Friday, December 23, 2016

URBANIZATION TRENDS AND URBAN PLANNING STRATEGIES IN THREE MAJOR MIDDLE EASTERN COUNTRIES: IRAN, EGYPT, AND TURKEY

By MARYAMSADAT HOSSEINI, AMR AH. GOUDA, HOUSHMAND E. MASOUMI


Rapid urbanization has turned into a problematic phenomenon laying negative effects on the Middle Eastern cities and their peripheries. Although fast increase in urban population of the countries of the region has been well-researched, the connections to urban development strategies and patterns are being neglected. This paper examines the time coincidence of some of the dominant planning trends of the past decades that are considered to be associated with the intensive urban population changes. The paper attempts to discuss over the points in which the three countries witnessed significant increase and decrease in fertility rates. For that, the data of the World Bank have been applied. The graphs seen in this paper have been produced by the Google public data from the World Bank website, which provides the possibility of separating urban and rural populations. The descriptive analysis of this study shows that these vigorous changes of population growth rates have been more powerful in Iran and Turkey and steadier in Egypt. Examples of weak planning in the three target countries of this study, Iran, Egypt, and Turkey, such as failure in new city planning in Egypt, extensive sprawl in Turkish cities, rural-urban migration in Iran and Turkey, and the policy of wholesale land selling in Iran depict uncontrolled and vis-à-vis urban planning taking the wrong route. It is concluded that controlling urbanization trends in emerging countries, like the Middle Eastern states, requires a strong and strict urban planning system that avoids trial and error.


Peripheral Shoppers  

More about cities and urban planning in the Middle East:

Urban Transformations of the Mediterranean Cities in Light of Developments in the Modern Era

TENSIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE MASTER PLANNING PROCESS OF ISTANBUL

Upgrading informal settlements in Egypt towards a sustainable urban development

The Status of Urban and Suburban Sprawl in Egypt and Iran

A REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN POPULATION AND TRANSPORT ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Urban Sprawl Pattern Recognition Using Remote Sensing and GIS – Case Study Shiraz City, Iran

A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO CAPABILITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL URBAN FORM IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

The Study of Land Use Changes in the Tehran Metropolitan Area by Using MOLAND Model

Friday, December 9, 2016

What shapes local public transportation in Europe? Economics, mobility, institutions, and geography

By Daniel Albalate and Germà Bel

This paper analyzes factors explaining supply and demand of local public transportation. Together with variables related to traditional economic factors and mobility, we consider variables reflecting institutional characteristics and geographical patterns. Being a political capital increases supply and demand of local public transportation, inequality is associated with higher supply, and contracting out reduces supply. Furthermore, our regional analysis allows us capturing the effect of geographical characteristics and different traditions of government intervention. In all, we provide first evidence on the role played by institutional and regional characteristics useful to achieve a better understanding of local public transportation supply and demand.


The old tram riding up and down İstiklal Street

mroe about sustainable urban transportation:

Policies for Sustainable Accessibility and Mobility in Urban Areas of Africa

Toward an understanding of children’s perceptions of their transport geographies: (non)active school travel and visual representations of the built environment

Smart Growth and Transit- Oriented Development at the State Level: Lessons from California, New Jersey, and Western Australia

Bicycling as a Way of Life: A Comparative Case Study of Bicycle Culture in Portland, OR and Amsterdam

TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEM: PLANNING FOR NON-MOTORIZED VEHICLES IN CITIES

An Analysis of Car Ownership in Latin American Cities: a Perspective for Future Research

Wednesday, December 7, 2016

Urban Transformations of the Mediterranean Cities in Light of Developments in the Modern Era

By Bakr Hashem Paumey Ahmed Alashwal

The urban transformation processes in its framework and its general significance became a fundamental and vital subject of consideration for both the developed and the developing societies. It has become important to regulate the architectural systems adopted by the city, to sustain the present development on one hand, and on the other hand, to facilitate its future growth.
Thus, the study dealt with the phenomenon of urban transformation of the Mediterranean cities, and the city of Alexandria in particular, because of its significant historical and cultural legacy, its historical architecture and its contemporary urbanization.
This article investigates the entirety of cities in the Mediterranean region through the analysis of the relationship between inflation and growth of these cities and the extent of the complexity of the city barriers. We hope to analyze not only the internal transformations, but the external relationships (both imperial and post-colonial) that have shaped Alexandria city growth from the nineteenth century until today.

20111111_Egypt_0201 Alexandria 

More about urban cities of the Middle East:

Upgrading informal settlements in Egypt towards a sustainable urban development

The Status of Urban and Suburban Sprawl in Egypt and Iran

A REGIONAL ANALYSIS OF URBAN POPULATION AND TRANSPORT ENERGY CONSUMPTION

Urban Sprawl Pattern Recognition Using Remote Sensing and GIS – Case Study Shiraz City, Iran

URBAN SPRAWL IN MID-SIZED CITIES OF MENA, EVIDENCE FROM YAZD AND KASHAN IN CENTRAL IRAN

A THEORETICAL APPROACH TO CAPABILITIES OF THE TRADITIONAL URBAN FORM IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION

TENSIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN THE MASTER PLANNING PROCESS OF ISTANBUL

 By James STEELE and Rania SHAFIK,

Istanbul has been described as a city on the edge, of Europe, of modernization, of fundamentalism, of the future. But it would be more accurate to describe it as a city in between: split between Europe and Asia, modernization and tradition, poverty and wealth, an industrial and post-industrial ethos and financial system, secularism and spirituality, past, present and future. It also spans one of the largest and most active tectonic plates on earth, between the Eurasian and Anatolian plates. This interstitial condition is most legible in the physical layers of city growth, clearly documented, in the modern period, in an incremental series of urban plans that convey the social, cultural and religious values of its inhabitants. Istanbul has a unique Eurasian character due its location on two continents; the western side of Istanbul is in Europe, while the eastern side is in Asia. However, there are lots of arguments regarding the western influence in architecture, the consumption based projects around the city and the increase of gated communities in the European side, which have been invading the socio economic and the ethnic character in the city fabric. Today, Istanbul faces many challenges in its development process where global and regional influences compete with the needs and demands of diverse local groups (IMM, 2009).


To return to old

More about Istanbul:

Modeling street connectivity, pedestrian movement and land-use according to standard GIS street network representations: A Comparative Study

TRADITIONAL SHOPPING: A Syntactic Comparison of Commercial Spaces in Iran and Turkey

De-spatialized Space as Neoliberal Utopia: Gentrified İstiklal Street and Commercialized Urban Spaces

Globalisation, Cleaner Energy and Mega-Cities: Options and Messages for Turkey/Istanbul

THE EFFECTS OF PROPOSED BRIDGES ON URBAN MACROFORM OF ISTANBUL: a syntactic evaluation

Implications of an Urban Renewal Based State-Led Gentrification Process in a Roma Neighborhood in Istanbul

Tuesday, December 6, 2016

Policies for Sustainable Accessibility and Mobility in Urban Areas of Africa

By SSATP-Africa Transport Policy Program

Addressed to policy- and decision-makers, this paper proposes a set of policies which aim to improve accessibility and mobility in urban areas of Africa.
Large and small, urban areas of Africa are currently experiencing the fastest population growth in the history of the planet. As a result, policy- and decision-makers face enormous challenges in meeting the needs of current and future urban
dwellers.

Drawing from specific data collection and analysis for selected cities in Africa, as well as from insights gained through consultations with stakeholders and through an extensive literature review, this paper:

- Gives the reader an overview of the main accessibility and mobility issues faced by African urban areas, namely stemming from benchmark analysis among representative urban areas selected across the continent;
- Provides the reader with an overview of the lessons stemming from international experience over the past twenty years; and
- Proposes a conceptual framework and a set of policy recommendations meant to improve accessibility and mobility conditions in urban areas of Africa.
As a first step, the diagnosis is structured around ten specific and interrelated key issues that bear on accessibility and mobility in urban Africa, namely:
- four key issues related to urban transport governance: organization, human resources, financing, and land use.
- three key issues related to the urban transport system itself: public space, transport services, and transport infrastructure.
- three key issues related to the main impacts and externalities of urban transport: road safety, environmental quality and resources, and travel cost and time for users (i.a. affordability and inclusiveness).

Read more

Bike rack 

more about urban transportation:

Toward an understanding of children’s perceptions of their transport geographies: (non)active school travel and visual representations of the built environment

Smart Growth and Transit- Oriented Development at the State Level: Lessons from California, New Jersey, and Western Australia

Bicycling as a Way of Life: A Comparative Case Study of Bicycle Culture in Portland, OR and Amsterdam

TOWARDS A SUSTAINABLE URBAN TRANSPORT SYSTEM: PLANNING FOR NON-MOTORIZED VEHICLES IN CITIES

An Analysis of Car Ownership in Latin American Cities: a Perspective for Future Research

ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND CHANGES IN CAR OWNERSHIP PATTERNS

Friday, December 2, 2016

URBAN PLANNING: CHALLENGES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

By Mila Freire,

The advent of 2007 marks the year when, for the first time in the history of humanity, half the world’s population will be living in cities. Urban populations are expected to increase by 1.5 billion over the next 20 years, while the number of megacities will double. By 2015 the UN predicts that there will be 358 "million cities" with one million or more people and 27 "mega-cities" with ten million or more. Much of this growth will happen in developing countries.
The scale and pace of urbanization is opening up unforeseen possibilities. Large concentrations of people and goods provide increased opportunities for creativity, larger labor markets, and higher levels of productivity, not to speak of the cultural and political opportunities associated with urban life. Urban explosion also poses daunting challenges. It can result in unemployment and insufficient investment in basic services with the resulting environmental and social problems. 
This paper discusses some of the challenges associated with urbanization in developing countries. It uses examples from industrialized countries to extract useful insights. We begin by discussing how globalization impacts city management and continue with five specific aspects of urban growth: Metropolitan management, urban growth and environmental impact, urban development in disaster-prone sites, Property rights vs. public appropriation, and urban development added value and institutional strengthening. We conclude by summarizing the future challenges of urban planning/management in developing countries.


Urbanization in Asia

More about urban policy in emerging countries:

Urban Sprawl: A view from developing and developed Countries

Upgrading informal settlements in Egypt towards a sustainable urban development

Facilitating Urban Management Through Local SDI Case Study: The Municipality of Tehran 

Sustainable Urban Development and the Chinese Eco-City: Concepts, Strategies, Policies and Assessments

Cairo’s Informal Areas Between Urban Challenges and Hidden Potentials