► Restitution and privatization in 1990s resulted in fragmentation of suburban land use enhanced by the economic growth in 2000s. ► Monofunctional residential development in periurban zone was ...dominant in Estonia. ► The neighbourhood layout has been strictly tetragonous in early stage, followed by the more complex semi-curvy pattern. ► Development is guided by detailed plans initiated by private developers instead of comprehensive strategic land use planning.
Urban land use has been a major driving force behind land use change in Estonia since regaining independence and land reform process in the 1990s. The study summarizes land use change, land management and planning practices in the urban fringe over a period of 20 years with the aim of introducing a sustainable land use policy in highly fragmented suburban land. The processes and dynamics of land use change are explored using cartographic and landscape metrics analysis. The liberal-conservative planning practices have resulted in ad hoc allocation solutions which have created dramatic changes in land use in Estonia during the 1990s and 2000s. The patchy and scattered suburban land is formed by occupying former agricultural land, natural grasslands and forests. In the framework of physical planning, the land use, spatial and urban changes are related to master plans. The nature of the evolution of land management and the deficiencies of institutional framework are discussed as factors in inefficient land use in the sprawling suburbs. A further debate on the feasibility of encouraging land use diversity in peri-urban zones is advocated.
The promotion of sense of community has been a significant element of the spatial planning agenda of planners in recent years. This paper aims to explore the combined influence of typological ...characteristics of urban neighborhoods, as well as, social and cultural components. This empirical study was conducted in Beer Sheva, the largest city in southern Israel. This paper concludes that in addition to typological components, sociocultural perceptions have a significant impact on sense of community. Furthermore, planners should therefore remain critical and highly circumspect of acts of physical planning meant to impact the social aspects of a community.
Best practices in post-disaster housing and community reconstruction are constantly evolving. Technology is changing how reconstruction is done, as is the frequency and severity of the disasters ...themselves. Reconstruction projects are increasingly focused on the need to reduce future risks by ensuring that what is rebuilt is safer and more disaster-resilient than what was there before. The expanding role of communities in managing community reconstruction, with financial and technical assistance from government, is another way reconstruction is changing.Safer Homes, Stronger Communities: A Handbook for Reconstructing after Natural Disasters provides advice on how to ensure that reconstruction empowers communities to rebuild, and gives them the support they need to build back in a way that the risk of future disasters is greatly reduced. Written for policy makers and project managers engaged in major housing and community reconstruction programs, the handbook provides guidance on the roles and responsibilities of various actors, and explains what the scope of a reconstruction policy should be and how decisions in each aspect of reconstruction contribute to larger reconstruction goals. For project managers who will be charged with implementing reconstruction policy, the handbook provides guidance on the options that should be considered in each aspect of reconstruction, and examples of where they have been used in other reconstruction projects. It includes more than one hundred short case studies collected from global experts with recent experience in housing reconstruction, that illustrate how the policies and practical ideas have been used on the ground. It also includes links to extensive technical information on the topics covered by the handbook.
Under the supervision of UN-Habitat, the Egyptian General Organization of Physical Planning started its first phase of “Promoting Better Quality and More Manageable Public Spaces Project, 2021” that ...targets enhancement and development of open spaces quality in New Cairo, Egypt. This project is functioning under three main objectives: (1) recognize the most occupied urban open spaces in New Cairo, (2) identify the required community needs in these urban open spaces, and (3) evaluate quality and suitability of these open spaces for public usage. In this paper, we are attempting to achieve the 2nd objective addressed previously by laying hands on hidden correlations among socio-ecological community needs. This is achieved in two phases; the first phase is mainly concerned with adapting thematic analytical method to tackle multiple correlations while reviewing literature, while the second phase is focusing on conducting a pilot study survey in East Academy district to validate the previously concluded socio-ecological correlations. Also findings indicate that East-Academy’s open spaces have strong correlations with multiple socio-ecological attributes and that ten urban qualities showed the highest positive measures. These correlations, in the future, can be used to establish an intervention action model.
This study examines two crucial interlinked physical planning and design aspects with potential impact on pedestrian flow in urban settings. Mixed land uses and gridded/interconnected streets are ...invariably characterised in the urban design literature as the essence of vibrant cities and lively street environments. The study develops a critical approach that investigates some of the most popular algorithms utilised in assessing mixed-use characteristics and their impact on pedestrian movement. “Entropy,” “LUM,” and “dissimilarity” indices are critically evaluated in terms of their reliability in predicting pedestrian travel patterns. The study also examines street network measurement indices and spatial analysis tools that enhance urban vitality and aid in the design and development of active street environments. It bridges the gap between disparate approaches aiming at understanding and prescribing the built environment attributes that enhance urban vitality. The theoretical quest of this study provides a robust foundation for future case study research on the built environment.
Significant efforts have been dedicated to studying the linkages between urban form, fossil energy consumption, and climate change. The theme of urban sprawl helped to federate a significant portion ...of such efforts. Yet, the research appears fragmented, at stems from different disciplines and mobilizes different methods to probe different aspects of the issue. This paper seeks to better understand the status of knowledge concerning the linkages between sprawl and climate change through a critical review of the literature published between 1979 and 2018. The exercise entailed revisiting how sprawl has been defined, characterized and measured, and how such parameters have informed the research themes and the approaches mobilized to study its impacts on climate change. For, sprawled environments contribute the climate change directly and indirectly, due to the individual or combined effects of its land use, land cover, urban form, and transportation characteristics. The results indicate that sprawl’s impacts have been mainly investigated in three principal streams of research and based on a limited number of factors or combinations of factors. Though a strong consensus emerges on the negative environmental costs of sprawl, including toward climate change, there remain ambiguities when trying to untangle and weigh specific causes.
Planning of transport infrastructure in Sweden has undergone successive legislative changes as well as neoliberal corporatization and marketization reforms in recent years, with a general aim to ...increase efficiency and effectiveness. This paper presents planning practitioners' experiences of far-reaching marketization of physical planning practice in line with a strategy within the Swedish Transport Administration (STA) to become a 'Pure Purchaser'. The strategy implies that all practical planning work should be carried out by procured consultants. The paper follows a qualitative, explorative approach based on document studies and interviews with practitioners actively involved in carrying out physical planning of road and rail investments. The concept of 'modes of governance' is applied to highlight and analytically interpret differences in perspectives on efficient and effective governance as expressed in the planning legislation, and the STA marketization strategy, respectively. The empirical results make evident that the recent marketization reforms are generally perceived as strongly and negatively affecting the efficiency and effectiveness of planning practices while also circumscribing professional discretion. The study highlights the importance of specific organization and management perspectives as explanatory factors in studying efficiency and effectiveness of planning practices.
Lake Sapanca is the drinking water source of the Sakarya province of Turkey. Intensive urbanization in the region is the main obstacle to implementing appropriate physical planning and measures to ...adapt to rapid change. The monitoring of the water quality parameters in the planning and management of the lakes is significant. The Artificial Neural Network (ANN), a mathematical representation of the human brain’s functioning, was employed to estimate the Lake’s Dissolved Oxygen (DO) concentration. pH, Magnesium (Mg), Temperature (Temp), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Orthophosphate (o-PO4), Nitrite Nitrogen (NO2-N), and Nitrate Nitrogen (NO3-N) were used as independent parameters. The successful ANN model gives better results compared to the traditional multiple linear regression (MLR) analysis. The developed model can be used for forecast purposes to complete the missing data in the future and support the decision process for pollution reduction through sustainable environmental management. The eutrophication threat for Lake Sapanca has been revealed. The main objective is to create the scientific infrastructure that will draw attention to the rapid urbanization problem with ANN and eutrophication models’ outputs. It has been understood that the protection of the water budget of Lake Sapanca is the primary solution method in terms of ecological sustainability to eliminate the existing pollution.
Urban areas are the main centres of growth in every country. However, urban areas face challenges such as environmental destruction, social deprivation, insecurity, health problem, and accessibility ...issue. These problems affect liveability level of the urban settlements. Liveability is influenced by the aspects of physical environment and social. A study had been carried out in Kuala Lumpur city with the Mandy Villa at Segambut as the study area. The purpose of the study is to investigate the liveability level of the study area and the relationship with the urban planning aspects of physical, and social. A questionnaire survey had been carried out. The respondents with different socio-economic background were mostly felt that the study area was liveable. From the relationship analysis by using correlation tests, the study found that some of the physical planning aspects and most of the social aspects were positively and significantly correlated to the liveability level. With the research findings, town planners, developers and government agencies are able to have a better understanding of the physical and social determinants of liveability. However, more future studies should be carried out for different cities and towns to further improve the understanding on the topic of urban liveability.
The study assessed the effectiveness of maintenance and management systems in delivering quality maintenance services in higher institutions of learning with specific focus on the University of ...Lagos. There is the need for effectiveness in the management of educational buildings, facilities and supporting services. Self-structured questionnaires were administered to one hundred and ninety-one questionnaires (191) resident students of the University of Lagos, and three (3) to the maintenance executives of the Works and Physical Planning Department of the University of Lagos, with response rates of 71.73% and 100% respectively. Data collected where analysed using a combination of the Mean ranking and T-Test. Findings revealed a general dissatisfaction with the service quality delivered as the maintenance management system was not adjudged to be as effective as expected as various obstacles and factors influence the acceptable standard and quality of maintenance. The study recommended that the maintenance management team should improve on the effectiveness of their service delivery, by improving the rate of responsiveness of the maintenance staff through thorough training of skill and technical know-how.
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