scholarly journals Digital Social Innovation and the Adoption of #PlanTech: The Case of Coventry City Council

2020 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 59-67 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ciaran Devlin
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
City Council ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Vast Number ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

The smart city trend has generated considerable interest in using digital technology to transform urban planning and governance, and in the UK the government funded Connected Places Catapult has been given the remit of stimulating innovation in cities. One of its focuses is urban planning and technology (#PlanTech) which has garnered attention from the Royal Town Planning Institute, a vast number of the UK local authorities, academia and technology companies. #PlanTech aims to revolutionise the urban planning industry across public, private and not for profit sectors in an era where fiscal austerity has catalysed a drive for using advanced technologies to improve the efficiency of operations and decision making. Technological innovation is being promoted to enable local authorities to deliver services with significantly reduced financial resources while simultaneously creating a modernised and more efficient public sector. Within this context, this article uses a detailed ethnographic study of planning functions in Coventry City Council, UK, to analyse how they have adapted so far in response to both austerity and the drive for digital innovation. The article concludes by examining how #PlanTech and digital social innovation may help deliver the broader smart city strategy.

scholarly journals The new evidence-based policy: public participation between ‘hard evidence’ and democracy in practice

2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-227
Author(s):  
Helen Pallett
Keyword(s):  
Public Participation ◽  
Science Policy ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Advantages And Disadvantages ◽  
Evidence Based Policy ◽  
Hard Evidence ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk

Background:Debates about evidence-based policy (EBP) were revived in the UK in the 2010s in the context of civil service reform and changing practices of policy making, including institutionalisation of public participation in science policy making. Aims and objectives:This paper aims to explore this revival of interest in EBP in the context of the Government-funded public participation programme Sciencewise, which supports and promotes public dialogues in science policy making. It is based on in-depth ethnographic study of the programme during 2013, considering the impacts on Sciencewise practices and working understandings of engaging in the EBP debate. There is a particular focus on the advantages and disadvantages of categorising public participation as a source of evidence-based policy as opposed to presenting participation as a democratic act which is separate from discussions of EBP. Key conclusions:At different times Sciencewise actors moved between these stances in order to gain credibility and attention for their work, and to situate the outcomes of public participation processes in a broader policy context. In some instances the presentation of outputs from public participation processes as legitimate evidence for policy gave them greater influence and enriched broader discussions about the meaning and practice of open policy. However, it also frequently led to their dismissal on methodological grounds, inhibiting serious engagement with their outputs and challenging internal frameworks for evaluation and learning.

scholarly journals Citizen Engagement for Co-Creating Low Carbon Smart Cities: Practical Lessons from Nottingham City Council in the UK

Energies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (24) ◽  
pp. 6615
Author(s):  
Sam Preston ◽  
Muhammad Usman Mazhar ◽  
Richard Bull
Keyword(s):  
Energy Consumption ◽  
Built Environment ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Smart City ◽  
Smart Cities ◽  
City Council ◽  
Citizen Engagement ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
City Development ◽  
The Uk

Cities constitute three quarters of global energy consumption and the built environment is responsible for significant use of final energy (62%) and greenhouse gas emissions (55%). Energy has now become a strategic issue for local authorities (LAs) and can offer savings when budget cuts have threatened the provision of core services. Progressive LAs are exploring energy savings and carbon reduction opportunities as part of the sustainable and smart city agenda. This paper explores the role of citizens in smart city development as “buildings don’t use energy: people do”. Citizens have the potential to shape transitions towards smart and sustainable futures. This paper contributes to the growing evidence base of citizen engagement in low carbon smart cities by presenting novel insights and practical lessons on how citizen engagement can help in smart city development through co-creation with a focus on energy in the built environment. A case study of Nottingham in the UK, a leading smart city, is analysed using Arnstein’s Ladder of Citizen Participation. Nottingham City Council (NCC) has pledged to keep “citizens at the heart” of its plans. This paper discusses learnings from two EU funded Horizon 2020 projects, REMOURBAN (REgeneration MOdel for accelerating the smart URBAN transformation) and eTEACHER, both of which aimed to empower citizens to reduce energy consumption and co-create smart solutions. Although these two projects are diverse in approaches and contexts, what unites them is a focus on citizen engagement, both face to face and digital. REMOURBAN has seen a “whole house” approach to retrofit in vulnerable communities to improve liveability through energy efficiency. User interaction and co-creation in eTEACHER has provided specifications for technical design of an energy saving App for buildings. eTEACHER findings reflect users’ energy needs, understanding of control interfaces, motivations for change and own creative ideas. Citizens were made co-creators in eTEACHER from the beginning through regular communication. In REMOURBAN, citizens had a role in the procurement and bidding process to influence retrofit project proposals. Findings can help LAs to engage demographically diverse citizens across a variety of buildings and communities for low carbon smart city development.

Urban Planning and the Creation of Livelihoods in Sub-Saharan Africa in the 21st Century

2019 ◽  
pp. 55-71
Author(s):  
Idowu Biao
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
21St Century ◽  
Urban Poor ◽  
City Council ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Cities ◽  
Modern Cities ◽  
The Creation ◽  
Sub Saharan

This chapter posits that the transformation of ancient African cities into modern cities using the modernist theory of planning did more harm than good. Not only has the modern city created many more urban poor than obtained in ancient cities, but the urban poor also remain the most vulnerable as their livelihoods have often come under threat from not only unfriendly city council regulations but also from the rigid safeguards of the modernist theory of town planning. Consequently, in order to promote the building of human-centered African cities which would serve all those that live in them, it is here suggested that the mystical, humanistic, and spatial values of ancient African cities should be further researched, so as to embed them into the transformation of existing and subsequent African cities.

scholarly journals GLOBAL ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN PLANNING TRENDS 1900s and 1930s AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE ARCHITECTURE AND URBAN PLANNING OF METROPOLITAN KHARKOV

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (156) ◽  
pp. 126-134
Author(s):  
K. Didenko
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Social Relations ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Garden City ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
Residential Architecture ◽  
Housing Complex ◽  
Planning Concepts

Organizational changes in project activity and the stages of its formation in the Ukrainian SSR as a tool for constructing a new social reality have been traced. The first stage was the approval of the altered role of architecture and the architect in socialist model, the second - the inclusion of social relations and lifestyle in the subject of architectural creativity, the third - conceptual approaches / models and the fourth - the creation of new samples of architecture. Global trends in urban planning and housing construction in the 1920s - 1930s essential for understanding the processes taking place in the construction of the capital Kharkov have been established. Namely: – the formation of urban planning schools at the turn of the XIXth and XXth centuries. (England, France, Germany, Austria (Vienna), as well as in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kharkov and Kiev; – outsourcing knowledge from other sciences (statistics, economics, law, sociology, etc.); – aspiration to construct cheap housing, industrialization and standardization; – attraction of private capital to the construction of residential complexes. A similarity pointed out between architectural and urban planning concepts is composed of the attraction to conceptual solutions alike to the "garden city" in early 1920s, the search for a new housing typology (sometimes small) with facilities; creation of the concepts of a house-commune and a housing complex. Implementation of avant-garde concepts in the development of social and housing infrastructure of the metropolitan Kharkov is considered. In the 1920s the formation of architectural and urban planning concepts in the USSR took place in correlation with the basic social ideas of architectural and urban planning practices of the West in the following sequence: noncritical borrowing of Western bourgeois models ("garden city"), attempts at social innovation inspired by the classics of utopian socialism (house-commune as phalanx reincarnation), constructing new functional-spatial models as means of implementing social doctrine (residential complexes); socio-economic invention in the context of industry planning (Sotsgorod). Practical verification of the models created at each stage became an incentive for new searches. Keywords: architectural and town-planning tendencies, socialization of town-planning, socialization of residential architecture complexes, metropolitan Kharkov.

scholarly journals An analysis of the effects of equalisation funds on service delivery in selected local authorities in Zambia

2020 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hanson Chishimba ◽  
Eustarckio Kazonga ◽  
Evaristo Nsenduluka
Keyword(s):  
Local Government ◽  
Service Delivery ◽  
Central Government ◽  
Income Taxes ◽  
City Council ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Property Owners ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Government ◽  
Self Help Groups

Background: The government of the Republic of Zambia established the Local Government Equalisation Fund, to which each year parliament appropriates not less than 5% of the total amount of projected income taxes collected for the republic for that financial year. The purpose of the fund is to provide a source of financing for service delivery.Aim: The goal of this study was to analyse the effects of equalisation funds on service delivery in selected local authorities in Zambia.Setting: The study focused on Lusaka City Council, Luanshya Municipal Council and Chisamba and Luangwa town councils in Zambia.Methods: A concurrent mixed-methods approach was used. The population comprised registered property owners and council officials in the selected districts. The sample was drawn using stratified sampling. Data were collected using questionnaires and analysed by using descriptive statistics and regression analysis using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 25. Qualitative data were analysed using a narrative approach.Results: The expenditure composition of the equalisation funds shows that expenditure on personal emoluments accounts for a greater proportion than capital and service expenditure. There were similarities and differences in the methods of service delivery among local authorities: the use of local government enterprise, contracting out, franchises, volunteers, self-help groups and in-house provision.Conclusion: There is lack of satisfactory adherence to the guidelines on utilisation of equalisation funds for service delivery as espoused by the central government. The local authorities studied do not adhere to the prescribed guidelines on the utilisation of equalisation funds.

Research on how to Improve the Liveability of City Community

2012 ◽  
Vol 174-177 ◽  
pp. 3503-3506 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wei Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Central Government ◽  
Local Environment ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
City Community ◽  
The Government ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Innovative Approaches

The term ‘liveability’ has markedly risen up the political agenda in the UK in 2003, with an £89m Liveability Fund being given to 27 local authorities from central Government. The government also developed many other related policies, regulations and targets to improve the quality of local environment. This paper presents the positively interrelated factors that can greatly contribute to the promotion of liveability. It aims to synthesize a set of innovative approaches to improve the liveability of our living places and make cleaner, greener and safer communities.

scholarly journals Environmental assessment platform for cities racing to net zero

2021 ◽  
Vol 2042 (1) ◽  
pp. 012140
Author(s):  
A S Bahaj ◽  
P Turner ◽  
M Mahdy ◽  
S Leggett ◽  
N Wise ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
City Council ◽  
Emergency Setting ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Assessment Matrix ◽  
The Uk ◽  
Hierarchy Process ◽  
The City ◽  
Time Resource ◽  
Green City

Abstract The UK was the first major economy to pass a Climate Change Act in 2008, which was revised in 2019 to achieve net zero emissions by 2050. In 2019, Southampton City Council (SCC) declared a climate emergency setting ambitious targets for the city to become carbon neutral under the banner Green City Charter (GCC), which was signed by 70 city-based organisations. There is, however, no specific methodology to quantify progress towards the targets. Here we present the outcomes from developing the GCC Tracker in collaboration with local authorities and stakeholders. The approach is based on the Analytical Hierarchy Process, with expertise agreed weights to measure the success or otherwise of carbon environmental commitments. The outcome is the Green City Tracker encompassing an assessment matrix that provides ratings and quantifies annual progress for achieving committed targets. The Tracker was applied to 10 institutions and the results show their ratings as a function of each sub-criteria and as an overarching rating. The approach highlighted the importance of generating a universally applicable and time/resource efficient processes in order to incentivise organisation participation. The Tracker was widely accepted by regional local authorities with a plan to widely adapt it to other cities declared targets.

Interrelationships between municipal spatial policy strategy and airport operation and development. Lodz Airport case study

2018 ◽  
Vol 59 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-79
Author(s):  
Katarzyna Nikorowicz-Zatorska
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Cultural Development ◽  
The Other ◽  
Local Authorities ◽  
Spatial Management ◽  
The One ◽  
Surrounding Areas

Abstract The present paper focuses on spatial management regulations in order to carry out investment in the field of airport facilities. The construction, upgrades, and maintenance of airports falls within the area of responsibility of local authorities. This task poses a great challenge in terms of organisation and finances. On the one hand, an active airport is a municipal landmark and drives local economic, social and cultural development, and on the other, the scale of investment often exceeds the capabilities of local authorities. The immediate environment of the airport determines its final use and prosperity. The objective of the paper is to review legislation that affects airports and the surrounding communities. The process of urban planning in Lodz and surrounding areas will be presented as a background to the problem of land use management in the vicinity of the airport. This paper seeks to address the following questions: if and how airports have affected urban planning in Lodz, does the land use around the airport prevent the development of Lodz Airport, and how has the situation changed over the time? It can be assumed that as a result of lack of experience, land resources and size of investments on one hand and legislative dissonance and peculiar practices on the other, aviation infrastructure in Lodz is designed to meet temporary needs and is characterised by achieving short-term goals. Cyclical problems are solved in an intermittent manner and involve all the municipal resources, so there’s little left to secure long-term investments.

SCIENTIFIC APPROACHES TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF PLANNING DOCUMENTATION FOR THE UNITED TERRITORIAL COMMUNITIES

2018 ◽  
pp. 42-48
Author(s):  
Olha Dorosh ◽  
Iryna Kupriyanchik ◽  
Denys Melnyk
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Land Management ◽  
Planning Process ◽  
Town Planning ◽  
Land Use Systems ◽  
The Law ◽  
Land Use Development

The land and town planning legislation concerning the planning of land use development within the united territorial communities (UTC) is considered. It is found that legislative norms need to be finalized. The necessity of updating the existing land management documentation developed prior to the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Land Management" and changes in the structure of urban development in connection with the adoption of the Law of Ukraine "On Regulation of Urban Development" was proved as they do not ensure the integrity of the planning process within the territories of these communities through their institutional incapacity (proved by the example of the Palan Unified Territorial Community of the Uman district of the Cherkasy region). The priority of land management and urban planning documents as the most influential tools in planning the development of land use systems in UTC is scientifically grounded and their interdependence established.

scholarly journals Public governance, agility and pandemics: a case study of the UK response to COVID-19

2021 ◽  
pp. 002085232098340
Author(s):  
Paul Joyce
Keyword(s):  
Leadership Role ◽  
Public Confidence ◽  
Strategic Decisions ◽  
Public Governance ◽  
Local Initiative ◽  
Government Response ◽  
Local Resources ◽  
The Government ◽  
The One ◽  
The Uk

The UK government’s leaders initially believed that it was among the best-prepared governments for a pandemic. By June 2020, the outcome of the collision between the government’s initial confidence, on the one hand, and the aggressiveness and virulence of COVID-19, on the other, was evident. The UK had one of the worst COVID-19 mortality rates in the world. This article explores the UK government’s response to COVID-19 from a public administration and governance perspective. Using factual information and statistical data, it considers the government’s preparedness and strategic decisions, the delivery of the government response, and public confidence in the government. Points for practitioners Possible lessons for testing through application include: Use the precautionary principle to set planning assumptions in government strategies to create the possibility of government agility during a pandemic. Use central government’s leadership role to facilitate and enable local initiative and operational responses, as well as to take advantage of local resources and assets. Choose smart government responses that address tensions between the goal of saving lives and other government goals, and beware choices that are unsatisfactory compromises.

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