Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-08-10DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.6448
K. Friedrich, Stefanie Rößler
{"title":"Built Space Hinders Lived Space: Social Encounters and Appropriation in Large Housing Estates","authors":"K. Friedrich, Stefanie Rößler","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6448","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6448","url":null,"abstract":"The fundamental structural, demographic, and socio-economic changes afflicting large housing estates in Eastern German cities raise questions about how these neighborhoods could be maintained and developed into attractive residential locations where people want to live and settle down. Besides personal, social, economic, and even administrative factors, individual location decisions are influenced by the physical conditions of space and how they affect a sense of “home”—a crucial precondition for long-term habitation. In terms of urban planning and regeneration activities, we ask: To what extent do the current physical and infrastructural conditions (“built space”) of large housing estates encourage residents to “feel at home”? We understand home as an atmosphere of well-being and belonging that is based on the individual and communal appropriation of spaces, which in turn presupposes the possibility of contact and social exchanges among neighbors. The concept of “home” we present here is grounded in philosophical anthropology, new phenomenology, and architectural theory. It provides a specific spatial approach to housing from which we develop indicators to evaluate space. In particular, we apply the concept of “lived space” to evaluate infrastructural amenities, open and green spaces, as well as built structures in three case studies of large housing estates in East German cities. We aim to uncover local potentials for and obstacles to spatial appropriation and encounters in these settings. This allows us to draw conclusions on how urban regeneration policies and measures can make large housing estates more liveable in the long term by promoting encounters and appropriation.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-08-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42868433","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-31DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.6902
Anna Golędzinowska
{"title":"Potential Impact of Waterway Development on Cultural Landscape Values: The Case of the Lower Vistula","authors":"Anna Golędzinowska","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6902","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6902","url":null,"abstract":"The northern (“lower”) section of the Vistula is on the route of two international waterways—E70 and E40. However, the current condition of the riverbed prevents larger vessels from passing through. Plans for the waterway date back to the beginning of the 20th century. Following Poland’s ratification of the European Agreement on Main Inland Waterways of International Importance in 2017, the general concept has been transformed into more concrete studies and has found its place in the national development policy. The scientific and political discourse primarily addresses the potential benefits of river regulation in the field of transport and energy. Against this background, studies on the impact of investments on the natural environment are published less frequently. Meanwhile, the Vistula has for centuries influenced the formation of a unique cultural landscape, which will be severely transformed if the river is regulated. On the other hand, insufficient transit depths of the waterway result in the loss of the function of the historic transport corridor, which also changes the character of parts of the area dependent on the river—in particular, the riverside areas of towns. This article aims to indicate the need for a qualitative landscape assessment of how the impact of investments is assessed and the best solution chosen. Using the assumptions of the historic urban landscape, the author analyses the potential impact of the planned investment in the lower Vistula on the surrounding cultural landscape. The potential scope for change in two dimensions is indicated at the scale of the lower Vistula and the individual towns. The possible impact of the investments on the panoramas is illustrated for selected cases.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-31","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45979581","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-28DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.6841
Tarina Levin, Stefan Sjöberg, Bin Jiang, S. Barthel
{"title":"Social Sustainability and Alexander’s Living Structure Through a New Kind of City Science","authors":"Tarina Levin, Stefan Sjöberg, Bin Jiang, S. Barthel","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6841","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6841","url":null,"abstract":"The disputed endorsement of inherited visceral and universal aesthetic preferences justifies the scientific validity of Alexander’s living structure. Apart from implying a resource-efficient way to promote well-being through urban design, the premise favors a collective approach to human self-perception and social justice. To better understand the contributions of Alexander, this article explores current knowledge about visceral and universal aesthetic preferences for living structure and if and how the new kind of city science, a mathematical model describing living structure, can be used for further testing. It also elaborates on the social impact of living structure, including its premise, and the potential of the new kind of city science to support social sustainability. A literature synthesis on living structure, the new kind of city science, and the premise showed a positive link between well-being and exposure to living structure. Limitations in research design nevertheless precluded conclusions about the associated visceral and universal aesthetic preferences. The new kind of city science was found appropriate for further research by holistically representing living structure. Moreover, like the hypothesized biological origin, social learning and sociocultural transmission were found to theoretically support the premise of universality and a collective approach to human identity and social justice, with further societal implications. For the concept of living structure to support social sustainability, it must be coupled with the promotion of empowerment and community mobilization. Hence, the operationalization of the new kind of city science should align with Alexander’s call for bottom-up approaches.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47099330","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-28DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.6456
L. Sträuli
{"title":"Negotiating Difference on Public Transport: How Practices and Experiences of Deviance Shape Public Space","authors":"L. Sträuli","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6456","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6456","url":null,"abstract":"Given the diversity of passengers, public transport has hitherto been described as a public space of encounters, conviviality, or conflict. However, other dimensions of publicness, such as codes of conduct, deviance, visibility, or resistance, have received less attention. Based on qualitative interviews with transport users whose physical or financial abilities, or mobility needs differ from default passengers, this article outlines daily experiences and practices of negotiating differences through situational and societal deviance. In particular, I examine the daily struggles of passengers travelling in Brussels during the Covid-19 pandemic or without a valid ticket, along with people who rely on public transport in Tallinn due to care responsibilities. By describing quotidian practices and experiences of deviance, I argue that understanding publicness as a process of ongoing negotiation and appropriation promotes more equitable and inclusive planning practices.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43326434","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-28DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i4.6548
Shirin Pourafkari
{"title":"Visually Impaired Persons and Social Encounters in Central Melbourne","authors":"Shirin Pourafkari","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6548","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6548","url":null,"abstract":"Urban spaces are areas where routes, activities, and people, including visually impaired persons (VIPs), intersect. Most urban research on VIPs focuses on wayfinding. However, the experience of urban spaces is not limited to utilitarian functions and also includes people’s lived experiences and random social encounters. To understand how a broader range of activities, experiences, and encounters may be better enabled, VIPs have participated in multi-method research including interviews, word games, walking interviews, and diary recordings in central Melbourne. Results not only indicate a broad range of unmediated conflicts between VIPs’ mobility needs and key aspects of intense street life but also reveal opportunities that are potentially hidden in random encounters in public spaces.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45784017","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.7260
Kobe Boussauw, E. Papa, K. Fransen
{"title":"Car Dependency and Urban Form","authors":"Kobe Boussauw, E. Papa, K. Fransen","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.7260","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.7260","url":null,"abstract":"In this editorial of the thematic issue on car dependency and urban form, we provide a concise bibliometric overview that examines the prevalence of the concept of car dependency in relation to the built environment. Furthermore, we delve into the prior call for papers and analyse how the various contributions align with the theme. Subsequently, we present an inclusive review of the 11 distinct contributions, employing a classification framework encompassing micro, meso, and macro perspectives. To conclude, we reflect briefly on the utility of the concepts of being car-less versus car-free, and we contemplate the potential ramifications of fleet electrification on the ongoing discourse surrounding car dependency.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43485974","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-25DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.6512
Sam Rymenants, Marlies Struyf, S. Heirman, M. Goethals
{"title":"Enhancing the Modal Split in Paramaribo Through Design-Driven Participatory Action Research Fuelled by Urban Tactics","authors":"Sam Rymenants, Marlies Struyf, S. Heirman, M. Goethals","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6512","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6512","url":null,"abstract":"There appears to be no “one-size-fits-all” strategy for evolving from a car-dependent urban environment towards a well-balanced modal split. The search for a suitable mobility strategy for a particular setting can be framed as seeking a suitable governance strategy. This article explores the opportunities of design-driven participatory action research (DD-PAR) as a governance strategy for improving mobility within a context of weak governance by investigating a single case study conducted in Paramaribo North, Suriname. Despite available plans, designs, and policy proposals, Surinamese public authorities are struggling to improve mobility. Notwithstanding many efforts, clientelism and patronage are weakening the power of the government, resulting in unimplemented public initiatives. Moreover, there are few civil society organisations to advocate for this weak public power. This creates a context in which neither the government nor civil society is sufficiently equipped to realise the modal shift in Paramaribo. Governance strategies depending on strong government or proactive civil society (e.g., actor-based strategies) are thus not suitable. In contrast, DD-PAR appears to have potential as a governance strategy, as it uses research and academics as forces to create societal enthusiasm, establish actor networks, and generate action. The current case study identifies key actors and preconditions for building a network of actors. It also provides tentative insights into urban tactics for increasing pressure on the government to provide adequate infrastructure and policy to accommodate newly developed action that supports a more diverse modal split.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45155842","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-21DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.6783
A. Lessoff
{"title":"The Texas Coast: Ship Channel Network of the Petroleum Age","authors":"A. Lessoff","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6783","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6783","url":null,"abstract":"This article provides an overview of the Texas Gulf Coast as a port city region dedicated above all to oil and gas. By the late 1800s, the same trends in transportation and industry that encouraged ship channel construction around the world drew attention to schemes to transform the Gulf Coast’s shallow bays and estuaries into inland deep-water harbors. An added factor in Texas was the vulnerability of Galveston and other coastal locations to hurricanes. Between 1902, when construction began on the 52-mile Houston Ship Channel, and the 1950s–60s, when a deep-water channel opened at Matagorda Bay along the mid-Texas coast, various levels of government—local, state, and national—combined to engineer one of the world’s most elaborate navigation networks. Six deep-water channels were woven together by Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, which connected Texas to the Mississippi and beyond. During the years when these ports were taking shape, the Texas oil industry had begun to burgeon. In a reflection of the pre-Spindletop origins of Texas’s deep-water movement, policy and planning continued to assume, until oil’s dominance had become clear, that even the massive ship channels at Houston and Corpus Christi would serve mainly as outlets for agricultural commodities. It was the organizers of the state’s petroleum sector who came to understand the Texas ship channels as exemplary locations for aggregating their diverse operations. This interplay between civil engineering and the energy sector made coastal Texas into a dynamic urban port region. Petroleum and petrochemicals, however, so thoroughly imprinted themselves on the landscape, economy, and life of Texas’s oil port region that the region’s post-oil future remained difficult to envision.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43313662","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-17DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.6355
I. Hamiduddin
{"title":"Why the Car Is Not Always King in Global South Cities: Evidence From Ulaanbaatar","authors":"I. Hamiduddin","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6355","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6355","url":null,"abstract":"Access to a private car has established itself as a critical control on mobility and access to opportunities for residents living in a diverse range of settings, globally. Across cities of the Global South, the benefits of private car access are often intensified by the absence of viable alternative modes of travel. This article explores the influence of private car access and mobility in relation to residents living in “ger district” areas of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia’s capital city. These peri-urban areas are informally created when rural migrants set up home on the edge of the city, initially using mobile felt dwellings called “ger” that become augmented or replaced by permanent structures over time. An absence of forward planning as well as unmade roads and hilly topography mean that the ger districts are often poorly served by public transport, while the low density of the built environment also means that informal transport services can be limited in coverage and relatively expensive. This article utilises a database of household questionnaires collected in 2020 to compare mobility patterns and accessibility between car-owning and non-car-owning households in three case study ger districts, capturing seasonal differences between the extreme cold of the wintertime and warmer summer conditions. The findings not only reveal stark mobility and access differences in relation to car ownership but also discrepancies between car ownership and actual car use for important and routine journeys. This indicates that despite a lack of public transport available, many households opt to use what public transport they can. This pattern provides a potentially important basis for future policies that aim to limit car use in order to reduce traffic congestion and broaden access to the city for non-car-owning households by providing more accessible public transport.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42469059","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban PlanningPub Date : 2023-07-17DOI: 10.17645/up.v8i3.6788
H. Neis, Pamanee Chaiwat
{"title":"A World of a Thousand Independent Regions: Confronting the Ever-Increasing Refugee Problem","authors":"H. Neis, Pamanee Chaiwat","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i3.6788","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i3.6788","url":null,"abstract":"Based on Pattern 1 “Independent Regions” in the book A Pattern Language by Alexander et al. (1977), we investigate a fundamental socio-spatial alternative for reorganizing our world, countries, and metropolitan regions. When put into the context of large worldwide problems, such as climate change, nuclear danger, pandemics, overpopulation, and refugee crises, the innovative idea of “independent regions” presents itself as a promising alternative to the current imbalance of few large and dominant countries in contrast to a wide majority of smaller and medium-sized countries. Working on the development of a refugee pattern language (RPL), this alternative can help to solve larger worldwide problems including the human-made refugee problem. In RPL pattern “3.2 A World of Independent Regions,” we explore this bottom-up alternative based on fundamental principles with an ideal population size for governing itself democratically and equity among regions in a world community. Other considerations include the potential to reduce the root problem of refugee creation of big countries vs. small counties, in cooperation with independent regions, and world regions. Updating this concept involves considering suggestions and new ideas that might make the outcome richer in overlaps, assembly, and scope. The relevance and vision of this concept and pattern are probably most visible and needed in the current turmoil of a transforming world.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44130833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}