Urban policy and the rise of gated housing in post-socialist Poland

The aim of this article is to investigate regulations regarding housing and spatial planning to determine the extent to which these have influenced the development of gated housing in Poland since 1989. The focus is on how government policy with regard to spatial planning and housing, together with the law on property and ownership, influences the emergence and development of gated forms of housing in the country. Legal regulation documents concerning issues of housing and spatial planning between 1990 and 2013 have been studied. The article argues that the liberal policies and legal regulation in the country is resulting in a disregard for spatial planning and housing, but also the lack of integrated urban policies. Existing spatial plans are of a consultative nature and bear no regulatory capacity, at the same time as housing programmes and spatial planning in the country is strongly in favor of private investors and new construction. All these shortcomings have created a differentiated housing market, one in which housing developers maximize their profits by constructing gated housing complexes, combined with a tendency among those who have the means to move to newly built housing behind gates. The long period of developer-friendly policies and governmental support of purchasers of new construction, have resulted in increased popularity of gated communities in Poland and their spread to many Polish cities.     

To the market and back: Housing policy and state housing in New Zealand

Housing policy in New Zealand has traditionally been characterised by significant market intervention in support of home ownership and a residual state housing rental sector. Within the context of dramatic social welfare reforms in the 1990s, a set of radical housing reforms was introduced that profoundly transformed the role of the state in the housing system. Key elements of the reforms included the creation of a profit-oriented company to manage state rentals, a move to market rents in the state sector and the introduction of an accommodation supplement. This paper examines the underlying rationale and impacts of the reforms focusing on issues of privatisation, tenant turnover, affordability and tenant protest. Having examined the ongoing problems engendered by these reforms the paper reviews more recent political and legislative reforms that were sought to reassert the state's traditional position within the New Zealand housing market. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

从货币工作量结构看化工地勘行业改革发展问题

化工地质行业１９９０～１９９４年的货币工作量的结构发生了较大的变化，其地质勘查费用、地质市场结算收入、多种经营收入三者的结构比由７７∶１３∶１０变为５９∶２８∶１３。某种程度上反映了行业队伍结构、产业结构、经营方式、运行机制向着建立社会主义市场附合经济体制的地勘新体制转变、过渡。但尚有较大差距。今后应切实转变观念，树立忧患意识；加大改革力度，加快队伍结构调整，加大政策扶持的力度。树立“以经济效益为中心”的指导思想，全方位走向市场，走生产组织集团化、经济体制多元化的发展轨道。     

Policy discourse and biography: scripting adulthood into housing policies in comparative perspective

This article compares current Russian and Swedish policy discourses on state commitment to facilitating young adults’ access to housing by analyzing national, regional and municipal strategic documents. Both countries previously embraced the idea of housing as a commodified yet universal entitlement and exercised strong public regulation of housing redistribution, but are now establishing selective policies that support young people who comply with prescribed life-course norms. Thus, a life-course trajectory becomes integrated into the policy discourse, and a stable residential autonomy is considered a ‘crowning biographical event’, following a successful employment record and the establishment of a family unit. Notwithstanding important differences in policy formulation and realization, housing policies in Russia and Sweden are aimed to integrate emerging adults into market relations by increasing housing ownership through credit loans and stimulating individual responsibility for welfare provision.     

Fragmenting regimes: how water quality regulation is changing political-economic landscapes

Conflicts over water quality regulation are entering local economic development policy and re-shaping political-economic landscapes. Across the United States, decentralizing scales of regulation, scientific uncertainty, and increasing citizen participation are creating new regulatory contexts. Using regime and regulation theory, I address how regulation of the environment is altering economic regimes and creating new alliances among stakeholders. The research shows the dominant regime in the state of Ohio, a pro-growth stakeholder coalition between point source businesses (including electric utilities and municipal sewage treatment plants) and real estate development interests, is fragmenting. At the same time, there is a policy coalition emerging between environmentalists and government staff that is advocating for nonpoint source water pollution regulation. These emergent coalitions exemplify the changing nature of environmental regulation and economic regimes.     

The actualization of neoliberal space and the loss of housing affordability in Santa Monica,California

This paper reveals the contingent aspect associated with the actualization of a neoliberal space. The paper examines the material, institutional, and economic conditions necessary for a neoliberal agenda to transform its urban policy objectives into a material reality. The study follows changes in housing conditions in Santa Monica, California from 1990 to 2008. During this period, the confluence of three sets of events led to the actualization of a neoliberal space. First, housing damage from the 1994 Northridge earthquake removed “dead capital” from the housing sector. Second, subsequent administrative actions at the local level and more importantly deregulation legislation at the state level eliminated rent control regulations and created market incentives that favored upscale development. Finally, the state’s economic recovery generated a substantial flow of private investments into the real estate market. These combined factors led not only to the dismantling of affordable housing in Santa Monica, but also to the erosion of residents’ and local authorities’ ability to manage housing choices and, consequently, to a historic restructuring of Santa Monica’s physical and social space. These changes had a disproportionately and negative effect on low-income and minority renters.     

土地储备的发展 实践以及新时代背景下的思考

土地储备制度起源于欧洲,发展于欧美地区。我国自20世纪90年代末,在借鉴国外发展经验的基础上,相继成立了土地储备机构,建立了土地储备制度。经过二十多年的发展,土地储备有效解决了土地无偿使用制度下产生的诸多历史遗留问题,为培育和规范土地市场、有效配置土地资源、优化城市空间布局、促进城市经济以及社会发展发挥了重要作用。十九大后,中国特色社会主义步入新时代。土地储备工作要深入贯彻新发展理念,积极应对新情况新问题新挑战,强化政府主导和公益性定位,适应土地市场发展改革需求,寻找新的转型发展之路。     

Outstations to primacy: Economic policy,class formation and growth in the towns of Papua New Guinea

Most towns in Papua New Guinea are small and the hierarchy comprises many isolated outstations and small towns. As a response to changes in economic policy the largest towns are growing rapidly at the expense of the small service centres. Changes in the population structure of these large towns have resulted in high rates of natural increase, while rural urban migration is steadily bringing in newcomers, to face urban unemployment and a lack of adequate housing. A secondary urban problem arises from the colonial legacy of urban zoning, which exacerbates the housing shortage and has created artifical socioeconomic residential areas. Although social differences are relatively small, the policy of economic growth will increase the gap between rich and poor, while urban unemployment and lack of housing have reached a crisis level in the rapidly growing big towns.     

Welfare reform and the intra-regional migration of beneficiaries in New Zealand

This paper investigates the net effect of major cuts in welfare benefits and associated changes in the delivery of housing assistance on the relocation behavior of beneficiaries. It does so against an international literature which has documented the tendency of welfare recipients to adjust their costs of living by moving from urban to rural settlements. The paper reviews the literature on welfare and migration, introduces a theoretical framework based on a metropolitan labour market and then tests several hypotheses about the possible effects of benefits cuts on spatial adjustment. The research design uses quinquennial census data to compare core beneficiary relocation patterns with those of non-beneficiaries before and after the cuts to welfare benefits in the Wellington region of New Zealand in 1991. The period following the benefit cuts in New Zealand was characterised by increasing job opportunities which helped to mitigate their adverse effect and made it difficult to identify a more general down-market residential adjustment. While a downward adjustment in housing consumption by core beneficiaries was identified, residential movement from urban to the cheaper settlements in adjacent rural areas was only observed from former State house areas where the income effects of benefit cuts were compounded by increases in rents on former State houses. Thus, while this paper supports the findings of independent sample survey work, our census based analysis underscores the highly contingent nature of that response. Evidence of urban-rural migration is placed in the context of the government's `remote area policy' which attempts to dissuade beneficiaries (who are receiving a social security benefit related to their employment status) from moving without good reason to `remote' locations where job prospects are weak. The paper raises the more general policy issue where benefit cuts, designed to stimulate more active job searching among the unemployed, actually prompt some beneficiaries to relocate to the urban fringe and in some cases to remote parts of the country where job prospects are weak. The theoretical and policy implication of this paper is that there are geographical correlates to the reservation wage which need to be integrated into thinking about the participation consequences of setting benefit levels.     

Exploring the asylum-migration nexus in the context of health professional migration

The current global migration regime is extremely complex and characterised by a polarisation of flows. Increasing numbers of individuals fleeing conflict regimes and seeking asylum are faced with restrictive immigration regimes whilst at the same time, highly skilled migrants are welcomed and encouraged to contribute to developed economies. This paper explores the asylum-migration nexus that has emerged as a result of restrictive immigration policy by drawing upon a survey of 300 health professionals in the UK. First, the empirical lens of health professionals fleeing conflict regions is employed to map the contours of the asylum-migration nexus. Second, the implications of highly selective asylum flows to Europe, in terms of economic and social characteristics, are considered. The paper concludes by highlighting concerns that Western refugee policy regimes are worryingly failing to fully meet moral obligations to protect individuals seeking asylum whilst also inadvertently supporting brain drain flows.     

Australian manufacturing, 1968–1988: Recession,reorganisation and renewal

Australian manufacturing developed primarily to supply domestic customers. It played an important role in the country's postwar economic growth, employment increase and rising living standards. However, decades of heavy protection and limited opportunities for achieving scale economies because of the small local market and fragmentation of production across six states were among many factors that meant that by the late 1960s the sector was increasingly ill-equipped to deal with major changes in international and internal economic and political conditions. Over the last two decades, manufacturing has contracted, with employment falling sharply, and there has been a substantial and highly varied restructuring of production, although many past features survive. In the mid 1980s, several factors, most notably a large depreciation of the Australian dollar, have made local manufacturing more cost competitive and created new export opportunities. Nevertheless, many branches of manufacturing remain vulnerable to further rapid rationalisation and future prospects are uncertain.     

Urban Planning in Hong Kong and Integration with the Pearl River Delta: A Historical Account of Local Development

This paper shows the importance that urban planning plays in the development of Hong Kong. This leads to a reassessment of the role of the government, which is the sole proprietor of the land, in the economy – while it acknowledges the importance of market forces. The first part shows how, since 1945, Hong Kong authorities have been obliged to intervene more in urban planning and local development, despite their liberal ideology. The second part focuses on the interaction between government action and market forces, and their influence in this development. The third part deals with the question of the economic integration between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) after China started its economics reforms in 1978. The deconcentration of Hong Kong industries to China was mainly due to market forces, but provided a new role for the government. This role is analyzed through its transportation policy – the domain with the most visible governmental intervention before and after 1997. It indicates the preference of the government to develop the territory rather than better integration with the PRD, because of the internal economic problems that may emerge from this integration. Nevertheless, for political and economic reasons, this integration is also seen as necessary. The future of Hong Kong’s economy lies in the answers the authorities will give to this dilemma.     

Urban Planning in Hong Kong and Integration with the Pearl River Delta: A Historical Account of Local Development

This paper shows the importance that urban planning plays in the development of Hong Kong. This leads to a reassessment of the role of the government, which is the sole proprietor of the land, in the economy – while it acknowledges the importance of market forces. The first part shows how, since 1945, Hong Kong authorities have been obliged to intervene more in urban planning and local development, despite their liberal ideology. The second part focuses on the interaction between government action and market forces, and their influence in this development. The third part deals with the question of the economic integration between Hong Kong and the Pearl River Delta (PRD) after China started its economics reforms in 1978. The deconcentration of Hong Kong industries to China was mainly due to market forces, but provided a new role for the government. This role is analyzed through its transportation policy – the domain with the most visible governmental intervention before and after 1997. It indicates the preference of the government to develop the territory rather than better integration with the PRD, because of the internal economic problems that may emerge from this integration. Nevertheless, for political and economic reasons, this integration is also seen as necessary. The future of Hong Kong’s economy lies in the answers the authorities will give to this dilemma.     

Housing strategies in low income urban communities in Accra,Ghana

As the rent-free compound housing system in Ghana gradually became unpopular, there was the need for state intervention in housing provision. Housing became an important part of the country’s developmental policies through state interventions prior to the late 1970s. The economic crises in 1979 forced the country to opt for Structural Adjustment Programme, compelling the state to relax on its efforts to provide housing for the public. The paper uses the mode of economic integration framework to discuss the various housing forms in the country. It argues, housing provision led by the private sector creates remarked differences between housing for the higher and lower income groups. The study uses two low income communities in Accra to explain different ways by which the urban poor in Ghana accommodate themselves amidst the country’s housing problems. The study concludes there is an alternative to the housing crises in the country which could be found in the public-private investments in the rental form of the compound housing system.     

Agriculture,sustainability and the imperatives of policy reform

Agriculture stands alone among resource sectors in Western industrialized countries as having the fastest growth in production/productivity during post-war years. Yet that growth in productivity and accompanying high levels of sufficiency has been at the expense of such goals as adequate income, community stability and resource/environmental conservation. In the process, agriculture has mimicked trends in the economy as a whole through increased segmentation and differentiation, throughput of non-renewable resources and divergence of natural and economic processes. Within the context of prevailing policies and market forces in OECD countries in general and Canada in particular, this paper evaluates the problems facing the sector and the nature of the trade-offs being made in the pursuit of high-input agriculture. It is argued that, while agri-business and market forces are generally responsible for a weakening of the links between environment and economy, numerous market distortions, precipitated by agricultural policy, do much the same. To achieve a better balance among the production and consumption functions of the land and to achieve an approach to future agricultural production which is sustainable will require changes in many of the rules, standards and conventions influencing the growth of food and fibre. From a policy perspective, the main task ahead is to redesign and implement programs which will encourage new ‘opportunity sets’ for the economic and competitive viability of the farmer and agricultural system, while at the same time meeting the nutritional needs of society and ensuring the protection of important environmental services and amenity values.     

The political economy of informal settlements in post-socialist China: The case of chengzhongcun(s)

Informal settlements become an intriguing spatial dimension of urbanization in those countries which experience the systemic shift from socialism to neoliberal regimes. This paper takes chengzhongcun(s) (literally meaning ‘villages encircled by the city’ boundaries) as a case to explore the dynamics of informal settlements in post-socialist China that has certain distinctive features related to the legacy of socialist institutions and restructuring of urban space by various forces. The paper details the political and economic contexts, as well as the ways in which chengzhongcun(s) are transformed into functional but unregulated urban space. It also elucidates the policy approach towards formalizing chengzhongcun(s) and confrontation involving in government-led redevelopment. The analysis illustrates how spatial informality is shaped by the interaction of economic interests and political considerations in a post-socialist economy with retaining the rural-urban dualism of land ownership and the control of urban citizenship.     

Subsidized mortgage loans and housing affordability in Poland

While a couple of decades ago homeownership used to be a privilege of the few, nowadays most households in developed countries are living in their own four walls. One of the reasons behind this shift are government policies aimed at promoting homeownership and making it more financially feasible. Among these policies, there is a wide range of instruments reducing the costs of mortgage loan interest. Recently, the promotion of homeownership has also become an important issue in some of the former socialist countries. An example of that is a policy of the Polish government called “Family’s own home”. The aim of this policy was to provide financial support for young households who are particularly vulnerable to the difficult housing situation in Poland. Due to huge price increases between 2006 and 2008, and in connection with a short supply of rental housing, many households have been unable to find an affordable dwelling in recent years. The “Family’s own home” policy, initiated in 2007, was the government’s response to this problem. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the outcomes of this policy, which was terminated at the end of 2012 because of a public finance crisis. Three research questions are addressed: (1) what was the relationship between government support and residential construction, housing prices, and mortgage loan interest rate, (2) what was the spatial distribution of government support, and (3) how was it related to the spatial distribution of housing prices, incomes, and housing affordability?     

Multifunctional intervention and market rationality in agricultural governance: a comparative study of England and South Australia

Critiques of the neoliberal governance of agricultural systems have led to a number of political responses which attempt to address the socio-environmental consequences of the dominant regime. In this paper two case study regions (South Australia and England) have been chosen to represent variations in agricultural policy and to highlight subsequent outcomes on the sustainability of agriculture. Interviewed governance stakeholders highlighted issues in regard to the agricultural governance of each area, from social and environmental consequences of minimal policy intervention in South Australia, to issues created by greater economic support in England. As such, the distinct variations in agricultural regimes will continue to demand scholarly attention, in order for the value of diversity within the sector to be more widely understood. The study concludes that it is likely agricultural support will continue to decline in both case study regions. Importantly, however, innovative policy mechanisms that aim to reduce local risks and value local agricultural priorities, without requiring significant financial support, might be the most promising way forward in regard to agricultural system sustainability.     

Warsaw under transformation: new tendencies in the housing market

The aim of this paper is to show how and in what sense the post-socialist transformation process has influenced the urban spatial structure of Warsaw with the help of empirical evidence dealing with housing. Therefore, the main focus of the study is the transformation of the housing market in the 1990s under social and economic restructuring process. The article comprises two parts: the first part involves the geographical development of the urban spatial structure within the context of housing market changes. In order to explain today's transformation, the system of socialist time is also discussed. In the second part emphasis is placed on the evidence of the transformation in urban space, dealing with new tendencies and challenging mechanisms in the housing market. The last period of transformation is also investigated in terms of changes in the urban space since housing is seen as an important factor of urban transformation. Hence, following the brief outline of historical development of the urban space housing market changes including the privatization of urban land is going to be the concern of the paper. The problems of the transformation and practical implementation of the privatization process are also discussed. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

枣庄市山亭区加强农村宅基地管理和“空心村”治理的思考

根据国家一系列关于农村宅基地管理政策,结合农村住房建设和危房改造工作部署,枣庄市宅基地规范化管理试点逐步启动。枣庄市山亭区以“生产发展,生活宽裕、乡风文明、村容整洁、管理民主”为目标,以宅基地管理为突破口,立足实际,努力改善农村居住环境,全区宅基地管理规范有序,“空心村”治理取得明显效果。