Journal of Urban Planning and Development

Redevelopment of brownfields is placed high on the political agendas in many countries. However, brownfield redevelopment projects are often problematic, and the frequent occurrence of conflicts between involved and interdependent stakeholders is directly related. To date, there is no insight in the underlying interaction structure of brownfield redevelopment projects and tools are lacking to support the complex decision making between stakeholders. The aim of this article is to theoretically analyze the underlying interaction structures in brownfield redevelopment projects, modeling the process as an interdependent situation and applying game theoretical arguments. The explicit interaction between involved stakeholders is modeled as an interdependent process, using an approach in which conjoint analysis and game theory are combined. Our results show that there is one major source of conflicts—stakeholders choosing not to cooperate based on the presented game-setting. Other possible sources of conflict, such as difficulties in reaching a stable outcome or incomprehensibility of the game-setting, proved to have a limited contribution to the occurrence of conflicts. A more in-depth analysis of game-settings ending up in mutual cooperation showed that the appraisal of both stakeholders for the proposed development plan is the most influential factor, together with an eventual absolute difference between both players’ appraisals. Furthermore, stakeholders having a relatively weak power position within projects tend to prefer a noncooperative attitude and having some change can be beneficial for achieving mutual cooperation. If stakeholders have the prospect of achieving extra value through mutual plan optimization, they tend to be more willing to act cooperatively.

The transportation sector is the second largest source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United State. Developing underutilized urban industrial sites with certain characteristics (i.e., close proximity to transit, job and services, low remediation cost, and high density) can potentially reduce the transportation sector’s impact on the environment by lowering vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) and related GHG emissions. This study examines the effect of residential brownfield developments on VKT reduction and the resulting costs (including the cost of driving time, fuel, and external air pollution costs) and further compares the resulting costs with the initial one-time cleanup cost of brownfield sites. Sixteen brownfield and conventional development sites were analyzed in Baltimore, Chicago, Minneapolis, and Pittsburgh. Travel demand models were used to estimate VKT differences among the developments. Air pollution valuation data were used to estimate external environmental cost differences. On average, residential brownfield developments reduce VKT by 52% compared to conventional greenfield developments. Also on average, brownfield developments result in a time and fuel cost reduction of 60% and an external environmental cost saving of 66%. Comparing these cost savings with the initial one-time cleanup cost of brownfields, it is shown that development density and the cost of remediation significantly affect the number of years required for the VKT cost savings to offset the remediation cost.

This study began by raising the question of whether international organizations have effectively contributed to the revitalization of the old historic districts, and whether the community participation approaches they implemented succeeded in sustaining the development and in preserving the heritage, or just resulting in attractive, temporary, exterior treatments that are not a part of the local identity. The paper answers these questions through an analytical and statistical assessment for the role of the Aga Khan Project in the rehabilitation of Darb Alahmar in Cairo. It deduces statistical correlations between the role of international organizations in the revitalization of historic districts and the community participation with the physical, social, and economic development aspects of the areas. The study then plots the correlations between the role of these organizations and community participation. The paper concludes with the fact that rehabilitation plans managed by these organizations have led to the internationalization of heritage, resulting in packaged icons for the tourist industry, and the nationalization of heritage has translated into contemporary political construction. Interntional organizations have hindered the total development and have caused gentrification problems. Consequently, this paper highlights the strengths and limitations of the role of these organizations in the rehabilitation of historic districts, and presents a statistical model for the precise assessment of these agencies’ role. This model will enable their performance to be compared in future research.

Retaining current light rail transit riders is often neglected relative to attracting new riders. This paper uses multivariate logit analysis to explore differences between riders stating certainty for continued use of the St. Louis MetroLink system versus those that express doubt. Data is derived from a 2005–2006 on-board passenger survey. The results indicate African Americans, young females, riders using stations with higher crime, and riders from households with income of US$25,000–$49,999 are associated with a greater probability of expressing doubt about future patronage, whereas those who access stations with private automobiles or indicate a high level of customer satisfaction are more likely to express certainty about future patronage.

In common with some underprivileged racial groups in U.S. cities, migrant workers tend to be regarded as an undesirable group in Chinese urban societies. The ongoing influx of migrant workers into urban neighborhoods will accordingly result in neighborhood change in China. As a peculiar neighborhood pattern, semiurbanized villages have started to emerge in fringe areas of China’s rapidly expanding cities as the country is going through a transitional phase. Taking such urban neighborhood pattern in Shanghai as an example, this study examines neighborhood change within urban fringe areas as they experience inflow of migrant workers. It is argued that the invasion-succession model is not applicable to neighborhood change research in the Chinese semiurbanized village context. The transitional process taking place among these neighborhoods is different from that predicted by the classical model. The differences are largely attributable to the peculiar urban-rural dualistic structure in China that is a legacy of the planned economy. This study also finds that although local residents make every endeavor to exclude migrants from their social lives, the inflow of large numbers of migrant workers has nevertheless transformed many aspects of the way of life in semiurbanized villages. Moreover, this transformation process may have a destructive effect on local communities.

Using a longitudinal data set that inventories single-family home sale transactions within 3.2 km (2 mi) of the Central District redevelopment area of Oakland, CA, this paper finds that the targeted efforts to redevelop the Central District have partially mitigated the District’s negative impact on surrounding neighborhoods. The paper examined the Central District from 1992 to 2006, a period during which the District changed in character from a business district to a mixed-use vibrant area. During the period 1992 through 2000, proximity to the Central District negatively impacted housing prices up to 1.6 km (1 mi) from the District boundary. However, the magnitude of the impact reduced in the 2001–2006 period and dissipated after 0.8 km (0.5 mi) from the District boundary, indicating that the redevelopment efforts had a positive spill-over effect on surrounding property values.

This study strives to examine the relationship between truck transportation productivity growth and economic indicators. The subjects for the case study were identified using the levels of economic activity for the years 2001 through 2007 and transportation indicators for 2002. On the basis of past works that have explored a similar theme, a truck transportation productivity measure is defined. First, the relationship between economic indicators—including employment and gross domestic product—and mobility, as a transportation indicator, are examined using descriptive statistics and maps. Then, three cases were selected for further qualitative examination on the basis of outlier measures. The factors that determine the metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) with high rates of trucking productivity growth and those with low growth, or even decline, seem to be influenced by the overall economic conditions, and also the economic development incentives and ingenuity of the communities to attract businesses. Case studies suggest that the MSAs that have been successful in attracting various types of businesses have also been successful in growing the trucking sector.

Over the past 30 years, land development and consumption have been out of control and have kept expanding blindly, especially to marginal areas of some metropolises in China. The conflict caused by urban sprawl among socioeconomic development, resources, ecology, and the environment is becoming more and more severe. This study’s primary objective is to recognize the spatial patterns of urban sprawl. Taking Jiangning District as a research area, the built-up areas of four different years (1979, 1988, 1997, and 2003) were extracted from classified images using Landsat MSS/TM images. These, together with landscape metrics such as contagion index, fractal-dimension index, and shape index where used to recognize the spatial patterns of sprawl in Jiangning. From classified images, rapid urban expansion with low density towards the urban fringe has been observed. The sprawling area in the north part is more severe, and sprawling areas also include the marginal area of the nearby suburbs. These findings were tested through landscape metrics, which was necessary to quantify the spatial patterns of urban sprawl. This study demonstrates that timely and accurate monitoring is very important for understanding the relationships and interactions between human and natural phenomena, and that it can promote efficiency. Additionally, combining remote sensing with landscape metrics is an effective way to determine the spatial patterns of urban sprawl.

For people with disabilities, accessibility is a critical aspect of infrastructure that influences their health, quality of life, and ability to participate in community life. Currently, no standard methods exist for assessing a community’s accessibility or for accumulating such data across communities. ASCE’s report card on the status of America’s infrastructure offers a framework for collecting and aggregating data on accessibility, and for using it to advocate for community improvement. In the present study, an assessment for estimating a community’s accessibility was developed and pilot tested. The feasibility of the assessment method was tested by observing 297 randomly selected businesses in a city. Aggregated across nine access categories, the city scored 3.32 on a four-point scale, the equivalent of a grade of “B” on ASCE’s scale. However, 28 (10%) businesses met “access failure” criteria—having at least one barrier that precluded access to a person using a wheelchair. On average, infrastructure maintained by private businesses was more accessible than the same observed elements maintained by the municipality. This approach could be expanded to include other elements of community accessibility—transportation, housing, and information—to develop report cards on community accessibility at the local and state levels. Data on accessibility collected systematically and longitudinally would benefit policy makers, planners, and disability advocates. Achieving and maintaining the infrastructure’s accessibility would benefit everyone.