Urban Development Patterns Research Articles

Urban transport planning and access inequalities: A tale of two Colombian cities

Accessibility inequalities are a common trait of many Global South cities. Such inequalities are often the result of urban development trajectories and inherited practices of transport planning marked by spatial segregation and decades of car-centred development. This situation, repeated across Latin American cities, tends to affect mostly the poor in the urban peripheries. Despite available evidence of access inequalities on a case-to-case basis, comparative evidence across cities within the same region is still limited. Our paper addresses this gap by deploying a comparative accessibility assessment of inequalities in accessibility in the two Colombian cities of Bogotá and Barranquilla. Our comparison suggests that by following similar patterns of urban transport development, Bogotá and Barranquilla have reached similar accessibility and affordability patterns. Wealthier areas benefit from the triad of better transport coverage, proximity to opportunities, and higher purchasing power, while the poor in both cities face deep affordability and spatial segregation problems. Despite their similarities, our analysis reveals the effects of long-term decision-making in the number of opportunities which can be reached by different transport modes and population segments. Accessibility per capita in public transport is higher in Bogotá than in Barranquilla, and vice versa in private vehicles. These results are consistent with nearly a decade of implementation of different urban transport policies in both cities, which in Bogotá have been more public-transport-oriented than in Barranquilla. Findings also suggest that public transport-related policies can contribute to redefining urban trajectories, as both cities have experienced demographic and urban footprint increases in years. Similarities and differences in spatial and economic dimensions of accessibility serve as a mirror against which we assess transport's role in urban equality in similar global south cities. The discussion in this paper can be helpful to decision-makers as it recalls that some urban and transport policies and investments may have undesired long-term impacts in urban growth and access equality across the city.

Effects of Hierarchical City Centers on the Intensity and Direction of Urban Land Expansion: A Case Study of Beijing

Worldwide urban spatial expansion has become a hot topic in recent decades. To develop effective urban growth containment strategies, it is important to understand the spatial patterns and driving forces of urban sprawl. By employing a spatial analysis method and land use survey data for the years 1996–2010, this study explores the effects of hierarchical administrative centers on the intensity and direction of urban land expansion in a Beijing municipality. The results are as follows: (1) land development intensity and expansion speeds are both affected significantly by the municipal and district and county centers where the governments hold a lot of administrative, public, and economic resources. (2) The distances to the administrative centers are determinant factors for the direction of urban land expansion. Except for several subregions adjacent to the municipal center, the closer the area is to an administrative center, the more likely it is that the expansion direction points toward the center. (3) The spatial patterns of urban land development are shaped jointly by governments at different levels, and transportation lines also play a role in remote areas. These findings are expected to have consulting value for future policymaking on urban land use and management in mega-cities, especially those with strong local government powers in other transition economies and developing countries.

Future urban development exacerbates coastal exposure in the Mediterranean

Changes in the spatial patterns and rate of urban development will be one of the main determinants of future coastal flood risk. Existing spatial projections of urban extent are, however, often available at coarse spatial resolutions, local geographical scales or for short time horizons, which limits their suitability for broad-scale coastal flood impact assessments. Here, we present a new set of spatially explicit projections of urban extent for ten countries in the Mediterranean, consistent with the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways (SSPs). To model plausible future urban development, we develop an Urban Change Model, which uses input variables such as elevation, population density or road network and an artificial neural network to project urban development on a regional scale. The developed future projections for the five SSPs indicate that accounting for the spatial patterns of urban development can lead to significant differences in the assessment of future coastal urban exposure. The increase in exposure in the Extended Low Elevation Coastal Zone (E-LECZ = area below 20 m of elevation) until 2100 can vary, by up to 104%, depending on the urban development scenario chosen. This finding highlights that accounting for urban development in long-term adaptation planning, e.g. in the form of land-use planning, can be an effective measure for reducing future coastal flood risk on a regional scale.

From actors to space, through processes: reflections from co-production and commoning

Under new state-led governance models, a new generation of city entrepreneurs seeks to define work and living environments to meet their needs and aspirations in a collaborative way. In this field, international discourses are debating private investors as key players in urban development and the simultaneous withdrawal/absence of the state. This has led to more complex networks of participating actors and conflictive urban development patterns. Strategies are needed to understand the influence of commons-based space production. From the research project DFG-KOPRO-Int, the Authors aim to define learnings from urban development and housing projects, involved actors, processes and material quality of the projects.

Reoccupying Ecological Land for Excessively Expanded Rust Belt Cities in Traditional Grain Bases: An Eco-Economic Trade-Off Perspective

The optimization of ecological resource allocation is increasingly seen as a potential solution for urban revitalization and sustainable land use planning, and the key point is to assess and simulate the spatial arrangement of the ecological land. In this study, we proposed a conceptual framework with the aim of reoccupying ecological resources for rust belt cities from the perspective of eco-economic trade-offs. The ecological security pattern, the urban development pattern, and the ecological quality of cropland were constructed and evaluated to measure the development level of an ecological system and a socio-economic system. Furthermore, the results were used as the constraints that influenced land use distribution to simulate the ecological land reoccupation pattern. The suitable area, the preservation area, the configurable area, and the unsuitable area in the reoccupation pattern accounted for 6.94%, 49.97%, 28.17%, and 0.69%, respectively. Significantly, under strict cropland protection policies, the available space for ecological land expansion was heavily compressed. Therefore, the emphasis on agricultural production should be reexamined to release more space for ecological resources. This method could be an effective pathway to alleviate the pressures on urban and natural space caused by the competition between land-use activities, such as economic development, agricultural production, and ecological conservation. The findings are expected to promote urban revitalization, green agriculture, and sustainable social development in rust belt cities, and provide certain references for the utilization of land resources and regional policy making.

Spatial gradient differences of ecosystem services supply and demand in the Pearl River Delta region

Ecosystem services (ES) are benefits that nature provides to humans for their survival and development; these have attracted extensive attention from academic, government, and non-governmental organizations. Based on land use and socioeconomic data, this study selected an urban agglomeration in China, the Pearl River Delta, and considered its urban and rural spatial gradients, landscape gradients, and corresponding urban development planning to determine five transects. The transects’ gradient difference characteristics of ES supply and demand within the region were then analyzed collectively and individually to uncover their effect mechanisms. We found that: (1) The ES supply function in the region has a distinct ring differentiation structure, which is gradually enhanced from the core area to the peripheral area. Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Foshan have low concentrations of ES supply, while Jiangmen, Zhaoqing, Conghua district of Guangzhou, and Huizhou have high concentrations, forming an ecological barrier in the Pearl River Delta. (2) Among the ES classifications, regulating services is the most important function type, accounting for 50.87% of ES supply. (3) Within a city, from its center to the edge, ES value gradually increases from negative to positive until a new equilibrium state is reached. ES values between cities are more complex, with more areas of rise, fall, and stabilization. (4) Due to these cities having different urban development patterns, ES supply and demand are significantly negatively correlated. Additionally, because of the complex interaction and comprehensive influence of multiple factors, the spatial imbalance of ES supply and demand is relatively prominent.

Impact assessment of urban development patterns on land surface temperature by using remote sensing techniques: a case study of Lahore, Faisalabad and Multan district.

Urban Heat Island (UHI) is related to the theory of higher atmosphere and surface temperature taking place in the city area as compared to the nearby rural areas. The study results explain the advantages of green spaces in urban areas. Landsat TM/OLI concept of 1998 and 2017years was attained from USGS for this work. To find out the land-use and land cover pattern supervised classification, the maximum prospect process is adopted. A total of four classes were mapped for the study area which includes built-up, barren land, vegetation, and water bodies. Effective sensor brightness temperature has been acquired from spectral radiance by using Plank's reverse function. On the basis of surface emissivity, Normalize Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) classes are used to find out the ultimate temperature of the land surface (LST). The maximum temperature was recorded in the built-up area and barren land of the city and minimum temperatures were noted in areas with a greater cover of vegetation. The presence of UHI temperature is obvious from the land surface temperature views. An increase of 2°C in surface temperature is recorded in district Lahore during the last two decades. Rise of 2.2°C and 2.4°C surface temperature has taken place in Faisalabad and Multan Districts in the last 19years, respectively. In the establishment of a correlation among the LST, built-up, and vegetation, there is a positive sign present in their relation. With the increase in the built-up area, LST does increase as well. Moreover, with the reduction in vegetation cover, the LST is also raised. The study has revealed that there is a need for proper planning for the durable management of urbanization.

TIMES OF CRISIS: NEW PLANNING POLICIES AND THEIR IMPACT ON INEQUALITIES AND THE ENVIRONMENT IN ISRAEL

In the last decades, crisis discourse became more dominant, leading to changes in Israeli planning discourse. The planning system assumes neoliberal features, which changed the power-relations within planning, enabled a rescaling of planning powers and determined the adoption of specific urban development patterns. The paper reveals how a governing coalition, using crisis discourse, promoted policy change that can deepen social inequalities and environmental unbalance. We focus on Israeli VATMAL law, enacted to ‘solve’ the housing crisis, through a shortened and centralized procedure that undermined lower planning levels. We show that the plans processed through VATMAL have serious impacts on natural areas and future housing. The article concludes that the space, shaped by current ‘housing crisis’ through the VATMAL, is increasing spatial and social inequalities in Israel. Keywords: planning policy, crisis discourse, inequalities

The COVID-19 pandemic: power and privilege, gentrification, and urban environmental justice in the global north

ABSTRACT Planetary urbanization exacerbates the spread of infectious disease and the emergence of pandemics. As COVID-19 cases continue to swell in cities around the world, the pandemic has visibilized urban health inequities. In the Global North, emerging trends show that lower income residents are often at greater risk for infection and death due to COVID-19, due in part to inequitable living, working and environmental conditions. We explore the underlying causes and potential long-term implications of the health inequities exemplified by outbreaks of COVID-19 in the context of evolving patterns of urban development, drawing from theories of urban environmental justice and gentrification.

Urban sprawl and its impact on sustainable urban development: a combination of remote sensing and social media data

ABSTRACT Urbanization is one of the most impactful human activities across the world today affecting the quality of urban life and its sustainable development. Urbanization in Africa is occurring at an unprecedented rate and it threatens the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Urban sprawl has resulted in unsustainable urban development patterns from social, environmental, and economic perspectives. This study is among the first examples of research in Africa to combine remote sensing data with social media data to determine urban sprawl from 2011 to 2017 in Morogoro urban municipality, Tanzania. Random Forest (RF) method was applied to accomplish imagery classification and location-based social media (Twitter usage) data were obtained through a Twitter Application Programming Interface (API). Morogoro urban municipality was classified into built-up, vegetation, agriculture, and water land cover classes while the classification results were validated by the generation of 480 random points. Using the Kernel function, the study measured the location of Twitter users within a 1 km buffer from the center of the city. The results indicate that, expansion of the city (built-up land use), which is primarily driven by population expansion, has negative impacts on ecosystem services because pristine grasslands and forests which provide essential ecosystem services such as carbon sequestration and support for biodiversity have been replaced by built-up land cover. In addition, social media usage data suggest that there is the concentration of Twitter usage within the city center while Twitter usage declines away from the city center with significant spatial and numerical increase in Twitter usage in the study area. The outcome of the study suggests that the combination of remote sensing, social sensing, and population data were useful as a proxy/inference for interpreting urban sprawl and status of access to urban services and infrastructure in Morogoro, and Africa city where data for urban planning is often unavailable, inaccurate, or stale.

Research on the integration of rail transit and conventional public transport—Taking Chongqing as an example

In order to achieve the urban development pattern led by rail transit and give full play to the role of rail transit, it must rely on the connection of conventional public transport. In this paper, the integration of urban rail transit in Chongqing is discussed from six aspects: bus stop, bus terminal, bus line network, transfer passenger flow, stop and go point and convenient service facilities. Based on the in-depth analysis of the current problems, combined with the requirements of existing integration standards and actual conditions, the improvement plan, implementation plan and construction mechanism are proposed Face.

Pola Tata Ruang Bali Sebagai Identitas Kawasan Perkotaan

The Balinese layout has its own uniqueness and pattern. This can be seen from the traditional Balinese spatial patterns which are closely related to the customs and noble values of Balinese culture, namely things that are considered good and valuable in the continuation of community and cultural life including various abstract elements consisting of philosophical elements, values , Concepts, Norms and Rules. The existence of an urban area is inseparable from its identity, the identity of an area is the uniqueness of conditions, characteristics and the creation of images in someone's mind that has never been understood before, this is the concept of identity that distinguishes them from other cities. identity in each region is needed even as the main requirement for the concept of development and identity of a city area. This study uses a qualitative method by applying descriptive approaches, hermeneutics and literature studies. This study aims to see what spatial patterns in Bali can be the identity of urban areas. From the understanding of this study, the benefits and results obtained at the conceptual level of explanation of Balinese spatial patterns can be used as markers of city identity in terms of meaning and enthusiasm. going forward, the results of this study are expected to be an input in determining the identity patterns of urban area development

Relationship between urban development patterns and noise complaints in England

The role of urban planning in sound environments has recently received increased research attention. This study aims to examine the relationship between the rate of noise complaints and urban development patterns concerning planning and landscape at city/region level. Open-source government data sets are used for statistical analysis across all district and unitary local authorities in England. The indicators for urban development patterns are categorised into six groups: population, industrial structure, built-up area, transport network, commuting, and natural landscape factors. Our research found that noise complaints tend to be higher in service-dominated cities/regions with high population densities; large and uneven cities/regions also tend to have more noise complaints, as do clustered cities/regions. However, dispersed, fragmented, and/or cities/regions having ragged boundaries are likely to have less noise complaints. These findings were confirmed by analysis of transport networks and commuting factors. Finally, cities/regions with more natural landscapes and greater separation of residences from workplaces also have fewer noise complaints.

Mexico’s housing crisis: vacancy, limited access & Deaf policy responses

ABSTRACT During the 2000s, millions of Mexicans acquired mortgages to buy homes in the fringes of cities throughout the country. Many such households have faced limited access to services, infrastructure and employment, and have seen their monthly mortgage payments increase while their debt remains virtually unchanged. In parallel, while about a third of Mexicans still live in poor housing conditions, numerous newly built developments have exhibited alarmingly high housing vacancy rates. Such coexistence of housing vacancy and shortages exposes considerable tensions in Mexican housing policy between the social and the economic values of housing. While previous analyses have centred on the financialization of housing policy in Mexico, this paper examines some of the local, political and socioeconomic implications of recent federal housing finance policy and urban development patterns, particularly as they relate to housing access and vacancy. Furthermore, this paper discusses the more recent evolution of Mexico’s housing and urban development policy, as well as the juxtaposition of the institutional and civic responses that have emerged to make front to previous financialization and housing development patterns and their implications.

Two centuries of settlement and urban development in the United States.

Over the past 200 years, the population of the United States grew more than 40-fold. The resulting development of the built environment has had a profound impact on the regional economic, demographic, and environmental structure of North America. Unfortunately, constraints on data availability limit opportunities to study long-term development patterns and how population growth relates to land-use change. Using hundreds of millions of property records, we undertake the finest-resolution analysis to date, in space and time, of urbanization patterns from 1810 to 2015. Temporally consistent metrics reveal distinct long-term urban development patterns characterizing processes such as settlement expansion and densification at fine granularity. Furthermore, we demonstrate that these settlement measures are robust proxies for population throughout the record and thus potential surrogates for estimating population changes at fine scales. These new insights and data vastly expand opportunities to study land use, population change, and urbanization over the past two centuries.

Modeling the trade-offs between urban development and ecological process based on landscape multi-functionality and regional ecological networks

The process of urbanization and urban land use conversion inevitably disturbs the structure and function of ecosystems and their capacity to provide ecosystem services. Integrating ecosystem services into effective policies and planning at the regional scale to achieve sustainable urban development is still a challenge. The goal of this research is to optimize spatial patterns of urban development by assessing and comparing multiple trade-off scenarios between ecological processes and urban expansion, incorporating planning and design into spatially explicit methods, and integrating ecosystem services into decision-making procedures. We develop a conceptual framework for regional urban-ecological sustainability with six steps: pattern recognition, landscape process, problem diagnosis, integrated ecological network, urbanization simulation, and decision-support. We apply this framework to a case in which planning and design have followed the rational-comprehensive approach. Results demonstrate that landscape multi-functionality and regional ecological networks are significantly improved using our integrated approach to planning and design, because it provides vital information for regional planning to cope with the urgent need for ecological protection and urban development. By comparing urban growth under three scenarios, we found that the trade-off scenario based on ecological conservation and restoration (medium security level) resolved conflict more effectively, which restricted urban expansion on land of high ecological importance by constructing regional ecological networks. In addition, using field survey and species distribution model approaches, we design plant community types with complementary tree, shrub, and herb species as part of the decision-making procedure, which can restore zonal vegetation and the hydrological cycle in rugged mountain regions. The research concludes that regional urban-ecological sustainability based on scientific assessment, planning, and design provides a rational basis for sustainable urban development and landscape management.

Rural Residential Land Transition in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region: Spatial-Temporal Patterns and Policy Implications

Rural residential land transition (RRLT) dominates rural land use transition. Therefore, analysing the laws of transition and differentiation of land use is not only the basis for the differential management of rural residential areas but key to the sustainable use of rural land. This study constructs a conceptual model of RRLT using multi-period remote sensing monitoring data based on a comprehensive index method, ArcGIS, and FRAGSTATS landscape pattern analysis, among others. It also analyses the characteristics of the transition extent, transition trend, transition morphology, and transition intensity of rural residential land in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region from 1980 to 2018. The results show that, from a vertical comparison of long time series, the transition extent is characterised by a process of ‘slow growth—expanding start—fast expansion—slowing down’; the transition trend is characterised by an increase in the amount of cultivated land occupied by rural residential land, followed by a large number of rural residential land is reclaimed as cultivated land; the transition morphology is characterised by an increase in mean patch size and degree of irregularity, as well as aggregation; and the transition intensity is characterised by fluctuations in the process of ‘small-scale reduction—small-scale growth—substantial growth—small-scale growth and reduction’. A horizontal comparison of counties in the BTH region reveals a long-lasting and active growth trend in transition extent and transition intensity in the Beijing-Tianjin region, and a gradually slowing trend in the areas around the region. The transition morphology features of the northwest Hebei region are more prominent, and show that the scale of rural settlements is small, the plaques fragmented and irregular, and the layout more scattered. The BTH region should formulate a differentiated transition direction for rural residential areas based on the different functional areas, and play into the agglomeration, scale, and synergy effects of urban agglomerations. It should also coordinate and improve the human–land relationship in rural areas, and construct an orderly and densely distributed pattern of urban and rural spatial development with a reasonable layout and complementary functions.

Assessing energy and emissions savings for space conditioning, materials and transportation for a high-density mixed-use building

This paper introduces a combined framework for the analysis of building-related and transport-related emissions, to allow the comparison of a new high-density mixed-use development concept with traditional urban development patterns. The framework accounts for the energy and emissions arising from the operation of the building, the materials needed to build it, and the transportation of the residents. This provides a novel means to compare the impact of urban form on both building-related and transport-related emissions simultaneously. The building analysis performs detailed building energy simulations and embodied energy calculations. The transportation analysis estimates emissions reductions from eliminating personal vehicle trips through the mixed-use nature of the building, provision of an electric vehicle car sharing fleet, and a public transit hub with a rapid transit line. The framework is used to assess the new concept, referred to as a ‘Mothership’, which provides a potential holistic solution to urban sprawl through high-density mixed-use development that meets the needs of 10,000 people. It includes a high-performance building envelope, advanced energy systems, a public transportation hub and electric car sharing fleet. The analysis compares this method of development to the ‘urban sprawl’ that has characterized new development in North America. The comparison is performed for two case studies in British Columbia, Canada. Results show that the Mothership could reduce operational and embodied emissions by 73% and transportation emissions by 58% compared to low-density suburban development. A key takeaway is that transportation and embodied emissions become much more significant as operational emissions are reduced through high performance building design and clean electricity.

How do East and Southeast Asian Cities Differ from Western Cities? A Systematic Review of the Urban Form Characteristics

The Fifth Assessment Report released by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC AR5) revealed that the scale of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in Asian cities is similar to those from developed economies, which are driven predominantly by economic growth. Due to variations in geographic and climatic contexts, culture and religion, living style and travel behavior, governance and institutions, and a wide range of density and land use mixes, there are significant variations in urban form patterns across Western and Asian cities. This paper uses a systematic review, which is a critical interpretive synthesis methodology, to review keywords of studies related to urban form among East and Southeast Asian cities. From 3725 records identified through database searching, 213 studies were included in qualitative analysis. The results show that, although the population density in built-up areas is higher, annual population density is declining significantly in East and Southeast Asia. In addition, there are various kinds of land use mixes including horizontal, vertical, and temporal forms. As a whole, the inconsistencies of urban form characteristics exist not only between Western and Asian cities, but also among Asian cities. Serious population density decreases in Asian cities might indicate that they are undergoing similar urban development processes to those of Western cities. We should be aware of the potential lock-in trends of urban development patterns in Chinese and Southeast Asian cities.

Stone, Labor, and the Building of Israel

Andrew Ross's Stone Men: The Palestinians Who Built Israel is a significant contribution to an emerging literature on Palestinian labor. Through an examination of various facets of the stone industry in both Israel and the West Bank, Ross develops a series of insights into the nature of settler colonialism, patterns of urban development, the political economy of Palestinian class formation, borders and migration, and the ecological impacts of occupation. By highlighting the ways in which Palestinians actually built Israel, Ross's book carries important implications for how we think about Palestinian political strategy and the debates around one- or two-state solutions.