Planning for retail change: a survey of municipal governments in Washington State

Effectively managing retail is essential for municipalities in terms of meeting land use planning goals, developing revenue sources through taxation, furthering economic growth and providing access to goods and services for residents. In 2013, a survey was conducted to examine the retail planning practices of all the 110 small- and medium-sized municipalities in Washington State. The online survey addressed data collection and analysis, land use, retail recruitment, inter-jurisdictional cooperation and evaluation. A large majority of respondents had retail planning goals in their comprehensive plans, yet only 30% dedicated staff for implementation. Jurisdictions would benefit from regional retail planning (especially in light of changes underway from e-commerce), yet the state tax structure places municipalities in competition.     

Planners’ Perceptions of Why Canadian Communities Have Too Many Plans

A survey of Canadian planners explored perceptions about factors contributing to the growing number of plans communities have adopted recently. The results suggest that practitioners see themselves as responding to current community concerns, as well as to requirements imposed by higher levels of government. Neoliberal practices that force compliance with accountability frameworks to enable transfer payments increase demands for new plans. Professional practices within planning have encouraged specialization—in fields such as urban design—that often leads to plan-making activities. With many plans to coordinate, and limited staff resources and time available, practitioners face increasing implementation challenges.     

Indigenous Resource Management Plans: Transporting Non-Indigenous People into the Indigenous World

The paper explores the degree to which Indigenous groups perceive that resource management plans they develop are able to help deliver outcomes they seek through formal planning systems. It does this by a case study of practice in Aotearoa New Zealand. Some Indigenous groups are concerned they are being encouraged to devote considerable effort to production of major planning documents for use in interaction with environmental agencies, yet in practice, such plans can appear to have a limited role in bringing about desired change or affecting wider planning processes. The research contributes a New Zealand dimension to this international debate.     

Understanding the theory behind the Last Planner System using the Language-Action Perspective: two case studies

Since the Last Planner System® (LPS) was devised in the early 90s, a number of studies have pointed out the need to understand the underlying theory in which it is based on. The Language-Action Perspective (LAP) has been suggested as a suitable approach to understand the management of commitments in the LPS. This paper aims to assess the contribution of LAP to understand construction planning and control systems based on LPS. Two case studies were carried out in different construction companies, both highly experienced on the use of LPS. The results reveal the role of LAP for creating explicit representations of commitment flows that can be used to explain the sources of complexity and failures in planning systems, as well as for describing the profile of planning and control meetings.     

Pension reforms in EU11 countries: An evaluation of post‐socialist pension policies

This article evaluates the pension policy pathways of the 11 former state socialist nations that have joined the European Union since 2004. Focusing primarily on the post‐2004 period, the analysis discusses the most important measurable outcomes of these countries’ pension reforms, in terms of poverty alleviation, pension adequacy and fiscal sustainability. Going beyond the quantifiable concepts, we also investigate the quality of the 11 countries’ pension systems in terms of equity as well as efficiency, emphasizing the less conspicuous design errors present in these systems. Although these errors have received little attention to date, they may harm pension schemes along several dimensions, including their fiscal sustainability.     

在区域规划中坚持以人为本

以人为本是科学发展观的本质和核心。论文阐述了以人为本在区域规划中的含义和重要意义,认为在区域规划中应坚持以人为本,并将以人为本的理念落实于规划实践之中。为此,在区域规划中必须落实“五个统筹”,走全面、协调、可持续的发展道路;积极吸收当地人参与和征求当地人意见;以人的全面的发展作为区域规划的出发点和归宿,提高人的整体素质;注重规划细节,使广大群众切实感受到区域规划所带来的利益。     

战略环评与都市圈建设

都市圈的建设越是火热,越需要冷静的思考。目前都市圈建设面临的重要问题是环境保护,战略环评的缺位造成的损失难以在短时间内克服,只进行建设项目的环境影响评价是不够的,需要正确认识并切实推行战略环评。     

村级女计生专干的困境分析

我国人口形势目前呈现出前所未有的复杂局面,人口计生工作重点难点在农村。根据实际需要。很多地方提倡每个行政村配备至少一名女性担任村级计生专干。当前研究界极少对该群体进行研究。处于人口计生网络网底的女性计生专干在工作中面临着工作不专、责任大权力小、招怨气、无保障等诸多困难。究其原因在于。她们时常面临角色冲突（边缘的工作角色、强者的社区期待、矛盾的家庭角色）;受传统的性别观和生育观束缚;相关政策有待完善;自身工作能力和素质有待提高等方面。由此建议。在村级女计生专干的队伍建设中完善培训机制、引入竞争机制、强化管理机制、落实待遇机制、创新激励机制。     

流动人口计划生育管理服务体系的缺陷与对策

流动人口计划生育管理服务工作是当前我国人口计生工作的难点。通过论述我国流动人口计划生育管理服务体系存在的理论缺陷、管理体制缺陷、融入缺陷、制度缺陷、机制缺陷、资源缺陷和手段缺陷,从战略层面、发展层面、工作层面提出提高流动人口计划生育管理服务效能的系列对策,以期能够破解困扰全国多年的流动人口计划生育管理服务难题。     

Planning for community: understanding diversity in resident experiences and expectations of social connections in a new urban fringe housing estate,Australia

Master-planned estates are a major source of new housing for growing cities. Much research finds these residential developments lack genuine social connections between residents despite marketing of ‘close-knit’ community. Selandra Rise is a new residential development on the urban fringe of Melbourne, Australia. The estate was planned with a focus on community infrastructure and resident well-being. The resident population was younger and more culturally diverse than most other master-planned community case studies. A longitudinal research design was used to explore resident understanding, experiences and needs relating to place-based community. Interviews were conducted with residents before moving to the estate and 9–18 months after moving. Some residents considered community as an amenity provided by the master-planned environment that did not require their social participation. Others aspired to make social connections with neighbours but had varying levels of success. Past experiences which contributed to aspirations for connecting with local community, and the ways that these aims were realised or hindered, are discussed. Understanding diverse resident expectations of community and insights from their lived experience are used to make recommendations for planning new neighbourhoods and designing community development programmes.