Showing papers on "Spatial planning published in 2006"

Vitamin G: effects of green space on health, well-being, and social safety

Abstract: Background: Looking out on and being in the green elements of the landscape around us seem to affect health, well-being and feelings of social safety. This article discusses the design of a research program on the effects of green space in the living environment on health, well-being and social safety. Methods/design: The program consists of three projects at three different scales: at a macro scale using data on the Netherlands as a whole, at an intermediate scale looking into the specific effect of green space in the urban environment, and at micro scale investigating the effects of allotment gardens. The projects are observational studies, combining existing data on land use and health interview survey data, and collecting new data through questionnaires and interviews. Multilevel analysis and GIS techniques will be used to analyze the data. Discussion: Previous (experimental) research in environmental psychology has shown that a natural environment has a positive effect on well-being through restoration of stress and attentional fatigue. Descriptive epidemiological research has shown a positive relationship between the amount of green space in the living environment and physical and mental health and longevity. The program has three aims. First, to document the relationship between the amount and type of green space in people's living environment and their health, well-being, and feelings of safety. Second, to investigate the mechanisms behind this relationship. Mechanisms relate to exposure (leading to stress reduction and attention restoration), healthy behavior and social integration, and selection. Third, to translate the results into policy on the crossroads of spatial planning, public health, and safety. Strong points of our program are: we study several interrelated dependent variables, in different ordinary settings (as opposed to experimental or extreme settings), focusing on different target groups, using appropriate multilevel methods.

Relational complexity and the imaginative power of strategic spatial planning

Abstract: This paper explores the imaginations of place and spatial organization and of governance mobilized in recent experiences of strategic spatial planning for urban regions in Europe. Drawing on examples of such experiences, it examines how far these imaginations reflect a relational understanding of spatial dynamics and of governance processes. Spatial imaginations are assessed in terms of the nature of the spatial consciousness expressed in a strategy, the way the multiple scales of the social relations of a place are conceived, and the extent to which relational complexity is understood and reflected in a strategy. Governance imaginations are assessed in terms of how the relation between government and society is imagined, how the tensions between functional/sectoral and territorial principles of policy organization are addressed, and what assumptions are made about the nature and trajectory of transformative processes in governance dynamics. The paper concludes that signs of a recognition of the ...

Adapting to Climate Change at the Local Level: The Spatial Planning Response

Abstract: Climate change is a major issue for all levels of government, global, national and local. Local authorities' responses to climate change have tended to concentrate on their role in reducing greenhouse gases. However, the scientific consensus is that we also need to adapt to unavoidable climate change. Spatial planning at a local level has a critical anticipatory role to play in promoting robust adaptation. This paper reviews the shift in local authorities' planning policies for climate change adaptation in the UK since 2000, and provides evidence of underlying attitudes amongst planning professionals to climate change. It shows that, while the issue of climate change is becoming recognized with respect to flood risk, the wider implications (for instance, for biodiversity and water resources) are not yet integrated into plans. The reasons for this lie in lack of political support and lack of engagement of the planning profession with climate change networks. But the paper also argues there are dif...

Shifts in Strategic Spatial Planning? Some Evidence from Europe and Australia:

Abstract: Clear-cut definitions of strategic spatial planning are rather exceptional. Therefore in this paper I use building blocks from literature (planning and business) and my experience in practice to construct a workable normative definition of the ‘what’ and ‘how’ of strategic spatial planning. Five main characteristics (selective, relational annex inclusive, integrative, visioning, and action orientated) that constitute the hard core of the ‘strategic’ in the normative view are confronted, in a first broad scan, with nine so-called strategic plans from different planning traditions in Europe (Italy, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Belgium, and the Netherlands) and in Australia (Perth). The confrontation highlights some hesitant shifts towards the normative view but also makes it clear that there is still a long way to go.

Bridge the Gap: From Spatial Planning to Strategic Projects

Abstract: This paper introduces one of the largest single research projects ever granted in the field of spatial planning. It presents the context the project has to work in and the challenges it has to face. It further gives a broad outline of the research project, with three horizontal and three vertical tracks and some success indicators.

From a New Regionalism to an Unusual Regionalism? The Emergence of Non-standard Regional Spaces and Lessons for the Territorial Reorganisation of the State

Abstract: This paper reports on the results of research to explore a range of attempts to develop new regional forms, and considers the degree to which they accord to conceptualisations of the 'new regionalism' and accounts of the changing territorial structure of the state. It highlights the array of new regional configurations which now extends across the territory of the European Union, discussing the influence exerted by the growth of interest in European spatial planning over the course of the 1990s and considering the degree to which readings of new regionalist rhetoric have informed both the creation and substance of a number of recently conceived regional entities. The paper concludes by considering the implications posed by the growth of these new regional configurations for attempts to interpret the resealing of governance and the reterritorialisation of the state.

When Water Management Meets Spatial Planning: A Policy-Arrangements Perspective

Abstract: In water management and in spatial planning there is a debate on the fundamental underlying discourses of the policy domains. In Dutch water management an emergent discourse of ‘accommodating water’, which is competing with the traditional ‘battle against water’ discourse, can be seen. In Dutch spatial planning there is a debate on new practices of area-specific development planning, which are considered to reflect new ideas on spatiality better than the traditional Dutch planning doctrine. The authors discuss these recent developments, and attempt to analyse institutional changes with the help of the perspective of policy arrangements. The analysis is focused on the interrelations between the two policy arrangements, and both new ‘rules of the game’ and new policy practices are considered. The question is posed as to whether these practices are forerunners of new arrangements or do they merely reflect a revised policy and planning agenda of the existing institutional order?

A Methodology for an integrated risk assessment of spatially relevant hazards

Abstract: Natural and technological disasters of the past have shown that such incidences significantly affect local and regional development. Faced with the task of ensuring economic, human and environmental development as well as insuring physical structures, planning authorities, insurance companies and emergency managers are looking for methodologies to identify highly sensitive areas in terms of their overall risk. Existing methodologies like the Natural Hazard Index for Megacities or the Total Place Vulnerability Index have limitations due to their sectoral approach, which makes them less useful for integrated spatial planning. This paper presents the Integrated Risk Assessment of Multi-Hazards as a new approach to serve as a basis for a spatial risk management process. The approach integrates various hazards into an integrated hazard map, combines this with the region's vulnerability and thus produces an integrated risk map. Moreover, the methodology offers a tool to derive weighting factors for haz...

Introducing Evidence-Based Planning

Abstract: This article introduces the concept of evidence-based planning in the context of its appearance in the UK at the end of the 1990s and traces its historical relationship to the practice of collecting information for state and public purposes from Roman taxation and the famous Domesday Book to the movements and counter-movements of the last century to its present role in politics and policy-making in the field of spatial planning. Delving into the connections between evidence and decision-making, evidence and action, the use and role of research, creativity, and social context as elements of spatial planning, the article also provides background on the perennial planning-theoretical debate. It leads into the current situation where the EU charter requires the use of the best scientific information available for decision-making and where the demand for research has increased since the year 2000 with corresponding agencies (ESDP, ESPON) and institutions being created or reorganized to fill the inform...

Is the Issue of Climate Change too Big for Spatial Planning

Abstract: Concerns about the nature, pace and implications of climate change have been the subject of academic and scientific debate for many years. However, it is intriguing, even in the few months since we...

Improvements on flood alleviation in Germany: lessons learned from the Elbe flood in August 2002.

Abstract: The increase in damage due to natural disasters is directly related to the number of people who live and work in hazardous areas and continuously accumulate assets. Therefore, land use planning authorities have to manage effectively the establishment and development of settlements in flood-prone areas in order to avoid the further increase of vulnerable assets. Germany faced major destruction during the flood in August 2002 in the Elbe and Danube catchments, and many changes have been suggested in the existing German water and planning regulations. This article presents some findings of a "Lessons Learned" study that was carried out in the aftermath of the flood and discusses the following topics: 1) the establishment of comprehensive hazard maps and flood protection concepts, 2) the harmonization of regulations of flood protection at the federal level, 3) the communication of the flood hazard and awareness strategies, and 4) how damage potential can be minimized through measures of area precaution such as resettlement and risk-adapted land use. Although attempts towards a coordinated and harmonized creation of flood hazard maps and concepts have been made, there is still no uniform strategy at all planning levels and for all states (Laender) of the Federal Republic of Germany. The development and communication of possible mitigation strategies for "unthinkable extreme events" beyond the common safety level of a 100-year flood are needed. In order to establish a sustainable and integrated flood risk management, interdisciplinary and catchment-based approaches are needed.

Accessibility and spatial Development in Europe

Abstract: The European Union expects to contribute to reducing the socio-economic disparities between its regions by the development of the trans-European transport networks (TEN). However, although the infrastructure networks are one of the most ambitious initiatives of the European Community, the TEN programme is not undisputed. In this paper work done by the authors for two projects of the ESPON 2006 Programme (European Spatial Planning Observation Network) is summarised in which the current European transport system was analysed from a spatial point of view and in which the impacts of transport infrastructure investments and other transport policies on socio-economic activities and developments in Europe were forecast with special attention to the spatial and temporal distribution of impacts.

Territory, Identity and Spatial Planning: Spatial Governance in a Fragmented Nation

Abstract: Part 1: Theoretical Contexts for Territory, Identity and Spatial Planning Part 2: Studies of Territorial and Spatial Planning Part 3: Institutions of Governance and Substantive Policy Roles Part 4: Complexities and Interdependencies in Spatial Governance

Spatial Planning Systems in Western Europe: An Overview

Abstract: A general trend in our modern society is a growing complexity. It is therefore logical that in most countries there has been a definite tendency to give weight to issues of adapting also the physical space to this complexity and to find methods to do this in an efficient way, giving satisfactory use of land and other natural resources. During the twentieth century we have seen a very active development of legal instruments for this purpose, aimed at steering spatial planning and plan implementation according to the objectives and policies chosen. This book tries to present basic information of how different countries within the chosen area have tried to solve the problem of establishing suitable systems of steering spatial development by means of planning and implementation measures. For this purpose summary descriptions of the connected formal regulations in each country are given in an appendix while a comparative presentation and discussion forms the main text. This will give the interested reader an overview of the current systems in Western Europe, how they have influenced each other but still in many parts differ from each other.

Management of natural hazards in Europe: The role of spatial planning in selected EU member states

Abstract: This paper presents the results of an assessment made as a part of the research project, Applied Multi-Risk Mapping of Natural Hazards for Impact Assessment (ARMONIA). The aim was to identify which aspects in the so-called disaster management cycle are covered by spatial planning in planning practice in the European Union's member states of Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Spain and the UK. In contrast to the initial hypothesis, the analysis of planning practice has shown that the role of spatial planning in risk assessment and management in many ways has been overestimated. The results have shown that spatial planning is only one of many actors in risk management and that it is, in general, not involved in risk assessment. Further, multi-risk assessment approaches are not used in planning practice, risk indicators are hardly used and vulnerability indicators are not at all used. The paper will interpret these surprising results and will answer the question of the role of spatial ...

Improving Planning Support : The use of planning support systems for spatial planning

Abstract: Spatial planning is one of the most complex activities of public organizations. Since approximately halfway the 1990s a new generation of geo-information technologies has become available to support those involved in planning in handling the complexity: Planning Support Systems (PSS). PSS consist of a combination of planning related theory, data, information, knowledge, methods and instruments, that take the form of an integrated environment with a shared interface. Many see PSS as promising support tools to handle complexity of planning, however usage in planning practice stays far behind of supply, which is problematic regarding this assumed potential. This project aims to explain the relative under-use of PSS in planning practice and formulate guidelines for enhanced PSS application in spatial planning. For this purpose the study combines insights of PSS users, PSS experts and PSS system developers. The problem has been studied from three approaches that each emphasize specific aspects of usage of PSS. Results of an analysis of instrumental quality of the existing PSS show that PSS technology is still in an early stage of development. The analysis also shows that there exists a dichotomy between the demands of planning practice and the supply of PSS: practice demands in particular simple systems, while many developers provide advanced systems. Results of an analysis of acceptance of PSS show that the main causes for the limited acceptance of PSS are: the lack of awareness of the existence and potential of PSS, the lack of experience with PSS, and the lack of intention to start using PSS among the intended users. Results of an analysis of diffusion of PSS show that diffusion is most likely to take place bottom-up. Geo-information specialists are the most suitable employees in practice to take the PSS from the extra organizational environment. However, bottom-up diffusion is often blocked by managers who perceive investments in ICT such as PSS as a risk. The instrument, user and transfer approach were subsequently applied to explain differences in usage of PSS types. Results show that PSS with the primary aim of informing the actors involved in planning are applied widely, while PSS with the primary aim of supporting communication and analysis are much less widely used. The primary causes of less wide usage of PSS for communication and analysis are lack of experience with these PSS, lack of awareness of their existence and potential, and lack of instrumental quality of many of these PSS. Secondary causes are hampered acceptance and diffusion. To enhance usage of PSS in planning practice, we recommend to the actors involved in PSS development and application of PSS start improving their communication and cooperation in development and application of PSS. Interactive learning processes in which PSS developers, researchers and practitioners are involved can constitute the right combination of knowledge and experience to come to successful applications. These can furthermore lead to the availability of examples that may convince others of the use of applying PSS. This can stimulate awareness, experience, instrumental quality, acceptance and diffusion of PSS.

Stagnation in housing production: another success in the Dutch `planner's paradise'?

Abstract: There are a number of different criteria for measuring the success of plans in planning. In the planning literature there is a debate about the criterion of conformance (that is, whether spatial development is according to plan) as opposed to performance (that is, whether the plan has shown the way to better decisionmaking), which is, in fact, different from performance measurement. In this paper both criteria are applied to measure the success of Dutch national concentration policies in the “Fourth Memorandum on Spatial Planning—Plus”. The author shows that the urban containment policies conform well to the plan but perform badly in terms of improving current decisionmaking on the stagnation of housing production in the Netherlands. Moreover, the present stagnation of housing production is planned stagnation. With this result, the author shows that conformance and performance are independent criteria for measuring planning success, and that plans (as set out in the “Fourth Memorandum on Spatial Planning—...

Sustainable Development: The Institutionalization of a Contested Policy Concept

Abstract: Very few concepts have made such a fast and pervasive career in policy discourses as sustainable development. Since its introduction as a guiding policy principle during the period spanning from the publication of the Brundtland Report in 1987 to the Rio Conference in 1992, it has been accepted as a framework for policy agendas as widely different as macroeconomic development and the provision of basic health care services. Less than ten years after its introduction, it was the central concept in areas such as environmental policy, economic planning, spatial planning, development policy and foreign aid policy, at all levels of policy-making (although especially at the national and international levels). Outside of government and policy making, it has also been a defining concept for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) of different types, of business associations, labour unions and even churches. Yet, at the same time, the concept remains contested at different levels. Critics point to the vagueness of the concept, the level of aggregation that is not adapted for pragmatic policy-making, the Western or Northern bias, and its voluntaristic and unrealistic view of the role of economic dynamics.

Planning on the Edge: England's Rural — Urban Fringe and the Spatial-Planning Agenda:

Abstract: Planning at the edge of cities has, in the past, largely been concerned with containment, with the promotion of more compact urban form, and with the planned separation of rural and urban land use and activities. However, there has been some inevitable blurring of these uses, to create a unique landscape—an interface between town and country—sometimes labelled the rural–urban fringe. This landscape has been created more by fortune than design: less favoured urban uses—sewage works, mental institutions, asylum centres, breakers' yards, etc—have been pushed away from residential areas. Rural uses, mainly farming and forestry, have become mingled with this particular assemblage of urban activities to create a hybrid landscape. Planning, however, has been a relatively inert force at the edge: seeking to contain (perhaps through greenbelts) but not seeking to improve or to manage. In England, our principal focus in this paper, a number of commentators have expressed a concern for this apparent inertia, arguing...

Technosols and other proposals on urban soils for the WRB [World Reference Base for Soil Resources]

Abstract: Urban soils are defined as soils which are severely influenced by various human activities, but not only by cultivation. These soils have assumed particular significance because they extend over large areas, are intensively used and are increasingly relevant in the consideration of land-use patterns. However, urban soils can bring about both considerable benefits and extreme risk for urban living. Therefore, an effective way of handling taxonomy for urban soils must be taken into account in spatial planning. The taxonomy of urban soils must take into consideration the fact that urban soils are mostly young soils, normally showing only weak signs of soil genesis. In contrast herein urban soils are often characterized by easily differentiable substrate-linked features. Since the early stages of soil genesis are mainly influenced by substrate properties, reasonable taxonomic differentiation of urban soils can be obtained by restricting consideration to substrate- linked properties. Proposals which were first presented during a ses- sion on Anthropogenic soils classifica- tion at the 2nd International Conference on Soil Classification in July 2005, in Petrozavodsk SIGNIFICANCE OF URBAN SOILS Urban soils make significant contributions to the quality of life in urban areas. In fact there are no other soils used with such an intensity in terms of the number of users per unit of area as urban soils. Urban soils are also an object of great interest because in the predictable future it is anticipated that the size of urban areas will continue to increase (UN, 1995). Furthermore, urban soils perform a number of beneficial functions. The benefits of urban soils are similar to these of natural soils, but a high number of humans are affected by these profits. This applies in a specific way in fragile urban environments rather than in more natural rural areas. The meaning of each beneficial function can differ substantially between different cities and between different parts of the world. The beneficial functions of urban soils can be divided into four groups namely: hazard prevention, provision of renewable sources of water and food, contributions to urban infrastructure and to environmental quality and cultural heritage. Hazard prevention: - protection against rainstorm damage and flooding events

European nature conservation legislation and spatial planning: For better or for worse?

Abstract: The implementation of the Birds and Habitats directives has been problematic in many member states of the EU. In the Netherlands, many decision-making processes have ended in judicial intervention. This paper analyses the problematic implementation of both directives in the Netherlands. It shows that nature conservation legislation has gained importance in decision-making processes, but that this does not automatically mean that nature conservation goals have been achieved. Because of the emphasis that is placed on the procedural aspects of decision making, the costs involved have increased, while the substantial goals of the European Birds and Habitats directives are fading into the background.

Network city: retrofitting the Perth metropolitan region to facilitate sustainable travel

Abstract: ‘Network City’, the latest 25-year planning strategy for metropolitan Perth, Western Australia, is designed to realise the integration of land use and transport networks within established and new areas. This article examines the influence of urban form on travel patterns and the case for sustainable travel outcomes in order to set in context the ‘Network City’ concept. The concept is described, and then the article focuses on the operational detail needed to progress towards fuller integration between the transport network and the city it serves. This includes analysis of urban structure in the context of the factors that influence efficient use of public transport: including residential density, intensity of activity and the hierarchy of activity centres. The implications for road planning are discussed where land use–transport integration is the core objective rather than simply traffic efficiency. If sustainable travel is to be facilitated there is a need to change both the operation of public transpo...

Territory, integration and spatial planning

Abstract: So we need to move again towards the idea of planning as the integration of strategies and policies as they impact on use of land, but with a different approach …(LGA, 2000: 17)Successful spatial planning is integrated (RTPI, 2001: 3)In contemporary discussions in the UK on the purpose and organisation of the planning system and the practices surrounding it, a recurring theme is the role of the system in ‘integrating’ disparate agendas, activities and actors. An ‘integrated’ approach is put forward: as a way of linking diverse policy objectives (the search for a beneficial economic, social and environmental ‘balance’); as a way of connecting issues as they play out spatially (for example, housing and economic development, or land use and transport); as a way of linking different types of government intervention (especially regulatory power and investment power); as a way of overcoming the fragmentation of area-and development-based policy initiatives and the competition between individual projects; or as a way of linking policy with ‘implementation’. An ‘integrated’ approach may also be used to refer to increasing the connections between levels of government, or to linking multiple stakeholders in pursuit of an agreed framework or strategy.

Democracy in Area-Based Policy Networks: The Case of Ghent

Abstract: This article discusses the issue of democratic quality of area-based policy networks, with particular attention to the complex settings of network relations and to the changes in local regimes. It is argued that present associative and deliberative frameworks of democratic theory are useful but inadequate to enable proper assessments of multilevel and multiactor policy arrangements. The article therefore combines both frameworks with a contextualized and dynamic perspective and supports this position with a case analysis of a spatial planning network in Ghent, Belgium. It finds that in Flanders, local representative democracywas dominated by corporatism and party political arrangements, and emergent networks for spatial planning are replacing old corporatist arrangements in a new institutional framework for local representative democracy. The article concludes that analyzing area-based networks without analyzing changes in representative democracy in the same area can easily lead to biased conclusions.

Towards a regional strategy for the North of England? An assessment of ‘The Northern Way’

Abstract: GOODCHILD B. and HICKMAN P. (2006) Towards a regional strategy for the north of England? An assessment of ‘The Northern Way’, Regional Studies 40, 121–133. The ‘Northern Way’ is an innovative programme of policy development that seeks to combine, at a supra-regional level, spatial planning, housing and transport in an attempt to promote economic growth in the north of England. The experience of The Northern Way draws attention to ‘deconcentration’ as a particular strategy of administrative rescaling by the state and, in addition, to the role and limitations of ‘vision’-based planning as a means of promoting change. The spatial and physical components of The Northern Way are often poorly justified and often vague. On the other hand, the process of policy development and consultation has had beneficial effects in bringing together different institutional actors. Urban policy, Regional planning, Spatial planning GOODCHILD B. and HICKMAN P. (2006) Vers une strategie regionale pour le nord-est de l'Angleterre?...

Regional development and spatial planning in an enlarged European Union

Abstract: The expansion of the European Union in 2004 has had significant consequences for both existing and new members of the Union. New member states are assimilating into a new institutional and policy framework, while the changing geography of Europe provides a different context for policy development in pre-2004 member states. One of the more important fields in which these changes are impacting is regional development. The admission of the new countries changes patterns of economic and social disparities across the territory of the European Union, which in turn demands that existing approaches to regional development are reconsidered. An approach which has proved to be one of the most innovative is spatial planning. This book brings together a team of academics and policy makers from across the new Europe involved in regional development and spatial planning. Providing insights into different approaches, it offers a valuable opportunity to compare experiences across European borders.