Global networks, cities and economic performance: Observations from an analysis of cities in Europe and the USA

The network paradigm has been highly influential in spatial analysis in the globalisation era. As economies across the world have become increasingly integrated, so-called global cities have come to play a growing role as central nodes in the networked global economy. The idea that a city’s position in global networks benefits its economic performance has resulted in a competitive policy focus on promoting the economic growth of cities by improving their network connectivity. However, in spite of the attention being given to boosting city connectivity little is known about whether this directly translates to improved city economic performance and, if so, how well connected a city needs to be in order to benefit from this. In this paper we test the relationship between network connectivity and economic performance between 2000 and 2008 for cities with over 500,000 inhabitants in Europe and the USA to inform European policy.

The probability of sale and price premiums in withdrawn auctioned properties

This paper examines the impact of the auction process of residential properties that whilst unsuccessful at auction sold subsequently. The empirical analysis considers both the probability of sale and the premium of the subsequent sale price over the guide price, reserve and opening bid. The findings highlight that the final achieved sale price is influenced by key price variables revealed both prior to and during the auction itself. Factors such as auction participation, the number of individual bidders and the number of bids are significant in a number of the alternative specifications.

Synchronisation and commonalities in metropolitan housing market cycles

This paper examines the degree of commonalities present in the cyclical behavior of the eight largest metropolitan housing markets in Australia. Using two techniques originally in the business cycle literature we consider the degree of synchronization present and secondly decompose the series’ into their permanent and cyclical components. Both empirical approaches reveal similar results. Sydney and Melbourne are closely related to each other and are relatively segmented from the smaller metropolitan areas. In contrast, there is substantial evidence of commonalities in the cyclical behavior of the remaining cities, especially those on the Eastern and Southern coasts of Australia.

Governing calculative practices: An investigation of development viability modelling in the English planning system

Over the last decade the English planning system has placed greater emphasis on the financial viability of development. ‘Calculative’ practices have been used to quantify and capture land value uplifts. Development viability appraisal (DVA) has become a key part of the evidence base used in planning decision-making and informs both ‘site-specific’ negotiations about the level of land value capture for individual schemes and ‘area-wide’ planning policy formation. This paper investigates how implementation of DVA is governed in planning policy formation. It is argued that the increased use of DVA raises important questions about how planning decisions are made and operationalised, not least because DVA is often poorly understood by some key stakeholders. The paper uses the concept of governance to thematically analyse semi-structured interviews conducted with the producers of DVAs and considers key procedural issues including (in)consistencies in appraisal practices, levels of stakeholder consultation and the potential for client and producer bias. Whilst stakeholder consultation is shown to be integral to the appraisal process in order to improve the quality of the appraisals and to legitimise the outputs, participation is restricted to industry experts and excludes some interest groups, including local communities. It is concluded that, largely because of its recent adoption and knowledge asymmetries between local planning authorities and appraisers, DVA is a weakly governed process characterised by emerging and contested guidance and is therefore ‘up for grabs’.

Spatial housing economics: a survey

This introduction to the Virtual Special Issue surveys the development of spatial housing economics from its roots in neo-classical theory, through more recent developments in social interactions modelling, and touching on the role of institutions, path dependence and economic history. The survey also points to some of the more promising future directions for the subject that are beginning to appear in the literature. The survey covers elements hedonic models, spatial econometrics, neighbourhood models, housing market areas, housing supply, models of segregation, migration, housing tenure, sub-national house price modelling including the so-called ripple effect, and agent-based models. Possible future directions are set in the context of a selection of recent papers that have appeared in Urban Studies. Nevertheless, there are still important gaps in the literature that merit further attention, arising at least partly from emerging policy problems. These include more research on housing and biodiversity, the relationship between housing and civil unrest, the effects of changing age distributions - notably housing for the elderly - and the impact of different international institutional structures. Methodologically, developments in Big Data provide an exciting framework for future work.

Estimating Stormwater Runoff for Community Gardens in New York City

While much of the literature cites community gardens as providing urban ecosystem services, there is very little research quantifying these benefits. This thesis compares the stormwater runoff rates of urban vacant lots, community gardens, and residential developments in New York City and evaluates community gardens as green infrastructure.

Análise dos efeitos da legislação urbanística na formação e crescimento do Bairro de Lagoa Nova: planos diretores de 1974, 1984 e 1994

To Analyze the Managing Plans of Natal in the decades of 1970, 1980 and 1990, identifying elements that had contributed for the growth of the Lagoa Nova quarter, capital one of the Rio Grande do Norte state. Ahead of the sped up growth of the urban centers, many times is not given to analyze which law had taken care of to its objective, and which the imperfections that had appeared during the application of these laws. To make the comparisons in you square them chosen at there distantinct times made possible to analyze the form as the ground of Lagoa Nova absorbed the proposals laws.Therefore toanalyze influences it of the Managing Plans, to make comparatives analyses between the urbanistics condicion, made possible to understand that the fabric urban of the quarter of Lagoa Nova is a true granary of information that it makes possible to the dedicated ones to the urban studies, a true field of analysis

Cidade e identidade: discursividades imagético-espaciais e a construção da identidade espacial do Recife, Veneza Brasileira

This treatise analyzes the identitary setting called Veneza Brasileira (Brazilian Venice) which is subscribed to the discoursive materialization related to the imagetic setting (literary and mediatic) produced about the city of Recife. The main investigation of this research is to examine the way how the identitary setting called Veneza Brasileira has been constructed in the imagetic setting practices about the city of Recife in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This study is subscribed to the Applied Linguistics and considers the theoretical perspectives that come from the Cultural Studies which investigation basis is focused on authors such as: Hall (2006); Bauman (1999; 2001;2005); Silva (2000); and Castells (2000) related to the discussion over identity, as well as the discussion over Urban Studies presented in Santos (1997; 1999); Ferrara (1998); and Pesavento (2001). Moreover it is also based on the theoretical basis found in Foucault (2004; 2006; 2007). Furthermore theoretical-methodological approaches rely on the French Discourse Analysis (DA) found in Orlandi (2001); Gregolin (2007); and Courtine (2006). On being so, this treatise aims to: analyze the meaning effects over the production of the identitary setting, especially the so-called Veneza Brasileira, in the imagetic setting discoursive practices (Poems, Post Cards and Touristic Guides) which are produced over the urban setting of the city of Recife. This research is characterized by being qualitative and interpretative and the theoretical analytical approaches contributed to the reading of both poetic and iconic images presented in the excerpts of poems from the nineteenth century and early twentieth century in: Manuel Bandeira s poems, Carlos Pena Filho s poems, and João Cabral de Melo Neto s poems which were produced in the early and late twentieth century. Moreover, this study observed some photographic images in Post Cards and Touristic Guides related to the visiting of historical sites in Recife. One could conclude that the imagetic setting discourse about Recife produced different identitary effects over the so-called Veneza Brasileira along these three centuries: in the nineteenth century, the poetry constructed the utopia city along with the meaning effect of identitary unit; as for the twentieth century, one observed an oscillation between a utopia/heteroutopia city meaning effect of both united and fragmented identity, the latter one is prevalent. As for the twenty-first century, the media reconstructed over again the utopia city, and consequently, produced meaning effect of identitary unit. These same meaning effects of identity either corroborate or contradict to/with the concepts of the postmodernism over identity along these three centuries. In other words, considering the imagetic setting, this oscillation occurs in the proportion of one finds an (ex) inclusion of social agents that construct these same identities.

Paradoxos e desafios do ensino superior no Brasil: a experiência dos cursinhos populares

Pós-graduação em Ciências Sociais - FCLAR

Classificação de áreas de favelas a partir de imagens ikonos: viabilidade de uso de uma abordagem orientada a objetos

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Trajetórias do planejamento urbano no município de Araraquara: centralismo decisório ou participação?

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Práticas socioespaciais e espaços públicos em Guarapuava-PR

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Land use and thermal comfort in the county of Ourinhos, SP

This study aims to analyze the thermal comfort in urban areas for different land uses. The ENVImet microclimatic model has been used for urban boundary layer simulation, providing the following thermal comfort indexes: PMV (Predicted Mean Vote) and PPD (Predicted Percentage of Dissatisfaction). The chosen area covers the central area in the city of Ourinhos, located in southeastern Brazilian city, with subtropical climate. Four simulations were accomplished: an area with real buildings and vegetation on site, a “grassy” area where buildings have been replaced by grass in the central area, another grassy area, known as “grass/tree”, with additional trees in, and a final area called “Park” also grassy, where trees were added all over the area. The structures which showed thermal comfort within the ISO 7730 standards were the grassy area with no trees at 9 a.m., and a paved area, as well as the park area at 3 p.m. Other situations have presented values of PMV and PPD off the limits required by the rules; they were very close to those values. The only point that presented a far cry from the comfort required was the spot in the asphalt at 9 a.m. The other situations showed PMV and PPD values not far from the limits of comfort. Only the point on the asphalt showed values far from the limit of comfort at 9 a.m.

Relating Bike Racks and Bike Ridership

Abstract The purpose of this thesis was to investigate the relationship between bicycle ridership and bike racks in a given area. The goal was to discern whether or not the density of bike racks determines the number of riders in the area. I predicted that there would be higher ridership in the areas with a denser bike rack concentration. To investigate this point, I set up five different areas of varying sizes with a similar number of bike racks, and then observed them over a period of 5 business days. By using a simple tally of the bikes found on the racks and bikes locked to other objects, like railings, I collected data in the area during the day when there were likely to be many commuter bikes parked outside. The results show that there is a positive relationship between the density of bike racks in a given area and bike ridership. While there is a positive r-value, more data collection needs to be done to determine the relationship that may exist between bike ridership and bike racks.

Distribution of Rain Gardens in Lincoln Nebraska: Are Rain Gardens more Likely to be Built Near Bodies of Water

Abstract Rain gardens are an important tool in reducing the amount of stormwater runoff and accompanying pollutants from entering the city’s streams and lakes, and reducing their water quality. This thesis project analyzed the number of rain gardens installed through the City of Lincoln Nebraska Watershed Management’s Rain Garden Water Quality Project in distance intervals of one-eighth mile from streams and lakes. This data shows the distribution of these rain gardens in relation to streams and lakes and attempts to determine if proximity to streams and lakes is a factor in homeowners installing rain gardens. ArcGIS was used to create a map with layers to determine the number of houses with rain gardens in 1/8 mile distance increments from the city’s streams and lakes and their distances from a stream or lake. The total area, number of house parcels, and the type and location of each parcel type were also determined for comparison between the distance interval increments. The study revealed that fifty-eight percent of rain gardens were installed within a quarter mile of a stream or lake (an area covering 60% of the city and including 58.5% of the city’s house parcels), and that eighty percent of rain gardens were installed within three-eighth mile of streams or lakes (an area covering 75% of the city and 78.5% of the city’s house parcels). All parcels in the city are within 1 mile of a stream or lake. Alone the number of project houses per distance intervals suggested that proximity to a stream or lake was a factor in people’s decisions to install rain gardens. However, when compared to the number of house parcels available, proximity disappears as a factor in project participation.