The importance and benefits of engaging citizens as co-producers of urban transformation have been increasingly recognised. However, the mere implementation of citizen co-production does not guarantee more legitimate or inclusive policy decisions and outcomes, especially when power inequalities that shape local decision-making remain unaddressed. This article examines the transformative potential of citizen co-production in smart sustainable city initiatives using two successive citizen panels in Trondheim, Norway, as cases. The study aimed to understand the role of citizen co-production in these panels, and the notion of “the citizen” within their frameworks. Three challenges with co-production were identified. Firstly, the ad-hoc nature of citizen engagement emphasised individual participation rather than facilitating collective spaces from which political agency could emerge. Secondly, citizens’ viewpoints were perceived as uninformed preferences that could be transformed through professional guidance. This, coupled with the closed nature of the initiatives, raises questions about the transformative potential of the processes, particularly in challenging the underlying premises of citizen co-production shaped by a neoliberal discourse of smart sustainable cities. The article concludes with a call to analyse citizen co-production spaces through an intersectional lens that attends to relational understandings of power dynamics and identities. This analysis should not only consider who participates, but also how “the citizen” as a subject is conceptualised and mobilised, how citizens’ interests and knowledge are taken into account, and the political significance of their involvement.
{"title":"“The Citizen” as a Ghost Subject in Co-Producing Smart Sustainable Cities: An Intersectional Approach","authors":"Leika Aruga, Hilde Refstie, Hilde Nymoen Rørtveit","doi":"10.17645/up.7259","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.7259","url":null,"abstract":"The importance and benefits of engaging citizens as co-producers of urban transformation have been increasingly recognised. However, the mere implementation of citizen co-production does not guarantee more legitimate or inclusive policy decisions and outcomes, especially when power inequalities that shape local decision-making remain unaddressed. This article examines the transformative potential of citizen co-production in smart sustainable city initiatives using two successive citizen panels in Trondheim, Norway, as cases. The study aimed to understand the role of citizen co-production in these panels, and the notion of “the citizen” within their frameworks. Three challenges with co-production were identified. Firstly, the ad-hoc nature of citizen engagement emphasised individual participation rather than facilitating collective spaces from which political agency could emerge. Secondly, citizens’ viewpoints were perceived as uninformed preferences that could be transformed through professional guidance. This, coupled with the closed nature of the initiatives, raises questions about the transformative potential of the processes, particularly in challenging the underlying premises of citizen co-production shaped by a neoliberal discourse of smart sustainable cities. The article concludes with a call to analyse citizen co-production spaces through an intersectional lens that attends to relational understandings of power dynamics and identities. This analysis should not only consider who participates, but also how “the citizen” as a subject is conceptualised and mobilised, how citizens’ interests and knowledge are taken into account, and the political significance of their involvement.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139221593","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pedestrian activity is often measured in the formal parts of cities, yet it has rarely been studied in informal settlements, although they are typically adjacent to formal areas and residents participate in formal urban life. Route optimization and space syntax are two pedestrian activity theories that can be applied to predict path usage in urban areas. These theories have been tested in formal cities, but are they applicable in understudied informal settings? Using motion sensors, we measure pedestrian activity in a Cape Town informal settlement in the early morning and evening hours and test which theory best explains the sensor measurements. Route optimization is weakly correlated with average pedestrian activity, while space syntax performs even more poorly in predicting pedestrian activity. The predictive power of both theoretical calculations further varies by time of day. We find that both theories perform worst at the entrances/exits of the informal settlement—that is, the border between informal and formal. These results indicate that daily movement patterns in informal settlements may differ from formal areas and that the connection between the formal and informal city requires further study to better understand how pedestrian activity links these two types of areas. A new theory of route selection based on such an understanding, which also better incorporates the specific characteristics of informal urban settlements—such as high density, narrow, and constantly changing streets primarily used by residents—may be necessary to understand the needs of pedestrians within informal settlements as compared to formal areas.
{"title":"An Empirical Test of Pedestrian Activity Theories Within Informal Settlements","authors":"Yael Borofsky, Stephanie Briers, Isabel Günther","doi":"10.17645/up.6932","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.6932","url":null,"abstract":"Pedestrian activity is often measured in the formal parts of cities, yet it has rarely been studied in informal settlements, although they are typically adjacent to formal areas and residents participate in formal urban life. Route optimization and space syntax are two pedestrian activity theories that can be applied to predict path usage in urban areas. These theories have been tested in formal cities, but are they applicable in understudied informal settings? Using motion sensors, we measure pedestrian activity in a Cape Town informal settlement in the early morning and evening hours and test which theory best explains the sensor measurements. Route optimization is weakly correlated with average pedestrian activity, while space syntax performs even more poorly in predicting pedestrian activity. The predictive power of both theoretical calculations further varies by time of day. We find that both theories perform worst at the entrances/exits of the informal settlement—that is, the border between informal and formal. These results indicate that daily movement patterns in informal settlements may differ from formal areas and that the connection between the formal and informal city requires further study to better understand how pedestrian activity links these two types of areas. A new theory of route selection based on such an understanding, which also better incorporates the specific characteristics of informal urban settlements—such as high density, narrow, and constantly changing streets primarily used by residents—may be necessary to understand the needs of pedestrians within informal settlements as compared to formal areas.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139224057","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Koen Faber, Simon Kingham, Lindsey Conrow, Dea van Lierop
Despite growing investments in active travel infrastructure in many developed countries, walking and cycling rates often remain low. In addition to changes in the built environment, life experiences, place-specific urban mobility policies, and social and cultural norms with regard to active travel mode use are also found to be important factors for encouraging walking and cycling. Many researchers have examined immigrants’ travel behaviour to study the influence of social and cultural norms and place-specific factors on mode choice and travel decisions. However, knowledge of the differences in walking and cycling behaviour between various sub-groups of immigrants remains limited. By means of a multiple linear regression model, this study investigates differences in walking and cycling behaviours between immigrants in a less active travel culture, namely New Zealand, and an active travel culture, the Netherlands. The findings show that immigrants in both contexts walk and cycle more than the wider populations. Analysis results demonstrate that socio-demographic characteristics, car and bicycle access, and trip purpose all have a significant effect on active travel behaviour. Furthermore, on average, Dutch born-and-raised immigrants in New Zealand cycle more days per month than professional immigrants in the Netherlands and tend to use a much wider range of transport modes, particularly sharing services. These findings suggest that past experiences with particular travel modes and socialisation factors likely play a major role in active travel behaviour, thereby stressing the need for more research on the role of cultural and social norms in travel decision-making processes.
{"title":"Differences in Active Travel Between Immigrants in an Active and Less Active Mobility Culture","authors":"Koen Faber, Simon Kingham, Lindsey Conrow, Dea van Lierop","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6977","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6977","url":null,"abstract":"Despite growing investments in active travel infrastructure in many developed countries, walking and cycling rates often remain low. In addition to changes in the built environment, life experiences, place-specific urban mobility policies, and social and cultural norms with regard to active travel mode use are also found to be important factors for encouraging walking and cycling. Many researchers have examined immigrants’ travel behaviour to study the influence of social and cultural norms and place-specific factors on mode choice and travel decisions. However, knowledge of the differences in walking and cycling behaviour between various sub-groups of immigrants remains limited. By means of a multiple linear regression model, this study investigates differences in walking and cycling behaviours between immigrants in a less active travel culture, namely New Zealand, and an active travel culture, the Netherlands. The findings show that immigrants in both contexts walk and cycle more than the wider populations. Analysis results demonstrate that socio-demographic characteristics, car and bicycle access, and trip purpose all have a significant effect on active travel behaviour. Furthermore, on average, Dutch born-and-raised immigrants in New Zealand cycle more days per month than professional immigrants in the Netherlands and tend to use a much wider range of transport modes, particularly sharing services. These findings suggest that past experiences with particular travel modes and socialisation factors likely play a major role in active travel behaviour, thereby stressing the need for more research on the role of cultural and social norms in travel decision-making processes.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139245173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Digital participation relies on computational systems as the instruments for expert engagement, data-driven insight, and informed decision-making. This study aims to increase expert engagement with the Bayesian-based decision support model in evaluating urban vibrancy decisions. In this study, urban vibrancy parameters are defined using “economic, use, and image value” measures. This article focuses on the visual aspect of vibrancy, defined as the image value of place. The image value is evaluated through likability and likability features. The case study area is the Eminönü Central Business District in the Istanbul Historic Peninsula due to its distinctive urban dynamics derived from the duality of being a cultural and cosmopolitan city center. This research presents a method as a decision support system (DSS) model based on the Bayesian belief network (BBN) and spatial BBN for supporting urban vibrancy decisions. The spatial BBNs monitor spatial outcomes of variables’ dependencies that form through the BBN relationship network. Spatial BBN tools monitors the spatial impact of decisions for informed urban interventions. The results demonstrate that urban greening, pedestrianization, and human-scaled streetscapes should be prioritized to make streets more likable. The most significant intervention areas are Tahtakale for signboard regulation, Sultanahmet and Vefa for cultural landscape improvement, and Vefa and Mahmutpaşa for planning building enclosures. The participation is achieved by evaluating urban vibrancy with what-if scenarios using BBN. The developed DSS model addresses which parameters should be prioritized, and what are their spatial consequences. The use of spatial BBN tools presents certain limitations in terms of interoperability and user interaction. Overall, this research contributes to participatory urban planning by incorporating both conditional and spatial dependencies. This unique approach not only promotes a more holistic understanding of urban vibrancy but also contributes to the advancement of digital participation in urban planning decisions.
{"title":"Digital Participatory Model as Part of a Data-Driven Decision Support System for Urban Vibrancy","authors":"Gülce Kırdar, G. Çağdaş","doi":"10.17645/up.7165","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.7165","url":null,"abstract":"Digital participation relies on computational systems as the instruments for expert engagement, data-driven insight, and informed decision-making. This study aims to increase expert engagement with the Bayesian-based decision support model in evaluating urban vibrancy decisions. In this study, urban vibrancy parameters are defined using “economic, use, and image value” measures. This article focuses on the visual aspect of vibrancy, defined as the image value of place. The image value is evaluated through likability and likability features. The case study area is the Eminönü Central Business District in the Istanbul Historic Peninsula due to its distinctive urban dynamics derived from the duality of being a cultural and cosmopolitan city center. This research presents a method as a decision support system (DSS) model based on the Bayesian belief network (BBN) and spatial BBN for supporting urban vibrancy decisions. The spatial BBNs monitor spatial outcomes of variables’ dependencies that form through the BBN relationship network. Spatial BBN tools monitors the spatial impact of decisions for informed urban interventions. The results demonstrate that urban greening, pedestrianization, and human-scaled streetscapes should be prioritized to make streets more likable. The most significant intervention areas are Tahtakale for signboard regulation, Sultanahmet and Vefa for cultural landscape improvement, and Vefa and Mahmutpaşa for planning building enclosures. The participation is achieved by evaluating urban vibrancy with what-if scenarios using BBN. The developed DSS model addresses which parameters should be prioritized, and what are their spatial consequences. The use of spatial BBN tools presents certain limitations in terms of interoperability and user interaction. Overall, this research contributes to participatory urban planning by incorporating both conditional and spatial dependencies. This unique approach not only promotes a more holistic understanding of urban vibrancy but also contributes to the advancement of digital participation in urban planning decisions.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139246971","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Planning-related protest is a “normal” and strategic form of political participation that manifests cause-related conflict and criticises dominant norms, situations, and institutions. It goes beyond the participation offered by the (local) state while claiming action by the state and other powerful actors. Given the multitude of such protests as well as the usually local and, therefore, often small-scale causes and claims articulated, we consider these actions by citizens as everyday practices. On the other hand, protest and movement theory has focused on structural aspects like resource mobilisation and opportunity structures. We, therefore, suggest that planning protest is one of the keys to understanding the particular, place-specific characteristics that make every city unique. Protest data mining as a newly developed method to identify planning protests in local databases, digital newspaper archives, and petition platforms in a standardised approach has produced datasets of hundreds of protests that allow for comparisons between cities. The exemplary analysis of this data allows us to discuss the structural dimension of everyday action.
{"title":"Planning-Related Protest as a Key to Understanding Urban Particularities","authors":"Grischa Frederik Bertram, Gerhard Kienast","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.7088","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.7088","url":null,"abstract":"Planning-related protest is a “normal” and strategic form of political participation that manifests cause-related conflict and criticises dominant norms, situations, and institutions. It goes beyond the participation offered by the (local) state while claiming action by the state and other powerful actors. Given the multitude of such protests as well as the usually local and, therefore, often small-scale causes and claims articulated, we consider these actions by citizens as everyday practices. On the other hand, protest and movement theory has focused on structural aspects like resource mobilisation and opportunity structures. We, therefore, suggest that planning protest is one of the keys to understanding the particular, place-specific characteristics that make every city unique. Protest data mining as a newly developed method to identify planning protests in local databases, digital newspaper archives, and petition platforms in a standardised approach has produced datasets of hundreds of protests that allow for comparisons between cities. The exemplary analysis of this data allows us to discuss the structural dimension of everyday action.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139249500","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This thematic issue explores the role that revived emplacements of manufacturing and “blue-collar” work play in the search for more effective models of urban sustainability, drawing on intriguing developments in different cities of different sizes in different Western societies—the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the USA, and Australia. Rather than see industry as a “problem” for green city strategies, our point of departure considers what role manufacturing and “blue-collar” work can (and do) play in the search for more effective models of urban sustainability. The articles included here deploy a range of research methodologies, albeit with a predominant emphasis on qualitative case studies, to raise key challenges for urban and regional industrial planning. This editorial provides some overarching context and commentary on the topic and specifically discusses three synoptic themes that emerged most prominently from the collection of articles: the difficulty (and importance) of identifying and illustrating the practical sustainability benefits of local manufacturing; the complexity of advancing “conspicuous production” in the urban context; and the need to broaden industrial politics and planning in order to better utilize existing industrial spaces and enhance the role of production in the city. These themes help to capture emerging trends and challenges in the field while providing foundations for future research.
{"title":"Planning, Manufacturing, and Sustainability: Three Research Themes","authors":"Yonn Dierwechter, Mark Pendras","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.7627","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.7627","url":null,"abstract":"This thematic issue explores the role that revived emplacements of manufacturing and “blue-collar” work play in the search for more effective models of urban sustainability, drawing on intriguing developments in different cities of different sizes in different Western societies—the UK, Germany, Switzerland, the USA, and Australia. Rather than see industry as a “problem” for green city strategies, our point of departure considers what role manufacturing and “blue-collar” work can (and do) play in the search for more effective models of urban sustainability. The articles included here deploy a range of research methodologies, albeit with a predominant emphasis on qualitative case studies, to raise key challenges for urban and regional industrial planning. This editorial provides some overarching context and commentary on the topic and specifically discusses three synoptic themes that emerged most prominently from the collection of articles: the difficulty (and importance) of identifying and illustrating the practical sustainability benefits of local manufacturing; the complexity of advancing “conspicuous production” in the urban context; and the need to broaden industrial politics and planning in order to better utilize existing industrial spaces and enhance the role of production in the city. These themes help to capture emerging trends and challenges in the field while providing foundations for future research.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139252740","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A key advantage of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools has been seen as increasing the polyphony of urban planning by reaching the wisdom of crowds. However, the challenge is to enable participation for those who do not have the skills or resources. This article describes participatory action research where the authors of the article collaborated with a local city planning activist at the Kontula Mall, Helsinki (Finland) to improve the participation of a group marginalized from the renewal process (i.e., immigrant entrepreneurs) using a PPGIS tool (Maptionnaire). The case study provided insights into the potential for city planning activism to bring out marginalized groups’ perspectives and use PPGIS. Moreover, the research also revealed barriers to polyphony in current planning practices. Nevertheless, planning activism can enable the participation of the marginalized by coming into contact with them, providing them with information, and bringing their perspectives to the collaboration. The PPGIS tool can serve as a platform to collect participatory data through different response modes. Local activism can also facilitate the questionnaire’s co-design, testing, and marketing. Therefore, a bottom-up approach can be a way to improve the impact of PPGIS and enhance polyphony in urban planning.
{"title":"Beyond the Blind Spot: Enhancing Polyphony Through City Planning Activism Using Public Participation GIS","authors":"E. Harsia, P. Nummi","doi":"10.17645/up.7096","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.7096","url":null,"abstract":"A key advantage of public participation GIS (PPGIS) tools has been seen as increasing the polyphony of urban planning by reaching the wisdom of crowds. However, the challenge is to enable participation for those who do not have the skills or resources. This article describes participatory action research where the authors of the article collaborated with a local city planning activist at the Kontula Mall, Helsinki (Finland) to improve the participation of a group marginalized from the renewal process (i.e., immigrant entrepreneurs) using a PPGIS tool (Maptionnaire). The case study provided insights into the potential for city planning activism to bring out marginalized groups’ perspectives and use PPGIS. Moreover, the research also revealed barriers to polyphony in current planning practices. Nevertheless, planning activism can enable the participation of the marginalized by coming into contact with them, providing them with information, and bringing their perspectives to the collaboration. The PPGIS tool can serve as a platform to collect participatory data through different response modes. Local activism can also facilitate the questionnaire’s co-design, testing, and marketing. Therefore, a bottom-up approach can be a way to improve the impact of PPGIS and enhance polyphony in urban planning.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139274612","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the context of increasing social mobility, extensive global migration flows and the growing importance of understanding the diverse circumstances of urban life, ideas of a homogeneous, and stable social mainstream are decreasingly in line with social reality. Post-migrant studies understand migration as not only a force that shapes society but also as a factor in place-making. This article aims to discuss a different integration paradigm, focusing on the spatial integration dimension from the perspective of the refugees and their experiences of everyday practices. It aims to reflect on the role of the articulation between these practices with local actors that can intermediate and influence the quality of life of the incomers, either positively or negatively. The main research question we address is: Can spatial transformation in the public space foster the integration of and a feeling of belonging by refugees through collaborative processes? This analysis is developed through a critical reflection on the role of institutional actors as potential mediators between everyday practices and long-term solutions and, at the same time, as reproducers of hegemonic power relations. The proposed debate is based on collaborative teaching and research activities conducted in 2021 and 2022 in Berlin, Germany, and Irbid, Jordan, involving different groups of actors—researchers, students, and local and national institutions, as well as refugees and local residents.
{"title":"Spatial Integration of Refugees: Towards a Post-Migrant Approach","authors":"Juliana Canedo, Hassan Elmouelhi","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.7080","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.7080","url":null,"abstract":"In the context of increasing social mobility, extensive global migration flows and the growing importance of understanding the diverse circumstances of urban life, ideas of a homogeneous, and stable social mainstream are decreasingly in line with social reality. Post-migrant studies understand migration as not only a force that shapes society but also as a factor in place-making. This article aims to discuss a different integration paradigm, focusing on the spatial integration dimension from the perspective of the refugees and their experiences of everyday practices. It aims to reflect on the role of the articulation between these practices with local actors that can intermediate and influence the quality of life of the incomers, either positively or negatively. The main research question we address is: Can spatial transformation in the public space foster the integration of and a feeling of belonging by refugees through collaborative processes? This analysis is developed through a critical reflection on the role of institutional actors as potential mediators between everyday practices and long-term solutions and, at the same time, as reproducers of hegemonic power relations. The proposed debate is based on collaborative teaching and research activities conducted in 2021 and 2022 in Berlin, Germany, and Irbid, Jordan, involving different groups of actors—researchers, students, and local and national institutions, as well as refugees and local residents.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2023-11-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"139274215","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Urban development processes in the Global South (and North) are often described as characterized by formal and informal practices of different actors and their respective material realities. In critical urban studies, the disposition for this binary conception of formal and informal urbanisms has been discussed for many years. To a certain extent, these sometimes align rather problematically with contrasting notions of the “structural” versus the “everyday.” In this article, we explore an understanding of formal and informal urban practices (and respectively “structure” and “everyday”) as always interrelated, and we develop a methodology for a comparative examination of such hybrid urbanisms. In doing so, we address a missing link in the surging theoretical debate on comparative/southern urbanisms, which has rarely been substantiated by methodological explorations. The adapted concept of “delivery configurations” combines analyses of actor networks, material realities, rules and regulations, discourses, and heterogenous arrays of urban practices of negotiating these. However, bringing together local particularities and structural commonalities and exploring their interrelation only provides a basis for understanding case-specific complexities. We argue that embedding the analysis in a multi-scalar comparative framework can further its analytical rather than descriptive attributes and provide deeper insights into issues such as social inequality. To illustrate our methodological contribution, we provide first insights from a comparative research project of water delivery in different neighbourhoods in the secondary cities of Sunyani (Ghana) and Arequipa (Peru). We highlight the practical challenges of comparing diverse urban contexts and examining the rather complex relationships between infrastructure delivery, urban development, and social inequality.
{"title":"Comparing Hybrid Urbanisms in the Global South: Water Delivery Configurations in Peru and Ghana","authors":"Christian Rosen, Nina Gribat","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.7155","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.7155","url":null,"abstract":"Urban development processes in the Global South (and North) are often described as characterized by formal and informal practices of different actors and their respective material realities. In critical urban studies, the disposition for this binary conception of formal and informal urbanisms has been discussed for many years. To a certain extent, these sometimes align rather problematically with contrasting notions of the “structural” versus the “everyday.” In this article, we explore an understanding of formal and informal urban practices (and respectively “structure” and “everyday”) as always interrelated, and we develop a methodology for a comparative examination of such hybrid urbanisms. In doing so, we address a missing link in the surging theoretical debate on comparative/southern urbanisms, which has rarely been substantiated by methodological explorations. The adapted concept of “delivery configurations” combines analyses of actor networks, material realities, rules and regulations, discourses, and heterogenous arrays of urban practices of negotiating these. However, bringing together local particularities and structural commonalities and exploring their interrelation only provides a basis for understanding case-specific complexities. We argue that embedding the analysis in a multi-scalar comparative framework can further its analytical rather than descriptive attributes and provide deeper insights into issues such as social inequality. To illustrate our methodological contribution, we provide first insights from a comparative research project of water delivery in different neighbourhoods in the secondary cities of Sunyani (Ghana) and Arequipa (Peru). We highlight the practical challenges of comparing diverse urban contexts and examining the rather complex relationships between infrastructure delivery, urban development, and social inequality.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135390262","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Renewed enthusiasm surrounds the potential for urban industry and its contribution to the socioeconomic diversity of cities, despite concerns about the loss of industrial uses, land, and buildings in high-value, post-industrial cities. Yet, industry is often hidden and undervalued, and methodologies to change the culture around nurturing industry in cities have not been well explored. As a first step in moving this agenda forward, this article proposes effective ways to reveal industrial uses and to advocate for policy protections of the land they occupy. It examines how London Metropolitan University’s School of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) Cities action researchers applied their Audit, Reveal and Promote methodology to Southwark, a London borough with a high concentration of urban industry. There are key aspects to revealing industrial economies: collecting accurate data on the ground, showcasing local businesses, building stakeholder networks through mutual trust, and creating a space of possibilities between vertical hierarchical and grassroots power networks to enable stakeholders to participate in urban change. This article presents a methodology for cultural change towards valuing a mix of uses, including industry, to transform land development towards retention and densification of industry.
{"title":"Auditing, Revealing and Promoting Industry in the London Borough of Southwark","authors":"Jane Clossick, Mark Brearley","doi":"10.17645/up.v8i4.6994","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.17645/up.v8i4.6994","url":null,"abstract":"Renewed enthusiasm surrounds the potential for urban industry and its contribution to the socioeconomic diversity of cities, despite concerns about the loss of industrial uses, land, and buildings in high-value, post-industrial cities. Yet, industry is often hidden and undervalued, and methodologies to change the culture around nurturing industry in cities have not been well explored. As a first step in moving this agenda forward, this article proposes effective ways to reveal industrial uses and to advocate for policy protections of the land they occupy. It examines how London Metropolitan University’s School of Art, Architecture and Design (AAD) Cities action researchers applied their <em>Audit, Reveal and Promote </em>methodology to Southwark, a London borough with a high concentration of urban industry. There are key aspects to revealing industrial economies: collecting accurate data on the ground, showcasing local businesses, building stakeholder networks through mutual trust, and creating a space of possibilities between vertical hierarchical and grassroots power networks to enable stakeholders to participate in urban change. This article presents a methodology for cultural change towards valuing a mix of uses, including industry, to transform land development towards retention and densification of industry.","PeriodicalId":51735,"journal":{"name":"Urban Planning","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-11-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135342413","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}