Project Description

This project explores the robustness, transferability and sustainability of recent land-use policy instruments for managing urban change. The main emphasis is on dynamic cities where diverse changes are occurring, such as urban growth and population expansion or urban decline and population loss. These changes pose a range of economic, social and environmental opportunities and challenges for cities.

Recent policy instruments are evaluated against a number of criteria related to urban resilience including adaptability, manageability, capacity-building and the promotion of quality of life. The research draws on case studies from four countries where urban dynamics are very different. These differences and specific development paths will be further explored and illustrated. Turkish cases are used to evaluate policy instruments to control urban sprawl under conditions of rapid urban growth and population expansion. Portuguese cases are used to assess urban policies both under condition of urban shrinkage and urban sprawl. Dutch cases are used to evaluate policy instruments under conditions of moderate urban growth within a polycentric urban structure. Swedish cases are used to evaluate policy instruments under conditions of moderate urban growth but this time within a more monocentric urban structure. Two URBAN-NET key themes are addressed: Shrinking Cities (theme 4) and Urban Sprawl/Compact City (theme 9).

Research Team

• Ana Martins
• Paulo Pinho (coordinator)
• Sara Santos Cruz
• Sílvia Sousa
• Vitor Oliveira

List of other participants (organisation name, country)

• Middle East Technical University (METU), Department of City and Regional Planning, Ankara, Turkey (Coordinators)
• Delft University of Technology, The Netherlands
• Nordregio-Nordic Centre for Spatial Development, Sweden
• LUOTP-Urban and Spatial Planning Research Laboratory - Technical University of Lisbon, Portugal

Financial Support

• FCT (project of URBAN-NET network )

Stage of Progress

• Concluded in 2010

Publications

Chapters of Books

• Oliveira, V; Martins, A; Santos Cruz, S (2012) "Evaluating urban policies from a resilient perspective: the case of Oporto", Eraydin, A; Tasan-kok, T, in Resilient thinking in urban planning Dordrecht, Springer , pp 161-78, ISBN: 978-94-007-5476-8
• Pinho, P; Oliveira, V; Martins, A (2012) "Evaluating resilient thinking in planning", Eraydin, A; Tasan-kok, T, in Resilient thinking in urban planning Dordrecht, Springer , pp 131-44, ISBN: 978-94-007-5476-8
• Santos Cruz, S; Costa, J.P; Sousa, S; Pinho, P (2012) "Urban Resilience and Spatial Dynamics", Eraydin, A; Taşan-Kok, T, in Resilience Thinking in Urban Planning Dordrecht, Springer , pp 53-70, ISBN: 978-94-007-5476-8