Development priority zoning (DPZ)-led scenario simulation for regional land use change: The case of Suichang County, China

China has experienced an extraordinary level of economic development since the 1990s, following excessive competition between different regions. This has resulted in many resource and environmental problems. Land resources, for example, are either abused or wasted in many regions. The strategy of development priority zoning (DPZ), proposed by the Chinese National 11th Five-Year Plan, provides an opportunity to solve these problems by coordinating regional development and protection. In line with the rational utilization of land, it is proposed that the DPZ strategy should be integrated with regional land use policy.As there has been little research to date on this issue, this paper introduces a system dynamic (SD) model for assessing land use change in China led by the DPZ strategy. Land use is characterized by the prioritisation of land development, land utilization, land harness and land protection (D-U-H-P). By using the Delphi method, a corresponding suitable prioritisation of D-U-H-P for the four types of development priority zones, including optimized development zones (ODZ), key development zones (KDZ), restricted development zones (RDZ), and forbidden development zones (FDZ) are identified. Suichang County is used as a case study in which to conduct the simulation of land use change under the RDZ strategy.The findings enable a conceptualization of DPZ-led land use change and the identification of further implications for land use planning generally. The SD model also provides a potential tool for local government to combine DPZ strategy at the national level with land use planning at the local level.     

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.     

The Environment for Foreign Direct Investment and the Characteristics of Joint Ventures in China

Since China opened up to the world in 1979, it has tried hard to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) to develop an export-oriented economy. This study assesses the investment climate in China during the period 1979–1990 and analyses the characteristics of joint ventures, which have been the predominant form of FDI in China.     

Fengshui theory in urban landscape planning

The spatial configuration of urban landscapes results from cumulative interactions between human activities and the physical environment. Traditional philosophies and cultural legacies have had important influences on urban development and planning in East Asia. In Seoul, traditional land use practices based on ‘Fengshui’ have significantly contributed to human-mediated patterns of landscape changes, in addition to the role of the socio-economic background (development) and other human activities. The concept of Fengshui was originally founded upon people’s empirical cognition of natural landscape patterns. Recently, however, advanced economic development, westernization and urbanization have been rapidly altering the old traditions of the holistic landscape systems through changing urban planning practices. Since the type, scale, frequency, distribution and spreading pattern of environmental and human disturbances have been changed, a new paradigm for urban landscape planning is necessary to maintain the ecological and cultural integrity of landscapes in Korea. In this paper, we discuss recent concepts and methods of landscape ecology and urban planning from the viewpoint of Fengshui, the traditional land use patterns in Seoul, whose application has so far been restricted only to traditional land evaluation. We conclude that, to maintain the sustainability of the urban landscape, it is necessary to develop a new urban planning framework for the region that is based on the integration between landscape ecology principles with the traditional concepts of Fengshui.     

Towards an effective strategy to cope with housing land scarcity in the Gaza Strip as a sustainable development priority

Consistent with the global trends towards the adoption and implementation of sustainable urban planning strategies, this study discusses the problem of housing land shortage, considering the ever rapidly growing human population. Urban land is one of the most precious resources that need to be consumed and developed wisely. In this context, housing density is a widely used tool to control housing land consumption and ensure acceptable housing environments. With reference to the Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories), the main aim of this study is to highlight the role of increasing housing density in order to face the problem of housing land scarcity. Within this scope, building legislation implemented in Gaza has been reviewed with reference to housing density. A questionnaire and a case study have been analyzed to propose recommendations related to housing planning and design. It has been concluded that rationalising urban land consumption in Gaza can be achieved by a dual strategy approach that increases housing density above the currently specified limit, and reduces the area of the typical Palestinian housing unit. This has to be done without sacrificing the limited open spaces available in the local housing environment. Thus, solutions that strike a balance between dense housing patterns and adequate urban environment, are essentially required here.     

新加坡土地综合利用效率探讨

新加坡经济发达、人口密集、土地狭小。、但有限的土地并没有成为新加坡经济社会发展的制约。相反,通过借鉴世界城市规划发展的成功经验和自身的创新土地管理,新加坡在土地空间利用上展现了其面对住房、交通、环境、水资源利用等城市发展共同挑战问题时独特的解决方法。长期稳定的综合规划、短期局部的灵活应变和土地效益的综合考量成为新加坡土地政策的三大特征。新加坡在土地管理中对土地使用效率和社会公平兼顾的政策理念与效果,对中国快速城市化进程中的土地管理有非常有益的借鉴。     

The influence of land use type and municipal context on urban tree species diversity

Recent research has focused on the ways urban forest patterns vary in relation to level of urbanization and socioeconomic characteristics, with most studies limited to one urban land use type or multiple non-differentiate land uses. Additionally, the majority of studies examining urban forest patterns focus on canopy cover extent, with less attention given to patterns of species diversity. This study explores how tree species diversity varies across different urban land uses and municipal boundaries to better understand the role of land use types in shaping urban forest patterns. The goal is addressed through an exploration of plot-level tree data in the urban municipalities of Peel Region located in the Greater Toronto Area (Ontario, Canada). Species composition and standard diversity metrics are calculated for eight land use types and four municipalities. Our results show that differences in diversity metrics and species composition are greater between urban land uses than municipalities. Moreover, Peel’s urban forest has relatively high alpha diversity but many species are present on only one land use type. The results suggest that different causal processes are associated with each land use type, and that urban forest managers should adopt land use-specific strategies to meet species composition goals within the urban forest.     

国内外土地使用标准体系借鉴

土地资源等环境容量的刚性制约,已成为影响上海经济社会发展的关键因素。在城市规划编制与实施、土地利用管理的过程中,土地使用标准的调整和完善是建设节约集约型城市的前提条件。上海要完善土地使用标准体系,应增加综合用地分类并开展有关功能复合用地指标的研究;建立全市"横向到边、竖向到底"的指标覆盖;强化对公益性设施用地的细分,提高规划公共管理的针对性;加强对不同用地分类与建筑物设施功能利用的引导;转变静态控制方法,适度增加标准体系的开放性。     

China's Way of Economic Transition

China started economic transition in 1978 to implement a Chinese type of socialist market economy system, i.e., a market-oriented economy consisting of collectively community-owned enterprises (CCOE) and state-owned enterprises (SOE) in a totalitarian political system with the Communist Party of China as the ruling power. The main contents of the economic transition can be briefly described as follows: (1) gradual decentralization of economic decision from central economic planning to market-oriented decision by delegating competence to managers of SOE and CCOE without privatization of public ownership, (2) liberalization of cross border economic activities (open-door policy), (3) allowance for Chinese to erect private enterprises (PE) on the one side and foreigners to set up foreign invested enterprises (FIE) on the other side, as well as (4) reorganization of SOE and CCOE. In comparison to the former Soviet Union and the Central and Eastern European countries, the following points of China's way of economic transition are of special interest. First, China's way of transition is a ``gradual trial and error' approach without a transition program set for long term but flexible and gradual way which is called a ``touch stones to cross river' approach. Field experiments have been carried out at first. A reform will be implemented after successful experiments. Second, the rural community becomes reorganized by breaking down communes, implementing a ``household responsibility system' in the agricultural sector and setting CCOE in the rural areas to carry out industrialization without movement out of rural labor (the slogan for this kind of transition is lee tuh puh lee shian [``move out from agriculture but not out of rural area']. Third, China's economic development is characterized by a huge expansion of CCOE in the eighties and newly founded PE consisting of FIE since the nineties, while only a very limited share of SOE has been privatized via the reorganization of the sector. China's way of economic transition has been a process of decentralization of the economic system from a central planning economy to one of decentralized market-oriented decision by delegating competence to management of SOE and CCOE without privatization of the ownership to increase efficiency. Fourth, China has been heavily loaded by a fragile banking system with a huge amount of nonperformance loan which implies a high risk of banking system crisis. Fifth, China's economic transition has been seen as a tool to keep the power of the Communist Party China with a periodically instable totalitarian political system and has permanently been confronted with risk of a political collapse. Human rights have not been protected in China. The FIE have crucially contributed to the growth of industrial production, export, and also the economic growth in China since 1979, especially since 1992. Economic special zones have significantly induced the rapid growth inflow of FDI which has financed the establishment of new enterprises instead of financing privatization of the SOE in China. Thus, it is not exaggerated to say that the FDI inflow has mainly contributed to the performance of the Chinese economic transition and the FIE have been the engine of the Chinese economic development.     

新农村住宅生态环保化的发展方向和设计趋势

我国幅员广阔,因地理区域不同建筑风格也多种多样.因此,在新农村住宅建设中,既要充分体现生态观,又要保持多姿多彩的建筑风格.优秀的规划和建筑设计方案对于村容村貌整治具有重要的先导作用,有利于改善现在新农村建设过程中随意建设、模仿严重的状况,有利于改变农村面貌、改善农民居住条件.新农村住宅应统一规划、合理布局、功能齐全.土地作为一种不可再生的资源,具有短缺性.新农村规划应以土地的集约使用为宗旨,以节约尽可能多的土地,为农村长远的发展留有足够的空间.     

新加坡城市交通发展模式对广州的启示

新加坡在经济快速发展、人口密度极高、土地资源限制下,仍能保持交通便利与行车顺畅,其成功在于塑造了“公交都市”,通过一系列组合政策运用,避免了交通拥挤带来的问题。新加坡的成功经验表明,交通拥堵问题是系统问题,必须从系统的角度寻找解决交通拥堵的良策,这对目前正努力建设公交都市的广州未来交通政策的制定尤其值得借鉴。     

Seeking urban sustainability on the world stage

Nearly any introduction to the ideas and actions of sustainable development includes a mention of the role played in launching the global movement by the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. International forums have been a major vehicle for the pursuit of sustainability subsequent to 1992, as well, but little attention has been paid to the contribution that these global gatherings have made to the advancement of sustainability goals. This article takes up this question, with a focus on the role that major global gatherings may be playing in the pursuit of urban sustainability, specifically. To this end, we examine outcomes from the United Nations Habitat II Forum (1996, Istanbul), the World Summit on Sustainable Development (2002, Johannesburg), the World Social Forum (2001–present, Porto Alegre), and the World Urban Forum 3 (2006, Vancouver), based on reports in the scholarly literature and, in the latter case, based on our own experience as urbanists in the host city of the World Urban Forum 3. For comparative purposes, we include in our review reflections on the contribution made by a United Nations effort towards sustainability, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), made without an accompanying major global gathering. While we do not find evidence of ‘Rio-scale’ success among either the forums or in the case of the MDGs, we report on process and structural innovations made with each forum as well as common critiques of all of them. A primary contribution that all the forums have made to the advancement of urban sustainability has been more clearly differentiating among sustainability's very different types of proponents and charting the landscape of barriers and opportunities for paradigm change towards sustainable urban futures.     

Illegal migration in Taiwan: a preliminary overview

Since 1986, there have been indications that Taiwan (the Republic of China) has been experiencing an increase in illegal migration. Despite a lack of data describing the number, origins, and demographic characteristics of the illegal migrants, an open policy debate has been carried out by economic and social planners, entrepreneurs, and labor leaders. Interviews with representatives of these 3 groups suggest that, contrary to expectations, planners favor the legalization of foreign workers; individual entrepreneurs also consider legalization a wise option. Labor leaders, as expected, are opposed to the use of imported labor. In January 1990, the Executive Yuan (Assembly) adopted regulations permitting limited use of foreign labor. The increase in illegal migrants and the decision to regularize their status suggests the need to review carefully the implications of all planning initiatives as far in advance as possible, and preferably when development plans are being initially implemented.     

Agreement on water and a watered-down agreement: The political ecology of contested coastal development in Down East, North Carolina

In 2006, land use planning emerged as a contested issue in the rural area known as ‘Down East’, Carteret County, in eastern North Carolina, USA. Down East is experiencing a transition from a commercial fishing to an amenity economy and concerns about related changes led to the formation of ‘Down East Tomorrow’ (DET), a grassroots group that proposed a one-year development moratorium in order to facilitate a community planning process. In this paper, we use political ecology to examine the fate of the moratorium as reflected in the public written record, primarily minutes of meetings of the Carteret County Board of Commissioners. We illustrate how issues of community, science, and governance were linked to an increasing focus on coastal water quality in the debate, and argue that this focus facilitated a switch by the Board from considering a development moratorium to adopting a conservation ordinance, one that fell short of addressing DET’s concerns. This outcome illustrates the power of formal political institutions in ’First World’ environmental conflicts and the difficulties of reconciling competing values associated with land use in areas of transition, especially where historical resistance to planning has been the norm.     

Restructuring for growth in urban China: Transitional institutions,urban development,and spatial transformation

This research examines government policies and urban transformation in China through a study of Hangzhou City, which is undergoing dramatic growth and restructuring. As the southern center of the Yangtze River Delta, an emerging global city region of China, Hangzhou has been restlessly searching for strategies to promote economic growth and survive the competition with Shanghai. This paper analyzes Hangzhou’s development strategies, including globalization, tourism, industrial development, and urban development, in the context of shifting macro conditions and local responses. We hold that urban policies in China are situated in the broad economic restructuring and the gradual, experiential national reform and are therefore transitional. The paper suggests that China’s urban policies are state institution-directed, growth-oriented, and land-based, imposing unprecedented challenges to sustainability and livability. Land development and spatial restructuring are central to urban policies in China. Last, while Hangzhou’s development strategies and policies to some extent reflect policy convergence across cities in China, local/spatial contexts, including local settings, territorial rescaling and land conditions, are underlying the functioning of development/entrepreneurial states.     

Local Dependency,Land Use Attitudes,and Economic Development: Comparisons between Seasonal and Permanent Residents1

Abstract For many rural communities in the United States, tourists and retirees make a major contribution to the local economy. The role of recreational home ownership in these communities is not well understood. We examine the attitudes toward land use controls and local economic development among seasonal and permanent residents. We compare growth machine and local dependency theory explanations for support of land use controls and growth activities. Based on focus groups and survey data collected from seasonal and permanent residents of a northern Wisconsin county, we find that full-time (permanent) residents are much more supportive of local economic development activities and less likely to favor land use planning than are seasonal residents. Socioeconomic differences between seasonal and permanent residents do not explain away the variation between the two groups in these attitudes. Among seasonal residents, support for land use controls declines as they spend more time at their lake homes. The results tend to support Cox and Mair's local dependency thesis.     

Policy Reform and Foreign Direct Investment in Africa: Absolute Progress but Relative Decline

Despite improvements in the policy environment, sub‐Saharan Africa's share of foreign direct investment (FDI) in developing countries continues to decline. This article provides an explanation for the deterioration in SSA's FDI global position. It argues that, although SSA has reformed its institutions, improved its infrastructure and liberalised its FDI regulatory framework, the degree of reform has been mediocre compared with the reform implemented in other developing countries. As a consequence, relative to other regions, SSA has become less attractive for FDI. An important implication of these results is that in a competitive global economy, it is not enough just to improve one's policy environment: improvements need to be made both in absolute and relative terms.     

Indigenous land rights and dynamics of the land market in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

This paper raises a number of important issues relating to legal and economic development concepts. It concentrates on the supply constraints affecting land development decisions of both private and public landowners in releasing land for development purposes. With reference to the indigenous land rights in Kuala Lumpur, this paper focuses on the restrictions in interest, which may limit the land from being transferred in the open market. With a limited market, the indigenous land achieves a lower value in the market place because transactions are limited within a particular group of people only. As a result, the market forces are restricted and the land development process for urban regeneration often comes to a halt. In examining the role of the indigenous land market in the redevelopment process of Kuala Lumpur, the study uses an institutional analysis to show the way in which these restrictions in interest affect landowners’ decisions and, thus, restrict the supply of land to real estate redevelopment. In conclusion, the paper shows various causes for land supply constraints and ways to improve these with the aim to undertake urban redevelopment initiatives considering pressure for more land in the market.     

The interaction between landmine clearance and land rights in Angola: A volatile outcome of non-integrated peacebuilding

The current approach to peacebuilding by the international community is to focus on the priorities thought to be important to recovery, but this occurs in a largely non-integrated way. With these different endeavors largely isolated from each other in planning, analysis, implementation, and measures for success, little is known about how they interact and whether or not the aggregate effect contributes to, or detracts from durable peace. This is especially important for priorities which in some way interact with each other on the ground among a recipient population. Two of these priorities for recovery, landmine clearance and land rights, while taking place on the same lands at the same time, and for the same people, are regarded separately as crucial to postwar recovery, and their interaction has not yet been examined. This article looks at these two priorities for Angola, and finds in their interaction a number of ways in which they detract from durable peace. This is a result of, 1) the role of areas adjacent to mine contaminated locations, 2) land grabbing, 3) the actions and role of the State, 4) the problematic interaction between different sectors involved in recovery, 5) the ongoing return of refugees and internal dislocatees and their (re)settlement, and 6) the lack of awareness of land tenure issues on the part of ‘mine action’ organizations. Subsequent to an examination of these forms of interaction this article looks at possible ways forward, focusing on, 1) the derivation of a form of ‘forced transparency’ as a deterrent to land grabbing, 2) enhancing the utility of ‘land release’ within the mine action community, 3) linkage of the different sectors concerned with mine action and land rights, and 4) the role that donors of mine action can play.     

浦东农村集体建设用地流转研究

当前,浦东集体建设用地低效、闲置和浪费现象比较普遍,资产价值尚未真正体现,尤其是乡镇工业用地聚集度低,布局分散,点多规模小,建筑密度和容积率低;工业产出率不高,厂房、场地闲置严重。通过集体建设用地的流转,实施土地二次开发,可以有效利用存量用地,盘活土地资源。要通过确权登记发证,进一步理清产权界限,避免产权主体虚置与权能重叠;建立合理的收益分配机制,确保农民利益;加快相关财政体制衔接．保障流转工作有序推进。