scholarly journals The Impact of Economic Crisis in Areas of Sprawl in Spanish Cities

Urban Science ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 113 ◽  
Author(s):  
Arlinda García-Coll ◽  
Cristina López-Villanueva

The development of dispersed urbanism in Spain ran parallel to the real estate boom and consolidated a new model of city sprawl based on the expansion of suburban areas. This process, which started in the mid 1980s, came to a halt with the onset of the economic crisis in 2007. With it, construction stopped, mobility fell, and urban growth came to a standstill. The purpose of this article is, firstly, to analyse the recent evolution and chronology of the expansion of dispersed urbanism in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) in order to gain an insight into some of its explanatory factors, and secondly, to look into the future middle-term prospects of dispersed urbanism in the BMR and Spain. To this end, we examine trends in the housing market and residential mobility and take stock of the impact of business cycles on them. The conclusion is that dispersed areas still retain their appeal for people in the life stages of the creation and expansion of households. For this reason, an effective economic recovery and a renewed rise in the price of housing in denser cities may contribute to an upturn in the popularity of the dispersed residential model, which nowadays could be considered to be in a ‘lethargic’ phase, waiting for certain factors to concur and reactivate its expansion.

Author(s):  
Arlinda García-Coll ◽  
Cristina López-Villanueva

The development of dispersed urbanism in Spain ran parallel to the real estate boom and consolidated a new model of city sprawl based on the expansion of suburban areas. This process, which started in the mid 1980s, came to a halt with the onset of the economic crisis in 2007. With it, construction stopped, mobility fell and urban growth came to a standstill. The purpose of this article is to carry out an analysis of the recent evolution and chronology of the expansion of dispersed urbanism in the Barcelona Metropolitan Region (BMR) in order to gain an insight into some of the explanatory factors of such expansion and to deal with the future prospects of middle-term development of dispersed urbanism in the BMR and in Spain. To do this, we examine the trends in the housing market, in residential mobility and we take stock of the impact of business cycles. The conclusion is that dispersed areas retain their appeal in the stages of creation and expansion of households. For this reason, an effective economic recovery and a renewed rise in the price of housing in denser cities may contribute to an upturn in the popularity of the dispersed residential model, which nowadays could be considered to be in a ‘lethargic’ stage, waiting for certain factors to coincide and re-activate its expansion.


2018 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 360-377 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jorge Olmo Vera

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the impact of the Law on Budgetary Stability of 2012 over the level of accumulated debt in Spanish municipalities. The paper also analyses the influence of the socioeconomic environment, political factors and budgetary indicators on the level of accumulated debt for the 2008–2014 period, which coincides with the economic crisis. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses panel data methodology. First, the t-test of difference of means is used to analyse which political variables are significant. Then, the analysis is carried out using the generalised method of moments in order to obtain the explanatory variables of the level of debt. Findings The results show that in 2013–2014, the Law on Budgetary Stability did not have a significant effect on reducing the accumulated debt. However, the law has led to a change of the trend in debt levels, as the debt decreased from 2013 to 2014. Moreover, population, unemployment, immigration, personnel expenditure, direct fiscal pressure and level of investment have an influence over the level of accumulated debt. Originality/value This paper contributes to analyse to what extent the Law on Budgetary Stability has affected accumulated debt. The study reveals a slight impact on reducing debt, although it is not significant. An original aspect of this paper is that it uses dynamic models to study the accumulated debt of Spanish municipalities. The study shows the impact of socioeconomic, environmental and political factors as well as of budgetary indicators on the level of debt in the context of economic crisis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 91-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabel Pujadas Rúbies ◽  
Cristina López Villanueva ◽  
Jordi Bayona-I-Carrasco

2019 ◽  
Vol 44 (44) ◽  
pp. 7-21
Author(s):  
Manolis Christofakis ◽  
Eleni Gaki ◽  
Dimitrios Lagos

AbstractThe objective of this paper is to analyse the changes that occurred in the regional disparities and sectoral specialisation of the Greek regions due to the economic crisis. The research problem is to identify the effect that the crisis had on the developmental perspectives of the regions and on regional policy priorities. In this framework, we explore the regional disparities, along with the allocation and specialisation of economic sectors in two separate time periods: the pre-crisis period (2000–2007) and the crisis period (2008–2014). The variable used is regional employment in the branches of economic activity. The methods used are Coefficient of Variation, Location Quotients and Shift-Share Analysis. According to the results, we classify the spatial units into categories and we propose means of regional policy. The results show that the disparities increased during the first period of the crisis and declined in the next, without, however, reaching the levels of 2000. In the first period the dynamic economic sectors are concentrated mainly in the metropolitan region of Attica and in the island region of South Aegean, while local advantages are shown in several regions except Attica. During the period of crisis, Attica and South Aegean lost their sectoral dynamism, while a few regions resisted. Regarding the local share effects, the more urbanised regions show negative local shares. The rest of the regions exhibit local advantages. Thus, according to these results, a concluding remark is that the more traditional activities seem to be more resilient, unlike the modern activities, which seem more sensitive to the crisis and are located mainly in the large cities and the most urbanised regions of the country. Regarding the proposed regional policy means, infrastructure improvement is indicated for most of the urbanised regions in order to improve their developmental environment. For the other regions, a more balanced sectoral structure must be promoted. Of course, in order to propose more targeted policy measures, it is important that regional development features (according to the classification of the regions and the proposed policy measures) be adapted to smaller areas and to a greater number of narrower economic sectors, rather than simply applying them at the regional level. This is also true of the effect that some other factors such as human capital and innovative capacity have on regional resilience. Future research will focus on this.


2017 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
pp. 378-390 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny K. Rodriguez ◽  
Paul Stewart

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the characteristics of working practices, in particular HRM practices in work settings in Chile, specifically the regulatory strength of organisational culture. Design/methodology/approach The paper is based on data gathered from a non-probabilistic sample of 1299 workers in the Metropolitan Region of Chile. Findings Findings suggest that HRM practices sustain, while restructuring, dynamics of worker monitoring and control, consistent with historical and social patterns of relationships in Chile. These relationships are sustained via status differences and operate through the development of paternalistic relationships between managers and workers. Originality/value The paper provides insight into the character of human resource management in Latin America from the perspective of workers. In addition, it highlights the impact of organisational culture on regulating workplaces and shaping HRM practices that do not challenge the socio-cultural order.


Water ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 1239 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tuija Laakso ◽  
Teemu Kokkonen ◽  
Ilkka Mellin ◽  
Riku Vahala

Sewer condition is commonly assessed using closed-circuit television (CCTV) inspections. In this paper, we combine inspection results, pipe attributes, network data, and data on pipe environment to predict pipe condition and to discover which factors affect it. We apply the random forest algorithm to model pipe condition and assess the variable importance using the Boruta algorithm. We analyse the impact of predictor variables on poor condition using partial dependence plots, which are a valuable technique for this purpose. The results can be used in screening pipes for future inspections and provide insight into the dynamics between predictor variables and poor condition.


2017 ◽  
Vol 14 (02) ◽  
pp. 103-110
Author(s):  
S. Tomassi ◽  
M. Ruggeri

Summary Background: The global crisis that began in 2007 has been the most prolonged economic recession since 1929. It has caused worldwide tangible costs in terms of cuts in employment and income, which have been widely recognised also as major social determinants of mental health (1, 2). The so-called “Great Recession” has disproportionately affected the most vulnerable part of society of the whole Eurozone (3). Across Europe, an increase in suicides and deaths rates due to mental and behavioural disorders was reported among those who lost their jobs, houses and economic activities as a consequence of the crisis.


2009 ◽  
pp. 54-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Shastitko ◽  
S. Avdasheva ◽  
S. Golovanova

The analysis of competition policy under economic crisis is motivated by the fact that competition is a key factor for the level of productivity. The latter, in its turn, influences the scope and length of economic recession. In many Russian markets buyers' gains decline because of the weakness of competition, since suppliers are reluctant to cut prices in spite of the decreasing demand. Data on prices in Russia and abroad in the second half of 2008 show asymmetric price rigidity. At least two questions are important under economic crisis: the 'division of labor' between pro-active and protective tools of competition policy and the impact of anti-crisis policy on competition. Protective competition policy is insufficient in transition economy, especially in the days of crisis it should be supplemented with the well-designed industrial policy measures which do not contradict the goals of competition. The preferable tools of anti-crisis policy are also those that do not restrain competition.


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