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As UK cities and towns become increasingly ethnically and culturally diverse, researchers have tuned into how people inhabit multiculturalism. Ethnographic approaches have focused on the kind of togetherness that people generate as they go about their everyday lives, observing the affective textures of interactions and happenings of the here and now in granular detail. Missing from these accounts is what crowdsourced data might add to understandings of how multicultural places are experienced. What is vital about this kind of data is that it is 'big', involving a diversity of voices similarly intent on messaging their experiences, presenting opportunities to scale up the affect of encounters and to quantify what is difficult to qualify. This paper brings Digital Geographies into conversation with research on everyday multiculturalism to examine qualitatively and quantitatively how social media use folds into and expresses various practices of sociality and connection. Our paper involves Twitter, Nando's and the city of Leicester in the UK to challenge and advance ways of understanding everyday multiculturalism in an era of global migration and ethnically complex populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time when the world is critical of the Brazilian government and the loss of Amazonian rainforest, Brian J. Godfrey casts his 40-year gaze on Rio de Janeiro. Geographer Godfrey deftly uses various scales of analysis - global, hemispheric, national, regional, metropolitan, and neighborhood - to point out how memory can be used to reinvent places both in Rio and elsewhere. Godfrey's real nugget is chapter 3's examination of Little Africa in Rio. [Extracted from the article]

The paper presents the first outcomes and results of using an integrated territorial tool applied by the Interreg V-A Slovakia-Hungary Cooperation Programme (2014–2020), the 'Territorial Action Plan for Employment', or, briefly: the TAPE. The tool is aimed at facilitating quality employment and cross-border labour mobility through the implementation of 2–7 interdependent projects within a geographically defined subregion of the programme area, with the involvement of SMEs, training institutions, NGOs and municipalities. The author introduces the tool and the nine TAPEs financed by the CBC programme and gives a comprehensive assessment of their outcomes and results from the points of view of cross-border labour market development, integrated soft planning and trust building with a special focus on the aspect of cross-border relevance. The study concludes that the tool does not meet the preliminary expectations: its cross-border relevance is not much stronger than the traditional standalone CBC projects. At the same time, the bottom-up cross-border planning exercise has significant added value which might make the tool attractive for other CBC programmes, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information from the fifth wave of the Quality-of-Life Survey conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory was used in this paper to investigate the relationship between living in informal dwellings and fear of crime. This examination is based on existing theories, including victimization/vulnerability, neighborhood disorder, and diffuse anxiety theories. Given the prominence of informal dwellings in most urban areas in South Africa, including Gauteng Province, this study examines whether living in informal dwellings determines fear of crime or feelings of unsafety. Multilevel cumulative logistic models were therefore estimated to account for similarities between individuals in the same wards while at the same time modeling for differences between wards. The results indicate that an individual residing in an informal dwelling is less likely to feel safe than one who resides in a formal dwelling in Gauteng Province. By focusing on informal dwellings as the predictor of interest, the present paper attempts to extend the panoply of predictors that can be used in empirical research when testing the above-mentioned theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of co-design methods in catalysing neighbourhood sharing and commoning in European cities. Through the comparative analysis of two design-mediated Urban Living Labs (ULLs) in Bagneux/Paris and Poplar/London, the paper explores how neighbourhood sharing of goods, spaces, and experiences are sustained in two different contexts. The paper then presents a co-design framework which was implemented in both cities, catalysing new sharing projects and relations in support of urban commons. We conclude that nesting co-design practices within ‘civic-organic’ ULLs can help to foster productive long-term relations between communities and academic partners based on mutual trust and help to initiate new sharing practices in the neighbourhoods of study. We argue that co-design methods are generative in this space, flattening knowledge hierarchies, supporting action on the ground, and developing situated responses to local needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the social construction of place through a close analysis of the language used in online reviews to describe migrant-owned or -serving restaurants and their neighborhoods in Charlotte, NC. Through analysis of more than 2,000 online reviews of 16 restaurants across multiple platforms, we found that online restaurant reviews are key sites in which discourse about particular social groups and spaces is brought forth. In particular, through racialized narratives that rely on descriptions of lack, depictions of danger, and stereotypes, urban imaginaries are constructed that enable remaking Latin American neighborhoods. We further argue that reproducing such urban imaginaries serves to devalue migrant neighborhoods through presenting them as places that do not match modern city aspirations. This paper contributes to literature in food studies, urban geography, and rhetoric by examining the ways that digital food grammars pave the way for remaking migrant neighborhoods in emerging migrant gateway cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates what has and has not changed in 100 years of professional planning in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The geographical focus is on the area of the historic core of the city known as Ng'ambo (a KiSwahili place-name meaning 'the Other Side'). The gap between formal plans for infrastructure, housing, or neighbourhood development, and their implementation, is examined in its evolution over this century. The central focus of the empirical examination resides with the most recent planning initiatives, since 2011, which present a strongly inclusive and participatory emphasis for planning on the Other Side. The key research question is this: has this new era of inclusive planning strengthened the urban poor majority's citizenship, or has it continued the long run of state planning failures for Ng'ambo's residents? This essay argues that, despite progressive ambitions, in implementation there are a number of continuities with both colonial and post-independence planning, where outside powers and elite interests have predominated. The paper is built from more than thirty years of the author's research on urban planning in Ng'ambo and engagement with the literature of urban planning studies in Africa and the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities increasingly adopt diverse ethnic, social, and cultural characteristics, there is an emerging logic for planning and policy to reflect this hyper-diversity (inclusion) while resolving the looming sustainability-related challenges. However, what is not adequately addressed in the current literature on urban planning – which could also solidify the justification for more citizen inclusion – is what happens when citizens are involved in planning from the perspective of sustainability. In response, this paper asks a key question: "What are the implications, in the case of urban foodscape, when citizens are involved in planning from the perspective of sustainability?" This question is investigated in this paper in the domain of urban foodscapes and through qualitative interviews, with the support of maps, in the Dutch city of Almere. A novel theoretical combination of just sustainabilities and social licence to operate (SLO) was utilised to frame citizen inclusion in foodscape planning. The findings showed that based on everyday practical experiences of food access in the city, citizens were more concerned about social interaction, the representation of food from cultural origins, and local food production. This theoretical combination, as a way of deepening inclusion, would help avoid the tendency of urban planning being used as an instrument for glossing over social injustice under the guise of citizen participation. This paper, therefore, argues that SLO can be a key pathway for actualising just sustainabilities in both urban planning research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a unique dataset of clean energy and collects firm-level green innovation data that matches it with provinces and cities. Then, this paper executes quasi-natural experiments on green innovation to examine the effects of China's emission trading policy on green innovation. Further, this paper introduces the interactive terms of the pilot time and pilot area dummy variables into the spatial Durbin model (SDM) and spatial dynamic panel model (SDPM) to construct quasi-natural experiments to examine the spatial effect. The findings confirm a negative association between the 'policy treatment effect' and green innovation. The results also indicate a significant negative association between the emissions trading policy and clean energy. Besides, the empirical results reveal a positive correlation between clean energy and green innovation; clean energy promotes green innovation in the region and the surrounding areas. This paper complements existing research and provides empirical evidence and policy implications for developing clean energy, promoting green innovation, and improving the emission trading policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban freight transport is central to urban societies, and yet urban authorities have traditionally left it to private actors to resolve freight challenges. Urban authorities rely on different governance strategies to address freight that result in fragmented freight governance, as many solutions are fixed in time, sector, or place. Drawing on Bulkeley and Kern’s typology of four modes of governance – self-governing, governing through enabling, governing by provision, and governing by authority – this paper asks: in what ways do urban authorities use different modes of governance in the case of urban logistics? Empirically, the paper looks at the modes of freight governance through an explorative workshop, document analysis, and interviews from Norway’s four largest cities – Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo and Trondheim. It finds that these cities are limiting themselves to ‘less confrontational’ modes based on accommodating freight activities, which hinders institutionalisation of knowledge and prevents public governance from serving as a coordinating factor for urban logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing attention to legal and political contention concerning refugees and asylum seekers in cities. However, there are further opportunities to analyze the relationship between civil society litigation and state institutions in Global South cities. In this paper, I analyze civil society litigation to re-open Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) in South Africa. Primarily based on legal research, I argue that civil society litigation to re-open RROs in specific cities represents an advocacy strategy to contextualize national rights and policies within urban spaces. The paper contributes to broader discussions on civil society advocacy and rights and governance in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While literature extensively examines waste management issues in urban areas, limited attention has been given to rural developing waste contexts. This paper aims to understand the policy/implementation nexus between national and local government within the rural waste management context in two rural municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research utilizes a directed deductive content analysis applying a framework proposed by Pollans. Originally designed for urban contexts, this framework has proven valuable for comprehending solid waste management policy implementation challenges in rural settings. This paper proposes an adjustment to this framework, differentiating the disposal mode of governing into government-based and self-reliant-based approaches. The authors found a significant implementation gap in both municipalities, characterized by a predominant, incremental disposal-oriented governing mode. This contrasts with the visionary and aspirational modes of governing promoted by the national government, focusing on diversion and eco-efficient waste strategies. These divergent modes of governing influence current waste management practices, especially in rural municipalities. We recommend strategies towards narrowing the implementation gap by formulating policies tailored to local development needs. Finally, the research sheds light on the challenges and disparities in rural waste management policy implementation and provides insights into how rural areas can transition towards sustainable waste management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architectural anthropology offers a way to critically analyse spaces through the social life that happens around them. It is a qualitative approach that relies on ethnography to connect larger systems and subjective dimensions, self-reflexivity, and the use of visualisations as a key analytical tool. This paper reflects on the possible contribution of architectural anthropology to housing studies. More specifically, it looks at homing processes in social housing, interrogating how non-domestic spaces perform through tenants' inhabitation practices. It tests ways to visualise ethnographic data gathered during immersive fieldwork that involved participant observation and informal interactions in a high-rise estate in Brussels. Three types of visualisations (subjective map, annotated photograph, lived-in axonometry) are presented to articulate the paper's discussion of homing, un-homing and de-homing processes at the level of a district, urban interstices, and beyond social housing. Ultimately, the paper concludes that architectural anthropology may contribute further to housing studies by exploring the relationship between home(making) and urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of the obstacles to green infrastructure implementation in the City of Vancouver. This case study has two aims, 1) to better understand the planning and decision-making processes hindering the widespread implementation of green infrastructure across the City of Vancouver, and 2) propose solutions to facilitate the uptake of GI. This paper begins by reviewing existing literature on barriers to green infrastructure implementation. Then, it investigates current perceptions of GI in the City of Vancouver, and what barriers exist to its implementation through document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Proposed solutions to green infrastructure implementation are reviewed and recommendations are provided for the City of Vancouver. It ends with a short discussion on the applicability of lessons learned from the study of Vancouver for other municipalities seeking to overcome barriers to green infrastructure implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the suburbs of numerous cities worldwide are shrinking, research on how to address suburban decline remains scarce. This paper explores participatory mapping in shrinking suburbs as a tool to articulate knowledge co-creation between local officials and communities to inform planning decisions. The paper argues that participatory planning helps to identify sweet spots, everyday life community spaces upon which to anchor regeneration strategies. Using as a case study Minamiashigara, a shrinking suburb of Tokyo, the paper discusses how sweet spots can be integrated into existing municipal strategies to alleviate the consequences of shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the emergence of the concept of sustainable development, the Olympic Games have become a vehicle to demonstrate and promote the principles and practices of sustainability. The aim of this paper is to explain and evaluate how the application of sustainable development in the context of the Summer Olympic Games has evolved. Two processes have been influential in this change: first, the institutional expectations of the International Olympic Committee have encouraged greater responsibility towards the creation of legacies by potential host cities through the IOC Charter, the Olympic Agenda 2020, and the Olympic Agenda 2020+5; and second, the context and inventiveness of host cities has created new perspectives on sustainability to secure the event and raise its global profile. This paper will focus on the sustainability benchmarks established in London 2012 and evaluate whether these have been continued or extended in the subsequent editions of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro (2016), Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024). The changing discourses reveal the tensions between the IOC's agendas for the event, the motivations of the host cities and the realities of delivery in changing socio-economic and political circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a collection of papers that explore the concept of Olympic urbanism, which refers to the close relationship between city planning and the Olympic Games. The papers discuss various cities that have hosted the Olympics and cover topics such as the impact of the Games on urban form and planning culture, the sustainability and legacy of the Games, and the role of security in Olympic city planning. The papers emphasize the need for historical awareness when analyzing the Olympic experience of a city and highlight the complex and unpredictable nature of urban planning for the Games. [Extracted from the article]

This paper considers the urban consequences of failing to host Olympic Games. Using the example of Paris and its unsuccessful bids to hosts the Olympic Games of 1992, 2008 and 2012, the paper analyses the pre- and post-bid status of key projected 'Olympic' sites within the context of urban plans and aspirations of the city of Paris. The French capital attracts special attention because of the rapid succession of submissions that proved to be outbid by those presented to the IOC by the cities of Barcelona (1992), Beijing (2008) and London (2012). The paper will briefly outline the reasons for failing to attract the Games but will devote most of its space for an analysis of the siting of the planned Olympic Villages, which often form the most lasting of legacies of Olympic Games in host cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, many scholars have studied competition between cities and entrepreneurial urban policies. Coming from the evolving field of competition research, we are interested in how competition between cities is constructed and, for this purpose, examine the competition imaginary of Vienna, a city known less for its entrepreneurial policies than for its social welfare policies. The paper employs critical discourse analysis of Viennese policy papers from 1985–2015, a period particularly shaped by the process of competitization. The analysis shows that Vienna's social and welfare policies are also decisive for the city's positioning in city competition and rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the smart urbanism that is being crafted by local authorities in metropolitan Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. Offering an extensive analysis of the Australian context, we chart firstly how engagement with smart is primarily focused on improving quotidian local government functions. Second, our analysis of the diverse mechanisms and policies through which cities are being made smart shows that piecemeal initiatives rather than smart city strategies predominate in the two cities. There is a variegated geography of smart urbanism in these two cities, we conclude, that is incrementally rather than radically transforming cities and their governance. 本文着重考察澳大利亚悉尼和墨尔本市政府建设智能城市的努力。作者分析了澳大利亚的整体状况，进而指出政府的智 能化建设主要着眼于改善地方政府的日常功能。随后分析了建设智能城市的各种机制和政策，指出悉尼和墨尔本都采用 了积少成多的策略，而不是一步到位地建设。最后文章指出这两个城市及其治理的智能化如同星星之火，而不是激进的转化。 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the discussions of how to define a city, in Chapter 4 Storey guides the reader through case studies of primary cities. In his primer on ancient urbanism, Glenn Storey provides an introductory text that encompasses many crucial topics across a range of past urban sites. Storey classifies cities into "hyper" and "hypo" cities, which are compact high-density or physically large areas of with low-density populations, respectively. [Extracted from the article]

Nature – based solutions (NBS) are increasingly being positioned within global discourses concerning how urban sustainability challenges can be addressed. To better understand to what extent, how, by whom and with what potential implications NBS are promoted in urban Africa, this paper focuses on transnational actors and presents a dataset covering 40 NBS initiatives in 57 cities across 19 African countries. A framing analysis is undertaken to understand to what degree NBS are mobilised in accordance with global discourses. To that end, the paper builds on existing work by Tozer et al. (2022, "Transnational Governance and the Urban Politics of Nature-Based Solutions for Climate Change." Global Environmental Politics, 1–23) on globally circulating frames of urban nature. In further contributing to their framework, we delve into the underlying values or shades of green that are being signified through the frames by applying the IPBES Nature Futures Framework. Results indicate that urban nature comes to be seen as a solution within a climate resilience – integrated benefits nexus through which various types of transnational actors are bringing nature into the city. Two important findings can be highlighted: First, the deployed frames offer opportunities to address major African urban sustainability challenges, but initiatives may not yet be configured to adequately address their scope and magnitude. Second, the configurations of frames are predominantly informed by instrumental values that put "Nature for Society" perspectives in focus, missing opportunities for NBS to build on relational values, or "Nature as Culture" perspectives and for accommodating a plurality of worldviews on desirable futures for urban nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reclaiming the Urban Commons: The Past, Present and Future of Food Growing in Australian Towns and Cities: Edited by Nick Rose and Andrea Gaynor. Extends the discussion historically with its fine chapters by Gaynor (see also her book), Clay, and Kunek and Shone, and the conclusion by Rose. Significantly, I Reclaiming the Urban Commons i points to the structural and political problems that frame food resilience. [Extracted from the article]

The public library serves as the point of convergence and the vector for information. However, the role of public libraries in promoting and contributing to the SDGs has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the strategic role public libraries can play in promoting SDGs and proffers key strategies for public libraries in promoting sustainable development. It is concluded in the paper that the public library that serves as the knowledge repository of the public owes the duty to ensure the dissemination of relevant information to educate, inform and mobilize the public toward collaborative efforts to save the growing cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on an intensive and unique survey of all Czech municipalities (n = 6,258) regarding the geoparticipatory spatial tools used in the decision-making processes of local administrations and the Index of Geoparticipation derived from the dataset. Furthermore, we have collected and analysed data regarding 238 participatory budgeting events in the Czech Republic from the years 2012–2020. This paper is divided into two sections. We investigate the relationships among the municipalities' membership in the Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic network (HCCZ), as well as the municipalities' levels of indebtedness and their performances in the Index of Geoparticipation and their usage of participatory budgeting. Our primary theory states that membership in HCCZ and higher values in the Index of Geoparticipation will support the use of participatory budgeting, while indebtedness will discourage municipalities from implementing participatory budgeting. We deepen the knowledge of participatory budgeting in the Czech Republic, while focusing on the qualitative analysis of projects that have been approved and implemented through the tool of participatory budgeting at the municipal level. Additionally, we examine what type of projects the funds are allocated to and how the characteristics of these projects change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how CEOs educational background affects the agglomeration economies–firm performance relationship based on the upper echelons theory. With a sample of Chinese software and information technology services public listed firms, it is found that CEO educational specialization helps firms to reap the benefits of agglomeration. Specifically, firms led by CEOs with science or engineering degrees benefit more from specialization externalities, while firms led by CEOs with business, economics or legal degrees enjoy more diversity externalities. This paper contributes to the specialization versus diversity debate by stating the importance of individual CEOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many regions or countries seek to transition to a low-carbon economy, but there is ambiguity about how carbon emissions change with economic growth. This paper captures characteristics of carbon emissions in China using the Tapio Method. To detect driving factors of carbon emissions in economic growth, we adopt the Log-Mean Divisia Index decomposition method. The results of the paper are as follows: (1) Economic growth in most regions of China has outpaced the growth rate of carbon emissions, showing the characteristics of decoupling. (2) Metropolitan cities have a greater impact on the level of decoupling in neighboring provinces and municipalities. (3) The decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth is caused by declining energy intensity in China. (4) The energy mix and industrial structure have little impact on the growth rate of carbon emissions. In addition, some policy implications are summarized according to the findings of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban fabric can be characterised as an ever-evolving assemblage operating on multiple scales; constantly being constituted and reshaped by internal and external elements, not making it possible to regard any place as an isolated entity at a specific scale. Through an overview of relational place theory, this paper aims to theoretically discuss how local planning practices need to include a relational and multi-scalar approach to cope with complex urban and rural realities if they wish to create development in local places. To unfold this, the paper reveals some of the empirical implications of such a multi-scalar urban reality, by analysing how two selected Danish municipalities seek to relate to, respond to and comply with the networked and relational reality of place in their planning practices. The empirical work builds among others on students' field work and the cases expose the importance of working with totalities, relations and networks on multiple scales; however, they also reveal the challenges related to the manifestations of such a practice. The paper argues that, despite the challenges associated with this practice, the current complex global interconnectedness of places calls for an increased focus on strategic municipal planning approaches that are both multi-scalar and place-sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While much of the bikeshare boom has centered around larger cities, smaller, lower-density, and even some rural communities have also implemented bikeshare systems successfully. Using a bikeshare dataset of more than 14,000 trips that cover the period from July 2018 to December 2021 for both pedal and e-bikes, this paper describes the structure and performance of ROAM NRV, a bikeshare system in Montgomery County, Virginia—which is home to Virginia Tech university and has many areas classified as rural. The paper presents bikeshare users' travel behaviors and usage trends (including during the COVID-19 pandemic). Moreover, compares the usage of the system's pedal bicycles to electric bicycles (e-bikes) that were introduced in 2021. Findings indicated that residents of Blacksburg and Christiansburg regularly use and benefit from bikeshare much like their urban counterparts do. Ridership was noted to likely be more common among university affiliates with trips more likely to start/end on or around campus due to the number of stations located within campus grounds. Trail usage was also high among bikeshare users due to the extensive trail network within and between the towns. As rural bikeshare users tend to travel greater distances and encounter more varying terrains throughout their commutes, considering e-bikes instead of pedal bike systems should increase the utilization of such mobility systems in rural areas. When electric assist bicycles were first introduced to the system, initially replacing some and then all former pedal bicycles, utilization increased significantly compared to pedal bike usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on recent interest in unsolicited urbanism – private sector-led urban development proposals that bypass state-led strategic planning – this paper broadens the focus of existing literature from "back room" deal-making to influence campaigns that occur "in plain sight". Prompted by highly visible unsolicited plans for waterfront redevelopment in Auckland, New Zealand, the paper discusses how public promotion of speculative proposals can be central to unsolicited urbanism. Even when they fail to materialise, the public visibility of such proposals has the potential to normalise property-led development at the expense of alternative visions, and imbue private developers with moral authority as civic visionaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most cities across the globe are embarking on various ‘smart’-based initiatives that seek to use technological developments to enhance people’s lives and make society more productive. Within such smart cities, citizens are often expected to become active ‘collaborators’ in producing smartness. Such technocratic forms of collaboration maintain entrenched forms of hierarchical power, with citizens usually figured as passive ‘consumers’ or ‘users’ of smart technologies rather than as real transformative participants. In this paper, I explore how ‘collaboration’ in the smart city might be thought of differently in ways that challenge the more utilitarian senses that dominate much political and academic discussion. I do this through an engagement with Gilbert Simondon’s philosophy of individuation and technology. In particular, I explore the distinction he draws between ‘interindividual’ and ‘transindividual’ modes of relation and how they entail different political senses of what collaboration between humans and technologies might entail. I flesh this out by drawing on interview research with stakeholders and citizens in Colombo, Sri Lanka. I highlight how stakeholders and citizens imagine collaboration and how these imaginaries explore alternate ways of living in and relating to smart urbanism and smart mobilities today. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Medan is a port city in Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, developed in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. A special case among colonial cities, it featured a large number of Chinese migrants – a third party in addition to the colonizer and the colonized – who played a key role in its urbanization process. Highlighting a trichotomous power framework formed by the Dutch colonizer, the indigenous people and the Chinese diaspora, this paper argues that the Chinese diaspora, with the arrival of commercial elites, obtained opportunities to shape the backbone of the city through skilfully transforming their economic power into political and spatial power. Chinese economic activities such as property investment and co-development not only led to unconventional Chinese quarters but shaped the zoning and axiality of the whole city. The Chinese diaspora also shaped Medan’s streetscape and architecture through individual building design, which, in turn, strengthened their economic power by the careful manipulation of architectural elements from various sources to suit different purposes. The planning history of Medan represents an alternative trajectory to colonial urbanization often led by Europeans, highlighting an ambiguous and shifting power relation among three parties in a transforming colonial society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Accessibility and security issues pertaining to people with disabilities in Zimbabwe’s urban areas have so far received limited priority in scholarship and social policy. This is a major deviation from the prerequisites for disability inclusion, rights-based governance and development, and transformative social policy. Using qualitative research methodology, the paper addresses this compelling lacuna by exploring selected germane issues affecting people with disabilities, and advances policy options that Zimbabwe and other countries can implement to transform the well-being of this often excluded and trivialized group. The article acknowledges current effort for improving accessibility and security in and of urban areas but more importantly shows that people with disabilities are experiencing multiple problems due to glaring deficiencies in urban policy, amenities, and services. Transformative disability policy buttressed by a multi-stakeholder approach is indispensable in improving the situation of people with disabilities in relation to accessibility and security in urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contributes to research into representations of China in current China–UK co-produced transnational documentary films. It examines Chinese New Year: The Biggest Celebration on Earth (2016) from the perspective of cinematographic styles and filmmaking techniques to demonstrate how this film frames a powerful image of China through a cultural lens, based on festive traditions and folk customs. The paper draws on Bill Nichols’ theory of participatory documentary and develops the discussion via the philosophical thinking of Mikhail Bakhtin on carnival. It argues that this film provides an example of how to write the story of modern China into an attractive narrative marked by the adaptation from localisation to globalisation through the engagement of non-fiction. With the employment of a multi-line narrative structure, this film maps diverse versions of gatherings that happened across towns and cities in China, highlighting how the festival reunites families and can be understood as an expression of familial love. Through the participation of hosts, the film invites audiences to attend festive celebrations from a local viewpoint, in particular family dinners, constructing the discourse of Da Tuan Yuan (great reunion). In the portrayal of people performing folk customs, the film indicates their cultural recognition of the significance of the Spring Festival. As such, this film constructs a representation of “Powerful China” supported by the Chinese government’s promotion of Chinese cultural identity, which aims to play its part in the solidification of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Charter schools can serve as “laboratories of innovation,” generating evidence about effective educational practices via their random admissions lotteries. This paper synthesizes findings from charter school lottery-based studies and identifies future research priorities. Evidence shows charter schools can boost academic achievement and long-term outcomes, especially for lower-performing, nonwhite, low-income students and those with disabilities. However, these findings are limited to oversubscribed schools in urban areas. Future research should expand geographic coverage, update K-12 academic outcomes, and explore non-test-score outcomes, college, and earnings. Addressing these areas would strengthen evidence and inform education policymaking in the charter sector and beyond. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Globally, food is recognized as an issue in urban areas regarding diet-related diseases, unhealthy food environments, disconnection from culture and social relations, and environmental unsustainability. Concurrently, food also has a critical role in addressing the complex challenges cities are facing. Food pedagogies has emerged as a key element in tackling these food-related issues. However, pedagogical aspects of food are yet to be broadly explored and no known conceptual pedagogical framework has been developed. This paper aims to inform development of a conceptual framework for the enactment of food pedagogies, based on community food leaders' perspectives and experiences. Semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 39 experienced leaders from diverse food-related fields in Australia. Interviews were analyzed thematically. Four key themes emerged from participants' reflections on the current state of food-related activities: 'Awareness of food and food systems'; 'Enjoyment and social connections'; 'Experiential practices in everyday life': and 'Action for change.' These four themes are discussed both as aims of pedagogical practices and as essential pedagogical content for conceptualizing food pedagogies. A draft conceptual framework is developed to inform actions by policy makers, and public and private sector food practitioners to create healthy and sustainable societies through the medium of food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities and countries have embraced transit-oriented development as an international growth management approach, shifting trips from car-oriented to transit. But in this race to become more sustainable, who is being left out? Using mobility justice as a theoretical framework, this paper presents a qualitative comparison between Malmö, Sweden, and Kitchener, Canada, two mid-sized cities where new rail-based infrastructure was completed in 2019. Using over 40 interviews with local residents, business owners and staff, planners, and private sector developers in each city, we found that transportation improvements have created unequal transport mobilities. In both cities, new transportation infrastructure did not improve travel times or access to transit for existing users; in Kitchener, local changes to make way for the new LRT had negative effects on the neighborhood, and bus transit times increased, while in Malmö bus services remained the same as the new train was barely used. This detachment of transportation needs from infrastructure is necessary for local and state politicians to promote new infrastructure as a branding approach. We call this transit boosterism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This scholarly investigation provides a critical analysis of the developmental trajectory of the central linear axis in the context of South Korean new towns. The study traces the genealogy of this urban planning model, examining its conceptual origins in the 1960s, maturation through the Mok-dong New Town project in the 1980s, and subsequent iterations in first- and second-generation new towns. Employing a diachronic methodology, the research elucidates the changing dimensions, compositions, and functionalities across these phases, with a particular emphasis on how the model has been localized to suit socio-temporal and site-specific conditions. This adaptation process has yielded variations such as the 'service axis' and the 'community corridor,' each contributing to the heterogeneous landscape of South Korean urban planning. Within this evolutionary trajectory of urban design concepts, this paper highlights the pivotal roles of institutional environment, planners, and other stakeholders such as land developers and local municipalities. As the first scholarly work to formally define and contextualize the 'community corridor' concept, this study makes a significant contribution to academic discourse. It provides valuable insights into the mechanisms through which imported urban planning methodologies undergo transformation and localization in different cultural and temporal contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper studies how rural-urban migration in China affects the vertical disintegration of firms. We construct a theoretical model and find that the inflow of rural migrants increases the output of firms in urban areas. This leads to a higher degree of vertical disintegration of firms due to the decreasing returns to scale. We also find that the wage of skilled workers relative to that of unskilled workers in urban areas is increased with rural migrants as the vast majority of rural migrants are unskilled. Our empirical findings are consistent with our model predictions using China's population census and manufacturing firm-level data in 2005. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we address the question of whether academic educational planning programmes are prepared to provide future planning professionals with the essential expertise to promote the transformation towards carbon-free cities and regions. Drawing upon interviews with master's programme directors and involved academic teachers from European schools of planning, we argue that in view of transformative planning there is a need for adjustments in terms of knowledge areas and methodological skills. Our results also suggest reconsideration of normative and ethical aspects of planning as well as the attributed roles of planners and planning educators. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing resilience to flooding is a complex process that requires horizontal and vertical coordination between institutions in policy making and implementation. This paper explores the effect of institutional coordination on managing flood risk in two cities plagued by flooding. Our results show that efforts on building urban flood resilience can be undermined by lack of proper coordination between urban development, water management and land use planning. We find that this complexity is magnified by the emergence of the concept of resilience as an urban development goal that is increasingly pursued by various authorities, but that is inherently contested in practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasingly, cities and municipalities are involved in urban experimentation to meet current societal challenges. The expectations on local authorities to implement new ways of dealing with current challenges are high and raise questions of municipal capacity and governance structures, challenging more traditional ways of planning and policymaking. In this paper we have analysed three urban experiments related to transport and mobility in three Swedish municipalities and how they are governed and planned for. The study builds on qualitative interviews and document analysis. Our results show that the municipalities are working with urban experiments on different scales. All experiments are top-down experiments run by the municipalities, with limited citizen involvement. All experiments have become part of placemaking activities in the municipalities with the aim to support and promote both future visions and municipal sustainability work related to transport and planning. However, to date, the experiments have had limited outcomes, and planners express a concern for implementation and limited knowledge transfer within and between cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper delves into the normative Productive City concept as outlined in the New Leipzig Charter, focusing on urban manufacturing's heterogeneity. We define urban manufacturing as manufacturing sectors located in proximity to housing. Urban manufacturing is analyzed based on sectoral (company data classified by NACE codes into 13 types of material industry) and spatial data, considering the distance to priority roads, supply areas, and land-use categories. The methodology is applied to Bochum, Gelsenkirchen, and Herne in the Ruhr area, utilizing 2018 data to identify material industry locations. We highlight differences between central and accessible, and more dispersed sectors in three groups. Group I, including other consumer goods, food products, clothing goods, and repair services, is predominantly located in central and mixed-use locations, suggesting these types could be preserved or developed by urban planners under the Productive City framework. However, there is a clear need for commercial and industrial spaces for emitting industries (Group II) to fully realize this concept. Construction industries (Group III) are often found in residential areas due to off-site activities. Challenges arise in historical industrial cities especially in integrated areas where existing zoning regulations and grandfathering rights restrict changes in manufacturing types or expansions near residential zones. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to answer the question: How can community micro-regeneration projects in Chinese cities be situated and contextualized as particular kinds of practices to build resilient communities? Amidst rapid urbanization and social transformation over the past four decades, historical areas in Chinese cities have faced neglect, exacerbating inequalities and marginalization. The emerging strategy of micro-regeneration, emphasizing public participation and co-production, addresses this issue by revitalizing small community spaces using local resources and empowering grassroots efforts. This research contextualizes micro-regeneration within the global discourse on community resilience, highlighting communities’ agency and collaborative strength in adapting to change. Through the analysis of co-productive micro-regeneration cases in Beijing and Shanghai, this study offers insights into resourcefulness and the transformative potential of resilience, shedding light on China’s urban regeneration shift toward co-production and heightened social focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractAirports are designed to work efficiently. Specifically, they seek to efficiently process and ‘control’ people’s movements across landside and airside spaces, as well as to entice consumption through the architectural engineering of atmospheres and passenger experiences using architecture (Adey 2008; Fuller and Harley 2004; Hubregtse 2020). However, studies of the design and human sensorial perception of spaces of mobilities have shown that the way people move through and inhabit such spaces transcends the intended functionality of their design (Jensen and Lanng 2017). This includes work that considers airports as not only machines of movement, control and profit, but also city-like spaces (Hernandez-Bueno 2021; Nikolaeva 2013). Based on the conceptualisation of the airport as an ambiguous and city-like space, this paper uses thermal camera video recordings, ethnography, and design mappings to analyse the passenger movements, practices, embodied interactions, and mobile affordances of Copenhagen Airport’s meet and greet area. Focusing on a micro scale, the analysis shows the comparability of people’s practices and ways of inhabiting the airport with practices common to urban public spaces. This facilitates broader reflection on how to speculatively re-design and re-imagine the airport like an urban ‘public’ space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has become a new trend for the future development of Chinese agriculture to accelerate the transformation from increasing production to improving quality and realizing green growth. This paper uses the sequential DEA to measure the agricultural green total factor productivity (GTFP) of 306 Chinese cities from 1996 to 2017, then tests its convergence. The results show that the average growth rate of Chinese agricultural GTFP is 0.58%; the main driving force coming from technical progress. The convergence of agricultural GTFP has dual characteristics of stages and regions, and the significant σ convergence only exists in the central region during 1996–2003. There is significant β convergence at the national level, in the eastern and central regions, and neither convergence nor divergence in the western region. However, during 2004–2017, only the eastern region had β convergence. Finally, the conditional convergence speed is higher than the absolute convergence, and the eastern region is higher than the central. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the programming period of 2021–2027, the European Union (EU) encourages and supports cities and towns across the community to take action to enlarge their green infrastructure and develop and improve urban green spaces. As the provision of equal opportunities is a horizontal principle of the EU, the needs of vulnerable and disabled people are crucial to consider in developments. Using survey data from 102 respondents in Hungary, this paper explores and assesses blind and visually impaired people’s perceptions of urban green spaces and factors that support or hinder them from accessing and using the parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structural characteristics of transportation networks (SCTN) under sustainable development goals are crucial for the development and construction of urban agglomerations (UAs). Evaluating the SCTN in UAs can be difficult due to the increasing diversity of UAs and the multiple interactive criteria involved. To address these challenges, this paper develops the G-DEMATEL model, a new data-driven model that integrates the λ-step gravity model and the decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory method. This model is then applied to various scales of Chinese UAs. The results demonstrate that: (1) three types of SCTN have developed in UAs, including polycentric, two-centers, and monocentric networks; (2) the transportation networks in UAs exhibit an excess of independent-type cities and a lack of functional differentiation among cities. (3) SCTN are significantly influenced by natural and location conditions such as geography and distance from the central city, and the gravitational effects of provincial capitals are especially significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper bridges the gap between the literature on the pandemic's effects on mobility and the literature on the impact of low emission zones (LEZ). Using data for large European cities in the period 2018–2021, we examine whether LEZs may explain differences in the recovery patterns of traffic in European cities after the shock of Covid. Controlling for several city attributes, we examine whether LEZ cities are less congested before and after the pandemic in comparison to non-LEZ cities. LEZs may have been more effective in reducing congestion after the pandemic because the fleet renewal process has slowed down or, alternatively, LEZs may be a proxy of unobservable factors related with attitudes of governments and citizens toward a sustainable mobility. Our results validate the traffic-mitigating role of the LEZ after the Covid-19 pandemic, although such result only holds for the pioneering LEZ cities. Hence, the traffic-mitigating role of the LEZ after the Covid-19 pandemic seems to be related to unobservable attributes that influenced the early decision to implement a LEZ. In this regard, we also find that LEZs may have induced a change in local attributes related to sustainable mobility given that we do not find differences between LEZs decided at the local or regional level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses the meanings and practices of multiculturalism among young people from refugee and migrant backgrounds in one of Australia's most multicultural cities. It is based on a three-year ethnographic study exploring refugee and migrant youth engaged in sports and arts in the suburbs of Melbourne known as "migrant", "ethnic" and "multicultural" areas. The result of the study indicates that multiculturalism from below can happen differently from the "place making" strategy or "ethnic enclave" idea in which ethnic minorities are viewed as creating their own ethnic colonies in isolation from the mainstream society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]