Private sector involvement in urban governance: The case of Business Improvement Districts and Town Centre Management partnerships in England

Although it has many merits, the voluminous literature on urban governance gives scant attention to the actual involvement and positioning of business elites and businesses within Public-Private Partnerships. There is also little consensus among academics as to why the private sector become involved in such schemes. This paper begins to address these issues through a critical empirical examination of how and why the private sector is involved with three English Town Centre Management (TCM) partnerships and the Business Improvement District (BID) subsidiaries all three partnerships have recently developed. In order to do this, the empirical study is guided by a conceptual framework that foregrounds the relationship between (a) the opening up and monitoring of ‘institutional space’ by partnerships and the state, and (b) the motivations and ‘constrained agency’ of the business elites. The paper demonstrates that the positioning of the private sector is more multifarious and fractured than previous studies of urban governance have suggested. It also reveals that business elites and businesses view their participation as an ‘investment’ that needs to accrue significant financial returns and that partnership and state officials are highly selective in their choice of ‘who governs’.     

城乡结合部土地利用变化的信息提取技术与分析--以无锡市为例

作为两种截然不同的生态系统过渡区,城乡结合部是土地利用/土地覆被变化最激烈地区之一,城乡结合部的土地利用情况日益受到人们重视.本文以无锡市为例,利用3S技术提取城乡结合部的范围和土地利用/土地覆被状况信息,提出了确定无锡市城乡结合部范围边界的半自动提取模型和结合部土地利用类型半自动提取模型,并对无锡市城乡结合部土地利用结构及其变化进行分析,揭示了无锡市城乡结合部土地利用/土地覆被变化特征,据此提出城乡结合部土地合理利用的建议.     

甘肃省城市地质调查工作探析

城市地质工作贯穿于城市建设发展的全过程,是城市规划建设和经济社会发展的重要基础支撑,是未来地质工作的重要发展方向。围绕各城市规划建设、运行、转型升级、选址布局、防灾减灾、美化环境等所亟需的自然资源与城镇化进程中面临的各种地质环境问题,结合甘肃省情对地质工作的需求,提出甘肃省城市地质工作在未来8年里的总体战略构想,开展基础性综合地质填图、多要素城市地质调查、城市地质信息化智慧化建设,对城市开发建设、地质资源绿色利用、地方重大工程建设、城市生态安全体系构建,提供地质支撑。     

顾及轨道交通影响的浙中城市群土地利用多情景模拟与分析

土地利用变化受到地形地貌、自然环境、城市规划和经济发展等的影响,预测其未来情景对政策调整具有重要的参考意义。元胞自动机模型是模拟和预测不同规划政策下土地利用变化的常用方法。本文基于GlobeLand30数据集,利用浙中城市群2000-2010年土地利用变化校准FLUS模型,并模拟2010年土地利用格局,其总体精度、Kappa系数和图形优化(FOM)分别为89.74%、82.69%和29.86%。采用马尔可夫链预测2030年各类型土地总量,利用FLUS预测一般条件下(常规情景)和城市轨道交通规划站点影响下(轨交情景)浙中城市群未来土地格局。结果表明,在5 km范围内城市轨道交通站点对建设用地增长影响较大,在该区域轨交情景比常规情景面积增加45.25 km^2、且主要发生在城市边缘区。建设用地扩张主要通过侵占优质农田实现,轨交情景5 km范围内农田转化为建设用地比常规情景增加33.34 km^2,建设用地扩张强度高于常规情景,其中最低扩张强度以上占比高于常规情景3.70%。景观指数表明,2种情景中林地、草地和水域格局具有较高相似性。本研究表明,综合使用FLUS、遥感、GIS等技术方法,能够准确模拟和预测不同规划条件下未来土地利用格局,并为规划和政策调整提供高可信空间数据。     

Measuring the effect of an ongoing urbanization process on biodiversity conservation suitability index: integrating scenario-based urban growth modelling with Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS)

The present study adopts an integrative modelling methodology, which combines the strengths of the SLEUTH model and the Conservation Assessment and Prioritization System (CAPS) method. By developing a scenario-based geographic information system simulation environment for Hashtpar City, Iran, the manageability of the landscape under each urban growth scenario is analysed. In addition, the CAPS approach was used for biodiversity conservation suitability mapping. The SLEUTH model was implemented to generate predictive urban layers of the years 2020, 2030, 2040 and 2050 for each scenario (dynamic factors for conservation suitability mapping). Accordingly, conservation suitability surface of the area is updated for each time point and under each urban development storyline. Two-way analysis of variance and Duncan’s new multiple range tests were employed to compare the functionality of the three scenarios. Based on results, the managed urban growth scenario depicted better results for manageability of the landscape and less negative impact on conservation suitability values.     

New urban map of Eurasia using MODIS and multi-source geospatial data

Urban areas are of paramount significance to both the individuals and communities at local and regional scales. However, the rapid growth of urban areas exerts effects on climate, biodiversity, hydrology, and natural ecosystems worldwide. Therefore, regular and up-to-date information related to urban extent is necessary to monitor the impacts of urban areas at local, regional, and potentially global scales. This study presents a new urban map of Eurasia at 500 m resolution using multi-source geospatial data, including Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) data of 2013, population density of 2012, the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program’s Operational Linescan System (DMSP-OLS) nighttime lights of 2012, and constructed Impervious Surface Area (ISA) data of 2010. The Eurasian urban map was created using the threshold method for these data, combined with references of fine resolution Landsat and Google Earth imagery. The resultant map was compared with nine global urban maps and was validated using random sampling method. Results of the accuracy assessment showed high overall accuracy of the new urban map of 94%. This urban map is one product of the 20 land cover classes of the next version of Global Land Cover by National Mapping Organizations.     

Is remote sensing useful for finding and monitoring urban farms?

As the world becomes increasingly urbanized, the need for fresh fruits and vegetables in urban areas grows while the difficulty of bringing these perishable products to these areas also increases. Small-scale agriculture located in urban areas is a highly effective and profitable way to provide these products to communities that are far from extensive commercial agricultural areas. Here we describe how remote sensing can be used with data mining approaches to monitor urban and peri-urban farms within cities in both developed and developing countries. Using very high resolution satellite imagery together with moderate and coarse resolution imagery and information from social media and the web, we analyze the usefulness of different methods to identify farms within urban boundaries in four countries. The analysis shows how a mixed-method approach is necessary in order to identify where urban farming is occurring and to monitor its change through time. Although remote sensing-based vegetation and water indices were useful, without ancillary data they are not effective at remotely mapping the locations of urban farms. However, remote sensing is a good way to monitor vegetation condition in locations where actively managed urban farms are known to exist.     

Riparian thermal conditions across a mixed rural and urban landscape

Riparian corridors have the potential to function as thermal refuges, moderating extremes of local temperature variation. However, although demonstrated at individual sites, and over short periods, the consistency of this effect at wider temporal and spatial scales is poorly understood. The aim of this study is to assess the temperature differences between riparian corridors and adjacent non-riparian habitats and to explore the influence of environmental characteristics on these differences. Air temperature was monitored hourly at 20 paired locations (riparian and non-riparian) for two consecutive years. Urban index and canopy cover were characterised by calculating the percentage of impervious surface area and tree canopy cover within a 100 m radius from the centre of each sampling site. Canopy cover reduced summer thermal stresses in both urban and rural areas whereas high urban index tended to increase the daily thermal indices. Rivers had a significant mitigating effect on the urban riparian thermal condition, particularly in extreme hot weather. Riparian corridors were generally 1 °C cooler than non-riparian locations in summer and could be up to 3 °C cooler at some sites in extreme hot weather. Furthermore, riparian corridors at some sites were warmer than non-riparian locations in winter. These findings suggest that the proximity of rivers can modify riparian thermal environments, potentially reducing the heat stress of riparian corridors across landscapes.     

Redevelopment and the urban forest: A study of tree removal and retention during demolition activities

Though relationships between urbanization and tree cover are generally well studied, the effect of redevelopment on urban trees, at the scale of the individual property, is not well understood. Developing knowledge in this area is important in order to limit tree loss during redevelopment and thus, ensure sustained ecosystem services. Here, we explore the removal or retention of trees adjacent to building demolition in Christchurch, New Zealand. We mapped the presence or absence of individual trees on 123 properties prior to, and following, building demolition. Using a classification tree (CT) analysis, the presence or absence of 1209 trees was modelled as a function of: tree-related variables, property-related variables, and economic variables. The CT model estimated tree presence/absence with overall accuracy of 80.4%. Results show that 21.6% of all trees were removed as a consequence of building demolition, resulting in a tree canopy cover reduction of 19.7% across all 123 properties. The CT showed that tree crown area was the most important variable for predicting the presence/absence of trees, whereby trees with small crown areas (<7.9 m²) were most frequently removed, especially if they were within 0.7 m of a demolished building. Land value was also an important determinant of tree presence/absence, such that tree removal was more prevalent on properties with higher land value ($/m²). The results provide important new insights into some of the reasons for tree removal or retention during redevelopment at the scale of the individual property where most tree-related decisions are made.     

Interrogating urban experiments

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.