“RESLOBALIZATION” OF CITIES AS AN EFFECTIVE RESPONSE TO THE EPIDEMIOLOGICAL CHALLENGE OF THE CONTEMPORARY. PART I: GENERAL PROVISIONS, RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS

The article is devoted to the problem of adaptation of the living environment of the population of large and largest cities to the vital and dangerous challenges of the new coronavirus pandemic. The author suggests that historically developed cities in their traditional hypostasis have a certain” anti-epidemic “ potential of morphotypological genesis, which must be taken into account, it is advisable to use and it is desirable to increase in the extreme situation of the global COVID-19 epidemic. The working hypothesis of the study is formulated on the basis of the results of monitoring the data of the offi cial St. Petersburg statistics, which refl ect the dynamics of the incidence of new coronavirus infection among citizens, starting from March 2020. According to these results, the most stable epidemiological situation persists in the historical suburbs of the” northern capital “ and its central administrative districts. The center of St. Petersburg was originally developed as a “conglomerate of sett lements” - pre-industrial and proto- industrial urban planning morphotypes that have been inherent in the Russian urban planning culture since ancient times. Urban sett lements, which preserved their planning characteristics in the course of a historically predetermined morphotypological transformation, became the basis for the formation of a set of spatial loci in the structure of a megalopolis - separate components of the urban landscape, within which, if necessary, the introduction of stringent control measures and epidemiological situation in St. Petersburg, it is possible to protect “idealizations” quality of urban life and where work most eff ectively medicareinsurance “antipandemic” sliders “disaggregation”, “distancing”, “disinfection”.

Considering the role of negotiated developer contributions in financing ecological mitigation and protection programs in England: A cultural perspective

This paper explores the potential of ‘Land Value Capture’ in addressing the shortfall in funding to address the biodiversity crisis through a series of interviews with Local Planning Authority officers in England. It finds heterogeneity in their responses to financial austerity and imperatives to deliver development, which heavily influences developer contribution (DC) practice. The response to these pressures differed depending upon localised planning culture and its interrelation with behavioural biases, which defined the scope of officer agency to influence developer contribution outcomes. Most LPAs placed a strong emphasis upon securing real estate investment to drive economic growth and to provide opportunities to secure DC to address socio-economic issues, with the status quo bias contributing towards inertia in policy and practice change. Elsewhere, there was a greater emphasis placed upon reconciling the need to deliver development with the preservation of environmental amenity, enabling officers to carefully frame practice changes, to successfully secure funding for ecological mitigation programs. The paper illustrates the cultural and behavioural challenges in implementing DC policy change to support funding these priorities, whilst this may be overcome by legislative changes, integrating these may be compromised by resource limitations whilst also affecting the existing delivery of public goods.

Bringing Rurality Back to Planning Culture

The vast majority of the world’s land area is rural, yet rurality is routinely marginalized in planning. Urban bias is tacit and under-problematized, so the challenges facing rural areas and the importance of those challenges for society as a whole are not much reflected in planning scholarship or practice. We interrogate the urban bias and its implications for rural planning through the lens of planning cultures, using a content analysis of prominent and recent texts to shed light on the nature and implications of urban bias. Finally, we suggest ways to “bring the rural back” into twenty-first-century planning.

National Defensive and Defense Strategies. Selected Planning Problems

The overall objective of undertaken research is to present national reflection on defense in Poland, in particular an image of the defense planning culture. The article focuses on issues of defense strategy planning as a part of the complete state defensive strategy and indicates the necessary directions for changes in the essence of defense planning in the light of changes in the security and defense environment of Poland in the 21st century. In the study use has been made of an analysis and a critical review of normative documents, strategies and doctrines. The collected data allow the indication of changes of an application nature (projection method) to the theory of strategic planning in the field of national defense. This allowed proving that the future desired position of Poland in regional and even continental Europe depends on the anticipated direction of development of Polish defense potential, defense system, and of course, a clearly expressed strategy. The most important element of the three listed ones is naturally the strategy, the preparation of which requires regular cycles of strategic reviews, which are unfortunately not feasible in Poland. The article also emphasizes the importance of assuring the stability of the planning system, the basic element of which are experts, and whose regular fluctuation as a result of constant political changes causes a considerable destabilization of the planning system. Finally, attention is drawn to the fact that the defense strategy must take into account the complexity and unpredictability of the security environment – which are its basic features today.

The influence of urban form and socio-demographics on active transport: A 40-neighborhoods study in Chengdu, China

In China, a centralized planning culture has created similar neighborhoods across the country. Using a survey of 1,048 individuals conducted in 2016 in Chengdu—located in a carefully conceptualized typology of neighborhood forms—we analyzed the associations between individual and neighborhood characteristics and active or nonmotorized transport behavior. Using several multiple logistic and multilevel models, we show how neighborhoods were categorized and how the number of categories or neighborhood types affected the magnitude of the associations with active transport but not the direction. People taking non-work trips were more likely to use active compared with motorized modes in all neighborhood types. Neighborhood type was significant in models but so too were many other individual-level variables and infrastructural and locational features such as bike lanes and location near the river. Of the 3-D physical environment variables, floor area ratio (a proxy for density) was only significant in one model for nonwork trips. Intersection density and dissimilarity (land-use diversity) were only significant in a model for work trips. This study shows that to develop strong theories about the connections between active transport and environments, it is important to examine different physical and cultural contexts and perform sensitivity analyses. Research in different parts of China can help provide a more substantial base for evidence-informed policymaking. Planning and design recommendations were made related to active transport need to consider how neighborhoods, built environments, and personal characteristics interact in different kinds of urban environments.

CHALLENGES OF CIVIC ENGAGEMENT IN THE (POST-SOCIALIST) TRANSITIONAL SOCIETY: EXPERIENCES FROM WATERFRONT URBAN AREAS MEZAPARK IN RIGA AND KALARAND IN TALLINN

Current case studies examine the shortcomings of civic engagement strategies during the design process and ratification of detailed plans for urban areas of strategic importance − Mezapark in Riga and Kalarand in Tallinn. Detailed plans caused public outcries and led to long-lasting and distressful negotiations between local communities, developers, designers and municipalities over the future development and use of these areas. The debates about detailed plans raised an increasing public interest in planning related issues and growing demands for greater civic engagement in decisions shaping the city. At the same time, the debates demonstrated the inability of local planning frameworks to meet public expectations. There appears a salient need for changing the planning culture. This paper studies the shortcomings of civic engagement strategies and the desirable changes through a series of semi-structured interviews with key stakeholders involved and the analysis of planning related documentation.

The Townscape Movement and the Politics of Post-War Urbanism

This article examines the political and aesthetic significance of the Townscape movement, an architectural and planning movement that emerged in the 1940s and advocated for urban density, individuality, and vibrant street life. Townscape’s vernacular, human-scale vision of urban life was a significant strand in post-war planning culture, one that existed alongside the archetypal forms of social democratic planning, from new towns to tower blocks. By examining the writings of key Townscape figures associated with the Architectural Review, this article argues that Townscape engaged with the tensions at the heart of the post-war social democratic project—individualism versus community, debates over expertise and authority, and responses to the culture of affluence. In doing so, it contributes to a broader urban historiography on the post-war ‘return to the city’, showing how post-war urbanism, usually depicted as an American phenomenon centred around the figure of Jane Jacobs, had its counterpart in a uniquely British planning movement.