Taking Implementation Seriously in the Evaluation of Urban Growth Management Strategies: “Safeguarding the Future” of the Antwerp City-Region

Contemporary evaluations of urban growth management (UGM) strategies often take the shape of quantitative measurements of land values and housing prices. In this paper, we argue that it is of key importance that these evaluations also analyse the policy formulation and implementation phases of growth management strategies. It is in these phases that the institutions and discourses are (trans)formed in which UGM strategies are embedded. This will enable us to better understand the conditions for growth management policies’ success or failure. We illustrate this point empirically with the case of demarcating urban areas in the region of Flanders, Belgium. Using the Policy Arrangement Approach, the institutional dynamics and discursive meanings in this growth instrument’s formulation and implementation phase are unravelled. More specifically, we explain how the Flemish strategic spatial planning vision of restraining sprawl was transformed into one of accommodating growth in the demarcation of the Antwerp Metropolitan Area, epitomised by two different meanings of the phrase “safeguarding the future.” In conclusion, we argue that, in Antwerp, the demarcation never solidified into a stable policy arrangement, rendering it largely ineffective. We end by formulating three recommendations to contribute to future attempts at managing urban growth in Flanders.

Exploring the Coordination Mechanism for Public Housing Supply with Urban Growth Management: A Case Study of Chongqing, China

While urbanization acts as an engine of economic growth, rising inequality and exclusion within cities derails development progress. In the past 30 years, the population in China has converged to large-scale cities, which brought a severe housing issue, not least for migrants. In order to relieve the tension between the increasing demand for housing and the scarcity of urban resources, research on housing policy in response to urban growth is a matter of cardinal significance. This paper made an effort to explore the mechanism of public housing policies coordinated with urban growth management. Taking Chongqing City as the study area, the system dynamics model was adopted in exploring the coordination mechanism. The impact of the two policies were simulated, including the urban population control and public housing supply. The results indicated that the combined policy could more effectively cope with the possible urban housing crisis under the long-term trend, and promote urban inclusive growth. Meanwhile, the starting time of intervention also has a significant impact on the policy effect. This study shares China’s experience and provides reference for other developing countries to pursue socio-economic sustainability in the process of urbanization.

A Commentary on Sustainably Built Environments and Urban Growth Management

The concept of urban growth management first emerged in the United States in the 1950s. Its goal was to solve problems stemming from urban sprawl by applying integrated planning, management, and regulation, and to adjust to different development trends in different spaces and times. From the viewpoint of the studies on the link between sustainably built environments, urban growth management, and their interactions, this special issue includes theoretical and empirical studies on sustainable built environment planning and design, sustainable growth management strategies, and other related emerging topics, such as intelligent use of information and communication technologies (ICT) to sustainably build environments, as well as smart cities research with big data, data mining, cloud computing, and internet of things (IOT) ideas.