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We looked at the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Great Bay Area (GBA), especially Shenzhen, to demonstrate how geospatial big data, such as remote sensing data and human trajectory data, were used to monitor and track the progress of SDGs in the area. B Contents b B Introduction b Mee Kam Ng and Cecilia Wong B The Policy Conundrum of Integrating the Three "S's": Spatial planning, Smart Cities and Sustainable development b Cecilia Wong, Caglar Koksal, Ransford A. Acheampong, Wei Zheng and Mark Baker B This is Manchester: Working to be a Smart, Sustainable and Inclusive "Original, Modern" City b Dave Carter B Building a Digital and Green Region in Greater Manchester: Multi-Stakeholder Analysis and Role of Planners b Caglar Koksal, Wei Zheng, and Ransford A. Acheampong B Genesis of Smart Sustainable Development in Shenzhen, China's "Silicon Valley" b Mee Kam Ng, Jonah Tang, Mingmin Pan, and Sylvia Y. He B Strategy for the Application of Smart Technology in Spatial Planning in Shenzhen b Jifeng Dai, Weizhi Cheng, Tao Wang, and Yu Fang B Geospatial Big Data Analytics and the Progress of SDGs in the Greater Bay Area b Yang Yue, Zhong-Wen Hu, Qi-Li Gao, and Chi-Sheng Wang B "Digital Bay Area": Towards Sustainable Regional Development in the Greater Bay Area - From High Speed to High-Quality Development b Yu Fang, Wenyong Sun, Shuyao Cai, and Jifeng Dai B Smart Cities, Chinese Rooms and Extended Minds b Ian Wray Introduction Most smart city literature is about the adoption of information and communication technologies to make cities smart now (Fernandez-Anez et al., [1]). The "Outline Development Plan for the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao GBA" proposes the construction of smart city clusters, facilitated by big data monitoring platforms for the free flow of spatial data and information in the GBA. [Extracted from the article]

There has been a lack of coherent spatial thinking in policymaking in the UK due to political and economic considerations. This discussion, based on a spatial planning perspective, explains how the UK government's often aspatial approach to policymaking and hiding behind the façade of market-led ideology does not stand the test when examining the R&D regional expenditure patterns. It also illustrates that complex layers of administrative boundaries have created a confusing governance structure and closed development possibilities. It finally sheds light on the experience of being a critical friend of the policy community to engender mutual learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how relationships between policy actors at different scales, and their changing character over time, shape the production of spatial imaginaries and their use in transport infrastructure planning. Based on research on the planning of a major rail project in Northern England between 2011 and 2022, the article illustrates how spatial imaginaries reflect interactions between national, sub-national, regional and local institutions. Drawing on a programme of interviews with policy actors, the research highlights the tensions manifested in planning for transport infrastructure about which places are prioritized in policy, and the institutional influences shaping these decisions. The article develops understanding of how inter-scalar politics influences the production of spatial imaginaries and how these imaginaries are in turn utilized in support of transport infrastructure plans by policy actors at different spatial scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to contribute to the area of geodemographic research through the development of a new and novel flow-based classification of commuting for England and Wales. In doing so, it applies an approach to the analysis of commuting in which origin-destination flow-data, collected as part of the 2011 census of England and Wales, are segmented into groups based on shared similarities across multiple demographic and socioeconomic attributes. k-Means clustering was applied to 49 flow-based commuter variables for 513,892 interactions that captured 18.4million of the 26.5million workers recorded as part of the 2011 census of England and Wales. The final classification resulted in an upper-tier of nine 'Supergroups' which were subsequently partitioned to derive a lower-tier of 40 'Groups'. A nomenclature was developed and associated pen portraits derived to provide basic signposting to the dominant characteristics of each cluster. Analysis of a selection of patterns underlying the ninefold Supergroup configuration revealed a highly variegated structure of commuting in England and Wales. The classification has potentially wide-ranging descriptive and analytical applications within research and policy domains and the approach would be equally transferable to other countries and contexts where origin-destination data are disaggregated based on commuter characteristics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been limited understanding of the relationship between private developers and the housing delivery mechanism in Malaysia. This paper seeks to bridge the research gap by analysing the social relationships and informal institutions embedded in the Malaysian housing development industry. Empirical data were collected for Kuala Lumpur and Johor to compare and contrast developers’ views and their working relationships with government departments. Informed by various arguments that ‘guanxi’ can reduce transaction costs and supplement/complement the formal legal regime, this paper examines the ways developers are engaged in such transaction cost reduction activities. Policy and theoretical implications of the informal cultural practice in the housing development industry are then drawn out. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: To assess post-cataract surgery intermediate-term (>6 months) data of visual acuity (VA), surgical complications, refractive outcomes, quality of life (QOL) and visual function (VF) from a non-governmental organization program in Indonesia. Methods: Retrospective cohort study design. Participants were a selection of patients who underwent cataract surgery by the John Fawcett Foundation between 2006 and 2011, with at least 6 months follow-up. Patients underwent comprehensive ophthalmic examinations. QOL and VF questionnaires were administered. Results: From a total of 1557 invited to attend, 547 patients participated; 99.8% of eyes had presenting VA <6/60. At day 1 postoperatively, 52.1% of patients had a good outcome by World Health Organization criteria (unaided VA ≥ 6/18). Six months or later postoperatively, 85% of eyes had best-corrected VA ≥ 6/18 and 5.6% of eyes had best-corrected VA < 3/60. At final follow-up, mean postoperative spherical equivalent refraction was −2.35 diopters (standard deviation 1.75, n = 542). On a scale of 1-100, median converted values for QOL were 25.0 preoperatively and 74.0 postoperatively, a statistically significant improvement ( p < 0.001). Of eyes with VA better than 3/60 on postoperative day 1, 5.7% (95% confidence interval 3.6-7.9%) became blind (VA < 3/60) at the 6-month or later time point. Conclusion: Cataract surgery in this population markedly improved QOL, despite a trend towards myopic refractive outcomes. These findings raise questions about biometric methodology, intraocular lens power calculations and refractive targets. Postoperative day 1 VA data may be a reasonable proxy of the intermediate-term rate of non-blind eyes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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We introduce a groundwater sustainability index offering a novel combination of features. It is holistic in the sense that it incorporates both water quantity and water quality indicators. The former employs the signal-to-noise ratio of long-term trends estimated via robust regression; the latter uses concentration of the primary contaminant of concern. A fuzzy inference system integrates these unlike metrics. The system also explicitly encodes expert knowledge and stakeholder values, and directly acknowledges subjectivity in environmental condition “grading,” through the use of linguistic rules and fuzzy sets, respectively. The fuzzy rule base is constructed such that poor environmental conditions captured by one measure are not hidden by good performance in another. A standard Mamdani (max–min) inference engine is used with centroid defuzzification. The outcome is an intuitively accessible index ranging from 0 to 100. The method is demonstrated using examples from the Abbotsford-Sumas aquifer, an important and managerially challenging transboundary (Canada–US) water resource.Editor D. Koutsoyiannis; Associate editor E. RozosCitation Fleming, S.W., Wong, C., and Graham, G., 2014. The unbearable fuzziness of being sustainable: an integrated, fuzzy logic-based aquifer health index. Hydrological Sciences Journal, 59 (6), 1154–1166. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02626667.2014.907496 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper unfolds the inherent tension between private developers and local authorities in the development process of medium- to high-cost housing units in Malaysia. It examines how developers respond to the government's regulatory housing policy framework by deploying resources and tactics to realize their investment strategies. The analysis focuses on the Bumiputra quota policy, the low-cost housing policy, the One-Stop-Centre approving system and the review of planning guidelines in Johor and Kuala Lumpur which have very different socio-economic circumstances. The findings highlight the lack of trust and communication between developers and the government in the development process and the importance of cultural influence and socio-economic contexts on the structuration process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the UK, the Labour government (1997–2010) introduced various experiments to uplift English regional and sub-regional spatial strategy to a more prominent position in sub-national governance but much of this has been subsequently guillotined by the incoming Coalition government in May 2010. This paper assesses the prospect for the survival of strategic spatial thinking under the Coalition government's ethos of ‘localism’. It first considers some of the broad conceptual issues relating to strategic spatial planning, identifying three key conundrums around flexibility of scaling, institutional structures and capacity, and core values and forms of knowledge. It then provides one of the first comprehensive accounts of what was achieved during the outgoing Labour administration, and what ultimately went wrong with the English regional planning project. Finally, an initial assessment is made of the future prospects for strategic planning in England to survive in new spatial contexts, despite the hostile conditions associated with the Coalition government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban–rural integration has become the macro policy in China to narrow the gap between urban and rural development. Meanwhile, the rapid pace of economic growth and urbanisation has increasingly posed challenges to urban areas over land availability and provision of infrastructure and labour. Policymakers have started to search for a more sustainable development mode to improve urban competitiveness. Against this context, urban master planning has started to adopt urban–rural integration as a core principle and extend its spatial coverage to rural areas. Through the case of Nanjing, this article investigates the practice and delivery of the 2008 planning reforms that enhanced city-regions as a spatial context for planning and assesses whether the new integrative plan achieves the objective of sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article aims to discuss whether there is a need to have a fully integrated national spatial planning framework for the UK to: (1) improve the co-ordination of different policy frameworks; (2) provide completed national spatial coverage and consistent monitoring frameworks; (3) develop a national spatial vision of development; and (4) provide more effective national solutions to the pervasive force of changing spatial structure. A test case of housing and employment is used to explore inter-sectoral issues and the spatial impacts brought by their close interactions. Finally, a future policy and research agenda is outlined to shape the continuous debate and development of a UK Spatial Planning Framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a conceptual framework of 11 factors that are widely perceived to be the major determinants of local economic development (LED), 29 indicators were identified to measure these factors. Principal component analysis was first used to examine the structure of relationships among the compiled LED indicators for local authority districts in England and to explore the spatial patterns that emerge from the analysis. A series of multiple regression models were then calibrated to investigate the relative strengths of relationship between the LED indicators and various performance variables. The final section concludes with the key issues revealed by the findings of these multivariate analyses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the divergence and convergence between contemporary practices and those advocated in the past, and determines to what extent the pitfalls of the old methods have been resolved. Areas of methodological concerns in the contemporary environmental field; Methods being used to achieve environmental planning in the 1990s; Criticism of rational planning in the 1970s.

Presents information on a study on the computer applications in planning of Chesire County Council in Great Britain. Discussion on geographic information systems (GIS); Details on the experience of Chesire in GIS; Conclusion.

Presents a review paper that is primarily concerned with the fall and potential rise of housing tenure choice in the United Kingdom. Housing policy in the country during post 1979; Changes in housing tenure choice from 1981-1991; Conclusions.

The paper examines the impact of management training and development on the organisation and performance of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), via a variety of quantitative and qualitative research techniques and including both cross-sectional and longitudinal approaches to analysis. The paper demonstrates the value of management training and development in SMEs and demonstrates a series of one-off and longer lasting effects on their organization and performance. The paper also highlights the conditions under which management development projects are likely to be more successful. Finally, the paper extends the schema developed by Arthur and Hendry (1990) and Hendry et al. (1991), indicating the factors influencing training within businesses, and shows the indirect and complex links between management training and firm performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

WONG C. (1998) Determining factors for local economic development: the perception of practitioners in the North West and Eastern Regions of the UK, Reg. Studies 32, 707–720. This paper aims to investigate how policy makers perceive the importance of different factors in the process of local economic development (LED) in two UK regions with very contrasting socioeconomic experiences. The paper starts off with a review of a wide range of academic and policy-oriented studies to identify a list of key generic factors which are thought to be crucial to LED. This check list of LED factors provides a basis for the subsequent empirical study. A questionnaire survey was sent to local actors in the two regions to assign rankings to these factors. This was then followed up by 22 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with selective participants. WONG C. (1998) Les facteurs déterminants du développement économique local: l'idée que se font les practiciens dans les régions du nord-ouest et de l'est du Royaume-Uni, Reg. Studies 32, 707-720. Cet article cherche à examiner l'idée que se font les décideurs de l'importance de divers facteurs dans le processus de développement économique local dans deux régions au Royaume-Uni dont les expériences socio-économiques s'avèrent très différentes. Dans un premier temps, l'article fait la critique d'une grande variété d'études, non seulement académiques mais aussi orientées vers la politique, afin de faire la liste des facteurs déterminants du développement économique local. Cette liste de contrôle fournit le point de départ de l'étude empirique ultérieure. On fait l'étude à partir d'un questionnaire envoyé aux agents locaux situés dans les deux régions afin de classer ces facteurs. Il s'ensuit vingt-deux interviews détaillées et semi-structurées avec des participants sélectionnés. WONG C. (1998) Faktorenbestimmung für örtliche Wirtschaftsentwicklung: Auffassungen von Fachleuten in den nordwestlichen und östlichen Regionen des Vereinigten Ko nigreichs, Reg. Studies 32, 707–720. Dieser Aufsatz beabsichtigt, zu untersuchen, wie richtungweisende Organe in zwei Regionen des Vereinigten Königreichs mit sehr gegensätzlichen sozio-ökonomischen Erfahrungen die Bedeutung verschiedener Faktoren im Vorgang örtlicher Wirtschaftsentwicklung (Local Economic Development= LED) auffassen. Der Aufsatz beginnt mit einer Besprechung einer breiten Palette akademischer und politisch ausgerichteter Werke, um eine Liste generischer Faktoren zu ermitteln, die für entscheidend für LED gehalten werden. Dieses LED Faktorenverzeichnis stellt die Basis für die anschließende empirische Studie dar. Es wurden Fragebogen an ortsansässige Vertreter in beiden Regionen geschickt, welche diesen Faktoren Rangordnung zuschrieben. Dem schlossen sich zweiundzwanzig gru ndliche halb-strukturierte Unterredungen mit ausgewa hlten Teilnehmern an. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discusses the book 'The European Dimension of British Planning' by Mark Tewdwr-Jones and Richard H. Williams. Theme of the book; Positive aspects of the book; Negative aspects of the book.

Comments on the use of community indicators in the planning practice in Great Britain. Stimulation of worldwide interest in indicators by broad environmental concerns related to creating sustainability indicators at all spatial scales and by an increasing evidence-based policy ethos of governance; Weak conceptual and methodological basis of many community indicator projects.