Journal of Urban Planning and Development

This paper adopts a reduced-form equilibrium model to investigate the possible sources of residential investment differentials among 22 provinces, five autonomous regions, and four municipalities in the People’s Republic of China. The model is estimated using panel data from 31 Chinese regions during the period between 2001 and 2006, yielding a total of 186 observations. Empirical results should hopefully shed light on the adjustment mechanism of the Chinese residential-property market. Specifically, this paper suggests that change in population, income, and business confidence are the major determinants that cause residential investment to vary among different regions. The relatively small coefficients of real interest rates and planning regulations suggest that they have significant but modest impacts on residential investment.

It is important to find a tool to be found that is capable of fulfilling specific functions (such as land assembly, self-finance, the protection of social capital, with results obtainable within a certain time) in approaches related to the renewal of urban built-up areas. This paper discusses whether land readjustment (LR) can be such a tool by analyzing whether it performs better than traditional urban renewal processes in Turkey, and whether LR may be an instrument in different contexts of renewal. This paper focuses on three built-up housing areas with different characteristics, and is based on the results of two different questionnaire surveys. The first survey was conducted in municipalities in both metropolitan areas and large cities in Turkey and covered specific urban renewal projects. The second survey was distributed to residents from some renewal project areas including three built-up housing areas with different characteristics in Istanbul. All discussions contribute to an improved understanding of the potential of the LR method as a tool for urban renewal projects.

Since the beginning of the sustainability debate approximately 20 years ago, all parties involved in the urban planning process have been expected to devise sustainable solutions to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Potential to include sustainability criteria is present in the strategic planning stage and during the initial studies of a project. However, instruments available at these early stages are rare and show numerous weaknesses. The present study intends to close this gap by developing an instrument for the prioritization of sustainability criteria in urban planning processes. It is based on the Sustainable Building Tool 07 (SBTool 07), a comprehensive and well-established tool for the assessment of sustainability of construction projects, key issues pertaining to the initial planning stages are identified via a materiality matrix—a method established for corporate sustainability reporting. The resulting method has been tested in a competition in the Icelandic city of Reykjavík. Results include a materiality matrix on stakeholder priorities and the relevance of criteria to sustainability across the life cycle as well as a core set of 19 criteria to be addressed in Reykjavík.

Urban runoff discharges in receiving water are a significant source of pollution. Storm-water tanks are one of the most effective facilities used for reducing the impact of first-flush pollution. Nevertheless, because the system performance depends on many parameters, design criteria for storm-water tanks are not completely consolidated in the literature. To assess the influence of the rainfall regime on the system performance, extensive numerical simulations from 45 rain gauges in Campania, Italy, were calculated. A typical Italian urban catchment was considered in simulations. Hydrographs and pollutographs were generated to analyze the operation of different sewer and tank configurations. All simulations showed a negligible influence of the rainfall regime on the phenomenon, thus suggesting a simplified approach to estimate the average pollution reduction by using storm-water tanks. The analysis shows good agreement between the values estimated from the proposed approach and the results provided by continuous simulations.

As sustainable development becomes a more important objective in civil infrastructure planning and policymaking, quality of life (QOL) is an increasingly important measure to understand, characterize, and apply effectively in the search for and development of appropriate infrastructure solutions for sustainable development. This paper reviews the role of QOL in civil infrastructure decision making. It provides an overview and critique of methodological approaches to defining QOL and explains the significance of QOL in infrastructure decision making for sustainable development. Examples are used to demonstrate how infrastructure can be strategically developed or redeveloped to improve regional QOL and economic competitiveness while preserving or enhancing the natural environment. Based on the theoretical review and examination of infrastructure development examples, the writers suggest that a new paradigm that views infrastructure development as part of a sociotechnical system be considered. Such a paradigm would encourage strategic infrastructure designs and policies that expand choice and achieve multiple objectives for sustainable development.

The city of Athens is transforming into a multicenter model that is directly affected by the development of the new metro system. An entire network of integrated/correlated factors affecting the urban form has contributed to the development of such a model. This new situation generated the need for town planning interventions in the vicinity of the metro stations. However, the opportunity for a rational development may have been lost. A postproject solution, if there is one, could be quite expensive, because the situation is not reversible. At the same time, the metro system continues expanding, which means there is hope—hope that the knowledge and experience gained from mistakes will find a wide application to the new extension program and that timely interventions-related studies [land use, environmental impact assessment (EIA), traffic impact studies, etc.] for the immediate special arrangements will allow the smooth integration of all design areas (urban and architectural) into the urban web and minimize the risk for uncontrolled or undesirable development. The knowledge and experience gained from mistakes will prove to be useful and benefit the work of future architects, engineers, planners of metro works, as well as city politicians and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).

Acceptability is considered the most important barrier in establishing a congestion pricing scheme. Using data from an extensive questionnaire survey conducted in the central area of Athens, Greece, in 2008, this paper examines attitudes toward traffic congestion, choice of travel mode, and revenue allocation, which can influence the acceptability of congestion pricing. Since one of the major goals of congestion pricing is to discourage personal automobile use, we also examine the choice of mode following the implementation of a congestion pricing system. Further, we developed a multivariate probit model to investigate the factors that influence public perception regarding the effectiveness of six traffic-management measures. Results from this study can assist in better understanding the factors that affect public acceptance of congestion pricing in urban areas.

Solid waste generation is undoubtedly related to anthropogenic activities and culture. The management of solid waste becomes more challenging in densely populated heterogeneous cultures in developing countries. Proper management of solid waste may be done only after proper characterization of the waste, which varies with anthropogenic activities and population densities, which in turn are related to land use patterns of urban areas. The spatial characterization of waste in urban areas is mandatory for designing management strategies, including waste segregation, collection, transportation, and disposal. In this paper, solid waste is characterized within the Nagpur urban area, and coefficients are generated through regression analysis for spatially estimating quantities of waste components for various land use classes. Satellite data are used to generate population indexes for various land use classes. Simple linear regression analysis is used to generate indexes for computing physical and chemical characteristics of solid waste for residential land use classes. Based on the indexes generated, a spatial representation of solid waste components using a geographical information system (GIS) is obtained. This spatial representation acts as a tool to understand the status of parameters within any urban area. A spatial decision support system has also been developed, which can assist a decision maker involved in management of solid waste in urban areas.

Disasters are rare occurrences, fortunately. However, careful planning and training are vital to prepare individual health organizations for such events. This manuscript investigates disaster management planning and rehearsal within health organizations in Iran. A cross-sectional quantitative study was conducted, and 230 questionnaires were distributed among health managers in these organizations. Analysis of the data was performed by SPSS software using different tests. The study found that, although comprehensive plans exist within the organizations, contingency plans, business continuity plans, and action cards have not been considered. The current system of operating disaster management committees in health organizations in Iran is not conducive to improvement in their ability to respond to disaster. Recommendations are presented in this paper for improving the national disaster management system, including system reengineering and designing an appropriate disaster management system, improvement of disaster response and recovery using appropriate plans and preparedness activities, creation of protocols and standards, training of staff, and regular rehearsals.

Transportation-disadvantaged groups have been defined in previous studies as those who are low income earners, are family dependent, have limited access to private motor vehicles and public transport services, and are obliged to spend relatively more time and money on their trips. Additionally the disabled, young, and elderly are commonly considered to be among the transportation-disadvantaged. Although generally this definition seems correct, it is not specific enough to become a universal definition that could apply to all urban contexts. This paper investigates whether perceptions of travel difficulty vary as does the definition of transportation-disadvantaged in socioculturally different urban contexts. For this investigation, the writers undertake a series of statistical analyses in a case study of Yamaga, Japan, and compare the findings with a previous case study, in which the same methodology, hypothesis, and assumptions were applied to a culturally and demographically different settlement in Aydin, Turkey. After comparing the findings observed in Aydin with the statistical analysis results in Yamaga, this paper reveals that there can be no detailed, universal definition of the transportation-disadvantaged. The writers conclude that the characteristics of the transportation-disadvantaged are not globally identical, and policies and solutions that work in one locality may not have the same results in another sociocultural context.