Urban Restructuring Research Articles

Urban Restructuring in Volta Redonda-RJ: a Polycentric and Fragmented Medium-Sized City

Urban Restructuring in Volta Redonda-RJ: a Polycentric and Fragmented Medium-Sized City

A Critical Discussion of the Relationship Between Processes of Spatial Transformation and Youth Gang Activity in Denver

Denver, Colorado is one of the most rapidly gentrifying cities in the United States. Case studies of gentrifying cities, including Chicago and Los Angeles demonstrate a relationship between urban restructuring and the emergence of youth gangs. However, this phenomenon is under-investigated in Denver. Drawing on an integrative literature review, this paper engages in a critical discussion of the relationship between processes of spatial transformation and youth gang activity in Denver. The contestation of urban space is identified as a central contributor to rising rates of gang criminality in the city’s gentrifying areas. These findings highlight the significance of community activism in popular resistance to gentrification and the protection of residents’ rights to the city.

The Impact of the Flight to Quality on Office Rents and Vacancy Rates in Tokyo

Abstract With the rapid spread of telecommuting since the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have been relocating to high-end business centers, thereby enhancing the workplace experience for employees, a phenomenon called the "flight to quality." However, this trend’s impact on rents and vacancy rates in individual office buildings has not been extensively studied. To determine the effects of the flight-to-quality phenomenon on individual buildings, we examine the impact of modern amenities, which directly influence employee lifestyles, on rents and vacancy rates in the Tokyo office market. Using a propensity score-based quasi-experimental method, we find that commercial properties with such modern amenities command higher rents and experience lower vacancy rates than those without. The difference in vacancy rates has increased since 2020. However, the significance of these amenities diminishes for properties less competitive in age, size, and location. The results indicate that the "flight to quality" may further polarize the office real estate market into two categories: one for high-end buildings experiencing increasing demand, and another for those with modest amenities experiencing decreasing demand. The findings have implications for office building owners/investors and the government, make educated decisions as to whether to invest in modern amenities, join the quality competition, or encourage urban restructuring.

Understanding citizens' willingness to contribute to urban greening programs

Urban green is an essential component of livable and sustainable cities, providing benefits for the environment, human health, and well-being. In densely built city areas, planting street trees and installing green roofs and facades can lead to more equally distributed green infrastructure, for which it gained importance in urban planning. However, to achieve the desired effects, cities need to implement small-scale measures on a large scale, which requires broader urban restructuring and significant financial and political resources. Economic valuation can support this process by providing city governments with knowledge about citizens’ support and preferences for greening policies. We use a choice experiment in the Austrian capital, Vienna, as part of a representative survey of 1327 respondents. Using a Mixed Logit Model with correlated random parameters, the results show a clear preference for a greener city, while respondents express a higher marginal willingness to pay (WTP) for measures on streets (5.58 Euro/year) than on buildings (3.60 Euro/year) for change the density of green measures from rare to frequently. Introducing interactions with socioeconomic variables, selected attitudes, and neighborhood characteristics based on geo-referenced addresses, we find a positive correlation between a higher WTP and the characteristics of younger and more affluent residents, as well as citizens who suffer significantly from urban heat, use parks more regularly, and live in neighborhoods with relatively little urban greenery. Overall, the analysis proves valuable for estimating public support and facilitating comparisons between different greening options, contributing to a more informed and nuanced discussion in urban planning and policy.

Green Redevelopment of Industrial Brownfields: Driving Mechanism and Model

Rapid urban restructuring has exposed a large number of industrial brownfields, and common redevelopment has many disadvantages. To optimize the redevelopment effect, green redevelopment has become an important strategy for urban renewal. Combining the theory of planned behavior and the normative activation model, this study explains developers’ intention of green redevelopment action of industrial brownfields (GRIB) from rational and perceptual dimensions. The empirical analysis using partial least squares structural equation (PLS-SEM) obtained the following results: (1) The intention of green redevelopment is positively affected by three factors, personal norms, subjective norms, and attitude, in decreasing order of influence. (2) Perceptual behavior control is not statistically significant to developers’ green transformation intentions. (3) Using the corporate social responsibility for adjustment, the results show that corporate social responsibility has a positive moderating effect on the relationship between green redevelopment intention and green redevelopment behavior. It is suggested that the government should further formulate oriented incentive policies at the national and local levels to encourage green redevelopment to transform industrial brownfields. Concomitantly, the local governments should encourage developers with industry influence to carry out green regeneration practices, strengthen the publicity of green redevelopment knowledge, and strengthen the promotion and application of GRIB.

Urban restructuring and the reproduction of spaces of violence in Belfast

ABSTRACT This paper maps the distribution of post-conflict violence in Belfast and how it has restructured socially, economically and spatially. An end to hostilities and stable transition produces and is produced by a more complex set of distinctly urban assemblages, actors, resources and places. Bringing the ideas of ‘ordering’ into relation with assemblage theory, the paper suggests that explanations for the survival, volume, type and distribution of violence cannot be understood within exclusively ethnonational frames, identarian politics or military logics. In Belfast, the data reveal a more variegated map of peace and consumption; inner-city alienation and the intensification of division; as well as the emergence of new geographies of displaced violence. The paper concludes by emphasising the need to understand how urban processes and competing ethnic orders create highly differentiated spaces that explain the resilience of violence after hostilities have formally closed.

Do Industrial Firms Follow Zoning? Changing Firm Location and the Introduction of Metropolitan Zoning

ABSTRACT Limited research examines the relationship between land-use zoning and industrial activity over time, with little known beyond standard narratives of industrial suburbanisation. We combine records of zoning controls and firm location to examine their associations in Melbourne, Australia between 1954 and 1974 following the introduction of comprehensive zoning. Results show increasing concentrations of industrial firms in industrial zones and confirm significant suburbanisation of industry. However, counter to dominant narratives, results reveal increasing firm numbers in inner industrial zones. These shifts play out over several decades, illustrating the longer time horizons needed to understand relationships between zoning and urban restructuring.

Life-Affirmative Struggles for Home Across Borders

Issue 5.1 of the Radical Housing Journal (RHJ) examines the current state of struggles for housing and home amidst capital-accumulation-induced urban restructuring worldwide. The authors discuss the enduring impact of settler colonialism on land and housing rights, particularly for Indigenous peoples. Feminist, queer, and trans perspectives are brought to the forefront, emphasizing the leadership roles played by marginalized communities in housing justice struggles. The issue showcases the important contributions of Black women, women of color, and queer activists in fighting for housing justice and challenging oppressive power structures. Additionally, this issue presents alternatives to the current dangerous status quo, urging us to envision radical futures where humanity respects ecological limits, ensures universal access to resources, and grants autonomy in their utilization. It envisions a world where housing is available to all, allowing individuals to choose their desired living arrangements. The 'Pursuing Tenant International: Learning from the Struggles in Abya Yala' conversation series further amplifies the voices of tenants, organizers, activists, artists, and thinkers engaged in cross-border struggles. These conversations shed light on the challenges faced by communities fighting for their right to home and dignified living conditions in Los Angeles and Mexico City.

BETWEEN DEPRESSION AND HOPE: Affective Mediations of Urban Restructuring in Leipzig, East Germany

AbstractIn this article, which is based on an empirical analysis of neoliberal restructuring in Leipzig, East Germany, I describe how the study of affective atmospheres adds to our understanding of urban restructuring, showing how collective moods affect (de)mobilization, contestation and the regulation of urban political economy to shed light on the relation between institutional, political and social processes. I demonstrate the relevance of affect for power relations, political interactions beyond rationality, and the rhythms and temporalities of urban restructuring, as exemplified by two prominent atmospheres that characterize Leipzig—post shrinkage depression (PSD) and anticipatory hope (AH).

Taking the spatialization of heterodox economics to the next level. States, cities and money

In this note, I argue that the search for a better articulation between financial geography and heterodox economics can benefit from an explicit focus on the relations between states, cities and money. After illustrating some important insights derived from the cross-fertilization between financial geography and monetary heterodox economics, I discuss how the specific inclusion of cities in midlevel theories, which articulate broader economic and geographical thinking on money and space with empirical work on urban restructuring, allows this research agenda to both gain conceptual strength and potential political impact.

RESILIENCE AND ADAPTATION IN GENTRIFYING URBAN INDUSTRIAL DISTRICTS: The Experience of Cultural Manufacturers in San Francisco and Melbourne

AbstractRecent urban scholarship shows how zoning and real estate dynamics shape ongoing processes of gentrification and deindustrialization. While studies demonstrate the impact of planning and property market pressures on the arts, less research has examined their effect on urban manufacturers in gentrifying industrial districts. Given the differential impact of zoning and real estate pressures, our research focuses specifically on how ‘cultural manufacturers’ negotiate changing land use patterns in gentrifying urban industrial areas in San Francisco and Melbourne. Our findings show how cultural manufacturers develop flexible workspace arrangements, business models and professional networks to negotiate urban restructuring and avoid displacement. Though innovative, these survival strategies provide limited ability to navigate structural barriers. Here, the presence of intermediary organizations can help coordinate a strategic response to industrial gentrification and indifferent planning policy. In our research we highlight the everyday practices of adaptation and collective action in an under‐researched cultural sector to provide a counterweight to macro‐scale transitional narratives. While cities have deindustrialized owing to technological and competitive pressures, to focus exclusively on this misses a range of resilience practices that have sustained manufacturers in restructuring cities.

Building Shanghai in the borderlands: a visual approach to the restructuring of the Uyghur City in Xinjiang

Buildings and material infrastructure in cities are not just there; rather, they are embedded in complex political and social planning and construction contexts. In China, spatial transformations and urbanisation in its eastern and coastal regions have received a great deal of attention. This article investigates the relatively little explored urban development in China’s Northwestern Uyghur homeland of XUAR (Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region). Based on 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork between 2010 and 2017, the article outlines the ways in which Sinicization, modernisation and globalisation have simultaneously changed the morphology of XUAR’s cities. The restructuring of material urban infrastructure has also challenged local ethnic place-making. Until the opening-up reforms in the 1980s, Uyghur ethnic belonging used to manifest visually in urban spaces through mosques, Muslim cemeteries or low-rise mud-brick buildings. In recent decades, such structures have been gradually demolished and replaced with Chinese-style urban landscapes such as high-rise residential compounds, riverside promenades or large central squares. This leaves a void for ethnic self-identification through forms of the built environment. Uyghur urban middle-class citizens critically engage with urban restructuring in their native places. The article highlights the ways in which they negotiate ethnicity, social status or the relation to the state through reflecting on the construction and perception of architecture.

Urban restructuring and the location dynamics of P-KIBS in postsocialist Belgrade

ABSTRACT Professional knowledge-intensive business services (P-KIBS) have emerged as one of the core elements of economic recovery and urban restructuring of many large cities during the postsocialist transition in Europe. However, studies about intrametropolitan patterns of P-KIBS in postsocialist cities are largely neglected. Against this backdrop, the aim of this study is to provide a better understanding of P-KIBS intraurban spatial patterns within a postsocialist urban environment by analyzing the location dynamics of P-KIBS in Belgrade. The research methodology includes using a micro-geographic dataset for the period 2011–2019 and distance-based methods, which are becoming increasingly popular in urban geography. The study demonstrates that in Belgrade, P-KIBS are spatially highly concentrated and centralized, with a strong center-periphery gradient as well as pronounced intraurban functional specialization and intrasectoral differences. In the observed period, the spatial reorganization of P-KIBS was characterized by spatially limited decentralization, reflected in the progressive dissolution of the traditional monocentric model and the creation of a centralized duocentric model through the emergence of a secondary CBD in New Belgrade. In particular, the research highlights the influence of the complex process of postsocialist urban restructuring in the shaping of the urban geography of P-KIBS.

Diasporic capital and the financialisation of housing in Ho Chi Minh City

In recent years, policymakers and development practitioners have focused on the potential of remittances for economic growth. The World Bank projects that remittances will soon outpace overseas aid and foreign direct investment combined in low- and middle-income countries. This article examines how remittances, or what I call ‘diasporic capital’, sustain urban financialisation at multiple scales. Most research on urban restructuring in the financialisation literature has focused on major corporations, management actors and financial markets without considering the specific sources of capital flows. Diasporic capital flow is facilitated through a unique financial architecture and an incoherent regulatory framework distinct from foreign direct investment. Drawing from interviews conducted with government stakeholders, private sector representatives and members of the Vietnamese diaspora, this article examines the actors, motivations, mechanisms, regulations and products that shape and constitute diasporic capital flow. I argue that classical notions of remittances as money supporting the social reproduction of family are outdated and do not reflect emergent forms of diasporic investments in Ho Chi Minh City’s financialised landscape.

Responsibilizing renovation: governing strategies and resistance in the context of the transformation of Swedish housing policy

This article contributes to the emerging body of literature in the field of urban studies that addresses the classical ‘division of labour’ between analyses of the workings of urban power at the macro- and micro-levels. Our theoretical framework aims to capture how processes of power are exercised in processes of urban restructuring. In the field of gentrification studies there have been calls for theoretical developments based on analyses of various local contexts in which rent gaps may be exploited in similar yet varied ways. We contribute to this discussion through an analysis of governing strategies and protests linked to urban restructuring in the context of the so-called Million Programme in Sweden’s two largest cities. In particular, we address the consequences of public housing companies being forced to operate according to ‘business principles’. Importantly, we demonstrate how advanced liberal government, under the influence of neoliberal ideology, has largely worked through a process of responsibilization. We discern a chain of responsibilization leading from the macro-, via the meso-, to the micro-level – ultimately involving the individual tenant; and highlight how a struggle that we call a politics of responsibility has taken place around each link in the chain.

Does work from home reshape the urban rental structure? Early evidence from a rental gradient analysis in Auckland

PurposeThis study aims to identify the pandemic’s impact on house rents by applying a rental gradient analysis to compare the pre-and post-COVID-19 periods in Auckland. The micro-level household census data from the Integrated Data Infrastructure of Statistics New Zealand is also applied to scrutinise this WFH trend as a robustness check.Design/methodology/approachSince the outbreak of COVID-19, work-from-home (WFH) and e-commerce have become much more common in many cities. Many news reports have contended that households are leaving city centres and moving into bigger and better houses in the suburbs or rural areas. This emerging trend has been redefining the traditional theory of residential location choices. Proximity to central business district (CBD) is no longer the most critical consideration in choosing one’s residence. WFH and e-commerce flatten the traditional bid rent curve from the city centre.FindingsThe authors examined micro-level housing rental listings in 242 suburbs of the Auckland Region from January 2013 to December 2021 (108 months) and found that the hedonic price gradient models suggest that there has been a trend of rental gradient flattening and that its extent was almost doubled in 2021. Rents are also found to be increasing more in lower-density suburbs.Research limitations/implicationsThe results imply that the pandemic has accelerated the trend of WFH and e-commerce. The authors further discuss whether the trend will be a transient phenomenon or a long-term shift.Practical implicationsSuppose an organisation is concerned about productivity and performance issues due to a companywide ability to WFH. In that case, some standard key performance indicators for management and employees could be implemented. Forward-thinking cities need to focus on attracting skilful workers by making WFH a possible solution, not by insisting on the primacy of antiquated nine-to-five office cultures.Social implicationsWFH has traditionally encountered resistance, but more and more companies are adopting WFH policies in this post-COVID era. The early rental gradient and the micro-level household data analysis all confirm that the WFH trend is emerging and will likely be a long-term shift. Instead of resisting the change, organisations should improve their remote work policies and capabilities for this WFH trend.Originality/valueSo far, empirical studies of post-COVID urban restructuring have been limited. This study aims to empirically test such an urban metamorphosis by identifying the spatial and temporal impacts of COVID on house rental gradients in the Auckland Region, New Zealand. The authors apply rental gradient analysis to test this urban restructuring hypothesis because the method considers the spatial-temporal differences, i.e. a difference-in-differences between pre-and post-pandemic period against the distance measured from the city centre. The method can control for the spatial difference and the endogeneity involved.

Weber and the European City in the 21st century: Still reality or just a concept?

Max Weber has left a 100-page long text that played a main role in his argumentation on the particular development of Europe in contrast to especially Asia. Main difference, according to Weber, is the development of a ‘local society’ where freedom and the association of free citizens laid the ground for a democratic society. In the reception of this text, a critical view on main assumptions on the ‘European city’ has been dominant. In particular, the notions of conflict and inequality have not been integrated into his argumentation. Nevertheless, some sociologists even today, see Weber and his text as a kind of starting point to understand the social and political construction of urban societies in Europe. Firstly, a critical introduction into the core ideas of Weber on the city will be presented. Subsequently, the article discusses whether the ‘European city’ can still be regarded as a meaningful term to explain the process of urban restructuring taking place today. Although not rejecting the Weberian notion of the city, it will be highlighted that his understanding of ‘urban society’ leaves out recent processes of the post-Fordist restructuring of space.

Residents’ territorial cognition and behavior patterns: An inquiry into Kavaklıdere and Çukurambar Districts of Ankara, Turkey

As a part of the recent urban restructuring processes, the spatial layout of residential environments as street-based neighborhoods has left its place to cellular developments in the form of gated communities. This shift in the spatial organization altered the relationship of urbanites with their near-home environments. This research aims to depict the influence of this shift on the cognitive and behavioral patterns of the residents. To do so, it re-interprets the concept of ‘territoriality’ as a critical tool for understanding and regulating the dynamics of human-environment relations at this scale. A model to assess territorial functioning is developed and employed in the Kavaklıdere and Çukurambar Districts of Ankara, the capital of Turkey. Comparative field surveys are conducted in the districts by using interpretative methods, including direct systematic observations and questionnaires with the residents. The districts are selected as prominent examples representing the aforementioned shift. The research findings reveal that, along with other exogenous factors, spatial layouts are the primary factor that promotes and inhibits certain cognitive and behavioral patterns at the residential scale. Both the findings from the case studies and the methodological proposition of the study contribute to the ongoing discussions in the field of urban planning regarding the future design of residential environments, which has regained attention with the multi-functionality of home environments during the COVID 19 pandemic. The study highlights the importance of the spatial design of residential environments on access to resources, the sense of security, identity, and well-being of the residents from the perspective of human-environment relations.

Emotional scapes in Mediterranean port cities: Walking Barcelona, Marseille and Genova

Mediterranean port cities share a number of trajectories that reveal their constitutive interconnectedness. Among the more recent is the process of urban regeneration that many of these cities have undergone over the last two decades. Several studies have analysed the implications of urban renewal from a socio-economic and urban planning perspective. However, the intersection between diverse urban restructuring processes and the emotions that crisscross these cities is still largely underexplored. This article aims to begin filling this gap by identifying possible emotional responses that mirror local concerns in three port cities located on the northern shores of the Mediterranean. More specifically, the article investigates Barcelona in light of the hope that emerges when a city is in crisis, Marseille and the nostalgia that is mobilised to reimagine the city’s national consciousness and Genova with regard to an uncanny feeling when more-than-human balances are altered. Drawing from different disciplines, including ethnography, media, archival and literary analysis, this article argues that emotional trajectories are significant aspects to consider in the urban renewal processes of distinctive spaces like port cities because they allow us to comprehend some of the local reactions to urban transformations and gentrification that go beyond understanding economic and branding strategies in a post-industrial space.

Qiaoxiang 2.0: The People’s Republic of China and Diaspora Governance at the Local Level

The article examines recent transformations in diaspora governance at the local level, particularly the new, more integrated approach towards emigrated Chinese developed in places with longstanding and strong emigration movements. These places, known as “hometowns of Overseas Chinese” or qiaoxiang, have been actively reaching out to their expatriates for decades, but the initiatives and strategies for reaching out have changed recently due to central government policies, increased return migration, and the widespread use of information and communications technologies. Based on the case study of Qingtian County in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the paper examines different ways in which local government is reaching out to its members abroad, focusing on activities in the area of legal affairs and public administration, investments, digital transformation, public diplomacy, local urban restructuring, and response to the Covid-19 pandemic. The findings reveal innovation and experimentation at the local level rather than the passive implementation of central policies, and point to the need for further unpacking of the role of the state in diaspora engagement.