Progress in Planning 

About: Progress in Planning is an academic journal published by Elsevier BV. The journal publishes majorly in the area(s): Urban planning & Metropolitan area. It has an ISSN identifier of 0305-9006. Over the lifetime, 332 publications have been published receiving 17572 citations.

GIS-based land-use suitability analysis: a critical overview

Abstract: There are three main objectives of this monograph: (i) to provide an introduction to geographical information technology along with an historical perspective on the evolving role of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) in planning, (ii) to overview relevant methods and techniques for GIS-based land-use suitability mapping and modeling, and (iii) to identify the trends, challenges and prospects of GIS-based land-use suitability analysis. The monograph focuses on two perspectives of GIS-based land-use suitability analysis: the techno-positivist perspective and the socio-political, public participation perspectives. It is organized into six chapters. After an introductory setting chapter, which defines the scope of land-use suitability analysis, an overview of relevant GIS technology is provided in Chapter 2 . Chapter 3 offers an historical account of the development of GIS. It also discusses the development of GIS in the context of evolving perspectives of planning. Chapter 4 gives an overview of the methods for GIS-based land-use suitability modeling. The overview provides a background against which selected case studies are discussed in Chapter 5 . The concluding chapter summarized the main points of the monographs and discusses problems and prospects for GIS-based land-use suitability analysis.

The dimensions of global urban expansion: estimates and projections for all countries, 2000–2050

Abstract: Our study of the expansion of a representative sample of 30 cities showed that 28 of them expanded more than 16-fold during the twentieth century. More generally, cities are now expanding at twice their population growth rates, on average, and now cover almost 0.5% of the planet's land area. We created a new dataset comprising the universe of all 3646 named metropolitan agglomerations and cities that had populations in excess of 100,000 in the year 2000, their populations in that year, and their built-up area identified in the Mod500 map, currently the best of eight satellite-based global maps of urban land cover. Using this dataset, we estimated urban land cover in smaller cities and towns in all countries and calculated total urban land cover in every country in the year 2000. We then employed multiple regression models that could explain more than 90% of the variations in our urban land cover estimates amongst countries. Then, using U.N. urban population projections in combination with three realistic density change scenarios based on our previous global and historical study of densities, we projected urban land cover in every country and world region from 2000 to 2050. According to our medium projection, urban land cover in developing countries will increase from 300,000 km2 in 2000 to 770,000 km2 in 2030 and to 1,200,000 km2 in 2050. Containing this expansion is likely to fail. Minimal preparations for accommodating it – realistic projection of urban land needs, the extension of metropolitan boundaries, acquiring the rights-of-way for an arterial road grid that can carry infrastructure and public transport, and the selective protection of open space from incursion by formal and informal land development – are now in order.

'The planned city sweeps the poor away ... ' § : Urban planning and 21st century urbanisation

Abstract: In recent years, attention has been drawn to the fact that now more than half of the world’s population is urbanised, and the bulk of these urban dwellers are living in the global South. Many of these Southern towns and cities are dealing with crises which are compounded by rapid population growth, particularly in peri-urban areas; lack of access to shelter, infrastructure and services by predominantly poor populations; weak local governments and serious environmental issues. There is also a realisation that newer issues of climate change, resource and energy depletion, food insecurity and the current financial crisis will exacerbate present difficult conditions. As ideas that either ‘the market’ or ‘communities’ could solve these urban issues appear increasingly unrealistic, there have been suggestions for a stronger role for governments through reformed instruments of urban planning. However, agencies (such as UN-Habitat) promoting this make the point that in many parts of the world current urban planning systems are actually part of the problem: they serve to promote social and spatial exclusion, are anti-poor, and are doing little to secure environmental sustainability. Urban planning, it is argued, therefore needs fundamental review if it is to play any meaningful role in current urban issues. This paper explores the idea that urban planning has served to exclude the poor, but that it might be possible to develop new planning approaches and systems which address urban growth and the major environment and resource issues, and which are propoor. What is clearly evident is that over the last two to three decades, urban places in both the global North and South have changed significantly: in terms of their economy, society, spatial structure and environments. Yet it appears that planning systems, particularly in the global South, have changed very slowly and some hardly at all, with many approaches and systems reflecting planning ideas from the global North simplistically transferred to Southern contexts through complex processes of colonialism and globalisation. The persistence of older forms of planning in itself requires explanation. The paper briefly reviews newer approaches to urban planning which have emerged in both the global North and South to see the extent to which they might, at the level of principle, offer ideas for pro-poor and sustainable planning. The dangers of further inappropriate ‘borrowing’ of ideas across contexts are stressed. It concludes that there are some important shifts and new ideas, but no ready-made solutions for Southern urban contexts. # 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Climate change and the city: Building capacity for urban adaptation

Abstract: The significant shifts in climate variables projected for the 21st century, coupled with the observed impacts of ongoing extreme weather and climate events, ensures that adaptation to climate change is set to remain a pressing issue for urban areas over the coming decades. This volume of Progress in Planning seeks to contribute to the widening debate about how the transformation of cities to respond to the changing climate is being understood, managed and achieved. We focus particularly on spatial planning, and building the capacity of this key mechanism for responding to the adaptation imperative in urban areas. The core focus is the outcomes of a collaborative research project, EcoCities, undertaken at the University of Manchester's School of Environment and Development. EcoCities drew upon inter-disciplinary research on climate science, environmental planning and urban design working within a socio-technical framework to investigate climate change hazards, vulnerabilities and adaptation responses in the conurbation of Greater Manchester, UK. Emerging transferable learning with potential relevance for adaptation planning in other cities and urban areas is drawn out to inform this rapidly emerging international agenda. Approaches to build adaptive capacity challenge traditional approaches to environmental and spatial planning, and the role of researchers in this process, raising questions over whether appropriate governance structures are in place to develop effective responses. The cross-cutting nature of the adaptation agenda exposes the silo based approaches that drive many organisations. The development of a collaborative, sociotechnical agenda is vital if we are to meet the climate change adaptation challenge in cities.