scholarly journals Reappraising Urban Planning and Urban Sustainability in East Africa

10.5772/35133 ◽  
2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuaib Lwasa ◽  
Cecilia Kinuthia-Njeng
2021 ◽  
pp. 0739456X2110019
Author(s):  
Adam Millard-Ball ◽  
Garima Desai ◽  
Jessica Fahrney

We investigate diversity in urban planning education by analyzing the gender and race/ethnicity of authors who are assigned on reading lists for urban sustainability courses. Using a sample of 772 readings from thirty-two syllabi, we find that assigned authors are even less diverse than planning faculty. Female authors account for 28 percent of assigned readings on the syllabi, and authors of color for 20 percent. Wide variation between courses suggests that a paucity of potential readings is not the main constraint. We urge instructors to revisit or “decolonize” their course syllabi and think critically about whose voices students are taught to hear.


2019 ◽  
Vol 111 ◽  
pp. 02070
Author(s):  
Clélia Mendonça de Moraes ◽  
Edson Melanda ◽  
Nilson Roberto de Barros Carneiro

The article discusses the interface between the influence of the urban climate and the traffic accident, there are as reference the results of the research carried out for the Araraquara case, SP, Brazil. Initially presented a brief analysis of urban mobility, geoprocessing (GIS) and the climatic importance in relation to urban sustainability. The article analyzes the urban climate of Araraquara, especially with regard to solar radiation on city streets and green areas. It was based on the premise that there is a correlation between the urban microclimates and the variables related to the traffic accident. Thus, a georeferenced mapping of the urban geometry was carried out by associating the climatic variables such as solar radiation, temperature and humidity of the air, to three parameters related to the traffic accident were chosen from the a) traffic accident with victim, b) without victim and c) motorcycle. At the end, the article proposes how the results found can reduce traffic accident and contribute to urban planning


2014 ◽  
Vol 20 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-56
Author(s):  
Marie Redon

In 2010, the capital of Haiti was devastated by an earthquake that seemed to provide the opportunity for the country, as well as foreign donors, to put Port-au-Prince on the track of an ordered, planned urban policy, in line with its multi-risk context. Prior to the earthquake, the lack of a legal framework for urban planning was called into question. In its wake, speeches making the capital the emblem of a new ‘sustainable’ start have flourished. The European Union, the main donor of funds for Haiti, has embarked on a programme of support for reconstruction, but with what results three years later? The paper proposes to approach the limitations of the ‘sustainable city’ model, conditioned by spatiotemporal continuity. The systemic functioning underlying urban sustainability clashes with the context of Port-au-Prince, where spatial division and temporal discontinuity are determinant. In spite of itself, aid and its operation by projects, seems to enforce urban fragmentation and dissonance.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 4580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Mazzarino ◽  
Lucio Rubini

Currently, remarkable gaps of operational, social and environmental efficiency and overall sub-optimization of the logistics and mobility systems exist in urban areas. There is then the need to promote and assess innovative transport solutions and policy-making within SUMPs (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) to deal with such critical issues in order to improve urban sustainability. The paper focuses on the case study of the Venice Lagoon, where islands—despite representing a relevant feature of urban planning—face a tremendous lack of accessibility, depopulation, social cohesion and they turn out to be poorly connected. By developing an original scenario-building methodological framework and performing data collection activities, the purpose of the paper consists of assessing the feasibility of a mixed passenger and freight transport system —sometimes called cargo hitching. Mixed passenger and freight systems/cargo hitching are considered as an innovative framework based on the integration of freight and passenger urban systems and resources to optimize the existing transport capacity, and thus, urban sustainability. Results show that the overall existing urban transport capacity can accommodate urban freight flows on main connections in the Lagoon. The reduction in spare public transport capacity, as well as in the number (and type) of circulating freight boats show—in various scenarios—the degree of optimization of the resulting urban network configuration and the positive impacts on urban sustainability. This paves the way for the regulatory framework to adopt proposed solutions.


2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 1719-1742 ◽  
Author(s):  
I-Chun Catherine Chang

This paper is an attempt to reassess the role of failure in policy mobilities. Empirically, this paper examines the various aftermaths of, and the continuing trans-local connections originating from, the prominent but un-materialized Sino-British Shanghai-Dongtan eco-city—with a particular consideration on its relation with a subsequently realized project—the Sino-Singapore Tianjin eco-city. The findings reveal that despite its apparent failure, Dongtan eco-city established a set of urban planning procedures adopted by many, including those who designed and delivered the Tianjin eco-city. Meanwhile, Dongtan’s failure to materialize motivated the Chinese government to pursue collaboration with the Singaporean government over the increased involvement of private Western partners. The intent to avoid association with Dongtan’s failure also fostered a new eco-urbanism model based on rebranding the planning practices of Singapore’s public housing. Parts of Dongtan eco-city have also lived on through the international circulation of a piece of planning software that was first developed for the failed project. This paper contributes to the policy mobilities literature by challenging its dominant focus on successful exemplars and exploring how a project fails in implementation yet parts of it remain mobile, influential and present in other developments. This paper also advances the understanding of contemporary urban sustainability by revealing how eco-urbanism models are co-produced in this globalizing era between the global North and South, as well as within the global South.


2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 25-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Taha Chaiechi

Most studies of urban sustainability are characterised by traditional approaches focusing on environmental aspects. These studies often neglect the influence of issues such as governance, society, culture, and geography. Multidisciplinary contributions remain poorly understood in this field, although evidence suggests that regional, geographical and socio-cultural factors are essential in shaping sustainable urban planning. Following Arksey and O'Malley’s (2005) scoping approach to literature reviews, this article provides a mapping technique and a scoping review to show the extent and nature of applied methodologies in the field of urban sustainability. The paper finds that there is a global need for sustainable urban planning through innovative multidisciplinary approaches. The paper calls for an accelerated knowledge creation in the field of urban development based on climate-classifications, socio-economic information, and locational characteristics. It particularly notes the need for research in the Tropics where distinct socio-economic dynamics and climate conditions have specific impacts on sustainable urban planning.


2017 ◽  
Vol 49 (8) ◽  
pp. 1779-1796 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elizabeth Rapoport ◽  
Anna Hult

This article examines the international travels of ideas about sustainable urban planning and design through a focus on private sector architecture, planning and engineering consultants. These consultants, who we refer to as the global intelligence corps (GIC), package up their expertise in urban sustainability as a marketable commodity, and apply it on projects around the world. In doing so, the global intelligence corps shape norms about what constitutes ‘good’ sustainable urban planning, and contribute to the development of an internationalised travelling model of sustainable urbanism. This article draws on a broad study of the industry (GIC) in sustainable urban planning and design, and two in-depth case studies of Swedish global intelligence corps firms working on Chinese Eco-city projects. Analysis of this material illustrates how the global intelligence corps’s work shapes a traveling model of sustainable urbanism, and how this in turn creates and reinforces particular norms in urban planning practice.


Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Terama ◽  
Peltomaa ◽  
Mattinen-Yuryev ◽  
Nissinen

Urban sustainability has been used to cover multiple aspects of urban development. Terms related to sustainability have been generously used to advance ubiquitous and hard-to-measure targets not least in response to global and national sustainable development (SD) targets. However, ad-hoc and governed urbanization processes differ. In addition to different development pathways, local differences in interpretation of sustainability exist. This renders a global urban sustainability discourse disconnected from local practice. In this paper we focus on the Nordic cities, combining what is known about the similarities of the cities and societies, their recent development and highlights. Comparing with the global sustainability discourse spearheaded by the UN development goals (SDGs) we analyze the potential links in Nordic urban development to the global aims, as well as the local action taken via ex-ante review and assessment. With increasing demands for transformative change in urban planning and other institutions due to environmental, social and economic challenges, we demonstrate where strengthening the urban sustainability agenda is particularly needed. Findings show surprisingly little focus on socially just and cross-thematic development pre-SDGs, while it is expected that the dominant technocratic focus will give way to these other aspects necessary to address sustainability under the current SDG framework.


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