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Large technical systems (LTS) are socially structuring, reconfiguring governance practices and social norms. In this article, socio-technical dynamics that influenced the emergence of UK urban tramways, as examples of local LTS, are investigated, considering the role of dominant discourses in normalizing new systems. It examines how the 1870 Tramways Act attempted to adjudicate between competing interests, which shaped the context for new tramway routes. The concept of system builders is used to explain how new projects recruit public support. This case identifies constraints faced by system builders and indicates that their interaction with prevailing socio-political contexts impacts the system development and stability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using both "off the shelf" remote sensing software, machine learning and computational algorithms, this article details a new methodology to extract building and urban footprints from historical maps. We applied these methods to create the first dataset of all built-up areas (BUA) in Britain in the early nineteenth century, covering all locations with buildings in England, Wales, and Scotland. The developed methods can now be applied to other maps and regions to provide useful quantitative data for analyzing long-term urban development. The code and data created are made available with this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How did the Norwich Union, a life and general insurance company, come to see itself as a 'local developer with people always at the centre of our planning'? This article explores how a small number of insurance companies, capitalising on their long history of property investment, used their investment funds, or 'life funds', to transform the built environment of UK in the twentieth century. In the postwar period life funds were contracted by local governments to finance, plan and develop solutions to urban issues that paralleled those targeted by post‐war welfare reforms. This involved companies in developing expertise, working practices, instruments and collaborative arrangements that are not adequately represented as financial investment. Ventures into development on this scale had also to be ventures in futures planning, calculated bets on how people would – and how they should – live, work and spend. These are enterprises that I characterise as 'experimental practices of financial sociology' as a provocation that acknowledges first, that non‐sociologists sometimes devise huge sociological experiments and second, that the separation of economics from sociology, and of finance from society, is a disciplinary move that is far less strictly enacted outside the academy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the driving rationales behind plans for major transport investment between Northern UK cities is that of connecting labour pools. Integrated labour pools, the argument goes, will give rise to agglomeration economies and subsequent growth. Behind this logic lies the idea that access to complementary skills in neighbouring cities will yield benefits for firms. Yet, at what travel time radius is access to these skills beneficial? Can a better understanding of this inform our assessment of the likely economic impact of proposed transport investments and subsequent reductions in travel times? Here we develop a method to estimate this radius based on the relationship between industry employment growth in a city and the size of employment in 'skill-related' sectors. Assuming car or rail travel, we find that for Northern cities the radius is around 45 min while for the South it is around 110 min. Manufacturing peaks around 45 min for the whole UK, including both North and South. Services, however, peak around 110 min in the South but 70 min in the North. A comparison between the UK's Integrated Rail Plan and earlier proposals to invest in High Speed 2 rail and Northern rail connections uncovers lost opportunities for employment growth in Manchester, Leeds and Sheffield. This study provides a road-map for the deployment of methods from Evolutionary Economic Geography, originally developed to predict regional and urban growth and diversification processes as a function of the local skill mix, to evaluate the potential gains from transport infrastructure schemes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An estimated 55% of the global population live in cities, with this expected to increase to 70% by 2050. Thus, the strain from urbanisation generates issues like water pollution and land degradation leading to further social and environmental problems. Smart sustainable cities have been proposed as a possible solution but are a relatively new concept and are theoretically underdeveloped, and implementation applicability continues to be understudied. Despite the uncertainty around the idea, many cities globally have created distinctive visions of a smart, sustainable city. This paper developed a measurement instrument based upon a prior conceptualisation that embraced the subjective nature of the citizenry's perceptions of a smart sustainable city. The measurement instrument was initially refined from a large statement list of 80 from the initial conceptualisation before statistically honing this instrument through exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory composite analysis. This is before applying the tool in the real-world context in various cities in Malaysia and UK. Known group validity was additionally used to verify the instrument, comparing between Malaysian and UK participants and between four different cities. A twenty-item measurement instrument consisting of four factors, Planning, Environment, Social and Smart, was developed from this study. These results support current theoretical perspectives with only minor variations from the core theory; however, this better reflects the dynamics of the smart sustainable city phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we provide an overview of the UK environmental regulatory framework for subnational policy and planning in devolved English urban areas based on a systematic coding of key legislation and policies against a matrix of sustainability att ributes relevant for human health. Our findings suggest that while elements of sustainability at different scales are addressed to varying degrees, we need to move beyond the 'three-legged stool' of sustainability to assess linked environmental and societal health impacts. Assessing policy using a multi-faceted lens of sustainability such as the one we propose can help to uncover health-development dependencies and the incentives and governance required to enhance these at different scales (planetary, regional, neighbourhood and building). We propose a coordinative role for spatial planning to integrate responses to socio-environmental health priorities for sustainable development and make recommendations for dynamic decisionmaking on environmental and human health impacts in urban development sett ings. Doing so can help promote just (equitable) transitions, decoupled from a pervasive ecological modernization discourse that frames the political economy of planning at both the national and local levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With climate change arguably the greatest threat facing our planet, we are witnessing unprecedented losses of biodiversity and growing human health challenges. The need to prioritise urban green infrastructure (UGI) has never been so great. As two researchers from the UK and Brazil, we draw on recent research evidence and contrasting examples from the UK, Brazil and Italy, demonstrating how enlightened approaches to UGI planning, design and delivery can mitigate and adapt to climate change, support human health and wellbeing and enhance biodiversity. We highlight the need to make decisions across scales and the value of partnership working across sectors. We emphasise the need to identify synergies and trade-offs between climate-resilience, biodiversity and human wellbeing objectives. Synergies generate positive opportunities to provide multiple benefits, whereas trade-offs require prioritisation. These case studies provide transferable precedent learning for planners, designers and managers of multifunctional 'future nature' in urban areas throughout the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the consequences of the environmental transformations of the Laurentian Valley on the timber trade uniting the Province of Canada and the industrialization of Great Britain during the nineteenth century. The notion of ghost acres used to describe the ecological footprint of resource consumption from abroad is extended to accommodate landscape transformations and enrich our understanding of the environmental impacts of imperial trade. Moving beyond the mere calculation of a surface area to assess the ecological ghost acres of British industrialization, we reconstitute the exchange circuits of wood products, from the extraction sites of different forest areas of the Laurentian Valley to their final destination in the British market, to identify the environmental consequences resulting from the insertion of the colonial forest economy into imperial trade networks. We also explore the adaptation of the British market to the material differences of North American pine and spruce compared with the familiar timber from northern Europe and how this, in turn, shaped the geography of extraction. • British urban industrial growth altered the environment in the Laurentian Valley. • Extend the notion of ghost acres to account for the ecological impacts of trade. • The British market adapted to the material differences of Canadian timber. • Shifting geography of extraction shaped the supply of Canadian timber. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities have specialised in particular urban functions throughout history, with consequential implications for urban and regional patterns of economic and social change. This specialisation takes place within overall national city size distributions and is manifest in different but often similarly variegated residential structures. Here we develop a novel and consistent methodological approach for measuring macro-scale city size and micro-scale residential differentiation using individual digital census records for the period 1881–1901. The use of family names and neighbourhood classification of dominant economic and social roles makes it possible to relate the changing city size distribution in Great Britain to patterns of urban growth and residential differentiation within urban areas. Together, we provide an integrated and consistent methodology that links the classification of all major urban area growth in Great Britain to attendant intra-urban geodemographic changes in urban residential structures. We suggest ways in which this manifests social and economic change across the settlement system for both new and long-established residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores how the design of an insurance brokerage for Willis Faber & Dumas by Foster Associates architects meticulously accommodate an increasingly constricted financial sphere. It analyzes links between privatization and delimitation across various scales: from material and spatial implications within the building, to its role in urban development schemes, to the intersection of domestic social and economic policies with international finance. The analysis centers on the local spatial implications of the United Kingdom's transition in the 1970s away from a social democratic system that privileged industrial labor and manufactured goods, toward becoming an international center for the transaction of "invisibles" within a global financial market. The architects of the Willis Faber & Dumas headquarters described an "interiorized" architecture, with a diaphanous mirrored glass envelope maximizing views to the outside world while intensifying an inward focus. This paradigm of enclosure produced a model of internality particular to the outward expansion of capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite ongoing efforts to encourage the use of urban morphology tools into current practice, uptake remains limited. Shortcomings are largely attributed to time and resource intensive methods of historical settlement transformation study. However, developments in quantitative morphological approaches offer new possibilities for efficiency and easier adoption of research tools in practice. This paper proposes the use of typo-morphology methods to inform the adoption of form-based design guidance in neighbourhood master plans. The aim of the study is to develop a comprehensive yet flexible method for form-based character assessment (FBCA) of residential streets. The resulting FBCA classification identifies streets where compliance with form-based design rules could be tightened. The FBCA method is empirically tested in the context of the local neighbourhood plan for Radlett, Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom, offering reflections from practice on the usefulness and limitations of the method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Shared mobility spaces need to be understood as complex sites of practice. • These spaces often present partial and dysfunctional approaches to sharing space. • In the UK, shared mobility spaces represent limiting approaches for promoting sustainable mobility. • Researchers need to question whether shared spaces promote sustainability. Shared mobility spaces have become increasingly popular internationally as attempts to increase the uptake of active travel modes (walking, cycling and running) have turned pavements, shopping streets and public spaces into multi-mode mobility spaces. From a sustainability perspective, policy makers in the UK have argued that shared spaces afford greater opportunities for cycling off-road in areas with busy traffic, whilst in public spaces they provide greater accessibility and connectivity to a wider range of users. Yet there has been little conceptual critique and empirical research on the impacts of how individuals and groups negotiate what are new forms of public space in the UK. Accordingly, in this paper we use insights from the new mobilities paradigm and social practice theories to analyse data gathered from qualitative research with different travel mode users in the city of Exeter (South-west England) to demonstrate the complexity of shared spaces, the tensions they produce and the challenges they may pose for promoting sustainable mobility. First, we explore the practices that unfold within shared spaces and demonstrate how researchers need to appreciate the social complexity of negotiating new and conflictual sites of practice. Second, we examine how a fragmented approach to the design of shared spaces may compromise the development of sustainable mobility practices through representing a partial and dysfunctional approach towards sharing space in cities. Third, we demonstrate the problematics of deploying shared spaces as short-term and politically expedient devices for delivering individually-focused behavioural goals instead of radical alternatives that embed sustainable mobility infrastructure into urban fabrics. We conclude by suggesting that to realise the benefits of collectively sharing mobility space in the UK requires long-term changes in urban infrastructure that can embed practices and promote a shift away from the political dominance of the private vehicle as the axis around which urban development pivots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The UK is experiencing unprecedented housing demand, with traditional provision in suburbanised clusters now known to have negative environmental, economic and social impacts. An alternative to this is residential densification through vertical extension; generating a more sustainable urban form whilst also serving to increase circularity of material flows within the construction industry and reduce whole‐life carbon and energy requirements. As a result of their relative abundance, inherent durability, and ease of adaptation, multi storey steel framed buildings are particularly pertinent in this context. It is also likely that sufficient reserve structural capacity exists within this typology; resulting from overdesign, the employment of simplified analytic design methods, and the limited number of section sizes available for use. The relative portion of reserve buckling capacity originating from these sources is assessed using a modified version of the effective length method to account for column continuity in multi‐storey steel frames. This reveals the consideration of column continuity to contribute an average of 1.23 kN/m2 of reserve buckling capacity across typical office buildings, with the amount resulting from section size limitations varying with design scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on evidence of the links between bluespace and public health, this study explores the governance of bluespace infrastructure to promote human health and well-being in Plymouth (UK). Using in-depth retrospective interviews and document analysis, this study focused on the role of governance in urban planning and development, specifically, the implementation phase of a bluespace infrastructure intervention. A deductive qualitative approach categorised content into themes related to pre-established water governance frameworks. Key findings from this study emphasise: the importance of health and welfare concerns around blue spaces as an incentive to getting started; collaborative stakeholder participation and engagement; the necessity of adequate funding; and the importance of continued monitoring and maintenance of urban blue space infrastructure. Based on reflective accounts of stakeholder experiences, the successes of the implementation process of the redevelopment are highlighted. More successful and sustainable bluespace interventions can be realised through ongoing considerations of effective water governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the main findings from two rounds of interviews with senior representatives from the UK's urban development industry: the third and final phase of a 3-year pilot, Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development' (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost-benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and, secondly, to interview those in control of urban development in the UK in order to reveal the potential barriers to, and opportunities for, the creation of healthy urban environments, including their views on the use of economic valuation of (planetary) health outcomes. Much is known about the 'downstream' impact of urban environments on human and planetary health and about how to design and plan healthy towns and cities ('midstream'), but we understand relatively little about how health can be factored in at key governance tipping points further 'upstream', particularly within dominant private sector areas of control (e.g. land, finance, delivery) at sub-national level. Our findings suggest that both public and private sector appeared well aware of the major health challenges posed by poor-quality urban environments. Yet they also recognized that health is not factored adequately into the urban planning process, and there was considerable support for greater use of non-market economic valuation to help improve decision-making. There was no silver bullet however: 110 barriers and 76 opportunities were identified across a highly complex range of systems, actors and processes, including many possible points of targeted intervention for economic valuation. Eight main themes were identified as key areas for discussion and future focus. This findings paper is the second of two on this phase of the project: the first sets out the rationale, approach and methodological lessons learned. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sets out the rationale and process for the interviewing methodology utilized during a 3-year research pilot, 'Moving Health Upstream in Urban Development' (UPSTREAM). The project had two primary aims: firstly, to attempt to value economically the health cost benefits associated with the quality of urban environments and secondly, to engage with those in control of urban development in the UK in order to determine what are the barriers to and opportunities for creating healthy urban environments, including those identified through the utilisation of economic valuation. Engagement at senior level with those who have most control over key facets of planning and development implementation-such as land disposal, investment, development delivery and planning permission-was central to the approach, which encompassed the adoption of 'elite interviewing', a method developed in the USA in the 1950s and used in the political sciences but relatively unutilized in the health and environmental sciences [1]. Two rounds of semi-structured interviews were undertaken with 15 senior decision-makers from the UK's main urban development delivery agencies, both public and private. The 'elite interviewing' approach successfully enabled the UPSTREAM project to capture and analyse the information received from the interviewees, all of whom held influential or leadership posts in organisations that are important actors in the process of planning, developing and constructing the built environment in the UK. Having academic and practitioner research leads on an equal footing created some minor tensions, but it also appeared to strengthen the rigor of the approach through a broad knowledge of context 'in-house'. This form of co-production at times challenged academic traditions in qualitative analysis, but it also appeared to build trust with interviewees and provided greater clarity of the real-world context under investigation. Findings from this study are written up in a separate paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A comparative spatial history using GIS, this article examines the similar and differing effects of railway expansion on the growth of postal communications in Great Britain and France from 1830 to the eve of the Great War. It argues that the modern Postal Age in Great Britain and France began in the 1830s. In Britain in 1839, the Parliament obligated private railway companies to convey the Royal Mail throughout the kingdom at reasonable rates. Thereafter, the expansion of postal services and railway networks went hand in hand. Over the years, thousands of new post offices were established and were closer to rail stations than before. As the years wore on the geography of postal communication expanded greatly and by 1914 the majority of rural districts became part of the system of regular, daily mail. In France, a country four or five times larger than England and Wales with a relatively vast rural population, the task of modernizing postal service was a greater challenge. The inauguration of a "rural service" in 1829 employed some 5,000 men as postal carriers to deliver and collect mail throughout the countryside. Thereafter, their numbers grew as new post offices were established to serve villages and small towns with mail deliveries every other day. In the 1880s, under the Third Republic, the state greatly expanded the postal service, deeming it a national mission. It was then that the growing rail network came to shape the national geography of postal service. Hence, at the turn of the century the patterns British and French postal expansions converged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Planning for the Post-Covid-19 "New Normal": Trends and Scenarios for Cities in the United Kingdom It concentrates on health, economy, education, mobility and culture at the core of Covid-19 impact debates, and focuses on spontaneous changes triggered by Covid-19, how they may affect the future of cities and what the role of planning may become in shaping the "post-Covid-19" or more likely the "withCovid-19" "new normal". Considering all such transformations preand during Covid-19, the eventual move to a "postCovid-19" or "with-Covid-19" "new normal" will be a challenge for planning, bearing in mind that a return to the pre-Covid-19 "normal" is unlikely. The tentative scenarios of post-Covid-19 or "with-Covid-19" "new-normals" draw on the adjustments made during the pandemic and envisage how they may be incorporated into pressing pre-Covid-19 planning issues in the UK, foremost climate change and the Brexit economy. [Extracted from the article]

Second-order cities are generally seen as disadvantaged places in the literature on globalisation, but in recent years they have staged a revival in several countries. This article uses two data sources to examine the employment change recorded by Britain's Core Cities between 2012 and 2017, breaking it down by type of worker, occupation and industry. It aims, firstly, to identify which elements of their growth are distinctive compared to the country as a whole and, secondly, to see how far their growth has been emulated by the areas around them that contain the majority of Britain's 'left-behind' places. The article demonstrates the great strides made by the nine provincial cities combined, substantially exceeding the national rate of increase for male, female, full-time, part-time, employee and self-employed work, notably in the three highest status occupational groups and in all industrial sectors apart from manufacturing and transport, especially business services. It is also found that their growth outstripped that of their local, regional and EU comparators, underlining the importance of direct policy intervention for 'left-behind' places rather than relying on 'trickle-down' processes, especially given uncertainties about the sustainability of Core City growth in the wake of COVID-19 and Brexit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gentrification has long been a contentious issue which has prompted debate among scholars due to variations in its location, timing, context and types of measurements used. Therefore, it is worth seeking a simple and effective approach to measure the processes of gentrification, which enables comparative studies to be conducted across different cities around the world. Using six sets of thematic data from 2001 and 2011 at the neighbourhood level, this study proposes five types of gentrification and displacement by using Chapple and Zuk's theoretical framework. London was selected as a case study. The results show that gentrification was sweeping in many ways during the 2000s in London, particularly in Inner East London. Some areas in North West London are identified as vulnerable neighbourhoods at risk of displacement and gentrification. Furthermore, it was found that most of the neighbourhoods experiencing ongoing displacement are concentrated in Outer London and Inner South London. The typology provides a useful starting point for planners and policymakers to gain deeper insights into the progress of gentrification in London. Additionally, this work can serve as an example to illustrate the potential for using similar types of open source code and census data to estimate the degree of gentrification in other cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Contemporary global lightscapes are becoming increasingly complex and varied, creating an unusual geography of technological development and diffusion that defies many easy narratives of global interconnectivity. Specifically, new LED lighting technologies are being created through rural experimentation in both Global North and Global South. This makes lighting, and darkness, an interesting lens through which to intervene in debates on the relationship between city, countryside, and planet, specifically addressing the theoretical developments of comparative urbanism and planetary urbanisation. Heading calls to develop conceptual material from both Global North and Global South, we use case studies from Bihar (India) and the North Pennines (UK) to argue that the changing lighting technologies and practices show how "ordinary countrysides" are contributing to new planetary ways of living. We argue that while there are differences in how darkness and the implementation of artificial lighting are perceived in these sites, there are similarities that reveal an ongoing rural form of planetary living, outside the claims of urbanisation. Particularly, rural lives are marked by a closer connection to the planet, as expressed through experiences of rural darkness. Furthermore, in both sites the tenuous grasp on infrastructure and state services seems to reveal a shared rural experience. These findings suggest shared rural experiences of globalisation, but that the socio‐spatial contexts of places remain important in understanding their location within global systems. Furthermore, we join recent calls to suggest that further exploration of the difference between "global" and "planetary" might add nuance to theoretical trends in urban studies, rural studies, and geography. Using case studies from Bihar (India) and the North Pennines (UK), we argue that the implementation of new lighting technologies and practices shows the persistence of uniquely "rural" ways of living that cross national boundaries, despite the continued growth of a planetary urban system. While there are differences in how darkness and the implementation of artificial lighting are perceived in these sites, there are similarities that reveal an infrastructural, rural form of planetary living. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has argued that human capital has become the key driver of city growth and that there is a widening divergence between high- and low-skill cities. This skilled-city view includes several stylised propositions. The first is that more skills and human capital generate stronger economic growth; the second is that already-skilled cities are becoming ever more skilled; and, the third is that larger cities tend to have stronger concentrations of, and faster growth in, high-skilled, cognitive occupations. Using a detailed data set for occupational change in 85 urban Travel to Work Areas in Britain between 1981 and 2015, this paper evaluates whether these propositions apply to British urban evolution, and how they relate to the 'hollowing-out' of medium-skilled jobs. The results confirm the close interactive relationship between growth and high-skilled occupations. However, some of the skilled-city propositions, such as 'smart cities becoming smarter', and a positive relationship between agglomeration and high-skilled employment growth, do not apply in Britain where other factors have been more important. The pattern of high-skill growth has shown a strong regional dimension, and the 'emergence' of newer smaller cities, particularly in southern England, has been more evident than the 'resurgence' of large core and industrial cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the redevelopment of previously developed land by public-private sector partnerships in three cities/towns in South-West England, two of which can be described as medium-sized places with little previous experience of such developments. In each case we situated the redevelopment process in its wider multi-level and horizontal relationships using Social Network Analysis to produce network and centrality maps to reveal the complex network of relationships the process was embedded within and shaped by. These developments took place in what is termed the 'roll-out' phase of neoliberalism and we illustrate how the overarching planning and regulatory regimes (including contracts), along with wider economic conditions, shaped the development process, with the proviso that in each case these factors were mediated and themselves shaped by the assortment and interaction of local organizational, political, economic and civic forces. These included local planning committees and their interpretation of planning regulations and the developers involved, but also opposition to the developments from local sources. Much, however, depended on the 'capacity to act' of the relevant partnerships, in the sense of mobilizing and deploying available resources to realize the proposed developments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Urban areas face a conundrum, they need to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and consumption of resources, whilst also increasing their resilience to climate change and extreme weather, and improving wellbeing. However, it is widely recognized that well intended intervention to address one of these sustainability objectives in isolation can undermine other objectives. This paper presents a framework to efficiently identify spatial development strategies that provide the best outcomes against multiple objectives. The framework has been applied to London (UK) to identify strategies that can simultaneously: (i) minimize exposure to future heat wave events; (ii) minimize the risk from flood events; (iii) minimize transport emissions; (iv) minimize urban sprawl; (v) maximize brownfield development; and, (vi) prevent development of greenspace that is recognized as important to wellbeing. Prioritizing each objective in isolation leads to considerably different spatial planning structures, exposing conflicts between many objectives. These include tradeoffs between urban heat risk and transport emissions; and also previously undocumented conflicts between minimizing flood and heat risks. Allowing greater flexibility in development density is shown to provide benefits in terms of heat risk reduction, whilst not significantly affecting mitigation objectives. The framework is shown to significantly improve upon the London Spatial Development Strategy for the objectives analyzed. Further analysis identifies optimal spatial strategies to achieve a Low Carbon, Low Risk or Low Density city - however, these cannot be simultaneously maximized. This work shows there are difficult, and often irreconcilable, choices to be made in the spatial planning of sustainable cities. Spatial search and optimization tools strengthen the evidence-base for planning. Rapid identification of development strategies that satisfy, and minimize conflicts between, multiple objectives helps planners to develop strategies that simultaneously improve urban sustainability and reduce the risks from natural hazards. Highlights • Cities must reduce climate risks and greenhouse gas emissions, and improve wellbeing. • A spatial optimization framework has been developed and applied to London, U.K. • It is possible to optimize development for individual objectives. • There are tradeoffs between low risk, low carbon, low living density priorities. • Changing development density can have significant benefits for heat risk reduction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic growth differences across regions and cities can only be partly explained by standard explanations in economic geography. One reason for this might be the neglect of the psychological make-up of cities and its citizens. To assess the value added of incorporating psychological factors alongside the more standard explanations, this paper tests the relevance of personality traits for economic growth for a sample of UK cities. We argue that Neuroticism and Conscientiousness, and the traits that make up entrepreneurship culture help to explain urban growth differences. The personality scores of >400,000 UK residents are combined with economic data for 63 UK cities from 1981 to 2011. We find that both Neuroticism and entrepreneurship culture matter for economic growth. Our main contribution is that geographically clustered personality traits help to understand economic growth differences, and add explanatory power over and above standard determinants, also when the recursive relationship between personality traits and economic growth is taken into account. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Combining UGS social and ecological functions is necessary for urban sustainability. • User perceptions were studied using questionnaire survey and photo elicitation. • Managers' and academics' preferences were studied using semi-structured interviews. • User and manager preferences were compatible with combining the functions. • User demand, user and manager knowledge, and funding act as barriers/opportunities. Abstract Combined provision of social and ecological functions of urban green spaces (UGSs) can facilitate sustainable development by combating the adverse effects of rapid urban growth. However, barriers and opportunities of such provision need to be better understood so that policy-makers and managers can ensure their benefits are realised. This paper addresses this by investigating user and manager preferences for different types, characteristics, facilities and activities associated with UGSs, and by exploring academic and managerial perceptions about policy and management practices. Empirical evidence from two UK cities – Manchester and Leeds – revealed that the barriers and opportunities to combining social and ecological functions in UGSs were linked to user demand; knowledge and understanding about UGS functions; and budget/funding. The research also indicated that addressing these issues would require the active promotion of a number of key priority areas. These included enhancing awareness and knowledge amongst both users and managers, the development of management guidelines linked to combining functions, and better use of context specific measures grounded in innovative techniques. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses census data for England and Wales covering the period 1851-1911 to provide new insights into patterns of migration to London. It examines several related themes including the role migration played in London's growth during this period, age and gender differentials and distance travelled. Calculating net migration rates, the article demonstrates that after age 30, of those born outside of London, more left the Capital than came, yet over time an increasing proportion of the migrant population was retained. The proportion of family migrants fluctuated over the period, yet compared to others tended to travel shorter distances, a feature which increased over time with suburbanization. Turning to the geographical origins of migrants, London drew migrants from across the entirety of England and Wales. However, the data suggest that the migrant sex ratio became more homogeneous over time, with distinct pockets of male dominated migration that were visible in 1851 disappearing by 1911. Lastly, the article investigates migration from the perspective of place of departure rather than destination, as is traditionally the case. This reveals a distinct regional geography, suggesting that the present-day north-south divide was already evident in 1851, and became increasingly distinct over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studentification has permeated policy‐orientated agendas on community cohesion in different national contexts and is of increasing public relevance at a time of changing systems of higher education. To date, studentification has been treated as a process of urban change that leads to the physical downgrading of neighbourhoods and social conflict, tied to concentrations of low‐quality student houses in multiple occupations (HMOs). Our aim in this paper is to widen conceptual understandings of studentification, drawing upon a novel study of this process in Loughborough, UK. Focusing on the Kingfisher Estate, we provide the first investigation of the formation of a studentified neighbourhood, using data from administrative data sets to track tenurial transformations from owner‐occupation to private rental shared housing. Our analyses are extended from a survey of student preferences for accommodation, and interviews with local community representatives, to reveal a production–consumption interface for high‐quality student housing in Kingfisher. We argue that this is illustrative of a new frontier of studentification, which emphasises the volatility of student housing markets. Crucially, these dynamics are having a significant influence on broader changing urban geographies, such as the de‐studentification of other neighbourhoods, and the overall supply of (affordable) housing. Our paper concludes by arguing for a wider conceptualisation of studentification that does not inherently view the process as a harbinger of downgraded urban environments. From a policy perspective, our research stresses the urgent need for different place‐specific solutions and policy interventions to mitigate the challenges of studentification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides evidence that city government participation in global governance networks is explicable by the larger power hierarchy of cities in the global economy. Extant research on city government participation in global governance networks, or “transnational municipal networks (TMNs)” such as United Cities Local Governments, has largely ignored the relevance of research showing city-level connectivity to corporate and other economic networks among world cities. In this latter tradition of research, the level of a city’s connectivity to such economic networks is understood as commensurate with the hierarchical power it holds in the global economy. Using a sample of UK and Chinese cities, this study shows that patterns of participation in a range of TMNs are explained by varied measures of city-level connectivity to economic networks. Interpreted through structuration theory, findings suggest that city participation in global governance is shaped and stratified by city-level hierarchical power within the global economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart technologies create opportunities for urban development and regeneration, leading to a proliferation of projects/programmes designed to address city strategies around environmental, economic and social challenges. Whilst there is considerable critical debate on the merits of smart city developments, there has been surprisingly little research on the evaluation of smart interventions, and the outcomes of embedded smart technologies for cities and citizens. This examines case-study research undertaken in Birmingham, Bristol, Manchester, Milton Keynes and Peterborough, on city approaches to smart city evaluation and reporting. Findings exemplify contemporary city evaluation and reporting practices, challenges and recommendations to support smart urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper draws on in-depth research on the impacts of urban regeneration programmes on small business communities in Haringey, London. It uses the Haringey case to document and describe the rolling out of more entrepreneurial forms of delivery-based urban policy and planning. It explores the relationships between austerity and local government finance; recent reforms to the planning system and the implementation of delivery-based, housing-focused urban regeneration programmes; and the types of urban built environment that are now emerging in cities. The discussion uses the example of small business communities to assess the impacts that contemporary planning interventions have on the form and character of urban economic development. It concludes by highlighting some of the broader implications for the planning of diverse cities and outlines future directions for research and analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses how more resilient cities can be built in flood-prone areas by looking at the various ways urban design professionals get involved in urban development projects. While stressing the aesthetic values added by water environments, urban professionals (i.e. urban designers, landscape designers and architects) also have to deal with a number of risks specific to waterways and flood-prone areas. They also find themselves facing a range of operational difficulties that can be solved either at the immediate building level or at the area level. This study focuses on four French projects developed in three medium-sized cities, Le Havre, Angers and Narbonne, as well as in a small city, Romorantin. Leveraging those examples, it provides an opportunity to better understand how vulnerability and resilience are dealt with by urban design professionals, as well as how the latter attempt to articulate the various and sometimes conflicting aspects of their projects - should they be political, æsthetic, technical or urban. This article will focus more specifically on architectural and urban forms. It will review some of the limits they present in terms of risk management, when reducing vulnerability to flooding becomes the number one priority. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following a case study of community development in public housing in Liverpool, UK, we present in this article three potential tyrannies of research. We show the tyranny of the researcher, of the method selection, and of the data. In so doing, we identify the methodological challenges of conducting research that seeks to privilege the voices and perspectives of the subjects in a participatory project. We examine whether the dangers of tyranny are present in ethnographic and other participatory forms of research as much as in the practice of participatory development. We argue that, by acknowledging the potential tyranny of research, we are able to highlight the importance of a critical and reflexive research practice, particularly for ethnographers working in a participatory context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers global urban planning news briefs as of May 1, 2022. Agreement has been announced by government of United Kingdom to see developers commit spending to fix buildings. Enquiry has been commenced by Scotland of town centers and impact of changing retail sector. Tasmanian government has planned to build visitor centre and car park outside Freycinet National Park.

The article focuses on emergence of the Northern Powerhouse as a proposal to boost economic growth of Great Britain. Topics discussed include attempts to untangle Gordian knot of urban development; use of devolution deals granting greater control over strategic planning for housing need, local transport and policing; and a series of grand policy challenges to instigate another round of governance reforms.

Repeated studies of urban regeneration have focused on the displacement of working class residents, but those who remain living in sites of urban change have received less attention. To attend to this gap, this paper focuses on the lives of long-standing residents in East Manchester, a site of urban regeneration, and examines their views of urban change. Ethnographic research reveals how the demolition and rebuilding of new houses has resulted in a deep sense of uncertainty. Drawing on anthropological theories of materiality, the analysis makes an original contribution to debates about urban regeneration, showing how social and material relations have been reconfigured and arguing that this in turn has created new meanings about the home. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation uses the palaeoflood record of a prospective floodplain development site to observe the flood history and assess the risk of flooding to which the site is exposed. The case study of one floodplain in the Nene Valley is applied to similar lowland areas across Britain to demonstrate the risks involved in development on floodplains. Pollution signatures and archival research were used to date observed flood deposits, which revealed four major floods to occur over a 150-year period. Assessment of flood intervals might be used to suggest that the flooding of the study site has become more frequent in recent history. Increasing vulnerability is discussed as populations and assets move onto floodplains because of the convenience of the land and the pressures of rising urban populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Real estate investment portfolios of financial institutions have seen dramatic changes over the last three decades or more. Historically such property investment decisions have been seen within a portfolio diversification paradigm that has sought to balance risk and return. This paper considers the role of the supply of assets in the determining and constraining the UK institutional portfolio. The supply of real estate assets not only expands during property booms but has also been transformed by a long term urban development cycle as cities adapt to cars and the ICT revolution that has brought new property forms. The research examines long term trends in investment change by disaggregating into ten property forms rather than the usual three land use sectors. It then assesses to what extent investment patterns can be explained in terms of portfolio theory, short term net returns of individual sectors or driven by the supply of real estate assets. It concludes that the supply of real assets is an overlooked explanation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Increased industrial activity during the Victorian period led to the creation of industrial townships such as Crewe, whose growth was stimulated and sustained by the involvement of the London and North Western Railway Company. As in other townships, the paternalism of employers was reflected in company involvement in all aspects of the social, political and economic life of Crewe and the influence that was exerted on the population through the company’s middle-class managers. Men such as manager Francis Webb and company clerk Thomas Abraham had a significant impact on the sporting life of the town, and this paper explores their life courses to chronicle their involvement. These men were not public-school- or university-educated but they shared similar attitudes to sport with their middle-class counterparts in the South, and this paper uses their biographies to suggest that individuals concerned with the organisation of amateur sport across the country adhered to the basics tenets of the amateur ethos. The authors also reinforce the notion that, while the creation of governing bodies was certainly important in structuring late-nineteenth-century sport, the commitment and motivation of the individual was always critical in ensuring that local sport was played ‘in the right way’. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Urban and environmental planning plays an important role in climate change adaptation. In this area, most German cities have developed adaptation strategies, inter alia tackling growing urban heat effects. Still in question, however, is how these measures will be implemented at the local level. The goal of this paper is to assess the implementation probability of climate change adaptation measures via local land-use plans using a Bayesian Network approach. Six plans were analysed in-depth. We used expert interviews to estimate the likelihood of implementing climate-adapted measures. Whether a local land-use plan stimulates climate change adaptation depends on a combination of different factors, e.g. the setting of the borough councillor in exchange with an investor, in a next step the willingness of the plans' creator to implement adaptation strategies as well as an existing environmental report. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Integration of national climate change and energy efficiency goals into conventional local structure planning requires a shift in focus from conventional concerns about urban growth to local sustainable development in which climate change and energy efficiency are key components. Local government responses in integrating these goals show structural limitations, despite widespread awareness of the need to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions and to adapt more climate-smart and energy-efficient policies. This paper assesses the integration of national climate change and energy efficiency goals in Swedish local structure plans and presents an in-depth study of one plan, that of Värmdö municipality in Sweden. The evaluation comprised plan content analysis using a few selected criteria for three concepts, namely, 'visions', 'comprehensive strategies' and 'measures', and use of the Dutch performance approach to examine implementation aspects of climate change and energy efficiency strategies in the plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historians portray London's "Magnificent Seven" suburban cemeteries as the first fruits of the urban health reforms inspired by Edwin Chadwick and George Walker. But all seven cemeteries opened before Chadwick and Walker's work began. What's more, the city's new cemeteries were met with a chorus of protests. Why was this? I remove London's cemeteries from the narrative of health reforms in which they have been anachronistically placed and study them in their own time. It turns out that financial designs prompted their construction, designs that involved a number of previously unexplored, deleterious consequences. These consequences, which historians have overlooked, were recognized immediately by Londoners of the time. Church revenues waned, public parks were enclosed and developed, and the socio-spatial division between the rich west and the poor east widened. Londoners fought hard against the very same cemeteries that recent historians have anointed as the solution to the city's health problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The critical current of urban regeneration scholarly research focusses on neoliberal urbanism. In concentrating on the neoliberal economic, business and financial dimensions as driving forces behind urban change and regeneration, the human dimension of city centres and city centre living is frequently overshadowed. This paper explores the human dimension through the example of Engage Liverpool, a citizen and neighbourhood organisation. This paper investigates citizen engagement with urban development in the setting of the city centre and central waterfront in Liverpool. The paper argues that despite the dominance of global neoliberal forces within regeneration, citizen and neighbourhood organisations such as Liverpool Engage may have the potential to facilitate citizens' participation as change makers in urban (re)development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]