Housing Governance in a Time of Financialization

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roman Zwicky
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Global Finance ◽  
The Past ◽  
City Regions ◽  
The City

In recent years, the financialization of housing has become a major challenge to many cities across the globe, not the least because it tends to favor the interests of global finance over the needs of residents. Based on three case studies in the city regions of Zurich, Birmingham and Lyon, the present investigation analyzes the interplay of housing governance and poli­cies over the past 20 years against the backdrop of the financialization of housing.

scholarly journals What is the threshold in urban regeneration projects in the context of urban identity? The case of Turkey

Spatium ◽  
2014 ◽  
pp. 14-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
İmre Eren
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Framework ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
General Framework ◽  
Urban Regeneration ◽  
Urban Identity ◽  
Global Trends ◽  
The Past ◽  
The City ◽  
City Centres

Cities are trying to adapt to the rapidly changing global trends by regenerating themselves. Approaches and practices of this regeneration are different in several countries. In big Turkish cities, particularly in the past decade, urban regeneration practices, processes and consequences have sparked several debates. The ?new? gained or converted spaces in the city are also significant in terms of their impacts on urban identity. In this context, this study aims to identify the impacts of urban regeneration, which occurred in historical city centres, on urban identity in the case of Turkey. The study determines general framework of urban regeneration and then defines a conceptual framework of urban identity. It focuses on urban regeneration projects in the case of Turkey. Then, the topic is explored through two case studies which are selected from Turkey, Istanbul and Bursa. The findings of the study indicate that there are several problematic aspects of urban regeneration. The findings also show that urban identity was ignored in urban regeneration projects, which caused significant breaks in the context of physical, cultural, historical and semantic continuity.

scholarly journals The editor's page

2002 ◽  
Vol 69 (415-417) ◽  
pp. 181
Author(s):  
P. Psomopoulos
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
World Society ◽  
Tsinghua University ◽  
The Past ◽  
University Of British Columbia ◽  
City Regions ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
The City ◽  
Beijing China

As a documentation and communication vehicle - part of a broader effort of the Athens Center of Ekistics (ACE) to contribute to the development of a sound approach to the field of Human Settlements - Ekistics makes itself available as a free forum for the exposure of ideas and experiences from anywhere to everywhere, provided they are relevant and transferable. In this effort, writings of members of the World Society for Ekistics (WSE) have quite frequently been considered and published in Ekistics. How could our attitude be different in cases of collective efforts of the WSE such as its meetings last year in Berlin (24-28 October, 2001) with the title "Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century"? Actually, we have reported on such events on various occasions in the past, the most recent being in vol. 64, no. 385/386/387, July/August-Sept./Oct.-Nov./Dec.1997 and vol. 65, no. 388/389/390, Jan./Feb.-Mar./Apr.-May/June 1998 on "Mega-Cities ...and Mega-City Regions", a conference of which the WSE was a co-sponsor together with Tsinghua University, Beijing, China, and the University of British Columbia, Canada. We are happy that the World Society for Ekistics welcomed our proposal to consider the large number of documents made available at its meetings in Berlin and select some of the papers presented for publication in Ekistics. However, the amount of material available far exceeded the capacity even of one triple issue. Hence the following two triple issues: Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century - 1 of 2 (Ekistics, vol. 69, no. 412/413/414,January/February-March/April-May/June 2002); and, Defining Success of the City in the 21 st Century - 2 of 2 (Ekistics, vol. 69, no. 415/416/417, July/August-September/October-November/December 2002).

scholarly journals The editor's page

2002 ◽  
Vol 69 (412-414) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
P. Psomopoulos
Keyword(s):  
21St Century ◽  
Tsinghua University ◽  
The Past ◽  
University Of British Columbia ◽  
City Regions ◽  
The World ◽  
The University ◽  
The City ◽  
Beijing China ◽  
Mega Cities

As a documentation and communication vehicle - part of a broader effort of the Athens Center of Ekistics (ACE) to contribute to the development of a sound approach to the field of Human Settlements - Ekistics makes itself available as a free forum for the exposure of ideas and experiences from anywhere to everywhere, provided they are relevant and transferable. In this effort, writings of members of the World Society for Ekistics (WSE) have quite frequently been considered and published in Ekistics. How could our attitude be different in cases of collective efforts of the WSE such as its meetings last year in Berlin (24-28 October, 2001) with the title "Defining Success of the City in the 21st Century"? Actually, we have reported on such events on various occasions in the past, the most recent being in vol. 64, no. 385/386/387, July/August-Sept./Oct.-Nov./Dec.1997 and vol. 65, no. 388/389/390, Jan./Feb.-Mar./Apr.-May/June 1998 on "Mega-Cities ...and Mega-City Regions", a conference of which the WSE was a co-sponsor together with Tsinghua University, Beijing, China and the University of British Columbia, Canada.

scholarly journals Mapping and Assessing Green Infrastructure Connectivity in European City Regions

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (6) ◽  
pp. 1819 ◽  
Author(s):  
Karsten Rusche ◽  
Mario Reimer ◽  
Rico Stichmann
Keyword(s):  
Land Use ◽  
Urban Planning ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Green Infrastructure ◽  
European City ◽  
Open Spaces ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
The Past ◽  
City Regions ◽  
Urban Green Infrastructure

Urban green infrastructure is becoming an increasingly important concept for sustainable urban planning. In the past, planning practice and research have worked on defining principles and suggesting relevant indicators to promote the concept. While there has been a focus on multifunctionality of green infrastructure elements, the connectivity principle is underrepresented, especially in urban research. Therefore, this paper suggests land use indicators to map and assess the degree of connectivity of open spaces within the urban realm. Empirical results are presented for three European case studies. The relevance of connectivity indicators for urban green infrastructure planning is highlighted and linked to future needs for improving strategic urban planning.

Contemporary Archaeology and the City

2017 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Political Action ◽  
Dynamic Force ◽  
Contemporary Archaeology ◽  
The Past ◽  
Local Contexts ◽  
Urban Transformations ◽  
Post Industrial ◽  
The City

Contemporary Archaeology and the City foregrounds the archaeological study of post-industrial and other urban transformations through a diverse, international collection of case studies. Over the past decade contemporary archaeology has emerged as a dynamic force for dissecting and contextualizing the material complexities of present-day societies. Contemporary archaeology challenges conventional anthropological and archaeological conceptions of the past by pushing temporal boundaries closer to, if not into, the present. The volume is organized around three themes that highlight the multifaceted character of urban transitions in present-day cities - creativity, ruination, and political action. The case studies offer comparative perspectives on transformative global urban processes in local contexts through research conducted in the struggling, post-industrial cities of Detroit, Belfast, Indianapolis, Berlin, Liverpool, Belem, and post-Apartheid Cape Town, as well as the thriving urban centres of Melbourne, New York City, London, Chicago, and Istanbul. Together, the volume contributions demonstrate how the contemporary city is an urban palimpsest comprised by archaeological assemblages - of the built environment, the surface, and buried sub-surface - that are traces of the various pasts entangled with one another in the present. This volume aims to position the city as one of the most important and dynamic arenas for archaeological studies of the contemporary by presenting a range of theoretically-engaged case studies that highlight some of the major issues that the study of contemporary cities pose for archaeologists.

Sustainable city storytelling: cultural heritage as a resource for a greener and fairer urban development

2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 399-412
Author(s):  
Luis D. Rivero Moreno
Keyword(s):  
Cultural Heritage ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
City Branding ◽  
Sustainable City ◽  
Content Type ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Future ◽  
The City

PurposeIn the past years, the importance of the cultural economy has led urbanism to a new perspective. Simultaneously, the main international institutions have pointed out the need to shift the urban economy into a sustainable one, green and energy efficient. The confluence of both flows explains why the imaginaries of the urban future are related to the concept of creative cities. Hence, the new economic engine of the cities should be founded on art, creativity and culture, all of them understood as clean energies. This study aims to show the crucial role of cultural heritage as a propeller of a new kind of urban development, more flexible and democratic, based on the construction of the city as a communicational, collective and open effort. Therefore, the city is conceived as a cultural heritage platform where tangible and intangible, social and creative interactions happen. Within this context, urban narratives appear as a dynamic material drawn on the possibilities offered by the heritage received from the past as a resource to be used for re-thinking and re-shaping the future.Design/methodology/approachThe approach of this paper is based on a profound analysis of historical cities, mainly in the European context, supported by the work carried out within the H2020 ROCK project. The cities within the project are: Athens, Bologna, Cluj-Napoca, Eindhoven, Lisbon, Liverpool, Lyon, Torino, Skopje and Vilnius. A wide variety of case studies coming mainly from these cities have been considered to understand better the theoretical point of view on the role of heritage, urban development and city branding. The information about cultural heritage projects used as case studies has been collected and selected coming from the direct work made on the field and the communication open with institutions and cultural stakeholders in every city. Even more, parallel seminars on cultural heritage and city branding organized within the project have allowed the authors to gather very valuable, updated and fresh information on these issues in every particular case.FindingsThe study proves that cultural heritage has been traditionally underrated as a mechanism for developing the future of the city and its communicative strategy. Cultural heritage appears as a practical tool for constructing more cohesive urban communities based on the use of public space and shared memories as storytelling platforms. The capacity of resiliency and sustainability revealed by cultural heritage through the time is, as well, a clear reference to construct a potential sustainable city, socially, culturally and environmentally.Social implicationsCultural heritage projects are shown as a perfect way to build stronger communities. Through the engagement and participation of citizens, urban storytelling reinforces a more open, real and sustainable city able to face the challenges of contemporary life (gentrification, pollution, mobility, etc.). Like that, heritage appears as a feasible tool for including citizens coming from all ages and backgrounds in the construction of a collective narrative of the city, based on the past and looking at the foreseen.Originality/valueThis study tries to relate fields that traditionally have remained not well connected: urban development, city branding and cultural heritage. The study demonstrates that cultural heritage is crucial as an urban narrative tool and consequently, as a planning/branding mechanism. Moreover, cultural institutions and cultural projects are very relevant platforms for social interaction, inviting citizens to have a more active role in the construction of the city as a collective communicational effort based on a network of social and cultural relations. Storytelling turns up as a new key element for communicating the city from grassroots, in a sustainable, democratic and inclusive manner, far away from the traditional top-down official perspective. Crowdsourcing methods are very powerful for establishing a shared and cohesive city brand, now rooted in its cultural and social foundations and not the marketing campaign clichés. Finally, storytelling emerges as a creative resource that enhances the social, cultural and economic layout of the city, forcing urbanists to include a greener, fairer and more democratic perspective in the future of cities.

Portuguese Sardines - from the ritual to the brand

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-120
Author(s):  
Cecília Avelino Barbosa
Keyword(s):  
Social Construction ◽  
Place Branding ◽  
Symbolic Capital ◽  
City Council ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
City Branding ◽  
The Past ◽  
Behavioral Expression ◽  
The City ◽  
City Identity

Place branding is a network of associations in the consumer’s mind, based on the visual, verbal, and behavioral expression of a place. Food can be an important tool to summarize it as it is part of the culture of a city and its symbolic capital. Food is imaginary, a ritual and a social construction. This paper aims to explore a ritual that has turned into one of the brands of Lisbon in the past few years. The fresh sardines barbecued out of doors, during Saint Anthony’s festival, has become a symbol that can be found on t-shirts, magnets and all kinds of souvenirs. Over the year, tourists can buy sardine shaped objects in very cheap stores to luxurious shops. There is even a whole boutique dedicated to the fish: “The Fantastic World of Portuguese Sardines” and an annual competition promoted by the city council to choose the five most emblematic designs of sardines. In order to analyze the Sardine phenomenon from a city branding point of view, the objective of this paper is to comprehend what associations are made by foreigners when they are outside of Lisbon. As a methodological procedure five design sardines, were used of last year to questioning to which city they relate them in interviews carried in Madrid, Lyon, Rome and London. Upon completion of the analysis, the results of the city branding strategy adopted by the city council to promote the sardines as the official symbol of Lisbon is seen as a Folkmarketing action. The effects are positive, but still quite local. On the other hand, significant participation of the Lisbon´s dwellers in the Sardine Contest was observed, which seems to be a good way to promote the city identity and pride in their best ambassador: the citizens.

City-region governance in transitional contexts: the case of the BRICS

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-49
Author(s):  
Philip Harrison
Keyword(s):  
Extended Period ◽  
Political Systems ◽  
Recent Past ◽  
City Region ◽  
Scholarly Literature ◽  
Path Dependencies ◽  
City Regions ◽  
The World ◽  
The City

Abstract The bulk of the scholarly literature on city-regions and their governance is drawn from contexts where economic and political systems have been stable over an extended period. However, many parts of the world, including all countries in the BRICS, have experienced far-reaching national transformations in the recent past in economic and/or political systems. The national transitions are complex, with a mix of continuity and rupture, while their translation into the scale of the city-region is often indirect. But, these transitions have been significant for the city-region, providing a period of opportunity and institutional fluidity. Studies of the BRICS show that outcomes of transitions are varied but that there are junctures of productive comparison including the ways in which the nature of the transitions create new path dependencies, and way in which interests across territorial scales soon consolidate, producing new rigidities in city-region governance.

Trail-Blazer Dependency – A Roadmap for the Sustainability Revolution

2020 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 317-337
Author(s):  
Jan Kunnas
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Pulp And Paper ◽  
Historical Research ◽  
The Past ◽  
Success Stories ◽  
Electric Car ◽  
Major Benefit ◽  
Quality Movement

While geologists are still considering whether the Anthropocene should be accepted as a formal geological epoch, it is up to us humanists to search for ways making this human era a good one. In this article, I will examine how we can use historical research to provide such tracks based on past regularities or similarities. Positive success stories from the past can at least provide faith that we can do something about our current environmental problems. This investigation is based on two case studies: the Tesla Model S electric car, and the Swedish pulp and paper industry's transition to chlorine-free bleaching. It argues that the sustainability revolution doesn't just share similarities with the quality movement of the 1970s and 1980s, but is essentially a continuation of it. In concordance with previous megatrends, the major benefit of the sustainability revolution will be reaped by countries and companies running ahead of the curve. A new term, 'trail-blazer dependency' is introduced; by setting an example, the first-movers are opening a trail for late-comers to follow.

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