scholarly journals Lessons Learned from 55 (or More) Years of Professional Experience in Urban Planning and Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-224
Author(s):  
Han Verschure
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Rapid Change ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
The Earth ◽  
Main Challenge ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
As If

Reflecting on the many debates over the years on changing urbanization processes, on the towns and cities of yesterday, today, and tomorrow, the main challenge will be listening to lessons of wisdom from the past and adapting these to our future professional work. When Chief Seattle said that the Earth does not belong to us, we belong to the Earth, he called for more humility and respect so as to plan for the needs of today and tomorrow, and not for the greed of a few. The doomsday scenarios of overpopulation only make sense if we continue to exploit our planet the way we do today, as if we have an infinite reservoir of resources. Already back in the 1960s, Barbara Ward, John F. C. Turner, and particularly Kenneth Boulding taught me to rethink our whole perception of Spaceship Earth. I have seen many towns and cities grow as if resources were limitless; I myself have seen and worked on efforts to focus on spatial quality, respecting nature whenever possible for a growing number of people, recognizing resources as being precious and scarce, and yet guaranteeing equitable access to a good quality of urban life. Such objectives are not evident, when models in education, schools of thought, professional planners, and greedy developers are often geared towards the contrary: the higher the skyscrapers, the better; the more egotripping by architects, the more the rich like it; the more people are stimulated to consume, the better the world will be. Such narrow visions will no longer help. At several global urban planning and developments events (1976, 1992, 1996, 2016, etc.), new ideas and agendas have been put forward. Whether the present Covid-19 crisis may induce a more rapid change in vision and practice is still too early to confirm, but luckily, several towns and cities, and a few visionary planners and decision makers are showing some promising examples.

Urban Sociology

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel J. Monti
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Sociology ◽  
Far East ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Sociological Inquiry ◽  
Urban Settlements ◽  
The Rich ◽  
Urban Places ◽  
The Way

Urban sociology is among the earliest and richest areas of sociological inquiry. It touches on topics and problems related to the way urban areas develop and the way people live in urban areas. While most of the attention of urban sociologists has been on more contemporary urban settings in Western societies, they’ve shown increasing interest in urban development and urban life in so-called developing countries and the Far East, especially India and China. By nature an interdisciplinary pursuit, five major academic fields contribute to urban sociology: anthropology, economics, history, political science, and social psychology. Specialists in these respective disciplines read and cite each other’s work and borrow from each other’s theoretical insights. One major profession, urban planning, is affiliated with urban sociology. It, too, has its own entry in Oxford Bibliographies in Geography “Urban Planning and Geography”. Another broad field that draws on all the same intellectual sources is urban studies. It was added to the curricula of US colleges and universities in the late 1960s in response to the turmoil that was occurring in many urban areas at that time. Given all the rich disciplinary sources that feed into urban sociology, this area of inquiry probably can be best understood by the themes that allow researchers to connect the disparate kinds of studies they do. The several sections into which this essay is divided have works that reflect one or more of the following four themes: (1) Urban sociologists focus on either the physical development of urban places (i.e., urbanization) or the way of life or culture practiced there (i.e., urbanism). (2) The work of urban sociologists asks how urban places are built and laid out. It also asks how urban settlements might be rebuilt or developed so they better serve or complement the way people live there. (3) Some urban sociologists look at smaller groups or venues such as neighborhoods (i.e., “micro” studies). Others look at much larger geographic areas and whole communities (i.e., “macro” studies). (4) Persons who do this kind of work tend to be either optimistic about the prospects for urban places and people or, more frequently, pessimistic about how well they will fare.

Quality of Urban Life Index From Location-Based Social Networks Data

2017 ◽  
pp. 185-207 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rodrigo Smarzaro ◽  
Tiago França Melo de Lima ◽  
Clodoveu Augusto Davis Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Social Networks ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Life Index ◽  
Mobility Data ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
Belo Horizonte ◽  
Location Based Social Networks ◽  
The City

Several indicators are developed to support the decision-making processes in public policy for urban planning. Some of them seek to measure the quality of urban life. For example, the city of Belo Horizonte developed and uses an index called Quality of Urban Life Index, which identifies inequalities within the city, and therefore, those areas that need more investment. This index is calculated by measuring the availability of various kinds of services (e.g. education, infrastructure) and their accessibility (based on travel time and mobility data). For that, data from several government sources must be collected and used, which can delay updates of index values. In this chapter, the authors describe how data from Location-Based Social Networks (LBSN) can be used to calculate urban indicators, and hence, how they could be used as an alternative data source for estimating quality of urban life with faster results to support urban planning policies.

scholarly journals “RESLOBALIZATION” OF CITIES AS AN EFFECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHALLENGE OF THE CONTEMPORARY. PART I: GENERAL PROVISIONS, RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 110-117
Author(s):  
Marina Ye. MONASTYRSKAYA
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Landscape ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Effective Response ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
Ancient Times ◽  
Planning Culture ◽  
Epidemiological Situation

The article is devoted to the problem of adaptation of the living environment of the population of large and largest cities to the vital and dangerous challenges of the new coronavirus pandemic. The author suggests that historically developed cities in their traditional hypostasis have a certain” anti-epidemic “ potential of morphotypological genesis, which must be taken into account, it is advisable to use and it is desirable to increase in the extreme situation of the global COVID-19 epidemic. The working hypothesis of the study is formulated on the basis of the results of monitoring the data of the offi cial St. Petersburg statistics, which refl ect the dynamics of the incidence of new coronavirus infection among citizens, starting from March 2020. According to these results, the most stable epidemiological situation persists in the historical suburbs of the” northern capital “ and its central administrative districts. The center of St. Petersburg was originally developed as a “conglomerate of sett lements” - pre-industrial and proto- industrial urban planning morphotypes that have been inherent in the Russian urban planning culture since ancient times. Urban sett lements, which preserved their planning characteristics in the course of a historically predetermined morphotypological transformation, became the basis for the formation of a set of spatial loci in the structure of a megalopolis - separate components of the urban landscape, within which, if necessary, the introduction of stringent control measures and epidemiological situation in St. Petersburg, it is possible to protect “idealizations” quality of urban life and where work most eff ectively medicareinsurance “antipandemic” sliders “disaggregation”, “distancing”, “disinfection”.

The (in)visibility of riches, urban life and exclusion

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rowland Atkinson
Keyword(s):  
Related Problem ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Social Research ◽  
The State ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Rich ◽  
The 1960S

This chapter studies the position of the wealthy and their relationship to society at large. It specifically addresses the question of the relative invisibility of the rich, and a related problem — the issue of connecting the wealthy to the kinds of social problems that are so evident to those who live less-secluded lives. Social research has long observed and analysed those at the social bottom — endless studies of poverty, crime, segregation, and what some have seen as exotic portrayals of the excluded and marginal. From the 1960s onwards, this singular viewpoint generated increasing concerns that sociology and related disciplines were acting as a wing of the state and corporate funders who wished to understand, discipline, and contain problem groups and problem people.

scholarly journals Can we plan for urban cultural ecosystem services?

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Neven Tandarić ◽  
Christopher D Ives ◽  
Charles Watkins
Keyword(s):  
Ecosystem Services ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Situational Factors ◽  
Cultural Ecosystem Services ◽  
Key Factors ◽  
Five Factors ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
Theoretical Considerations

Abstract Despite being intangible, subjective and difficult to measure, cultural ecosystem services (CES) are more comprehensible and meaningful to people than many other services. They contribute greatly to the quality of urban life and achieving sustainability. Yet, little attention has been paid to how CES might practically be incorporated into urban planning. This paper addresses this gap by examining the challenges planners might face when handling CES, establishing strategies for addressing the challenges and highlighting key factors planners should consider when planning for CES. CES differ greatly from other ecosystem services—they are definitionally vague, difficult to measure, often bundled with other services and depend on users’ perceptions and situational factors. Therefore, rather than adopting a deterministic approach to generating CES, we suggest that urban planners should seek to create opportunities for CES to ‘hatch’ and ‘grow’ as people encounter nature in cities. This paper draws from diverse theoretical considerations of the CES concept as well as greenspace planning scholarship and practice. We identify five factors that need to be considered when planning for CES: place, people, past, practices and purpose. We see the proposed ‘5P’ framework as a useful heuristic for planners when implementing CES in urban planning.

Problems of Analysis of Design and Research Methods of Interaction with the Urban Environment

2020 ◽  
pp. 99-110
Author(s):  
П. В. Капустин ◽  
А. И. Гаврилов
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Environment ◽  
Urban Studies ◽  
Environmental Movement ◽  
The Past ◽  
Types Of Knowledge ◽  
Historical Dynamics ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The City ◽  
Research And Design

Состояние проблемы. Проблематика городской среды заявила о себе в 1960-е годы как протест против модернистских методов урбанизма и других видов проектирования. Средовое движение не случайно тогда именовали «антипрофессиональным» - оно было направлено против устоявшихся и недейственных методов работы с городом - от исследования до управления. За прошедшие десятилетия в рамках самого средового движения и его идейных наследников наработано немало методов и приемов работы, однако они до сих не подвергались анализу как пребывающая в исторической динамике целостная совокупность инструментария, альтернативного традиционному градостроительству. Результаты. Рассмотрены особенности и проблемы анализа методологического «арсенала» средового движения и урбанистики. Методы работы с городской средой впервые структурированы по типам знания. Показана близость методов исследовательского и проектного подходов в отношении городской среды. Выводы. В ближайшее время можно ожидать появления новых синтетических знаний и частных методологий, связанных как с обострением средовой проблематики, с расширением круга средовых акторов, так и с процессом профессионализации урбанистики. Statement of the problem. The urban environment paradigm emerged in the 1960s as a protest against the modernist methods of urbanism and other types of design. It was no coincidence that the environmental movement was back then called "anti-professional" as it was directed against the established and ineffective methods of working with the city, i. e., from research to management. Over the past decades, within the framework of the environmental movement and its ideological heirs, a lot of methods and have been developed. However, they have not yet been analyzed as an integral set of tools in the historical dynamics which is an alternative to traditional urban planning. Results. The features and problems of the analysis of the methodological “arsenal” of environmental movement and urban studies are considered. The methods of working with the urban environment are first structured according to the types of knowledge. The proximity of research and design approaches in the case when the urban environment is dealt with is shown. Conclusions. In the nearest future, we can expect new synthetic knowledge and particular methodologies related to both the exacerbation of environmental problems to emerge as well as the expansion of the circle of environmental actors and the process of professionalization of urbanstics.

Ups and Downs

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roy Livermore
Keyword(s):  
Mantle Convection ◽  
Laboratory Experiments ◽  
Inner Core ◽  
Computer Modelling ◽  
Great Depth ◽  
New Horizons ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Earth ◽  
The World ◽  
The 1960S

Despite the dumbing-down of education in recent years, it would be unusual to find a ten-year-old who could not name the major continents on a map of the world. Yet how many adults have the faintest idea of the structures that exist within the Earth? Understandably, knowledge is limited by the fact that the Earth’s interior is less accessible than the surface of Pluto, mapped in 2016 by the NASA New Horizons spacecraft. Indeed, Pluto, 7.5 billion kilometres from Earth, was discovered six years earlier than the similar-sized inner core of our planet. Fortunately, modern seismic techniques enable us to image the mantle right down to the core, while laboratory experiments simulating the pressures and temperatures at great depth, combined with computer modelling of mantle convection, help identify its mineral and chemical composition. The results are providing the most rapid advances in our understanding of how this planet works since the great revolution of the 1960s.

scholarly journals Architectural and Urban Attractiveness of Small Towns: A Case Study of Polish Coastal Cittaslow Towns on the Pomeranian Way of St. James

Land ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (7) ◽  
pp. 724
Author(s):  
Alicja K. Zawadzka
Keyword(s):  
Small Towns ◽  
Urban Life ◽  
Added Value ◽  
Development Policies ◽  
Quality Of Urban Life ◽  
Size Criterion ◽  
The Town ◽  
Modern Technologies

The paper presents the results of a study on the attractiveness to tourists and natives of the cultural qualities of coastal towns on The Pomeranian Way of St. James that are members of the Cittaslow network. Attention to the quality of urban life is inscribed in the development policies of towns applying to join the Cittaslow movement. In order to join the network (apart from the size criterion), towns need to meet a minimum of 50% plus one of the 72 criteria grouped into seven categories. One of the category is Quality of Urban Life Policy, so the towns applying to join Cittaslow commit themselves to actions aimed at improving the quality of urban life. The study on the attractiveness of cultural qualities of towns to tourists and natives was conducted using the author’s BRB method, whose added value is its universality and the possibility to study small towns regardless of their membership in the Cittaslow network. BRB is an acronym that stands for BUILDINGS, RELATIONSHIPS, BALANCE, and comprises three scopes of activities: BUILDINGS (iconic building and important sites where the inhabitants and the tourists are present); RELATIONSHIPS (the visual effects of the relations between the inhabitants and the town) and BALANCE (solutions that implement modern technologies). This method enables identification of places that are important to the inhabitants, where urban life takes place and which are often created with the involvement of the inhabitants. These are often the same spaces as those that attract tourists and perhaps stimulate them the desire to visit the town again (BRB—be right back). The aim of the BRB method is shown the attractiveness of small towns. The study has shown that the characteristic feature of Polish Cittaslow towns is their diversity: the architectural attractiveness of three towns is high both to tourists and natives. On the other hand, the urban attractiveness of the examined towns is an insufficient.

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