Showing papers on "Urban density published in 1987"

The Making of Urban Europe 1000-1950

Abstract: Urbanization in Europe from the year 1000 to 1950 is reviewed. The work is primarily a study in economic and social history but considerable emphasis is given to the demographic and geographic aspects of Europes urban development over time. The approach is chronological with parts devoted to the preindustrial age the proto-industrial age from the fourteenth to eighteenth centuries and the industrial age. (ANNOTATION)

Telecommunications, World Cities, and Urban Policy

Abstract: Cities are the communication centers of our civilization yet, we know remarkably little about how information and telecommunications technologies affect central cities and their surrounding metropolitan areas. Many observers believe that new information systems will ultimately lead to the demise of cities by allowing electronic means of communication to substitute for face-to-face exchanges. (Webber, 1973; Downs, 1985; Kellerman, 1984). Technologies, such as telecommuting, teleconferencing, and electronic mail will, it is argued, eliminate the differences between home and office and city and country by providing the benefits of urban life without confronting the problems of the city such as commuting, crime, congestion, and pollution. This article explores the way that telecommunications technologies are leading to the centralization of business services in a small number of principal world cities, while simultaneously leading to the dispersion of routine informationbased activities to the periphery of the metropolitan regions surrounding the largest central cities. The article consists of three parts: ) a discussion of the communications deregulation and its effects on telecommunications infrastructure; 2) an analysis of the office location for advanced 'producer services' in major world cities; 3) a reconsideration of urban policy and economic development strategies for information-intensive cities. Cities and Communications

Administrative Changes and Urban Population in China

Abstract: The lack of well-defined and standardized terms for urban settlements in China has created much confusion among Chinese as well as Western scholars regarding the size of China's urban population and the nation's urbanization level. In this paper we identify the major types of China's urban population and explain their relationships to areal units. The aggregate population of the officially designated cities and towns, which has been widely used in China and elsewhere as an indicator of China's urbanization level, should no longer be used because of changes after 1979 in the designation of urban areas; these changes had the effect of adding agricultural households to the urban population. According to the official indicator, China's population was 31.9 percent urban in 1984. A more realistic measure of urbanization, which excludes the agricultural population of cities and towns, shows that China was actually 15.7 percent urban in 1984.

Transport and urban form in thirty two of the world's principal cities

Abstract: A study of thirty two major world cities shows that there are very clear relationships between transport and urban form. Economic factors such as income and petrol price are less important than the direct policy instruments of the transport planner and urban planner, such as the relative provision of infrastructure for automobiles and rapid transit, or the density of population and jobs. Transport and urban planning policies are developed with quantitative guidelines that can help cities ease their dependence on the private car, for example, exponentially increasing usage of automobiles is found in cities with population densities under 30/ha (a).

The Roepke Lecture in Economic Geography: urban restructuring from a demographic perspective.

Abstract: The central argument of this paper is that recent research has overemphasized the notions of urban restructuring and undervalued the role of spatial demographics in understanding urban and region spatial patterns. The paper examines the notions embedded in urban restructuring and suggests that a focus on several elements of demographic processes is an equally important component of understanding urban and region spatial structure. A specific discussion of the Los Angeles region indicates that there is a high level of complexity in social-spatial change. Social-spatial change is not simply explained by reference to an unspecified urban restructuring.

Cost-benefit analysis in urban & regional planning

Abstract: Originally published in 1987, Cost-Benefit Analysis in Urban and Regional Planning, outlines the theory and practice of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) in the context of urban and regional planning. The theory of CBA is developed with examples to illustrate the principles, it also deals with details of the applications and covers issues such as local health and social services provision, local economic development and regional policy evaluation, and planning in less developed countries – as well as the conventional land-use issues of physical planning.

Regional Long Waves and Urban Policy

Abstract: Long wave theory has been used to explain fluctuations in long term economic trends for national economies and for major segments of the world economy, but it has never been applied to regional or urban economies (Van Duijn, 1983). Urban economists have, however, noted that urban areas and regions appear to go through life-cycles of development involving a period of rapid growth followed by a period of slow growth or decline (Norton, 1979; Watkins, 1980). In recent years certain regions and urban areas have begun to experience economic recovery after a long period of decline, suggesting that regions and urban areas follow a long wave pattern rather than a life-cycle pattern of development. The appropriate content of a national urban policy depends upon a correct perception of the underlying causes of urban decline. The content, for example, would probably be different if urban areas followed a long wave pattern of development as opposed to a life-cycle pattern. Consequently, the purpose of this article is to set out a long wave theory of urban and regional development, and then to consider the potential role of a national urban policy in mitigating the stagnation phase of an urban-regional long wave. National economic policies affecting regions and urban areas in the past have either provided assistance to economic institutions in specific localities or assistance to individuals independent of their location. Have place-oriented federal economic [First received March 1987; in finalform July 1987 ]

Recent urban policy and development in China: a reversal of "anti-urbanism".

Abstract: The nature of and reasons for Chinas urban distribution policy adopted in 1982 are examined. The influence of socialist planning ideology on urban policy is noted. Contradictions between economic reform and urban policies are identified. (ANNOTATION)

A Multivariate Analysis of the Socio-Economic Characteristics of Urban Centers in Ethiopia

Abstract: The study analyzes the socioeconomic characteristics of urban areas of Ethiopia by developing a composite index. The social and economic attributes of the urban centers are examined by using a principal component analysis coupled with a linear combination of the factors. The analysis reveals that there exists a significant difference among the urban areas for example middle-sized cities have begun to play a major role in stimulating rural economies; large cities are facing problems of increasing demand for more services. The significance of multivariate analysis in analyzing the dynamics of urban areas are emphasized in the study. (EXCERPT)

Urban Systems Theory and Urban Policy: A Four-Nation Comparison

Abstract: There are few systematically comparative cross-national studies of urban policy or service provision, partly because there is little in the way of empirical testable theory that might guide research and partly because the variety of institutional methods of providing and financing urban services in different nation states makes it difficult to carry out such comparisons. Urban systems theory, however, applies to all levels of urban society from local collections of towns and villages right up to the world system of cities. It also enables the development of empirically testable hypotheses linking the hierarchical system of cities with the level of expenditure on public services in metropolitan areas. An examination of data for seventy-six metropolitan regions in France, eighty-three in Italy, seventy-four in West Germany, and sixty-three in England and Wales supports the hypothesis. The article concludes that urban systems theory offers a theoretically well-developed and empirically powerful means of carrying out systematic cross-national comparative urban research.

Managing Urban Expansion: Sydney's Urban Development Programme

Abstract: This paper reviews the operation of the NSW Urban Development Programme, which co-ordinates the planning, servicing and development of new residential areas in the major urban regions of NSW.

Evolution of U.S. Strategic Bombing of Urban Areas

Abstract: (1987). Evolution of U.S. Strategic Bombing of Urban Areas. The Historian: Vol. 50, No. 1, pp. 14-39.

Urban density and transport: a simple model based on three city types

Abstract: The link between density and transport is investigated by examining 62 cities around the world. Automobile based cities are found to vary between 10 and 30 persons/ha, public transport based cities between 30 and 130/ha and walking based cities 130 to 400/ha. Evidence confirming these patterns is found from data within cities, from historical urban data and by using the simple density transport model to predict average travel speeds. The implications are briefly outlined particularly concerning the apparent exponential increase in automobile usage at low urban densities. (Author/TRRL)

Japan's Urban Policy

Abstract: Why ‘urban policy’ now: Tokyo and other megopolises in Japan have been going through rapid changes these days. And the recent trend in urban transformation is advancing characteristically along with the change in the "urban policy," influencing each other. For example, rapid construction of office buildings in urban centers promotes adoption and execution of policies for the redevelopment of peripheries around the urban centers and large-scale projects, and such policies also seem to affect to a considerable degree both the pattern and speed of the redevelopment of Tokyo.