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Although the scale and speed of China’s urban and economic transition is well acknowledged, a detailed account of the transformation of a single city’s development in this context is quite rare. This paper provides an insight into the recent dynamics of China’s capital city, Beijing. In the early 1980s, China’s transition process from a planned to a market economy started to deeply affect the urban economy of Beijing, so much so that the city is on its way to become one of the world’s leading cities. This article focuses on this development by looking at Beijing’s institutional context and its economic-spatial dynamics over the past 30 years. Economic Clusters (ECs) are also discussed because they have contributed significantly to Beijing’s rapid growth and change. The city’s development is however under increasing pressures of ecological deterioration, limited water resources, high living costs and uncertainties regarding the future urban policy orientation of the city region. These current challenges and responses in planning are assessed and discussed.

An identification of economic clusters and analysing their changing spatial patterns is important for understanding urban economic space dynamics. Previous studies, however, suffer from limitations as a consequence of using fixed geographically areas and not combining functional and spatial dynamics. The paper presents an approach, based on local spatial statistics and the case of Beijing to understand the spatial clustering of industries that are functionally interconnected by common or complementary patterns of demand or supply relations. Using register data of business establishments, it identifies economic clusters and analyses their pattern based on postcodes at different time slices during the period 1983-2002. The study shows how the advanced services occupy the urban centre and key sub centres. The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) cluster is mainly concentrated in the north part of the city and circles the urban centre, and the main manufacturing clusters are evolved in the key sub centers. This type of outcomes improves understanding of urban-economic dynamics, which can support spatial and economic planning. (c) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

This study aims to raise the level of attention paid to surface water management issues in spatial planning and urban development processes. In the case of cities located in alluvial river plains, surface water bodies may occupy large areas but severe ecological and environmental consequences can arise if they are given insufficient weight in the planning and development processes. After discussing in general terms some of the connections between surface water bodies and urban land use we specifically examine the situation in Wuhan, one of the largest cities in China, which has many surface water bodies in its urban region. We measure and analyse land use changes between 1993 and 2004 to lakes and shallow water bodies and their riparian areas using data derived from detailed land use surveys of the city. Our results show that urban expansion has had a significant impact on Wuhan's surface water bodies and their riparian zones. The reduction, disappearance and pollution of surface water may contribute to the undervaluation of water bodies, thereby increasing the likelihood of further impacts taking place. An integrative and proactive land use planning and management system at regional strategic level and local action level is considered to be essential if surface water systems are to be conserved and improved. Increased recognition of their societal and ecological value should be reflected in more detailed attention to the spatial requirements of water bodies and riparian areas in urban planning policies.

Information and communication technologies (ICTs) are enabling people to access opportunities in virtual space without facing the friction of distance and travel time alongside the long-existing opportunities in physical space. Hence, society is now dealing with hybrid space circumstances, in which new meanings of distance and accessibility are developing. In physical space, accessibility is measured on the basis of the spatial separation between the locations of opportunities and opportunity seekers. In virtual space, spatial separation loses its importance, but the nature of jobs (whether they can be accessed in virtual space or not) and the personal capabilities of workers (having ICT skills or not) gain more importance. This study explores how this virtual component can be incorporated into existing accessibility models. The influence of the use of ICTs on job accessibility is analysed with two models, the Hansen and the Shen model. The outcomes of this measuring exercise show that job accessibility in hybrid space is likely to improve, but this improvement shows distinct patterns of regional variation. Of the two accessibility measuring models, the classic Hansen potential-accessibility approach performs best in quantifying job accessibility in hybrid space.

This paper investigates the travel time attributed to each activity in a trip chain by developing a travel-time price for multiple-purpose trips. Travel-time price is a ratio of the associated travel time of an activity to the activity duration. The travel-time price developed here has three characteristics. First, it accounts for the influence of sociodemographics and urban form characteristics on travel time. Second, it represents the intra-activity trade-off of travel time between activity duration and its associated travel time for different activity types. Third, it represents the interactivity trade-off of travel time between different types of activities. By using the data from the AMADEUS activity-travel diary collected in the Netherlands in 2000, a regression analysis was carried out for multiple-purpose trips stemming from one base, and the results were compared with those of an analysis of single-purpose trips from one base. The focus was on weekday, nonwork, out-of-home activities performed by heads of households. This daily activity behavior is interpreted as an outcome of the long-term decisions made about work and housing locations. The results indicated that, although multiple-purpose trips are not as common, they are more efficient than single-purpose trips. Sociodemographics and spatial characteristics were not statistically significant for the travel-time price of maintenance activities but were mostly significant for discretionary activities. In addition, nonwork out-of-home travel time is largely influenced by the duration of discretionary activities, gender, working hours, and the spatial setting.

Discussions of the theory behind the geography of the urbanization process centre around the 'counterurbanization' hypothesis and the 'stages of urban development' model. Although both are primarily descriptive models, explanatory substance has been added over time in order to improve our understanding of the ongoing processes. Therefore, these two lines of research will be addressed first. Next, a summary of the approach to and outcomes of an empirical study of trends in urbanization in the Netherlands between 1970 and 1985 will be presented. The empirical results are then interpreted in the light of the

Understanding the urban growth system is a prerequisite for modelling and forecasting future trends of urban land use/cover change and its ecological impacts. As urban growth involves various actors with different patterns of behaviour, we argue that scientific understanding must be based on elaborated complexity theory and a multidisciplinary framework. The theoretical analysis can provide a guideline for selecting modelling methods currently available in complexity modelling and in remote sensing and GIS environments. This paper first proposes a conceptual model for defining urban growth and its complexity, in which spatial, temporal and decision-making complexity are distinguished as separate domains. Second, this paper links the conceptual model with the major current methods of modem urban modelling, such as cellular automata, fractals, neural networks, multi-agent, spatial statistics etc. This confrontation enables the possibilities of various modelling methods to understand urban growth complexity to be indicated. Third, this paper evaluates the operational implementation of representative methods based on criteria such as interpretability, data need and GIS embedded ness. Finally, two case studies are used to test the conceptual model.

Efficient use of land is a major goal in urban planning strategies. In densely populated regions, where land available for urban expansion has become scarce, urbanisation policies promote compact urban development along with good spatial quality. National policy in the Netherlands seeks to reduce the consumption of urban land. This chapter describes and discusses the design, implementation and application of an instrument to monitor these strategic planning goals. It is based on current, generally available administrative and statistical data sets and on geo-information technology. The Urban Pattern, Density and Diversity (UPDD) Monitor makes it possible to translate the policy goals into indicators and to measure and visualise urban development for ex post policy evaluation. However, some problems with the interpretation of the indicators’ values could not be completely solved. Moreover, future policy changes will make periodic adjustment of the instrument inevitable.

The juxtapostion of words in the title reflects the sequence of the argument of this chapter. Urban planning comes first because it has a long history as an activity which makes extensive use of geographic information. This extends from the sanitary maps that were made by the precursors of the modern planners in the 1830s and 1840s in Britain and the United States to the multi-purpose, multi-user geographic information systems (GIS) that have been implemented in many of today’s cities. In many ways, the needs of planning have actually anticipated the development of GIS. For example, Lewis Keeble (1952) argues in his manual for the new generation of British planners created by the 1947 Town and Country Planning Act, that: “There are two ways in which interrelated survey subjects can be compared: the first is by means of overlays, the second by means of combination or sieve maps” which suggest “the metaphorical straining of all the land in the area under consideration through a series of sieves — standards of unsuitability — that which passes through all the sieves being prima facie the most suitable for the purpose in question and that which passes through the fewest the least suitable” (Keeble 1952, p. 70).

This chapter addresses the possibilities for and the problems of bringing GIS technology into action for spatial planning purposes. Both urban and regional planning and geographical information systems are however changing and evolving rapidly. Some introductory remarks on the present-day nature of the two elements that make up the theme of this contribution are therefore necessary.

The top of the urban hierarchy in the Nether¬ lands is formed by Randstad, a polycentric metropolitan area dominated by four large cities : Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht. Amsterdam with its large historic inner city, is the financial and cultural centre of the country. Rotterdam is the world's largest seaport and The Hague is the seal of the national government. Utrecht has attracted lots of national service functions. The last decade, a process of urban déconcentration has been discernable all over Randstad. There are however marked differences between the four large urban areas under study. The intensity and the spatial patterning of the spreading out of population and workplaces did differ among these regions. The uniqueness of each of the city regions with to historical, geographic location and economic specialization can explain most of these differences., Au sommet de la hiérarchie urbaine aux Pays-Bas se situe la Randstad, aire métropolitaine polycentrique dominée par quatre grandes villes : Amsterdam, Rotterdam, La Haye et Utrecht. Chacune de ces zones urbaines a ses caractéristiques propres. Amsterdam et son centre ville historique étendu est le centre culturel et financier du pays. Rotterdam est le plus grand port maritime mondial et La Haye est le siège du gouvernement national. Utrecht a vu s'installer de nombreux services nationaux. Les dernières années, on a pu observer un processus de déconcentration urbaine dans la Randstad. Il subsiste néanmoins de nettes différences entre les 4 grandes régions urbaines qui sont l'objet de notre étude. La densité et la répartition géographique de la population et des emplois varient nettement dans chaque région. La plupart de ces différences s'expliquent par la spécificité de chaque région urbaine, sa structure historique, son implantation géographique et sa spécialisation économique., Harts Jan Jaap, Ottens Henk F.L. Tendances récentes de l'urbanisation de la Randstad. In: Hommes et Terres du Nord, 1984/4. Spécial Pays-Bas. pp. 237-250.

Traditionally, along with stages of the life cycle and changes in people’s financial status and their household composition, the commute distance has been identified as one of the main explanatory factors for residential locational preferences and subsequent migration flows. In the Netherlands, telecommuting is rapidly becoming popular and is expected to affect residential locational preferences. A hypothesis that can be raised is that telecommuting has an impact on the effect that commute distance has on residential preferences. Based on this hypothesis, this paper investigates the role of telecommuting alongside the traditional factors currently explaining residential locational preferences. The paper provides evidence that, in the Netherlands, telecommuting has enabled people to commute longer distances. The effect of telecommuting on the probability of relocating, however, is not significant. Telecommuting appears to have a limited effect on residential location preferences, but traditional factors, such as life cycle stages, remain the dominant explanatory factors.