Urban Ecology of Shrinking Cities: An Unrecognized Opportunity?

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Haase

Whereas environmental and social impacts of urban sprawl are widely discussed among scholars from both the natural and social sciences, the spatial consequences of urban decline are nearly neglected when discussing the impacts of land transition. Within the last decade, "shrinkage" and "perforation" have arisen as new terms to explain the land use development of urban regions faced with demographic change, particularly decreasing fertility, aging, and out-migration. Although shrinkage is far from being a "desired" scenario for urban policy makers, this paper argues that a perforation of the built-up structure in dense cities might bring up many positive implications.

Author(s):  
Waziri Babatunde Adisa

Land use policy is central to the development of urban life and the emergence of cities. In many developed capitalist societies, both the planning and expansion of the cities are usually anchored on sustainable urban land policies such that the growth of urban sprawl is effectively controlled. In most developing countries, land use policies are not only disparate, they are usually not connected to the growth of cities because policy makers are after the money they could make from private investors. This chapter argues that though the coming of the Land Use Act 1978 ended the era of disparate land law regimes, it has, over the years, sealed the control of urban lands to state governors, a development that has created massive corruption and arbitrariness in the allocation and utilization of urban lands. This approach to land administration has also hindered effective and sustainable urban and regional planning in many Nigerian cities. This study suggests the review of the 1978 Land Use Act and effective utilization of modern technologies in the monitoring of urban sprawls.


2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Xinhai Lu ◽  
Danling Chen ◽  
Yue Wang

This paper investigates how urban sprawl and the quality of economic growth interact and further studies the spatial-temporal decoupling characteristics of both. To achieve this, a framework was developed to better explain both the different dimensional effects urban sprawl exerts on the quality of economic growth and their reverse feedback relation. A sample of 285 Chinese cities (2003 to 2016) were analyzed, employing both a decoupling model and spatial correlation analysis. The findings indicated that urban sprawl and the quality of economic growth are related via scale, structure, technological efficiency, and technological progress effects. In practice, with increasing quality of economic growth, the urban sprawl index decreases at the national level. At prefecture-city level, the types of decoupling between urban sprawl and the quality of economic growth showed clear periodical and unbalanced characteristics. Furthermore, decoupling showed a significant agglomeration effect in Chinese cities, which is mainly mediated by the types High-High and Low-Low. This study provides a significant contribution to the relevant acknowledge system by providing a comprehensive theoretical framework toward an understanding of how urban expansion interacts with the quality of economic growth. Furthermore, their decoupling types and spatial differences that are critical for the urban sustainable development have been identified, thus providing several important insights for both academics and urban policy makers.


2014 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1045-1070 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicholas C. Zingale ◽  
Helen Liggett ◽  
Deborah Riemann Heinen

Successfully guiding the transition of space within shrinking cities presents a challenge to public administrators, urban designers, and planners faced with developing policies and practices to cope with declining conditions. This project examines a particular site, “The Flats,” the waterfront area of the Cuyahoga River in Cleveland, Ohio, and asks how assumptions about desirable uses have shifted over time. Henry Lefebvre’s notion of “trial by space” is adapted to create a heuristic tool for highlighting the implications of alternative land uses along two axes: domination and appropriation. Historic postcards, interviews with administrators, and recent planning documents for the Flats are analyzed to highlight values embedded in past spatial practices and proposed land uses. Finally, we suggest that the trial by space model is applicable beyond shrinking cities and can operate as a tool with which not only scholars but also policy makers, administrators, politicians, planners, and citizens can assess the implications of administrative plans and land use proposals.


Author(s):  
Waziri Babatunde Adisa

Land use policy is central to the development of urban life and the emergence of cities. In many developed capitalist societies, both the planning and expansion of the cities are usually anchored on sustainable urban land policies such that the growth of urban sprawl is effectively controlled. In most developing countries, land use policies are not only disparate, they are usually not connected to the growth of cities because policy makers are after the money they could make from private investors. This chapter argues that though the coming of the Land Use Act 1978 ended the era of disparate land law regimes, it has, over the years, sealed the control of urban lands to state governors, a development that has created massive corruption and arbitrariness in the allocation and utilization of urban lands. This approach to land administration has also hindered effective and sustainable urban and regional planning in many Nigerian cities. This study suggests the review of the 1978 Land Use Act and effective utilization of modern technologies in the monitoring of urban sprawls.


Author(s):  
Andrea Alonso Ramos

Sustainability must be an urban issue. Cities should be managed so as to minimize their impacts on environment, but providing an appropriate framework for economic and social development. However, European cities are facing some trends that threaten sustainable development. The aim of the EC research project INSIGHT-7FP (2013/16) is to develop appropriate management tools that can help to achieve sustainability in the context of European cities. In the project, a set of policy objectives have been designed for the management of urban areas, in order to face the main threats existing over cities. The paper presents a methodology based on indicators for analysing the progress towards these ten policy objectives in the four EU cities participating in the project: London (12.3 mill. inhab.), Madrid (6.4 mill. inhab.), Barcelona (5.4 mill. inhab.) and Rotterdam (1.4 mill. inhab.). All the indicators used in the analysis have been validated by ten policy makers of European cities. These policy makers participated on the stakeholders consultation carried out in the project, where the importance of the policy objectives proposed was also assessed. The paper concludes determining the policy priority objectives in each city, in order to contain the main threats existing over them: London should especially address the threats of social exclusion and transport inefficiency; Madrid the threats of economic decline and urban sprawl; Barcelona the economic decline and Rotterdam the contribution to climate change and the urban sprawl. Finally, the role played by the land use and transport system in these policy objectives is analysed. To this end, the assessment allows for the comparability of the results in a horizontal manner, in the basis of common indicators. Nearly half of these indicators are related to the land use and transport system of the cities.DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/CIT2016.2016.4091


Author(s):  
Olha Dorosh ◽  
Iryna Kupriyanchik ◽  
Denys Melnyk

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.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1608
Author(s):  
Rubén Cordera ◽  
Soledad Nogués ◽  
Esther González-González ◽  
José Luis Moura

Autonomous vehicles (AVs) can generate major changes in urban systems due to their ability to use road infrastructures more efficiently and shorten trip times. However, there is great uncertainty about these effects and about whether the use of these vehicles will continue to be private, in continuity with the current paradigm, or whether they will become shared (carsharing/ridesharing). In order to try to shed light on these matters, the use of a scenario-based methodology and the evaluation of the scenarios using a land use–transport interaction model (LUTI model TRANSPACE) is proposed. This model allows simulating the impacts that changes in the transport system can generate on the location of households and companies oriented to local demand and accessibility conditions. The obtained results allow us to state that, if AVs would generate a significant increase in the capacity of urban and interurban road infrastructures, the impacts on mobility and on the location of activities could be positive, with a decrease in the distances traveled, trip times, and no evidence of significant urban sprawl processes. However, if these increases in capacity are accompanied by a large augment in the demand for shared journeys by new users (young, elderly) or empty journeys, the positive effects could disappear. Thus, this scenario would imply an increase in trip times, reduced accessibilities, and longer average distances traveled, all of which could cause the unwanted effect of expelling activities from the consolidated urban center.


2010 ◽  
Vol 23 (2) ◽  
pp. 221-265 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philippe Fontaine

ArgumentFor more than thirty years after World War II, the unconventional economist Kenneth E. Boulding (1910–1993) was a fervent advocate of the integration of the social sciences. Building on common general principles from various fields, notably economics, political science, and sociology, Boulding claimed that an integrated social science in which mental images were recognized as the main determinant of human behavior would allow for a better understanding of society. Boulding's approach culminated in the social triangle, a view of society as comprised of three main social organizers – exchange, threat, and love – combined in varying proportions. According to this view, the problems of American society were caused by an unbalanced combination of these three organizers. The goal of integrated social scientific knowledge was therefore to help policy makers achieve the “right” proportions of exchange, threat, and love that would lead to social stabilization. Though he was hopeful that cross-disciplinary exchanges would overcome the shortcomings of too narrow specialization, Boulding found that rather than being the locus of a peaceful and mutually beneficial exchange, disciplinary boundaries were often the occasion of conflict and miscommunication.


EDIS ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 2009 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Lauren McDonell ◽  
Martha C. Monroe ◽  
Gene Boles ◽  
Terri Mashour

Revised! FOR199, a 5-page illustrated fact sheet by Lauren McDonell, Martha C. Monroe, Gene Boles, and Terri Mashour, outlines the ecological, social, and economic effects of urban sprawl and describes the guiding principles of smart growth and how it can help address these issues. Includes references. Published by the UF School of Forest Resources and Conservation, July 2008. FOR199/FR260: Land Use in the Wildland-Urban Interface: Urban Sprawl and Smart Growth (ufl.edu)


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document