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Information technologies, social media and the Internet of Things are tools that may encourage civic participation for the co-creation of public value and can strengthen the role of citizens in urban governance. This work seeks to explore of how social media and IoT based participation enhances the interaction between government and citizen, and for government, what capabilities are required for continuous citizen participation. The paper examines the power dynamics between government and citizens employing Giddens's theory of structuration as an analytical framework. In addition, dynamic capability theory has been applied to determine the capabilities of government needed for continuous civic participation, while proposing a citizen participation model for public value co-creation. The proposed model can serve as a framework for recognizing the vital role of citizens in public policymaking and public service provision in the smart era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is broad consensus regarding the fact that street art is a form of social, political and cultural protest and critique. However, rather than one single form, street art consists of a wide range of complex and contradictory styles featuring a diversity of interests, derivations and conflicts with underlying factors of both a structural and contextual nature. Taking as examples the cases of Pinacoteca aCel Obert and Pinta Malasaña, in Barcelona and Madrid respectively, this article explores the production of urban art and notes how, as part of plans to revitalize neighborhoods, it assumes different versions in harmony with the characteristics and circumstances of the surrounding areas. Using a qualitative methodology, it explores the conception, development and results of both projects, revealing the heterogeneity of explanatory factors, the complexity of their implementation, and the role, which is not exempt from conflict and rivalry, of street artists in the urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geography of economic opportunity and residential segregation are important factors driving racial disparities in employment outcomes. We present here the changing landscape of opportunity in large metropolitan areas in the United States to describe how the spatial structure of opportunity is evolving. Using decomposable inequality indices, we break down the spatial inequality of opportunity into two components: inequality within subareas (inner cities, inner suburbs, and outer suburbs) and inequality between subareas. According to our findings, economic opportunity is primarily driven by inequality within subareas. The situation is particularly evident in metropolitan areas where suburban employment is growing concurrently with the suburbanization of Black and Hispanic populations. Our findings suggest that the geography of metropolitan opportunity in the U.S. is changing in ways that will alter our traditional understanding of the relationship between race, space, and economic opportunity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhood governance demands ongoing communication between public and private actors. Area brokers, working as boundary spanners, are essential in this process. Their work was severely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Social distancing measures hindered face-to-face (F2F) interaction rituals, such as informal conversations and participation meetings. Therefore, area brokers had to turn to communication technologies to mitigate this loss. This research explored how a shift from F2F to mediated communication, affected area brokers' effectiveness. In total, 21 sequential interviews and three focus groups were conducted with ten area brokers, acting as so-called boundary spanners, in Amsterdam during three phases of the pandemic. The analysis shows that, while mediated communication helped them to continue their tasks, the relational and functional affordances of communication technologies constrained boundary-spanning activities, impacting neighborhood governance. The paper raises two critical issues for neighborhood governance beyond the pandemic. First, mediated communication can aggravate existing inequalities in the ability of citizens to communicate with local government representatives. Second, although communication technologies are currently on the rise in local governance, they are only effective when coupled with discretionary space for boundary spanners to employ them in fitting ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing policy in the United States has long been characterized by unequal investment in homeownership and low-income rental assistance, with implications for racial (and ethnic) inequality in access to stable housing. In this study, I examine socioeconomic status and neighborhood characteristics of non-Hispanic White and non-Hispanic Black adults with children receiving HUD rental assistance using a nationally representative linked survey-administrative dataset. Results show that Black and White adults who receive rental assistance tend to have similar (low) incomes, yet Black adults experience significantly higher levels of neighborhood disadvantage than White adults. Furthermore, living in poverty is a substantially stronger predictor of receiving HUD rental assistance for White than Black adults. The results support the notion that rental assistance programs are a last resort for White households, many of whom may benefit from historical federal government support for homeownership. Rental assistance serves as an important safety net for Black families but fails to provide significant improvement in the neighborhood environment. The results contribute to a comprehensive understanding of racial inequality in the impacts of U.S. rental housing policy and the historical legacy of racial exclusion in U.S. homeownership programs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community resources that meet the basic daily needs of residents have been primarily examined at the neighborhood level while the municipal-level contexts have been overlooked. Therefore, focusing on 180 municipalities in the Los Angeles–Long Beach Combined Statistical Area (CSA), this study explores whether municipal boundaries are influential in the spatial distribution of community resources—related to food, education, healthcare, recreation, and social service and civic organizations—and investigates the multilevel determinants of this distribution. Using the K-means clustering method, this study classifies municipalities into three groups by their socioeconomic, fiscal, and physical features. Then, by employing the analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) and multilevel logistic regression, this study finds an unequal distribution of community resources related to the municipal-level socioeconomic status (SES) when the community resources of adjacent municipalities are considered. The results of this study suggest that more contextualized policies based on municipal SES may address the spatial inequality of community resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While retrospective economic voting—that is, punishing or rewarding incumbent politicians for the performance of the economy—is well studied, much less is known about the electoral implications of the housing market across levels of government. Which, if any, levels of government are judged on the basis of real estate prices? This piece considers this question, using panel survey data and home assessment data from Calgary, Alberta, a city where housing prices have stagnated in recent years relative to other Canadian cities. We find that support for incumbents at both the local and provincial levels are related to impressions of the direction of the housing market. City councilors, however, are the only politicians who seem to be held accountable for the performance of the housing market. Our results suggest that, at the local level, housing prices are an important consideration for economic voting. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Housing programs in India have rarely engaged with slum communities to understand slum-dwellers' housing needs and preferences as the tools to systematically understand them are lacking. Consequently, the programs are often designed and implemented without the slum community's participation. This paper demonstrates the usefulness of inviting slum residents to understand housing problems from their perspective by using in-depth interviews and focus group discussions in two slums of Odisha, India. We compare their priorities with the provisions of slum policies such as the Odisha Land Rights to Slum Dwellers Act 2017 to highlight that housing needs and challenges in slums are diverse, and preferences are often incremental that the current program has failed to recognize. We use problem structuring methods from decision sciences as our analytical framework that treats the slum residents as experts. Such an approach can potentially transform how we design housing programs and policies in the developing world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The work of community-based organizations (CBOs), organizations that represent a particular community, can be an impetus for social change and advocacy. By drawing on the institutional entrepreneurship perspective, this study seeks to understand how CBOs attempt to challenge dominant carceral logics (referred to as a punishment-oriented mind-set) in operation across two fields: (1) the public-school system and (2) human service providers that work with sex workers. Utilizing a comparative case study design in the city of Chicago, this study discusses how CBOs leverage their legitimacy and relationships to identify contradictions within the carceral logics in city-wide fields and promote alternative solutions, namely restorative justice in public schools and decriminalization of sex work. CBO strategies and goals differed based on their field position and existing support, so we discuss how CBOs can advance alternate logics and promote change depending on their contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era of austerity, co-production involving local government and community groups has taken on much greater significance worldwide, including in Japanese local government. However, the nature of local co-production differs widely across Japan, ranging from bona fide cooperation between municipalities and voluntary groups to de facto outsourcing of local government functions in pursuit of cost savings. This paper seeks to add to the scholarly literature on community co-production by examining two case studies in Yokohama City. In particular, we seek to show how "path-dependency" and local social capital play a significant role in the success of co-production in local government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first text is a biography of James Arthur Harley, a mixed-race man who became a prominent figure in the Church of England. It explores his education, challenges, and contributions to the church and his community. The second text is a book review of "A History of Scotland's Landscapes," which provides a comprehensive exploration of Scotland's land use history. The reviewer notes that while the book is well-produced, some aspects of Scotland's landscape history are not given enough emphasis. The third text is a book review of "Asylum: Inside Grangegorman," which sheds light on the challenges faced by patients and staff in providing care for the mentally ill at the Richmond Asylum in Dublin. [Extracted from the article]

This paper applies Fuzzy Cognitive Maps (FCMs) to understand the diverse behavior of municipal governments in Ecuador to find common elements that influence the well-being of citizens in the short and long term. Information gathering was conducted in two stages: in the first one, a group of 16 national experts was consulted to develop the initial FCM; in the second stage, local experts from 220 municipalities were interviewed to collect information on the general validity of initial FCMs and specific values given to concepts and relationships in their municipalities. Results show the importance of certain concepts for long-term municipal performance, such as the need for a competitive entrepreneurial sector, improving human resources in the municipality, and, particularly, having a competent mayor with leadership skills and a forward-looking vision that enables the development of municipal projects required to reach an efficient and equitable coverage of goods and services throughout the city. Through the application of genetic algorithms, the FCM was calibrated to ascertain the long-term dynamics of municipal development and the optimal values of the concepts that would optimize the attainment of the set objectives. The derived outcomes suggest the desirability of the maintenance of, in principle, unwanted structures like financial transfers from the central government and the need to exploit natural resources to attain urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Local governments view land banks as an improvement to the municipal management of foreclosed property. Critics contend that land banks wield too much power, concentrate demolitions in poor and majority neighborhoods of color, and have unfortunate parallels to the flawed, top-down policies of mid-twentieth century urban renewal. Examining land banks through a lens of social equity and reparative planning, this research asks "To what extent do land banks in New York state work toward equitable urban development?" Interviews with land-bank leaders, property acquisition and disposition data, and spatial analysis of neighborhood dynamics were triangulated in a comparative case study of three land banks in New York state communities. Although land-bank leaders show an awareness and desire to address issues of equity, the authors observed that more community engagement, expanding partnerships with nonprofits, and shifts in approaches to demolition could provide more equitable outcomes in disinvested communities. Some land banks had clearly adopted policies aimed to acknowledge and address the role land banks can and should play in addressing historical inequities. Whether that commitment to equity will remain strong into the future remains an open question. In a COVID-19 context, land banks were operating with significantly reduced inventories and resources. More resources could be provided to land banks from Federal and State sources to support equity initiatives. But those resources should be provided under the condition that land banks become vehicles for repairing past White supremacist and structurally racist policies that created the uneven landscapes that land banks were created to address. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Statistical process control techniques are useful tools for monitoring the production process and detecting abnormal process behavior due to special causes. Once the special causes for abnormal process behavior are identified and consequently eliminated, the process can be further improved. The aim of this study is to apply univariate and multivariate statistical process control techniques to enhance the monitoring of a wastewater treatment process and achieve a higher effluent quality. Phase I, Shewhart univariant control charts and Hotelling's T2 multivariate control chart were developed for non-correlated and correlated variables of a wastewater treatment plant, respectively. Five representative water quality parameters: turbidity, total suspended solids (TSS), chemical oxygen demand (COD), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and fecal coliform were investigated. The interpretation of the Phase I for both types of control charts initially revealed that the process was out of statistical control conditions for all the investigated variables. T2 decomposition technique revealed that the main contributors for the out-of-control points were turbidity with 67% (average T2 = 28.86) followed by TKN 25% (average T2 = 31.12). The assignable causes for the observed abnormalities were the result of seasonal variations with respect to the temperature in such hot climates. Control charts proved their applicability for the wastewater process as a quick and efficient monitoring strategy despite the complex nature of the wastewater and the contribution of the hot climate in the Arabian Gulf region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article, titled "Extracts from 'A Civilization of Technics' (1945)," discusses the rise of the technological elite and the decline of the financial dynasties in society. The author argues that the technicians, who possess technical knowledge and abilities, will become the dominant class in a technocratic society. While the technicians may bring about civic improvement and a focus on efficiency and quality, their narrow specialist experience and lack of understanding of other aspects of wealth may lead to mistakes and disputes. The article also explores the potential consequences of a society solely dedicated to technological ambition and emphasizes the importance of religion and the natural sciences in maintaining a balanced and sustainable civilization. [Extracted from the article]

Microalgae culture is an interesting step in wastewater treatment since it provides a tertiary biotreatment while also producing potentially valuable biomass that may be used for a variety of applications. Microalgae cultures, with their ability to utilize inorganic nitrogen and phosphate for growth, provide an elegant solution to tertiary and quaternary treatments. Scenedesmus quadricauda culture was employed with three different doses, 2g/l, 1g/l, and 0.2g/l, to investigate the impacts of microalgae in wastewater. Standard procedures were used to measure samples for physicochemical parameters such as pH, EC, PO4, NO3, NO2, NH4 and BOD5 every third day for 21 days. Results showed that a higher dose of 2g.l-1 was the most effective for removing the highest rate of nutrients. It was confirmed by significant differences (p≤0.05) between all doses. Ammonium pass had the highest removal percentage of 97%, followed by NO3 with 95.7%, and BOD5 with a range of 90.3 to 93.5 %. Decreases in nutrients were accompanied by a rise in chlorophyll content, with the greatest biomass of 1.52 mg. l-1 on the 17th day of the experiment. The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the methods that microalgae use to bioremediate organic contaminants in aquatic ecosystems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schwarzer offers just such a history in this rollicking, sprawling compendium of, in the words of its subtitle, the development and disruption of Oakland from the 1890s to the present. By Schwarzer, Mitchell (Oakland, University of California Press, 2021) 412 pp. [Extracted from the article]

Balancing conservation and development is one of the biggest challenges in the management of heritage cities. In 2011, UNESCO adopted the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape in order to guide conservationists, urban planners and city administrations in this difficult process. Based on an interpretative policy analysis, this paper explores the implementation of the Historic Urban Landscape approach in the Uzbek World Heritage city Khiva. It describes recent development trends in the city's historic centre related to urban form, tourism and heritage management. These observations are then checked against the recommended 'critical steps' and tools from the Historic Urban Landscape Recommendation. The paper explores if recent urban developments in the city reflect a new understanding of the historic urban landscape, and to what extent the implementation of the Historic Urban Landscape approach supports the reconciliation of conservation and development in the urban regeneration of the city. The analysis shows that while some of the Recommendation's principles have been implemented, others are barely respected. Conflicts between the interest of tourism development, heritage conservation and the needs of local residents are ubiquitous and represent a case of heritage dissonance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The criminological literature suggests that neighbourhood walkability might produce unintended consequences, namely that walkability is associated with higher crime rates because it affords potential offenders an abundance of weakly guarded targets. To address this proposition, we investigate linear and nonlinear effects of walkability using a sample of block groups located across nine US cities. Results from our negative binomial regression models show that an index of walkability is associated with higher crime rates and that these effects are robust across cities. We also estimate crime models that test the main effects of the four indicators which comprise the walkability index, because of the recognition that certain dimensions of walkability might have a greater impact on crime. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research was conducted to study the flame instability of syngas derived from raw municipal solid waste (MSW) and its potential as a natural gas (NG) replacement in power generation. MSW syngas is a mixture of various components such as methane (CH4), nitrogen (N2), oxygen (O2), and hydrogen (H2), whereas NG is mainly composed of CH4 (>70%) and CO2 (>10%). The flame characteristics of these two gases are quite different thus a direct replacement of NG with MSW syngas is impossible. Improvements to MSW syngas combustion are needed through the augmentation of the gas with CH4 and H2 active additives at various ratios so that its flame characteristics are comparable to those of NG. A typical MSW syngas composed of 16.2% methane (CH4), 13.5% hydrogen (H2), 69.1% nitrogen (N2), and 0.6% oxygen (O2) (by vol.) is available in Thailand with great potential for use as an NG replacement. In this study, this gas is used as a representative fuel for improvement and is referred to as simulated Syngas 1. Its premixed flame was studied using a McKenna flat burner to understand its flame instability. Various percentages of CH4 and H2 were added to Syngas 1. Its flame characteristics were measured and compared to those of NG. These characteristics included the cellular flame, cell size, flat flame, flammability limit, and flame temperature. The results showed that the flame instability of Syngas 1 was significantly suppressed by adding minimal amounts of CH4 and H2. The new composition of Syngas 1 consisted of 19.3% methane (CH4), 19.0% hydrogen (H2), 61.2% nitrogen (N2), and 0.5% oxygen (O2) (by vol.). It yielded flame characteristics that were comparable to those of an NG flame. This study shows that MSW syngas can potentially replace NG in power generation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the conflicting claims on urban redevelopment in the aftermath of the 1927 St. Louis tornado. In the Finney Avenue District, a nascent middle-class African American neighborhood, residents saw the post-tornado rebuilding program as an opportunity for civic improvement through the construction of new schools and housing. This grass-roots vision, however, ran up against the objectives and machinations of efficiency-minded city planners and profit-seeking developers. A micro-analysis of the rebuilding process sheds light on the racial politics of early 20th century urban redevelopment as well as the role of natural disasters in reshaping the urban landscape. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through the second case study, of Nashville's Black Bottom neighborhood, Moga directly tackles the relationship of lowland developments to African American communities. In four detailed case studies, Moga demonstrates how and why lowlands became impoverished neighborhoods, the evolution of these communities over time, and the municipal response to lowland slums. Through this case study, I Urban Lowlands i again demonstrates how perceptions about lowlands, poverty, race, and immigrants coalesced to define The Flats as a slum. [Extracted from the article]

The author examines readers' and scholars' misunderstanding of Latin American writer Machado de Assis' literary works, which are commonly described as works that bulge with magical realism. Topics discussed include his argument that de Assis' works invite readers to put civic virtue into actions, the literary value of de Assis, and the undevalue of the interplay of literature and civic virtue.

Background/Context: This article discusses the influence and legacy of three Chilean educators in the country's schooling system during the first half of the 20th century. Focus of Study: Based on the changes that Darío Salas, Irma Salas, and Amanda Labarca promoted in the Latin American country, it explores how the ideas of their teacher John Dewey spread through Chile and endure to this day as part of the national curriculum. The article also debates the impact of cultural exchange between the United States and Chile since the influence in their country extended to social issues, such as the fight for gender equality, the creation of associations, and the improvement of civic engagement participation. Research Design: The study corresponded to historical research and was carried out in Chile based on the bibliographic background of the educators themselves and what the author himself has deepened about them for several years, that is, primary and secondary sources were investigated. Conclusion: The shifts towards secular education, the new experiential methodology, and the universal access to education were the main reforms achieved by the Chilean educators once they held leading positions in the education sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighbourhood groups are a feature of municipal politics across Canada yet are understudied in mid-sized cities. They are often portrayed as a mechanism for allowing residents to be more engaged in decisions affecting their neighbourhoods and to improve municipal decisions by incorporating the lived experience of municipal residents into that decision-making. It is therefore important to examine the formation of neighbourhood groups, whether they influence municipal decisions, and whether they are representative of their neighbourhoods. This article examines these issues through a case study of four neighbourhood groups in Windsor, Ontario. Using interview data as well as analysis of primary and secondary sources, it examines the top-down and grassroots forces that shaped these groups and their involvement in council decisions relating to vacant buildings in the city. The conclusions reached are that there were clear limits to the influence that they exerted on municipal decision-making. These groups did represent the interests of their communities and, when provided with external resources to develop their institutional capacity, they did help promote municipal policy change. This was, however, incremental change at the margins of the policy process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As a futuristic emblem, smart cities represent a goal to provide all of the services required for a highquality existence while conserving natural resources to the maximum extent possible. It turns out that the "Line City in Saudi Arabia" is the most famous and modern of these smart cities in terms of preserving 100 percent natural life, owing to the fact that they rely totally on natural energy and do not use any automobiles. The issues and challenges that have been highlighted will assist in the improvement of municipal management. One of the most generally implemented projects in the field of smart cities is the technological and integrative developments of the use of sensors and data collecting in conjunction with rising difficulties aimed at enhancing human well-being and improving human livelihood. This is especially true in Saudi Arabia, where visitors can arrive quickly by just walking through the checkpoints, resulting in a journey of little more than a few minutes to reach any regular destination. It also splits the city into many different levels of the ground, enabling for the conservation of natural excess energy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The role of the Aberdeen Journal in facilitating the commercial modernization of Aberdeen and the northeast of Scotland in the four decades after the Battle of Culloden is an understudied aspect of the city's and region's social, economic and cultural history. This article examines the way improvement initiatives from key regional and civic stakeholders like the Board of Trustees for Fisheries, Manufactures and Improvements in Scotland, the Aberdeenshire Society for the Encouragement of Agriculture and Manufactures, the Commissioners of Supply, Aberdeen Town Council, and Marischal College were represented in the newspaper. In particular it highlights how James Chalmers 2 and James Chalmers 3—the Aberdeen Journal's proprietors during its first forty years—developed Scotland's first newspaper north of Edinburgh as an informational hub to integrate the city and region into key currents of Scottish and British capitalist modernization in the second half of the eighteenth century, from linen manufacturing and processing, to land reform and agricultural improvement. The social and economic transformation facilitated by the newspaper led to demands for political reform by those new commercial stakeholders, like John Ewen and Patrick Barron, who had profited from this regional modernization, and the article argues that the Aberdeen burgh reform movement of the early 1780s that utilized the Aberdeen Journal as a principal periodical platform was an essential consequence of this trajectory of regional and civic improvement, and a key test for translating it into a tangible expansion of democratic rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social connectedness is theorized to contribute to civic development and in turn, civic engagement is thought to cultivate social connectedness. Little research has examined how social connectedness is linked with early adolescent civic engagement. The current study used a social network research design to examine associations between early adolescent social connectedness via their position within their peer network and their civic engagement. Middle-school students (N = 213) aged 11–15 years (M = 12.5; 57% female) were recruited from a remote US community and provided nominations for peer connections and reported on multiple aspects of civic engagement. Early adolescents who had identified more peer nominations had higher civic efficacy. Youth who had fewer connections with different peer groups and fewer connections with popular peers were more engaged in political behavior. Greater popularity was associated with higher political engagement for boys, but not girls. Greater connections with different peer groups was associated with greater environmentalism for younger but not older teens. These findings highlight the need to consider adolescent civic development within the peer context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an analysis of the municipal urban agriculture (UA) policy implementation at the local level, based on a comparison of three regions of the Municipality of São Paulo, Brazil—namely extreme south, east, and north. Our findings show that although UA policymaking of the past has led to successful improvements at the municipal level, implementation is carried out timidly. They also show that policy implementation is still more remarkable in the southern region, less so in the eastern region, and almost nonexistent in the northern region. Our analysis suggests that three factors explain local differences in policy implementation: (1) access to land, (2) farmers' organisations, and (3) the actions of nongovernmental organisations. We conclude that these aspects are producing a vicious cycle of differences between the three regions. Regions that have greater access to land also have greater potential for food production and more support to assist farmers' production and organisation. As a result of these conditions, they are benefited with more policy implementation that reinforces the conditions for accessing food markets and public interest in reinvesting in them, reproducing inequalities related to policy implementation between the regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report and analyse, for 83 European cities, the share of respondents aged 65 years or older agreeing that the city where they live is a good place to live for elderly people. Results contribute to identify common patterns and inform policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The period from 1867 to 1918 represents one of the most productive and intense eras of town building and modernization within the Kingdom of Hungary. From the beginning of modern urban planning, the leading Hungarian urban planners and theorists followed all the major themes of the era's planning discussion. The modern urban planning principles, as well as the common urban design language (rings, avenues, city parks etc.) acted as a common platform for the town shaping in the entire country. Especially Budapest-based architect Antal Palóczi implemented very soon and with decisive success these commonly used strategies and solutions in his regulatory plans. Even these plans remained often unrealized as whole, their main ideas could be traced in the later urban planning solutions of the twentieth century despite the fact the later planners never referred to the first plans. The current study is the result of research and interpretation of newly discovered and unpublished plans and maps, which marked the beginning of modern urban planning at the beginning of the twentieth century in Pozsony, currently Bratislava and Újvidék, Novi Sad in present-day Serbia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Genuine engagement about how best to achieve liveable urban futures should be part of planning's raison-d'etre but it has a chequered history of delivery. Exhibitions harnessing the communicative power of mixed media and linked to a progressive and responsive programme of focused discussion and debate remain relevant to community consultation and civic engagement. Terry Farrell's concept of the 'urban room' to involve citizens in engaging with the past, present, and future of towns and cities offers a contemporary refreshment of the approach propounded by Patrick Geddes from the early 1900s. The possibilities of creating novel and compelling opportunities for civic discourse in this guise are explored in this review article though the Newcastle City Futures pop-up exhibition and events held in Newcastle upon Tyne, UK in 2014. This event carries lessons for imagining how planners, developers, governments, and community groups may come together to critically and creatively forge future propositions for the urban condition. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper transposes aspects of the histography of Fernand Braudel to the exploration of planning. It explores the extent to which different time scales, dominated by a longue durée perspective, reveal different facets of the history of planning and of how it operates. Lesser time scales focus on specific events while long perspectives bring to light durable aspects of planning, such as those relating to its embeddedness within fundamental relations between the state and the market economy. The paper contends that planning history and theory are largely shaped by a middle-scale histography, focussed on the succession of periods in the evolution of planning and on how they mark its progression. It proposes to counterbalance this historical perspective with a long-term historical lens highlighting persistent dimensions of planning, many referring to the fundamentals of its political economy. The paper argues that a full understanding of planning requires a consideration of different historical scales. The object of study is Downtown Toronto planning and development since 1945. A medium time scale identifies three distinct phases in Downtown Toronto history over this period, while a long-term perspective reveals how this district evolved with remarkable consistency into an expanded and diversified downtown during these years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 10th Academic Committee of Planning History & Theory (ACPHT) Conference took place on 26–29 October 2018, in the Guilin University of Technology (Guilin, China). The annual conference was held for the first time in 2009. Themed 'Urban Planning in the Course of Civilization', the 2018 conference probed the continuation and evolution of planning history from different civilizations, defined here as cultural characteristic at a particular place and time. More than 200 delegates attended the conference, bringing together researchers from the fields of planning history, architectural history, city design, public administration, cultural heritage protection, archaeology, art and media, municipal aviation, to socialize and share their work with each other, and to gain insight into interdisciplinary historical research methods. Based on a selection of relevant panels and roundtables, the report explores four prominent themes discussed in the conference: planning history in different historical periods, urban form and heritage, the practical role of planning history, and interdisciplinary approach. The relationship between civilizations development and planning history is illustrated through four topics. It also summarizes the academic consensus, theoretical significance, problems and difficulties, and future-oriented experience of the conference. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From its inception, the European welfare state was a contract between the state, civic society, and the private sector. And yet, studies on the architecture and urbanism of the European welfare state frequently overlook the role played by the private sector, as the emphasis is commonly placed on governmental action. However, apart from governments also private actors played an important role in shaping the post-war welfare state. New towns in particular were sites of experiment. Here, public–private partnerships forged novel collective spaces, which challenged and redefined what constituted the civic realm. This paper focuses on one such novel type of collective space: the megastructural 'heart' of second-wave British New Towns. Combining mass consumption with administrative and civic functions, thereby blending the concepts of 'shopping centre' and 'city centre', these structures embodied the welfare state's belief that capitalism could neither live with nor without the existence of a pervasive welfare system (and vice versa). Through the analysis of three megastructures, this paper highlights the important role that private actors played in the formation of the post-war British welfare state; it explicates the lofty societal ambitions that these New Town schemes expressed; and it pinpoints the precariousness of public–private partnerships in the development of urban megastructures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, the suburbs of Madrid saw the substantial development of new housing. New plans provided for 200,000 new homes over 7200 Ha of land. These developments eschewed earlier modernist forms of suburbanization in favour of the perimeter block that superficially echoed the 'traditional' built form of the city. But the new perimeter blocks and neighbourhood design varied from their inner-city counterparts and have been the subject of near universal criticism. Some 10 years after their occupation, we reappraise the development importantly adding the perspective of residents. While many of the design failings identified in the past are confirmed, we also reveal qualities that residents value. The study demonstrates the value of post hoc evaluation after residents have settled in and leads us to argue for the importance of better integrating the everyday life (lived experience) perspective into evaluations to achieve better places. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This is a study in the practice of postwar urban design in Toronto, Canada, based on archival documents and interviews with participants. The narrative begins with the hiring of one British-trained architect/urban designer, Raymond Spaxman, by the City of Toronto Planning Board in 1966. Spaxman then set up a new division of staff that he filled with five or six other architect/urban designers of various national and institutional origins. The study describes the work carried out by these urban designers, identifies the principle themes apparent in it, and relates this to published literature on the founding principles of postwar urban design. In most ways, the study's findings fit the current understanding of the early discipline – concern for pedestrians, sympathy for historical preservation – but in others not – it was different from but not antagonistic towards planning. The findings are then considered as an example of the international transfer of postwar planning ideas. The process of idea transfer in this case looks to have been more chaotic, and less definable, than existing paradigms suggest, but this might have been fairly common in second-rank, immigrant-receiving cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature on the urban legacy of the 2012 Olympics Games emerging in recent years has emphasized the form that development has taken and the ways in which this aligns (or not) with specific promises made in terms of regeneration before the Games. Though plenty of discussion of planning procedure has occurred in this context, less emphasis has been placed on how the process, rather than the products, of urban change has been envisioned through legacy planning and urban design, and the significance of this for regeneration. Given that London's much-heralded 'regeneration legacy' was, from the early days of the Olympic bid, portrayed as a long-term process aimed at addressing historical issues of socio-economic disparity in East London, and that planning and urban design would play key roles in anticipating it, this contribution to the literature is timely. The paper focuses on the period from 2008 to 2018, beginning with the launch of the what was called the Legacy Masterplan Framework. Drawing on empirical analysis of documents describing the main stages of legacy planning and design between these years, it then examines how regeneration as a 'futurescape' encompassing numerous aspects of timing and temporality has been anticipated, planned and evolved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]