Universality in Urban Growth

2021 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 13-19
Author(s):  
Inho HONG ◽  
Hyejin YOUN

In the era of rapid urbanization, understanding the mechanism of urban growth is critical to a better future of humanity. Models for urban growth can prepare policy makers to address the economic and social changes in their growing cities. Over the last decades, the physics of cities has revealed the mechanisms of urban growth from the universal characteristics that are largely observed in the main pillars of cities: function, shape and size. This article introduces the theoretical frameworks - urban scaling, fractal geometry and Zipf’s law-for universality in the function, shape and size of cities. In addition, we review the recent findings for a unified model of urban growth, including recapitulation, hierarchy and migrations.

1999 ◽  
Vol 75 (5) ◽  
pp. 771-780 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Parkins

Forest industry host communities are receiving increased attention from policy makers, academics, and municipal leaders. Recently, this attention is trained on measuring social and economic change at the community level and on identifying and developing avenues to greater community well-being. This paper examines aspects of two common social indicators, employment and migration, in the context of a forest-dependent community in Northern Alberta. By using statistical information along with two other major data sources that include interviews with local residents and a variety of reports from local institutions, specific social changes taking place within the community are described. Readers are cautioned against relying solely on statistical information to measure change and are encouraged to triangulate data with local sources. Such efforts may be more time consuming but the results are likely to provide more important insights into how and why certain communities are prospering while others are struggling. The paper concludes with a discussion of social capital as a crucial dimension of community well-being. Key words: forest-dependent communities, social indicators, employment, migration, mobility, community well-being, social capital


Author(s):  
Nwabueze, O.p.O ◽  
Onwuka, E.O ◽  
Uzomba, N.I ◽  
Ekeh, C.U.N ◽  
Akuesi, C.U

The high rate of migration, coupled with population increase triggered rapid urbanization. However, a great proportion of the population still lives in substandard and low quality houses in a deplorable unsanitary residential environment particularly in developing countries. Urban and Economic growth have brought about all typical problems associated with rapid urban development resulting in housing shortage both quantitative and qualitative, slums, illegal settlement and squatting as experienced in owerri municipality. These have resulted into many urban and housing problems within the state capital owerri. This study examined the nature of urban growth and housing problems in owerri municipality. Also it tries to examine residential housing stock, identity the nature of housing problems, government policies and programmes in other to address the problems. The pattern of growth was determined using spatial analysis, and the housing problems were identified through questionnaire and field surveys. Findings revealed that the growth of urban housing in owerri municipality increases by 1034.0 hectare which is equivalent to 38.5% which is in line with Maurice (2004). It was also discovered that over a period of time, new settlements have evolved. Also, the construction and expansion of road networks are evidences of urban growth in owerri municipality. KEYWORDS: Development, Urban growth, Housing problems, population, owerri municipality.


Author(s):  
Patrick Brandful Cobbinah ◽  
Ellis Adjei Adams

Traditionally, urbanization is hailed as an important force for socio-economic development of countries. In fact, recent research on Africa suggests that urbanization has the potential to stimulate socio-economic development. Yet, many African countries experiencing rapid urban growth continue to bear a disproportionate amount of the costs associated with urbanization (e.g., increased urban poverty, and energy crisis among others). This is in sharp contradiction to the popular notion that urbanization is a stimulus for socio-economic development. Using Ghana as a case study, this chapter discusses the extent to which rapid urbanization influences power supply and the implications on socio-economic development. The chapter focuses on four issues: (1) the history of power and urbanization in Ghana; (2) the influence of urbanization on power crisis in Ghana; (3) the socio-economic implications of urbanization-induced power crisis; and (4) the policies available in addressing the power crisis. Recommendations to address the ever-growing demand for electrical power are proffered


Author(s):  
Elsa Estevez ◽  
Pablo Fillottrani ◽  
Tomasz Janowski ◽  
Adegboyega Ojo

Information sharing (IS) is a key capability required for one-stop and networked government, responding to a variety of intra-organizational, inter-organizational, or cross-national needs like sharing service-related information between parties involved in the delivery of seamless services, sharing information on available resources to enable whole-of-government response to emergencies, etc. Despite its importance, the IS capability is not common for governments due to various technical, organizational, cultural, and other barriers which are generally difficult to address by individual agencies. However, developing such capabilities is a challenging task which requires government-wide coordination, explicit policies and strategies, and concrete implementation frameworks. At the same time, reconciling existing theoretical frameworks with the IS practice can be difficult due to the differences in conceptions and abstraction levels. In order to address such difficulties, this chapter proposes a conceptual framework to guide the development of Government Information Sharing (GIS) policies, strategies, and implementations. By integrating theoretical frameworks and the GIS practice, the framework adopts a holistic view on the GIS problem, highlights the main areas for policy intervention, and provides policy makers and government managers with conceptual clarity on the GIS problem.


Author(s):  
Iheanyi Chuku Egbuta ◽  
Brychan Thomas ◽  
Said Al-Hasan

This paper considers strategic green issues of teleworking in terms of the environment, transport, location, office space and resource use for modern organisations and business sectors and formulates a conceptual model of the processes involved. Teleworking technologies are variously implemented for green computing initiatives and many advantages include lower greenhouse gas emissions related to travel, greater worker satisfaction and, as a result of lower overhead office costs, increased profit margins. The paper initially investigates the appropriateness of a working definition of teleworking with regard to green computing and explores the benefits, and barriers, of teleworking in a green computing environment. Theoretical frameworks and models of teleworking are considered and a conceptual model of the contribution of teleworking to green computing is formulated. The application of the model is considered in terms of teleworking concepts, the organisational environment and driving forces. It is the intention of the paper to identify, and articulate, those teleworking concepts that will be useful to academicians, scientists, business entrepreneurs, practitioners, managers and policy makers, and to indicate future directions for research scholars and students with similar interests.


2016 ◽  
pp. 1723-1738
Author(s):  
Iheanyi Chuku Egbuta ◽  
Brychan Thomas ◽  
Said Al-Hasan

The aims of the chapter are to consider the strategic green issues of teleworking in terms of the environment, transport, location, office space, and resource use for modern organisations and business sectors and to formulate a conceptual model of the processes involved. In fact, teleworking technologies are variously implemented for green computing initiatives, and the many advantages include lower greenhouse gas emissions related to travel, greater worker satisfaction, and as a result of lower overhead office costs, increased profit margins. The chapter initially investigates the appropriateness of a working definition of teleworking with regard to green computing, and following this, explores the benefits and barriers of teleworking in a green computing environment. The theoretical frameworks and models of teleworking are then considered, and a conceptual model of the contribution of teleworking to green computing is formulated. It is the intention of the chapter to identify and articulate those teleworking concepts that will be useful to academicians, scientists, business entrepreneurs, practitioners, managers, and policy makers, and to indicate future research directions for research scholars and students with similar interests.


2011 ◽  
pp. 3028-3034
Author(s):  
John B. Nash ◽  
Christoph Richter ◽  
Heidrun Allert

The call for the integration of program evaluation into the development of computer-supported learning environments is ever increasing. Pushed not only by demands from policy makers and grant givers for more accountability within lean times, this trend is due also to the fact that outcomes of computer-supported learning environment projects often fall short of the expectations held by the project teams. The discrepancy between the targets set by the project staff and the outcomes achieved suggests there is a need for formative evaluation approaches (versus summative approaches) that facilitate the elicitation of information that can be used to improve a program while it is in its development stage (c.p., Worthen, Sanders & Fitzpatrick, 1997). While the call for formative evaluation as an integral part of projects that aim to develop complex socio-technical systems is widely accepted, we note a lack of theoretical frameworks that reflect the particularities of these kind of systems and the ways they evolve (c.p., Keil-Slawik, 1999). This is of crucial importance, as formative evaluation will only be an accepted and effective part of a project if it provides information useful for the project staff. Below we outline the obstacles evaluation faces with regard to projects that design computer-supported learning environments, and discuss two promising approaches that can be used in complimentary fashion.


Author(s):  
John B. Nash ◽  
Cristoph Richter ◽  
Heidrun Allert

The call for the integration of program evaluation into the development of computer-supported learning environments is ever increasing. Pushed not only by demands from policy makers and grant givers for more accountability within lean times, this trend is due also to the fact that outcomes of computer-supported learning environment projects often fall short of the expectations held by the project teams. The discrepancy between the targets set by the project staff and the outcomes achieved suggests there is a need for formative evaluation approaches (versus summative approaches) that facilitate the elicitation of information that can be used to improve a program while it is in its development stage (c.p., Worthen, Sanders & Fitzpatrick, 1997). While the call for formative evaluation as an integral part of projects that aim to develop complex socio-technical systems is widely accepted, we note a lack of theoretical frameworks that reflect the particularities of these kind of systems and the ways they evolve (c.p., Keil-Slawik, 1999). This is of crucial importance, as formative evaluation will only be an accepted and effective part of a project if it provides information useful for the project staff. Below we outline the obstacles evaluation faces with regard to projects that design computer-supported learning environments, and discuss two promising approaches that can be used in complimentary fashion.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (21) ◽  
pp. 5919 ◽  
Author(s):  
He ◽  
Mai ◽  
Shen

For megacities experiencing rapid urbanization in China, urban growth boundaries (UGBs) have been considered as a useful means to control urban sprawl and to promote sustainable urban development. However, scientific methods and tools to delineate sound UGBs by planners are few and far between. Using metropolitan Chengdu as the study area, this paper applies the system dynamics (SD) and conversion of land use and its effects at small region extent (CLUE-s) models to delineate UGBs. In this study, land use demand was simulated in the SD model temporally at a macro-level and allocated in the CLUE-s model spatially at a micro-level. Key social-economic elements and spatial pattern factors were used in the simulation process for the period of 2013–2030. The simulation results under various scenarios showed that areas along the major corridors and belt roads of the main Chengdu metropolitan area and its satellite towns have higher chances to be developed. The areas most likely to be developed were used to establish the UGBs for 2020, 2025, and 2030. This research demonstrates that the integrated framework of SD and CLUE-s models provides a feasible means of UGB delineation under different development scenarios.


2017 ◽  
Vol 36 (2) ◽  
pp. 599-617 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica L. Cotney ◽  
Robin Banerjee

There has been a recent surge of interest from researchers, policy makers, and the general public in how kindness can promote well-being. Even though adolescence is a key period for the development of relevant value systems and mental health, little is known about adolescents’ understanding of kindness. Six focus groups were conducted with 11- to 15-year-olds, exploring their conceptualizations of kindness. Thematic analysis revealed a multifaceted understanding, identifying 10 different categories of kind behavior that are influenced by situational antecedents as well as specific self- and other-focused goals. Crucially, participants also identified a number of moderators including contextual and dispositional factors (e.g., features of social relationships, levels of empathy) that support and extend current theoretical frameworks. Responses from participants reinforced the idea that kindness contributes to well-being for the recipient and the giver. These findings have implications for the future design and efficacy of kindness-based well-being interventions for adolescents.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document