Urban Economics and Urban Policy


Book Description

øThis groundbreaking book will prove to be an invaluable resource and a rewarding read for academics, practitioners and policymakers interested in the economics of urban policy, urban planning and development, as well as international studies and innov




Planning Rules and Urban Economic Performance


Book Description

The changes will be economically disruptive because they increase uncertainty in property markets, weaken the contractual nature of land development, and provide more opportunities for planners and the general public to delay development. The result will be more volatile property markets, reduced supply and higher prices and rents.




The Oxford Handbook of Urban Economics and Planning


Book Description

This volume embodies a problem-driven and theoretically informed approach to bridging frontier research in urban economics and urban/regional planning. The authors focus on the interface between these two subdisciplines that have historically had an uneasy relationship. Although economists were among the early contributors to the literature on urban planning, many economists have been dismissive of a discipline whose leading scholars frequently favor regulations over market institutions, equity over efficiency, and normative prescriptions over positive analysis. Planners, meanwhile, even as they draw upon economic principles, often view the work of economists as abstract, not sensitive to institutional contexts, and communicated in a formal language spoken by few with decision making authority. Not surprisingly, papers in the leading economic journals rarely cite clearly pertinent papers in planning journals, and vice versa. Despite the historical divergence in perspectives and methods, urban economics and urban planning share an intense interest in many topic areas: the nature of cities, the prosperity of urban economies, the efficient provision of urban services, efficient systems of transportation, and the proper allocation of land between urban and environmental uses. In bridging this gap, the book highlights the best scholarship in planning and economics that address the most pressing urban problems of our day and stimulates further dialog between scholars in urban planning and urban economics.




The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies


Book Description

Today, the Bay Area is home to the most successful knowledge economy in America, while Los Angeles has fallen progressively further behind its neighbor to the north and a number of other American metropolises. Yet, in 1970, experts would have predicted that L.A. would outpace San Francisco in population, income, economic power, and influence. The usual factors used to explain urban growth—luck, immigration, local economic policies, and the pool of skilled labor—do not account for the contrast between the two cities and their fates. So what does? The Rise and Fall of Urban Economies challenges many of the conventional notions about economic development and sheds new light on its workings. The authors argue that it is essential to understand the interactions of three major components—economic specialization, human capital formation, and institutional factors—to determine how well a regional economy will cope with new opportunities and challenges. Drawing on economics, sociology, political science, and geography, they argue that the economic development of metropolitan regions hinges on previously underexplored capacities for organizational change in firms, networks of people, and networks of leaders. By studying San Francisco and Los Angeles in unprecedented levels of depth, this book extracts lessons for the field of economic development studies and urban regions around the world.




Asian Economic and Political Issues


Book Description

It is predicted by some observers that the 21st century will be remembered as the 'Asian Century'. Many of the countries in the region seem to be able to take the economic and trade baton when one of the others experience problems. The region, in general, continues to grow economically, politically and militarily. The articles presented in this book examine the current political and economic situations in nations across Asia, particularly focusing on economic developments. Contents: Preface; The Challenge of Removing Administrative Barriers to FDI in China; Negative Externality, Tacit Bargaining and Cigarette Demand: The Case of Environmental Tobacco Smoke in Japan; Modelling Development Control of Residential Development: A Probit Analysis of Rent Seeking and Policy Autonomy in Town Planning in Hong Kong; Social(ist) Capital: Does it Pay? The Institutional Impact on Conditions and Consequences of Access to Social Capital: the Case of the Former GDR; The Role of Foreign Investment in Guangdong's Economic Development; Natural Disasters and Long-run Economic Growth in Asia and Around the World; The Role of Urban Policy in the Battle against Poverty: The Experience of the Philippines;




Global Urban Growth


Book Description

This book examines the rapid expansion of urban areas worldwide, especially within the previous 50 years, identifying the factors that have contributed to this phenomenon and exploring its many consequences. Global Urban Growth: A Reference Handbook examines urbanization and the challenges associated with rapid urban growth and urban sprawl from a truly global perspective, rather than presenting only a limited exploration of the subject by addressing a single city, country, or region. Investigating urbanization and related policy challenges as both a general phenomenon of all modern societies and one that varies greatly in different regions of the world, the book charts different growth trajectories in these societies and varying policy responses. Significant variations in culture, historical background, economic factors, and political and social development are considered. A chapter on the United States and Canada documents how urbanization trends have occurred in North America and presents our policy approaches in comparison and contrast with the rest of the world. The author offers a balanced overview by marshaling the facts and clearly presenting both the benefits and the drawbacks for readers.




Economics and Land Use Planning


Book Description

The book's aim is to draw together the economics literature relating to planning and set it out systematically. It analyses the economics of land use planning and the relationship between economics and planning and addresses questions like: What are the limits of land use planning and the extent of its objectives?; Is the aim aesthetic?; Is it efficiency?; Is it to ensure equity?; Or sustainability?; And if all of these aims, how should one be balanced against another?




Megacity Mobility


Book Description

World population growth and economic prosperity have given rise to ever-increasing demands on cities, transportation planning, and goods movement. This growth, coupled with a slower pace of transportation capacity expansion and deteriorated facility restoration, has led to rapid changes in the transportation planning and policy environment. These stresses are particularly acute for megacities where degradation of mobility and facility performance have reached alarming rates. Addressing these transportation challenges requires innovative solutions. Megacity Mobility grapples with these challenges by addressing transportation policy, planning, and facilities in a multimodal context. It discusses innovative short- and long-term solutions for meeting current and future mobility needs for the world’s most dynamic cities by addressing the influence of urban land use on mobility, 3D spiderweb transportation planning, travel demand management, multimodal transportation with flexible capacity, efficient capacity utilization driven by new technologies, innovative transportation funding and financing, and performance-based budget allocation using asset management principles. It discusses emerging issues, highlights potential challenges affecting proposed solutions, and provides policymakers, planners, and transportation professionals a road map to achieving sustainable mobility in the 21st century. Zongzhi Li is a professor and the director of the Sustainable Transportation and Infrastructure Research (STAIR) Center at Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT). Adrian T. Moore is vice president of policy at Reason Foundation in Washington, D.C., with focuses on privatization, transportation and urban growth, and more. Samuel R. Staley is the director of the DeVoe L. Moore Center in the College of Social Sciences and Public Policy at Florida State University.




Town Planning in Hong Kong


Book Description

As Hong Kong town-planning legislation develops, there is an ever-growing demand for a better understanding of the rules and principles behind the discretionary decisions of the Town Planning Board regarding planning applications. Town Planning in Hong Kong: A Review of Planning Appeals is a thorough analysis of 50 unreported cases of the Town Planning Appeal Board on appeals against the Town Planning Board decisions concerning planning applications and review. This book goes beyond the usual requirements of books on 'case and materials': it systematically documents the facts and arguments presented in the decisions, distills the reasons and rules behind them, and comments on each in detail. It also provides a comparative study of all the cases from the perspective of town planning and economics. This book will be of great value to developers, planners, lawyers and professionals who work in the development and conservation of lands in Hong Kong.




Zoning and Property Rights, 2nd edition


Book Description

The author combines the unique multidisciplinary backgrounds of an academic, a political scientist, a lawyer and an urban planner to provide the reader with a novel and challenging discussion about the economic nature of land use zoning. Besides establishing a coherent framework for zoning based on the Coasian property rights paradigm, the book offers the reader several up-to-date case studies, including the government role in assigning exclusive property rights via marine fish culture zoning in Hong Kong. The observations provided in the case studies make a valuable contribution to the reader's knowledge of both the effects of zoning systems and the value of the property rights framework for analysis. They also have important implications for future town planning exercises. Lawrence Lai has been a Lecturer in economics in the Department of Surveying at the University of Hong Kong since 1989. His research interests are property rights analyses in respect of politics, urban planning and environment. This book will be of value to students working in a wide range of subjects, including the building environment and economics, as well as property professionals and environmental planners.