State of local governance and urban development problems

Since the advent of the second digital revolution, the exponential advancement of technology is shaping a world with new social, economic, political, technological, and legal circumstances. The consequential disruptions force governments and societies to seek ways for their cities to become more humane, ethical, inclusive, intelligent, and sustainable. In recent years, the concept of City-as-a-Platform was coined with the hope of providing an innovative approach for addressing the aforementioned disruptions. Today, this concept is rapidly gaining popularity, as more and more platform thinking applications become available to the city context—so-called platform urbanism. These platforms used for identifying and addressing various urbanization problems with the assistance of open data, participatory innovation opportunity, and collective knowledge. With these developments in mind, this study aims to tackle the question of “How can platform urbanism support local governance efforts in the development of smarter cities?” Through an integrative review of journal articles published during the last decade, the evolution of City-as-a-Platform was analyzed. The findings revealed the prospects and constraints for the realization of transformative and disruptive impacts on the government and society through the platform urbanism, along with disclosing the opportunities and challenges for smarter urban development governance with collective knowledge through platform urbanism.

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Effects of Urban Development Praxis on Economic Inequality in Latin American Cities

Urban Science ◽

10.3390/urbansci3030088 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 3 (3) ◽

pp. 88

Author(s):

Gustavo Alberto Cadenas Delascio ◽

Luis E. Hernández-Ponce ◽

Gerardo L. Febres

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Latin American ◽

Community Organization ◽

Local Governance ◽

Economic Inequality ◽

Multiple Linear Regression Model ◽

Developing Regions ◽

Common Goals ◽

Statistical Relationships ◽

American Cities

In a highly and rapidly urbanized world, the effect of the action of urban development is determinant for the physical, social, and economic conditions of its citizens, among which is inequality. It is even more crucial for developing regions such as Latin America on which this research is conducted. Therefore, the focus of the investigation was to determine the existence of significant statistical relationships between urban development and economic inequality in the region. For this purpose, it was sought to define urban development from the perspective of the praxis of multilateral organizations measured by indicators of extensive use among them. A hierarchical multiple linear regression model was built with six urban development variables predictors of the Gini coefficient as an indicator of economic inequality, in which data of 49 Latin American cities was used. The application of the method allowed us to discover a stochastic behavior of interaction between those multidimensional systems and confirmed the statistical relation. The research allows having a tool for the formulation of public policies that seek to strengthen local governance, promote community organization and participation, and assert urban planning as an agent for concerted efforts to achieve common goals.

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Civic pride and redevelopment in the post-war British city

Urban History ◽

10.1017/s0963926812000077 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 39 (2) ◽

pp. 310-328 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

PETER SHAPELY

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Local Governance ◽

Development Projects ◽

Local Authorities ◽

Symbolic Form ◽

Civic Pride ◽

Development Plans ◽

Post War

ABSTRACT:This article is concerned with civic pride in post-war urban Britain. While many of the development projects during 1945–79 proved to be design failures, suggesting the demise of civic pride, the ambitions of local authorities, planners and developers have largely been ignored or dismissed. Nevertheless, the development plans which emerged during this period reveal a desire to rebuild new, modern and vibrant cities. Moreover, the planning and financing of these new projects highlights the structure of local governance in post-war Britain, with a shift towards new partnerships consisting of the council, the technocrat and the developer. As such, civic pride continued to be evident in the post-war period, both as an aspiration for urban development and as a symbolic form of power.

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Railway and urban development in Patras: Towards the improved participation of local governance in complex planning problems

SAJ - Serbian Architectural Journal ◽

10.5937/saj1503365p ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 7 (3) ◽

pp. 365-380

Author(s):

Theodora Papamichail

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Planning Process ◽

Local Governance ◽

Infrastructure Development ◽

Test Planning ◽

Local Actors ◽

Railway System ◽

Planning Problems ◽

Complex Planning

In recent years, the topic of integrated infrastructure and urban development requires the bottom-up approach in addition to the formal planning policies. This is specifically true for complex institutional frameworks, which need the enforcement of the interested public. Due to the socio-economic crisis in Greece, infrastructure networks have already been dramatically influenced by the fragmented decision-making among the different planning levels and actors. The case study presented in the paper relates to the improvement of a railway system in Patras, Greece (in narrow terms), but, in broader terms, the case study elucidates the informal planning procedure (called the Test Planning process) behind the railway improvement as such. The idea of using such a procedure in Patras emerged due to the different interests of various actors concerning the railway integration into the urban fabric in last two decades. However, it seems there is an absence of an effective cooperation between the initiators of this procedure and the local authorities. Research methodology is developed in several steps. Firstly, the broader problem and the potential of infrastructure development will be presented. Secondly, the Test Planning process will be presented shortly. In the end, the importance of local government in such a collaborative procedure will be mentioned and the case of local actors in Patras in the different phases of the Test Planning process will be under a critical scope towards the existing situation and the benefits in future steps.

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The Challenge of Implementing of the System of "Communaute d'Agglomeration"for Reforming the Local Governance System and Urban Development Policy

Journal of the City Planning Institute of Japan ◽

10.11361/journalcpij.39.3.175 ◽

2004 ◽

Vol 39.3 (0) ◽

pp. 175-180

Author(s):

Yuka Okai ◽

Takashi Onishi

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Development Policy ◽

Local Governance ◽

Governance System ◽

Urban Development Policy

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A Step Change or a Step Back? The Thames Gateway and the Re-birth of the Urban Development Corporations

Local Economy The Journal of the Local Economy Policy Unit ◽

10.1080/13575270500053241 ◽

2005 ◽

Vol 20 (2) ◽

pp. 141-153 ◽

Cited By ~ 26

Author(s):

Mike Raco

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Local Governance ◽

Development Planning ◽

Local Communities ◽

Sustainable Communities ◽

Institutional Form ◽

Local Authorities ◽

Strategic Development ◽

Economic Problems ◽

Development Agendas

The delivery of the government's Sustainable Communities: Building for the Future proposals in the Thames Gateway area will be spearheaded by two new Urban Development Corporations (UDCs). During the 1980s and 1990s, UDCs were at the forefront of property-led regeneration in Britain and their impacts were extremely controversial. For some they represented a necessary institutional form that successfully facilitated and delivered regeneration to areas with chronic social and economic problems. For others they embodied a broader Thatcherite programme that marginalised local authorities and local communities from the heart of development planning. This paper examines their reintroduction and compares and contrasts the new agencies with those that existed in earlier decades. It argues that although the new UDCs will have broadly similar powers, the political contexts in which they are being established differ markedly. They are now expected to embed themselves into regional and national strategic development agendas and work in development partnerships with local authorities and local communities. The paper outlines the possible political and practical impacts that they will have and what their emergence tells us about the nature of Labour's broader modernisation agendas for local governance.

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Redeeming the Chinese modernity? Zen Buddhism, culture-led development and local governance in Xinxing County, China

Environment and Planning A Economy and Space ◽

10.1177/0308518x16687555 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 187-205 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Junxi Qian

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Local Governance ◽

Zen Buddhism ◽

Guangdong Province ◽

Cultural Knowledge ◽

Industrial Park ◽

Development Projects ◽

Chinese Modernity ◽

Leisure And Recreation ◽

Ecological Tourism

This article explores culture-led urban development in Xinxing County, Guangdong Province. Arguing for the relevance of cultural governance to the study of culture-led development in China, it heeds to the specific cultural knowledge and discourses that frame policy, and thinks critically on the creation of a unitary, all-encompassing idea of culture, which many culture-led development projects fall prey to. Empirically, this article presents a study of the Ecological Tourism Industrial Park of the Sixth Patriarch’s Hometown, a high-end leisure and recreation complex. It first sketches the ways in which Zen is re-packaged as a redeeming force that cures the alienating effects of modernisation. It moves to an analysis of the production of culturally encoded consumption spaces envisioned by the Plan of the Ecological Tourism Industrial Park of the Sixth Patriarch’s Hometown. Finally, this article reflects on how the Ecological Tourism Industrial Park of the Sixth Patriarch’s Hometown imposes a dominant, unitary conception of local culture, excluding pre-established practices and routines that connect local people and Zen in lived and habitual ways, yet are devalued by the notion of Zen as high-end symbolic goods.

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Land Requisitions and State–Village Power Restructuring in Southern China

The China Quarterly ◽

10.1017/s0305741015001241 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 224 ◽

pp. 888-908 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Siu Wai Wong

Keyword(s):

Urban Development ◽

Rapid Growth ◽

Local Governance ◽

Southern China ◽

Local State ◽

Land Conflicts ◽

Social Unrest ◽

Actual Impact ◽

Depth Analysis ◽

Underlying Causes

AbstractLand requisitions for urban development have led to a rapid growth of wealthy, autonomous villages in southern China. However, the underlying causes of this emerging phenomenon and its impact on local governance have been largely unexplored by the existing literature. Through an in-depth analysis of the contestations and negotiations between the local state and villagers when dealing with the various problems arising from land compensation, this study explains how and why land requisitions strengthened the collective power of villagers in defending their rightful interests. This bolstered power has in turn forced the local state constantly to adjust its tactics when addressing the needs of villagers in order to avoid widespread conflicts and potential social unrest. The findings provide new insights into the complexities of land conflicts and their actual impact on state–village power restructuring in southern China.

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