomenon resulting from unbalanced urban design arrangements. This paper analyses several design principles proposed by the 1920s regionalists from the UHI perspective. The preservation of the regional geographical landmarks, the implementation of urban containment policies (limiting city sizes), the increase of greenery and the development of green multifunctional blocks would help reduce the UHI in future urban developments.

Regionalist principles to reduce the urban heat island effect

Scientists, climatologists, and urban planners have started to recognize the importance of nature at two very different scales: the global (metabolic) and the local (liveability) scales. The regional scale is the one at which these macro and micro approaches overlap. Future predictions foresee an increase of more than 2450 million urban inhabitants by 2050, thus new balanced urban visions need to be developed in order to guarantee the sustainability of urban areas. The Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect is a climate phenomenon resulting from unbalanced urban design arrangements. This paper analyses several design principles proposed by the 1920's regionalists from the UHI perspective. The preservation of the regional geographical landmarks, the implementation of urban containment policies (limiting city sizes), the increase of greenery and the development of green multifunctional blocks would help reduce the UHI in future urban developments.

Assessing urban containment policies within a suburban context—An approach to enable a regional perspective

Regarding suburbanisation, land policies in many countries have undergone profound changes over the past 20 years. While experiencing high growth rates of urban land, policies were reconsidered and adapted with the goal of limiting land consumption in favour of a more sustainable urban development. These changes aim at a higher effectiveness in steering urbanisation processes to limit environmental impacts, but also are criticized regarding possible effects on a sufficient supply of housing. To this regard, also German urban planning policies show considerable dynamics. After several urban containment policies were introduced, the question arises on how to empirically assess their effects. Therefore, monitoring approaches with a regional perspective become more and more relevant, as polycentric, suburban settlement structures constitute the spatial but also institutional context of urban containment policies. Considering suburbanisation as a global phenomenon, we develop a monitoring approach, which allows for a quantitative and qualitative assessment within suburban settlement structures. We propose a set of indicators that integrates urban structure, regional accessibility and usage by population. As data is scarce for a city-regional perspective, we combine geospatial methods for an automatic identification of building types from topographic data and maps, for measuring multi-modal accessibility and for small scale demographic analysis. The approach is applied to the case of a German city-region with splintered planning institutions. The results of the small-scale, but also comprehensive regional analysis allow for a detailed discussion of effects of policy changes on the settlement structure.

Potential Effects of Urban Growth under Urban Containment Policy on Streamflow in the Gyungan River Watershed, Korea

This study examined the potential effects of urban growth on streamflow in the Gyungan River watershed, Korea, using urban containment scenarios. First, two scenarios (conservation and development) were established, and SLEUTH model was adapted to predict urban growth into the year 2060 with 20 years interval under two scenarios in the study area. Urban growth was larger under scenario 2, focusing on development, than under scenario 1, focusing on conservation. Most urban growth was predicted to involve the conversion of farmland, forest, and grasslands to urban areas. Streamflow in future periods under these scenarios was simulated by the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model. Each scenario showed distinct seasonal variations in streamflow. Although urban growth had a small effect on streamflow, urban growth may heighten the problems of increased seasonal variability in streamflow caused by other factor, such as climate change. This results obtained in this study provide further insight into the availability of future water resource and can aid in urban containment planning to mitigate the negative effects of urban growth in the study area.