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Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions

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A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050).

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 August 2021) | Viewed by 39860

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Special Issue Editor

Prof. Dr. Stefan Greiving

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Guest Editor

TU Dortmund University, Dortmund, Germany
Interests: sustainable spatial planning; disaster risk management; climate change adaptation

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

By 2050, 70% of the world’s population will be living in urban regions. An urban region is a city and its urban hinterland. Eighty percent of the energy and resources used worldwide are consumed in urban regions and they are responsible for more than 75% of global greenhouse gas emissions. Thus, urban regions must become sustainable in order to achieve the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and implement the Paris Agreement.

Sustainable Development Goal 11 (“Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”) points at the relation between sustainability and resilience, but also places emphasis, through SDG 11.A, on the given urban–rural interlinkages: “Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas”. In this context, “strengthening national and regional development planning” is specifically mentioned. However, sustainable planning requires sound evidence-based decision-making in an environment whose future developments are deeply uncertain.

Environmental problems occur in fast-growing urban regions because governance systems can only marginally adapt to the challenges of population growth, urbanization, and climate change. Climate change will trigger several kinds of extreme weather events, such as floods, storms, and heat waves, that densely populated urban regions are specifically vulnerable to. These environmental problems also include overloaded infrastructure systems as well as heavy air pollution, weak waste management, overburdened drinking and waste water systems, and chaotic traffic conditions. The related environmental risks are inequitably distributed among urban regions, which poses the question of environmental justice.

Infrastructure systems are organized in networks that are not limited to a city as a political entity, but are deeply interconnected with the city’s surroundings. Public service disruptions can cause cascading effects that may affect areas that are not directly exposed to a thread. Due to these spatial misfits between functional urban regions and administrative units, urban regions are asked to act as multi-level governance systems that need to collaborate horizontally and vertically in order to tackle problems of common interest. The ultimate goal is a transformation towards a more sustainable system status.

There is a variety of existing literature on sustainable planning. This Special Issue will focus on the connections between scientific assessments of environmental and spatial development trends and related challenges on the one hand and decision-making processes for the sustainable planning of urban regions on the other.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Greiving
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

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Keywords

sustainability
resilience
urban regions
spatial planning
decision-making.

Published Papers (9 papers)

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Research

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23 pages, 5172 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Urban Plans and Conflicting Interests in Sustainable Cross-Boundary Land Governance, the Case of National Urban and Regional Plans in Ethiopia

by Genet Alem

Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3081; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063081 - 11 Mar 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 4077

Abstract

Policies and rules by which land is governed are influenced by political discourses, and decisions about land can provoke political conflicts. In contexts of vague legal framework governing property right, planning tends to produce inequality and could be observed as a political instrument of marginalization. Nevertheless, spatial planning is indispensable for ensuring sustainable and efficient land governance. In Ethiopia, urban planning is considered unjust, often associated with eviction of rural and urban residents. Indeed, recent experiences had ended up causing drastic political unrest. The paper discusses the institutional gaps in land governance by focusing on two recent urban plans (national and regional) that led to conflicts, undermining sustained socioeconomic development. For this purpose, the research uses qualitative primary and secondary data. Main sources of data are official and legal documents, the literature and interviews. The findings show that current planning practice has produced social and political tensions and conflicts. Hence, urban planning related legal provisions override citizens’ right, and vague land policy constrains interregional cooperation in planning and land governance. The paper calls for people focused planning, the revision of policy and legal frameworks to protect socially and economically vulnerable segments of the population and facilitate cross-boundary land governance. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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21 pages, 7028 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Participatory Assessment of Multi Risks in Urban Regions—The Case of Critical Infrastructures in Metropolitan Lima

by Stefan Greiving, Mark Fleischhauer, Christian D. León, Leonie Schödl, Gisela Wachinger, Iris Katherine Quintana Miralles and Benjamín Prado Larraín

Sustainability 2021, 13(5), 2813; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13052813 - 05 Mar 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2463

Abstract

This paper aims to provide a comprehensive picture of risk governance and conceptualize an approach to dealing with multi-risks in the Metropolitan Region of Lima, Peru. We argue that the impacts of extreme events are not solely determined by a given place-based vulnerability and risk profile but are considerably influenced by cascading effects caused by service disruptions of critical infrastructures, which may even take place outside the exposed areas. This paper tests a new conceptual framework for assessing criticality and provides an evidence basis for effective risk governance of critical infrastructures in urban regions. The findings are based on a multi-method approach which includes participatory activities. The overall results show that the electricity sector is the sector with the highest systemic criticality, followed by IT and emergency response. These results help to identify gaps in actors’ awareness of interdependencies and show the general criticalities of infrastructures with regard to both physical and actor-related factors. A better understanding of the given interconnection between sectors, but also of specific system elements, is an indispensable prerequisite for resilience building. Furthermore, the analysis underlines specific cooperation and communication needs between different stakeholders but also indicates the requirement for a prioritization of sectors in contingency plans and spatial planning. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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18 pages, 528 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Assessment Urban Transport Service and Pythagorean Fuzzy Sets CODAS Method: A Case of Study of Ciudad Juárez

by Luis Pérez-Dominguez, Sara-Nohemí Almeraz Durán, Roberto Romero López, Iván Juan Carlos Pérez-Olguin, David Luviano-Cruz and Jesús Andrés Hernández Gómez

Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1281; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13031281 - 26 Jan 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 2100

Abstract

The purpose of this research article is to provide a comprehensive method of evaluation for public transportation. In this sense, this study considers transport lines that offer in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Hence, this study presents a description of the public transport system as part of the literature review. Likewise, the document describes an appropriate model based on the more outstanding publications about urban mobility and public transportation for passengers. Nevertheless, it is based on the Pythagorean Fuzzy combinative distance-based assessment (CODAS) to analyze and evaluate the alternatives through criteria that define general performance. Thus, the integration of these methods provides an adequate methodology for decision-making concerning urban planning and mobility to detect and improve the performance of criteria not considered within sustainable urban mobility plans. Results show how the applied approach can work as a powerful tool for the appraisal of the transport service. Finally, the results give relevant information to the local authority of the transport management of Ciudad Juarez to do improvements focused on the user. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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29 pages, 5206 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) in Dar es Salaam: A Pilot Study on Critical Infrastructure, Sustainable Urban Development and Livelihoods

by Fred Krüger, Alexandra Titz, Raphael Arndt, Franziska Groß, Franziska Mehrbach, Vanessa Pajung, Lorenz Suda, Martina Wadenstorfer and Laura Wimmer

Sustainability 2021, 13(3), 1058; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13031058 - 20 Jan 2021

Cited by 13 | Viewed by 7218

Abstract

Inner-city transportation looms large in big cities in the so-called Global South due to rapid population and urban growth. To tackle this challenge, a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) system was implemented in Dar es Salaam (Tanzania) in 2016. This paper reports on the results of a pilot study on the impacts of the BRT on city development and livelihoods in Dar. Our pilot study, which is part of the collaborative research project LIPSINDAR (Linking Partners for a Sustainable and Inclusive Dar es Salaam), was not designed to provide a comprehensive insight into the problems of urban planning, infrastructure modification and their impact on urban livelihoods. Rather, using the example of Dar es Salaam, the study served as an entry point to highlight challenges and future research demands in the context of urban insecurities and risks in large cities of the Global South. In particular, our study investigated the BRT as an element of critical infrastructure in Dar es Salaam and probed into its impact on residents’ livelihoods, focusing on the influence of service disruptions on everyday routines, and on different stakeholders’ views on the functionality of the BRT. Elaborating on this topic, interviews, street vendor surveys and mappings were used as methods to describe the processes. To examine the results more closely, the outcome was divided into groups of different fields of activity, namely Traffic Management, Local Residents, City Administration, Basic Provision Services and Street Vendors. In summary, the pilot study confirms that the implementation of the BRT system has, in general, served to improve urban livelihoods. Reducing commuting times and enhancing access to basic services found positive results. There is, however, still potential for improvement: the bus network, in particular, needs to be expanded and the vulnerability to natural extreme events, especially flooding, needs to be addressed. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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24 pages, 5693 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Managed Retreat as Adaptation Option: Investigating Different Resettlement Approaches and Their Impacts—Lessons from Metro Manila

by Hannes Lauer, Mario Delos Reyes and Joern Birkmann

Sustainability 2021, 13(2), 829; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13020829 - 15 Jan 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 5278

Abstract

Managed retreat has become a recommended adaptation strategy for hazard-prone coastal cities. The study aimed to improve considerations for the contextual factors that influence the success of managed retreat and resettlement projects in Metro Manila. Data were collected through a mixed-method approach consisting of a screening of relevant literature, a qualitative case analysis of resettlement projects, and a workshop series with Philippine stakeholders. It turned out that the resettlement of informal settlers is a central element of urban development. Though in-city resettlement is preferred, the majority of existing and planned projects are developed in off-city locations. The findings present a nuanced view of different retreat approaches. Not all in-city resettlements are successful, and the unpopular off-city projects have a potentially important role for urban and regional development. A strategic planning thread to develop concepts for qualitative off-city settlements that counteract uncontrolled urban sprawl with monofunctional residential areas for urban poor people was deduced. The other thread asks for pathways for inner-city development with innovative, vertical, in-city projects. A final observation was that climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic are worsening the situation in informal settlements, thus strengthening the argument for the planned decentralization of Metro Manila’s congested urban areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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28 pages, 6487 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Reclaiming On-Site Upgrading as a Viable Resilience Strategy-Viabilities and Scenarios through the Lens of Disaster-Prone Informal Settlements in Metro Manila

by Juan Du and Stefan Greiving

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10600; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122410600 - 18 Dec 2020

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 9748

Abstract

The Philippines is argued as the only Southeast Asian country where informal settlers’ communities have been self-organized and produced discernible impacts on the country’s urban policies. As one of the high risk countries, fifty percent of the country’s informal settlements are located in danger and disaster-prone areas. However, informal settlement upgrading has not reached its significance in disaster mitigation and community resilience building. At the national level, on-site upgrading is not established in disaster risk management or climate change adaptation strategies, which explains the lack of strategic approaches for local implementation. Metro Manila serves as a suitable backdrop in this sense to study informal settlement upgrading under the condition of high risk and rapid urbanization with a high civil society engagement. This study investigates the underlined reasons why upgrading strategically falls short in addressing disaster mitigation and community resilience building. Theoretically, it questions what on-site upgrading is about. Empirically, two hazard-prone informal settlement communities within Metro Manila are examined with their different risk profiles, community development needs and resilience priorities. The core issues of upgrading are, therefore, differentiated at the settlement level with communities’ innate socio-economic and eco-spatial features over time. Meanwhile, the paper heightens the necessity of tackling on-site upgrading at the settlement level and articulating settlements’ spatial correlations with the city development, so as to sustain upgrading outcomes. In addition, this study attempts at setting up a range of scenarios conditioned with COVID pandemic fallout. It endeavors to provide another facet of how to deal with adaptation and resilience. This includes the urgent strategy shift in the housing sector and its financial sustainability, innovative mechanisms to manage uncertainty and risks, lessons for post-COVID planning, etc. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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17 pages, 721 KiB

Open AccessArticle

What Drives Urbanisation in Modern Cambodia? Some Counter-Intuitive Findings

by Partha Gangopadhyay, Siddharth Jain and Agung Suwandaru

Sustainability 2020, 12(24), 10253; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su122410253 - 08 Dec 2020

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 3453

Abstract

The history of urbanisation in Cambodia is a fascinating case study. During 1965–1973, the Vietnam war triggered the mass migration of Cambodians to the urban centres as its rural economy was virtually annihilated by an unprecedented cascade of aerial bombardments. During the Pol Pot regime, 1975–1979, urban areas were hastily closed down by the Khmer Rouge militia that led to the phase of forced de-urbanisation. With the ouster of the Pol Pot regime, since 1993 a new wave of urbanisation has taken shape for Cambodia. Rising urban population in a few urban regions has triggered multidimensional problems in terms of housing, employment, infrastructure, crime rates and congestions. This paper investigates the significant drivers of urbanisation since 1994 in Cambodia. Despite severe limitations of the availability of relevant data, we have extrapolated the major long-term drivers of urbanization by using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) analysis and nonlinear autoregressive distributed lag (NARDL) models. Our main finding is that FDI flows have a significant short-run and long-run asymmetric effect on urbanisation. We conclude that an increase in FDI boosts the pull-factor behind rural–urban migration. At the same time, a decrease in FDI impoverishes the economy and promotes the push-factor behind the rural–urban migration. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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17 pages, 505 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Infrastructure Is Key to Make Cities Sustainable

by Michael Neuman

Sustainability 2020, 12(20), 8308; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12208308 - 09 Oct 2020

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2835

Abstract

Infrastructure is all around us: under, above, even inside our built and natural landscapes. Sometimes hidden, sometimes visible. The flows that course through them make our cities, economies, and lives possible. Cities could not even exist without infrastructure. Life is endowed with more possibilities by infrastructure. The centrality of infrastructure is pervasive. Worldwide, cities embrace infrastructure for economic competitiveness, well-being, access, environmental protection and knowledge creation. As cities are crucibles that concentrate the human condition, infrastructures are conduits that enable that concentration and empower human achievement. As infrastructures shape almost every aspect of daily life, this article assays the various ways it currently makes places both less sustainable and resilient, as well as more so, and how we can minimise the former and optimise the latter. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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Review

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19 pages, 313 KiB

Open AccessReview

Sustainability in City-Regionalism as Emergent Practice: The Case of the BRICS

by Philip Harrison

Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4721; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13094721 - 23 Apr 2021

Cited by 4 | Viewed by 1592

Abstract

Sustainability concerns transgress jurisdictional boundaries compelling multi-scalar and inter-jurisdictional responses. The city-region is one of the scales at which governance actors may mobilise for sustainability and this is now recognised in literatures on integrated food systems, for example. However, within the mainstream debates on city-regions, sustainability as a motivation for inter-jurisdictional governance is still given scant attention. This paper considers the extent to which sustainability is present as a driver towards city-region governance, using countries within the still underexplored BRICS cluster as cases studies. The paper shows that in practice the connection between environmental sustainability and city regionalism remains mainly limited and fractious. In all cases, however, there are emergent connections which offer the potential for stronger connections. Most importantly, public reaction to a mounting environmental crisis in the BRICS is obliging the actors of governance, concerned with sustaining their public legitimacy, to establish or strengthen inter-jurisdictional and collaborative relationships across city-regions. There are however significant limits to these endeavours, especially where levels of social trust are low, or where sustainability problems are rooted within unsustainable national growth paths. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Planning of Urban Regions)

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