Walkable live/work neighbourhoods in big box greyfields

The research focussed on how urban greyfields, especially abandoned big box retail, can be redeveloped into mixed-use walkable live/work neighbourhoods for an energy-efficient future. The history of shopping centre and big box retail and the mixed-use residential redevelopment of such sites using the new LEED Neighbourhood Development rating system were studied. Four principle concepts were found and used to guide the design projects. They were sustainable urbanism planning versus Modernist auto-dependency; mixed-use planning; walkable neighbourhood concepts; and live/work units. These help create local employment in transit-based neighbourhoods having nearby services and amenities to reduce commuting and auto-dependency. The design project on a 25-acre Toronto greyfield includes Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes for food production and a trail system promoting walking, cycling and greater contact with nature. Greyfield sites used for sustainable communities help offset valuable farmland losses and offer useful urban intensification possibilities for a looming energy crisis.

Walkable live/work neighbourhoods in big box greyfields

The research focussed on how urban greyfields, especially abandoned big box retail, can be redeveloped into mixed-use walkable live/work neighbourhoods for an energy-efficient future. The history of shopping centre and big box retail and the mixed-use residential redevelopment of such sites using the new LEED Neighbourhood Development rating system were studied. Four principle concepts were found and used to guide the design projects. They were sustainable urbanism planning versus Modernist auto-dependency; mixed-use planning; walkable neighbourhood concepts; and live/work units. These help create local employment in transit-based neighbourhoods having nearby services and amenities to reduce commuting and auto-dependency. The design project on a 25-acre Toronto greyfield includes Continuous Productive Urban Landscapes for food production and a trail system promoting walking, cycling and greater contact with nature. Greyfield sites used for sustainable communities help offset valuable farmland losses and offer useful urban intensification possibilities for a looming energy crisis.

Urban consolidation, power relations, and dilapidated residential redevelopment in Mutoulong, Shenzhen, China

Recent policy initiatives for urban development have changed the relationships among stakeholders in China’s urban consolidation processes. Building upon Giddens’ (Giddens A (1984) The Constitution of Society: Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.) structuration theory and Ostrom’s (Ostrom E (2005) Understanding Institutional Diversity. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press) institutional analysis and development thesis, this paper develops a power arena analytic framework, and uses it to examine the new power relations among the stakeholders in a dilapidated residential redevelopment project in Shenzhen. Our findings reveal that Shenzhen’s new approach incentivised the developer to frame a local decision-making structure which aligned the property owners into two broad groups: those who supported the developer, or cooperative, and those who disputed with the developer, or un-cooperative. Shenzhen’s new attempt was unable to balance power distribution between the main stakeholders and caused intense conflicts and poor project outcomes. A range of factors, including passive participation of residents in project preparation, weak mechanisms to curb speculation, and policy inconsistency associated with tiers of governments, were responsible for the poor performance. These findings contribute to the understanding of the complexity in power relations underlying urban development influenced by planning policy.

Developers’ price setting behaviour in urban residential redevelopment projects

Purpose This paper aims to investigate whether developers’ ask lower prices on homes in redevelopment sites than they do on similar units in smaller developments completed over a shorter time span. It also investigates whether developers price units differently at different stages of the redevelopment process. The development of designated redevelopment areas often consists of multiple projects spread across several years, some in parallel, some sequential. New units are put on the market in a piecemeal fashion, and infrastructure, shared green spaces and shared facilities are installed successively. Design/methodology/approach A hedonic price model is used to analyse sales prices of 7,000 new apartments in Oslo sold between 2011 and 2015, all else being equal. The paper distinguishes between infill as one-stage projects, and multi-staged competitive and multi-staged monopolistic redevelopments. Findings Dwellings in redevelopment projects sell at a lower price than similar dwellings in infill projects. In competitive redevelopments, those in charge of the last projects put a slightly higher price on apartments. In redevelopments involving only one developer, the last stages ask the lowest prices. Research limitations/implications This research expands our understanding of developers’ pricing behaviour. Developers supplying housing for the private market through redevelopments land are willing to take risks particularly in the initial stage. Practical implications The findings indicate that credit institutions financing developers’ projects need to take into account the structure of selling prices, including lower prices and higher risk of pursuing redevelopment projects. Social implications Gaining a better understanding of developers’ pricing behaviour deepens our insights into the dynamics of market-led urban brownfield developments; this knowledge may moreover inform policies on sustainable urban growth. Originality/value An original investigation of housing transactions in urban brownfield sites in Oslo provides fresh insights into developers’ pricing behaviour.