An argument that operational urban planning can be improved by the application of the tools of urban economics to the design of regulations and infrastructure. Urban planning is a craft learned through practice. Planners make rapid decisions that have an immediate impact on the ground—the width of streets, the minimum size of land parcels, the heights of buildings. The language they use to describe their objectives is qualitative—“sustainable,” “livable,” “resilient”—often with no link to measurable outcomes. Urban economics, on the other hand, is a quantitative science, based on theories, models, and empirical evidence largely developed in academic settings. In this book, the eminent urban planner Alain Bertaud argues that applying the theories of urban economics to the practice of urban planning would greatly improve both the productivity of cities and the welfare of urban citizens. Bertaud explains that markets provide the indispensable mechanism for cities’ development. He cites the experience of cities without markets for land or labor in pre-reform China and Russia; this “urban planners’ dream” created inefficiencies and waste. Drawing on five decades of urban planning experience in forty cities around the world, Bertaud links cities’ productivity to the size of their labor markets; argues that the design of infrastructure and markets can complement each other; examines the spatial distribution of land prices and densities; stresses the importance of mobility and affordability; and critiques the land use regulations in a number of cities that aim at redesigning existing cities instead of just trying to alleviate clear negative externalities. Bertaud concludes by describing the new role that joint teams of urban planners and economists could play to improve the way cities are managed.
There has been a tremendous explosion of interest in European urban history in the last decades. Across Europe we see a spate of new research projects and publications examining the economic, demographic, social and cultural devel opments of the many thousands of urban centres -metropolitan cities, regional cities and small towns. This is hardly surprising because urban development has been one of the principal forces shaping the transformation of Europe from the Renaissance to the contemporary era. One striking feature of the new work is its strongly interdisciplinary character with economists, archaeologists, geographers, art historians and sociologists, as well as historians, collaborating in research. Another feature of current approaches is the stress on comparative urban history -using the variable pat terns of development in different countries to shed light not only on structural variations but on the process of urban change itself. Testifying to this enthusiasm for comparative history since 1990 the European Association of Urban Historians (instituted by the European Union) has organ ised large -scale comparative conferences on the European city at Amsterdam, Strasbourg and Budapest. Since the 1980s there has also been a network of Eu ropean institutions (including the universities of Leicester, New University of Lisbon, Leiden, Cantabria, Humboldt University, Berlin, and Strasbourg, Gent and Leuven) actively involved in student teaching programmes in the fiel- with support from the European Union ERASMUS programme.
Nearly 4,000 cities on our planet today have populations of 100,000 people or more. We know their names, locations, and approximate populations from maps and other data sources, but there is little comparable knowledge about all these cities, and none that can be described as rigorously scientific. The Planet of Cities together with its companion volume, the Atlas of Urban Expansion, contributes to developing a science of cities based on studying all these cities together—not in the abstract, but with a view to preparing them for their coming expansion. The book puts into question the main tenets of the familiar Containment Paradigm, also known as smart growth, urban growth management, or compact city, that is designed to contain boundless urban expansion, typically decried as sprawl. It examines this paradigm in a broader global perspective and shows it to be deficient and practically useless in addressing the central questions now facing expanding cities outside the United States and Europe. In its place Shlomo Angel proposes to revive an alternative Making Room Paradigm that seeks to come to terms with the expected expansion of cities, particularly in the rapidly urbanizing countries in Asia and Africa, and to make the minimally necessary preparations for such expansion instead of seeking to contain it. This paradigm is predicated on four propositions:1. The expansion of cities that urban population growth entails cannot be contained. Instead we must make adequate room to accommodate it.2. City densities must remain within a sustainable range. If density is too low, it must be allowed to increase, and if it is too high, it must be allowed to decline.3. Strict containment of urban expansion destroys the homes of the poor and puts new housing out of reach for most people. Decent housing for all can be ensured only if urban land is in ample supply.4. As cities expand, the necessary land for public streets, public infrastructure networks, and public open spaces must be secured in advance of development.The first part of the book explores planetary urbanization in a historical and geographical perspective, to establish a global perspective for the study of cities. It confirms that we are in the midst of an urbanization project that started in earnest at the beginning of the nineteenth century, has now reached its peak with half the world population residing in urban areas, and will come to a close, possibly by the end of this century, when most people who want to live in cities will have moved there. This realization lends urgency to the call for preparing for urban expansion now, when the urbanization project is still in full swing, rather than later, when it would be too late to make a difference.The second part of the book seeks to deepen our understanding and thus lessen our fear of urban expansion by providing detailed quantitative answers to seven sets of questions regarding the dimensions and attributes of urban expansion:1. What are the extents of urban areas everywhere and how fast are they expanding over time?2. How dense are these urban areas and how are urban densities changing over time?3. How centralized are the residences and workplaces in cities and do they tend to disperse to the periphery over time? 4. How fragmented are the built-up areas of cities and how are levels of fragmentation changing over time?5. How compact are the shapes of urban footprints and how are their levels of compactness changing over time?6. How much land would urban areas require in future decades?7. How much cultivated land will be consumed by expanding urban areas?By answering these questions and exploring their implications for action, this book provides the conceptual framework, basic empirical data, and practical agenda necessary for the minimal yet meaningful management of the urban expansion process.The companion volume, Atlas of Urban Expansion, was also authored by Lincoln Institute visiting fellow Shlomo “
The new Handbook of Regional and Urban Economics: Cities and Geography reviews, synthesizes and extends the key developments in urban and regional economics and their strong connection to other recent developments in modern economics. Of particular interest is the development of the new economic geography and its incorporation along with innovations in industrial organization, endogenous growth, network theory and applied econometrics into urban and regional economics. The chapters cover theoretical developments concerning the forces of agglomeration, the nature of neighborhoods and human capital externalities, the foundations of systems of cities, the development of local political institutions, regional agglomerations and regional growth. Such massive progress in understanding the theory behind urban and regional phenomenon is consistent with on-going progress in the field since the late 1960's. What is unprecedented are the developments on the empirical side: the development of a wide body of knowledge concerning the nature of urban externalities, city size distributions, urban sprawl, urban and regional trade, and regional convergence, as well as a body of knowledge on specific regions of the world—Europe, Asia and North America, both current and historical. The Handbook is a key reference piece for anyone wishing to understand the developments in the field.
Despite extensive efforts to understand the overall effect of urban structure on the current patterns of urban mobility, we are still far from a consensual perspective on this complex matter. To help build agreement on the factors influencing travel behaviour, this book discusses the influence of alternative urban structures on sustainable mobility. Bringing together two existing and complementary methods to study the relationship between urban structure and mobility, the authors compare two case studies with distinct urban structures and travel behaviour (Copenhagen and Oporto). Of particular concern is the influence of urban structure factors, namely land use and transport system factors, and motivational factors related to the social, economic and cultural characteristics of the individual traveller. The research presented in this book highlights the relevance of centrality in travel behaviour and in more sustainable travel choices. Different operational forms of the centrality concept are revealed as important: it is shown that more sustainable travel can be influenced by several urban structure factors and that no particular combination is required as long as a certain level of centrality is provided. Finally, the book concludes that urban structure can, on the one hand, constrain and, on the other hand, influence travel choice.
Going beyond previous investigations into urban land use and travel, Petter Næss presents new research from Denmark on residential location and travel to show how and why urban spatial structures affect people's travel behaviour. In a comprehensive case study of the Copenhagen metropolitan area, Næss combines traditional quantitative travel surveys with qualitative interviews in order to identify the more detailed mechanisms through which urban structure affects travel behaviour. The case study findings are compared with those from other Nordic countries and analyzed and evaluated in the light of relevant theory and literature to provide solid, valuable conclusions for planning sustainable urban development. With a broader range of statistics than previous studies and conclusions of international relevance, Urban Structure Matters provides well-grounded conclusions for how spatial planning of urban areas can be used to reduce car dependence and achieve a more sustainable development of cities.
