Planning for Public Transport: Applying European Good Practice to UK Regions?

Investment in high-quality public transport infrastructure has been severely lacking in the UK for many years, and particularly in the smaller urban areas and their hinterlands beyond the main cities. These areas often have poor public transport services, residents have quite poor levels of accessibility to employment, services and activities, and in response have become significantly more car-dependent. Public transport provision, including light rapid transit, is much more effectively provided in smaller urban areas in France and Germany, providing examples of how services might be developed in the UK. This chapter examines public transport provision in the UK, and the problems of providing funding for projects. In comparison, two cases are explored where high-quality networks have been developed: Valenciennes’ single-track tramway system and Kassel’s RegioTram system. The opportunities and barriers concerning the development of these types of systems in the UK are explored

From the ger districts to the city centre: contrasts and inequities of access and mobility in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

This paper focuses on access, travel and social equity in the ger districts of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia. These areas, radiating outwards from the central part of the city, are home to approximately 60% of Ulaanbaatar’s population and a considerable range of socio-economic groups (Byambadorj et al. 2011). The few available studies on transport and mobility across the ger districts (e.g. Velez et al. 2016; ADB 2009) indicate a relatively low level of automobile access, creating high levels of public or informal transport use. However, motorisation in Mongolia has increased (ADB 2018). Drawing from a mixed methods research approach, the focus of this article is: what are the key mobility and access challenges facing ger district residents, and what social equity impacts do these have? This paper compares travel survey data from a ger district study site with data from an adjacent site in an apartment area linked to the core area of the city. Drawing from ethnography conducted among ger district residents, the paper then builds a higher resolution picture on the difficulties that residents face when travelling within their neighbourhood. The findings indicate that ger district residents face considerable access and mobility shortcomings compared to residents in central, built-up areas of the city. Residents in ger districts are required to engage in considerably higher forms of innovation and collaboration to meet transport needs. This imbalance could perpetuate further motorisation in a city that already experiences high levels of traffic congestion in both ger district and apartment building areas

Self-build communities: the rationale and experiences of group-build (Baugruppen) housing development in Germany

© 2015 Taylor & Francis Group-build housing developments can bring together the cost and customisation benefits regularly attributed to self-build housing with a communitarian ethos associated with ‘intentional’ communities. This paper presents an initial examination of the rationale, motivations and social experiences of group-build housing from Germany, where over half of all new homes are produced independently from volume-build developers. The paper aims, firstly, to test the hypothesis that group-build delivers general ‘community’ benefits; secondly, to contribute to an understanding of the processes leading to successful schemes; and lastly, to demonstrate that by making individual home building dependent on the success of a larger group, collective interests can prevail over personal pursuit. This research draws attention to the motivations, the social experiences through the development process and the social legacy – aspects of particular interest for policy-makers as well as prospective builders – of group-build housing projects

Swimming against a Cornish tide?

Nick Gallent, John Kelsey and Iqbal Hamiduddin reflect on the outcome of the recent referendum on the St Ives Neighbourhood Development Plan, the requirement that all new build housing is occupied by ‘full time residents’, and the risks – and possible consequences – of this type of planning restrictio

The Social Implications of Residential Car Reduction: Exploring Mobility and Community Development at the Neighbourhood Scale

Physical qualities of the residential environment exert demonstrable influences on social interaction, lifestyles and personal well being. However, the importance of the neighbourhood in providing a context for home life, and increasingly a working life, is not necessarily reflected in the level of attention received. Although the car has had an important shaping effect on the qualities of residential space leading to outcomes that have been addressed in different areas of social research, virtually no attempt has been made to draw different strands of research together in a single piece of work, nor study the effects of car reduction in relation to mobility and social interaction at the neighbourhood scale. This thesis attempts to address both shortfalls; the former in the opening chapters, and the latter through empirical evidence drawn from a case study comparison of three neighbourhoods in the second part. At the core is a single question: what are the social implications of residential car reduction? In support of the main question, three sub-questions investigate specific matters of residential selectivity, access and opportunity constraint and whether lessons can be identified for future residential schemes. From analysis of the empirical evidence, four conceptual models of residential car reduction are developed. Critically, however, an argument emerges against adopting a neighbourhood-first approach. Instead the thesis argues that initial consideration should be given to what is termed the urban ‘operating system’ as characterised by the overall transport offer, urban structure and supporting planning policies that influence travel behaviour. This argument is supported both by a logic from historic evidence suggesting that urban form has a tendency to follow the dominant transport function, and by empirical evidence indicating that issues including exclusion and undue residential selectivity on mobility grounds can occur in car-reduced schemes where relation to the urban operating system is weaker

Social sustainability, residential design and demographic balance: Neighbourhood planning strategies in Freiburg, Germany

Social sustainability remains a relatively underdeveloped and contested field. Recalling older notions of social mixing and 'balanced neighbourhoods' two concepts of 'sustainability of community' and 'social equity' have recently emerged as core social sustainability principles, but uncertainty remains over the spatial scale at which the principles should be applied. The aim of this paper is to broaden the existing literature by means of detailed case study research on neighbourhood development in the German city of Freiburg, where demographic concentration has led to ageing in place and the undermining of community infrastructure and services. Although new car-reduced neighbourhoods of Vauban and Rieselfeld look likely to replicate this pattern, the city has shifted policy towards smaller 'fresh cell' developments designed to inject younger residents into ageing neighbourhoods to create a more even social balance, viable services and community infrastructure

London's King's Cross redevelopment: a compact, resource efficient and 'liveable' global city model for an era of climate emergency?

Cities have long been subject to urban containment policies against urban sprawl. Climate change concerns have recently added to the imperative to densify urban space. Urban compaction is often pursued through the creation of ‘exemplar’ urban developments that superficially implement ‘best practice’ ideas from elsewhere. In this paper, we abandon the notion of ‘best practice’ in favour of context-sensitive ‘good practices’. Taking London’s King’s Cross redevelopment as a case study, this paper draws on qualitative methods to examine the contribution of context and path-dependency, as a product of local and non-local forces, to the emergence of King´s Cross as ‘good practice’

Beyond agriculture: alternative geographies of rural land investment and place effects across the United Kingdom

Global land ownership patterns have been shifting in recent decades, as institutional and non-traditional investors redirect capital into rural areas. Such investment is a stimulating alternative for innovative profit-driven land uses that move beyond agriculture. This paper explores how ‘new money’ economies have created place effects in three rural case studies across the United Kingdom, through concepts of built, natural, social, and economic capital. The case studies are informed by secondary research, site visits, and interviews, providing snapshots of investment impact. They represent diverse transformations in rural land use via new forms of direct investment, active investment, and processes of financing rather than financialisation, with distinct spatial and temporal characteristics. The case studies include new wine production in Kent, England; transforming the Menie Estate into Trump International Golf Links Scotland (TIGLS); and farm diversification in Northern Ireland. The conclusions tell three investment stories, where place effects reflect the dichotomies, contestation, and symbiosis between investors and local contexts. New land uses create place effects where economic potential often conflicts with natural capital impacts, although they foster knowledge creation and exchange. The underlying values of the investors and their navigation of local politics also have key roles to play in shaping the built, natural, social, and economic place effects