Eric Chu

Bio: Eric Chu is an academic researcher from University of California, Davis. The author has contributed to research in topics: Urban planning & Urban climate. The author has an hindex of 31, co-authored 96 publications receiving 19139 citations. Previous affiliations of Eric Chu include Monash University & National Tsing Hua University.

Institutional Capacity and Market Accessibility as Determinants of the Effectiveness of Climate Change Adaptation Strategies - The Case of Three Middle Hill Communities in Nepal

Abstract: ii Acknowledgements iii

Urban climate adaptation in the global South : Justice and inclusive development in a new planning domain

Abstract: This chapter focuses on emerging climate change adaptation efforts, that is, processes of adjusting to actual or expected climate impacts in order to moderate or avoid harm, and which range from raising early awareness and assessing risks to implementing adaptation in sectoral work plans. The chapter asks: through what processes urban adaptation planning approaches promote more equitable forms of development. It describes adaptation actions in Medellin (Colombia), Durban (South Africa) and Indore (India), and assesses emerging experiences of integrating adaptation priorities into urban development agendas. Specifically, it examines Medellin's actions to reduce climate risks through spatial planning and green infrastructure projects; Durban's plans to integrate adaptation into biodiversity protection programmes; and Indore's approach to bringing climate resilience into community development projects. The chapter compares these approaches and highlights sources of planning tension and the ways they reshape subsequent adaptation interventions.

Spatializing ‘Just City Planning’: an evaluation of citywide planning policies in relation to ghettoization and gentrification

Abstract: In The Just City, Fainstein (2010) proposes principles for directing and evaluating urban planning with regard to the ‘just city’. Equity and a fair distribution of costs and benefits from public policy are central to her concept of social justice, while expanding it with considerations on diversity and democracy. The just city, in her view, may comprise of relatively homogeneous neighbourhoods, as long as their boundaries remain porous and further segregation and large-scale displacement are contained. Although Fainstein mentions the problem of involuntary concentrations of disadvantaged population groups and unequal spatial access to opportunities, her planning principles seem to be more concerned about securing social benefits from given projects and general policies, rather than devising pro-active spatial strategies directed towards equal access to opportunities on a citywide scale. In this paper, we propose an alternative, spatialized approach to the just city and just planning policies. Following Soja (2010), we assert that space and spatial processes have a central role in producing and reproducing social injustices in terms of access to opportunities. Accordingly, we consider trends of ‘ghettoization’ as a major source of social injustice, where we understand ghettos as areas with high concentrations of disadvantaged people, potentially leading to social marginalization, overburdened schools and a general lack of life chances. ‘Gentrification’ marks another source of injustice, where previously neglected areas become areas of privilege, depriving displaced residents and others from newly created opportunities. Based on the cases of Birmingham and Zurich, cities with contrasting planning traditions, we offer a discussion of housing and urban renewal policies against the background of city-specific patterns of ghettoization and gentrification. Focusing on the 1990s onwards, we find that the continued marketization of housing and urban renewal efforts in Birmingham have done little to counteract ghettoization, while the public reliance on housing associations and neighbourhood upgrading in Zurich have allowed for exclusionary practices and displacement. For both cities, however, the framework can serve for devising spatially just planning policies. Social justice in cities, we believe, is aided by a spatial understanding of social injustice and corresponding, spatially informed, citywide planning strategies.

Backward errors and small-sample condition estimation for ⋆-Sylveter equations

Abstract: In this paper, we consider the perturbation analysis for ⋆-Sylvester equations. Based on the small-sample condition estimation (SCE) technique, we devise algorithms to estimate normwise, mixed and componentwise condition numbers for ⋆-Sylvester equations. We also define a componentwise backward error with a sharp and easily computable bound. Numerical examples illustrate that our algorithm for componentwise perturbations produces reliable estimates, and the new derived computable bound for the componentwise backward error is sharp and reliable for well-conditioned and moderate ill-conditioned ⋆-Sylvester equations under large or small perturbations.

A decoupled form of the structure-preserving doubling algorithm with low-rank structures.

Abstract: The structure-preserving doubling algorithm (SDA) is a fairly efficient method for solving problems closely related to Hamiltonian (or Hamiltonian-like) matrices, such as computing the required solutions to algebraic Riccati equations. However, for large-scale problems in $\mathbb{C}^n$ (also $\mathbb{R}^n$), the SDA with an $O(n^3)$ computational complexity does not work well. In this paper, we propose a new decoupled form of the SDA (we name it as dSDA), building on the associated Krylov subspaces thus leading to the inherent low-rank structures. Importantly, the approach decouples the original two to four iteration formulae. The resulting dSDA is much more efficient since only one quantity (instead of the original two to four) is computed iteratively. For large-scale problems, further efficiency is gained from the low-rank structures. This paper presents the theoretical aspects of the dSDA. A practical algorithm dSDA t with truncation and many illustrative numerical results will appear in a second paper.

The Production of Space

Abstract: ‘The Production of Space’, in: Frans Jacobi, Imagine, Space Poetry, Copenhagen, 1996, unpaginated.