GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management

A Global Perspective

Martin van Maarseveen, Javier Martinez, Johannes Flacke, Martin van Maarseveen, Javier Martinez, Johannes Flacke

• Publisher: CRC Press
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN: 9781138505551
• eBook ISBN: 9781351379083
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: City Planning & Urban Development
• Index: Technology & Engineering

The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.tandfebooks.com/doi/view/10.1201/9781315146638, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives 3.0 license.

GIS is used today to better understand and solve urban problems. GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management: A Global Perspective, explores and illustrates the capacity that geo-information and GIS have to inform practitioners and other participants in the processes of the planning and management of urban regions. The first part of the book addresses the concept of sustainable urban development, its different frameworks, the many ways of measuring sustainability, and its value in the urban policy arena. The second part discusses how urban planning can shape our cities, examines various spatial configurations of cities, the spread of activities, and the demands placed on different functions to achieve strategic objective. It further focuses on the recognition that urban dwellers are increasingly under threat from natural hazards and climate change.

Written by authors with expertise on the applications of geo-information in urban management, this book showcases the importance of GIS in better understanding current urban challenges and provides new insights on how to apply GIS in urban planning. It illustrates through real world cases the use of GIS in analyzing and evaluating the position of disadvantaged groups and areas in cities and provides clear examples of applied GIS in urban sustainability and urban resilience.

The idea of sustainable development is still very much central in the new development agenda of the United Nations, and in that sense, it is of particular importance for students from both the Global South and Global North. Professionals, researchers, and students alike will find this book to be an invaluable resource for understanding and solving problems relating to sustainable urban planning and management.

1	GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management

A Global Perspective

Martin van Maarseveen, Javier Martinez, and Johannes Flacke

Contents

1.1 Urbanization, Urban Planning and GIS

1.2 Aim and Content of the Book

References

1.1 Urbanization, Urban Planning and GIS

Over the last few decades, the world has seen an increased gathering of its population in urban areas. This trend is far from new. Indeed, its persistence is marked by a remarkable increase in the absolute number of urban dwellers worldwide (UN-HABITAT, 2016). While in 1990 43% (2.3 ­billion) of the world’s population lived in urban areas, by 2015 this had grown to 54% (4 billion). And it continues to increase: aggregated predictions of the United Nations indicate that by 2050 the share of urban population is expected to reach 66% (UNDESA, 2014). Although this figure needs to be interpreted with caution due to inconsistencies in definitions and data availability, it emphasizes the urgent need to pay serious attention to this trend and to consider the positive and negative social, economic and environmental consequences carefully. Urbanization fosters economic growth and is generally associated with greater productivity and a better quality of life for all. Nevertheless, urbanization also often brings with it urban sprawl, environmental degradation, poor living conditions and severe problems of accessibility.

The unceasing migration of rural population to urban regions follows on from the relative attractiveness of cities. Cities provide a wide variety of opportunities and offer a large number of facilities and services – opportunities for generating income, finding a job, pursuing education, accessing health care services, visiting social and cultural events and so forth. Moreover, most urban infrastructures are better developed than their rural counterparts, although it must be noted that some urban dwellers cannot access or benefit from these infrastructures.

Although virtually no region of the world can report a decrease in urbanization, the increase in urban population has not been evenly spread. Nowadays, the highest growth rates can be found in Asia and Africa, in particular in less-developed regions and in middle- and low-income countries. This presents a major challenge to building and sustaining adequate infrastructure and public services for these growing populations. Along with increases in urban population, the land area occupied by cities is increasing at an even higher rate. Projections for the period 2000–2030 indicate that the urban population in developing countries will double, while the area occupied by their cities will triple (Angel et al., 2011).

Urban planning and management is the technical, social and political process concerned with the design, development and maintenance of land use in an urban environment, which includes attention to air and water quality and the infrastructure into and out of urban areas (e.g. transportation, communication and distribution networks). Urban planning encompasses activities such as strategic thinking, research and analysis, public consultation, urban design and policy implementation, whereas urban management mostly consists of tactical and operational issues related to the ­performance and maintenance of an urban system. The reality of urbanization generates some challenges, among them low-density suburbanization – largely steered by private rather than public interest, and partly facilitated by dependence on car ownership. Urbanization is also energy intensive, contributing dangerously to climate change. Moreover, it generates multiple forms of inequalities, exclusion and deprivation. Often, such urban challenges are exacerbated by urbanization that has been poorly planned and managed. The key objective of adequate urban planning and management is, therefore, to overcome and eradicate the dysfunctions and discontinuities of development. This fits seamlessly with the new Urban Agenda of the United Nations, in particular Goal 11 of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, which aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable (United Nations, 2017).

Since 1990, a number of different concepts have made their entry into the domain of urban planning and management: sustainability, inclusiveness, compactness, competitiveness and resilience. There is no complete agreement on the definition for what a sustainable city should be, nor is there complete agreement upon which components should be included in the paradigm. Generally, developmental experts agree that a sustainable city should meet the needs of the present without sacrificing the ability of future generations to meet their needs. In practice, urban planning in a sustainable city aims to minimise the required inputs of energy, water and food, and the necessary output of waste as well as air and water pollution (Vojnovic, 2014). As such, urban sustainability is a kind of container concept that overlaps with most of the other, later developed concepts. The emergence of slums and social ghettos (gated communities, for example), as well as the very distinct social (and spatial) divisions found within cities, has contributed to the development of the concept of the inclusive city. An inclusive city aims to include all citizens in its economic development, political life and access to political power in order to combat exclusion and provide opportunities for the economic and social improvement of the lives of its citizens. The inclusive city is strongly linked with the concepts of justice, equity, democracy and diversity (Fainstein, 2014). The compact city is an urban planning concept that promotes high residential density along with mixed land use. This concept is based on an efficient public transport system and an urban layout that encourages walking and cycling (Burton et al., 2016). There is some empirical evidence that compact cities tend to have lower car use. A competitive city is one that successfully facilitates its firms and industries to create jobs, raise productivity and, over time, provide income growth for citizens. From an urban planning perspective, it is important to be familiar with factors that help to attract, retain and expand the private sector (World Bank, 2015). A resilient city is one that assesses, plans and acts to prepare for and respond to hazards – natural and anthropogenic, sudden and slow in onset, expected and unexpected. Resilient cities are better positioned to protect and enhance people’s lives, to secure development gains and to foster a reliable investment climate (UN-HABITAT, 2018). In one way or another, all concepts of the city as described above appear in the elaboration of Sustainable Development Goal 11.

Information, particularly spatial information, plays a fundamental role in the practice of urban planning and management. Most information used by planners is geographic in the sense that it makes use of topographic maps or is linked to a geographic location through a coordinate reference, a street address or an administrative area. A Geographic Information System (GIS) is an information system that integrates, stores, edits, analyses, shares and displays spatial or geographic information. Over the past few decades, these systems have become an increasingly familiar aspect of urban design and planning practice (Maliene et al., 2011). Modern GIS software, hardware and databases are becoming more available to ordinary users, although the complexity of the more powerful applications means accessibility is still a problem. As the range of applications is continually expanding, interest is also constantly growing among planners. The increasing use of GISs in urban planning and design holds the promise of enabling a higher quality of quantitative and qualitative data analysis, thereby improving the evidence base of decision-making as well as the knowledge base of the decision-making process itself – all factors upon which delivering such an aspirational, but highly complex, policy goal as Sustainable Development Goal 11 ultimately depends. Current progress in GIS technology has created favourable conditions for the development of solution-­supporting systems at all stages in the planning and design process – although there is still much work to be done if its promised utility is to be realised (Maliene et al., 2011). With respect to planning support systems, this has been dubbed the implementation gap (Geertman, 2017).

1.2 Aim and Content of the Book

GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management: A Global Perspective explores and illustrates the capacity that geo-information and GISs have to inform practitioners and other participants in the processes of the planning and management of urban regions. The chapters have been grouped according to the nature and applications of the cases, which correspond with current enquiries about and/or normative visions of the ‘Sustainable City’ and the ‘Inclusive City’ (Part I); and the ‘Compact–Competitive City’ and the ‘Resilient City’ (Part II).

Part I starts with the sustainability concept. Although this concept has been around for some time, and there is no common understanding of its components, it is still a useful concept for practitioners and students as it raises awareness of the multi-faceted nature of development and promotes understanding of the variety of connotations the word development encompasses. The idea of sustainable development is still very much central in the new development agenda of the United Nations, and in that sense, it is of particular importance for students from both the Global South and Global North. The cases/geo-applications presented in Part I illustrate ways of measuring sustainability and its value in the arena of urban policy. Another key scientific and policy issue is the creation of inclusive cities. The cases presented in this book analyse, evaluate and (aim to) improve the position of disadvantaged groups in society in terms of their overall well-being and prospects and their access to basic services.

Part II acknowledges that urban planning relates to how we shape our cities. Where do we position the various functions of a city to achieve our strategic objectives? The cases presented in this part examine a variety of spatial configurations in cities, the spread of activities and the demands placed on their transport systems. This understanding, in a context of dynamic urban growth, relates to the compact city view. The cases/geo-applications deal with relevant theories and practical applications of land use and transport models that help to analyse and quantify the current situation and future development scenarios. Another relevant discussion in a globalizing world economy is that cities are increasingly challenged to be competitive and offer an appealing living environment, affordable housing, attractive conditions for businesses and a wide range of accessible services. The cases presented in Part II make use of a variety of economic and environmental appraisal techniques.

Part II also focuses on the recognition that urban dwellers are increasingly under threat from natural and anthropogenic hazards. Cities need to develop strategies for making choices that avoid high levels of hazard and target development in ways that limit risks and make them manageable. The cases/geo-applications we present show the relevance of understanding and analysing urban risk to give direction to spatial planning so that cities become more resilient. Resilience in this context is understood to be the ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate and recover from the effe...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Editors
• List of Contributors
• 1 GIS in Sustainable Urban Planning and Management
• Part I The ‘Sustainable City’ and the ‘Inclusive City’
• Part II The ‘Compact-Competitive City’ and the ‘Resilient City’
• Index