Planning for urban life: A new approach of sustainable land use plan based on transit-oriented development

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is an integration of transportation systems with land use and has been given priority in sustainability strategies. However, most of the existing studies on TOD emphasize the economic and environmental perspectives of sustainability, paying little attention to social equity. Moreover, despite governments worldwide are gradually trying to address unsustainable issues associated with dramatic urbanization through a framework of TOD development, the improvement of land use planning necessary to achieve variegated sustainability within a safe trajectory is not being targeted or achieved. This paper aims to establish a framework of TOD planning in China's context that could be applied beyond the concept to planning experts and policymakers on how to integrate land use planning with TOD to achieve sustainability. We further applied an empirical study of Jiaomei, China to demonstrate the application of the designed framework. The study provided a new framework for understanding sustainable transportation development with land use management as applied to the urban planning process and for exploring new paths in practice toward sustainability.     

上海建设用地现状、情景及集约化研究

当前,上海建设用地规模趋于极限,且具粗放利用特征,结构不尽合理,产出效率较低。其原因主要在于产业结构高度化不够,城市规划理念尚有欠缺,土地使用制度不尽完善。面对土地资源的硬约束,上海要打造服务型和宜居型国际大都市,必须通过转型发展和制度创新来提升土地的集约节约利用水平,通过提升产业能级、优化建设用地结构和城市空间结构、创新土地使用制度、适度控制人口规模等方式来逐步缓解上海建设用地紧张的局面,提升城市宜居水平,保持城市生态和谐,实现上海未来的可持续发展。     

Spatial configurations of urban forest in different landscape and socio-political contexts: identifying patterns for green infrastructure planning

Rapid urbanisation and climate change have motivated the development of urban green infrastructure (UGI) as a planning strategy to support the wellbeing of urban people and ecosystems while parallel adapting cities to climate change. Forest (tree-covered areas >0.5 ha) is a key UGI component that afford a wider range of ecosystem services and mitigate urban heat islands more effectively than non-wooded green spaces. However, understanding of spatial configurations (variation in patch size and frequency) of forests across the gradient of urbanisation and between cities is limited to case studies. This represents a considerable knowledge gap for identification of general patterns that can inform integration of forest resources in UGI planning that have value beyond the individual city level. In this study we used Geographic Information Systems to explore the spatial configuration of forests across cities located within landscapes characterised by different levels of anthropogenic modification (degree of forest cover) and socio-political contexts, i.e. all Danish and Swedish cities >10,000 inhabitants (n = 176). We applied general linear modelling to investigate the relationship between forest cover, patch size and frequency with 1) regional landscape type, 2) demographic trends 1960–2010, and 3) the gradient of urbanisation (measured in three zones: urban core (0.2 km from city boundary), urban fringe (0.2–2 km), and urban periphery (2–5 km)). Regardless of demographic trends, forest cover was lowest in cities settled in large-scale agricultural regions, higher in regions with mosaics of forest and farming, and highest in forest-dominated regions. However, in all cities forest cover was lowest in the urban zone and peaked on the urban fringe rather than on the urban periphery. Furthermore, pocket woods (0.5–2 ha) accounted for over 50 % of patches in all three urban zones, irrespective of regional landscape type. We conclude by discussing how these general patterns could inform strategies for integration of urban forests in UGI planning.     

深入推进上海工业用地二次开发对策研究

上海土地资源增量空间有限,其中用于产业结构调整、产业发展的用地更为有限。工业用地是上海发展先进制造业、现代服务业和战略新兴产业的主要载体,进行土地二次开发,盘活存量土地,是破解土地资源瓶颈、促进转型发展的必然选择。在广泛收集以往上海工业用地二次开发成效、措施与案例的基础上,梳理出三种主要实施路径：优化定位、产能提升和增资技改,从政府、企业和园区管理者三种角度对二次开发难点进行剖析。最后从加强研究、创新政策和完善机制角度提出一系列对策建议,包括编制专项规划、更新规划理念、完善收储和供应制度、健全管制制度、建立管理机构、利用经济手段促进盘活等。     

Human–environment interactions in South Florida's Everglades region: Systems of ecological degradation and restoration

This chapter examines the societal drivers of environmental change in South Florida's Everglades region during the past 150 years. This historical geography is developed through the use of a conceptual framework constructed to facilitate the analysis of human–environment interactions and nature–society systems of ecological degradation and restoration at the regional scale. The framework is composed of four basic interlinked components: interaction mechanisms (e.g., land use, direct resource utilization, pollution and external inputs, resource competition), feedback mechanisms (e.g., basic needs, quality of life, environmental ethics), control systems (e.g., governmental regimes, legal institutions, resource management), and the societal context (e.g., population and demographic patterns, social structure and organization, technology, economic conditions, societal values). A primary objective of this chapter is to determine the presence and importance of each of these components during the process of environmental change over the period of study—1845 to 1995.Data for the analysis are drawn from primary and secondary sources on the environmental, social, economic, and political history of South Florida. The results indicate that although elements of each component were present throughout the entire period, different elements of each component play more significant roles at differing moments. The shifts in importance are used to define four periods of environmental change within the region. The periods are the following: (1) frontier settlement (1845–1900), focused on basic needs acquisition and direct utilization of the resource base; (2) drainage and land conversion (1900–1930), focused on population and economic growth, land use change, and increased resource management and competition; (3) flood control and consolidation (1930–1950), focused on inputs from external sources and infusion of advanced technology, the development of governance and social structures, and increased concern for quality of life; (4) postwar boom, flood control, and water supply (1950–1970), focused on accelerated land use change, increased pollution, and further heightened concern for local quality of life; and (5) period of limits (1970–1995), focused on pollution and resource competition concerns, a developing regional environmental ethic and amenity values, and environmental preservation governance strategies.Taken together, the five periods represent the differing nature–society systems through which South Florida's regional ecosystem was degraded and which is now entering a phase of restoration.     

Urban landscape matrix affects avian diversity in remnant vegetation fragments: Evidence from the Phoenix metropolitan region, USA

Biodiversity conservation in urban areas has become increasingly important as cities have expanded to cover larger proportions of landscapes across the world. The careful planning of habitat reserves within urbanized areas has the potential to make significant contributions to regional biodiversity. We surveyed the passerine community in 15 habitat reserves within the Phoenix metropolitan region and explored the relationships between community composition and urban land uses surrounding the reserves. Diversity of different guilds was affected in substantially different ways by reserve characteristics and surrounding urban land use. Guilds responded to land use at all three scales included in the study ?C 200 m, 1000 m and 2500 m. The responses of four guilds, synanthropic, non-synanthropic, insectivore and feeding generalist, were well predicted by the factors considered here. Reserve characteristics (area, shape, isolation), particularly area, had effects on all four of these guilds with non-synanthropic and insectivore species responding positively to area, while synanthropic and feeding generalist species responded negatively. Land use type surrounding the reserves had significant effects on all of these guilds, except for feeding generalists. High density, high diurnal activity land uses decreased diversity, while medium density, low diurnal activity uses increased the diversity of some guilds, particularly insectivores, probably by providing supplemental habitat. This study provides new evidence from an arid urban landscape that not only reserve characteristics, but also surrounding urban land use should be considered during conservation planning, especially if non-synanthropic or insectivore species are among the targeted species.     

The role of private corporations in regional planning and development: Opportunities and challenges for the governance of housing and land use

There is a broad consensus that the corporate sector has an active role in facilitating community development through corporate-community investment. However, there remains uncertainty as to how much the sector should invest without taking on responsibilities and influencing decisions which are traditionally within the realm of the state. This paper explores the contemporary role of mining companies in regional governance through a case study of housing and residential land use planning and supply within the Bowen Basin coal mining and coal seam gas extraction region in Queensland, Australia. Mining companies were found to have a broad role in planning and development with far-reaching implications for land use and the wider regional community. These arrangements have emerged in response to corporate sensibilities, some recent policy requirements and most importantly, in pragmatic response to the institutional void apparent in many regional communities. In the absence of an effective regional framework with a clear and defined role for governments and corporations, powerful corporate interests risk effectively ‘capturing’ the regional development agenda within a framework that works on short-term paternalism rather than long-term regional partnerships. This also has implications for the efficiency of governance. Stronger institutional arrangements need to be developed to strengthen the capacity of the state to oversee these relationships. Regional governance and planning theory also needs to address this deficit.     

Commemorating or celebrating? Reflections on the centenary of the Natives Land Act of 1913

While no policymaker would claim to be celebrating the centenary of the Natives Land Act, the form and content of the commemoration of this significant event on the website of the Department of Rural Development and Land Reform has some unsettling parallels with the celebratory countdown to the Soccer World Cup of 2010. Rather than using the centenary to acknowledge the significant changes in relations to land of the past century, the state is treating it as an opportunity for political theatre that deflects attention from serious weaknesses in its land reform programme. If the centenary of the 1913 Land Act is to be an opportunity for meaningful reflection, then a more thoughtful engagement is required with major processes of social change and regional differentiation over the past 100 years.     

Land use planning practice under the public land ownership policy in Tanzania

Land-use planning can be defined as a programme of state intervention in land use and environmental change to mediate conflicts of interests over how land should be used, developed, and coordinate individual activities which if left to proceed otherwise would lead to an environment for living that is characterised by negative externalities, inefficient use of land and services, inequity and unfair distribution of resources. The land-use programme is realised through a planning system, constituted by institutional arrangements, instruments and tools. Being one of the land policy tool by which the government intervenes in land-use change and development, land-use planning practice is, obviously, influenced by the content of the land policy as well as interests extant in a locality to include those of the planners and other land administrators. How does planning practice looks like under a public landownership policy? Through an empirical case of planning in practice, this paper provides an answer to this question.     

武汉市统筹城乡一体化发展研究

统筹城乡一体化发展是当前推动城乡经济社会发展的迫切任务。本文通过建立指标评估,发现武汉城乡一体化水平略高于城镇化水平;城乡人口、经济、生活和文化一体化进程中,城乡经济发展的差别最为明显,融合程度最低,而城乡居民生活方面则融合程度较高,人口与文化融合度持平。而城乡二元户籍制度、土地的合理开发利用及农民权益保障、农村公共服务投入不足、农村社会保障体系不完善是当前制约城乡一体化发展的重要瓶颈。文章从法律制度层面、财政层面及组织体制层面分析了破解城乡一体化发展瓶颈的重要举措。     

城市扩容中拆迁安置小区公共管理模式研究——以常德市公寓楼安置模式为例

征地拆迁是城市扩容面临的重要课题。常德市采取的公寓楼安置模式在城市扩容和保护耕地红线之间找到了平衡点,创新了拆迁安置模式,达到了城市发展集约节约用地的目的。公寓楼社区公共管理模式不仅关系到征地拆迁工作本身的成效,更关系到安置户的民生福祉和城市的科学发展。要直面公寓楼社区公共管理的突出问题,明确主要任务,创新理念,构建"政府主导+多方参与+业主选择+社区整合"的公共管理格局,按照统筹推进、健全体制、整合资源、责任考评的路径,使公寓楼社区公共管理成为推进安置居民城市融入的重要推手。     

基于PCA-SFA方法的沿淮城市群土地利用效率分析

采用PCA-SFA组合方法测算2000-2011年间14个沿淮城市的土地利用效率,并按城市土地利用效率水平高低将它们划分为低度有效、较为有效和高度有效三种类型,结果表明:虽然沿淮城市土地利用效率水平存在一定差异,提升速率也不同,但整体处于较为有效状态。利用stata回归分析可知,影响沿淮城市土地利用效率的主要因素是:建成区面积、固定资产投资总额、全年用电量和第三产业从业人数。为提高沿淮城市土地利用效率,在城市化过程中必须合理规划土地利用,实现城市规模扩张与产业发展相互协调,促进沿淮城市健康发展。     

Local planning and global implementation: Foreign investment and urban development of Pudong, Shanghai

Competitive planning programmes for global integration have been created in cities throughout developed and developing countries during the past 2 decades. In China, global aspiration planning has been characterised by the establishment of Pudong New Area of Shanghai in 1990, with a group of foreign direct investment (FDI)-oriented themed zones targeting different types of global flows. Pudong very rapidly became a focus of FDI in the city, which extended to China as a whole in the 1990s, and now is further extended to playing a global role. However, spatial planning for the themed zones in Pudong has been limited in its scope to the physical design, land use, and the pattern of transport routes. This limited role of land use planning has been inadequate to coordinate the mutual engagement between global and local factors; however, an improved mechanism for coordinating planning has not yet emerged to replace it. The competitive and entrepreneurial approach of land management in conjunction with the imperatives of global firms has effectively diminished the original plan's intention that each zone should focus on particular industries, with each of them complementing the others.     

Resources,environment and economic development in Nigeria

It is argued that Nigeria must focus on effective environmentally protective intensive farming, resource management methods, and strong family planning programs. Other contributory factors are recognized as the lack of democracy and the "ill-advised" internal policies of the government. The emphasis is on man-made decisions about migration, natality, and land use practices that have ecological consequences that significantly affect the economy. Land degradation in Nigeria is attributed to improper agricultural and husbandry practices. Land degradation has severe ecological, economic, and human costs. Awareness of environmental problems in Nigeria is growing. Natural disasters such as the droughts of 1984-85, continued soil depletion, accumulations of soil wastes, increased flooding in urban areas, and land erosion in Anambra state are evidence of the growing environmental problems. Agricultural development should involve changing rural land use practices, using technology that is "appropriate" to the climate, crops, and culture of the people, and introducing agroforestry. Population growth in Nigeria puts pressure on the fragile ecosystem. Actual carrying capacity is a rough calculation. Nigeria's population growth patterns follow a pattern that suggests population pressure on carrying capacity. The acceleration of population growth has strained the traditional system of agriculture. Land is overused, and cultivation continues on unsuitable land. Domestic policies during the oil boom encouraged rapid industrialization at the expense of the environment. Migration increased to urban centers, but cities did not provide suitable housing, waste disposal, safe water supplies, and other basic facilities.     

Developing a strategy map for forensic accounting with fraud risk management: An integrated balanced scorecard-based decision model

Corporate fraud risk management strategy has increasingly become a sustainable business development goal. Recent reforms in forensic accounting technology for corporate fraud risk management globally have opened up new avenues for corporate governance and internal control mechanism implementation. This study thus presents an integrated methodology for forensic accounting implementation to improve the identification of the strategy map relationship between the Balanced Scorecard (BSC)-based perspective and criteria, by combining multiple-criteria decision making (MCDM) with the Decision Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (DEMATEL) and the Analytic Network Process (ANP) techniques. The results have implications for corporate decision-makers to effectively fulfil corporate governance quality assurance and anti-fraud through a forensic accounting strategy map illustration. From the evaluation and planning perspective, the in-depth analysis of strategy map is useful to obtain an interrelationship that takes as its starting point the practice professions of the decision maker to improve existing strategy alternatives and focus on the valuable strategy paths. In the evaluation planning application, a strategy map of forensic accounting presents the knowledge regarding key indicators’ priorities to achieve satisfactory strategy planning and to practice forensic accounting development linked to fraud risk management in Taiwan.     

Characterizing the urban environment through urban morphology types (UMTs) mapping and land surface cover analysis: the case of Addis Ababa,Ethiopia

Characterizing the urban environment through urban morphology types (UMTs) can help to decide on what parts of urban areas should be conserved. The aim of this study was to map and detect changes in UMTs and land surface cover in the city of Addis Ababa. UMT maps for 2006 and 2011 were produced by digitizing ortho-rectified aerial photographs. Eleven higher level and 35 detailed UMTs were identified as the basis for the study. Within the defined higher levels of UMTs in 2006, the most dominant UMT was agriculture covering 38 % of the total area while in 2011 residential UMTs stand out with the highest land coverage (33.3 %) indicating rapid conversion of other land uses to residential category. Land surface cover analysis used 12 surface cover categories.Change analysis between 2006 and 2011 revealed that surface cover types of built structure type I (generally well planned and high rise buildings), non-eucalyptus trees, dark bare-ground, light bare-ground and vegetable farm showed positive change whereas built structure type II (informal, generally unplanned, and non-high rise buildings), eucalyptus trees, shrub/bush vegetation, grassland and field crop cover showed negative change. The results also showed that almost half of the land surface cover of Addis Ababa could be considered to be evapotranspiring. To maintain a balanced urban environment, all green spaces in the city should be ecologically networked and the planning of green space should aim to ensure that principles of multi-functionality are followed as the city continues to undergo rapid urbanization.     

Urban growth patterns and growth management boundaries in the Central Puget Sound, Washington, 1986–2007

Many regions of the globe are experiencing rapid urban growth, the location and intensity of which can have negative effects on ecological and social systems. In some locales, planners and policy makers have used urban growth boundaries to direct the location and intensity of development; however the empirical evidence for the efficacy of such policies is mixed. Monitoring the location of urban growth is an essential first step in understanding how the system has changed over time. In addition, if regulations purporting to direct urban growth to specific locales are present, it is important to evaluate if the desired pattern (or change in pattern) has been observed. In this paper, we document land cover and change across six dates (1986, 1991, 1995, 1999, 2002, and 2007) for six counties in the Central Puget Sound, Washington State, USA. We explore patterns of change by three different spatial partitions (the region, each county, 2000 U.S. Census Tracks), and with respect to urban growth boundaries implemented in the late 1990’s as part of the state’s Growth Management Act. Urban land cover increased from 8 to 19% of the study area between 1986 and 2007, while lowland deciduous and mixed forests decreased from 21 to 13% and grass and agriculture decreased from 11 to 8%. Land in urban classes outside of the urban growth boundaries increased more rapidly (by area and percentage of new urban land cover) than land within the urban growth boundaries, suggesting that the intended effect of the Growth Management Act to direct growth to within the urban growth boundaries may not have been accomplished by 2007. Urban sprawl, as estimated by the area of land per capita, increased overall within the region, with the more rural counties within commuting distance to cities having the highest rate of increase observed. Land cover data is increasingly available and can be used to rapidly evaluate urban development patterns over large areas. Such data are important inputs for policy makers, urban planners, and modelers alike to manage and plan for future population, land use, and land cover changes.     

An Eastern or a Western Capital City? The Spirit of Helsinki

Helsinki's development during the last two centuries has been similar to that of many other medium-size capitals in continental, eastern and northern Europe. Centrally governed Helsinki, raised to a provincial capital in year 1812 in the Russian Grand Duchy of Finland, was urbanized late. The railway turned Helsinki at the end of nineteenth century into a main port for export and a real capital with connection to all over the country. The new industrial districts, ports, Paris-style boulevards and large stone house areas witnessed bourgeois wealth. The change in policy and governance transferred planning gradually from central to local level. The city's new Urban Planning Committee (1908) got the assignment of making new urban plans in the spirit of European metropolitan plans. This change coincided with the introduction of the one-chamber parliament (1906) and with the golden era of national arts and culture.

After the First World War Finland separated from Russia and Helsinki became capital for the independent republic (1917). The master plan proposal Pro Helsingfors, ordered by private commercial counselor for a Greater Helsinki, was made by architects Eliel Saarinen and Bertel Jung in 1918. It was marked with a continental planning ideas, modernistic monumentalism and traffic optimism. This plan influenced the development of the capital throughout the twentieth century. Among the large problems to be solved was the planning of a new city centre, the Töölönlahti bay area. The symbolic value of this area grew with Parliament House (1930). However, the final planning of this ‘republican core’ is still an open issue, with mixed interest by the state and the city.

After 1945 migration has been steadily growing. With the 1952 Olympics Helsinki joined the exclusive club of Olympic cities. Land area grew five-fold when the suburban zones were annexed in 1946 by decree of the National Government. Local urban planning could see capital, regional, metropolitan, traffic and suburban planning as a whole. The first master plan was approved in 1972. Since that, the city planning has been controlled strictly by the municipality.     

A comparison of carbon and nitrogen stocks among land uses/covers in coastal Florida

Coastal areas are rapidly developing due to population growth and the appeal of coastlines. In order to gain insight into how land use/cover affects carbon (C) storage in a coastal context, we examined soil and vegetation C and soil nitrogen (N) across land uses near Apalachicola, FL. Forested wetlands had the greatest soil C and N storage, while natural pine forests and pine plantations had the least. In paired plots, urban lawns had significantly greater mineral soil N content compared to urban forest remnants. Total ecosystem C (soil + vegetation) was higher in forested wetlands than all other land uses/covers combined due to the high organic content of those wetland soils. Urban forest remnants and lawns had greater total ecosystem C than natural pine forests and pine plantations, which likely reflects the differential influence of prescribed fire and less frequent anthropogenic disturbances between the rural and urban areas, respectively. Projections of land use change in Franklin County, FL combined with these data suggest that increases in C storage are possible with continued urbanization along the Gulf Coast, if forest remnants are left and lawns are incorporated in built-up areas. However, this study does not account for C emissions during land conversion, or any emissions associated with maintaining urban built-up and residential areas. A better understanding of land use/cover influences on C pools has applications for planning and development, as well as ecological and environmental protection in the region.     

The influence of exurban landscapes and local site characteristics on riparian vegetation

The southern Appalachian Mountains have experienced large population growth and a change in land use in the past 30 years. The majority of development has been low density, suburban land, known as exurban development. The long-term effects of exurbanization on riparian vegetative communities in the southeastern Appalachian Mountains are not well known. We sought to determine if vegetative community composition and structure change as a function of watershed–level variables such as time since neighborhood development or percent impervious surface within the watershed. We also assessed local–scale measures of disturbance such as canopy cover and basal area. Over two years we sampled a total of 27 streams in exurban watersheds ranging in age from four to forty-four years, along with eight forested streams. Watershed–scale variables such as neighborhood age and impervious surface cover did not influence the aspects of riparian vegetation community we measured. Canopy cover, a measure of local habitat disturbance, offered better predictions of vegetation community metrics. Exurban neighborhoods and their landowners may have the potential to manage for riparian vegetation through the use of maintained stream buffer zones along the entire length of the stream.