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Targeted urban consolidation or ad hoc redevelopment? The influence of cadastral structure and change on the urban form of Brisbane, Australia
Abstract
Cadastral structure exerts a significant influence on urban form. Efforts to adapt the built environment to accommodate social, environmental and economic shifts are often at odds with cadastral structure inflexibility, and urban consolidation can be particularly hampered by lot size and shapeThis research utilizes spatial analysis to examine the influence of cadastral change on infill development. Despite planning schemes encouraging urban consolidation, the results indicate that cadastral change is characterized by ad hoc redevelopment, favoring lots that are easily transformed, rather than guidance from regulatory bodies. This contradicts consolidation policies, as redevelopment occurs only where financially and statutorily viable, while further cadastral fragmentation portends that future consolidation will be made more difficult. We argue that policy mechanisms must address cadastral structure more directly, and that the difficulty of cadastral change may incentivize urban sprawl on greenfield sites.
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https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/ZBB3P4RP4YU5ZSSYKMTN/full?target=10.1080/02723638.2019.1663058
... A similar situation was seen here. In Brisbane, Australia, the low number of parcel boundary changes were observed when compared to a large number of buildings between 2007 and 2017 (Gallagher et al., 2019). However, the tendency towards using such a planning approach has increased in recent years. ...
... However, the tendency towards using such a planning approach has increased in recent years. This is directly related to urban consolidation policies (Gallagher et al., 2019). The motivations behind such a tendency are varied. ...
... In the selected sample area, the Fikirtepe Urban Renewal Project's plan decisions (plan notes) that stimulate densification for land assembly were used. In the international literature, although there are studies examining urban renewal with this method (Fredrickson, 2015;Gallagher et al., 2019;Lin et al., 2018;Shoup, 2009;Turk & Demircio� glu, 2013), these studies mostly focus on spot redevelopment examples in ad hoc and unplanned way or building-scale transformation. There are no studies in the literature regarding the use of this method for large-scale and holistic redevelopment projects. ...
In the cities of countries that have undergone rapid population growth and dynamic development, two phenomena attributable to market failure prevent sustainable urban renewal and reconfiguration. The tragedy of the commons and the tragedy of the anticommons. This article focuses on how the coexistence of commons and anticommons is designed on a specific example in a narrow perspective. In the selected sample area, the Fikirtepe Urban Renewal Project (Istanbul, Turkey), plan decisions (plan notes) that stimulate densification for land assembly were analyzed. This study aims to examine a large-scale and holistic urban renewal project that includes using plan notes to eliminate a co-existence of the commons and the anticommons. Semi-structured interviews with were carried out with 17 people who represent different key actors in the Fikirtepe Urban Renewal Project. The findings demonstrate that there are some conditions to implement this method for a holistic urban renewal project. The first is that the state (central or local governments) needs to be initially involved in this form of urban renewal project. Second, it is needed to defined the organizational structure and roles at the beginning. Third, increase of the legal power of the plan notes is needed. Fourth, ensuring legal certainty for all sides is needed in the land assembly stage.
... This study was set in Brisbane, the capital city of Queensland. Brisbane has a population of approximately 1.2 million residents (ABS, 2020), is the third most populated Australian city, and one of the fastest growing Australian cities, yet has some of the lowest densities (Gallagher et al., 2019). In response to Brisbane's sprawling form, planners, and policymakers have been striving for urban consolidation since the 1980's in the form of 'inter-connected communities that were more selfcontained in terms of services and employment and as such, would generate less demand for travel in private vehicles' (Burton, 2017). ...
... The magnitude of the density increases were small and indicative of the type of development unfolding across much of Brisbane, with ad hoc redevelopment producing apartments, detached housing and some middle density in inner suburbs (Gallagher et al., 2019), and fragmented infill housing in middle and outer suburban zones (Newton & Glackin, 2014). This is consistent with the notion that Brisbane's outer, lowdensity suburbswhich are in most need of increased public transport and amenitymay be unappealing to major developers because of the lower land values and poorer transport infrastructure (Dodson, 2010). ...
... Here, land assembly is inherently led by the acquisition choices of private developers, whose decisions are influenced by the viability of developing under spatially varied regulatory and morphological conditions. In this context, Gallagher et al. (2020) analysed property boundary changes in Brisbane, finding that redevelopment favoured existing lots with viability for densification, consequently resulting in an 'ad hoc' distribution of land assembly. In a similar study, they observed the effects of an upzoning on the distribution of property boundary changes, finding that other factors, such as the historical land uses of a site, played a greater role in incentivising land assembly (Gallagher et al., 2019). ...
... Existing research on the relationship between zoning-based planning regulations and land assembly typically draws exclusively on quantitative data (Fredrickson et al., 2016;Gallagher et al., 2019;Lum et al., 2004;Tang and Tang, 1999), in one case citing "extreme difficulties" in recruiting interview participants for the purpose of qualitative analysis (Fredrickson et al., 2016, p. 71). In cities with a complex mix of zoning patterns, this has created difficulty in interpreting the key drivers of land assembly that seemingly arise spontaneously, or in an 'ad hoc' manner (Fredrickson et al., 2016;Gallagher et al., 2020). Thus, qualitative data may help to explain the key motives of actors that lie behind these spatial distributions. ...
From the time a city is first subdivided, its structure of lots act as a precursor to all future redevelopment, forming the spatial bounds of land ownership that force buildings to develop and evolve in their place. It is therefore critical for planning systems that intend to contain urban sprawl to encourage the lot superstructure to adapt to the emerging needs of a city. This study assesses the role that existing regulatory planning mechanisms play in directing the spatial distribution and frequency of private developer-led land assembly. Drawing on two inner city local government areas in Melbourne, Australia, this research analyses the relative influence of local zone-led development controls on the occurrence of land assembly over an eleven-year period. A descriptive spatial analysis and global logistic regression model reveal that an interplay of maximum height restrictions, existing plot boundaries, and sales prices, have led to a disordered distribution of parcel amalgamations. A geographically weighted logistic regression model highlights spatial variation in the influence of these factors, with small lots in the inner city being subject to the least influence of development controls. The results are supplemented by a small sample of interviews with local planners and developers, who suggest that regulatory planning controls inadvertently turn desired built form outcomes into a tool for capital appreciation and landowner holdouts. In combination, the findings suggest that zone-led development controls do little to influence market forces in a manner that induces private-led land assembly in favour of the public good.
... Although the absolute figure of 2403 ha or 7.3 m²/inhabitant of vacant lots suggests a high potential for infill development, the expectations regarding the contribution to housing provision have to be discussed critically. Based on the identified characteristics of vacant lots, it must be assumed that, with few exceptions, development on these small IDPs will be low-density housing, as the amalgamation of small parcels rarely takes place (Gallagher et al. 2019). As a majority of the identified vacant lots were found to be isolated, only in a few cases was amalgamation followed by residential development with higher densities. ...
... Due to limited data availability, this study focused on an ex-post analysis, using cadastral data from 2021 only, but building footprints from 2011. As cadastral structure is found to be very stable over time (Gallagher et al. 2019), the results can be considered reliable. Nevertheless, in future it will be possible to construct more precise time series: the correct cadastral structure can be used for each year and therefore cadastral change can be included. ...
Infill development policies have been widely adopted as strategies to reduce urban sprawl and to promote sustainable urban transformation. However, little empirical data are available to analyse infill processes and to facilitate building activity on infill potentials. This is especially true for small-scale residential infill, which often takes place on vacant or underused lots as soft densification. To address this issue, a geospatial method is presented that enables automatic detection of vacant lots for large areas. Cadastral data are used to analyse spatio-temporal development for the period 2011–21 in a German study area, containing large cites as well as rural municipalities. The results show that every fourth vacant lot was mobilised since 2011. However, additional vacant lots emerged in rural areas as new residential development areas are not fully built-up, resulting in a net increase of vacant lots. Although the quantity of vacant lot areas in 2021 suggests a high potential for residential infill, the main development on these infill sites is expected to promote additional single-family housing rather than more dense structures. Practice relevance Automatic identification and monitoring of infill potentials and development are important both for policymaking and for local planning practitioners. For small municipalities with little financial capacities, the approach can provide an overview of their vacant lots and can serve as a basis for strategic planning decisions. For the regional or national level, a yearly monitoring schedule can be established at little cost. Although the approach proves to be robust regarding its precision and is promising for a nationwide application, the data availability for the whole of Germany is awaited and the method needs to be optimised to implement the workflow in practice.
... Both cities are located on the east coast of Australia, located 900 km apart. Sydney is the capital of New South Wales with a population of~5.35 million over an area of 12,000 square kilometres 39 . Brisbane is the capital of Queensland with a population of~2.6 million over an area of about 16,000 square kilometres 40 . ...
... Brisbane is the capital of Queensland with a population of~2.6 million over an area of about 16,000 square kilometres 40 . Although Sydney is significantly bigger than Brisbane, both Sydney and Brisbane have experienced rapid growth over the last two decades, resulting in urban consolidation and a loss of public and private green space 39,41,42 . Sydney and Brisbane also both experienced a multi-month lockdown in the early months of Covid-19, which led to more sporadic lockdowns when Covid-19 was detected within the community. ...
Urban dwellers’ use of public and private green spaces may have changed during the early years of the Covid-19 pandemic due to movement restriction. A survey was deployed in Brisbane and Sydney, Australia 1 year after the start of Covid-19 restrictions (April 2021) to explore relationships of mental health and wellbeing to different patterns of private yard versus public green space visitation. More frequent yard use during the initial year of Covid-19 was correlated with lower stress, depression, and anxiety and higher wellbeing. However, greater duration of yard visits (week prior to survey) was associated with higher stress, anxiety, and depression scores, potentially because individuals may seek to use nature spaces immediately available for emotional regulation during difficult times. The results highlight the importance of yards for mental health and wellbeing during the Covid-19 pandemic and that relationships between nature interaction and mental health may be context and timeframe dependent.
... Urban consolidation is increasingly the focus of planning policy in Brisbane, with an ambitious target of 94% of new dwellings to be achieved through infill development from 2016 to 2041 (Queensland Government, 2017). However, only limited progress in urban consolidation has been achieved so far (Bunker, 2014;Gallagher et al., 2020aGallagher et al., , 2020b. ...
... To fulfil the ambitious target of 94% of additional dwellings sourced from infill development from 2016 to 2041, Brisbane has applied multiple strategies, including upzoning to allow for a higher floor area ratio of new buildings (Brisbane City Council, 2014). However, there has been limited success in meeting these stated aims (Bunker, 2014;Gallagher et al., 2020aGallagher et al., , 2020b. In this context, it is considered most suitable to investigate the mechanisms behind VUD in this area. ...
Increasing urban density has become an important focus in mitigating the adverse impacts of urban sprawl. A common way to increase urban density is the development of multi-story residential housing, or vertical urban development (VUD). Compared to low-rise detached housing, VUD has been purported to be more effective in mitigating the adverse impact of urban sprawl. This paper examines factors influencing VUD through a case study of Brisbane, Australia. Three types of housing developments – low-rise detached houses, low-rise apartments, and medium- to high-rise apartments – are explored, with the latter two types classified as VUD. Building on the literature that suggests a range of environmental, socio-demographic, built environment, and planning regulations factors driving or constraining VUD, our study further explores how land parcel size and parcel change over time either through parcel amalgamation or subdivision as factors driving VUD. The findings show that parcel size and parcel amalgamation are key factors leading to VUD, particularly in the form of medium- to high-rise apartment development. On the other hand, land use upzoning alone does not appear to be sufficient to drive VUD. Our study enriches the understanding of the scale effects of land parcels and zoning regulation on vertical urban development, and contributes to parcel-based land use planning policies that are targeted at more intensive urban land use.
... Dwelling yields on both greenfield and brownfield sites are significantly higher than those created by greyfield development, and, while this land remains available, it will continue to be the preference of largescale developers (Newton, Meyer, and Glackin 2017) as greyfield infill projects do not have attractive profit yields for professional developers (Sharam, Bryant, and Alves 2015). Currently, government intervention in infill is limited to the injection of funds for required infrastructure to encourage urban renewal, with inner-city redevelopment almost always concentrated on brownfield sites (Gallagher, Sigler, and Liu 2020), or the rezoning of large greenfield or brownfield sites for residential development. This approach cannot last indefinitely, as both brownfield and greenfield sites are finite. ...
... While researchers (see, for example Kelly, Weidmann, and Walsh 2011;Newton and Glackin 2018) continue to explore attempts at 'good' infill, in many jurisdictions there is a growing mismatch between preferred housing and existing stock (Kelly, Weidmann, and Walsh 2011;Sharam, Bryant, and Alves 2015). It is well established that allowing the private market in Australia to drive the urban development agenda, with little input from the community, has led to a dichotomy of new dwelling construction: high-rise apartments and detached houses (Sharam, Bryant, and Alves 2015), often on brownfield and greenfield sites respectively (Gallagher, Sigler, and Liu 2020). This is supported by the results of our study, which shows both a low uptake of greyfield infill, and a lack of new medium-density developments. ...
Greyfield infill has been widely pursued as a neoliberally guided consolidation policy favouring high amenity, higher density redevelopments in existing residential areas. In the context of rapidly transforming inner-city suburbs, the question becomes whether consolidation can be achieved through laissez faire zoning combined with strong market incentives for both large- and small-scale developers. This study draws upon an empirical analysis of property boundary change in Brisbane, Australia to demonstrate that without adequate specification, consolidation policy encouraging infill of greyfield inner-city sites can create perverse outcomes that fragment, rather than consolidate, the existing lot structure. The creation of ‘backyard subdivisions’ is one outcome in which additional dwellings are built alongside existing houses protected by preservationist statutes. Despite best intentions to retain dwelling character whilst consolidating growth, redevelopment outcomes do not achieve the purported benefits of consolidation. Clear planning controls are required if greyfield infill is to play a role in halting peripheral urban expansion.
... Recent years have seen a growing number of quantitative studies highlighting the effect of plot size and plot shape on urban intensification, infill, and redevelopment (Dovey et al., 2017;Gallagher et al., 2020;Gao & Asami, 2007;Lee et al., 2016). However, these studies are limited by their exclusive focus on very short time spans (5-15 years) due to data constraints, preventing them from offering a genuinely diachronic and generalisable understanding of the evolution of plot types and their long-term influence on physical change. ...
Plots are hypothesised as the most influential determinant of urban form evolution yet remain understudied. Existing morphological studies exploring plots' influential role lack quantitative methods, while more recent quantitative urban form studies remain largely synchronic, analysing urban form at a single timeframe without offering diachronic frameworks. Addressing this gap, we investigate the relationship between plot types and physical change in three international case studies (New York, Melbourne and Barcelona) over two centuries. Employing a novel longitudinal spatial database generated from historical maps, we present a methodology to measure the configurational character of plot structures and identify multi-variable plot typologies using k-means clustering. Statistical analysis of the relation between plot types and physical change reveals that finer-grained, narrower, and more compact plot types exhibit significantly greater resistance to building replacement compared to coarser-grained, broader, and less compact plot types. Our findings demonstrate the robust-ness of plot structures' configurational character in explaining physical change dynamics in cities. These data-driven findings can guide policymakers in strategic land subdivision decisions to guide future preservation and development needs and patterns, ultimately promoting more resilient and adaptive urban environments.
... In this context, spatial plan decisions lead to changes in land registries and cadastral boundaries. Moreover, land cadastral structure (parcel shape and size) affects the flexibility of assigning land use functions to land through spatial plans (Gallagher et al. 2020). Spatial plan decisions guide development activities through zoning regulations as well. ...
Spatial planning includes various decisions that guide the formulation of land policies, such as planned urbanisation, environment-nature-culture protection, and safe agriculture. Land Administration Systems (LASs) should also include spatial planning decisions as they play a role in facilitating the implementation of land policies. In this study, the Turkish spatial planning system's role in the land administration is discussed. The paper presents the necessity of designing and standardising the spatial planning system as data model. This data model design includes not only spatial plan decisions but also documents that guide spatial planning and land development decisions caused by planning. Therefore, this study aims to present a standardised model of the Turkish spatial planning system and the land use rights, restrictions and responsibilities established by spatial plans. Designing spatial planning system information as a conceptual data model within the Land Administration Domain Model is expected to support land administration system-based improvements.
... The multifacetedness of the concept is apparent in the literature, which addresses a vast range of different types of intensification ranging from large-scale redevelopment projects to incremental infill development of low-rise sites. The densification types are heterogeneous and relate to different questions and challenges regarding, for example, location, public and private interests and actors driving the development, and local and off-site implications of densification (e.g., Touati-Morel, 2015;Jehling et al., 2018;Bibby et al., 2020;Dembski et al., 2020;Dunnning et al., 2020;Gallagher et al., 2020aGallagher et al., , 2020bPinnegar et al., 2020). This heterogeneity of densification suggests that related land policies must also consider a variety of conflicts of interest in promoting and implementing densification. ...
Densification is being promoted in urban areas globally because of its many economic, environmental, and social benefits. The concept itself remains ambiguous, however, which is hampering the pursuit of densification as a strategic land policy objective. In this paper we construct literature-based land policy conflict profiles for different types of densification in order to reach a more nuanced understanding of the complexities involved in promoting densification through land policy. To that end we use a hermeneutic approach to critically review the literature and develop a typology of different densification types with relevance to land policy and categorize land policy conflicts specific to each type. As a result, we distinguish four densification-type-specific land policy conflict profiles: 1) policy-driven large-scale brownfield development, 2) policy-driven large-scale densification of strategic areas, 3) owner-driven medium-scale densification of individual high-rise sites, and 4) owner-driven incremental-scale densification of low-rise sites. The land policy conflict profiles address factors hindering the efficiency and effectiveness of the policy, the allocative, distributive, and procedural justice of densification, and conflicting policy outcomes. These unique conflict profiles allow for a detailed recognition of gaps, weaknesses, contradictions, justice and/or political indecisiveness in land policies promoting densification. The paper contributes to a deeper understanding of the challenges faced by land policy aimed at promoting densification. In addition, the conflict profiles will be helpful for practitioners in drafting municipal densification strategies.
... This process is especially fast in Asia, South America and Africa. 1 The urbanisation process occurs at different steps, but it is especially dramatic in the developing countries where migrants live in precarious conditions without access to basic needs and are often affected by severe health diseases (e.g., Kusuma & Babu, 2018;Mberu et al., 2017;Mitra, 2010). Although the most severe problems related to the urbanisation process are observed in the developing countries, this trend is also observed in the western world, that is, Europe (e.g., Ehrlich et al., 2018), North America (e.g., Dong et al., 2019) and Australia (Gallagher et al., 2020). Urbanisation has negative impacts on the environmental, social and economic dimensions. ...
This study presents a state of the art and a systematic review of literature that identifies the driving forces of land use/cover change (LUCC) and aims to move the discussion forward on the role of social actors in the direct and indirect drivers of land use change in the drylands of South America. Specifically, this review focuses on the characterization of how LUCC studies have addressed the factors driving territorial transformations in drylands, and their main related physical-biological and socioeconomic consequences. In this regard, there are on the one hand studies focused on describing the processes of land use changes from frameworks that are generally qualitative and poorly spatialised. On the other hand—particularly in South America—there are studies that delve into LUCC with very precise descriptions in the spatial context, but do not always manage to articulate a social and cultural approach that incorporates the qualitative explanations that we find in the first type of studies.
... This process is especially fast in Asia, South America and Africa. 1 The urbanisation process occurs at different steps, but it is especially dramatic in the developing countries where migrants live in precarious conditions without access to basic needs and are often affected by severe health diseases (e.g., Kusuma & Babu, 2018;Mberu et al., 2017;Mitra, 2010). Although the most severe problems related to the urbanisation process are observed in the developing countries, this trend is also observed in the western world, that is, Europe (e.g., Ehrlich et al., 2018), North America (e.g., Dong et al., 2019) and Australia (Gallagher et al., 2020). Urbanisation has negative impacts on the environmental, social and economic dimensions. ...
This chapter presents a Land Use Cover Change (LUCC) model application developed for Greater Sydney. It aims to help decision making in the context of the strategic and spatial planning of Greater Sydney. To this end, the model simulates the dynamics of industrial, low density residential and medium-high density residential areas at spatial resolution of 100x100 m.A series of three Land Use Maps at 30m were specifically developed for the modelling exercise. They determine part of the exercise´s limitations, such as the model simplicity and the short timeframe of the simulation (2006-2011-2016). Future efforts should focus on the simulation of population and job growth, exchanges between regions and the application of the model for scenario analysis and impact assessment.All data of the modelling exercise are openly available at the CityData portal of the City Futures Research Centre.
... The capital city of Brisbane would have moderate urban expansion to 2041 by around 15%, and slightly smaller under the 7m-SLR scenario. This can possibly reflect the tight urban planning policy where over 94% of its urban growth would be achieved through consolidation and infill development rather than expansion (Brisbane City Council 2014; Gallagher, Sigler, and Liu 2019). The larger quantity of urban areas overall under the move strategy compared to the stay strategy may be due to an opportunity to occupy bigger house when relocating from the higher density apartment living in the coastal areas to lower density inland areas (Table 6). ...
Low-lying coastal cities are widely acknowledged as the most densely populated places of urban settlement; they are also more vulnerable to risks resulting from intensive land use and land cover change, human activities, global climate change, and the rising sea levels. This study aims to predict how urban growth is affected by sea level rise (SLR) in the Australian context. We develop an urban cellular automata model incorporating urban planning policies as potential drivers or constraints of urban growth under different SLR scenarios and adaption strategies. Drawing on data capturing the socioeconomic and environmental factors in South East Queensland, Australia, our model is positioned to address one core research question: how does SLR affect future urban growth and human resettlement? Results show that urban growth in coastal regions varies depending on the extent to which the sea level rises and is affected by a combination of factors relating to urban planning and human adaptation strategies. Our study demonstrates the complexity of urban growth in coastal regions and the nuanced outcomes under different adaptation strategies in the context of rising sea levels.
Low-density urban expansion presents a worldwide urban land use sustainability challenge, resulting in increased land consumption and heightened landscape fragmentation. Existing research looks at the impacts of various urban form typologies on these two effects independently. We try to close this gap by identifying the urban form of 413 cities with million+ inhabitants worldwide as well as their simultaneous contribution to both land consumption and fragmented built-up land. We found that dispersed-continuous and compact-continuous typologies are predominant in cities in the Global North, whereas dispersed-fragmented and compact-fragmented typologies are prevalent in cities in the Global South. This effectively demonstrates the ‘diverging convergence’ pattern of urban form typologies across Global North and Global South. Our results further unravel that cities in the Global North divulge less built-up fragmentation while consuming more land. Contrarily, cities in the Global South consume less land per capita but have a more fragmented built-up area. It serves as a metaphor for regional trade-offs of urban land use sustainability, particularly if adopting a synchronic perspective on the global urban sustainability. Urban policy should prioritize finding ways to lessen adverse consequences linked with specific urban form typologies to effectively tackle urban land use sustainability trade-offs.
Urban morphological characters have implications for town-plan regionalization but have received little attention. This paper systematically reviewed urban form aspects, built form and morphological characters. The review highlighted built form is a reference aspect that coordinates other aspects of urban form and contains hierarchical plan-element complexes. Such complex relationship within the built form is vital to give urban form its morphological characters. Since urban morphological characters regionalize town plans, this role merits more study to establish relationships among morphological characters, town-plan regions, and sustainable development. There is also a shift to study town-plan regionalization in support of urban landscape management.
Urbanisation is a global phenomenon that has negative impacts on the environment. This process is especially observed in developing countries where a very high rural exodus is occurring. Most cities in developing countries are not prepared to receive a high number of migrants, and the people who arrive in cities live in precarious conditions. Therefore important land use and land cover (LULC) changes are expected to occur in the future. We study the past and future LULC changes in Kolkata Metropolitan Area (KMA) from 2000 until 2040. Future land use was assessed using the QGIS 18.3.1 MOLUSCE plugin and the Business as Usual scenario. The results showed that the images obtained in 2000 (Kappa=0.77), 2010 (Kappa=0.84), and 2019 (Kappa=0.83) were well classified. From 2000 to 2040, we observed a decreasing trend in the area occupied by agricultural land, especially vegetation. A slightly increasing trend was observed in open land, while the build-up area’s identified trend was very high. Water bodies and agricultural fallow did not show any trend. The most important changes were identified in the area occupied by vegetation and build-up area. The vegetation area covered in 2019 20.66% and 2040 8.51%. The Build-up area occupied 35.85% in 2019 and 51.20% in 2040. The changes expected are drastic and may imply an increase in land degradation, habitat fragmentation, biodiversity loss and a reduction of KMA liveability conditions.
Land abandonment, urbanisation and agricultural intensification are the most important drivers of ecosystem change. Their spatiotemporal evolution is complex and depends on many factors and interact intricately. These changes affect ecosystem capacity to supply the quality and quantity of ecosystem services (ESs). Therefore it is critical to understand the impacts of land abandonment, urbanisation and agricultural intensification on ES supply. This chapter aims to review the impacts of these three drivers of change on regulating, provisioning and cultural ES. Overall, urbanisation and agricultural intensification have high impact on the ecosystems the most detrimental effects on regulating, provisioning and cultural ES supply. Land abandonment and the consequent afforestation improved several ESs, mainly regulating and cultural. Except for water supply, the ES is dependent on agricultural land use and cultural heritage. Land abandonment improves several ESs. However, to maintain multifunctional landscape functionalities, it is also key to preserve the population in rural areas to maintain the functionality of agriculture, grassland ecosystems and the ES supply. Limiting urban expansion and adopting more sustainable farming practices are key to reverse the negative impacts of urbanisation and agricultural intensification on ES.
Limiting land take is an important sustainability target. To this end, infill development is a primary strategy. To implement this strategy, policy-makers need a reliable knowledge base on infill development potential (IDP), such as brownfields, vacant lots and underused lots. This study presents the results of the first comprehensive national survey of IDP in Germany. Almost 12% of German municipalities were contacted by questionnaire. In contrast to previous studies, this study also takes into account smaller towns and small-scale vacant lots, which would otherwise lead to a considerable underestimation. Additionally, a feasibility study shows how IDPs can be identified using a geospatial approach. Here, a procedure is presented that allows the identification of IDPs and the differentiation between vacant and underused lots by analysing urban morphology using nationwide and commonly available geospatial base data. The results provide a good basis for an initial inventory. However, to obtain more accurate results, additional specific data would be required, the accessibility of which is currently limited. With the development of an improved spatial data infrastructure combined with Open Data initiatives, geographical information system (GIS)-based procedures for the automated detection and monitoring of IDPs could become more important in future.
Plot systems (also referred to as "property", "parcel", or "lot") are generally recognised as the organisational framework of urban form that contributes to the economic performance of cities. However, studies that link the spatial form of plots to economic data are limited. The paper builds on the theory of Webster and Lai, which argues that the process of urbanisation is aligned with increased subdivision of property rights (increased division of land into plots, for example) due to the process of economic specialisation that is typical of cities. The aim of the paper is to test this theory by analysing whether there is a correlation between: (a) the shape and structure of plot systems, which are classified as types based on three plot metrics (size, compactness, and frontage index) and (b) economic activity, measured as the concentration of retail and food activities per plot. The paper will use statistical analysis to relate plot types to economic activity in three European cities (London, Amsterdam, and Stockholm). The results provide empirical support for our initial hypothesis and Webster and Lai's theory, which states that plots of smaller size, more regular shape, and smaller frontage generally correspond to a higher concentration of economic activity in cities.
Many ancient cities around the world were known with their livability. However, these cities started to lose this feature, when vehicles became prior to pedestrians who lost their sense of place, as many negative impacts came along. In return, people escaped the city's core searching for lively districts with attractive streets where the human basic activities can be performed. As a result, dead city centers were left behind. The present paper work proposes an integrative literature between the pedestrianization and livability, then analyze the precedent approaches to pedestrianization in global review, and introduce a creative implementation approach to pedestrianization in order to achieve the following objectives: (1) a tool to break the various barriers that may face implementation, (2) a method of exploration regarding the potential of the misused asphalt, (3) a tactic to re-attract people to the city's core and its walkable environment and finally, (4) restore the city's livability thus its sustainable urban development. From this perspective, by rejuvenating the core of a city, the entire city's livability could be restored, causing a sustainable urban development, through the creative tactical urbanism. Also, the paper includes an analysis of international examples, based on the criterion of tactical urbanism practices.
An in-depth understanding of the main factors behind built-up development is a key prerequisite for designing policies dedicated to a more efficient land use. Infill development policies are essential to curb sprawl and allow a progressive recycling of low-density areas inherited from the past. This paper examines the controlling factors of built-up expansion and densification processes in Wallonia (Belgium). Unlike the usual urban/built-up expansion studies, our approach considers various levels of built-up densities to distinguish between different types of developments, ranging from low-density extensions (or sprawl) to high-density infill development. Belgian cadastral data for 1990, 2000 and 2010 were used to generate four classes of built-up areas, namely, non-, low-, medium- and high-density areas. A number of socioeconomic, geographic and political factors related to built-up development were operationalised following the literature. We then used a multinomial logistic regression model to analyse the effects of these factors on the transitions between different densities in the two decades between 1990 and 2010. The findings indicate that all the controlling factors show distinctive variations based on density. More specifically, the centrality of zoning policies in explaining expansion processes is highlighted. This is especially the case for high-density expansions. In contrast, physical and neighbourhood factors play a larger role in infill development, especially for dense infill development.
Metropolitan planning and development of Australia's cities for much of the past 75 years has been strongly influenced by what could be termed the "North American model" of low-density, car-dependent suburban development on greenfield master-planned housing estates. The negative social, economic and environmental consequences associated with perpetuating this low-density greenfield model were becoming evident by the 1990s and "compact city" policies began to feature, albeit in piecemeal fashion, in the long-term metropolitan planning strategies of the major capital cities in Australia. This compact city transition, from "suburban" to "urban" (i.e., from a low-density urban form dominated by detached housing with its own surrounding private space to one where there is a significant presence of medium-density and apartment accommodation), remains a challenging work in progress, as reflected in a rapid succession of metropolitan planning strategies-and reviews-for cities such as Melbourne and Sydney since the beginning of this century. Urban infill targets of 70% for new housing construction in these cities now represents a major break with the past and a challenge to the major stakeholders involved in urban development in Australia: state and local government, the property development industry and residents of the established, ageing "greyfield" suburbs that are a focus for intensified redevelopment. This paper comprises four parts. The introduction identifies the multiple challenges confronting 21st-century urban development in Australia. The second part frames transitions required for a regenerative retrofitting of the established suburbs of its major cities, with particular focus on the greyfields. The third section extends transition management research into an examination of the transformative capacity of each of the four key stakeholder groups that are central to achieving such a regenerative transition. To date, the greatest resistance to more intensive redevelopment has come from urban residents. The final section of the paper focuses on this stakeholder group, and draws on data from a major household survey that examines the attitudes of resident property owners in the middle suburbs of Sydney and Melbourne to neighborhood change and medium-density housing development.
Condominium neighbourhoods are emerging in intensifying city centres as a response to market and demographic preferences for homeownership. While the multi-ownership structure of individual condominium buildings accommodates a short-term demand, the long-term implications for neighbourhoods is a source of concern. In particular, the presence of unit owners with varied acquisition objectives can lead to an anticommons problem resulting in building disinvestment due to an inability to reach decisions on sustainable maintenance fees and capital reserve funds, and a lack of end of lifecycle planning. The City of Toronto is experiencing unprecedented condominium development and serves as the basis for a case study that assesses the anticipated future neighbourhood challenges associated with a predominantly condominium-based form of ownership. Twenty-two local stakeholders were interviewed to identify problems that are viewed as sources of concern due to decisions made during the early stages of a building's lifecycle and the absence of a neighbourhood planning strategy. An analysis of the results indicates that lock-in, lacunae and neighbourhood effects will likely complicate revitalisation efforts as condominium neighbourhoods become more prevalent. Limited stakeholder recognition further suggests that it is necessary to raise a greater awareness of the potential anticommons impediments to long-term collective revitalisation actions.
The imperative to transform car-dependent cities for a low-carbon future requires that we engage with the challenge of increasing densities along existing road-based transit corridors – within the constraints of existing morphologies. Such corridors are often lined with small lots that are valued for their functional mix and urban character. This paper explores the degree to which small and narrow lots constrain urban intensification through a study of tram corridors in Melbourne. We examine the impact of site area, shape and access conditions as constraints on re-development and increased density. We find that small and narrow lots have not prevented intensification that is substantial in its accumulated effect and contributes more to urban character than large lot re-development. The paper discusses the relations of urban morphology to questions of car-dependency, development capacity and resident resistance.
The purpose of this study is to determine how the original street and lot patterns of an inner-city area have affected the incidence of development, demolition and redevelopment. In particular, the correlation is examined between the pattern of streets, lots and building types on the one hand, and the survival of nineteenth-century buildings on the other. The focus of the study is the district called Over-the-Rhine, in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA.
This study examines the morphological changes that occur when residential redevelopment takes place in severely deteriorated inner-city areas. Six large redevelopments completed between 1990 and 2000 in Detroit, Michigan, USA are examined. Seven morphological characteristics of the new housing are compared with those of the housing that existed in 1951.
Project premise Australian cities are forecast to grow substantially over the next half-century. The vision that they can 'get better as they get bigger' (Committee for Melbourne 2010) will ultimately depend upon how and where this growth is directed. The planning logic applied to urban development in Australia over much of the past 60 years was based on low-density 'garden city' greenfield expansion; a regime that was highly car-dependent and perpetuated the industrial era's restrictive zoning of land uses. It was a period when practitioners and populations alike foresaw little in the way of resource or environmental constraints upon urban development. A future logic for urban development is required: one that can significantly reduce our ecological footprints as well as enhance city productivity, competitiveness and social inclusion, thus enabling Australian cities to get better as they get bigger (see Figure 1). Exploring pathways for such a transformation is the focus of this AHURI Investigative Panel project. The research recognises that future metropolitan growth and investment will need to be redirected inwards rather than outwards, into precincts and regions of the middle suburban greyfields. Greyfield residential precincts are defined here as under-utilised property assets located in the middle suburbs of large Australian cities, where residential building stock is failing (physically, technologically and environmentally) and energy, water and communications infrastructure is in need of regeneration. Greyfields are usually occupied and privately owned sites typical of urban development undertaken from the 1950s to the 1970s (Newton 2010). The project investigates the processes required for an effective development model capable of delivering more affordable and sustainable medium-density housing through the regeneration of greyfield precincts in Australia's capital cities, with a particular focus on Melbourne. It targets the middle suburbs as the key areas of investigation for new urban policy (Major Cities Unit 2010). While the middle suburbs show evidence of prior patterns of densification, including the walk-up flats and post-strata-title townhouse development of the 1960s and the 1970s, the prevailing housing typology remains a detached dwelling on a single lot. This represents a nominal density of eight to 15 dwellings per hectare, and is widely accepted as unsustainable. Formal strategies for urban intensification have involved the redevelopment of large land assemblages in activity centres and more recently, the examination of transport corridors (Adams et al. 2009). However, as much as 35 per cent of infill redevelopment in middle suburbs takes place informally (Goodman et al. 2010) so it is surprising that there has been little detailed examination of this small-scale redevelopment activity, or the possible contribution it could offer intensification efforts. Regeneration of residential greyfield precincts is not proposed in opposition to existing state government policies, which appropriately aim to increase population density around transport corridors and activity centres. However, these strategic areas have been very slow in generating new housing, with fragmented infill continuing to be the major provider of new housing in the middle suburbs. Because this informal infill generally falls outside of the government policy-focused areas, it has been neglected as an issue for investigation. This project aims to bridge this research gap by considering how infill redevelopment could be undertaken more effectively through a precinct approach - this could contribute to a range of strategic city planning objectives within an emerging national urban policy (Department of Infrastructure and Transport 2010). As distinct from its greenfield and brownfield counterparts (Newton 2010; see Figure 2), greyfield redevelopment lacks an established model to drive the process, resulting in fragmented and sub-optimal development. This project aims to identify the innovative policy directions and associated organisational and technical processes needed for an effective development model in greyfield residential precincts. Sustainable urban development (that addresses environmental, social, economic and governance dimensions as envisaged here) will not be achieved without fundamental transformation of the greyfields in the middle suburbs. Melbourne is the focus of this study, but the findings are applicable to other major Australian cities. The greyfield precincts proposition This research focuses on the informal infill that clusters around two to seven dwellings per development, undertaken mostly by small developers (Phan et al. 2008). The project explores how this kind of informal development could be strategically managed. By exploring a range of issues - including how parcels of land could be assembled for higher-density redevelopment at the scale of precinct and how innovative design and construction methods could make these developments more socially and environmentally sustainable - this research aims to develop strategic management models for infill developments. For the purposes of the investigation, a precinct has been assumed to consist of 10 allotments. However, a larger or smaller number may be more viable. It is proposed that a precinct of 10 suburban lots could be sufficient for up to 40 dwellings. It is highly unlikely that housing provision in areas of greyfield regeneration will be provided by high-rise high-density apartment typologies. While such typologies are mandated for activity centres and transport corridors, in a greyfield suburban setting they are unprofitable and undesirable. However, a combination of dwelling types may be feasible. These would include four storey buildings - prefabricated or timber-framed, and delivered by the domestic residential sector - along with a variety of other typologies, to create a mix of detached, semi-detached, row and apartment housing. The precinct level design model also provides for high quality shared spaces, concentrated car parking solutions and a finer grain to pedestrian circulation and interconnection paths beyond the line of the street. It also offers opportunities for non-traditional suburban forms - offices, shop frontages, studio spaces - and ancillary community services. Such diversity could assist in accommodating the rental market displaced from inner city and activity centres (Wood et al. 2008) and the expected baby-boomer 'relocation within region' (Olsberg & Winters 2005). Three types of precinct were considered, as follows (see Figure 3). Consolidated precinct This precinct type consists of a large parcel of assembled land enabling high-density built outcomes suitable to large-scale development. Development sites of this type can produce high yield and construction efficiencies, and have the potential to achieve high quality design input and provide precinct based infrastructure. Dispersed precinct This type consists of small suburban parcels dispersed over a 400 square metres area. Based on current infill development patterns, this model is based on a single developer working over a number of non-contiguous sites.
West End is an inner-city neighbourhood in Brisbane, Australia, about to experience profound change. In the next two decades the population of West End is planned to increase fourfold as the result of local and state government urban consolidation policies, with little planning for services and amenity to cater for this increase. Interviews with 50 residents of West End are used to describe the nature and qualities of a strong existing public realm in West End, intimately tied to place and closely associated with West End’s early gentrification status. It is argued that early gentrification, because of the change it brings, has been consistent with the maintenance and protection of this public realm. As West End is the last neighbourhood of its type in the city (and one of the last in the country), it is also argued that in the absence of any state-led policies to foster diversity, for the benefit of the wider metropolis, these neighbourhoods are worth protecting from the parochialising effects of insensitive developer-led ‘second-wave’ gentrification.
Purpose
– This study aims to examine the trends in space per office worker and the influence of a number of factors on the ability to reduce space per worker. These trends are important in that they impact future office demand along with property values.
Design/methodology/approach
– Using both survey and empirical data a simulation model is used to examine the impact on space per worker over the course of a typical lease. Factors considered include the length of lease, the worker growth rate of the firm, turnover and time to fill positions, the type of organizational management hierarchy, whether dedicated or non-dedicated space is utilized and firm policies toward working out of the traditional office.
Findings
– Space per worker will continue to decline over time, yet collaborative work environments and the effects of traditional management and cultural momentum suggest that downsizing will take time. Counter to the initial hypothesis, growing tenants do not over-consume space in the early years but rather tend to renegotiate leases when growth spurs the need for more space.
Research limitations/implications
– It appears that modest economic growth is sufficient to offset downsizing trends, but some markets will be more affected than others. Portfolios dominated by larger than average tenants or U.S. Federal Government tenants will be affected much sooner by downsizing efforts compared to smaller private sector tenants. The mix of occupant types and age also matters, and this study does not delve into significant occupant-type differences by market. This study also does not directly consider design influences on productivity other than those mentioned through surveys: natural light, air quality, temperature control, noise and the presence of collaborative space.
Practical implications
– Forecasters of office space demand must input an estimate of the growth in professional employment and then apply a space per worker assumption. This assumption in most markets will be declining, by as much as 30 per cent over several years. Washington DC is already being affected by downsizing, yet most markets with reasonably good economic growth will be able to offset most of this transition to more intensively used space.
Social implications
– Much of the existing stock needs to be rebuilt. Much of how the authors work and where is changing. This requires new perspectives on how productivity is measured and how remote workers are measured.
Originality/value
– This is the first paper to try and reconcile the views of commercial real estate owners and operators with those of corporate space planners, both of who have opposite sides of the same lease. It is also the first to point out the explicit reasons why downsizing efforts are sometimes not as effective as expected.
Newly affluent developing world cities increasingly adopt the same unfortunate low-density suburban paradigm that shaped cities in the industrialized world. Identified by a World Bank report as a "mini-Los Angeles," Kuala Lumpur is a sentinel example of the results of unrestrained sprawl in the developing world. Factors driving sprawl included government policies favoring foreign investment, "mega-projects," and domestic automobile production; fragmented governance structures allowing federal and state government influence on local planning; increasing middle-class affluence; an oligopoly of local developers; and haphazard municipal zoning and transport planning. The city's present form contributes to Malaysia's dual burden of disease, with inner-city shantytown dwellers facing communicable disease and malnutrition while suburban citizens experience increasing chronic disease, injury, and mental health issues. Despite growing awareness in city plans targeted toward higher density development, Kuala Lumpur presents a warning to other emerging economies of the financial, societal, and population health costs imposed by quickly-built suburban sprawl.
This paper reviews urban morphological research in Australia, undertaken since the 1960s mainly by urban geographers, urban planners, urban designers and architects. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries Australian colonial governments generally prepared plans for towns, and also for rural lands, before allowing settlement to occur. Much of the study of urban form has therefore concerned the initial plans of Australian towns and cities, and how these have influenced the subsequent evolution of country towns, city centres, residential areas, and detailed urban forms. Some broader overviews, theoretical works, and studies in a comparative international context are also discussed.
Research on Canadian urban design, despite some notable exceptions, is relatively limited. This paper explains from an urban form perspective the practice of urban design in Montreal, Canada, by studying three representative projects built during the past six decades. Through the analysis of these projects, the principal aim is to understand how urban design approaches have evolved over time and how they have influenced the morphology of the city. The main findings of the research show that the schools of thought that have nurtured urban design practices over time have especially influenced the link between planned built environments and city forms.
With the rapid trend of motorization in metropolis, building a harmonious urban transportation system to ease traffic pressure is a common issue faced by many countries in urban development process. Since urban form has a significant impact on urban transportation, how to build a mutually reinforcing relationship between urban form and urban traffic modes has attracted many interests.
As the outcome of urban development, urban agglomeration changes the demographic structure of employment and industry, which prompts the urban morphology changes. Thus, the travel demand becomes increasingly diversified and complicated which bring forth new challenges to urban transportation supply. Similarly, the urban transport will also influence the travel cost, accessibility, therefore affect urban function, land use intensity, population density, and other characteristics of land use in urban morphology. This study will summarize the experiences of urban development and explore the impact of urban form on the urban traffic mode.
Great Tokyo Area, as the largest mega-region and urban agglomeration economy in the world so far (Parilla and Trujillo, 2014), has experienced a rapid growth in the twentieth century. As a typical eastern Asia region, Tokyo area has been facing challenges of high population density and traffic pressure, thus undergo massive urban transformation and rapid traffic mode development. The study provides a historical review perspective on great Tokyo area using a large set of data on economic factors, population, land use policies and urban traffic modes. How the urban form transformation interacted with development of traffic mode is investigated and divided to different evolving phases. The associations between urban form and traffic mode are studied in each phase accordingly.
The nature and importance of urban landscapes as they have been viewed in recent geographical research are discussed. The role of urban landscapes as cultural and educational resources is stressed. A major line of thought concerning the historical development and future management of urban landscapes is described, using a series of diagrammatic models suitable for teaching purposes. The principal focus of attention is British cities, but many of the ideas embodied in the models have wider relevance. Important factors in the changing physical form of cities are fluctuations in housebuilding activity, transport innovations, building types, fringe belts, and the influence of the past on the present and future. -Author
Block restructuring has been strongly emphasized in Japan for renovating cities. However, little is known about the relation between block size and building shape. Moreover, the shape of buildings designed on a block after restructuring is unclear. In this study, the relation between block size and building shape is analyzed quantitatively, and a three-dimensional building shape is estimated by a model using an urban planning GIS data set of Tokyo. Results show the quantitative relation between block size and building shape, and the building shape image on the blocks. Higher buildings and buildings with a basement tend to be built in larger blocks, leading to efficient use of the maximum volume permitted in the block. In addition, the region composed by larger blocks can be spacious, because the range of building setback will be long in larger blocks. Designation of a high floor area ratio may induce integration and enlargement of blocks. Blocks are less likely to be partitioned in zones when a high floor area ratio is designated.
Planners, officials, and neighborhood groups often debate zoning changes, yet there is little empirical evidence explaining why zoning and other land use regulations are changed. I use logistic regression models to examine density-enabling rezoning (“upzoning”) in Los Angeles. I find that upzoning occurs where there are development opportunities combined with limited political resistance. Upzoning is most likely on well-located parcels zoned for low-intensity, nonresidential uses. Meanwhile, homeowners—and particularly homeowners with access to valuable amenities—are associated with regulatory stasis. I conclude by recommending strategies for addressing homeowners’ concerns about higher density housing.
Since the inception of modern urban planning in the early 20th century, numerous urban planning policies have been introduced that seek to steer urban form towards desired patterns. Some have explicitly focused on promoting energy efficient urban forms to reduce carbon emissions and contribute to sustainable urban metabolism. Despite the proliferation of such policies, ‘unsustainable’ trends, such as urban sprawl and long distance car-based commuting, continue and in some cases are worsening. In this paper, we aim to explore the limited success of a number of influential urban planning policies in Europe and North America in trying to steer urban form towards a more sustainable path. Our aim is to identify their potential common shortcomings and suggest a number of principles which may help formulating more effective policy packages for sustainable urban metabolism.
This study uses a novel spatial approach to compare population density change across cities and over time. It examines spatio-temporal change in Australia’s five most populated capital cities from 1981 to 2011, and documents the established and emerging patterns of population distribution. The settlement patterns of Australian cities have changed substantially in the last 30 years. From the doughnut cities of the 1980s, programs of consolidation, renewal and densification have changed and concentrated population in our cities. Australian cities in the 1980s were characterised by sparsely populated, low density centres with growth concentrated to the suburban fringes. ‘Smart Growth’ and the ‘New Urbanism’ movements in the 1990s advocated higher dwelling density living and the inner cities re-emerged, inner areas were redeveloped, and the population distribution shifted towards increased inner city population densities. Policies aimed at re-populating the inner city dominated and the resultant changes are now visible in Australia’s five most populated capital cities. While this pattern has been reported in a number of studies, questions remain regarding the extent of these changes and how to analyse and visualise them across urban space. This paper reports on a spatial method which addresses the limitations of changing statistical boundaries to identify the changing patterns in Australian cities over time and space.
Economists characterize fluctuations in property markets as ‘cyclical’ in that characteristics repeat and recur instead of being temporally isolated or random. I argue that cycle metaphors naturalize change and distract us from the social and institutional relations underpinning transformation in local property markets. I emphasize the performative nature of cycles by focusing on the networks of actors – brokers, appraisers, investors, and planners – that move capital through the built environment, articulating arguments for its free passage, identifying inflexion points, and temporarily stabilizing the meanings associated with individual buildings, submarkets, and periods. Drawing from a case study of an office development cycle in downtown Chicago (1998–2009), I argue that cycles can be treated not only as metaphors that describe economic processes, but also as socially effective constructions in their own right. Specifically, I consider three ways in which actors perform cycles, including (1) professionals’ use of market devices that contain within them assumptions regarding the proper timing of (dis)investment; (2) the existence of incentives for herding among professionals that draw them to and away from assets at roughly the same times; and (3) the importance of cycle thinking in instilling the confidence necessary to speculate on an unknown future.
Creeping Conformity, the first history of suburbanization in Canada, provides a geographical perspective - both physical and social - on Canada’s suburban past. Shaped by internal and external migration, decentralization of employment, and increased use of the streetcar and then the automobile, the rise of the suburb held great social promise, reflecting the aspirations of Canadian families for more domestic space and home ownership. After 1945 however, the suburbs became stereotyped as generic, physically standardized, and socially conformist places. By 1960, they had grown further away - physically and culturally - from their respective parent cities, and brought unanticipated social and environmental consequences. Government intervention also played a key role, encouraging mortgage indebtedness, amortization, and building and subdivision regulations to become the suburban norm. Suburban homes became less affordable and more standardized, and for the first time, Canadian commentators began to speak disdainfully of ‘the suburbs,’ or simply ‘suburbia.’ Creeping Conformity traces how these perceptions emerged to reflect a new suburban reality.
The Melbourne 2030 planning scheme seeks to pmmote housing development in and around activity centres. However, there has been no progress in achieving this aspiration. This study shows that, for the City of Monash, infill constituted almost all the new housing development between 2000 and 2006. The infill was mapped and shown to be dispersed throughout the city. Very little occurred in the vicinity of activity centres or railway stations.
In the early 2000s, nearly 30% of South Korean cities reportedly shrunk in terms of population, number of enterprises, and property disinvestment. Although many researchers have already documented socioeconomic changes linked with shrinking cities, little is known about how changes in a neighborhood's built environment influence the process of shrinking within a city's local context. Here, a neighborhood called Songhyun-dong in Incheon, which was previously one of the busiest mixed-use retail neighborhoods in Korea, was empirically documented through nontechnical analyses of urban-form data for the years of 1937, 1985, 1995, and 2013. It was discovered that urban planners' institutional response to urban shrinkage, such as development of extensive transport infrastructure and imposition of a rigid gridiron layout, failed to contribute to the recovery of the shrinking neighborhood. The resultant loss of securely-enclosed residential areas and adaptable market-space characteristics has amplified the downward spiral of the shrinking process. (C) 2015 American Society of Civil Engineers.
When a new form is inserted in an existing townscape, its consonance within the urban fabric is dependent on the level of attention paid to the evaluation and management of its architectural elements. However, despite the established principles and methods of urban morphology that enable the systematic analysis of the built environment, a formula for ensuring that new development relates to its context so as to achieve congruent outcomes is still lacking. This paper proposes a new method of evaluating and measuring architectural elements within evolving urban forms, with particular emphasis on a three-dimensional study of buildings. In a case study, detailed mapping of both current and past forms provides the basis for evincing predominant characteristics that have changed over time. Using this method, it is possible to demonstrate objectively how the townscape has been affected through changes in its architectural configuration.
Housing intensification contributes to the strategic aims of many urban areas worldwide, and can also enable financing of major repairs in collectively owned residential buildings. The aim of this article is to develop understanding of the decision-making process concerning the infill development on a collectively owned plot of a housing company in Finland. As data we use theme interviews of people managing five case housing companies in Helsinki. The results of the cross-case analysis indicate that the decision-making process is unestablished. Key issues and stages of the process are identified and analysed further. Challenges exist on three levels: (1) legal and land use planning, (2) collective action and management, (3) required professionals. The results can be used for developing better practices for the process. Moreover, they contribute to the literature on the governance of multi-owned housing, its challenges and its potential in the redevelopment of urban areas with ageing building stock.
Addresses recent changes in the built environment of US metropolitan areas. The confluence of recent economic and sociocultural change has led to the emergence of a number of distinctive new urban settings. This process is interpreted as part of a broader, epochal change in the dynamics of contemporary capitalism. The particular implications of this transformation for the supply and demand of elements of the built environment involve changes in the organization and product mix of developers and construction companies, in the roles and professional orientations of architects and planners, and in commodity aesthetics and patterns of consumption among a "new bourgeoisie.' The imprint of these changes on the built environment is illustrated with reference to the example of the Washington metropolitan area. Among the new settings and landscape elements identified here are private master-planned communities, high-tech corridors, mixed-use developments, "festival' settings, gentrified neighborhoods, preserved historic buildings and neighborhoods, and postmodern architecture. -Author
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to outline key changes happening within occupier businesses that will have a medium- to long-term impact upon the demand for office space and, ultimately, the property investment market.
Design/methodology/approach
– The paper is based on survey work undertaken for the City of London Corporation as well as direct experience in advising corporate occupiers on their accommodation needs.
Findings
– The findings suggest major changes taking place in the demand profile of office occupiers, in terms of both quantitative and qualitative demand for space.
Practical implications
– There are a number of practical implications arising from the findings, not the least being the need for investors to consider the appropriateness of current standards for base building design and fit-out in contemporary offices.
Originality/value
– The paper presents the output of primary research and consulting and is therefore of an original nature. Its value lies in the fact that the findings reflect the actual experiences and plans of corporate occupiers and can be taken as reliable indicators of future demand for office space.
This article explores some of the ways in which the closely regulated layouts and property boundaries within Scottish medieval towns may have influenced the form and character of domestic buildings during the late medieval and early modern periods. Drawing together strands of scattered evidence from archaeology, morphology, history and architecture, it re-examines how plot boundaries, main thoroughfares and subsidiary access passages acted as site constraints in relation to the design and configuration of individual structures or groups of buildings, focusing in particular on building frontages and so-called ‘encroachments’ such as booths, stairs, galleries and arcades.
The City of Buenos Aires has a radial street plan, regular blocks, and a clear central place. On the basis of an analysis of the city’s GIS database, we show that measures describing the syntax of its street network have a significant relationship with commercial frontage density, over and above the impact of central business district attraction. These results are obtained while controlling for the effects of population and employment density, distance from public transportation stations, and zoning. Our findings support a hypothesis that emerges from recent literature, namely, that commercial uses are subject to the distributed attraction exercised by the street network, and according to the syntax of street network connectivity. Among the variables describing the street network, those that measure how direct the connection of a street segment is to the rest of the street network, have the greatest explanatory power on the distribution of commercial frontage density. Street width and the extent to which a street segment lies on the shortest routes between all pairs of potential origins and destinations (whether by metric distance or by direction changes), have less influence. Interactions between variables indicate that the effects of spatial syntax in determining the distribution of commercial frontage density by street segment are stronger when variables accounting for other attractors (population and employment density, proximity to metrostations or proximity to other shops in the surrounding area) assume higher values.
Characteristics of the built environment (BE) have been associated with walk, transit, and bicycle travel. These BE characteristics can be used by transportation researchers to oversample households from areas where walk, transit, or bicycle travel is more likely, resulting in more observations of these uncommon travel behaviors. Little guidance, however, is available on the effectiveness of such built environment oversampling strategies. This article presents measures that can be used to assess the effectiveness of BE oversampling strategies and inform future efforts to oversample households with uncommon travel behaviors. The measures are sensitivity and specificity, positive likelihood ratio (LR+), and positive predictive value (PPV). To illustrate these measures, they were calculated for 10 BE-defined oversampling strata applied post-hoc to a Seattle area household travel survey. Strata with an average block size of <10 acres within a ¼ mile of household residences held the single greatest potential for oversampling households that walk, use transit, and/or bicycle.
Despite the fundamental importance of the physical form of urban areas to environmental awareness and in planning, the interrelationship between the character areas recognized by researchers and those recognized by planners and the general public remains little investigated. Comparison of the maps of character areas produced by researchers, the local planning authority, and local residents in part of Stratford-upon-Avon, England reveals significant differences. A map produced by the local authority after public consultation and maps drawn by individual residents tend to emphasize through roads as boundaries between character areas. This is so even when the landscapes on either side of those roads are very similar. In areas with a long history, the character areas delimited by planners lack the precision of those delimited by researchers using the Conzenian method. More generally, inconsistencies between the mappings of character areas reflect the weak assimilation into planning practice of relevant urban morphological research.
This article addresses spatial patterns of growth and decline in Detroit from 1776 to the present. It maps industrial distribution, and uses space syntax to analyse the relationship among the street network, industry, streetcar transportation, and retail activity in the city. Special emphasis is given to the first half of the twentieth century, when Detroit reaches its peak of industrial production, in comparison with the second half, when it looses its vitality with the instalment of motorways and suburbanisation. The findings show that in the 1920s industry, streetcar transportation and retail settled along global movement routes that linked the city core with the expanding urban system. Since the 1950s the street network has lost its capacity to integrate the social and economic activities in the city, which followed a new logic of production, consumption and distribution. The motorways and the industrial landscape, which remained unchanged once reaching its peak, disrupted the street patterns in the city. This analysis can illuminate the role the street network plays in how cities prosper and thrive or shrink and decline. It leads to the suggestion that planning policy and urban design should integrate spatial configuration in their attempts to develop sustainable futures.
Based on data from the third (1982), fourth (1990), and fifth (2000) Population Census of China, this research examines the changing patterns of population distribution in the Beijing metropolitan area in the post-reform era. In the mid-1980s, China launched a series of urban land use reforms aimed toward achieving a market economy. A direct impact of these reforms in Beijing was the restructuring of land uses, evidenced by the relocation of central-city residents to the suburbs to make room for commercial development. This residential suburbanization trend emerged during the 1980s and accelerated in the 1990s. Population change rates varied significantly across subdistricts, and variation was much greater in the 1990s than in the 1980s, indicating an increasingly diverse set of growth trajectories across metropolitan Beijing over time. Various population density functions are tested. The population density pattern is best characterized by a monocentric model in 1982, a dual-centered model in 1990, and a seven-centered model in 2000. This transition in Beijing's urban form toward polycentricity is similar to trends in most Western cities.
This study identifies the determinants of single-family residential redevelopment considering both individual housing physical and locational characteristics and the socioeconomic characteristics of the neighbourhood and district within which the house is located. A non-nested multilevel logit analysis is performed on a parcel-level dataset of all single-family residential parcels located within 128 inner-ring suburbs of Chicago, between 2000 and 2010. Findings indicate that properties with smaller houses, lower floor-area to lot-size ratios, and lower ratios of their value to that of their neighbourhood, as well as properties located in high-quality school districts, are more likely to be redeveloped. The median property value of a neighbourhood does not have a large effect on whether a property is redeveloped, but neighbourhoods with higher proportions of Black and Hispanic residents were significantly less likely to experience redevelopment.
Many suburban areas in Australian cities built between the 1930s and 1960s are facing major challenges from socio-demographic change, ageing housing, long-term disinvestment and entrenched pockets of social disadvantage. Yet despite emerging relative disadvantages, these middle ring or ‘third city’ suburbs are experiencing locally generated piecemeal market-led reinvestment and renewal. This paper explores housing, household and housing investment characteristics and trends in the older parts of Sydney’s western suburbs drawing on analyses of socio-demographic and development application data. Policy options to achieve more appropriate urban renewal outcomes under broad social sustainability criteria are canvassed. Similarities and differences to the American ‘first suburb’ phenomenon are noted.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate significant problems in the US' development pattern of regional automobile‐dependent sprawl and local growth management and to make suggestions about adopting a regional growth management model that might better provide for more sustainable development of the built environment.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper reviews trends in the USA and elsewhere to determine the negative effects of the current system of sprawl and the potential benefits of developing higher‐density urban centers. The paper also looks to models in some US cities and Europe to further analyze potential legal and political issues related to this type of regional sustainable development.
Findings
Unsustainable, automobile‐dependent regional sprawl is a result of local zoning, growth management, and parking programs and has negative effects both now and for the future. The result has been more time, money, and resources wasted in automobile transit instead of new planning models that would lead to a more sustainable and less automobile‐dependent future.
Practical implications
A metropolitan sustainable development governing framework for growth management in the twenty‐first century is essential for a sustainable future. This includes higher‐density urban centers, transit‐oriented development centers, and a change in public attitude away from “not in my back yard” thinking.
Originality/value
This paper provides the potential benefits of creating a metropolitan governing framework to identify and regulate “growth areas” in a region. It further demonstrates how linking these areas to regional transit planning will help achieve the development of higher‐density, mixed use, and intensive urban core job/housing areas where people could live, work, shop, and play without the use of the automobile.
More attention is now being paid to the analysis of medieval and early modern town plans. Current debates include the usefulness of nineteenth-century plans to recreate earlier patterns and the antiquity and durability of the so-called burgage plot. This piece uses the abundant documents which survive in Wells to illustrate the history of the properties of one town. Several cycles of change are identified giving a complex mixture of continuity and change in plot boundaries. The material is used to suggest a series of processes which can result in boundary changes. The findings are related to recent work elsewhere in England. The need for more research is stressed.
The city of Rotterdam would seem to have succeeded in adapting to new conditions of urban competition by means of the physical reconstruction of its central area and the re-imaging of its cultural identity on an international level, while also achieving social objectives for regeneration. Moreover, these achievements have been brought about largely in the absence of overt conflict. This has been largely the result of both specific conditions of governance in the city itself, and the wider policy context of the Netherlands.
