tag:theconversation.com,2011:/es/topics/urban-planning-1404/articlesUrban planning – The Conversation2024-03-11T19:12:58Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164492024-03-11T19:12:58Z2024-03-11T19:12:58ZCan earth-covered houses protect us from bushfires? Even if they’re a solution, it’s not risk-free<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/580069/original/file-20240306-29-4s79aw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C235%2C2911%2C1942&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bushfire_destroys_house.jpg">Helitak430/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>As extreme fire weather <a href="https://theconversation.com/fire-regimes-around-australia-shifted-abruptly-20-years-ago-and-falling-humidity-is-why-209689">becomes more common</a> across ever larger areas of Australia, we need new options for living with the risk of bushfire. Underground or earth-sheltered housing is one possibility. While still unusual, these homes are being <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-28/underground-homes-bushfires-natural-disasters-climate-change/102804984">built in bushfire-prone areas</a>. </p>
<p>But before we embrace this form of housing as a widespread solution to increasing bushfire risks, we need to consider its complexities. Things to weigh up include the challenges of designing and building these homes, their costs and occupants’ behaviour. We also have limited real-world evidence of how such homes perform in bushfires. </p>
<p>A broader question is whether we should allow more people to live in bushfire-prone areas. If we let that happen it will lead to more deaths and injuries. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australian-building-codes-dont-expect-houses-to-be-fire-proof-and-thats-by-design-129540">Australian building codes don't expect houses to be fire-proof – and that's by design</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What does building such homes involve?</h2>
<p>Earth-sheltered houses are often built into slopes, but can be built on flat ground, either by excavating or by mounding earth over the building. In Australia, concrete is generally used for the building structure to provide enough strength to allow soil to cover the roof and walls. The earth-covered areas can be vegetated. </p>
<p>Because of the amount of earth in contact with the exterior, care is needed to ensure the building is watertight and structurally sound. </p>
<p>The house usually has one main wall of windows facing away from the earth-covered side to provide natural light. To meet building regulations for ventilation, these buildings include rear windows in light wells or vents.</p>
<p>One advantage of earth-sheltered buildings is that their internal temperature remains quite stable. They <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1364032120304020">use much less energy</a> – up to <a href="https://www.envirovaluation.org/2020/10/green-roof-and-green-wall-benefits-and.html">84% less for cooling</a> and up to 48% less for heating – to maintain <a href="https://doi.org/10.3992/1943-4618.15.1.87">comfortable temperatures</a>. (These figures are for all climates, compared to buildings with black roofs.) </p>
<p>These buildings can also offer greater opportunities for improved <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1364032120304020">aesthetics (as the home blends into the landscape), landscaping, productive gardens and recreation</a>. These benefits can offset having limited windows and constraints on building layouts.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"892858573386125313"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-earthships-could-make-rebuilding-safer-in-bushfire-zones-131291">How 'Earthships' could make rebuilding safer in bushfire zones</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What about bushfire resistance?</h2>
<p>Bushfires present complex risks. Earth-sheltered buildings are likely to be a useful but somewhat expensive and limited niche solution on challenging legacy sites where housing already exists.</p>
<p>Few such buildings have been subjected to fires so we have limited evidence of their efficacy. However, it is clear they can be engineered to resist the main ways bushfires attack buildings: <a href="https://research.csiro.au/bushfire/bushfire-basics/how-do-buildings-ignite/">heat, flames and embers</a>. </p>
<p>Since earth largely covers the building, the most vulnerable parts are windows and other openings. These can be designed to resist heat and flame, depending on the modelled levels.</p>
<p>Bushfire-resistant measures are estimated to add costs of <a href="https://www.yarraranges.vic.gov.au/Development/Planning/Rebuilding-after-an-emergency/Your-building-journey/Cost-of-building-in-a-bushfire-prone-area">between $53,000 and $273,000</a> (2020 values) compared to a typical home construction, depending on the site. Glass is often a key component. Because they are highly susceptible to heat, the cost of windows that can withstand a worst-case fire is often prohibitive. </p>
<p>An earth-shelter build usually costs much more than standard once one adds up the engineering, excavation, concrete and construction costs.</p>
<p>Most earth-sheltered structures rely on one side of the building having large windows to admit enough natural light inside. This window side is typically oriented downhill towards views, with the rear built into the slope. Bushfires increase speed and intensity when moving uphill, so the window side usually receives the most intense bushfire attack. </p>
<p>On sites with limited space, this challenge is often difficult to resolve. Sometimes the only solution is to remove large amounts of natural vegetation. This is done at the expense of ecological goals. The loss of plants whose roots bind the soil could also increase landslip risks. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1219432423097692161"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-our-bushfire-proof-house-design-could-help-people-flee-rather-than-risk-fighting-the-flames-182046">How our bushfire-proof house design could help people flee rather than risk fighting the flames</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Should people even be in high-risk places?</h2>
<p>While it is possible to engineer a bushfire-resistant structure with a low risk of destruction, that doesn’t eliminate the risks created by people themselves.</p>
<p>Human factors greatly increase risks, even in well-designed bushfire-resistant structures. Poor maintenance or later modification can put a property at risk. Examples include unsafe storage of gas bottles and fuel, woodpiles, and modification of or failure to secure doors, windows or shutters. </p>
<p>Residents may also modify vegetation around an earth-covered home in ways that increase risks. They might, for example, plant highly flammable species, or allow fuel loads to build up, including mulch they might have laid down.</p>
<p>Despite education campaigns, warnings and alerts, people continue to <a href="https://researchnow-admin.flinders.edu.au/ws/files/47382312/Trigg_Moveable_P2017.pdf">put themselves in many risky situations</a> before and during bushfires. Reasons include alert fatigue, expenses of evacuation, dangers while driving, being in unfamiliar locations such as holiday houses, retrieving children, protecting livestock and pets, or protecting underinsured or uninsured property. If more people live in bushfire-prone areas, there will be more bushfire-related deaths and injuries among both residents and bushfire responders. </p>
<p>The psychological impacts on people affected by extreme fires are significant. <a href="https://psychology.anu.edu.au/files/ANU%20Bushfire%202021%20Survey%20Summary.pdf">Nearly three-quarters suffered anxiety</a> for two years after Australia’s 2019-20 <a href="https://theconversation.com/200-experts-dissected-the-black-summer-bushfires-in-unprecedented-detail-here-are-6-lessons-to-heed-198989">Black Summer bushfires</a>. Even if a structure survives, the emotional burdens of isolation while under duress, loss of communications and the heat, smoke, darkness and noise of extreme fires are powerful and underestimated.</p>
<p>Yet people’s differing levels of awareness and ability are often ignored as a factor in bushfire risk.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1707219782855237794"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/before-we-rush-to-rebuild-after-fires-we-need-to-think-about-where-and-how-130049">Before we rush to rebuild after fires, we need to think about where and how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>There’s a wider context to consider</h2>
<p>It makes little sense to put more people in bushfire-prone locations that will likely <a href="https://theconversation.com/fire-regimes-around-australia-shifted-abruptly-20-years-ago-and-falling-humidity-is-why-209689">become riskier over time</a>. Solutions such as earth-sheltered buildings may be part of a suite of ways to reduce risks in existing bushfire-prone residential areas. </p>
<p>However, at a wider scale, building low-density housing in bushfire-prone areas is unnecessarily risky. It also conflicts with the compelling need to build at much higher densities in existing areas to house Australia’s growing population. Higher-density housing will allow better and more affordable access (because of economies of scale) to services, infrastructure, jobs and public transport.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216449/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan March receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>Buildings can be engineered to resist bushfires, but we can’t engineer the many aspects of human behaviour and decision-making that will still put lives at risk.Alan March, Professor of Urban Planning, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117112024-02-27T16:31:20Z2024-02-27T16:31:20ZDelhi’s electronic bazaars are one of the city’s last non-elite commercial spaces<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577571/original/file-20240223-16-muuey8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Delhi's bazaars offer an alternative infrastructure and economy.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/richardsennett/45279912064">Richard Sennett|flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Public life in India, and South Asia more broadly, centres around the working-class camaraderie of an <em>adda</em> or gathering: people sitting and chatting often under a tree or at a tea stall. </p>
<p>In Delhi, the wealthy upper-middle classes have long flocked to new malls and supermarkets. The urban working classes, however, still favour the city’s bazaars, for the space they allow for both adda and for making a living.</p>
<p>The virtual economy, with its digital platforms, cashless payment systems and online shopping, has of course seen street-level economies, across the globe, decline. However, as I show in my book, <a href="https://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=31924">Traders and Tinkers</a>, bazaars remain dynamic public squares that have long fostered new forms of popular culture. </p>
<p>From the pirate CD industry to fashion knock-offs and DIY electronic goods, bazaars have nurtured a significant informal economy. These marketplaces affirm the existence of people – daily wage earners, pullers and loaders, small-scale tradesmen and street vendors – who live and work on the margins of society. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A market street with signs and lights at night." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577564/original/file-20240223-24-efzw2o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kotla Mubarakpur market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-busy-street-with-many-signs-UQyZ8h0L3H0">Ravi Sharma|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How Dehli’s electronic bazaars emerged</h2>
<p>Since 2012, I have conducted ethnographic research in three of Delhi’s marketplaces: Lajpat Rai market, Palika bazaar and Nehru Place. I have interviewed traders and vendors. I have taken part in addas. I have observed sales in shops and on the street.</p>
<p>In 1957, the Delhi Development Authority was established as part of the Ministry of State Housing and Urban Affairs. This statutory body devised what was known as the “master plan” of 1962 – an ambitious, modernist urban zoning project which divided the city into residential, commercial, work and industrial complexes.</p>
<p>Implementing the plan became difficult as the initial enthusiasm for building functional spaces faded. There was a fundamental difference between how ordinary people used these spaces and what planners had in mind. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A covered passageway in a market with red columns." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577568/original/file-20240223-18-5xtkj2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lajpat Rai market.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/varunshiv/4143461854/in/photostream/">Varun Shiv Kapur|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Instead of the ideal consumer spaces of orderly shops and civic transactions, ordinary people traded in the nooks and crannies of informal marketplaces. Bazaars emerged as unruly, chaotic spaces. There you could haggle for better prices. Anyone – slum dwellers, new migrants, unemployed youths – could find a way to survive. </p>
<p>This highly competitive, face-to-face economic exchange sits midway between the opaque world of high finance and the routines of <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520081147/civilization-and-capitalism-15th-18th-century-vol-i">everyday life</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1970s, Delhi’s electronic bazaars were where most people went to buy radio and electrical equipment. In the 1980s, vendors shifted to TV sets, VCRs and gaming consoles, as so-called suitcase entrepreneurs smuggled media products into the country and made them available to the broader public, despite official restrictions on imported products remaining in place. </p>
<p>After trade was deregulated in 1992, foreign products became more widely available and bazaars lost their monopoly. However, piracy – in computers, consoles, games and software – emerged as a lucrative way to attract those consumers who could not afford to buy originals. </p>
<p>A market for DIY assembled computers emerged in Nehru Place, to the south of New Delhi. People started selling unlocked gaming consoles so that you could play the latest games on older models. Vendors stocked pirated movies, software and games on cheap CDs and DVDs that cost half the price of new products. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People in an indoor market." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=337&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577569/original/file-20240223-30-trso72.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Palika bazaar.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/foca/5817889039/in/photolist-9S7cHH-zJ9zPE-2oJjbbS-6rBizK-sCNfL-9S7d3v-oaWm2H-9S7cTa-6Bvyke-Mt7Zi-xYcUF-jHSXMq-HADJtb-bkSoNV-FKsJWG-i2a6U-awRhR-5rDjk-HXGfa-4Hvcoa-7bXFoz-aJj3C6-JACfK-676Sdy-a5n4oF-2gpgqwe-2gpgqyt-Mt7H4-zJ888Y-zJe73P-7DqXRz-7DqXRD-5yTsut-c5hc2N-7DqXRg-z4RvdT-2gpgPmD-2giLaP-2gpgPoC-cz2sid-aejj5F-zZAhXW-9BXa-8ne2Qj-6oHhYd-Q6NDF-6NDk4k-zYrgaA-2gpgqpR-6dq2jU">Nicolas Sanguinetti|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>When bazaar economies are disrupted</h2>
<p>The bazaar facilitates what author Ravi Sundaram terms a “<a href="https://www.routledge.com/Pirate-Modernity-Delhis-Media-Urbanism/Sundaram/p/book/9780415611749">pirate modernity</a>”. These everyday practices of recycling, remixing and copying media products in postcolonial India comprise both benign private consumption trends and more insidious forms of media circulation. Sundaram cites the example of far-right Hindu actors taping vitriolic messages on cassette tapes for broader circulation. </p>
<p>The German artist and author Hito Steyerl talks about “swarm circulation” to describe this kind of unofficial, underground copying. In facilitating this type of pirate economy – that relies on unsteady internet connections and DIY desktop computers bazaars – bazaars represent an alternative infrastructure. This is evident in both the way they spread out and the aesthetic they cultivate. </p>
<p>New business ventures can crop by the side of an existing shop, against a pillar, out on the pavement, down an alleyway. In Lajpat Rai market, I witnessed a young vendor at a desk by the roadside operating an on-the-spot repair station. He used scavenged parts from abandoned machines to fix a customer’s PlayStation 3 console. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A market street seen from above." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/577575/original/file-20240223-26-xz4dqv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Nehru Place.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/acmpix/11958112873">Alan Morgan|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This offers a crucial counterbalance for working-class people in Delhi. Street vendors <a href="https://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/article/mobility-prohibitions-and-shantytown-workers-in-delhi">largely live</a> in the city’s shantytowns or slums where space is at a premium and the threat of demolition is constant. </p>
<p>Further, the very broad range of customers bazaars host nurtures a unique aesthetic. Clothing on sale might feature heaps of accessories, from zippers to rivets. One knock-off garment might boast multiple brand logos. On display counters, you might find 1980s TV games and cassettes alongside the latest gaming consoles. </p>
<p>Dehli’s bazaars do not align with any top-down approach to urbanism that prioritises order and cleanliness over makeshift economies. And precisely because of this, since the 1990s, the government has increasingly cracked down on them. </p>
<p>Sociologist Amita Baviskar uses the term “<a href="https://anthropology.washington.edu/sites/anthropology/files/documents/research/house_uncivilcity_0.pdf">bourgeois environmentalism</a>” to describe these official clean-up operations in Delhi. She underlines that this contemporary characterisation of squatters and street vendors as a “nuisance” reproduces colonial ideas of hygiene and order. British colonisers too initiated clean-up operations in working-class neighbourhoods, citing overcrowding and poor ventilation. </p>
<p>Today, street vendors in Delhi also have to <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2016/1/5/indias-street-vendors-fearful-for-the-future">contend</a> not only with raids but how gentrification is changing local neighbourhoods. Their livelihoods are also under threat from the competition online shopping and e-commerce platforms have posed since the 2010s.</p>
<p>So far, though, people have found ways to adapt. Some are moving away from street-level to occupy similarly informal e-commerce platforms and social media marketplaces.</p>
<p>Delhi’s electronic bazaar are like sponges. They absorb different types of labour and product. They foster processes of dismantling and reassembling. As dynamic public spaces, they are invaluable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211711/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maitrayee Deka does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Contemporary characterisations of squatters and street vendors as a “nuisance” reproduces colonial urbanism ideas of hygiene and order.Maitrayee Deka, Senior Lecturer of Sociology, University of EssexLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2232832024-02-13T16:08:51Z2024-02-13T16:08:51ZLabour scaling back its £28 billion green pledge will impact UK housing – and public health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575302/original/file-20240213-16-cnaxya.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/aerial-drone-sunrise-view-suburban-houses-1079721062">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The UK Labour party has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2024/feb/08/labour-cuts-28bn-green-investment-pledge-by-half#:%7E:text=Labour%20announced%20the%20%C2%A328bn,flood%20defences%20and%20home%20insulation.">announced</a> its intention to reduce <a href="https://theconversation.com/labours-28-billion-green-investment-promise-could-be-watered-down-heres-why-222319">its £28 billion green investment pledge</a> to less than £15 billion if elected this year. The political fallout has been been largely focused on the party’s fiscal credibility and leader of the opposition Keir Starmer’s seeming proclivity for <a href="https://www.politico.eu/article/keir-starmer-labour-party-uk-election-u-turns/">U-turns</a>. </p>
<p>A crucial question so far overlooked is what impact the cut would have on <a href="https://theconversation.com/healthy-cities-arent-a-question-of-boring-or-exciting-buildings-but-about-creating-better-public-space-220456">public health</a>. The initial pledge included a key home-insulation plan to upgrade 72% – 19m homes – of the UK’s housing stock. </p>
<p>The revised plan, however, replaces that ambitious target with the more ambiguous statement that “millions of homes” will be refurbished. <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07352166.2023.2260029">Research</a> has long shown that uninsulated homes have consequences for health, especially for those living in poverty and in poor quality housing. This in turn places <a href="https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/public-health/articles/10.3389/fpubh.2023.1070200/full">an extra burden</a> on an already over-stretched health service.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A constructionn site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/575304/original/file-20240213-16-hkrvur.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Labour plans to build 1.5 million homes.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/construction-new-houses-england-ground-1190120185">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Existing government failure</h2>
<p>The wider societal cost of poor-quality housing in the UK is estimated at <a href="https://www.brebookshop.com/details.jsp?id=327671">£18.6 billion a year</a>. Such costs, however, are often ignored when housing policy is being developed and implemented. </p>
<p>Labour promises to deliver 1.5 million homes by “<a href="https://labour.org.uk/updates/press-releases/how-not-if-labour-will-jump-start-planning-to-build-1-5-million-homes-and-save-the-dream-of-homeownership/">blitzing</a>” the planning system, but it has so far ignored the potential consequences for public health.</p>
<p>Of course, the failure to factor in health is by no means unique to Labour policy. It is already embedded in the government’s approach. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2023.2260029">A recent academic review</a> of government housing and transport policy found that health is notably absent, despite well-established evidence that urban spaces are making us ill. This shows that on the occasions where health is included, it is lower in a hierarchy of priorities compared to other agendas such as growing the economy. </p>
<p>For many years, government housing policy has been shaped by the numeric gap between supply and demand, rather than the type or quality of the housing stock. The mechanisms for delivering have been based on land release and planning reform. Successive housing policies have mentioned involving communities and supporting their health, social, and cultural wellbeing. But there have been no clear targets for ensuring house retrofit and house building positively impact public health.</p>
<p>In his 2010 independent review on how to reduce
health inequalities in England, epidemiologist Michael Marmot <a href="https://www.instituteofhealthequity.org/resources-reports/fair-society-healthy-lives-the-marmot-review/fair-society-healthy-lives-full-report-pdf.pdf">showed</a> that prioritising health in urban policies, like housing and transport, can have significant health benefits for local populations. </p>
<p><a href="https://truud.ac.uk/briefings/">Our research project has shown</a> that health should be made a central factor in all national policy and guidance that shapes urban spaces. The World Health Organization <a href="https://unhabitat.org/global-report-on-urban-health-equitable-healthier-cities-for-sustainable-development">recommends</a> explicitly including health in housing policy – and tracking its impact with recognised metrics. UK politicians have largely failed to respond.</p>
<h2>Promising developments</h2>
<p>In addition to positive developments in government, such as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/groups/building-better-building-beautiful-commission">Build Back Beautiful Commission</a>, the opposition also has some promising ambitions. Labour is pledging to deliver a <a href="https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mission-Public-Services.pdf">“prevention-first revolution”</a>, in which it envisions a pro-active role for government in ensuring that everybody has the building blocks for a healthy life. </p>
<p>In its mission document for health policy, Labour says that retrofitting of millions of homes will “keep families warm rather than living in damp, mouldy conditions that give their children asthma”. The fact that the party is making explicit this link between housing and health signal is a potentially very positive step forward. </p>
<p>However, in all the furore about Labour scrapping its £28 billion pledge, this crucial link to public health has been entirely forgotten. Indeed, while Labour’s environmental policy has been carefully updated to revise and remove various targets, the preventative health agenda retains the now defunct promise to “<a href="https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Mission-Public-Services.pdf#page=13">oversee retrofitting of 19 million homes</a>”. This is perhaps indicative of the extent to which policymakers just don’t think about health when they think about housing. </p>
<p>While the Conservative pledges for the next parliament remain unclear, analysis of their existing policies in government <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/07352166.2023.2260029">has found</a> a failure to think about or measure the way housing and urban development policis impact health. Instead, it is merely assumed that housing policies will have positive health outcomes. Rather than making such assumptions, policymakers should be putting public health considerations at the centre of all their decision making. </p>
<p>To ensure that the impact any given policy has on public health is <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhcJN2WKAvo&t=76s">measured</a> and <a href="https://truud.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/D2900_Walton_Truud-report_Health-evidence-in-a-complex-system__v3.pdf">acted upon</a>, health needs to be an explicit urban planning policy outcome. It needs to be clearly defined, measurable, and built into policy implementation and political discourse.</p>
<p>It is also important that different government ministries and relevant stakeholders focused on public health, planning and the environment work together more effectively. Unhealthy homes should be a priority for both the housing minister and the health minister. </p>
<p>Healthier people are more economically productive. They have a smaller financial footprint on the NHS. In the long term, better preventative health is a key part of solving some of the UK’s biggest economic challenges, from labour shortages and sluggish productivity growth to stretched public finances. </p>
<p>Too often government policy is not often designed with the long-term in mind. Instead, short-term economic outcomes and political gains <a href="https://blogs.bath.ac.uk/iprblog/2023/10/24/uk-government-climate-policy-developments-leave-a-health-shaped-gap/">are prioritised</a> – to the detriment of public health. </p>
<p>The best way for the government to protect public health is for every department to consider how their work impacts on it. If political and economic calculations about creating, scrapping and rescaling major projects continue to ignore health, however, politicians are likely to continue coming up with the wrong answers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223283/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research comes from the TRUUD project, a research programme based at the University of Bristol, that aims to reduce non-communicable disease (such as cancers, diabetes, obesity, mental ill-health and respiratory illness) and health inequalities linked to the quality of urban planning and development for use in discussions with government and the developer industry.
The TRUUD research project (<a href="https://truud.ac.uk/">https://truud.ac.uk/</a>) is funded by the the UK Prevention Research Partnership (<a href="https://ukprp.org/">https://ukprp.org/</a>).</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Geoff Bates receives funding as part of the TRUUD research project (<a href="https://truud.ac.uk/">https://truud.ac.uk/</a>), which is funded by the the UK Prevention Research Partnership (<a href="https://ukprp.org/">https://ukprp.org/</a>).</span></em></p>Too often government policy is not designed with the long-term in mind. Instead, short-term economic outcomes and political gains are prioritised - to the detriment of public health.Jack Newman, Research Fellow, School for Policy Studies, University of BristolGeoff Bates, Lecturer in Social Policy, Research Fellow, University of BathLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2207402024-02-07T13:26:16Z2024-02-07T13:26:16ZGhana: Kumasi city’s unplanned boom is destroying two rivers – sewage, heavy metals and chemical pollution detected<p>Ghana’s urban population has <a href="https://www.worldbank.org/en/news/opinion/2015/05/14/rising-through-cities-in-ghana-the-time-for-action-is-now-to-fully-benefit-from-the-gains-of-urbanization">more than tripled</a> in the past three decades, from 4 million to nearly 14 million people. Competition for land in cities has increased among various land uses. These trends have led to encroachment in ecologically sensitive areas such as wetlands.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Kumasi">Kumasi</a>, Ghana’s second largest city, has a high level of encroachment and this has led to the pollution of water bodies. Kumasi’s population growth has been rapid because of its central and strategic location and its functions as a major commercial, traditional and administrative centre. In 2022, the <a href="https://worldpopulationreview.com/world-cities/kumasi-population">population of Kumasi</a> was 3,630,326 with a growth rate of 4.02%. The city’s growth puts pressure on its natural assets.</p>
<p>As scholars of urban planning and chemistry, we conducted a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19463138.2022.2146121">study</a> in the <a href="https://www.luspa.gov.gh/media/plan/EIJR13206_Greater_Kumasi_01.pdf">greater Kumasi metropolis</a> to understand the extent of encroachment and pollution of two rivers, Subin and Wiwi. We wanted to understand how cities can be developed and functional without destroying natural resources. We also wanted to know more about the extent of water pollution, land-use dynamics and water resources regulations, and how they influence the quality of water resources. </p>
<p>We found that people were building homes in informal settlements along the rivers. Liquid and solid waste was being dumped into the rivers. People were using land on the river banks for agriculture and industrial activities, which had a negative effect on water quality. </p>
<p>We recommend that the city authorities monitor what is happening better and do more to prevent degradation of Kumasi’s water bodies.</p>
<h2>Effects of land use on the quality of water bodies</h2>
<p>We discovered that, in the greater Kumasi metropolis, more land alongside the rivers was being used for industrial, residential and commercial purposes than for green spaces. City authorities were ineffective in controlling development in these areas despite the fact that <a href="https://www.luspa.gov.gh/media/document/ZONING_GUIDELINES_final_DESIGN.pdf">Ghana’s zoning guidelines</a> say there should be a buffer of 100 feet (30 metres) along water bodies. </p>
<p>Land values in Kumasi are increasing due to rapid urban growth, but values are lower for wetlands. This difference has contributed to city residents building in wetlands. Also, the intense pressure of urbanisation on the available land has resulted in a <a href="https://www.modernghana.com/news/483045/wetlands-in-kumasi-metropolis-under-siege.html">high level of encroachment</a> in wetlands. The study revealed that 35.4% of the land uses within the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/River-Wiwi-and-some-other-streams-that-drain-the-Kumasi-Metropolis-Department-of_fig2_257939998">River Wiwi</a> buffers were residential development. </p>
<p>This research further confirmed that the Wiwi and Subin rivers had been heavily polluted with faecal coliforms over the years. <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/nursing-and-health-professions/fecal-coliform">Coliform counts</a> are an indicator of possible faecal contamination, and reflect hygiene standards. </p>
<p>The mean of the coliform counts surpassed the limits of 400 total coliforms/100ml and 10 faecal coliforms/100ml allowed by the <a href="https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9241546743">World Health Organization standard</a>. The two rivers are extremely polluted with faecal matter. </p>
<p>The research also confirmed that heavy metals in the water bodies were above the <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK535301/table/ch8.tab2/">WHO’s recommended standard</a> of 0.01mg/litre. For example, the average concentration of lead (Pb) recorded in the Wiwi and Subin rivers was 0.018–0.031 mg/l and 0.035–0.055, respectively. Exposure to lead is <a href="https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/lead-poisoning-and-health">dangerous</a> to health. </p>
<p>As a result of limited investment in sewage plants, most of the city’s untreated waste water is discharged into the surface water bodies. This has implications for the quality and sustainability of these water bodies. </p>
<p>The study also showed that some city residents dump their <a href="https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/features/Resolving-dying-water-bodies-Dealing-with-waste-pollutants-through-lucrative-means-569358">waste near the city’s wetlands</a>. During heavy rains, the refuse runs off into the water, affecting water quality and flow. </p>
<p>The inability of city authorities to enforce land-use regulations and legislation has allowed people to carry out agricultural activities close to the rivers. The use of agrochemicals threatens aquatic habitats. Chemicals such as pesticides, herbicides and fertilisers are likely to seep or be washed into the rivers. The use of polluted water from the rivers for irrigation also poses a threat to human health. </p>
<p>The industrial activities along the water bodies include washing bays, auto-mechanical activities, welding and wood processing. These pose a threat of chemical pollution due to likely seepage of petroleum products into the water.</p>
<h2>Time for Kumasi to wake up</h2>
<p>The development of sustainable cities relies on the ability of city authorities to plan for social, environmental and economic growth. Urban growth can coexist with natural resources if human activities located near water bodies don’t threaten their quality and continued existence. </p>
<p>Our study shows that Kumasi has developed with little regard for its natural assets. This is a threat to the city’s sustainability. City authorities ought to put in place measures to clean the water bodies and convert buffer areas into parks and green spaces. Environmentally friendly urban agriculture can also be promoted along the water bodies. </p>
<p>Activities such as disposal of liquid and solid waste must be stopped. <a href="https://www.lse.ac.uk/granthaminstitute/explainers/what-is-the-polluter-pays-principle/#:%7E:text=The%20%27polluter%20pays%27%20principle%20is,human%20health%20or%20the%20environment">The “polluter must pay” principle</a> must be applied to people who contravene environmental regulations. </p>
<p>Urban centres in Ghana need a water resource management policy. Regulatory institutions such as the Physical Planning Department and the <a href="https://www.epa.gov.gh/epa/">Environmental Protection Agency</a> should be restructured and equipped to respond to emerging complex environmental problems in cities. There should be continuous environmental monitoring and regulations must be strictly enforced. The <a href="https://westindiacommittee.org/historyheritageculture/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Contents-and-Introduction.pdf">River Thames Policing model</a> in the UK can be adopted to ensure the continuous monitoring of the water bodies. To monitor and enforce the zoning regulations, city authorities and policy-makers must invest in technologies such as drones. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.luspa.gov.gh/media/document/ZONING_GUIDELINES_final_DESIGN.pdf">Zoning Guideline and Planning Standards</a> provide standard setback average distances for a buffer zone of 50–100 feet from the water bodies. We recommend that the buffer should rather be 100 feet (30 metres) away from the wetland. The wetlands are an important <a href="https://www.ramsar.org/sites/default/files/documents/library/services_00_e.pdf">ecosystem service</a> that needs to be protected. Ecologically sensitive areas that are 100 feet away from wetlands should be compulsorily acquired as natural assets for the public interest.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220740/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The inability of city authorities to enforce land-use regulations has allowed people to carry out ecologically unfriendly activities along the water bodies.Stephen Appiah Takyi, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Owusu Amponsah, Senior Lecturer, Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2210162024-01-30T19:10:25Z2024-01-30T19:10:25ZParking apps are sweeping Australia’s cities. Here’s what you may not know about them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571826/original/file-20240129-25-kmnd7y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=672%2C5%2C2915%2C2006&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How much land does a car need?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/overhead-aerial-view-crowded-public-parking-755276542">pisaphotography/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Parking, and the enormous amount of space we cede to it, is undergoing two revolutions. The first is the rise of parking apps. The second is a reckoning with <a href="https://theconversation.com/empty-car-parks-everywhere-but-nowhere-to-park-how-cities-can-do-better-99031">whether we really need so much parking</a>, and what else we could do with all that space.</p>
<p>In the middle of both revolutions sit drivers. Apps like <a href="https://easypark.com.au/">EasyPark</a>, <a href="https://site.cellopark.com.au/">CellOPark</a> and <a href="https://www.paystay.com.au/">PayStay</a> promise efficiency through pay-as-you-go parking, adjusted to the minute and location via a smartphone app.</p>
<p>Drivers avoid the fuss of meters and overpaid or overrun tickets, and parking operators get easy-to-monitor databases. Meanwhile, app providers take a handsome per-session fee in the order of 5–12%, depending on the provider.</p>
<p>Councils and campuses have been sold the trick, festooning parking signs with QR codes, “parking is changing” declarations, and discreet signals of outsourced responsibility. </p>
<p>But who is behind these apps? Are we getting a good bargain? And what does it mean for us and our cities?</p>
<h2>Rise of the parking apps</h2>
<p>Parking apps have been around since the 2000s, with the Australian market picking up strongly in the last five years. Three of the most common apps are EasyPark, CellOPark and PayStay. In New South Wales, there is also a government-backed app, <a href="https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/transaction/download-the-parknpay-app">Park'nPay</a>.</p>
<p>EasyPark is a <a href="https://easyparkgroup.com/our-story/">Scandinavian export</a>, now owned by private equity firm <a href="https://www.vitruvianpartners.com/archives/investment/easypark">Vitruvian Partners</a>. Tactically, EasyPark Australia’s spread through a city can feel like a stack of dominoes. In Perth, the app popped up in a string of outer councils before closing in on the prized centres of <a href="https://www.stirling.wa.gov.au/your-city/news/2019/november/parking-in-the-city-is-about-to-get-easier-with-ea">Stirling</a> and <a href="https://perth.wa.gov.au/en/news-and-updates/all-news/paying-for-parking-in-the-city-of-perth-just-got-even-easier">Perth</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pink parking sign that states 'Pay by Phone EasyPark'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571832/original/file-20240129-25-sl38e6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">EasyPark is one of several parking app providers in Australia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Conversation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Encircled by EasyPark’s magenta signs, the service’s <a href="https://www.uwa.edu.au/about-us/location-and-campuses/campus-services/transport-and-parking/easypark">most recent adoptee</a> is the University of Western Australia (the author’s home institution). Their competitor CellOPark didn’t get a look in, despite <a href="https://smartercity.com.au/case-studies/#post-3380">operating in the state for over a decade</a>, including just down the road at Curtin University. </p>
<p>Australian-headquartered CellOPark services over 75% of Australian universities <a href="https://site.cellopark.com.au/tariffs/">offering a parking app</a>. Its service fee is <a href="https://site.cellopark.com.au/tariffs/">6%</a> to EasyPark’s <a href="https://easypark.com.au/help/en_au/2650">11.5%</a>, and it integrates directly with university authentication systems.</p>
<h2>Terms of the bargain</h2>
<p>App providers deserve payment as much as the next business. But parking apps strike deals that go beyond convenience, so we need to assess them fully and transparently.</p>
<p>The NSW Department of Customer Service recently learned this when it was <a href="https://www.themandarin.com.au/236623-parking-meter-app-contract-lacked-transparency-value/">slammed by NSW’s Auditor-General</a> for dealings with Duncan Solutions (developer of Park'nPay). The auditor cited <a href="https://www.audit.nsw.gov.au/our-work/reports/procurement-of-services-for-the-parknpay-app">no evidence of “value for money</a>” and a rushed procurement process.</p>
<p>There are several key considerations. The first – parking apps generate honeypots of detailed information on people and their movements. This presents new privacy costs and risks, as experienced by EasyPark’s European customers when home addresses, phone numbers, emails, scrambled passwords and partial financial information were stolen in a <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/dec/26/hackers-steal-customer-data-europe-parking-app-easypark-ringgo-parkmobile">December 2023 hack</a>. (The company claims <a href="https://www.easypark.com/en-nl/comm">no parking data was accessed</a> in the breach.)</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-are-there-so-many-data-breaches-a-growing-industry-of-criminals-is-brokering-in-stolen-data-193015">Why are there so many data breaches? A growing industry of criminals is brokering in stolen data</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Those wanting to offer parking apps must determine precisely what data the apps collect, where it goes and what is done with it. They should conduct thorough risk assessments on potential data misuse. Preferably apps should maintain customer and location information encrypted and on-device, reducing the risk of improper third-party access.</p>
<p>Second, we need proper “value for money” assessments to address how parking apps cut into public revenue without significantly reducing costs (parking inspectors still patrol, and digital meters still need maintenance). Councils and campuses must publicly justify the trade-off – money paid to app providers reduces budgets for building public amenities or supporting core business.</p>
<p>In sum, there should be complete, public assessment of the financial, privacy, access and inclusion implications of adopting parking apps. To prevent underhanded dealing, councils and campuses should also enable open competition between apps, as <a href="https://mosman.nsw.gov.au/news/council-news/parking-apps">Mosman Council has done</a> in Sydney.</p>
<h2>Parking is primal and paradoxical</h2>
<p>Beyond data privacy and revenue implications, there is a more fundamental matter. Parking apps have a vested interest in an abundance of parking, it’s their core business.</p>
<p>But one of the most significant economic and environmental revolutions underway in cities is a radical reassessment of what we’ve sacrificed in pursuit of parking.</p>
<p>If we want long-term thinking about how to <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-australian-cities-need-post-covid-vision-not-free-parking-150380">rescue</a> and <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262539784/owning-the-street/">reimagine</a> cities, we need to think beyond the apps.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/freeing-up-the-huge-areas-set-aside-for-parking-can-transform-our-cities-85331">Freeing up the huge areas set aside for parking can transform our cities</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In the past two decades, urban planning scholars have revealed a number of stunning <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-High-Cost-of-Free-Parking-Updated-Edition/Shoup/p/book/9781932364965">truths about drivers and cities</a>. Landmark <a href="https://www.monash.edu/mada/architecture/people/elizabeth-taylor">Australian</a> <a href="https://www.sydney.edu.au/architecture/about/our-people/academic-staff/rebecca-clements.html">research</a> and <a href="https://davidmepham.wordpress.com/about/">books</a> show that parking is primal and paradoxical.</p>
<p>Every driver <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/15/cant-find-a-parking-spot-meet-the-planner-who-wants-to-make-it-much-harder">feels they deserve “rockstar” parking</a>, ideally right at their destination, secure and free – and they’re aggrieved if they can’t have it. Behind the wheel, we assume a universal impatience, intolerance and entitlement. It simmers above the unspoken anxiety of <em>not being able to park</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A street with small trees in bloom and cars down both sides" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/571827/original/file-20240129-25-8o47a5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A quiet street tightly lined with parked cars, like this one in Footscray, Melbourne, is a common sight in many Australian suburbs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/suburban-street-many-cars-parked-line-751413997">doublelee/Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since the 1950s, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-elephant-in-the-planning-scheme-how-cities-still-work-around-the-dominance-of-parking-space-87098">cities have been defined</a> by their valiant efforts to cater to these base instincts.</p>
<p>We have paved them with carparks, <a href="https://soundcloud.com/natalie-osborne-649187211/sets/forms-of-assembly-car-park-tour-of-inner-bne">relinquishing wetlands, parklands and foreshores</a>. We have foregone housing and public amenities, all to ensure optimal storage of high-emissions private property.</p>
<p>Superficially, better managing the supply of parking presents a perfect union with parking apps. Real-time management is just the kind of technocratic petri dish where apps love to breed.</p>
<p>Yet scratch the surface and you’ll find the apps are locking in the status quo. They further subordinate people and places to the primacy of parking.</p>
<p>The great paradox is that while parking is both objectively abundant and an exorbitant tax on everyone, no driver is satisfied. So we build more parking, and download more apps, and our cities become less liveable.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/of-all-the-problems-our-cities-need-to-fix-lack-of-car-parking-isnt-one-of-them-116179">Of all the problems our cities need to fix, lack of car parking isn't one of them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julia Powles' research centre, the UWA Tech & Policy Lab, receives support from nationally competitive research grants. She was not involved in her employer's engagement of EasyPark as the University's parking provider.</span></em></p>Paying for your parking via an app promises ease and efficiency. But we are entering a bargain with unclear terms around data privacy and public revenue.Julia Powles, Associate Professor of Law and Technology; Director, UWA Tech & Policy Lab, Law School, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2215402024-01-26T17:58:02Z2024-01-26T17:58:02ZHow cars and road infrastructure became part of the UK’s culture wars<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570950/original/file-20240123-21-23bz6q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/motorway-complex-road-junction-aerial-view-1198012252">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When government ministers began <a href="https://committees.parliament.uk/committee/127/public-accounts-committee/news/198260/active-travel-government-programme-offtrack-as-funding-reductions-hold-back-progress/">to defund</a> cycling and walking infrastructure in England in 2023, climate campaigners were confused. It marked a significant shift in transport policy and seemed at odds with the government’s own targets to <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-cut-emissions-from-transport-ban-fossil-fuel-cars-electrify-transport-and-get-people-walking-and-cycling-154363">reduce carbon emissions</a> from road transport. </p>
<p>But a recent <a href="https://transportactionnetwork.org.uk/campaign/legal-action/cwis2-legal-challenge/">legal challenge</a> led by sustainable transport campaigning group Transport Action Network has shown that this ministerial decision-making was driven, in part, by <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/10/shift-from-15-minute-cities-in-england-partly-due-to-conspiracy-theories">conspiracy theories</a>.</p>
<p>Urban planners have long devised schemes to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213624X22000281">discourage people</a> from using their cars for short trips. Initiatives including 15-minute cities, low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) and ultra-low emissions zones (Ulez) are designed to <a href="https://theconversation.com/cycling-is-ten-times-more-important-than-electric-cars-for-reaching-net-zero-cities-157163">promote more active forms of travel</a>. </p>
<p>The aim is to reduce traffic congestion and toxic pollution and the negative impacts both have on residents’ <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/5.16%20Congestion_report_v03.pdf">quality of life</a> and health. Less car use is also widely recognised as one of the most effective ways to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/apr/16/12-most-effective-ways-cars-cities-europe">combat the climate crisis</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Protestors with colourful banners and posters." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570945/original/file-20240123-23-qhzyhz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">People protesting the Ulez expansion in Uxbridge, in 2023.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/uxbridge-london-9-july-2023-people-2330803717">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Yet, in the wake of COVID-19, these simple measures have become entangled with anti-lockdown conspiracy theories. They have been <a href="https://www.thebureauinvestigates.com/stories/2023-10-04/what-is-the-15-minute-cities-conspiracy-theory">misconstrued</a> as restrictions on people’s basic freedoms. According to this misinformation, the measures could lead to outright bans on car driving, residents being imprisoned in small areas and even people being prevented from leaving their homes at certain times of day. </p>
<p>These theories are <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/conservative-party-conference-15-minute-cities-mark-harper-conspiracy/">fiction, not fact</a>. But they are nonetheless born of a national context in which public transport provision is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/aug/06/bus-neglect-national-failure-public-policy-motorists">failing</a>. For many people across the UK – particularly outside of London – <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/transport-statistics-great-britain-2022/transport-statistics-great-britain-2022-domestic-travel">car travel</a> is not simply the preferred means of mobility: it is their only viable option.</p>
<p>In my recent book, <a href="https://lwbooks.co.uk/product/the-broken-promise-of-infrastructure">The Broken Promise of Infrastructure</a>, I show that belief in these conspiracy theories is driven, in part, by plummeting public confidence in government. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2024/jan/16/uk-wasting-tens-of-billions-on-crumbling-infrastructure-and-badly-run-projects">Wasteful spending</a> and unprecedented levels of <a href="https://www.economist.com/by-invitation/2023/07/10/mathew-lawrence-on-why-privatisation-has-been-a-costly-failure-in-britain">privatisation</a> have weakened Britain’s basic infrastructure through disrepair and neglect, lack of reinvestment and accountability, and endemic mismanagement. Repeated broken promises – including the failures of “levelling up” – have, in turn, eroded the population’s faith in national government. <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/wellbeing/bulletins/trustingovernmentuk/2022">In 2022</a>, only 35% of people surveyed said they trusted government, well below the average for high-income countries.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Bikes and bike shadows on a cycle path." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570943/original/file-20240123-19-a391ox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The benefits of active travel have been overshadowed by electoral strategies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/black-metal-fence-on-gray-concrete-pavement-VzeXmOkLf20">Nick Page|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Political rhetoric</h2>
<p>At the Conservative party conference in September 2023, the secretary of state for transport, Mark Harper, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66990302">gave credence</a> to the evidently false notion that 15-minute cities meant “local councils can decide how often you go to the shops”.</p>
<p>A few days earlier, <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/24208749/rishi-sunak-car-drivers-ltn-speed-scheme/">Prime Minister Rishi Sunak had claimed</a> in a high-profile interview with the Sun newspaper, that such policies didn’t “reflect the values of Britain”. He promised to “slam the breaks on the war on motorists”. </p>
<p>These strange rhetorical appeals to conspiracy theories are driven, in part, by crude political strategy. Amid a wave of by-election defeats in 2023, the Tories <a href="https://theconversation.com/byelection-losses-are-terrible-for-the-conservatives-but-there-are-glimmers-of-hope-209902">held on to Uxbridge</a> partly because of local opposition to the expansion of London’s Ulez. </p>
<p>In reality, the Uxbridge vote was determined as much by <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/uxbridge-south-ruislip-ulez-expansion-sadiq-khan-conservative-labour/">low turnout</a> as it was by Ulez. The electoral potential of this opposition to anti-car policies in a national contest is <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/a6e5875f-666b-46d3-9cc6-b0e78302994d">ambiguous</a>, at best. Sunak has nonetheless sought to capitalise on any vote-winning policy issue he can find, even if it further damages public trust in government.</p>
<p>But there is a bigger story here, alluded to by Sunak when he <a href="https://twitter.com/RishiSunak/status/1685582472262602752?lang=en">tweeted</a>, in July 2023, “Talking about freedom, sat in Margaret Thatcher’s old Rover… it’s why I’m reviewing anti-car schemes across the country.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1685582472262602752"}"></div></p>
<p>In the 1980s, Margaret Thatcher advocated an ideological connection between the deregulation of markets and the expansion of car use. She <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2011/oct/28/m25-london-orbital-margaret-thatcher-25">opened</a> the M25 motorway two days after the “<a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-37751599">big bang</a>”, an agreement between her government and the London Stock Exchange which unleashed unprecedented deregulatory measures on finance capital. </p>
<p>The freeholds on motorway service stations were some of the first publicly owned assets that Thatcher privatised. Meanwhile, her notorious 1989 white paper, titled <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/supadu-imgix/plutopress-uk/pdfs/look-inside/LI-9781786807991.pdf">Roads for Prosperity</a>, committed to “the biggest road-building programme since the Romans”. At a cost of £6 billion, it more than doubled the road budget at the time, not shrinking but expanding state intervention. </p>
<p>Since the 2010s, successive Conservative governments have repeatedly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0967070X18308424">resurrected</a> Thatcher’s ideological obsession with cars. In 2011, the then transport secretary, Philip Hammond, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/government-proposes-80mph-motorway-speed-limit">argued</a> that the five minutes gained by travelling at 80mph rather than 70mph along a motorway provide a boost to the economy in the same way as a tax exemption or subsidy. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A vintage photo of cars on an English motorway." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570937/original/file-20240123-29-zxmqv2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The UK government has long used car travel as a political tool.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-couple-of-cars-that-are-sitting-in-the-street-iY-h-LErD_0">Crispin Jones|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>More recently, during her successful campaign to become prime minister, Liz Truss <a href="https://www.thesun.co.uk/motors/19671673/liz-truss-consider-scrapping-70mph-speed-limits-motorways/">suggested</a> doing away with the 70mph speed limit on Britain’s motorways. Once she took office, this was followed by her disastrous mini-budget, which, not coincidentally, aimed to deregulate finance and stimulate a second “big bang”. </p>
<p>The road safety experts who took Truss seriously <a href="https://www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/uk-news/liz-truss-plan-scrap-motorway-24933673">pointed out</a> pressing dangers, from increased fatalities to rising emissions. But this response misses the populist appeal that political advocates of the free market are trying to achieve through pro-car rhetoric. </p>
<p>In connecting the individual autonomy that car travel enables to neoliberal economic policies, these advocates are wielding the feelings of freedom elicted by the <a href="https://www.matthewbcrawford.com/why-we-drive">“open road”</a>. In this way, they are spreading the idea that government intervention of any kind is an infringement on individual liberty. </p>
<p>This ignores the crucial role that government has always had in building and maintaining the country’s roads. It also deflects attention from Britain’s crumbling transport infrastructure. Instead of demanding the <a href="https://tribunemag.co.uk/2023/10/public-transport-is-a-disaster-but-it-could-be-a-panacea">state intervene</a> to fix things, this strategy deliberately casts intervention itself as the problem. </p>
<p>Most dangerously, it makes cynical use of conspiracy theories. These often take root in <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/25369/chapter-abstract/192470181?redirectedFrom=fulltext">disempowered communities</a>. Turning infrastructure into a politically expedient culture war issue <a href="https://www.redpepper.org.uk/political-parties-and-ideologies/conservative-party/levelling-up-is-part-of-the-culture-war/">only serves</a> to further disempower those most in need of its improvement. </p>
<p>The car has turned from a private convenience into a public nuisance. If the government is serious about improving people’s lives, it should increase investment in affordable public transport and accessible walking and cycling infrastructure. This is what will empower communities to take back control of their neighbourhoods.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221540/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dominic Davies does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Conspiracy theories about urban planning are born of a national context in which public transport provision is failingDominic Davies, Senior Lecturer in English, City, University of LondonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2184952024-01-22T20:42:47Z2024-01-22T20:42:47ZDespite legislative progress, accessible cities remain elusive<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566380/original/file-20231218-29-jo501r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5755%2C3833&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Textured surfaces on city pavements can help make public space more accessible to disabled persons.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/despite-legislative-progress-accessible-cities-remain-elusive" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Amid a complex web of disability civil rights legislation in Canada and the <a href="https://www.ada.gov/">United States</a>, one could easily be lulled into thinking that the work is done. Some of this legislation is now <a href="http://www.ccdonline.ca/en/humanrights/promoting/20years">several decades old</a>; more recent additions include <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/110191">accessible design standards and guidelines</a> and barrier-free elements of <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/120332">building codes</a>.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://accessnow.com/moca/">if only this were true</a>. Watching Toronto and other cities in North America work on accessibility feels a bit like watching a snail moving through molasses: the best route is unclear, progress is slow and they often become stuck.</p>
<h2>Paratransit</h2>
<p>Access to safe and reliable public transit is one such problem. For example, many of the issues <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839919888484">plaguing paratransit (ideally on-demand, door-to-door service for disabled persons) today</a> — unacceptably long wait times, having to plan and schedule days in advance, service costs, convoluted trip regulations, failing to pick people up — are often as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1524839919888484">old as the services themselves</a>. </p>
<p>It’s perhaps hard to imagine, but it could get worse. Data from the <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/89-654-x/89-654-x2021002-eng.htm">2017 Canadian Survey on Disability</a> indicate that nearly 18 per cent of <em>housebound</em> disabled persons report the absence of transport service as the cause — they have somewhere to go, but no way to get there.</p>
<p>New York City, Toronto and Montréal have underground public transit. These systems share a checkered past where disability is concerned. Time and time again, each system has been the site of disability activism, litigation, accessibility retrofit, cycles of investment progress and delay, and what I call last-millimetre problems.</p>
<p>In New York City, it took multiple <a href="https://new.mta.info/accessibility/ada-settlement-notice">class-action lawsuits</a> filed by disabled persons to get the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) to launch a multi-decade accessibility plan. This included a promise to stop renovating stations in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), the <a href="https://www.eeoc.gov/rehabilitation-act-1973-original-text">Rehabilitation Act of 1973</a> and <a href="https://www.nyc.gov/site/cchr/law/the-law.page">New York City Human Rights Law</a>. </p>
<p>Seven years on, an August 2017 article in the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/31/nyregion/nyc-subway-accessible-disabled.html"><em>New York Times</em></a> reported on the MTA’s stalled progress and justifiable skepticism on the part of disabled passengers.</p>
<p>The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) is in the midst of a promising multi-year <a href="https://www.ttc.ca/accessibility/Accessible-Transit-Services-Plan">Accessible Transit Services Plan</a>. The plan includes accessibility retrofit of many stations built before the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/05a11">2005 Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA)</a> became law. These are massive infrastructure projects with hefty price tags.</p>
<p>Symptomatic of a much broader failure across the province to meet AODA’s 2025 deadline, implementation of the TTC’s accessibility plan is behind schedule. In the most recent <a href="https://files.ontario.ca/msaa-fourth-review-of-aoda-final-report-en-2023-06-30.pdf">AODA progress review</a>, Rich Donovan, CEO of The Return on Disability Group, declared a state of crisis following “17 years of missed opportunities,” “minimal change in accessibility” and reports of terrible accessibility experiences across the province.</p>
<p>Looking back reveals a deep history of transit <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/montreal-metro-50-years-criticism-1.3804756">criticism and activism in Montréal</a>. In 1988, members of the American Disabled for Accessible Public Transit (ADAPT) protested poor transit accessibility during the <a href="https://adaptmuseum.net/gallery/index.php?/category/24">American Public Transit Association (APTA) meetings held in Montréal</a>. This occurred two years before the iconic “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/22/us/ada-disabilities-act-history.html">Capitol Crawl</a>” in Washington, D.C. where, tired of congressional inertia, disabled protesters climbed the steps of the Capitol to push for the immediate passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/stSkqzI9mKY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A 2009 documentary about disabled persons’ experiences with Montréal transit.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Montréal’s Société de transport de Montréal (STM) now has a long-range accessibility plan with an <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/stm-metro-accessibility-plan-will-mean-more-elevators-ramps-1.4013361">aspirational end date of 2038</a>. The <a href="https://cutaactu.ca/stm-wins-equity-diversity-and-inclusion-award/">Canadian Urban Transit Association</a>) recently announced STM as the winner of an equity, diversity and inclusion award, noting it has “taken significant steps in enhancing customer accessibility since 2023.”</p>
<h2>The last millimetre problem</h2>
<p>Beyond a now seemingly normalized requirement for disabled persons to hold transit authorities to account, much of the progress underground has focused on elevators.</p>
<p>What I find astounding is the “last millimetre problem” — a wide gap or vertical misalignment between platforms and transit vehicles making it impossible or hazardous for some disabled persons, like my daughter, to get on or off the system. The problem seems to occur most often when newly acquired trains meet up with old stations. </p>
<p>In New York City, a vertical misalignment of up to six inches was reported in at least one MTA station. Gaps across the system have led to <a href="https://amsterdamnews.com/news/2022/10/26/riders-with-disabilities-sue-mta-to-close-the-gap-between-subway-train-and-platform/">more class-action litigation</a>. </p>
<p>As of 2019, the TTC has a subway platform gap retrofit program. Consultation
with its Accessibility Advisory Committee produced tolerances of <a href="https://pw.ttc.ca/-/media/Project/TTC/DevProto/Documents/Home/Public-Meetings/Board/2019/September_24/Reports/8_Subway_Platform_Gap_Retrofit_Program.pdf">89 mm or less and 38 mm or less respectively for horizontal and vertical misalignments</a>. Misalignment problems have also been reported <a href="https://montrealgazette.com/news/local-news/how-some-universally-accessible-montreal-metro-stations-are-not">across multiple Montréal Metro stations</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231175595">Disability as an afterthought</a> makes platform and vehicle retrofit an inconvenient, costly necessity. The technical part of this problem can likely be solved with existing technology, like platform gap fillers and bridge plates. Waiting around for disabled passengers to engage in class-action litigation is not an effective strategy.</p>
<h2>Cycling infrastructure</h2>
<p>The voices of disabled persons have been relegated to the edges of the conversation about active transportation (cycling, walking) and healthy, climate-resilient urban futures.</p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v42i1.8276">Disabled persons ride bikes</a> on and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/2059170883639">off-road</a>. The literature on cycling and disability focuses on <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2017.01.013">planning for the inclusion of disabled cyclists</a>. Due consideration should also be given to interactions between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102896">disabled pedestrians</a> and transport infrastructure in general, including bike lanes. </p>
<p>Recently, a bike lane in Toronto was built level to an adjacent sidewalk, without sufficient aids to alert <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/blind-advocates-toronto-bike-lanes-1.7034433">blind pedestrians</a>. Design solutions exist — the Canadian National Institute for the Blind’s <a href="https://www.cnib.ca/en/sight-loss-info/clearing-our-path?region=on"><em>Clearing Our Path</em></a> suggests various types and applications of tactile walking surface indicators.</p>
<p>Curbside bike lanes can produce other <a href="https://www.toronto.ca/legdocs/mmis/2018/di/comm/communicationfile-79642.pdf">problems for disabled pedestrians</a>. For example, parking spaces adjacent to bike lanes with a step up to the sidewalk can force wheelchair users into the path of bicycles or vehicles.</p>
<p>Cycling infrastructure needs to be inclusive and safe infrastructure.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a bidirectional bike lane" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/570542/original/file-20240122-17-emsqmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A bike lane in downtown Toronto.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Consulting the community</h2>
<p>Research, policy, legislation, design and technologies exist to improve urban accessibility. Despite real progress on both the legislative and infrastructure fronts, the lived experiences of disabled persons continue to highlight serious incongruity between legislation, policies and outcomes.</p>
<p>Accessibility advisory committees are often a requirement of provincial legislation, and enacted at the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/municipal-accessibility-advisory-committees">provincial or municipal levels of government</a>. Transit agencies often have separate committees comprised of community volunteers and agency staff — the <a href="https://www.ttc.ca/about-the-ttc/the-advisory-committee-on-accessible-transit">TTC</a>, <a href="https://new.mta.info/accessibility/ACTA">New York MTA</a> and <a href="https://www.stm.info/en/about/corporate-governance/board-committees/customer-service-and-universal-accessibility-committee">Montréal STM</a> all have committees. </p>
<p>Committee membership criteria should ensure adequate representation from within and across disability communities. Disabled community members should be compensated for sharing their specialized knowledge. </p>
<p>Real accountability, rather than performative empty consultation, should be the order of the day. Accessible cities can only happen when governments and their various agencies deeply listen to and act upon what disabled citizens have to say.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218495/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Buliung does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Decades of activism have resulted in legislation and infrastructure to make cities more accessible, but the lived experiences of disabled residents shows there’s still a long way to go.Ron Buliung, Professor, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2193132024-01-17T19:07:24Z2024-01-17T19:07:24ZThe YIMBY movement is spreading around the world. What does it mean for Australia’s housing crisis?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569700/original/file-20240116-29-trp1q6.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4977%2C2994&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">San Francisco skyline.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Marti Bug Catcher/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>2024 looks set to be another year of rising rents, stalling supply and intense debate over how to respond to the housing crisis. </p>
<p>Occupying an increasingly prominent place in that debate is the YIMBY movement. Short for “Yes, In My Backyard”, YIMBY is a play on the well-known pejorative NIMBY, which has long been applied to residents opposed to change in their local area.</p>
<p>Where did YIMBYism come from? Who are the YIMBYs? How are they reshaping the politics of housing in the 21st century? </p>
<p>These are the questions tackled in sociologist Max Holleran’s book <a href="https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691200224/yes-to-the-city">Yes to the City: Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing</a>. It is, to date, the most authoritative study of the rise of YIMBYism and its spread throughout the United States and beyond.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>Yes to the City: Millennials and the Fight for Affordable Housing – Max Holleran (Princeton University Press)</em></p>
<hr>
<h2>What is YIMBYism?</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=904&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568801/original/file-20240111-27-eoy580.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1136&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>YIMBYism focuses on increasing housing supply, particularly higher-density infill housing, as the solution to housing affordability. It does so by targeting barriers to new construction, such as zoning, <a href="https://theconversation.com/yimbys-and-nimbys-unite-you-can-have-both-heritage-protection-and-more-housing-206765">heritage protections</a> and design standards. </p>
<p>The development and construction industries have long targeted such restrictions. Grassroots organisations and non-profit housing advocates, on the other hand, have focused on measures like social and affordable housing, ending tax concessions for property investors and rent regulation. </p>
<p>YIMBYs take a different approach. They argue that building more housing – even at the upper end of the property market – will improve affordability overall through the process of “<a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/387">filtering</a>” by freeing up more affordable, lower-quality housing.</p>
<p>Thus, Holleran writes, YIMBYs are </p>
<blockquote>
<p>promoting a new framing within the housing debate: concentrating on supply-side mechanisms, working with (not against) developers, and emphasising the rights of middle-class newcomers to wealthy cities. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Who are the YIMBYs?</h2>
<p>Holleran depicts YIMBYism as a mostly white, middle-class movement. It has arisen in cities like San Francisco, Boulder and Austin, where young professionals earn good salaries but face soaring housing costs. </p>
<p>Many YIMBYs work in the booming tech industry, which has helped drive population growth in those cities and contributed to housing pressures. As one of Halloran’s interviewees puts it, YIMBYs </p>
<blockquote>
<p>are often the ones who have done everything right […] the university grads with knowledge-sector jobs, but the prices are so high now they feel like they’ve done something wrong with their lives. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The tech industry has played significant financial, cultural and ideological roles in the growth of YIMBYism – particularly in San Francisco, where the movement originated. Holleran sees a “tech-oriented practicality” among YIMBYs. They pursue a “technocratic insider’s game for the highly educated”. They believe their “ideological flexibility is useful for getting things done”. </p>
<p>Tech corporations have also made <a href="https://www.housingisahumanright.org/inside-game-california-yimby-scott-wiener-and-big-tech-troubling-housing-push/">significant financial contributions</a> to a range of YIMBY organisations and aligned politicians. </p>
<h2>The politics of YIMBY</h2>
<p>YIMBYs often see housing affordability as a conflict between wealthy “baby boomer” homeowners, who purchased property when it was cheaper and often aided by government subsidies, and millennials, who can’t afford to buy due to opposition to new development from those boomer homeowners. </p>
<p>Yet, framing the issue of housing affordability as a conflict between generations can elide its class and race dimensions. This elision has been a source of tension between YIMBY groups and established, racially diverse and working-class anti-gentrification organisations.</p>
<p>The YIMBYs’ call to “build more of everything” has led them to support projects that have replaced cheaper housing with more expensive housing, and displaced existing residents in the process. </p>
<p>San Francisco YIMBYs, for example, initially agreed with anti-gentrification activists to concentrate their efforts on middle- and high-income parts of the city. But they later betrayed this agreement, supporting projects opposed by local activists in the Mission District. </p>
<p>This “showdown” between YIMBYs and anti-gentrification activists is at the heart of Holleran’s book: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The former see themselves as expanding the struggle; the latter think the new focus is missing the crucial goal: helping those in most need. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>This conflict is a useful jumping-off point to consider the implications of the rise of YIMBYism in Australia. </p>
<h2>YIMBYism in Australia</h2>
<p>Yes to the City was written before the establishment of <a href="https://www.greatercanberra.org/">Greater Canberra</a>, <a href="https://www.yimbymelbourne.org.au/">YIMBY Melbourne</a>, <a href="https://www.sydney.yimby.au/">Sydney YIMBY</a>, and the <a href="https://www.housingnow.com.au/">Housing Now!</a> coalition – organisations that have experienced a rapid rise to prominence. Judging by recent reforms in <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/housing/housing-supply">New South Wales, especially</a>, they can claim some success in influencing government policies. </p>
<p>Holleran’s book does, however, discuss the work of <a href="https://thewestsider.com.au/two-sides-of-the-coin-the-launch-housing-project-debate-part-two/">HousingAIM</a> in western Melbourne (AIM stands for “Affordable Inclusive Maribyrnong”). Active in the 2010s, the group was originally named “Yes in Maribyrnong’s Backyard”. </p>
<p>Unlike its US counterparts, HousingAIM concentrated on affordable housing developments. It strove to protect the diverse working-class character of the Melbourne suburb of Footscray, with <a href="https://www.premier.vic.gov.au/building-more-social-housing-melbournes-west">some success</a>. </p>
<p>There are some practical difficulties with the YIMBY formula. Rezoning urban areas for higher density development might increase housing supply and improve affordability eventually. But it will take a long time to have even a <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/387">relatively modest effect</a> and risks <a href="https://theconversation.com/sydney-metros-sydenham-to-bankstown-line-nirvana-or-nightmare-65247">displacing lower-income households</a> into worse housing in the meantime. </p>
<p>Targeting higher-income areas involves fewer displacement risks, but it means focusing on areas where <a href="https://theconversation.com/nimbyism-in-sydney-is-leading-to-racist-outcomes-207204">opposition to new development is strongest</a>.</p>
<p>The popularisation of YIMBYism also carries the risk that governments will present up-zoning as a panacea and continue to ignore other solutions, such as legal protections against evictions and <a href="https://theconversation.com/rent-regulations-are-no-silver-bullet-but-they-would-help-make-renting-fairer-218579">rent increases</a>, ending landlord tax concessions and <a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-the-1-5-million-australians-getting-rent-assistance-need-an-increase-but-more-public-housing-is-the-lasting-fix-for-the-crisis-200908">investment in public housing</a>. </p>
<p>Politicians, including Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and NSW Premier Chris Minns, have repeatedly argued that the key to solving the housing crisis is planning reform to increase supply, by way of fending off these more contentious or costly proposals. </p>
<p>How YIMBY organisations approach these other solutions, and the question of gentrification more broadly, will shape their reception and determine the possibilities for collaboration and alliance building. </p>
<p>Australia’s housing problems show no sign of abating, and the political capital of YIMBYism looks set to grow. How that political capital is expended will have important implications for housing reform and urban life.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/219313/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alistair Sisson has received funding from the Tenants' Union of NSW, Australian Council of Social Service, Shelter NSW, QShelter, National Shelter, Mission Australia and Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute. He is a member of Shelter NSW. </span></em></p>Australia’s housing crisis shows no sign of abating, but planning reforms to increase supply is only part of the solution.Alistair Sisson, Macquarie University Research Fellow, School of Social Sciences, Macquarie UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2204562024-01-10T17:17:49Z2024-01-10T17:17:49ZHealthy cities aren’t a question of boring or exciting buildings but about creating better public space<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568630/original/file-20240110-27-hhywf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Interstate 5 near downtown San Diego, US.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/aerial-view-on-concrete-road-8Nn49K7Snow">Abraham Barrera|Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The US developers of a 300ft glowing orb, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/jan/09/developer-las-vegas-style-sphere-east-london-withdraws-plans">set to be built</a> in the middle of Stratford, east London, and accommodate upwards of 21,500 concert goers, have withdrawn their planning application. </p>
<p>Las Vegas, in the US, already boasts one such venue, known as Sphere. Citing its “extreme” disappointment at London residents not similarly benefiting from what a spokesperson said was its “groundbreaking technology and the thousands of well-paying jobs it would have created”, Madison Square Garden Entertainment (MSG) has decided the British capital is not one of the forward-thinking cities it aims to work with.</p>
<p>Campaigners have responded with glee, not least because, in response to concerns over the proposed structure’s potential noise and light pollution, developers had initially suggested they invest in blackout curtains. “Residents would be served far better by building social housing on the site,” a representative for Stop MSG Sphere London <a href="https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/campaigners-call-for-rejected-msg-sphere-site-to-be-turned-into-social-housing-84023#:%7E:text=London%20mayor%20Sadiq%20Khan%20ruled,negative%20impact%20on%20local%20residents%E2%80%9D.">reportedly said</a>. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Quite how a city both caters to its residents’ needs and sustains its economy is an enduring debate. The tension is between innovation aimed at boosting investment (in this instance, in the entertainment industry) and what urban geographer <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/en-gb/products/917-waste-and-the-city">Colin McFarlne</a> terms the “right to citylife”. </p>
<p>Projects like the Sphere sit on one extreme end of what gets built in a city. The British designer Thomas Heatherwick recently highlighted what he sees as another extreme, though no less harmful: <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/19/demand-interestingness-thomas-heatherwick-rails-against-boring-buildings">“boring buildings”</a>. </p>
<p>In his new book, Humanise – a Maker’s Guide to Building Our world, Heatherwick <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/312740/humanise-by-heatherwick-thomas/9780241389799">says</a> “bland architecture” causes stress, illness, loneliness, fear, division and conflict. Research shows, however, that more than individual buildings, how the city is planned as a whole variously harms or improves people’s lives. </p>
<h2>The city as a complex system</h2>
<p>The physical and social environment of any given city are just two contributing factors in the complex system that shapes residents’ wellbeing. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpsy/article/PIIS2215-0366(21)00047-X/fulltext">Public health research</a> has found a positive, non-linear relationship with a higher prevalence of mental health problems in more urbanised countries, particularly for anxiety disorders. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="People ice-skating outdoors in a city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568627/original/file-20240110-25-bcyhld.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Copenhagen: public space is the very essence of urban life.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/people-on-ice-field-during-daytime-wCP9Mk0iisU">Brian Kyed|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mental health problems now account for over a third of the total burden of disease in adolescents in urban settings. <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(23)02238-9/fulltext">Research</a> shows that, for young people (a significant proportion of urban populations), health and wellbeing constitute major determinants in their future life prospects. </p>
<p>In Humanise, Heatherwick ignores this complexity. The book is a collection of thoughts, ideas, visuals and reflections on the role of contemporary architecture and architects. In it, the designer suggests that the world is facing a “global epidemic of inhuman buildings” and suggests a list of what to do and what not to do to achieve the reverse: “interesting buildings”. </p>
<p>Heatherwick sees cities as collections of buildings, of architectural objects. The problem here, of course, is that the various aesthetic merits of any given structure can be endlessly debated. </p>
<p>Some of Heatherwick’s arguments (“boring places contribute to division and war”; “boring buildings help to cause climate change”) are plainly simplistic. They also beg the question of who decides what is and what isn’t interesting. </p>
<p>As examples of interesting buildings that bolster people’s wellbeing, he cites, among others, the <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/363164/parkroyal-on-pickering-woha-2">Parkroyal Collection hotel in Singapore</a> and the <a href="https://www.ribaj.com/buildings/edgewood-mews-housing-london-north-circular-road-peter-barber-architects">Edgewood Mews housing project</a> in Finchley, north London for their generosity. </p>
<p>The first, he says, is “enthusiastic to share its wonder with everyone” and the second offers “more than minimum to the world”. </p>
<p>To me, though, these are extravagant architectural statements of capitalist power (the Singaporean hotel) and an over-designed fortress building (London’s Edgewood housing project).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An overhead view of greenery in a city next to a road." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=464&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568626/original/file-20240110-15-tzarot.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=583&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Singapore’s Parkroyal Collection hotel.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/aerial-view-of-cars-on-road-RG7jGL8wkCs">Meric Dagli/Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Recognising the importance of public space in cities</h2>
<p>In the early 1900s, the German sociologist and philosopher, Georg Simmel, <a href="https://www.blackwellpublishing.com/content/bpl_images/content_store/sample_chapter/0631225137/bridge.pdf">hailed</a> the advent of a new urban condition. Compared to rural life, he said, the metropolis made people more individualistic, prioritised capitalist modes of production and intensified sensory exposure. As a result, he said: “Instead of reacting emotionally, the metropolitan type reacts primarily in a rational manner”. City dwellers were, Simmel said, less sensitive and further removed from “the depths of personality”.</p>
<p>Mid-20th century architects and planners further explored the socio-psychological damage wrought by urban expansion in the post-war era. In his 1971 book, <a href="https://www.udg.org.uk/publications/udlibrary/life-between-buildings-using-public-space">Life Between Buildings</a>, Danish architect and urban planner Jan Gehl underlined how, more than architecture, urban space itself had the potential to either harm or affirm social interactions. </p>
<p>The capitalist logic underpinning modernist urban planning was harming residents. More and more people were living in high-rise buildings. Open, green spaces were commodified. Private transport was prioritised. Gehl thought it was precisely in these daily situations, where people move between home and work and play, that cities should both “function and provide enjoyment”. </p>
<p>In over-emphasising the design of exciting buildings, Heatherwick overlooks this: that it is between and around buildings that you find the essence of urban life. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A construction site." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/568628/original/file-20240110-28-5mjtu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Architectural objects in themselves cannot tackle the issues city residents face.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/aerial-view-photography-of-building-zaxoaZVazCs">Ricardo Gomez Angel|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Towards_Cosmopolis.html?id=GzdsRAAACAAJ&redir_esc=y">Research shows</a> that urban policies have evolved since the 1970s, largely to try to shape cities for the better and to ensure better accessibility, better quality and diversity of housing, open spaces, more reliable infrastructure and more robust services. </p>
<p>After joining the World Health Organisation’s <a href="https://www.who.int/europe/groups/who-european-healthy-cities-network">healthy cities initiative</a> in 1987, Copenhagen developed a holistic urban policy. This included walkable streets, public transportation, diverse housing opportunities, more pointed social policies around ideas of community and using taxation to encourage smoking control. Nearly four decades on, the Danish capital <a href="https://radar.brookes.ac.uk/radar/file/1f3e2ab5-70f8-4a9a-85e6-6c9fda88a426/1/s11524-023-00798-9.pdf">continues to be upheld</a> as one of the world’s healthiest cities. </p>
<p>However “good” or “interesting” architecture might be, it cannot tackle poverty, social exclusion and public health on its own. But even <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanwpc/article/PIIS2666-6065(23)00125-6/fulltext">high-rise buildings</a> can make a difference to people’s lives if they’re well designed and well regulated. How the built environment is shaped as a whole is crucial.</p>
<p>In denying MSG planning permission for a London Sphere, city authorities have prioritised residents’ concerns over private investment. Everyone benefits from public space and infrastructure being seen as public goods, not commodities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220456/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Haim Yacobi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>From lit-up orbs to bland office blocks, cities are full of buildings that people do or do not like. What really shapes how they live – for better or for worse – is urban planning.Haim Yacobi, Professor of Development Planning, UCLLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144772023-12-26T20:29:43Z2023-12-26T20:29:43ZHow the retailing contest between CBDs, shopping centres and online will reshape our cities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560940/original/file-20231122-15-dign1s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4000%2C2652&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul J. Maginn/@Planographer</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Retail activity has been a defining facet of cities since antiquity. The Greek Agora and Roman Forum may be viewed as the original CBDs – central business districts, or what urban planners call activity centres.</p>
<p>Retail spaces have <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Managing-the-Marketplace-Reinventing-Shopping-Centres-in-Post-War-Australia/Bailey/p/book/9780367500559">evolved</a> over time. Urbanisation, mass production and the rise of conspicuous consumption led to the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2019.1682317">high street</a> and CBD dominating the retail landscape across the Western world from the late 19th century until the mid-20th century.</p>
<p>The 21st-century retail landscape has become more diverse and competitive. The range of physical and virtual retail spaces, retailers, products and prices leaves consumers spoilt for choice. </p>
<p>Retailing is more than just about consumption. It’s Australia’s fourth-largest employment sector and plays a major role in shaping our cities. Retail helps define a city’s identity and brand and thus attract visitors. But the retail landscape and consumer behaviour are changing, and changing fast!</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-an-ideal-main-street-this-is-what-shoppers-told-us-214554">What makes an ideal main street? This is what shoppers told us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The place to be and be seen</h2>
<p>In Australia (and elsewhere), the CBD was at the epicentre of the evolution of discrete retail spaces. It offered a smorgasbord of independently owned shops, national and international chain stores and department stores. These were located in laneways, shopping arcades, main streets and multistorey shopping centres. </p>
<p>Centrality, easy public transport access and a largely suburban-based commuter workforce explain the dominance of the CBD in the 20th century. </p>
<p>A visit to the CBD on a Saturday was <a href="https://www.watoday.com.au/national/western-australia/the-karrinyup-creep-how-mega-malls-took-over-retail-and-changed-perth-20230913-p5e4do.html">more than just a utilitarian shopping trip</a>. It could be an urban exploration, a leisure pursuit, a pleasure-seeking adventure, a social event. </p>
<p>Children accompanying their parents were mesmerised by the intensity of urbanism and retail choice. Teenagers and young people, much like 19th-century <a href="https://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2013/10/17/in-praise-of-the-flaneur/">flaneurs</a>, paraded with their peers, their fashion denoting their subcultural affiliation.</p>
<p>For adults, the CBD offered a chance to indulge in retail therapy via window shopping and pleasurable consumption. For others a trip to the CBD allowed them to treat themselves and meet friends at the department store cafe. </p>
<p>In short, the CBD was the place to see and be seen.</p>
<h2>CBD’s retail crown slips</h2>
<p>The dominance of the CBD began to slip with the emergence of suburban shopping centres in the late 1950s – thank you, <a href="https://theconversation.com/triumph-of-the-mall-how-victor-gruens-grand-urban-vision-became-our-suburban-shopping-reality-172393">Victor Gruen</a>. Rapid suburban growth, social mobility and increased car use drove an explosion in suburban shopping centres from the 1960s through to the 1980s. </p>
<p>According to the <a href="https://scca.org.au/industry-information/australian-shopping-centre-industry/#:%7E:text=The%20first%20modern%20shopping%20centre,in%20a%20lake%20of%20parking%E2%80%9D.">Shopping Centre Council of Australia</a>, an average of 22 shopping centres a year have been built since the first centre, Brisbane’s Chermside, appeared in 1957.</p>
<p>Competition between CBD retailers and shopping centres intensified in the 1980s and 1990s. With the rise of online retailing in the past decade or so, these bricks-and-mortar retailers have had to lift their game again. </p>
<p>Retailing matters. Aussie consumers spent a whopping <a href="https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/ecommerce-industry-report-2023.pdf">A$353 billion on retail goods in 2022</a> compared with <a href="https://auspost.com.au/content/dam/auspost_corp/media/documents/inside-australian-online-shopping-ecommerce-report.pdf">$275.3 billion in 2018</a> – a 28.2% increase. </p>
<p>Over the same period, online retail spending increased by 132% from $27.5 billion to $63.8 billion. It now accounts for just over 18% of retail spending in Australia, up from 10% in 2018.</p>
<p>The “4 Cs” underpin the rise of online shopping: convenience, choice, competitive prices and COVID-19 (which ramped up the shift). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-bigger-biggest-black-friday-cyber-monday-and-singles-day-107492">Big, bigger, biggest: Black Friday, Cyber Monday and Singles Day</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>COVID and working from home led to Australian CBDs, especially Melbourne and Sydney, losing considerable ground, while suburban shopping centres gained in terms of shopper numbers and spending.</p>
<p>Although <a href="https://www.afr.com/policy/economy/zombified-business-districts-are-getting-their-lives-back-20210408-p57hk1">zombified CBDs</a> at the height of pandemic restrictions are in the rear-view mirror, working from home lingers. This is especially true for Melbourne where <a href="https://www.afr.com/property/commercial/only-just-over-half-of-melbourne-has-returned-to-the-office-20231121-p5elk3">office occupancy averages 53%</a> – way behind Perth (91%), Adelaide (85%), Sydney and Brisbane (both 75%).</p>
<p><a href="https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/about-melbourne/melbourne-is-open/Pages/covid-19-recovery.aspx#:%7E:text=Melbourne%20City%20Recovery%20Fund,-%E2%80%8BIn%20partnership&text=It%20will%20invest%20in%20programs,visitors%20back%20to%20the%20city.">Capital city councils</a>, <a href="https://www.dlgsc.wa.gov.au/funding/cbd-revitalisation-grant-program">state governments</a> and bodies such as the <a href="https://sydney.org.au/FutureSydneyCBD/findings/">Committee for Sydney</a>, <a href="https://udiavic.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/200924-Revive-Melbourne-CBD-Final.pdf">Urban Development Institute of Australia</a> and the <a href="https://www.propertycouncil.com.au/submissions/cbd-vip">Property Council of Australia</a> have taken or advocated action to draw people back to the CBD. </p>
<p>Actions include everything from free parking and public transport, <a href="https://msd.unimelb.edu.au/informal-urbanism/projects/temporary-and-tactical-urbanism">tactical urbanism</a> or temporary changes to the streetscape such as pedestrian plazas, pop-up bike lanes, and parklets, outdoor dining, public events and vouchers, through to changes in planning regulations to speed up high-density residential development.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-covid-all-but-killed-the-australian-cbd-147848">How COVID all but killed the Australian CBD</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Cathedrals of consumption … and then some</h2>
<p>Before and since COVID-19 major shopping centres across Australia have undergone multi-million-dollar refurbishments and redesign. They include centres in Adelaide (<a href="http://westfield.com.au/marion/">Marion</a>), Brisbane (<a href="https://www.westfield.com.au/chermside">Chermside</a>, <a href="http://pacificfair.com.au/">Pacific Fair</a>), Melbourne (<a href="https://www.chadstone.com.au/,">Chadstone</a>, <a href="http://westfield.com.au/fountaingate">Fountain Gate</a>), Perth (<a href="https://www.westfield.com.au/carousel">Carousel</a>, <a href="https://www.karrinyupcentre.com.au/">Karrinyup</a>) and Sydney (<a href="http://westfield.com.au/">Parramatta</a>, <a href="http://macquariecentre.com.au/">Macquarie Centre</a>). The centres have increased floorspace and diversified retail, entertainment and food and beverage offerings.</p>
<p>Suburban shopping centres are more than <a href="https://sk.sagepub.com/books/enchanting-a-disenchanted-world-3e">cathedrals of consumption</a>. Mega-malls such as Chadstone (215,000m²), Fountain Gate (178,000m²) and Chermside (177,000m²) <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/00420980221135418">stand out as major hubs</a> of economic activity and employment, tourist attractions and social and community spaces. </p>
<p>To help secure a ready customer base, <a href="https://www.chadstone.com.au/hotel-chadstone">upmarket hotels</a> and <a href="https://www.blackburne.com.au/collection/west-village/">luxury residential developments</a> have been built, or are earmarked for development, as part of major shopping centres. Many more such <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/pamdanziger/2017/12/04/why-malls-should-add-residential-to-their-repurposing-plans/">residential developments</a> in Australia (and the US) are likely over the next decade or so.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-suburbs-are-the-future-of-post-covid-retail-148802">The suburbs are the future of post-COVID retail</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565917/original/file-20231214-23-8rfikh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A proposed luxury apartment development, West Village, next to Karrinyup Shopping Centre in Perth, WA.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Paul J. Maginn/@Planographer</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Devil in the retail</h2>
<p>The competition between bricks-and-mortar retailers in CBDs, suburban shopping centres and online retailers peaks each year with the onset of Black Friday and Cyber Monday in late November, closely followed by the Christmas shopping season and New Year sales.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/really-need-those-new-shoes-why-you-might-spend-up-big-at-the-black-friday-sales-218241">Really need those new shoes? Why you might spend up big at the Black Friday sales</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Whatever big changes come next – in terms of what we buy, where and how – will have implications well beyond the retail sector. The structure and function of cities, plus our relationship with the city and retail spaces, are likely to change. </p>
<p>With the rise of online shopping and on-demand delivery, can we, for example, expect to see our streets and skies soon filled with autonomous robots and drones?</p>
<p>Autonomous delivery raises major questions about retail, urban and residential design, infrastructure provision, employment, human behaviour and, ultimately, regulation. Therein lies the devil in the retail.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214477/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The four Cs – convenience, choice, competitive prices and COVID-19 – will decide the retail battle and how it affects the structure and function of our cities.Paul J. Maginn, Interim Director, UWA Public Policy Institute; Associate Professor & Programme Co-ordinator (Masters of Public Policy), The University of Western AustraliaLouise Grimmer, Senior Lecturer in Retail Marketing, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144672023-12-21T03:54:57Z2023-12-21T03:54:57ZWhat is pattern book development and how can it help ease the housing crisis?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556433/original/file-20231029-24-97tdqw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Sydney terrace housing.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Kroll</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australian cities are grappling with ways to increase housing supply and make it more affordable. One suggested solution is “pattern book” development. The idea <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/sep/04/nsw-premier-open-to-pattern-book-housing-across-sydney-as-solution-for-crisis">made headlines</a> when proposed recently by <a href="https://www.housingnow.com.au/">Housing Now</a>, an alliance of businesses and lobby groups in New South Wales. </p>
<p>The problem, they argue, is that housing projects take years to process, due to overly lengthy processes of design, planning and public consultation. The group aims to fast-track development by commissioning “a modern pattern book with a suite of approved designs by recognised architects developed in partnership with local neighbourhoods”. </p>
<p>These ready-made, pre-approved designs for townhouses, terraces and low-rise apartments could then be rolled out at a much faster pace. This, Housing Now claims, would clear the backlog and cut the time it takes to make housing happen. In the past, the alliance <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/64a63292c77d827c598c292a/t/64f042a4cec397286e72dfcc/1693467313798/Housing+Now+-+A+United+Community+Plan+for+More+Homes.pdf">argues</a>, “many of the world’s greatest cities were designed using pattern books”. </p>
<p>What then is pattern book development? Could it help ease the housing crisis?</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1698473793763541146"}"></div></p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-housing-and-homelessness-crisis-in-nsw-explained-in-9-charts-200523">The housing and homelessness crisis in NSW explained in 9 charts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What are architectural pattern books?</h2>
<p>The term “pattern book” originally referred to books with design templates for textiles, wallpapers, sewing or knitting. For housing, the term is applied to books illustrating a range of architectural designs that could be copied or used as inspiration. </p>
<p>Since the early Renaissance, pattern books allowed architects, builders and clients to share and advertise designs to a wider audience. An example in Victorian Britain was <a href="https://openlibrary.org/books/OL23283282M/The_builder%27s_practical_director">The Builder’s Practical Director</a> (1855), which contains a range of house designs with plans and facades. Architect and surveyor E.L. Tarbuck wrote this book as a reference guide for anyone wanting to build a house.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=824&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556416/original/file-20231029-19-7j1npz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1035&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">House design from a popular 19th-century pattern book.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">E.L. Tarbuck, The Builder’s Practical Director (London: J. Hagger, 1855), p. 58</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Were cities designed with pattern books?</h2>
<p>Certainly, there are houses resembling designs from pattern books across the Western world, including cities such as London and Dublin. </p>
<p>However, the idea that most houses were simply direct copies of designs from such books is unlikely to be historically correct. Until the mid-20th century at least, pattern books were more often used as <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03058034.2017.1346882">inspiration for designers</a>, rather than being merely copied without any deviations. </p>
<p>The growth of many cities in the 19th and early 20th centuries was certainly based on formulaic housing patterns. The rapid urbanisation that came with the Industrial Revolution produced a wide range of terraced, detached and semi-detached houses or apartment blocks with similarities and repetition in their layout and planning. </p>
<p>These repeating patterns were the result of a combination of drivers. </p>
<p>In Britain and Ireland, the leasehold development system played an important role, as small land parcels were laid out in repetitive patterns (often by estate surveyors) and then <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=AJelDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PA1&pg=PT49#v=onepage&q&f=false">leased to different builders</a>. These “masterplans” created a kind of template with approved housing types on which builders could base their designs. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/562367/original/file-20231129-19-q1zu3w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Houses on the Minet Estate in Lambeth, South London, constructed by different builders under the leasehold system.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">David Kroll</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The designs were often based on tried and tested precedents, which had evolved slowly over time. For example, the first houses to emerge in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Dublins-Bourgeois-Homes-Building-the-Victorian-Suburbs-1850-1901/Galavan/p/book/9781138392670">Dublin’s early 19th-century suburbs</a> were based on the terraced house, a familiar housing typology since medieval times. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/englishmans-castle-slum-or-cultural-icon-the-fall-and-rise-of-the-terraced-house-53019">Englishman's castle, slum, or cultural icon? The fall and rise of the terraced house</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In London, another driver was that houses were codified into so-called classes or “rates” in the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Building_Act_1774#Building_rates">Building Act of 1774</a>. This seems to have further reinforced patterns of similar housing types.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=440&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/563892/original/file-20231206-21-z2krp3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=553&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Terraced houses in Pembroke Road North, Dublin, from 1816.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Susan Galavan</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Could pattern books ease the housing crisis?</h2>
<p>Housing Now’s proposal of pre-approved design templates and development patterns could indeed help speed up planning approvals for new housing and support planned increases in urban densities. We would still need to consider carefully how this could work in detail, of course. </p>
<p>This housing would need to align with urban design and planning strategies, such as the <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plans-for-your-area/local-planning-and-zoning/strategic-planning-toolkit">regional and district plans in NSW</a>. The proposed typologies would also need to suit the context of their specific settings such as established suburbs, former industrial areas or alongside major highways. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/planning-laws-protect-people-a-poorly-regulated-rush-to-boost-housing-supply-will-cost-us-all-213068">Planning laws protect people. A poorly regulated rush to boost housing supply will cost us all</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>A risk is that these pattern book templates will be too monotonous and too prescriptive for people’s needs. Some flexibility in the design and choice would seem sensible. </p>
<p>Pre-approved pattern book templates could set the overall building form and type while still allowing for different designs. Such an approach has historical precedents. </p>
<p>One example is the 19th-century <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobrecht-Plan">Hobrecht Plan for Berlin</a>, which determined the building heights and their outline. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1668617591395581954"}"></div></p>
<p>A more recent example (from 1993-2000) of an area developed within an overall master plan of housing types and forms is <a href="https://archello.com/project/borneo-sporenburg-amsterdam">Borneo-Sporenburg in Amsterdam</a>. Within their set terrace-house typology and massing, this development achieved fairly high densities while allowing each house to be custom-designed. </p>
<p>A similar approach could be used to plan increases in density of established neighbourhoods through pre-approved, pattern book housing forms. </p>
<p>Proactive and innovative proposals that help speed up planning approvals and construction of housing are very welcome and urgently needed. One question that remains, however, is how to ensure this new housing will be affordable to those in need.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-get-urban-density-just-right-the-goldilocks-quest-for-the-missing-middle-211208">How do we get urban density 'just right'? The Goldilocks quest for the 'missing middle'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214467/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Kroll's research on London housing was funded by the Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan Galavan's research on Dublin housing was funded by the Irish Research Council.</span></em></p>Pattern book housing has been proposed as a way to speed up housing supply in New South Wales. It certainly worked in the past.David Kroll, Senior Lecturer in Architecture, University of AdelaideSusan Galavan, Lecturer in Architecture, Atlantic Technological UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169762023-12-18T13:22:49Z2023-12-18T13:22:49ZMore vulnerable people live in Philadelphia neighborhoods that are less green and get hotter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565904/original/file-20231214-19-w5rupe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5192%2C3448&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Philadelphia's neighborhoods are green and not so green.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/neighborhoods-in-philadelphia-pennsylvania-news-photo/1465662088">Marli Miller/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The ways an urban neighborhood is built and the characteristics of the people who live there are both related to how hot it gets. That is the result of <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/buildings13041040">our study</a>, published by the Journal of Buildings.</p>
<p>If you have ever noticed that some parts of a city feel significantly hotter than others, you have experienced a phenomenon known as the <a href="https://www.epa.gov/heatislands/learn-about-heat-islands">urban heat island effect</a>. This effect is most noticeable at night and when comparing rural and suburban surroundings with urban ones.</p>
<h2>How we did our work</h2>
<p>Our interdisciplinary group of researchers studied two Philadelphia census tracts and found a clear link between outdoor temperature and specific urban characteristics. We then asked whether these urban characteristics can be related to the social vulnerability of the residents.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/placeandhealth/svi/index.html">Social vulnerability</a> is a concept that goes beyond the residents’ income to include housing conditions and characteristics of the people – such as their age, education, disability and race. Our social vulnerability index data was created using 16 U.S. census variables. </p>
<p>The design elements of cities, from the materials used for streets and sidewalks to the size and placement of buildings, significantly affect urban heat. To gain a deeper understanding of these impacts, we conducted computer simulations of outdoor air temperature and comfort levels in two Philadelphia census tracts with distinct indices for social vulnerability, one in Roxborough and the other in South Philadelphia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C25%2C1030%2C1359&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two photos are inset on a map of Philadelphia. On the top left is a green neighbor with a wide street with parked cars. The lower photo shows brick townhouses set on a narrower street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C25%2C1030%2C1359&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=785&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565897/original/file-20231214-25-er8a2k.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=987&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The two tracts studied included one, top left, with a low vulnerability index and another with a high vulnerability index. The census tract boundaries are shown in red.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The social vulnerability index shows a number from 0 to 1, with higher numbers meaning more vulnerable. Our neighborhood in Roxborough had a number of 0.25. In South Philadelphia, the number was 0.98.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Farzad Hashemi" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/566090/original/file-20231215-29-8i1ek9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=640&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The social vulnerability of different Philadelphia neighborhoods.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using the open-source <a href="https://www.esri.com/en-us/what-is-gis/overview">geographic information system</a>, or GIS, that analyzes maps, along with a microclimate simulation tool, we found that the South Philadelphia neighborhood had more absorbing surfaces such as concrete. Greenery, including trees and grass, was notably lacking in this neighborhood compared with Roxborough. The characteristics contributed to elevated levels of heat and consequently higher reported levels of discomfort in this neighborhood.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2017-05/documents/reducing_urban_heat_islands_ch_2.pdf">Trees are superheroes</a> for cooling down urban areas. Tree crowns block the Sun’s rays and provide shade. In addition, they <a href="https://www.usgs.gov/special-topics/water-science-school/science/evapotranspiration-and-water-cycle">release moisture through evapotranspiration</a> – cooling the surroundings even more. </p>
<p>Our study found that during hot and extremely hot conditions, areas with more trees had up to 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit) lower outdoor air temperatures compared with less green areas. Therefore, fewer trees and more paved surfaces, associated with the high social vulnerability neighborhood, meant higher heat exposure and less outdoor comfort for residents.</p>
<p>Similar results were found in 2021 by <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/app11041706">researchers at Guangxi University</a> in China who investigated solar radiation reduction using favorable design factors on an urban block in the city of Nanning.</p>
<p>In addition to material surfaces and vegetation, our study delved into other urban characteristics that can affect heat. One such aspect is the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S1350482704001288">sky view factor</a>, which measures the amount of sky visible from the ground. In areas with more sky exposure, we observed increased heat. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/(SICI)1097-0088(199907)19:9%3C1011::AID-JOC411%3E3.0.CO;2-U">ratio between the building height and street width</a> also plays a critical role. This ratio determines how much shade is provided by buildings, with taller buildings and narrower streets offering more shade and cooler temperatures. However, the two Philadelphia neighborhoods were influenced by unique street layouts and architectural designs regardless of their socioeconomic status. The census tract we studied in South Philadelphia features low-rise brick townhouses common in the city. In Roxborough, the neighborhood is more suburban, with detached single-family houses with pitched roofs and front lawns.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>Our findings from Philadelphia show that urban design, material choices and tree coverage significantly affect how warm or cool an area feels. </p>
<p>This suggests that thoughtful planning and incorporating more greenery can make urban areas more livable and equitable. Architects can help by using lighter-colored materials and green walls and roofs.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216976/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Guangqing Chi receives funding from the National Science Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa D. Iulo receives funding from U.S. Department of Energy. <a href="https://ess.science.energy.gov/urban-ifls/bsec-uifl/">https://ess.science.energy.gov/urban-ifls/bsec-uifl/</a>
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Farzad Hashemi and Ute Poerschke do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>An interdisciplinary group of researchers at Penn State ran computer models on two Philadelphia census tracts. The neighborhood with more vulnerable residents was also hotter.Farzad Hashemi, Assistant Professor in Architecture, The University of Texas at San AntonioGuangqing Chi, Professor of Rural Sociology and Demography, Penn StateLisa D. Iulo, Associate Professor of Architecture, Director of the Hamer Center for Community Design, Penn StateUte Poerschke, Professor of Architecture, Penn StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169842023-12-03T13:27:45Z2023-12-03T13:27:45ZWhy Canada’s Smart Cities Challenge is missing the mark<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561611/original/file-20231124-25-nmarof.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1121%2C0%2C5620%2C3495&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Smart Cities Challenge is designed to address complex economic, environmental and social problems.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/why-canadas-smart-cities-challenge-is-missing-the-mark" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The Canadian federal government launched the <a href="https://impact.canada.ca/en/node/117">Smart Cities Challenge in 2017</a> to award up to $50 million to municipal governments that are best able to leverage technology to improve life in their cities. </p>
<p>The challenge is part of the government’s <a href="https://impact.canada.ca/en/about">Impact Canada Initiative</a>, which aims to address complex economic, environmental and social problems across the country. </p>
<p>During the challenge, hundreds of municipalities from across Canada submit their ideas for improving their communities. The <a href="https://impact.canada.ca/en/challenges/smart-cities/results">winners receive grants</a> to further develop their innovative ideas into final proposals. <a href="https://montreal.ca/en/articles/montreal-common-city-laboratory-15119">Montréal in Common</a> is the result of the city winning the grand prize $50 million in 2019.</p>
<p>After four years, the government is planning on hosting the second round of the challenge. <a href="https://www.budget.canada.ca/2023/pdf/budget-2023-en.pdf">This year’s federal budget quietly allocated funds</a> for the next one to be announced later this year, the details of which are currently sparse.</p>
<p>If we have learned anything in the interim, it’s that “smart cities” are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1108/9781787691391">rarely as intelligent and beneficial as the idea seems</a>, and often prioritize <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262538589/too-smart/">private companies’ profit over social good</a>.</p>
<h2>‘Smart cities’ terminology</h2>
<p>The Smart Cities Challenge is missing the mark on a few key fronts. First is the term itself — the very origins of the term “smart city” are a private sector marketing gimmick. When <a href="https://www.ibm.com/smarterplanet/us/en/">IBM coined the phrase “smarter cities” in 2009</a>, it referred less to intelligence and more to <a href="https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/research/2019/06/smart-cities-dreams-capable-of-becoming-nightmares/">the specific set of technologies</a> <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/cjres/rsu011">IBM wanted to sell</a>. </p>
<p>It is clear that this kind of tech firm marketing <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/article-rio-de-janeiro-a-test-for-the-intelligence-of-smart-cities/">continues to influence</a> how city administrators approach urban problems. Framing urban problems in a way that suggests they can be resolved solely through technical solutions often overlooks the underlying causes of these issues.</p>
<p>For example, if a city government treats homelessness as an issue of <a href="https://www.homelesshub.ca/blog/can-artificial-intelligence-help-end-homelessness">missing data</a> or a <a href="https://www.rand.org/pubs/commentary/2020/09/access-to-mobile-technology-could-help-to-alleviate.html">WiFi connectivity gap</a>, rather than a result of soaring housing costs, degrading tenants’ rights and labour precarity, then homelessness will inevitably persist. While businesses may profit by offering technology “solutions,” the core issues remain unaddressed.</p>
<p>Instead, urban problems need to be treated as deeply rooted political issues requiring deliberation, political struggle and democratic empowerment.</p>
<h2>Focusing on community needs</h2>
<p>Although public spending on the next challenge will shape Canadian cities for generations, there is little transparency about the process, and less accountability than should be expected. If you search for information about the new challenge you will come up empty-handed — let alone if you try to get involved. </p>
<p>Contrast this with Barcelona’s smart city approach, which, while <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019872119">not perfect</a>, has made <a href="https://www.here.com/learn/blog/barcelona-smart-city-2020">e-democracy central to its smart city plan</a>. </p>
<p>E-democracy uses technology to address some of the foundational limits of democratic participation, like <a href="https://www.populismstudies.org/Vocabulary/e-democracy/">problems of scale, limited time availability, declining community engagement and a lack of opportunities for policy deliberation</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A waterfront city at dusk" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/561610/original/file-20231124-27-gk8c2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Canada should take inspiration from cities like Barcelona that are attempting to use a more democratic approach to smart city planning.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The high-profile debacle of <a href="https://www.sidewalklabs.com/toronto">Sidewalk Toronto</a> serves as a cautionary tale for what can happen when smart city projects are distracted by the allure of smartness, instead of focusing on community needs.</p>
<p>Sidewalk Labs is an New York-based urban planning firm that set out to develop a neighbourhood in Toronto. The project was plagued by a <a href="https://biancawylie.medium.com/sidewalk-toronto-the-plan-a-final-note-on-its-history-method-and-trajectory-9bdcb22e7088">variety of problems</a>, including an <a href="https://www.thestar.com/news/gta/sidewalk-labs-urban-data-trust-is-problematic-says-ontario-privacy-commissioner/article_ae44fec0-2180-58f3-8799-196a034707ce.html">exploitative data collection and ownership model</a>. In 2020, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/sidewalk-labs-cancels-project-1.5559370">the project was called off</a>.</p>
<p>As Canada gears up for another round of its Smart Cities Challenge, policymakers need to look past the hype and glitz of smart technology, prioritize Canadian communities’ needs and strengthen democratic participation in urban planning. </p>
<h2>The next Smart Cities Challenge</h2>
<p>With these challenges in mind, what options does the Canadian federal government have in formulating its next Smart Cities Challenge? </p>
<p>First, the government should consider jettisoning the smart cities label altogether. <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781487527174/digital-injustice-in-the-smart-city/">Some have argued</a> there is no rescuing the term from its profit-seeking origins. Using a different, more benign equivalent could signal that people’s needs are what’s important, not companies’ bottom lines. </p>
<p>When considering different titles, “digital cities” is <a href="https://oxfordre.com/communication/display/10.1093/acrefore/9780190228613.001.0001/acrefore-9780190228613-e-1083">not entirely guilt-free</a>, but has had a less contentious historical lineage that makes it an apt alternative. </p>
<p>Emerging in policy discussions during the 1990s, the digital cities movement was diverse in its planning goals. Its overarching aim was to explore how technologies could enhance cross-cultural communication, extend economic market transactions and provide deeper insights into how cities work.</p>
<p>Other nomenclature could de-centre technology altogether to acknowledge the goal isn’t digital smartness at all: “equitable cities,” “just cities,” or “healthy cities,” for example.</p>
<p>An examination of the proposals from the first Smart Cities Challenge reveals that municipalities were driven by community needs, not technology. Guelph and Wellington’s proposal about addressing food insecurity <a href="https://guelph.ca/wp-content/uploads/SmartCities_Booklet.pdf">only mentioned technology a few times</a>. Nunavut’s proposal involved <a href="https://www.infrastructure.gc.ca/cities-villes/winners-gagnants/10m-nunavut-eng.html">suicide prevention</a>, a long-standing issue in its communities.</p>
<p>If the Smart Cities Challenge focused less on the “smartness” of technology, and more on substantive issues, cities would have had more freedom to articulate their challenges outside the confines of digital solutions.</p>
<h2>Community input is key</h2>
<p>Second, when designing the new challenge, tech companies should be all but absent from the table. Instead of hearing from the tech sector, the government should hear from community associations, non-profit organizations, civil groups, planners and urban policymakers. </p>
<p>Policymakers need to recognize that urban planning policies <a href="https://yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300223804/undoing-optimization/">should not be limited by what we think is possible with digital technologies</a>. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/1473095213513579">democratic debates that lead us to recognize and address urban problems</a> must be the foundation, context and ultimate goal of any related digital cities program. </p>
<p>In other words, the technology needs to come second, and technology companies must contribute after the problems are already framed. The smart city must be just “smart enough” and no more, in <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262538961/the-smart-enough-city/">data scientist Ben Green’s words</a>. A reconfigured Smart Cities Challenge could potentially support these processes.</p>
<p>The Canadian government has some difficult decisions to make, but there are clear paths forward to avoid the pitfalls that characterized the first 14 years of “smart cities.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216984/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ryan Burns receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Calgary Institute for the Humanities. He is affiliated with the American Association for the Advancement of Science as a Science & Technology Policy Fellow. </span></em></p>The Canadian federal government is pursuing the idea of “smart cities,” but in the wrong way.Ryan Burns, Associate Professor of Geography, University of CalgaryLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2171552023-11-20T21:11:36Z2023-11-20T21:11:36ZThe 15-minute city is a popular planning approach, but relies on ableist assumptions<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559829/original/file-20231116-20-8b0gta.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C6000%2C3988&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Designing cities around the amount of time needed to reach services and amenities is a popular planning approach.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/the-15-minute-city-is-a-popular-planning-approach-but-relies-on-ableist-assumptions" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>The 15-minute city is a popular urban planning concept that promotes people living close to essential services, and encourages the use of walking and biking. Public transit is sometimes included in the transport mix, preferred to automobiles, which are largely absent.</p>
<p>Developed around 2016 by Paris-based urbanist <a href="https://www.moreno-web.net/">Carlos Moreno</a>, the idea of the 15-minute city has spread globally. Moreno subscribes to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0961463X14535905">chrono-urbanism</a>, or the idea of organizing cities around time including the 15-minute city.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TQ2f4sJVXAI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Urbanist Carlos Moreno describes the 15-minute city approach.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For his work, Moreno has received numerous accolades and negative attention, particularly from the political <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/28/technology/carlos-moreno-15-minute-cities-conspiracy-theories.html">right and conspiracy theorists</a> claiming it will restrict people’s <a href="https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-15-minute-city-conspiracy-162fd388f0c435a8289cc9ea213f92ee">freedom of movement</a>.</p>
<p>Moreno isn’t the only contemporary urbanist who thinks about time as a key organizing principle for the design of sustainable cities. Variations on the theme include: <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jth.2019.05.005">15-minute walkable neighbourhoods</a>, the <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/1/129">20-minute city</a>, the <a href="https://ses.library.usyd.edu.au/handle/2123/21630">30-minute city</a>, and so on. </p>
<p>None of these, however, have gained as much traction as the 15-minute city. Moreno’s work has been plugged into the global <a href="https://doi.org/10.3390/smartcities4010006">conversation about UN Sustainable Development Goal 11</a>: making cities and communities “<a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals/goal11">inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable</a>.”</p>
<p>Can one planning concept possibly lead us toward sustainable and inclusive urban futures? </p>
<h2>Health, time and the past</h2>
<p>One unifying feature of the 15-minute city — or 20-, or 30-minute city — seems to be that by making most everyday activities doable by moving actively over shorter distances, we will become healthier. Research has already shown that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tranpol.2015.04.005">driving less will likely produce health benefits for some people</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heart-health-design-cities-differently-and-it-can-help-us-live-longer-162038">Heart health: design cities differently and it can help us live longer</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Another area of consensus appears to be that these approaches, employed globally, will successfully treat our <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9780203107683-1/understanding-twenty-first-century-urban-transformation-elliott-sclar-nicole-volavka-close">largely urban</a> and catastrophic engagement with the environment. </p>
<p>While the 15-minute city might be considered revelatory by some, the relationship between cities and time is as old as cities. In the North American context, before the car and before and during the <a href="https://utorontopress.com/9781442679351/ride-to-modernity/">bike boom of the 1890s</a>, amenities and services were located close to where people lived.</p>
<h2>Ableism and disability</h2>
<p>I think about planning, cities and transportation through a critical ableist and disability studies lens. My lived experience as a parent of a disabled child also informs my <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/09687599.2023.2279488">research on urban accessibility</a>. </p>
<p>When considering the 15-minute city, I think about the relationship between <a href="https://doi.org/10.1057/dev.2008.17">ableism</a> — the practices and abilities considered <a href="https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203366974">normative by society</a> and the social model of disability. The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-86058-6">social model of disability</a> — one of several frameworks — is the idea that disability is produced by discriminatory barriers in society. Ableism produces disability.</p>
<p>The 15-minute city relies on residents’ abilities to walk and bike. This raises several questions: What if a resident’s body <a href="https://doi.org/10.18061/dsq.v42i1.8276">doesn’t walk or bike</a> in what is considered a normative sense? What if someone <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2022.103521">uses a mobility device or moves at a slower pace</a>? What if a resident requires <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tra.2021.04.005">public or school transportation vehicles to be adapted</a>? </p>
<p>There is no universality to 15 minutes spent in any city. Marginalized people, for example, are more likely to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2021.103003">harassed</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jtrangeo.2023.103576">over-policed</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="a green wall with handwritten graffiti saying 15 MINUTE CITIES R EVIL WILL TAKE OUR FREEDOM" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559831/original/file-20231116-27-rt97p3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Graffiti in a Weston-super-Mare, U.K. bus shelter referring to conspiracy theories about 15-minute cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Planning policy and regulation</h2>
<p>Urban planning and city building occur with a regulatory context. The 15-minute city is unlikely to materialize without professional scrutiny and regulatory compliance. </p>
<p>In Ontario, the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/05a11">Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act</a>, the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/110191">Integrated Accessibility Standards Regulation</a>, the <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/120332">Ontario Building Code</a> and zoning by-laws regulate accessibility in cities. The <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/ontario-human-rights-code">Ontario Human Rights Code</a> — which prohibits discrimination — protects the right of equal access to services. </p>
<p>The details of this regulatory environment reveal an emphasis on physical disability and serious <a href="https://aoda.ca/recommendations-in-the-third-review-of-the-aoda/">limitations</a> in terms of revision and enforcement. It would therefore be foolish to rely on such a relatively inflexibly narrow regulatory environment to make up for any ableist limitations of planning concepts used to shape sustainable, inclusive urban futures. </p>
<h2>Educating planners</h2>
<p>Disability is often an <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0739456X231175595">afterthought in planning education and practice</a>. Perhaps this reflects a lack of representation of disability, and disabled persons in planning education and professional practice. </p>
<p>Designing sustainable, inclusive urban futures, however, requires inclusive education, thinking, rhetoric and design from the beginning. My challenge to those involved in urban design and planning — including planners, engineers, geographers and architects — is to consider what cities or neighbourhoods might look like when <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Doing-Disability-Differently-An-alternative-handbook-on-architecture-disability/Boys/p/book/9780415824958">designed</a> with <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/the-architecture-of-disability">disability in mind</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ron Buliung does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The idea of the 15-minute city has become popular globally. But this approach relies on ableist assumptions and doesn’t reflect inclusive urban design.Ron Buliung, Professor, Department of Geography, Geomatics and Environment, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2165312023-11-17T03:12:35Z2023-11-17T03:12:35ZUrban planning has long ignored women’s experiences. Here are 5 ways we can make our cities safer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557955/original/file-20231107-267416-33aa34.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C6%2C4473%2C3004&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/back-view-young-brunette-woman-going-759316678">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Women consistently raise <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/425309">concerns about their safety</a> when moving through their cities and communities.</p>
<p>Women <a href="https://www.standup-international.com/au/en/facts">often experience harassment</a> in the street, which can lead them to avoid areas and adjust their lifestyles to feel safe. </p>
<p>Based on our research, here are five ways we can make cities safer for women.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/more-lighting-alone-does-not-create-safer-cities-look-at-what-research-with-young-women-tells-us-113359">More lighting alone does not create safer cities. Look at what research with young women tells us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>1. Don’t just invest in lighting and surveillance</h2>
<p>Underlying the desire for lighting and surveillance is women’s concern about the inappropriate (real or anticipated) <a href="https://theconversation.com/catcalls-homophobia-and-racism-we-studied-why-people-and-especially-men-engage-in-street-harassment-183717">behaviour of men</a> and young people in public places. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://theconversation.com/more-lighting-alone-does-not-create-safer-cities-look-at-what-research-with-young-women-tells-us-113359">emerging studies</a> reveal that strategies solely concerned with improved lighting or surveillance are not the only pathways to reducing worry or fear for women. </p>
<p>In fact, the public investment in CCTV with regard to women’s safety may do <a href="https://theconversation.com/does-cctv-footage-help-or-hinder-the-reduction-of-violence-against-women-67137">more harm than good</a>.</p>
<p>The women we surveyed recognised that young people have a right to use public places, but they also said antisocial behaviour from young men, particularly in groups, created significant apprehension, fear and avoidance of places, especially at night.</p>
<p>One participant told us:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think it’s mainly that drug-affected type of people. And they hang around in a bunch. And people who are affected by alcohol […] they’ll be boisterous.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two streetlights light up a dark, misty night" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/558203/original/file-20231108-19-yek2cf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Increased street lighting is not the be all and end all for making women feel safer in cities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/street-lights-misty-evening-glowing-dark-2014774082">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While CCTV can reduce property crime, it does not appear effective in addressing women’s safety or for preventing violence and assault.</p>
<p>It may also <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-create-safer-cities-for-everyone-we-need-to-avoid-security-that-threatens-93421">further exclude some members of the communtiy</a> – particularly women from diverse backgrounds.</p>
<p>Instead, <a href="https://www.monash.edu/mada/research/project/safe-spaces-understanding-and-enhancing-safety-and-inclusion-for-diverse-women">studies suggest</a> that improving safety for women requires a shift in overall strategy, moving away from short-term hardware fixes such as installing CCTV and more lighting. </p>
<h2>2. Consider the role of technology</h2>
<p>Women are keen to see digital interventions across both day and night-time. </p>
<p>They see <a href="https://theconversation.com/transport-apps-are-being-hailed-as-a-sustainable-alternative-to-driving-but-theyre-not-female-friendly-181972">real-time information for public transport</a> as vital for their confidence in public spaces. </p>
<p>When combined with well-designed <a href="https://wayfoundvictoria.vic.gov.au/what-is-wayfinding/">wayfinding</a> – such as lighting, footpaths, landscaping and signage – women said they would feel safer. </p>
<p>Increasingly, lighting and digital interactivity are being <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2021-05-28/we-need-more-public-space-for-teen-girls?utm_content=citylab&utm_source=linkedin&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow-organic">combined in public placemaking</a> to enhance women’s safety.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-create-cities-for-slowing-down-75689">We should create cities for slowing down</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3. Design spaces with women, for women</h2>
<p>Women have been denied a say in their own communities for too long.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://www.monash.edu/mada/research/project/safe-spaces-understanding-and-enhancing-safety-and-inclusion-for-diverse-women">co-design workshop</a> is an approach that aims to engage stakeholders with the people that will benefit from the design outcomes. In this case, it’s women.</p>
<p>Most often a co-design workshop will include high-level decision-makers, planners, designers and various user groups. </p>
<p>If done from the outset, co-design ensures the lived experiences of community members and with the issues faced by communities are factored in. </p>
<p>It’s also an inclusive, collaborative and creative method. </p>
<p>One of our survey participants said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>My favourite experience in the workshop was just being able to meet all the different women who I probably wouldn’t have met without the workshop. I think just having a space like – creating a space like that is one of the first steps so that women can gather and meet.</p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman stands in front of a passing train" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560102/original/file-20231117-15-rfgwi1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Women value live tracking of public transport to make them feel safer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/young-girl-passenger-longboard-standing-on-2027228648">Shutterstock</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>4. Use ‘walking interviews’</h2>
<p>A walking interview, as opposed to a regular sit-down interview or focus group, can help communities understand what makes women feel safe.</p>
<p>This helps us develop an understanding not only of the physical nature of public places evoking concern, but also of the ways in which different women, and indeed different user groups, engage with each other in a physical place.</p>
<p>The development of <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-should-create-cities-for-slowing-down-75689">place-based strategies</a> – collaborative design to help build a sense of place – can encourage inclusion and safety for women from different ethnicities and cultural backgrounds, life stages and abilities.</p>
<p>By accompanying women on foot and discussing specific locations, we get a holistic understanding about how women move through these public places, or avoid them, and why.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/theres-1-3-billion-for-womens-safety-in-the-budget-and-its-nowhere-near-enough-180256">There's $1.3 billion for women's safety in the budget and it's nowhere near enough</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. Survey the right people, with the right questions</h2>
<p>Understanding the way women perceive their communities is key to creating safer spaces.</p>
<p>Community safety surveys are particularly useful for understanding the prevalence of attitudes, sentiments and feelings at one point in time. They can then be repeated each year to track changes over time. </p>
<p>If designed well, community safety surveys can be an effective tool to understand perceptions and experiences of safety and inclusion for women from all backgrounds. </p>
<p>But the survey must be diverse and inclusive.</p>
<p>Our research, the <a href="https://www.monash.edu/mada/research/project/safe-spaces-understanding-and-enhancing-safety-and-inclusion-for-diverse-women">Safe Spaces Project</a>, set out to do just that. We surveyed more than 200 women from a variety of backgrounds.</p>
<p>By figuring out the best ways to engage with women in the research process, we can then empower councils and other community organisations to do the same. </p>
<p>We’ve done that in the form of <a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/425310">toolkits</a>. </p>
<p>In the past couple of weeks we have had more than 400 registrations at the launch and more than 1000 downloads of the toolkits from across urban, regional and rural councils in Australia, North America, the United Kingdom, Italy and New Zealand. </p>
<p><a href="https://research-repository.griffith.edu.au/handle/10072/425309">This research</a> has identified effective ways to engage with a diverse range of women. </p>
<p>To make our cities safer, we just have to listen to them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This research project was funded by the Department of Justice and Community Safety, Victorian Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rebecca Wickes has received funding from the Australian Research Council, The Department of Justice and Community Safety and Wyndham City Council. </span></em></p>Women are most likely to feel unsafe in their cities or towns, but planning authorities have rarely listened to them. Here’s what we can do to change that.Nicole Kalms, Director, XYX Lab, and Associate Professor, Faculty of Art, Design and Architecture, Monash UniversityCharishma Ratnam, Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityGill Matthewson, Lecturer, Department of Design, Monash UniversityMurray Lee, Professor of Criminology, University of SydneyRebecca Wickes, Professor of Criminology, Griffith UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2143102023-11-13T19:19:42Z2023-11-13T19:19:42ZSchool portables aren’t a solution to student overcrowding, but a symptom of it<iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/school-portables-arent-a-solution-to-student-overcrowding-but-a-symptom-of-it" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>Portable classrooms, also known as mobile classrooms, are stand-alone modular structures used when schools cannot accommodate growing student populations.
They can provide relief in overcrowded schools while permanent accommodations are built, but there are concerns about their use. </p>
<p>Parents in Moncton, N.B., recently signed an open letter about <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10036638/parents-sign-open-letter-action-overcrowded-moncton-school/">how long an overcrowded</a> school is expected to make due with apparently temporary portables, citing cold temperatures and students needing to change buildings to use the washroom. In B.C., The Surrey Teachers Association has complained <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/10066976/surrey-portables-no-heat/">about portables lacking heating</a>.</p>
<p>My <a href="https://doi.org/10.53967/cje-rce.5909">research has investigated</a> how long schools in the largest school boards in Ontario keep portables on site, as well as the average number of portables per school. My findings indicate that in many cases, portable classrooms are far from being temporary accommodations, and instead, are used as permanent instructional structures.</p>
<h2>Low cost</h2>
<p>Many school districts in Canada and the United States rely on portables as prefabricated facilities when the need for classroom space increases and the budget for school construction is limited. </p>
<p>Portables are preferred for their <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business/industry-news/property-report/article-is-it-time-to-reimagine-the-school-portable/#%22%22">fast deployment and low upfront cost</a>. </p>
<p>But studies on <a href="https://ww2.arb.ca.gov/resources/documents/california-portable-classrooms-study">environmental conditions</a> of portable classrooms have reported concerns with <a href="https://www.epa.gov/iaq-schools/maintain-portable-classrooms-part-indoor-air-quality-design-tools-schools">indoor air quality, temperature control, noise levels, water leaks and mould</a>. </p>
<p>Having high numbers of portables at a school has also been associated with <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/42955986">congestion in common learning spaces</a>, <a href="https://lfpress.com/news/local-news/london-research-links-higher-portable-count-lower-test-scores-at-schools">declines in academic achievement</a>, and <a href="https://www.npr.org/transcripts/311103104#%22%22">absenteeism</a>.</p>
<p>Portables are <a href="https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/321490/portables-fill-playground-from-the-roof-of-st-roch-separat">not new</a> and have been <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED539480">part of kindergarten to Grade 12 education</a> since the <a href="https://digitalarchive.tpl.ca/objects/308333/makeshift-high-school-consisting-of-15-portable-classrooms">mid-20th</a> century. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A portable classroom seen against a grey sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556929/original/file-20231031-21-egoy20.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">School boards turn to portables because of their low upfront cost.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Portables_at_peirre_trudeau.JPG">(Wikimedia Commons)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Examining 10 years of portables</h2>
<p>I collected 10 years of portable use records (2010-2020) from approximately 2,700 schools in the 27 largest school boards in Ontario. This sample represents about 55 per cent of the schools in the province, serving nearly 63 per cent of the student population. </p>
<p>On average, school boards in the sample used nearly 5,300 portables per year between 2010 and 2020. Two-thirds of the schools in the sample had at least one portable classroom during the 10-year period, with an average of three portables per school. Half of the schools had between one and four portables. In contrast, 35 per cent did not use portables in this period.</p>
<p>While there are no specific criteria to determine what “temporary” means in relation to portable classroom use, it can be argued that portables are needed until a permanent facility is built, or until overcrowding is resolved. </p>
<p>In Ontario, it typically takes between <a href="https://www.hdsb.ca/schools/Pages/HDSB-Builds.aspx#">two and four years</a> to <a href="https://www.ontario.ca/page/building-ontario-education">build a new school</a>. Therefore, using a portable classroom for more than four years surpasses the expected time frame for temporary accommodation. </p>
<h2>Lack of planning for student growth</h2>
<p>My analysis revealed that 20 per cent of the sampled schools used portables for one to four years and 45 per cent had portables for five to 10 years. </p>
<p>In addition to revealing that portables tend to become permanent, the study showed the average number of portables remained stable over the 10-year period. This suggests school boards in Ontario, and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/bc-portables-schools-feature-1.6967543">likely in other provinces</a>, have become dependent on temporary facilities to address overcrowding. </p>
<p>Several interrelated factors could help explain this situation. First, there is the issue of lack of planning. <a href="https://collections.ola.org/mon/23003/290842.pdf">In 2009, a working group with the Ministry of Education projected</a> that school boards in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) would see enrolment growth. <a href="https://journals.sfu.ca/cje/index.php/cje-rce/article/view/5909">This study</a> confirmed that urban areas in Ontario, including the GTA, experienced a 10 per cent average enrolment increase, yet despite the rise in enrolment, the average number of portables remained stable. </p>
<h2>Tensions with urban planning</h2>
<p>Second, there is the effect of urban sprawl on school planning. As <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-x/2021001/98-200-x2021001-eng.cfm">more families move to suburban neighbourhoods</a>, local schools need to rely on portables to alleviate overcrowding. </p>
<p>Inner-city schools, <a href="https://journalhosting.ucalgary.ca/index.php/cjeap/article/view/58375">which often serve minoritized students</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-school-closures-doug-ford-pc-government-1.6758142">experience enrolment decline, which puts them at risk of closure</a>. </p>
<p>Third, there is a tension between urban planning and school planning. Undergoing processes of urban change, like <a href="https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2021/as-sa/98-200-x/2021001/98-200-x2021001-eng.cfm">urban sprawl</a> and <a href="https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/82-003-x/2021005/article/00002-eng.htm">gentrification</a>, forces school boards to stretch out resources that otherwise could be concentrated in fewer areas.</p>
<p>School boards are forced to play catch up to city development, making planning a more difficult and less predictable task. The absence of formal mechanisms for school boards to have a say on urban growth makes school planning an afterthought to municipal planning.</p>
<p>Finally, there is the issue of funding. <a href="https://monitormag.ca/articles/inflation-adjusted-school-funding-is-down-1-200-per-student-since-the-ford-government-came-to-power/">Funding cuts</a> and <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/ontario-education-spending-gap-1.6047233">austerity in Ontario public education</a> are not new. For instance, in 2019, the <a href="https://www.thestar.com/politics/provincial/repair-backlog-in-ontario-schools-hits-16-3-billion/article_29d2809a-470a-503e-aa79-9688795b11c2.html">province reported a $16.3 billion</a> backlog in <a href="https://fixourschools.ca/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Hugh_MacKenzie_Report_Ontarios_deteriorating_schools.pdf">school repairs</a>. </p>
<h2>More proactive approach needed</h2>
<p>Since only the most <a href="https://efis.fma.csc.gov.on.ca/faab/Memos/B2022/B01_EN.pdf">urgent cases of overcrowding are selected for funding,</a> school boards can <a href="https://www.sudbury.com/local-news/busting-at-the-seams-16m-for-portables-at-holy-trinity-school-7727588#">wait for several years</a> until requests for new schools are approved. </p>
<p>The process to fund new schools is so slow and reactive, that it is common for <a href="https://windsor.ctvnews.ca/new-public-school-in-tecumseh-satisfies-need-while-preparing-for-future-growth-1.6328320#%22%22">new schools</a> to <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/london/arthur-currie-school-portables-1.6040904">receive portables shortly after opening</a>.</p>
<p>Normalizing temporary structures as permanent educational facilities undermines the goal of providing quality public education to all children. </p>
<p>Portables are not a solution, but a symptom of overcrowding. A more proactive approach to school planning is required.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214310/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Augusto Riveros has received funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada</span></em></p>Normalizing temporary structures as permanent educational facilities undermines the goal of providing quality public education to all children.Augusto Riveros, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, Western UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2166922023-11-08T16:41:53Z2023-11-08T16:41:53Z‘Beauty’ in architecture can’t be enforced – but design competitions could help architects strive for it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557737/original/file-20231106-24-trvg0j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">New Islington Marina in Manchester.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/an-aerial-view-of-a-city-with-a-river-running-through-it-CowORvlVTOQ">Matt Newton|Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In 2021, the UK government made beauty an explicit objective of the English planning system. The <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-laws-to-speed-up-planning-build-homes-and-level-up">Levelling Up and Regeneration Act</a>, which <a href="https://www.housing.org.uk/news-and-blogs/news/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-receives-royal-assent/">received royal assent</a> on October 26 2023, now <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-homes-fact-sheet-6-the-role-of-design-and-placemaking/fact-sheet-6-the-role-of-design-and-placemaking-in-new-homes-and-communities">requires local authorities to use design codes</a> to deliver beauty in new developments.</p>
<p>Driving this emphasis on beauty (which is likely to be strengthened through <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-reforms-to-national-planning-policy/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-reforms-to-national-planning-policy#chapter-6--asking-for-beauty">further planned revisions</a> to national planning policy) is a particularly knotty problem in England’s approach to housing. Everyone agrees that more housing is needed, but no one wants it to be built near them. The government’s hope – as the secretary of state for levelling up, housing and communities, Michael Gove, <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/long-term-plan-for-housing-secretary-of-states-speech">has put it</a> – is that “communities will welcome development when it is beautiful”.</p>
<p>English towns and cities do desperately need attention. A 2019 national audit by advocacy group <a href="https://placealliance.org.uk/">Place Alliance</a> found that, in terms of design quality, new housing developments <a href="https://placealliance.org.uk/research/national-housing-audit/">are overwhelmingly mediocre or poor</a>. <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-converting-office-space-into-flats-wont-solve-the-housing-crisis-215557">Office buildings</a> converted under permitted development rights into <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0042098020936966">housing</a> have been characterised by the campaign group Town and Country Planning Association as creating “<a href="https://www.tcpa.org.uk/collection/campaign-for-healthy-homes/">slums of the future</a>”. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, outstanding heritage assets are being <a href="https://theconversation.com/ive-been-chronicling-liverpools-renaissance-for-40-years-heres-why-the-citys-unesco-status-should-not-have-been-removed-164719">harmed</a> by insensitive new development. And under-resourced local authorities are in no position to help because they have so little <a href="https://placealliance.org.uk/research/design-skills/">design expertise</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Buildings on the Liverpool waterfront." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=292&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557730/original/file-20231106-19-cq6i0x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Unesco revoked Liverpool’s world heritage status over concerns its cultural value has been compromised by new buildings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/low-angle-photography-o-buildings-RsIsVDqSiF0">Atanas Paskalev|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There is mounting evidence that <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/mono/10.4324/9781315768373/architects-matter-flora-samuel">buildings</a> and <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13574809.2018.1472523">places</a> have a profound influence on <a href="https://www.hup.harvard.edu/catalog.php?isbn=9780674057487">public health and wellbeing</a>. The British designer Thomas Heatherwick has gone so far as to claim that boring architecture has brought us <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/oct/25/thomas-heatherwick-war-on-boring-buildings-ive-never-gone-against-the-whole-industry-before">“misery, alienation, sickness and violence”</a>.</p>
<p>The government is right to expect more of development. However, it is debatable whether beauty should or realistically can be a planning objective. My research looks at how planning rules influence the design of the built environment. The best way “<a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/long-term-plan-for-housing-secretary-of-states-speech">to build beautiful</a>” – to reprise Gove’s leitmotif – might be to regulate design processes, rather than outcomes. </p>
<h2>The problem with beauty</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/creating-a-design-code">Design codes</a> establish detailed requirements and rules for how sites or areas are developed. They exist to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900623000363">improve design standards</a>. It is questionable, however, whether they can ensure a new development is beautiful. </p>
<p>This is because beauty is mutable, multifaceted, emotive and subjective. It defies definition, let alone physical prescription. </p>
<p>This is evident in the way <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/national-design-guide">national design guidance</a> sidesteps the issue of how beauty should actually be achieved. Nowhere is “beauty” – or “beautiful development” – even defined. </p>
<p>This lack of clarity could result in “beauty” ending up being whatever certain planners or politicians <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14649357.2022.2113613">say it is</a>.
Further, it risks sidelining more pressing matters, including sustainability and affordability. </p>
<p>There is evidence that even planning inspectors are <a href="https://placealliance.org.uk/research/appealing-design/">opting not to use beauty</a> in their <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/618cf8dbe90e07043f2b95a7/21-11-11_DL+IR_20_Bury_Street_3244984.pdf">decisions</a> on planning applications. The question, then, is whether expecting local authorities to codify it in planning rules is realistic.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A housing development in England." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=270&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/557429/original/file-20231103-19-2sq5e0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The UK government’s aim is to encourage more development by regulating its aesthetic qualities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gethin Davison</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Regulating processes rather than outcomes</h2>
<p>My colleagues and I have looked at how design is regulated internationally. In Sydney, Australia, rather than prescribing design outcomes, the approach is to regulate the design process. In other words, planning rules do not specify the exact types of buildings and spaces that must be developed on a site. Instead, they specify that a particular process must be used to find the right design. </p>
<p>Through the local planning system, it is a legal requirement in the City of Sydney that all major developments, public and private, start with a design competition. Developers of residential blocks, office buildings and even electrical substations cannot simply produce a design in-house, or hire their tried-and-tested architect to do the work. </p>
<p>Rather, they must invite at least three different firms to come up with a proposal. The brief these firms work to sets out the design objectives for the competition, the commercial and construction considerations, and the criteria against which entries will be assessed (such as compliance with the design brief or buildability). A panel of judges then picks the winner. It is a form of competitive procurement, not unlike those used for UK public contracts.</p>
<p>The focus in the Sydney planning system is not on achieving beauty but “design excellence” – a similarly multifaceted and intangible quality that defies simple definition. But by regulating the design process through competitions, Sydney’s planners <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-13-2056-9">can require</a> that new developments achieve design excellence without needing to define or prescribe it. They simply establish some basic ground rules and challenge the competing architects to find the best way of delivering an excellent design. </p>
<p>Where other prescriptive approaches to planning often see developers doing the absolute minimum required to gain planning approval – resulting in poor-quality designs – this lack of prescription gives architects the freedom to think outside the box. The sheer fact that a competition generates multiple designs for a site ensures against <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-reforms-to-national-planning-policy/levelling-up-and-regeneration-bill-reforms-to-national-planning-policy#chapter-2---policy-objectives">ugliness</a>. It makes it more likely that the best possible design will be found. </p>
<p>Design competitions have a reputation for being costly and unpredictable, but <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13602365.2023.2257713?src=">they don’t need to be</a>. The UK government wants to better enable communities to take <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/long-term-plan-for-housing-secretary-of-states-speech">control of their housing future</a>. Competitions are a proven way of engaging members of the public in debate about the relative merits of different designs for a site or area. There’s no reason why those members of the public couldn’t also be part of the judging process. </p>
<p>When it comes to our towns and cities, it’s hard to argue against beauty in the abstract. Who wouldn’t want to live in a beautiful home or neighbourhood? </p>
<p>But new development doesn’t happen in the abstract, it happens in real places. Beauty in the built environment matters, but enforcing it through design codes risks creating confusion and disillusionment. Mostly, it serves as a distraction away from more pressing priorities.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216692/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gethin Davison has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p>The UK government aims to enforce beauty through the planning system’s design codes. But intangible qualities like beauty are best achieved by challenging architects – not constraining them.Gethin Davison, Associate Professor of Urban and Regional Planning, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155572023-10-31T16:47:04Z2023-10-31T16:47:04ZWhy converting office space into flats won’t solve the housing crisis<p>The UK government is proposing to further relax planning rules as part of its <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/news/long-term-plan-for-housing">long-term plan for housing</a>. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities aims to extend what are known as <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/permitted-development-rights">“permitted development rights” (PDR)</a> in England. This would widen a previous relaxation of planning rules to encourage developers and builders to convert empty commercial spaces into housing. </p>
<p>It is being seen as a response to multiple councils across England which have declared <a href="https://theconversation.com/birminghams-bankruptcy-is-only-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-local-authorities-across-england-are-at-risk-212912">bankruptcy</a> (or are warning they might). The housing crisis in England is increasingly being singled out as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/oct/30/councils-in-england-facing-bankruptcy-as-lack-of-housing-pushes-up-costs">the most serious threat</a> to local government solvency. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, homelessness is on the rise, private tenants are increasingly priced out of the rental market, home owners are struggling to pay mortgages and councils are struggling to provide the requisite support.</p>
<p>But, <a href="http://offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/NewsAttachments/RLP/RICSExtendingPermittedDevelopmentRights.pdf">research</a> shows that buildings converted into homes under PDR provide significantly worse residential quality, particularly in terms of size, amenity space and location, than homes given full planning permission.</p>
<p>The loss of local authority oversight that extending PDR would bring will only make the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/business/2023/apr/15/young-adults-uk-housing">housing quality crisis</a> worse. Furthermore, converting offices into housing is unlikely to significantly boost housing supply in line with need. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An empty city street." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=343&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556685/original/file-20231030-19-1ip5mo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=431&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">COVID has resulted in some central office districts being emptier.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/gray-concrete-road-between-high-rise-buildings-during-daytime-HoupC-zHlLo">Ben Garratt|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Previous changes to planning</h2>
<p>The UK government <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/SN00485/SN00485.pdf">trialled</a> PDR in May 2013, primarily to encourage converting offices to housing. This was made permanent in 2016. While developers in England were previously required to submit detailed plans and apply for full planning permission for this, the changes meant they only had to notify the local planning authority.</p>
<p>Conversions of offices to housing under PDR have contributed <a href="https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZTE5YWQ3MDYtZmFjMC00N2YwLWIxM2EtYWY2NTk1NjExYjgwIiwidCI6ImJmMzQ2ODEwLTljN2QtNDNkZS1hODcyLTI0YTJlZjM5OTVhOCJ9">81,282 homes (net)</a> in England since 2015. Although data for specific changes of use (from office to housing, say) is not available before 2015, overall <a href="https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/659529/Housing_Supply_England_2016-17.pdf">net change of use</a> provided approximately 12,500 homes per year before 2013. </p>
<p>After PDR was introduced, conversions of offices peaked at 17,751 in 2016-17. In 2021-2022, however, this change of use accounted for just 8,359 units (3.6%) of <a href="https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiZTE5YWQ3MDYtZmFjMC00N2YwLWIxM2EtYWY2NTk1NjExYjgwIiwidCI6ImJmMzQ2ODEwLTljN2QtNDNkZS1hODcyLTI0YTJlZjM5OTVhOCJ9">net additional housing</a> in England. </p>
<p>The majority of PDR conversions in England have been <a href="http://offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/NewsAttachments/RLP/RICSExtendingPermittedDevelopmentRights.pdf">small-scale</a> (below 10 units). In other words, the number of homes it can ultimately provide pales in comparison to the government’s target of <a href="https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7671/">300,000</a> new homes per year.</p>
<p>Vacant office space across the UK is higher than before the pandemic, but the <a href="https://academic.oup.com/cjres/article/15/3/597/6670650?login=true#386609022">picture is mixed</a>. Companies still want the <a href="https://content.knightfrank.com/research/2386/documents/en/uk-cities-2023-9882.pdf">best</a> quality office space to bolster branding, staff retention and sustainability credentials. </p>
<p>Office vacancy rates in <a href="https://www.jll.co.uk/en/trends-and-insights/research/q2-2023-central-london-office-market-report">central London</a> were 9.4% in the second financial quarter of 2023. This is significantly higher than the long-term average of 5.5%. However, underlying demand remains relatively high. During the same period, the <a href="https://www.jll.co.uk/en/trends-and-insights/research/q2-2023-central-london-office-market-report">highest level</a> of space under offer by occupiers since 2019 was recorded.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Office workers in front of a wall of windows." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556821/original/file-20231031-27-7p2bl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">High-specification offices in prime city centre locations are still sought after.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/person-sitting-beside-table-HXOllTSwrpM">Ant Rozetsky|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Converting offices is not straightforward</h2>
<p>Office vacancy rates do not necessarily translate into empty buildings, or even readily convertible sections. Office conversions is also a typically <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/myths-about-converting-offices-into-housing-and-what-can-really-revitalize-downtowns/">costly</a> endeavour. </p>
<p>Large buildings are physically complex to adapt for housing, particularly in ensuring <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0305900622000848#bib85">natural light and ventilation</a> reach windowless central parts of the internal floor area. Developers also have to <a href="https://lichfields.uk/media/2493/departments-to-apartments.pdf">install</a> additional cabling and piping for domestic use. There are also new requirements regarding external cladding. Many office buildings are thus not <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/empty-offices-housing-1.6736171">practical or commercially viable</a> to convert.</p>
<p>What’s more, land in central office districts remains valuable. Even if converting an office building is viable, high construction costs and interest rates mean the <a href="https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20230817-major-cities-are-now-with-filled-with-empty-office-buildings-what-happens-next">necessary asking price</a> for properties would likely exclude the private housing market where <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7671/CBP-7671.pdf">need</a> is greatest – that of first homes. </p>
<p>Lastly, offices tend to lack the <a href="https://re.public.polimi.it/handle/11311/1053285">features or development potential</a> that have, to date, made older, industrial buildings attractive for <a href="https://www.savills.co.uk/blog/article/227395/residential-property/why-buy-a-warehouse-conversion.aspx">conversion to luxury homes</a>. And there’s also the wider problem that <a href="https://ww3.rics.org/uk/en/modus/built-environment/commercial-real-estate/office-residential-conversion.html">central</a> office districts often do not have the amenities which residents expect in their neighbourhoods either – including schools, GP surgeries, and parks.</p>
<p>With <a href="https://content.knightfrank.com/research/2386/documents/en/uk-cities-2023-9882.pdf">office markets polarising</a> as demand concentrates on high-end spaces, offices targeted for conversion by developers are likely to be older buildings in locations such as edge-of-town industrial parks. There have been well-publicised examples of councils, such as Harlow, in the south-east of England, placing social tenants in <a href="https://www.hometodiefor.co.uk/">hastily converted</a>, isolated office blocks, such as Shield House and <a href="https://www.thebrutalist.co.uk/office/terminus-house-harlow/">Terminus House</a>. </p>
<p>The resulting dire living conditions have seen such developments variously labelled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/27/housing-crisis-planning-converting-office-blocks-homes-catastrophe-jenrick">“open prisons”</a>, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-essex-47720887">“human warehouses”</a> and the <a href="https://www.tcpa.org.uk/collection/campaign-for-healthy-homes/">“slums of the future”</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A public square with high rise buildings under a grey sky." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556816/original/file-20231031-19-hfvpgr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harlow’s Market Square, with Adams House and Terminus House (right).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/Market_Square%2C_Harlow%2C_Essex_-_viewed_from_the_north-west.jpg">Mutney|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Housing of this kind, which fails to meet even basic human needs, risks further entrenching the socio-economic inequalities driving the housing crisis. This crisis is multi-faceted. It encompasses supply, affordability and quality, which are each <a href="https://www.centreforcities.org/housing/">highly localised</a>. </p>
<p>While <a href="https://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7671/CBP-7671.pdf">housing need</a> is highest in London and the South East where <a href="https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/housing/bulletins/housingaffordabilityinenglandandwales/2022">affordability</a> is lowest, 380,000 new homes per year are <a href="https://www.crisis.org.uk/media/239700/crisis_housing_supply_requirements_across_great_britain_2018.pdf">needed across the UK</a>, with 100,000 for social rent. </p>
<h2>Local planning is crucial</h2>
<p>Bypassing the planning process through PDR means local authorities miss the opportunity to secure <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/about/news/over-18000-affordable-houses-lost-office-residential-conversions">affordable housing</a> through <a href="https://www.local.gov.uk/pas/topics/developer-contributions">developer contributions</a> in return for planning permission. It also hampers councils’ ability to ensure that new housing responds to local circumstance.</p>
<p>Local oversight of how places are created is important. Local planning authorities are best placed to coordinate the changing built environment as <a href="https://repairresearch.net/download/2174/">town and city centres</a> evolve. They also have a key role in upholding housing quality standards, and in delivering affordable housing.</p>
<p>The planning system supports this. It also <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09654313.2021.1985084">does not prevent</a> underused buildings being converted into housing. In Scotland, the devolved planning system has <a href="https://www.transformingplanning.scot/planning-reform/work-packages/permitted-development/">narrower PDR</a>. </p>
<p>As a result, local authorities retain oversight of conversions, through which they can maintain housing quality standards and ensure redevelopment improves its surroundings. For example, two major shopping centres in Glasgow, the <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-65755768">St Enoch Centre</a> and <a href="https://www.glasgow.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=27934">Buchanan Galleries</a>, are currently planned for conversion into mixed-use districts, including substantial housing. The City Council is an active stakeholder in each project. </p>
<p>In its <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09654313.2021.1985084">one-size-fits-all approach</a>, however, the way PDR in England is being advocated appears to be more an experiment with planning deregulation, on ideological grounds, than a long-term response to housing need. Putting the onus on a fragmented market to solve the housing crisis is likely to produce more long-term problems than solutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Employee of the University of Glasgow, with the International Public Policy Observatory.
Previously received ESRC funding for a collaborative doctoral studentship titled 'Creating well-designed places in Scotland: What does it take?'
Member of the Labour Party.
Licentiate Member of the Royal Town Planning Institute.</span></em></p>Removing local authorities’ ability to oversee how the built environment changes will not solve the housing crisis. In fact, it might make inequality worse.Robert Richardson, Research Associate in Social Sciences, University of GlasgowLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2155562023-10-30T17:04:07Z2023-10-30T17:04:07ZJapanese manhole covers are painted with flowers, bridges, mountains and mascots – and now they’re for sale<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556149/original/file-20231026-17-gi6j0n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-close-up-of-a-street-sign-with-a-mountain-in-the-background-BWm0RH9I9Ak">Kenshi Kingami|nsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Visitors to Japan are usually primed to look up – at the vast skyscrapers, the ornate temple gates, the traditional timber-framed guesthouses. Those who look down at their feet, though, might have noticed something equally intriguing on the ground. Ornate manhole covers in wrought iron, often plain, sometimes brightly painted, dot the country’s pavements, separating street life from the sewers that run below. </p>
<p>These objects have garnered a considerable following of “manholers” (as the hobbyists are known), who will be delighted to learn that city officials in Kyoto and other local authorities are now <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/11/manhole-covers-become-collectors-items-in-japan">putting up retired covers</a> for sale. <a href="https://mainichi.jp/english/articles/20231010/p2a/00m/0na/004000c">For ¥5,500 (£31)</a>, fans can purchase their own 90kg piece of Japanese street furniture.</p>
<p>A construction ministry employee came up with the idea of decorative manhole covers in the late 1970s. It was an attempt to get the public on board not just with costly upgrades to the sewer system, but with the existence of the sewer system itself.</p>
<p>Beyond such efforts at corporate social responsibility, though, these urban ornaments connect to a long-standing historical urban planning concept, <a href="https://www-jstor-org.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/stable/27756649?sid=primo">“<em>machizukuri</em>”</a>. They speak to efforts revive local communities and wider regional economies. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9OYPWgzDBxE?wmode=transparent&start=1" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<h2>A successful marketing ploy</h2>
<p>Today <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/features/drainspotting-japanese-manhole-covers">more than 90%</a> of municipalities have their own distinctive manhole cover designs. The motifs used are often rooted in local history, geography and culture. </p>
<p>They include the usual traditional <a href="https://theconversation.com/social-media-snaps-map-the-sweep-of-japans-cherry-blossom-season-in-unprecedented-detail-206574">cherry blossoms</a>, landscapes, castles, bridges, birds and, as the <a href="https://jgma.gr.jp/manhole-cover/citizen-recognition-role/">Japan Ground Manhole Association</a> website puts it, the wind and the Moon. Others <a href="https://www.nippon.com/en/views/b06304/">reference</a> sports teams, anime and local mascots. </p>
<p>Yokohama, in the summer of 2023, got <a href="https://japantoday.com/category/features/lifestyle/brand-new-pikachu-manhole-covers-coming-to-yokohama-to-celebrate-pokemon-world-championships-2">four new Pikachu lids</a>, when the city became the first in Japan to host the annual Pokemon world championship. These weren’t the first Pokemon-themed covers though. On the <a href="https://local.pokemon.jp/en/manhole/">Pokelids</a> website you can see similar designs mapped out across the country, from Hokkaido in the north to Kyushu in the south. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Pokemon-themed manhole covers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=612&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556125/original/file-20231026-17-u7ye03.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=769&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Pokelids have flourished across the country.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%95%E3%82%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AB:Ibusuki_Evey-Suki_Manhole.JPG">Totti|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Manhole designs now adorn keychains, t-shirts and mugs, as well as a trading card game. An annual <a href="https://www.gk-p.jp/activity/manhole-summit/">manhole summit</a> has been organised since 2012. The tenth edition, held in Tokorozawa on December 1 2022, attracted an estimated 14,000 visitors. </p>
<p>This popularity is partially down to the successful publicity of the local agencies that manage the sewerage networks. Replacing worn-out covers is expensive. As the sewers are mainly run by local authorities, it is taxpayers’ money that gets spent on replacements – so getting the public on side is crucial. Capitalising on the covers’ popularity could also now be a good source of revenue for debt-laden public bodies. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=597&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556145/original/file-20231026-19-b6yob0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A fireman in action in Okayama prefecture.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Manhole_cover,_Okayama,_Okayama_Prefecture,_Japan.jpg">OKJaguar|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Community building</h2>
<p>Manhole covers sometimes provide tourist information at sightseeing spots and sports events or outline emergency escape routes in the event of an earthquake or tsunami. Some include QR codes and augmented reality.</p>
<p>This speaks to the urban design trend of <em>machizukuri</em>, a term which combines <em>machi</em> (best translated as “community” or “shared space”, a place both physical and intangible in which community comes together and social activities take place) with <em>zukuri</em> (which means “producing” and “nurturing”). The idea connects urban planning with community building.</p>
<p>By the late 1960s, the environmental damage caused by Japan’s rapid economic growth after 1945 was becoming impossible to ignore. The period was also a time of tumultuous student and anti-war protest. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556121/original/file-20231026-22-i9tz1o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Osaka Castle and cherry blossoms in Chuo-ku, Osaka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/jpellgen/378759850">jpellgen|Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>Machizukuri</em> emerged as an idealistic philosophy that aimed to improve the everyday environment through a bottom-up transformation, involving citizens, experts and local officials. The idea was to enliven urban areas by energising residents and reveal the spirit of the locality.</p>
<p>The term was more widely used in the mid-1970s and through the 1980s, as national economic policy brought increasing free trade in agriculture, relocated large factories overseas and privatised state-owned businesses. These neo-liberal reforms were a major cause of the now well-known problems of rural depopulation and ageing in Japan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A cherry-blossom themed manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=354&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556115/original/file-20231026-23-1lr7ou.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=445&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sakura on a manhole cover in Mishima.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-manhole-cover-with-a-bunch-of-nuts-on-it-HUp0NOU12hs">Kenshi Kingami|Unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ultimately, the responsibility for rural revitalisation shifted on to municipalities. Local authorities were tasked with finding creative ways to sustain and revive local economies. The idealistic philosophical notion of <em>machizukuri</em> of the late-1960s was coopted by the changing economic imperatives of central government.</p>
<p>In the 1990s, tourism – domestic and inbound foreign – became a primary tool for <em>machizukuri</em>. Local authorities in declining rural areas tapped into a national sense of nostalgia in their campaigns to attract domestic visitors. Small towns and villages became the repository of what the popular mass media came to describe as the “real Japan”, the one left behind and forgotten in the rapid transformation of the postwar years. </p>
<p>The bubble economy of the early 1990s saw amusement parks, golf clubs, holiday resorts and out-of-town shopping centres populate the landscape and create jobs. Transportation to major cities was vastly improved through high-speed rail and highway networks. Local specialities – food, farming products, arts and crafts – were commodified and marketed. As elsewhere, the connection between localism and economic ideologies, such as post-developmentalism and neoliberalism, has become central to the growth of consumer society in Japan. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A colourful manhole cover in Japan." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=290&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556155/original/file-20231026-15-4as9yx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The manga character, Chibi Maruko-chan, in Shizuoka.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/a-sign-with-a-picture-of-a-child-on-it-JtpyslWCU6Y">Kenshi Kingam|unsplash</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fans who decide to invest in a manhole cover are not just buying a pretty, heavy piece of artwork but something with cultural significance, that speaks to a feeling of shared belonging and communal life. The fact that they are even for sale also highlights how fragile – how under threat – this feeling is. <a href="https://theconversation.com/japan-is-not-the-only-country-worrying-about-population-decline-get-used-to-a-two-speed-world-56106">Local communities</a>, after all, <a href="https://onlinelibrary-wiley-com.sheffield.idm.oclc.org/doi/pdfdirect/10.1111/pafo.12043">have been destroyed</a> by the neoliberal economy of the last four decades.</p>
<p><em>Machizukuri</em> effectively creates a marketplace for nostalgia. These decorative manhole covers are simply one more element in the commodification of the spaces and places in which everyday life takes place. A pragmatic approach to sewerage management has become another opportunity to go shopping.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215556/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martyn Smith does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>These popular street ornaments speak to a 1960s urban planning philosophy as well as to the commodification of nostalgia.Martyn Smith, Lecturer in Japanese Studies, University of SheffieldLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154122023-10-25T12:32:06Z2023-10-25T12:32:06ZWhat are roundabouts? A transportation engineer explains the safety benefits of these circular intersections<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553088/original/file-20231010-25-nl84ck.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=8%2C8%2C1990%2C1483&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A large roundabout in China.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/traffic-circle-at-night-royalty-free-image/1415700368?phrase=roundabout&adppopup=true">Jiojio/Moment via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you live on the East Coast, you may have driven through roundabouts in your neighborhood countless times. Or maybe, if you’re in some parts farther west, you’ve never encountered one of these intersections. But roundabouts, while a relatively new traffic control measure, are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/25/roundabout-revolution-traffic-circles/">catching on across the United States</a>.</p>
<p>Roundabouts, also known as traffic circles or rotaries, are <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/safety/intersection-safety/intersection-types/roundabouts">circular intersections</a> designed to improve traffic flow and safety. They offer several advantages over conventional intersections controlled by traffic signals or stop signs, but by far the most important one is safety. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A bird's-eye view of a roundabout, with a pink circular center with grass in the middle, and four roads converging from north, south, east and west." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555403/original/file-20231023-29-a5mlzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Modern roundabouts can have one or two lanes, and usually have four exit options.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/2020CensusChallenges/f7a70b19f0c9416b85a99e19b874cf1f/photo?Query=roundabout&mediaType=photo&sortBy=&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=194&currentItemNo=2&vs=true&vs=true">AP Photo/Alex Slitz</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://udayton.edu/engineering/research/research-labs/transportation-group/index.php">I research transportation engineering</a>, particularly traffic safety and traffic operations. <a href="https://udayton.edu/engineering/research/research-labs/transportation-group/research.php">Some of my past studies</a> have examined the safety and operational effects of installing roundabouts at an intersection. I’ve also compared the performance of roundabouts versus stop-controlled intersections. </p>
<h2>A brief history of roundabouts</h2>
<p>As early as the 1700s, some city planners proposed and even constructed circular places, sites where roads converged, like <a href="https://www.discoveringbritain.org/activities/south-west-england/aerial/britain-from-the-air-bath-circus.html">the Circus</a> in Bath, England, and the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Place_Charles_de_Gaulle">Place Charles de Gaulle</a> in France. In the U.S., architect Pierre L'Enfant <a href="https://science.howstuffworks.com/engineering/civil/roundabouts1.htm">built several into his design for Washington, D.C.</a>. These circles were the predecessors to roundabouts.</p>
<p>In 1903, French architect and influential urban planner Eugène Hénard was one of the first people who <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/9780813526911/ways-of-the-world/">introduced the idea</a> of <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/autumn-1995/roundabouts-direct-way-safer-highways">moving traffic in a circle</a> to control <a href="https://trid.trb.org/view/458975">busy intersections in Paris</a>. </p>
<p>Around the same time, <a href="https://enotrans.org/the-life-of-eno/">William Phelps Eno</a>, an American businessman known as the father of traffic safety and control, also proposed roundabouts to alleviate <a href="https://trid.trb.org/view/458975">traffic congestion in New York City</a>. </p>
<p>In the years that followed, a few other cities tried out a roundabout-like design, with <a href="https://www.bridlevehicleleasing.co.uk/blog/why-doesnt-america-have-roundabouts">varying levels of success</a>. These roundabouts didn’t have any sort of standardized design guidelines, and most of them were too large to be effective and efficient, as vehicles would enter at higher speeds without always yielding. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/autumn-1995/roundabouts-direct-way-safer-highways">birth of the modern roundabout</a> came with yield-at-entry regulations, adopted in some towns in Great Britain in the 1950s. With yield-at-entry regulations, the vehicles entering the roundabout had to give way to vehicles already circulating in the roundabout. This was made a rule nationwide in the United Kingdom in 1966, then in France in 1983.</p>
<p>Yield-at-entry meant vehicles drove through these modern roundabouts more slowly, and over the years, engineers began adding more features that made them look closer to how roundabouts do now. Many added pedestrian crossings and splitter islands – or raised curbs where vehicles entered and exited – which <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/autumn-1995/roundabouts-direct-way-safer-highways">controlled the vehicles’ speeds</a>.</p>
<p>Engineers, planners and decision-makers worldwide noticed that these roundabouts improved traffic flow, reduced congestion and improved safety at intersections. Roundabouts then spread <a href="https://www.bridlevehicleleasing.co.uk/blog/why-doesnt-america-have-roundabouts">throughout Europe and Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Three decades later, modern roundabouts came to North America. The <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/public-roads/autumn-1995">first modern roundabout</a> in the U.S. was built in <a href="https://www.8newsnow.com/news/local-news/highlighting-the-first-modern-roundabouts-in-the-country-during-national-roundabout-week/">Summerlin, on the west side of Las Vegas</a>, in 1990. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/46mOPz3rhHs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Roundabouts require the driver to yield before entering and signal before exiting.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Ever since, the construction of modern roundabouts in the U.S. has picked up steam. There are now about <a href="https://roundabouts.kittelson.com/">10,000 roundabouts in the country</a>. </p>
<h2>Why use roundabouts?</h2>
<p>Roundabouts likely caught on so quickly because they reduce the number of <a href="https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/basics/roundabouts">potential conflict points</a>. A conflict point at an intersection is a location where the paths of two or more vehicles or road users cross or have the potential to cross. The more conflict points, the more likely vehicles are to crash.</p>
<p>A roundabout has only eight potential conflict points, compared to 32 at <a href="https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/basics/roundabouts">a conventional four-way intersection</a>. At roundabouts, vehicles don’t cross each other at a right angle, and there are fewer points where vehicles merge or diverge into or away from each other.</p>
<p>The roundabout’s tight circle forces approaching traffic to slow down and yield to circulating traffic, and then move smoothly around the central island. As a result, roundabouts have <a href="https://www.iihs.org/topics/roundabouts#safety-benefits">fewer stop-and-go issues</a>, which reduces fuel consumption and vehicle emissions and allows drivers to perform U-turns more easily. Since traffic flows continuously at lower speeds in a roundabout, this continuous flow minimizes the need for vehicles to stop, which reduces congestion. </p>
<p>The Federal Highway Administration estimates that when a roundabout replaces a stop sign-controlled intersection, it reduces serious and fatal injury crashes <a href="https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/basics/roundabouts">by 90%</a>, and when it replaces an intersection with a traffic light, it reduces serious and fatal injury crashes <a href="https://www.transportation.ohio.gov/about-us/basics/roundabouts">by nearly 80%</a>.</p>
<h2>Why do some places have more than others?</h2>
<p>Engineers and planners traditionally have installed roundabouts in intersections with <a href="https://www.in.gov/indot/traffic-engineering/roundabouts/">severe congestion or a history of accidents</a>. But, with public support and funding, they can get installed anywhere.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6OGvj7GZSIo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">For some traffic engineers, the sky’s the limit.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But roundabouts aren’t needed in every intersection. In places where congestion isn’t an issue, city planners <a href="https://www.bridlevehicleleasing.co.uk/blog/why-doesnt-america-have-roundabouts">tend not to push for them</a>. For example, while there are <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/25/roundabout-revolution-traffic-circles/">around 750 roundabouts</a> in Florida, there are fewer than 50 in <a href="https://www.dot.nd.gov/projects/roundabout/roundabout.htm">North Dakota</a>, <a href="https://www.keloland.com/keloland-com-original/more-roundabouts-possible-in-sioux-falls/">South Dakota</a> and <a href="https://www.dot.state.wy.us/home/news_info/roundabouts.html">Wyoming</a> combined. </p>
<p>Roundabouts have been <a href="https://www.iihs.org/topics/roundabouts#safety-benefits">gaining popularity</a> in the U.S. in recent years, in part because the <a href="https://highways.dot.gov/safety/proven-safety-countermeasures">Federal Highway Administration recommends them</a> as the safest option. Some states, like New York and Virginia, have adopted a “roundabout first” policy, where engineers default to using roundabouts where feasible when building or upgrading intersections. </p>
<p>In 2000, the U.S. <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/11/25/roundabout-revolution-traffic-circles/">only had 356 roundabouts</a>. Over the past two decades, that number has <a href="https://roundabouts.kittelson.com/">grown to over 10,000</a>. Love them or hate them, the roundabout’s widespread adoption suggests that these circular intersections are here to stay.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215412/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Deogratias Eustace receives funding from research funding agencies.</span></em></p>Whether you call them rotaries, traffic circles or roundabouts, they offer a safer alternative to the four-way stop. But the modern roundabout has been decades in the making.Deogratias Eustace, Professor of Civil, Environmental and Engineering Mechanics, University of DaytonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2140752023-10-10T19:03:39Z2023-10-10T19:03:39ZStreets of purple haze: how the South American jacaranda became a symbol of Australian spring<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551599/original/file-20231003-19-8j13mm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C7%2C5270%2C3505&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Jacaranda season is beginning across Australia as an explosion of vivid blue spreads in a wave from north to south. We think of jacarandas as a signature tree of various Australian cities. Sydney, Melbourne, Adelaide and Perth all feature avenues of them. </p>
<p>Grafton in New South Wales hosts an annual <a href="https://www.jacarandafestival.com/">jacaranda festival</a>. Herberton in Queensland is noted for <a href="https://www.facebook.com/jacarandafestivalherberton/">its seasonal show</a>. </p>
<p>There are significant plantings in many botanic, public and university gardens across Australia. <em>Jacaranda mimosifolia</em> (the most common species in Australia) doesn’t generally flower in Darwin, and Hobart is a little cold for it. </p>
<p>So showy and ubiquitous, jacarandas can be mistaken for natives, but they originate in South America. The imperial plant-exchange networks of the 19th century introduced them to Australia. </p>
<p>But how did these purple trees find their stronghold in our suburbs?</p>
<h2>Propagating the trees</h2>
<p>Botanist Alan Cunningham sent the first jacaranda specimens from <a href="https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/dream-tree-jacaranda-sydney-icon/">Rio to Britain’s Kew gardens</a> around 1818. </p>
<p>Possibly, jacaranda trees arrived from Kew in colonial Australia. Alternately, Cunningham may have disseminated the tree in his later postings in Australia or through plant and seed exchanges. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551974/original/file-20231004-28-gnonhe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A specimen of <em>Jacaranda mimosifolia</em> from Kew’s herbarium.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://powo.science.kew.org/taxon/urn:lsid:ipni.org:names:130936-2/images">The Trustees of the Natural History Museum, London</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jacarandas are a widespread imperial introduction and are now a feature of many temperate former colonies. The jacaranda was exported by the British from Kew, by other colonial powers (Portugal for example) and directly from South America to various colonies.</p>
<p>Jacarandas grow from seed quite readily, but the often preferred mode of plant propagation in the 19th century was through cuttings because of sometimes <a href="https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/dream-tree-jacaranda-sydney-icon/">unreliable seed</a> and <a href="https://academic.oup.com/histres/article/93/262/715/5938031?login=true">volume of results</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Women around small trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551593/original/file-20231003-27-ee6wee.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The jacaranda plantation at Angorichina Hostel in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collections.slsa.sa.gov.au/resource/SRG+488/18/52">State Library South Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Cuttings are less feasible for the jacaranda, so the tree was admired but rare in Australia until either nurseryman Michael Guilfoyle or gardener George Mortimer succeeded in propagating the tree in 1868. </p>
<p>Once the trees could be easily propagated, <a href="https://www.woollahra.nsw.gov.au/library/local_history/woollahra_plaque_scheme/plaques/michael_guilfoyle">jacarandas became more widely available</a> and they began their spread through Australian suburbs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-theres-a-lot-more-to-love-about-jacarandas-than-just-their-purple-flowers-150851">Why there's a lot more to love about jacarandas than just their purple flowers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A colonial import</h2>
<p>Brisbane claims the earliest jacaranda tree in Australia, <a href="https://blog.qagoma.qld.gov.au/godfrey-rivers-under-the-jacaranda-a-quintessential-image-of-brisbane-queensland/">planted in 1864</a>, but the Sydney Botanic Garden jacaranda is dated at “around” 1850, and jacarandas were listed for sale in <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/13055858?searchTerm=Jacaranda%20OR%20Jakaranda">Sydney in 1861</a>. </p>
<p>These early park and garden plantings were eye-catching – but the real impact and popularity of jacarandas is a result of later street plantings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil painting. Couple has high tea under a jacaranda" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=825&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1036&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1036&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551588/original/file-20231003-15-8gek3u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1036&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">R. Godfrey Rivers, Under the jacaranda ,1903. Oil on canvas, 143.4 x 107.2cm. Purchased 1903.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://collection.qagoma.qld.gov.au/objects/5113">Collection: QAGOMA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Jacaranda avenues, in Australia and around the world, usually indicate wealthier suburbs like Dunkeld in <a href="https://www.wisemove.co.za/post/top-10-richest-suburbs-in-johannesburg">Johannesberg</a> and Kilimani in <a href="https://gay.medium.com/hashtag-jacaranda-propaganda-2f20ac6958b9">Nairobi</a>.</p>
<p>In Australia, these extravagant displays appear in older, genteel suburbs like Subiaco and Applecross in Perth; Kirribilli, Paddington and Lavender Bay in Sydney; Parkville and the Edinburgh Gardens in North Fitzroy in Melbourne; Mitcham, Frewville and Westbourne Park in Adelaide; and St Lucia in Brisbane.</p>
<p>The trend toward urban street avenue plantings expanded internationally in the <a href="https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.2307/3983816?journalCode=foreconshist">mid 19th century</a>. It was particularly popular in growing colonial towns and cities. It followed trends in imperial centres, but new colonial cities offered scope for <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/eh/2009/00000015/00000003/art00004">concerted planning of avenues in new streets</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Oil painting, purple trees" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551592/original/file-20231003-25-9nvrqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ethel Carrick, A Jacaranda avenue, (c. 1943)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.ngv.vic.gov.au/explore/collection/work/140483/">National Gallery of Victoria</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Early Australian streets were often host to a mix of native plants and exotic imported trees. Joseph Maiden, director of the Sydney Botanic Gardens from 1896, drove the move from mixed street plantings towards avenues of single-species trees in the early 20th century. </p>
<p>Maiden selected trees suitable to their proposed area, but he was also driven by contemporary aesthetic ideas of <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/whp/eh/2009/00000015/00000003/art00004">uniformity and display</a>.</p>
<p>By the end of the 19th century, deciduous trees were becoming more popular as tree plantings for their variety and, in southern areas, for the openness to winter sunshine. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Black and white photograph" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551598/original/file-20231003-15-ij6qzs.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=578&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jacaranda Avenue, Grafton, New South Wales, 1932.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-160588898/view">National Library of Australia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It takes around ten years for jacaranda trees to become established. Newly planted jacarandas take between two and 14 years to produce their first flowers, so there was foresight in planning to achieve the streets we have today. </p>
<p>In Melbourne, jacarandas were popular in post-first world war plantings. They were displaced by a move to native trees after the second world war. Despite localised popularity in certain suburbs, the jacaranda does not make the list of top 50 tree plantings for <a href="https://www.proquest.com/docview/220356756/714CC7FF6134038PQ/6?accountid=12001">Melbourne</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A woman next to purple flowers." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=812&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551595/original/file-20231003-17-8fdp8s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1021&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Illustrated front cover from The Queenslander, October 3 1929.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/32605636@N06/50284912557">State Library of Queensland</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Queensland, 19th-century street tree planting was particularly ad hoc – the <a href="https://apps.des.qld.gov.au/heritage-register/detail/?id=602440">Eagle Street fig trees</a> are an example – and offset by enthusiastic forest clearance. It wasn’t until the early 20th century street beautification became more organised and jacaranda avenues were planted in areas like New Farm in Brisbane. </p>
<p>The popular plantings on the St Lucia campus of the University of Queensland occurred later, in the <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/queensland-review/article/abs/for-shade-colour-and-in-memory-of-sacrifice-amenity-and-memorial-tree-planting-in-queenslands-towns-and-cities-191555/459CD1E02E7FD581B4B89ADD7073D705">1930s</a>.</p>
<h2>A flower for luck</h2>
<p>In Australia, as elsewhere, there can be too much of a good thing. Jacarandas are an invasive species <a href="https://weeds.brisbane.qld.gov.au/weeds/jacaranda">in parts of Australia</a> (they seed readily in the warm dry climates to which they have been introduced). </p>
<p>Parts of South Africa have limited or banned the planting of jacarandas because of their water demands and <a href="http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0006-82412017000200020">invasive tendencies</a>. Ironically, eucalypts have a similar status in South Africa. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Blooming tree and sandstone buildings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551596/original/file-20231003-29-ee6wee.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first blooms of the jacaranda tree at the University of Sydney mark the time to study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Writer <a href="https://gay.medium.com/hashtag-jacaranda-propaganda-2f20ac6958b9">Carey Baraka argues</a> that, however beloved and iconic now, significant plantings of jacarandas in Kenya indicate areas of past and present white population and colonial domination. </p>
<p>Despite these drawbacks, spectacular jacaranda plantings remain popular where they have been introduced. There are even myths about them that cross international boundaries. </p>
<p>In the southern hemisphere – in Pretoria or Sydney – they bloom on university campuses during examination time: the first blooms mark the time to study; the fall of blooms suggests it is <a href="https://mhnsw.au/stories/general/dream-tree-jacaranda-sydney-icon/">too late</a>; and the fall of a blossom on a student bestows <a href="https://newcontree.org.za/index.php/nc/article/view/34">good luck</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/jacarandas-in-parts-of-south-africa-are-flowering-earlier-why-its-a-warning-sign-163554">Jacarandas in parts of South Africa are flowering earlier: why it’s a warning sign</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214075/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Susan K Martin has received funding from the Australian Research Council as a CI the SRI Project, 'Parched' which investigates cultures of drought in regional Victoria. She is a member of Landcare Australia.</span></em></p>So showy and ubiquitous, jacarandas can be mistaken for natives, but they originate in South America, and were introduced to Australia in the 19th century.Susan K Martin, Emeritus Professor in English, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122172023-10-10T11:25:59Z2023-10-10T11:25:59ZBuilding on the greenbelt is central to solving the housing crisis – just look at how the edges of cities have changed<p>Amid <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/08/labour-keir-starmer-new-homes-target-green-belt">new targets</a> of 1.5m new <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-67058848">homes</a> over five years, the Labour party has pledged to review the planning rules which dictate where housing in England can be built. The shadow chancellor, Rachel Reeves, has said that <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2023/oct/08/labour-keir-starmer-new-homes-target-green-belt">“a common-sense approach”</a> to deciding quite what land is worth protecting and what can sensibly be used to create more housing was crucial. </p>
<p>This may put Labour at odds with many Conservative politicians in the UK, who have long defended the greenbelt, the protected land that encircles the country’s largest cities, including London, Newcastle and Manchester. The Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’s latest long-term plans for housing <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/long-term-plan-for-housing-secretary-of-states-speech">prioritise</a> urban development of brownfield sites (abandoned or underutilised industrial land) over so-called greenbelt “erosion.”</p>
<p>The notion of “concreting over the countryside,” as Prime Minister Rishi Sunak <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/rishi-sunak-housing-plan-uk-michael-gove-b2380605.html">has put it</a>, is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/oct/19/is-it-time-to-rethink-the-green-belt">politically loaded</a>. Yet, elements of the Conservative party itself are beginning to see that this oversimplifies the issue. As former housing minister Brandon Lewis <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-66998512">has said</a> at a fringe event at the Tory conference, the concept “needs to be reviewed and changed”.</p>
<p>It no longer makes sense to prioritise the city centre over its peripheries because quite what is in the city, and what is outside it, is no longer clear. Multiple factors have seen the city extend into a continuous periphery. These include uneven urbanisation and geo-engineered landscapes, changing working patterns and locations and the perceived conflation of nature with culture. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://counterintuitivetypologies.com/Peripheries-Peripherocene">research looks at</a> how to rethink the urban-nature divide. We have found that design that focuses on <a href="https://punctumbooks.com/titles/analogical-city/">urban peripheries</a> in socially diverse and sustainable ways <a href="https://www.park-books.com/en/product/thinking-design/115">can benefit residents</a>, combat climate change and tackle the housing crisis. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A graphic showing suburban town planning." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=848&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548777/original/file-20230918-29-9wssmn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1065&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Anthropocene has blurred the city’s boundaries.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Joe Wojewoda | Cameron McEwan</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The politics of ‘urban sprawl’</h2>
<p>In his long-term housing policy, Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Michael Gove has made the connection between urban planning, aesthetic standards and climate change. He argues against what he and <a href="https://lirias.kuleuven.be/1684573?limo=0">many before</a> him have termed “urban sprawl”. Instead, making the city centre more dense, he says, will “enhance economic efficiency, free up leisure time and also help with climate change”. </p>
<p>In city planning terms, <a href="https://link.springer.com/referenceworkentry/10.1007/978-94-007-0753-5_698#:%7E:text=Definition,a%20defined%20unit%20of%20area.">“density”</a> refers to the degree of human activity and occupation in a defined unit of urban space. It is, of course, an important measure. Our research shows, however, that what matters most is not the numbers of people and businesses in a city, but the quality of the space in which they operate. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="Map of England's greenbelts" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=677&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/551814/original/file-20231003-25-afdgj0.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=850&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">England’s greenbelts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=26130819">Hellerick|Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Housing is an <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jul/25/the-guardian-view-on-housebuilding-michael-goves-urban-visions-cant-erase-his-partys-record">inherently political issue</a>. <a href="https://england.shelter.org.uk/what_we_do/our_strategy_2022-2025">Shelter</a>, the housing charity, states that 17.5 million people are trapped by the housing emergency. According to the <a href="https://www.centreforcities.org/publication/the-housebuilding-crisis/">Centre for Cities</a> thinktank, Britain has a backlog of 4.3 million homes missing from the national housing stock. This analysis shows that it would take at least 50 years to fill this deficit, if the government’s current target to build 300,000 homes a year in England is met. And it won’t be: homes are being built at approximately half this rate.</p>
<p>However, in 2013, the economist Paul Cheshire <a href="https://theconversation.com/greenbelt-myth-is-the-driving-force-behind-housing-crisis-17802">wrote</a> that what he termed “the greenbelt myth” was, in fact, driving the housing crisis. “Contrary to popular perception,” he said, “less than 10% of England is developed. And of what is developed much less than half is ‘covered by concrete’.” </p>
<p>Instead, Cheshire proposed that there be selective building on what he termed “the least attractive and lowest amenity parts of greenbelts.” Not only are these areas close to cities where people want to live, but building on brownfield land in the greenbelt or repurposing derelict buildings might begin to alleviate the housing crisis, including problems of affordability, for generations to come.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A graphic illustration of an interior." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=750&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/548775/original/file-20230918-17-p7l0vx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Building reuse has great potential.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Matthias Guger|Mihael Vecchiet|Andreas Lechner, Studio Counterintuitive Typologies, TU Graz</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How urban peripheries can work for people and the environment</h2>
<p>To combat climate change and tackle the housing crisis, cities need to be allowed to expand with coherent planning – that includes good public transport, well-designed public spaces and high-quality housing. </p>
<p>In Italy, the post-war district of <a href="https://www.archdaily.com/867165/ad-classics-gallaratese-quarter-milan-aldo-rossi-carlo-aymonino">Gallaratese</a>, which lies 7km north-west of the centre of Milan, features medium-scale apartment blocks, good social amenities and high-quality, well-connected public transport. People living there have access to small parks and public gardens, places to sit and shop. </p>
<p>This affords the public realm a certain dignity that is often lacking in in Britain. People benefit from better infrastructure for commuting into the city centres – not just traffic lanes for cars, but metro, tram and train connections, with coherently designed outdoor public space. </p>
<p>In Austria, <a href="https://www.aspern-seestadt.at/en/about_us/organisation">Seestadt Aspern</a>, a newly developed extension of Vienna, has been characterised as a “city within a city.” It is compact, yet full of public spaces. The project is conceived with job creation, housing and metro-line extension as priorities. </p>
<p>Our research suggests introducing, to <a href="https://counterintuitivetypologies.com/Studios">periphery design</a>, the kind of buildings more associated with inner-city design. To date, housing in suburban planning in England has largely revolved around the detached single-family home. This ultra-low density building type uses lots of land and is firmly reliant on fossil-fuel heavy private transport. </p>
<p>Focusing instead on what we have called the urban villa might be an alternative. The urban villa aims for a synthesis between the city apartment and the single-family home. Think, a number of apartments in a freestanding house, no more than five storeys, surrounded by a garden. </p>
<p>Suburban planning that centred on this type of housing – which combines urban density with a connection to green space and the public realm – could create a denser, more attractive and, crucially, more sustainable alternative to the way city outskirts are currently planned.</p>
<p>The housing crisis is <a href="https://www.birmingham.ac.uk/research/climate/climate-publications/built-environment/the-green-belt-sustainability-and-england's-housing-crisis.aspx">inextricable</a> from the climate crisis. The environment is <a href="https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/documents/3554/JBA-9s9-00-FULL.pdf">most demonstrably in crisis</a> in urban peripheries. It is where the collapse of a coherent urban order takes place, where big bits of transport infrastructure meet fields and suburbs. It’s often where marginalised communities are pushed. </p>
<p>Ultimately, Cheshire was right. The dual housing and climate crises are exasperated by the failure to resolve the greenbelt argument. </p>
<p>What is built around urban cores is crucial to a truly sustainable and equitable solution – for both people and the environment. But, doing so in a way that is beneficial to both residents and the environment requires a shift in government policy and public imagination. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0169204614001522">more and more people</a> cluster around cities in search of work, or a better balance between home and work life, those areas that are now peripheral will become central. Quite under what conditions they live and work there is a matter that demands urgent attention.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212217/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The way we develop urban peripheries is central to tackling both the housing crisis and the climate emergency.Cameron McEwan, Associate Professor in Architecture, Northumbria University, NewcastleAndreas Lechner, Associate Professor, Graz University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2130682023-09-22T04:01:55Z2023-09-22T04:01:55ZPlanning laws protect people. A poorly regulated rush to boost housing supply will cost us all<p>The housing crisis is <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/meeting-national-cabinet-working-together-deliver-better-housing-outcomes">firmly on the Australian policy agenda</a>. Governments see a rapid increase in supply as the main solution. </p>
<p>The importance of supply is not disputed. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/affordable-housing-policy-failure-still-being-fuelled-by-flawed-analysis-92993">more housing alone isn’t enough</a>: new housing must be provided in ways that do not <a href="https://theconversation.com/rising-inequality-in-australia-isnt-about-incomes-its-almost-all-about-housing-119872">widen the gap</a> between the “<a href="https://povertyandinequality.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Poverty-property-and-place.pdf">haves and the have-nots</a>”. </p>
<p>Our <a href="https://wshealthalliance.nsw.gov.au/land-use-planning-for-equitable-health-outcomes-lupeho/">recent research</a> in Sydney, for instance, shows how the planning system already overlooks what is needed to make the city equitable and liveable. Planning decisions contradict or ignore <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/urbanhealth/Pages/healthy-built-enviro-check.aspx">guidelines and checklists</a> that are meant to help ensure communities are healthy and sustainable. </p>
<p>The rush to build new housing risks creating even more inequitable cities.</p>
<p>Poorly regulated housing development often means services and infrastructure such as public transport or schools are added later. This ends up costing both governments and households. And it costs us more than dollars to fix the long-term problems that come with inequity. </p>
<p>Only housing “<a href="https://sydney.org.au/policy-library/chronically-unaffordable-housing/">done well</a>” – quality, affordable and accessible housing – will truly solve the housing crisis. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-housing-and-homelessness-crisis-in-nsw-explained-in-9-charts-200523">The housing and homelessness crisis in NSW explained in 9 charts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Beware the wrong kinds of planning reform</h2>
<p>The federal government’s new <a href="https://www.pm.gov.au/media/meeting-national-cabinet-working-together-deliver-better-housing-outcomes">housing plan</a> aims to put A$3 billion on the table for states and territories to build more housing. </p>
<p>State governments like those in <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/nsw/housing-affordability-targeted-in-13b-budget-makeover-20230918-p5e5l7.html">New South Wales</a> and <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/politics/victoria/kingswood-golf-course-rezoning-among-five-projects-suddenly-approved-by-government-20230920-p5e64c.html">Victoria</a> have now <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-21/victorian-government-housing-statement-explainer/102876380">taken steps</a> to <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/housing/housing-package/housing-supply">speed up the supply of more homes</a>. </p>
<p>While that sounds like good policy, this approach extends decades of short-sightedness that overlooks what matters most for cities: its people. </p>
<p>The NSW government wants to “<a href="https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/gloves-off-nsw-planning-boss-to-take-risks-loosen-the-screws-to-boost-housing-20230825-p5dzdb.html">loosen the screws</a>” on planning regulations so developers can build more housing. Worryingly, it admits wrongdoers may take advantage. The Victorian government unveiled plans on Wednesday to <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-housing-plan-is-bold-and-packed-with-initiatives-but-can-it-be-delivered-213974">fast-track big housing developments</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-housing-plan-is-bold-and-packed-with-initiatives-but-can-it-be-delivered-213974">Victoria's housing plan is bold and packed with initiatives. But can it be delivered?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Such short-sighted policies risk poorly planned neighbourhoods and <a href="https://theconversation.com/water-leaks-cracks-and-flawed-fire-safety-systems-sydneys-apartments-are-riddled-with-building-defects-169526">poorly built housing</a>. </p>
<p>There’s plenty of <a href="https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-13199-8">evidence</a> for the need to reform the NSW land-use planning system. Simply freeing up housing supply <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/news/designing-better-suburbs/">is not enough</a>. Planning systems need to do the job of ensuring new housing supports the city and the wellbeing of all residents.</p>
<h2>How land-use planning fails Sydney’s people</h2>
<p><a href="https://wshealthalliance.nsw.gov.au/land-use-planning-for-equitable-health-outcomes-lupeho/">We reviewed</a> NSW’s two main land-use planning mechanisms: <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/policy-and-legislation/state-environmental-planning-policies">State Environmental Planning Policies (SEPPs)</a> and <a href="https://www.planning.nsw.gov.au/plans-for-your-area/local-planning-and-zoning">Local Environmental Plans (LEPs)</a>. We assessed the ways they help promote the building of safe, liveable neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>We compared these policies against the NSW government’s own <a href="https://www.health.nsw.gov.au/urbanhealth/Pages/healthy-built-enviro-check.aspx">Healthy Built Environment Checklist</a> on how to do it well. We found this checklist to be one of the best guides in the world for how cities can enhance human health and wellbeing. </p>
<p>The checklist sets out 11 principles covering topics that the planning system should use to guide development. We added a 12th best-practice theme to highlight the growing importance of safeguarding mental health. </p>
<p>We counted the number of clauses within each policy and plan that corresponded to each of the 12 themes. We used a traffic-light system (shown below) to highlight whether and how these clauses considered, mentioned and/or addressed issues relating to equity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Explanation of traffic light system for showing the three categories of how well planning rules considered equity in 12 themed areas" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=308&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=308&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=308&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549511/original/file-20230921-21-81d6pm.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=388&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Chart: The Conversation</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Because SEPPs are (generally) applicable to the whole state, we found their focus was more thematic and focused on broader issues such as “resilience”. Most only corresponded to a small number of the best-practice themes as show below. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Counts of the number of clauses within each State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) corresponding to 12 healthy planning themes, with colour-coded equity ratings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=489&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549695/original/file-20230922-27-pekael.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=614&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Counts of the number of clauses within each State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) corresponding to 12 healthy planning themes, with colour-coded equity ratings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wshealthalliance.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/LUPEHO_FR_FINAL.pdf">Authors, Land Use Planning for Equitable Outcomes (2023)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing counts of the number of clauses within each State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) corresponding to 12 healthy planning themes, with colour-coded equity ratings." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549696/original/file-20230922-28-n0uvt.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Counts of the number of clauses within each State Environmental Planning Policy (SEPP) corresponding to 12 healthy planning themes, with colour-coded equity ratings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wshealthalliance.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/LUPEHO_FR_FINAL.pdf">Authors, Land Use Planning for Equitable Outcomes (2023)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The <a href="https://thefifthestate.com.au/business/government/down-the-memory-hole-design-and-place-sepp-documents-pulled-from-government-websites/">proposed but-never-adopted</a> Design and Place SEPP was the most likely to have provided any equity guidance.</p>
<p>In contrast, LEPs are by design more focused on specific local government areas and need to more comprehensively guide local land use. Most included clauses that aligned with the healthy planning themes.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, as the mostly red coding shows, few of these land-use planning mechanisms considered the known ways to promote equity in any notable ways. </p>
<p>At the local level, only two of the eight LEPs we looked at really paid equity any attention.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Table showing Counts of the number of clauses within each of eight Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) corresponding to 12 healthy planning themes, with colour-coded equity ratings" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/549697/original/file-20230922-28-lh8fr1.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=468&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Counts of the number of clauses within each of eight Local Environmental Plans (LEPs) corresponding to 12 healthy planning themes, with colour-coded equity ratings.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://wshealthalliance.nsw.gov.au/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/LUPEHO_FR_FINAL.pdf">Authors, Land Use Planning for Equitable Outcomes (2023)</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-equity-got-to-do-with-health-in-a-higher-density-city-82071">What's equity got to do with health in a higher-density city?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Quick fixes risk making things worse</h2>
<p>Short-term fixes for the housing crisis create a big risk of even worse outcomes for communities. </p>
<p>“Unleashing” housing supply in cities like Sydney and Melbourne, without reforming narrowly focused planning mechanisms, will increase inequities between the haves and have-nots. The result is likely to be more spending in future — by governments and affected households — to deal with the consequences. </p>
<p>We know how to create great suburbs and cities. Indeed, the NSW government should heed <a href="https://www.governmentarchitect.nsw.gov.au/resources/ga/media/files/ga/strategy-documents/better-placed-a-strategic-design-policy-for-the-built-environment-of-new-south-wales-2017.pdf">its own policy advice</a> when changing the planning system if cities like Sydney are to remain quality places to live. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/governments-are-pouring-money-into-housing-but-materials-land-and-labour-are-still-in-short-supply-205471">Governments are pouring money into housing but materials, land and labour are still in short supply</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Planning must have a local focus</h2>
<p>We need to refocus planning strategies on who they are meant to serve — the people and their communities. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/ajs4.240">Thinking locally must be part of the package</a>. </p>
<p>Councils in south-western Sydney, for instance, are <a href="https://www.swslhd.health.nsw.gov.au/populationhealth/PH_environments/project_housing.html">partnering local health districts</a> to develop innovative health-focused planning and urban design. Similarly, the <a href="https://wshealthalliance.nsw.gov.au/">Western Sydney Health Alliance</a> is supporting innovation, including our research, to place public health at the centre of delivering infrastructure for the region.</p>
<p>Boosting housing supply by <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/new-apartments-are-abundant-across-melbourne-pity-they-don-t-fix-our-housing-crisis-20230921-p5e6ia.html">targeting local councils’ roles</a> and responsibilities, as both NSW and Victoria are doing, risks worse, not better, outcomes.</p>
<p>Planning systems need to <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-more-sustainable-australia-from-suburbia-to-newburbia-16841">regulate and be responsive locally</a> for housing to be “done well” and avoid the costs of inequity that come with a blinkered focus on housing supply.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/213068/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Harris receives funding from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council and Australian Research Council. The research discussed in this article was funded by the Western Sydney Health Alliance, a collective working to create healthy communities across the Western Parkland City.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Edgar Liu receives funding from the Sydney Partnership for Health, Education, Research and Enterprise, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Ltd, the social housing sector, the ACT and NSW governments, and the City of Sydney. He previously received funding from the Australian Research Council, the South Australian government, the Australian Council of Social Service, Shelter NSW and the Cooperative Research Centre for Low Carbon Living. The research discussed in this article was funded by the Western Sydney Health Alliance, a collective working to create healthy communities across the Western Parkland City.</span></em></p>Bypassing planning regulations is likely to have impacts on social inequity and wellbeing that could prove very costly for both governments and people.Patrick Harris, Senior Research Fellow, Acting Director, CHETRE, UNSW SydneyEdgar Liu, Senior Research Fellow, SPHERE's Sustainability Platform / City Futures Research Centre, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2113922023-09-13T15:53:13Z2023-09-13T15:53:13ZRemote work marks the path to a greener future<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/545066/original/file-20230828-179828-jpbkwv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C3%2C2382%2C1444&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/es/fotos/z3htkdHUh5w">Kristin Wilson/Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>There is more to working from home than skipping the traffic and getting to wear pyjamas all day. In fact, for a lot of people it’s becoming the new normal. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.forbes.com/advisor/business/remote-work-statistics/#sources_section">According to a recent report</a>, 12.7% of full-time employees in the US are now working from home, with another 28.2% enjoying a mix of home and office work. This shift is far from temporary – it’s expected <a href="https://www.gallup.com/workplace/397751/returning-office-current-preferred-future-state-remote-work.aspx">to nearly triple</a> compared to what it was before the pandemic. </p>
<p>But what does all this mean for our cities and our planet? It’s not just about changing how our cities look and feel; it could be a big step toward a cleaner, more eco-friendly future. Want to know what doing Zoom calls in your living room (or wherever you like to work) means for the Earth? Let’s look at how this trend is affecting our planet, and how it can make changes for the better.</p>
<h2>Reduction in commuting</h2>
<p>Since the pandemic lockdowns, people all over the world have been working from home more, saving <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/1/607">fuel by not driving to work every day</a>. At the height of the pandemic, long distance travel also took a big hit, as activities such as commercial flights <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/ng-interactive/2020/apr/03/how-is-the-coronavirus-affecting-global-air-traffic">dropped by half compared to before</a>. This 50% cut in global travel and commercial flights was <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/mar/23/coronavirus-pandemic-leading-to-huge-drop-in-air-pollution">massively beneficial for the environment</a>.</p>
<p>Evidently, by using less fuel, fewer greenhouse gases are released into the air. That means less smog and pollution, leading to cleaner air for all of us to breathe. The lockdown, when the change was sudden and extreme, showed how strong the impact of limited travel can be. However, it amounted to little more than giving the Earth a short break, as the effects <a href="https://www.un.org/en/desa/no-pandemic-did-not-help-climate-action">did not last long enough to have a meaningful impact on climate change</a>.</p>
<p>Rush hour traffic jams are another, much maligned part of many people’s lives, and working from home helps with that, too. Less traffic means fewer car engines running and polluting the air we breathe. This means that towns and cities become less crowded, and the air in them is cleaner.</p>
<p>However, an obvious issue such as traffic has ramifications that illustrate how profound and complex this issue is: with fewer people driving, roads and public transportation do not wear out as quickly. That means less work fixing them and fewer natural resources used to make those repairs, or to build new roads. The environmental impact of this is huge, and perhaps not obvious at first glance.</p>
<p>Remote work is not just changing work; it is changing the way we live and the way we think about our planet.</p>
<h2>Energy Consumption</h2>
<p>Do you ever wonder about how much energy we use when working from home? This is not an easy question to answer. Of course, staying at home might push your energy bills up because of extra heating or cooling and using your computer more. <a href="https://www.iea.org/commentaries/working-from-home-can-save-energy-and-reduce-emissions-but-how-much">Studies have shown an increase of anything from 7 to 23%</a>. But there is another side to this story.</p>
<p>Think about big office buildings with all their lights, air conditioning, and machines. These workplaces use a lot of power, and with more people working from home, many of these buildings are using less energy, especially during the busiest times of the day.</p>
<p>Also, working from home gives people more control over how they use energy. This means they can choose to install solar panels or energy-saving appliances, or that they are simply more careful about turning off lights and devices when they are not in use. Combined with offices using less power, this could really help to cut down on overall energy use and, as a consequence, <a href="https://www.eia.gov/energyexplained/electricity/electricity-and-the-environment.php">pollution</a>.</p>
<p>Working from home is changing how we think about energy. It has the potential to help us all connect our daily lives, as individuals and as a society, to the bigger picture of taking care of our planet.</p>
<h2>Urban Planning and Sustainability</h2>
<p>Remote work also allows us to reshape <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/13/1/607">our cities and towns</a>. Imagine how the way we build and plan communities might change if people were able to work where they live. It is leading to a new way of thinking about where we live, as people move away from crowded city centres and spread out more evenly.</p>
<p>This means that towns, suburbs, and even rural areas need to get ready for new ways of living. They have to plan for things like where people will live, where they can catch a bus or train, and where they can enjoy some <a href="https://www.hrmorning.com/articles/eco-friendly-benefits-of-remote-work/">fresh air in parks</a>. And this all has to be done in a way that is carefully planned and has a limited environmental impact.</p>
<p>Working from home can also help us to can do more in our own neighbourhoods. If we can work, shop, and socialise with friends nearby, it means that our community bonds can become closer and stronger.</p>
<p>Remote work is opening the door to new ideas for how we build our communities, with a focus on being smart and sustainable. It provides a chance to build places to live that are more in tune with the way we want to live our lives. </p>
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
<p>The impact of working from home goes far beyond just escaping the classroom or office; it is having a massive impact on our planet. It is changing how our cities and towns look and feel, making them more friendly to the environment.</p>
<p>But there is a catch: we have to be smart. We need to find creative solutions and really commit to living and working in a way that helps our planet. That means thinking carefully about how we use energy, how we get around, and how we build our homes and communities.</p>
<p>So the question now is: how are we going to make the most of this chance to make the world a better place?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211392/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patryk Makowski no recibe salario, ni ejerce labores de consultoría, ni posee acciones, ni recibe financiación de ninguna compañía u organización que pueda obtener beneficio de este artículo, y ha declarado carecer de vínculos relevantes más allá del cargo académico citado.</span></em></p>Working from home is more than avoiding traffic; it’s reshaping cities and saving the planet. Discover how this trend impacts your world.Patryk Makowski, PhD Candidate, Technological University of the ShannonLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2122222023-09-11T21:18:16Z2023-09-11T21:18:16ZStudent housing crisis: Municipal bylaws have created roadblocks for decades<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/546592/original/file-20230906-21-xon6lk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C468%2C5268%2C3008&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers examined 15 Ontario municipalities with a major university campus, and found only one (Waterloo) had adopted plans designed to accommodate student housing near the campus. Student-oriented housing under construction in Waterloo, Ont., in 2016.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Evelyn Hofmann)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe style="width: 100%; height: 100px; border: none; position: relative; z-index: 1;" allowtransparency="" allow="clipboard-read; clipboard-write" src="https://narrations.ad-auris.com/widget/the-conversation-canada/student-housing-crisis-municipal-bylaws-have-created-roadblocks-for-decades" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>University and college students have become <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9939599/housing-for-international-students-canada/">a flashpoint in</a> Canada’s national housing crisis. </p>
<p>The federal government <a href="https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/canada-international-students-study-permits">is considering a limit on international study permits</a>, something <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/9925737/international-students-canada-universities/#">opposed by Universities Canada</a> and scholars and advocates concerned <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/marc-miller-international-students-stigmatization-1.6959645">about scapegoating international students for the housing shortage</a>. </p>
<p>Ontario’s Big City Mayors’ caucus <a href="https://www.ontariobigcitymayors.ca/the-place-centre-releases-housing-report-in-collaboration-with-ontarios-big-city-mayors-obcm/">has identified</a> the lack of on-campus student housing as a primary driver of housing shortages. Across the country, <a href="https://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/i-m-unable-to-find-anything-waterloo-region-students-struggle-to-secure-housing-as-fall-semester-inches-closer-1.6528269">frustrated students</a> fail to find housing, or are <a href="https://www.intelligencer.ca/news/belleville-probes-student-overcrowding-in-homes-by-unethical-owners">forced into dangerous overcrowded situations</a>. Nova Scotia may release the country’s first <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/with-a-month-until-school-starts-still-no-sign-of-nova-scotia-s-student-housing-strategy-1.6924031">student-specific housing strategy</a>. </p>
<p>Recent stories have identified issues like <a href="https://theconversation.com/canadas-costly-housing-market-leaves-international-students-open-to-exploitation-204242">ongoing discrimination</a> against international students in the housing market and a less space-efficient <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-old-shared-dorms-are-better-than-new-private-student-residences-207567">design trend</a> of more individualized student housing units.
We’ve also seen discussion about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-colleges-want-to-enrol-more-students-but-where-are-they-supposed-to-live-195624">expanding role of large private investors</a> in student housing who lack institutions’ capabilities to respond to students facing financial difficulties.</p>
<p>Students in Canada and their communities urgently need solutions. Amid <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/article-federal-government-should-look-at-cap-on-student-visas-housing/">finger-pointing at the federal government</a>, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/article-international-students-ontario-colleges-enrolment/">individual institutions</a> and <a href="https://nationalpost.com/opinion/ontario-international-students-post-secondary-funding">the provinces</a>, which fund higher education and set development standards, municipal governments have been largely absent from the discussion. </p>
<p>Yet municipal planning has been hostile to student housing for decades. When this history is coupled with abysmal levels of on-campus housing construction since the 1990s and <a href="https://doi.org/10.25318/3710001801-eng">a doubling of enrolments since 2000</a>, the current crisis seems inevitable.</p>
<h2>Restricting where students can live</h2>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2022.2093939">Our recent study</a> examined 15 Ontario municipalities with a major university campus. We identified four types of regulatory strategies used to control student housing through zoning. </p>
<p>While some municipalities pay students little mind, the most popular approaches are based on attempting to restrict where students can live, or diverting student housing to locations along transportation corridors. These are often on former commercial or industrial sites. </p>
<p>Of the 15 municipalities surveyed, only Waterloo had adopted plans designed to accommodate student housing near campuses.</p>
<h2>History of student housing regulation</h2>
<p><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-university-and-the-city-9780195067750?cc=ca&lang=en&">As long as universities have existed</a>, there have been conflicts between students and other residents. </p>
<p>Generally, these conflicts have centred on disturbances such as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1068/a396">boisterous partying</a> or <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/cico.12279">vandalism</a> blamed on students. </p>
<p>Accordingly, municipal policies have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098011419237">sought to regulate</a> student housing to control these perceived issues, overlooking the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/02697450600901541">positive social</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/02690942211051879">economic contributions</a> students make to their communities.</p>
<p>In Ontario, for instance, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/13563475.2018.1552565">municipalities adopted bylaws</a> capping the number of unrelated persons who could live together in a housing unit. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/10511482.2022.2093939">our study</a>, we also found many municipalities restricted the conversion of existing housing to rental use. They also limited the development of basement suites or laneway houses in near-campus neighbourhoods. </p>
<h2>Explosive student demand</h2>
<p>These policies became especially popular in the 2000s. During this time, the <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ720724">province’s “double cohort”</a> in 2003, and <a href="https://heqco.ca/pub/redefining-access-to-postsecondary-education/">subsequent 2005 policy</a> of increasing enrolment by 100,000 spaces, generated explosive student demand in the private rental market. This happened without corresponding funding for new on-campus housing. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/universities-and-colleges-want-to-enrol-more-students-but-where-are-they-supposed-to-live-195624">Universities and colleges want to enrol more students. But where are they supposed to live?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These actions attempted to circumvent the <a href="https://www.canlii.org/en/ca/scc/doc/1979/1979canlii36/1979canlii36.html">Supreme Court of Canada’s decision in Bell v. R</a>, which saw the Court rule municipalities could not regulate who could live together in a residence based on their relationship to each other. In addition, Section 35(2) of Ontario’s Planning Act prevents municipalities from “people-zoning,” or dictating who can live where and with whom. </p>
<p>The Ontario Human Rights Commission <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/comment-ontario-human-rights-commission-city-oshawas-student-accommodation-strategy#fnB2">issued an unprecedented comment on the City of Oshawa’s Student Accommodation Strategy in 2010</a>, noting students were a protected class of persons <a href="https://www.ohrc.on.ca/en/ontario-human-rights-code">under the province’s Human Rights Code</a>.</p>
<p>In the years following, many of these overtly discriminatory bylaws were struck down.</p>
<h2>Student housing regulation today</h2>
<p>Bans on “people-zoning” have not prevented cities from adopting more covert methods to restrict where students can live. Heritage conservation districts and low-density zoning that prohibits apartments are frequently found near major campuses. </p>
<p>While there may be good reasons to preserve built heritage, limiting the conversion or redevelopment of housing without provisions to house growing student populations leaves them few options.</p>
<p>Ottawa’s <a href="https://ottawa.ca/en/planning-development-and-construction/official-plan-and-master-plans/official-plan">most recent official plan</a> identifies the Sandy Hill neighbourhood adjacent to the University of Ottawa as “an attractive residential neighbourhood, especially for family living.” </p>
<h2>Little space for students</h2>
<p>Even the award-winning <a href="https://london.ca/government/council-civic-administration/master-plans-strategies/london-plan-official-plan">official plan for London, Ont.,</a> includes the Near-Campus Neighbourhood Planning Area policy in place around Western University and Fanshawe College that aims to prevent “undesirable changes in the character” of surrounding neighbourhoods. </p>
<p>There is, in other words, precious little space for students in the official visions for these neighbourhoods.</p>
<p>Some cities have sought to enable the development of near-campus housing for students and other residents alike. However, while the municipality of Waterloo and Niagara Region seem to be leading the way in construction of new student-oriented housing, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0308518X19884577">dominant role of private investors in these projects</a> still creates challenges for the affordability and flexibility needed to meet student housing demand. </p>
<h2>The path forward</h2>
<p>While municipal bylaws are certainly not the only culprit in the contemporary student housing crisis, local governments have far too often been let off the hook for approaches that discreetly limit where students may live. </p>
<p>Certainly, post-secondary institutions need to step up in providing affordable, accessible housing for students, and provincial funding formulas must contribute per-student allocations for the construction and maintenance of on-campus residence buildings. </p>
<p>The federal government, keen to attract international students, could also take some responsibility for the housing demand created by this policy. But municipal plans must also recognize students as valued members of the community who, like anyone else, need a place to live.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212222/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alexander Wray is President of the Town and Gown Association of Ontario and on the Board of Directors for the International Town and Gown Association.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nick Revington receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec - Société et Culture. </span></em></p>Local governments have far too often been let off the hook for approaches that discreetly limit where students may live.Alexander Wray, PhD Candidate in Geography, Western UniversityNick Revington, Professeur de logement et dynamiques urbaines, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS)Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.