Showing papers in "Urban Geography in 2017"
TL;DR: In this article, a study of socioeconomic segregation in 12 European cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Budapest, London, Madrid, Oslo, Prague, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vienna, and Vilnius is presented.
Abstract: Socioeconomic inequality is on the rise in major European cities, as are concerns over it, since it is seen as a threat to social cohesion and stability. Surprisingly, relatively little is known about the spatial dimensions of rising socioeconomic inequality. This paper builds on a study of socioeconomic segregation in 12 European cities: Amsterdam, Athens, Budapest, London, Madrid, Oslo, Prague, Riga, Stockholm, Tallinn, Vienna, and Vilnius. Data used derive from national censuses and registers for 2001 and 2011. The main conclusion is that socioeconomic segregation has increased. This paper develops a rigorous multifactor approach to understand segregation and links it to four underlying, partially overlapping, structural factors: social inequalities, globalization and economic restructuring, welfare regimes, and housing systems. Taking into account contextual factors resulted in a better understanding of actual segregation levels, while introducing time lags between structural factors and segre...
212 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the effects of long-term economic, demographic, social and cultural transformations on rural landscapes in Alt Emporda, the so-called "Catalan Tuscany" are analyzed.
Abstract: This study illustrates multifaceted urbanization patterns and processes in a coastal region of Catalonia (northeastern Spain) as a paradigmatic example of the socio-economic transformations typically observed in the northern Mediterranean basin since World War II. By focusing on the expanding tourism industry, second-home expansion, infrastructural development and sprawl around traditional rural centres, the paper assesses the effects of long-term economic, demographic, social and cultural transformations on rural landscapes in Alt Emporda, the so-called “Catalan Tuscany”. The stratification of distinct urbanization waves and the underlying socio-economic processes observed in Alt Emporda reflect population dynamics and settlement morphologies typical of rural districts moving rapidly towards a suburban spatial organization. Recent urban dynamics in Mediterranean rural systems deserve further investigation in order to shed light on latent suburbanization processes involving marginal European regions.
185 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors introduce seven specific areas that need critical attention when considering urban experiments: normativity, crisis discourses, the definition of experimental subjects, boundaries and boundedness, historical precedents, dark experiments and non-human experimental agency.
Abstract: The notion of the “urban experiment” has become increasingly prevalent and popular as a guiding concept and trope used by both scholars and policymakers, as well as by corporate actors with a stake in the future of the city. In this paper, we critically engage with this emerging focus on “urban experiments”, and with its articulation through the associated concepts of “living labs”, “future labs”, “urban labs” and the like. A critical engagement with the notion of urban experimentation is now not only useful, but a necessity: we introduce seven specific areas that need critical attention when considering urban experiments: these are focused on normativity, crisis discourses, the definition of “experimental subjects”, boundaries and boundedness, historical precedents, “dark” experiments and non-human experimental agency.
103 citations
TL;DR: Zhang et al. as discussed by the authors examined the impact of urban village redevelopment on the restructuring of neighbourhood attachment, neighbourly interaction, and community participation, and found that after redevelopment, neighbourhood attachment becomes more influenced by residential satisfaction but less by neighbourly contacts.
Abstract: Large-scale urban redevelopment has caused the breakdown of traditional social bonds in Chinese cities. To date, very few studies have attempted to delve into the impact of this urban redevelopment on neighbourhood cohesion. Using data collected from questionnaires conducted in 20 urban villages and 1 urban village redevelopment neighbourhood in Guangzhou, this paper examines the impact of urban village redevelopment on the restructuring of neighbourhood attachment, neighbourly interaction, and community participation—three dimensions of neighbourhood cohesion. Results of a path analysis show that, overall, neighbourhood cohesion declines after redevelopment occurs, and that the sources of neighbourhood cohesion differ between urban villages and the redevelopment neighbourhood. Our findings show that after redevelopment, neighbourhood attachment becomes more influenced by residential satisfaction but less by neighbourly contacts, and community participation becomes less subject to neighbourly inte...
70 citations
TL;DR: In the context of comparative urbanism, comparison is now taken as vital to the constitution of knowledge about cities and urbanism as discussed by the authors, and debate has been far more attentive to the merits of comparisons between cities and cities.
Abstract: Comparison is now taken as vital to the constitution of knowledge about cities and urbanism. However, debate on comparative urbanism has been far more attentive to the merits of comparisons between...
70 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined key questions related to the ghost city phenomenon, such as: what is a ghost city? Are ghost cities driven by a tendency toward over-supply in housing? How are local-level political incentives aligned to foster the production of ghost cities?
Abstract: Controversy has arisen in recent years over the creation of so-called “ghost cities” across China. The ghost city term tends to describe large-scale urban areas, sometimes planned as new towns, featuring an abundance of new built space and appearing to also have extremely low tenancy. This article examines key questions related to the ghost city phenomenon, such as: what is a ghost city? Are ghost cities driven by a tendency toward over-supply in housing? How are local-level political incentives aligned to foster the production of ghost cities? Are ghost cities temporary anomalies or structural features of China’s urban-led economic growth model? We discuss recent scholarly research into ghost cities and present original findings to show how an excess of urban space may plague certain Chinese cities.
65 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors investigate the spatial structure of employment in 356 US metropolitan regions and conceptualize six typologies based on three categories that have overlapping properties: monocentricity, polycentricity, and generalized dispersion.
Abstract: Although the spatial structure of employment in large US metropolitan regions is a well-researched topic, few studies focus on medium-sized and small US metropolitan regions. Consequently, there is no overall typology relating small-to-medium urban form to employment distribution. We address this gap by investigating the spatial structure of employment in 356 metropolitan regions. We conceptualize six typologies based on three categories that have overlapping properties: “monocentricity,” “polycentricity,” and “generalized dispersion.” The study has three main findings. First, the three types of urban form that we identify as “hybrid” outnumber the three “pure” types by almost four to one. Second, job dispersion is a dominant characteristic in almost 70% of all metropolitan statistical areas (MSAs) (including the hybrid types), and polycentricity (56.7% of MSAs) is somewhat more common than monocentricity. Third, there is a strong relationship between population size and density. The population of...
64 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors analyse the political agency of street hawkers and squatters in Accra, Ghana, and demonstrate how squatters and hawkers in Ghana's capital city are engaged in everyday practices of quiet encroachment, whereby they occupy urban space as a means to reproduce themselves.
Abstract: This article draws on Asef Bayat’s theory of “quiet encroachment” to analyse the political agency of street hawkers and squatters in Accra, Ghana. It demonstrates how squatters and street hawkers in Ghana’s capital city are engaged in everyday practices of quiet encroachment, whereby they occupy urban space as a means to reproduce themselves. It then explores how encroachers take collective action to defend their access to urban space from state-led dispossession. In a context of competitive partisan politics where the management of urban space has become highly politicized, hawkers and squatters organizations have been empowered to seek active engagement and dialogue with the authorities. Whereas Bayat argues that the informal proletariat in authoritarian contexts desire autonomy and invisibility from the institutions of the state, therefore, the particular characteristics of Ghana’s multiparty system have created the possibility for bold acts of encroachment on urban space.
59 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a survey of migrants living in the subdistrict of Shuangyu, a settlement dominated by manufacturing workers, argues that socio-spatial segregation research should pay more holistic attention to migrants' use of urban space, beyond simply place of residence.
Abstract: Although internal migration is one of the most frequently discussed aspects of China’s twenty-first century urbanization, much of the research in this area emphasizes megacities. This paper, however, focuses on Wenzhou, a Chinese city that served as a national model for the introduction of small-scale private enterprise in the 1990s. Through a survey of migrants living in the subdistrict of Shuangyu, a settlement dominated by manufacturing workers, this article argues that socio-spatial segregation research should pay more holistic attention to migrants’ use of urban space, beyond simply place of residence. Focusing on how migrants use space in several aspects of their everyday lives, this article contends that Shuangyu is socially and spatially segregated from other parts of the city. Rather than neatly incorporated into the rest of the city, migrant settlement in Wenzhou is both marginalized and independent. We thus theorize Shuangyu’s place in Wenzhou’s new socio-spatial structure as a “city wi...
58 citations
TL;DR: This paper explored how local authorities in London, England, are simultaneously addressing the dual pressures of delivering fiscal retrenchment and enrolling citizens in new participatory public service arrangements, asking whether these trends pull against one another, in opposite directions, or whether they are the tough and tender dimensions of a singular process: austerian management.
Abstract: At a time of “austerity localism”, this paper explores how local authorities in London, England, are simultaneously addressing the dual pressures of delivering fiscal retrenchment and of enrolling citizens in new participatory public service arrangements, asking whether “these trends pull against one another, in opposite directions, or whether they are the tough and tender dimensions of a singular process: austerian management” Drawing on empirical research into the London Borough of Lambeth’s Cooperative Council agenda, as well as Foucauldian and Gramscian critiques of participatory network governance theories and practice, this paper shows how participatory forms of governance can be folded into the logic of hierarchy and coercion through various governmental technologies of performance and agency (consent), and through tactics of administrative domination (coercion). As budget cuts continue to affect local government in England, this paper concludes that although small experiments in participat...
56 citations
TL;DR: The authors explored how several nonprofit organizations in Boystown have adopted policing strategies toward the queer and trans youth of color they serve, arguing that community policing has infiltrated these organizations to further defend and maintain an exclusive gay urban space informed by whiteness, which marks and regulates young, Black masculinities.
Abstract: Chicago’s gay village of Boystown has long been linked with whiteness, and in the past decade, tensions have flared between neighborhood residents and queer and transgender (trans) youth of color, often homeless, who come to Boystown for the many services provided by its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) nonprofit organizations, or queer spaces of care. While scholars have attended to community policing in Boystown through the Take Back Boystown movement, the role of LGBTQ nonprofits has yet to be examined in their role of criminalizing queer and trans youth of color in the neighborhood. Through an autoethnographic approach, this paper explores how several nonprofit organizations in Boystown have adopted policing strategies toward the queer and trans youth of color they serve. I argue that community policing has infiltrated these organizations to further defend and maintain an exclusive gay urban space informed by whiteness, which marks and regulates young, Black masculinities...
TL;DR: The authors developed the notion of "event seizure" to better understand how mega-events, and the elites associated with them, take possession of host cities and societies and impose their priorities on cities and citizens.
Abstract: This paper develops the notion of “event seizure” to better understand how mega-events, and the elites associated with them, take possession of host cities and societies—of development plans, funds and legislation—and impose their priorities on cities and citizens. It illustrates how event seizure plays out in the preparations for the Football World Cup 2018 in Russia, which is on course to become the most expensive World Cup ever with a total cost of about USD 20 billion. Drawing on government and FIFA documents, public statements from authorities and officials, and media coverage, the paper examines three different dimensions of event seizure. First, infrastructural seizure, where event-related infrastructure, particularly sports venues, crowd out infrastructure that serves wider urban needs. Second, financial seizure, where a close circle of political and business elites benefits from state funding, while the public underwrites cost overruns. Third and last, legal seizure, where the event introduces exceptional legislation, infringing citizen rights and compromising due oversight of event preparations.
TL;DR: In response to neoliberal policies and globalization pressures over the past three decades, urban governments in advanced economies have, with near-unanimity, adopted place branding as an approach to foster local economic growth as discussed by the authors.
Abstract: In response to neoliberal policies and globalization pressures over the past three decades, urban governments in advanced economies have, with near-unanimity, adopted place branding as an approach to foster local economic growth. Framed as an outcome of multilevel neoliberal policymaking and local entrepreneurial governance, place branding has been adopted by urban places at all scales and geographic contexts with little regard for its efficacy. It is unclear, however, whether place branding represents a substantive approach, or is merely an emerging example of a neoliberal scripting. In many regards, the debate surrounding place branding is similar to the discourse on the Creative Class a decade ago. Consequently, uncertainty exists regarding whether place branding reflects practical and responsible urban governance or a superficial, fast policy with limited potential to foster local development. To date, little is known about how practitioners perceive place branding as a policy tool in the cont...
TL;DR: The authors argues that advocates of gardening and cycling understand themselves as implicitly allied with struggles for the right to the city, but their work to produce local space is often blind to, and even complicit in, racialized dynamics of accumulation and exclusion that organize metropolises.
Abstract: In the contemporary American urban renaissance, formerly fringe efforts to produce place, conducted by longtime residents and “urban pioneers” alike, now shape mainstream urbanism. Gardening and bicycling are constitutive of contemporary excitement about the city, representing the reinvigoration of the urban neighborhood following the depredations of suburbanization. This paper draws on research in California cities to offer a sympathetic critique of these leading edges of progressive urbanism, arguing that advocates’ overwhelming focus on the local creates a scalar mismatch between the horizon of political action and the problems they hope to address. Even as supporters of gardening and cycling understand themselves as implicitly allied with struggles for the right to the city, their work to produce local space is often blind to, and even complicit in, racialized dynamics of accumulation and exclusion that organize metropolises. The result is a progressive urbanism largely disconnected from broad...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the extent to which neighborhood-scale urban form may contribute to reduction of travel-related CO2 emissions in the context of rapid urbanization and spatial transformation.
Abstract: With an increasing awareness of global climate change, the effect of urban spatial organization, at both city and neighborhood scales, on urban CO2 emission reduction has attracted much scholarly and practical attention. Using Beijing as a case study, this article examines the extent to which neighborhood-scale urban form may contribute to reduction of travel-related CO2 emissions in the context of rapid urbanization and spatial transformation. We derive complete travel-activity records of 1,048 residents from an activity diary survey conducted in 2007. Analysis using structural equation models finds that residents living in a neighborhood with higher land use mix, public transit accessibility, and more pedestrian-friendly street design tend to travel in a “low-carbon” manner and emit less CO2 in daily travel, even controlling for residential and travel preferences. This article offers empirical evidence that sheds light on debates about policy measures to facilitate China’s transition toward sust...
TL;DR: The concept of creative democracy was introduced by John Dewey, more than a half-century ago, as a moral practice of radical equality in the pragmatic, collective project of hammering out answers to the question of how we should live as mentioned in this paper.
Abstract: Democracy everywhere is under siege, overwhelmed by oligarchy, apathy, bureaucracy, and spectacle, at best an ideal that has never been achieved. Yet against the dystopian vision of post-democracy and the post-political is what John Dewey, more than a half-century ago, called “creative democracy,” a moral practice of radical equality in the pragmatic, collective project of hammering out answers to the question of how we should live. This article explores Dewey’s concept of creative democracy as a moral idea, a personal ethic, a collective commitment, and a precondition for political practice. Establishing the conditions for creative democracy requires a significant reconsideration of the education of democratically competent citizens and of the democratic practice of research and knowledge production. Creative democracy is a poetic project, an imaginative opening, an ethical possibility, a shared responsibility, and a practice of hope that opens a path to achieving a better kind of life to be lived.
TL;DR: In this paper, a critical reading of participation in Tempelhof reveals a contradictory process: although participatory methods worked to mobilize support for predefined agendas, their insurgent participation also allowed partic...
Abstract: Despite decades of debate, participatory planning continues to be contested. More recently, research has revealed a relationship between participation and neoliberalism, in which participation works as a post-political tool—a means to depoliticize planning and legitimize neoliberal policy-making. This article argues that such accounts lack attention to the opportunities for opposing neoliberal planning that may be inherent within participatory processes. In order to further an understanding of the workings of resistance within planning, it suggests the notion of insurgent participation—a mode of contentious intervention in participatory approaches. It develops this concept through the analysis of various participatory approaches launched to regenerate the former airport Berlin-Tempelhof. A critical reading of participation in Tempelhof reveals a contradictory process. Although participatory methods worked to mobilize support for predefined agendas, their insurgent participation also allowed partic...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the program's apartment lease is not a benign social relationship, but a lever of market discipline, and that the abstract compulsions of the market significantly but incompletely replace the older, more paternistic traditions of poverty governance.
Abstract: Housing First (HF) is the new orthodoxy when dealing with the small, long-term, visible and recalcitrant fraction of the greater homeless population. Unlike more traditional, “treatment first” models that expect “self-sufficiency” before clients should achieve housing, this markedly cost-effective program/policy rapidly places homeless people who “consume” the most state resources into their own subsidized apartment. Many conclude that such an upending renders HF an exceptionally progressive program that ousts the disciplinary, paternalist traditions of poverty governance. Using evidence from two programs in metropolitan Phoenix, AZ, however, I argue that housing indeed comes first, but paternalism is right there behind it. Further, I argue that the program’s apartment lease – in what remains commodified housing – is no benign social relationship. It is, rather, a lever of market discipline. In HF, the abstract compulsions of the market significantly but incompletely replace the older, more patern...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the processes through which the United Arab Emirates (UAE) cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai attract and integrate knowledge workers into their labor markets, focusing on how the UAE acquired the human capital to create post-oil economies, deploying its oil windfalls into massive urban development strategies in order to create global hubs for talent.
Abstract: This paper examines the processes through which the United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) cities of Abu Dhabi and Dubai attract and integrate knowledge workers into their labor markets. It focuses on how the UAE has acquired the human capital to create post-oil economies, deploying its oil windfalls into massive urban development strategies in order to create global hubs for talent. More significantly, it analyzes how the UAE’s strategies and frameworks for attracting global knowledge flows ultimately determine the degree to which expatriate knowledge embeds locally. Presentation of results from a large-scale human capital survey of firms in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as well as key-informant interviews with senior human resource administrators at these firms, demonstrate these processes.
TL;DR: Geography of crime research dates back to the early 1800s, most of which in English and in the context of the United States and Europe, but with a growing and significant literature studying the de...
Abstract: Geography of crime research dates back to the early 1800s, most of which in English and in the context of the United States and Europe, but with a growing and significant literature studying the de...
TL;DR: In this paper, a study that utilizes primary household level survey data and cancer risk estimates from the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) to analyze intra-ethnic inequities in exposure to vehicular air pollutants in the Miami metropolitan area, Florida.
Abstract: Quantitative environmental justice (EJ) research has relied on aggregated data from census units to determine disproportionate hazard exposure. Additionally, variables typically used to analyze ethnic inequities in exposure (e.g., percent Hispanic) are too broad and assume a degree of homogeneity that may not exist, given the diversity of ethnic minority populations. We address these limitations through a study that utilizes primary household level survey data and cancer risk estimates from the National-Scale Air Toxics Assessment (NATA) to analyze intra-ethnic inequities in exposure to vehicular air pollutants in the Miami metropolitan area, Florida. Our analysis disaggregates the Hispanic category based on five characteristics (language proficiency, U.S. citizenship, nativity, unemployment status, and national origin) and finds that risk burdens are significantly higher for Hispanic respondents who are foreign-born, unemployed, and of Cuban origin. Findings highlight the advantages of downscalin...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors analyze 2009 survey data of land expropriation cases across 12 Chinese cities, and find that expropriations take different forms leading to specific outcomes, and that local governments followed central government policies requiring them to pay standard rates of compensation, but in the other half, local governments negotiated with farmers over the terms of expropriated land.
Abstract: A driving force of urban development is “accumulation by dispossession” which occurs through expropriation, privatization, and commodification of land. While the macro theory is now well refined, there is still much we do not know about how the underlying processes occur and how they shape economic development and urbanization. In this study, we analyze 2009 survey data of land expropriation cases across 12 Chinese cities, and find that expropriation takes different forms leading to specific outcomes. In half the cases, local governments followed central government policies requiring them to pay standard rates of compensation, but in the other half, local governments negotiated with farmers over the terms of expropriation. In the latter scenario, farmers were more likely to receive compensation higher than the standard rate, particularly if they were embedded in local power structures, which we argue could be counteracted if all households in a rural collective negotiate one agreement rather than ...
TL;DR: In this article, a case study of the fourth-tier city of Qujing, in Yunnan province, investigates the financing of urban production from the perspective of the development industry.
Abstract: What has made the urbanization of capital possible in China since the late 1990s? A major strand of literature in urban geography has pointed out land as the main trigger of urbanization. Scholars have highlighted the empowerment of local governments and their subsequent role in implementing China’s national urbanization objectives because of substantial revenues from the commodification of land. Other scholars have looked beyond the supply side, emphasizing the role of demand in stimulating urban development in China. In terms of demand, the speculative rationale of urban households aided land and property development during the 2000s, when property became a main alternative financial asset. However, this still raises the question of how urban production is financed. Based on a case study of the fourth-tier city of Qujing, in Yunnan province, this article investigates the financing of urban production from the perspective of the development industry. For the time being, little is known about how ...
TL;DR: In this paper, a series of interviews with property developers and local politicians was conducted to explore development from the perspective of condo developers, identifying the key condo developers and categorizing them according to their development approaches and spatial preferences.
Abstract: The City of Toronto has undergone a number of dramatic transformations in the last several decades morphing from an industrial-driven metropolis into a thriving real estate and consumer amenities market. Over these decades, the development of condominiums has significantly transformed Toronto’s cityscape surpassing by far other types of real estate development. Based chiefly on a series of interviews with property developers and local politicians, this article explores development from the perspective of condo developers. The article identifies the key condo developers and categorizes them according to their development approaches and spatial preferences. Findings reiterate the need to consider property developers as highly diverse and flexible place entrepreneurs. Differences play out not merely in preferred development location and size, but also in target population, tenure mix, corporate structure, and the extent to which capitalism and economic gain are mixed with more idealistic motivations ...
TL;DR: DeVerteuil et al. as discussed by the authors explored this question through six years of research on 100 organizations in 10 inner-city “gentrifying” cities and found that clusters of services for low-income people survived in gentrifying cities.
Abstract: How have clusters of services for low-income people survived in gentrifying cities? Geoff DeVerteuil has explored this question through six years of research on 100 organizations in 10 inner-city “...
TL;DR: This paper explored how neighborhood stakeholders invoked a school's history in protesting the closure of local schools in two Philadelphia neighborhoods in 2013 and revealed how closure decisions reproduced historic place-based inequities.
Abstract: In this article, I explore how neighborhood stakeholders invoked a school’s history in protesting the closure of local schools in two Philadelphia neighborhoods in 2013. By situating the protest of school closures within a theorization of the politics and production of place, this article illuminates the ways stakeholders’ defense of local schools was embedded in constructions of place identity, with implications for claims to belonging. Invoking a school’s history in protesting school closures rooted schools in place, expanding the framing of schools’ significance beyond the school district’s metrics for school closure and revealing ways that closure decisions reproduced historic place-based inequities. School closure decisions have broad implications for communities that extend beyond narrow considerations of school administration, implications that should be taken into account in school closure processes. I draw on video and transcription records of public meetings as well as subsequent intervi...
TL;DR: In this article, a study of urban transformation in the Beijing metropolis identifies a distinct trajectory whereby commodification of urban land has been actively pursued in response to the decentralization of developmental responsibilities and recentralization of tax revenue collection instituted by the central state.
Abstract: Existing theory of urban transformation under neoliberalization describes cities as the institutional arena in and through which neoliberal strategies of urbanism emanate and are contested. Emphasis is placed on the interaction between state and market without paying adequate attention to their internal dynamics. This study of urban transformation in the Beijing metropolis identifies a distinct trajectory whereby commodification of urban land has been actively pursued in response to the decentralization of developmental responsibilities and recentralization of tax revenue collection instituted by the central state. An urban development strategy is practiced whereby land commodification, city planning, and mega event hosting are integrated and mutually reinforcing. The research shows a pattern of land commodification and development dominated by newly developed construction land in the near suburbs, and reveals a picture of increased spatial inequality and intensified social discontent as a consequ...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the impact of day labor worker centers on the level of social inclusion experienced by migrant day laborers and found that worker centers have a modest, but statistically significant, impact on the levels of social integration experienced by this working population and that this varies from city to city.
Abstract: Day labor worker centers have emerged as an important mode of regulatory action in the informal economy of major US cities. Research suggests that these organizations are beneficial in improving employment outcomes experienced by migrant workers engaged in this labor market sector. Yet, the extent to which these organizations impact the social integration of this working population remains relatively undeveloped in the literature. Using data from the National Day Labor Survey, we examine the impact of day labor worker centers on the level of social inclusion experienced by migrant day laborers. We find that worker centers have a modest, but statistically significant, impact on the levels of social integration experienced by this working population and that this varies from city to city. Ultimately we argue that the social intermediary role of these organizations may offer a type of counter mobilization necessary to promote the socioeconomic integration of this working population, but that issues o...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine the case of Suzhou Industry Park (SIP) to explore what has actually happened within a Chinese development zone, revealing the de facto qualitative jobs-housing imbalance within SIP notwithstanding the de jure quantitative balance as envisaged in the local land-use plan.
Abstract: Development zones in China are planned as self-contained communities in order to achieve a locally balanced distribution of jobs and homes. Yet the plans are often defied by the market, leading to jobs-housing imbalance as an undesired consequence. In this paper, we examine the case of Suzhou Industry Park (SIP) to explore what has actually happened within a Chinese development zone. Our study reveals the de facto qualitative jobs-housing imbalance within SIP notwithstanding the de jure quantitative balance as envisaged in the local land-use plan. This finding explains why most workers within SIP have to search for homes far away from their workplaces. The qualitative imbalance is attributable to a series of interrelated factors, including (a) the oversupply of industrial land vis-a-vis the undersupply of land for public facilities and residential amenities, (b) the unaffordable house price for local workers, and (c) the increased use of automobiles by commuters. On top of its policy implications,...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine how the municipal government strategically makes use of this mega-event program to proactively implement two entrepreneurial spatial policies, namely economic restructuring and population decentralization.
Abstract: This study examines the restructuring of urban space brought about by Shanghai Expo. The focus is on how the municipal government strategically makes use of this mega-event program to proactively implement two entrepreneurial spatial policies, namely economic restructuring and population decentralization. Specifically, it critically investigates the omnipotent government’s policies in terms of industrial relocation and residential resettlement leading up to the Shanghai Expo. Shanghai’s entrepreneurial city building, at the metropolitan level, has long been associated with the optimization of spatial structure. The empirical findings reveal that the negotiations involved in relocating enterprises were tougher when they took place within the state system, as compared to those between the government and foreign or private sectors. At the same time, social groups remained excluded from decision-making processes for resettlement, and there was a downscaling of governance, which contributed to improved...