Innovations in spatial planning as a social process – phases, actors, conflicts

The aim of this paper is to understand the social process of the emergence and institutionalization of innovations in spatial planning (which we describe as ‘social innovations’). The paper is based on a recently finished empirical and comparative study conducted in four distinct areas of spatial planning in Germany: urban design, neighbourhood development, urban regeneration and regional planning. The empirical cases selected in these areas encompass different topics, historical periods, degrees of maturity and spatial scales of innovation. As a temporal structure of the innovation processes in the different cases we identified five phases: ‘incubating, generating, formatting, stabilizing, adjusting’. In a cross-comparison of the case studies and along these phases, we furthermore found typical (groups of) actors, tensions and conflicts. In the focus of our case analyses are the following dimensions: (1) the content of the innovations, (2) actors, networks and communities involved as well as (3) institutions and institutionalization

Production of ethanol from sugars and lignocellulosic biomass by Thermoanaerobacter J1 Isolated from a hot spring in Iceland

Thermophilic bacteria have gained increased attention as candidates for bioethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass. This study investigated ethanol production by Thermoanaerobacter strain J1 from hydrolysates made from lignocellulosic biomass in batch cultures. The effect of increased initial glucose concentration and the partial pressure of hydrogen on end product formation were examined. The strain showed a broad substrate spectrum, and high ethanol yields were observed on glucose (1.70 mol/mol) and xylose (1.25 mol/mol). Ethanol yields were, however, dramatically lowered by adding thiosulfate or by cocultivating strain J1 with a hydrogenotrophic methanogen with acetate becoming the major end product. Ethanol production from 4.5 g/L of lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates (grass, hemp stem, wheat straw, newspaper, and cellulose) pretreated with acid or alkali and the enzymes Celluclast and Novozymes 188 was investigated. The highest ethanol yields were obtained on cellulose (7.5 mM·g−1) but the lowest on straw (0.8 mM·g−1). Chemical pretreatment increased ethanol yields substantially from lignocellulosic biomass but not from cellulose. The largest increase was on straw hydrolysates where ethanol production increased from 0.8 mM·g−1 to 3.3 mM·g−1 using alkali-pretreated biomass. The highest ethanol yields on lignocellulosic hydrolysates were observed with hemp hydrolysates pretreated with acid, 4.2 mM·g−1.This work was sponsored by RANNÍS, Technology Development Fund, projects 081303408 (BioEthanol) and RAN091016-2376 (BioFuel), and the Research Fund of the University of AkureyriRitrýnt tímaritPeer reviewe

Leitbilder der Stadtentwicklung

Der Begriff des Leitbilds umfasst in der Stadtplanung zum einen übergreifende Vorstellungen der städtebaulichen Entwicklung, an denen sich der Berufsstand der Stadtplanung für eine bestimmte Epoche mehrheitlich orientiert, zum anderen bezeichnet er ein aufeinander abgestimmtes Bündel von Stadtentwicklungszielen einer Gemeinde

Demographischer Wandel in Großstadtregionen: Impulsstatement

Der demographische Wandel (Rückgang, Alterung, Internationalisierung durch Zuwanderung) wird alle deutschen Großstadtregionen treffen, allerdings zu unterschiedlichen Zeitpunkten und mit unterschiedlichem Gewicht - in Abhängigkeit von ihrer wirtschaftlichen Dynamik (schrumpfende vs. wachsende Regionen). Entsprechend ungleich sind die Chancen verteilt, die damit verbundenen Probleme zu bewältigen. Da Großstadtregionen auch in Zukunft die Zentren der Wirtschaftskraft, Standorte von Wissenschaft und Forschung sowie Schwerpunkte des kulturellen und sozialen Wandels sein werden, sollten sie gezielt als Motoren der Entwicklung gestützt werden. Dies erfordert vor allem eine eigenständige stadtregionale Politik- und Handlungsebene, wirtschafts- und sozialpolitische Strategien sowie an den Zielen der Nachhaltigkeit orientierte Entwicklungs- und Standortkonzepte im regionalen Maßstab.Demographic change (i.e. population depletion, ageing, “internationalisation”) will come to affect all of Germany’s metropolitan regions, albeit at different points in time and to varying degrees – depending essentially on the dynamics of their respective economies (shrinking vs. booming regions). Consequently, the opportunities for successfully meeting the problems posed by changes in demographics are similarly by no means equal. Since metropolitan centres will in the future continue to be the centres of economic power and the focal points for science and research as well as for cultural and social change, it is these centres which should be prioritised for support as the motors of development. This calls, in particular, for the creation of a distinct metropolitan (i.e. city-regional) level for political action, as well as for economic and social-policy strategies and regionally-oriented development and locational strategies based on sustainability goals

Demographic Patterns of Reurbanisation and Housing in Metropolitan Regions in the US and Germany

After decades of decline, first signs of a central and inner city revitalisation were noticed towards the end of the 1980s in North American metropolitan areas. The repopulation and redevelopment of the metropolitan cores – often referred to as “reurbanisation”, “urban renaissance” or “back-to-the-city-movement” – has accelerated since then and is today one of the outstanding characteristics of recent urban development in the US. In Western and Central European urban regions, reurbanisation patterns were detected some years later although starting from a different level, as the inner cities have never faced a process of decay to the extent that was known in North American cities. At present, reurbanisation is intensely debated in urban and regional research. Although the evidence of reurbanisation is hardly questioned any longer, there is considerable uncertainty about how this new pattern of population change can be explained, how long it will last and how it will change the spatial urban structure of metropolitan areas in the long run. In this paper, we comparatively investigate recent trends of urban development in the US and Germany based on both survey and case study methods, with a focus on demographic patterns and housing. Our results suggest that reurbanisation is a universal trend in large metro regions in the Global North, manifesting itself as a significant repopulation and densification of core areas. At the same time, we found considerable divergence in terms of scale, dynamics and sociodemographic composition of reurbanisation patterns in the selected regions of the US and Germany. * This article belongs to a special issue on reurbanisation

Demographic Patterns of Reurbanisation and Housing in Metropolitan Regions in the US and Germany

"After decades of decline, first signs of a central and inner city revitalisation were noticed towards the end of the 1980s in North American metropolitan areas. The repopulation and redevelopment of the metropolitan cores - often referred to as 'reurbanisation', 'urban renaissance' or 'back-to-the-city-movement' - has accelerated since then and is today one of the outstanding characteristics of recent urban development in the US. In Western and Central European urban regions, reurbanisation patterns were detected some years later although starting from a different level, as the inner cities have never faced a process of decay to the extent that was known in North American cities. At present, reurbanisation is intensely debated in urban and regional research. Although the evidence of reurbanisation is hardly questioned any longer, there is considerable uncertainty about how this new pattern of population change can be explained, how long it will last and how it will change the spatial urban structure of metropolitan areas in the long run. In this paper, we comparatively investigate recent trends of urban development in the US and Germany based on both survey and case study methods, with a focus on demographic patterns and housing. Our results suggest that reurbanisation is a universal trend in large metro regions in the Global North, manifesting itself as a significant repopulation and densification of core areas. At the same time, we found considerable divergence in terms of scale, dynamics and sociodemographic composition of reurbanisation patterns in the selected regions of the US and Germany." (author's abstract

Ethanol production by a Paenibacillus species isolated from an Icelandic hot spring: Production yields from complex biomass

Ethanol production using Paenibacillus strain J2 was studied on carbohydrates and lignocellulosic biomass hydrolysates including grass (Phleum pratense) and barley straw (Hordeum vulgare). The strain has a broad substrate spectrum; fermentation of glucose yielded ethanol (major product), acetate, butyrate (minor), hydrogen, and carbon dioxide. At glucose concentrations below 30 mM fermentation was not inhibited. Higher substrate loadings resulted in decreased glucose utilization and a shift of end products towards butyrate. The maximum yields of ethanol were 1.45 mol ethanol mol glucose-1. The end products from lignocellulosic (4.5 g L-1 dw) biomass hydrolysates pretreated with 0.5% HCl or NaOH (control was unpretreated) prior to cellulase treatment were investigated. Ethanol production from cellulose hydrolysates without chemical pre-treatment yielded 5.5 mM ethanol g-1 with lower yields from paper and lignocellulosic biomasses (1.2-1.7 mM g-1). Ethanol production was enhanced by dilute acid or base pre-treatment combined with enzymatic treatment with the highest yields from grass (3.2 mM ethanol g-1).RANNIS, (Technology Development Fund) (BioFuel), grant number RAN091016-2376 Research Fund of the University of AkureyriRitrýnt tímaritPeer reviewe

Stadtforschung

Stadtforschung ist ein Sammelbegriff für wissenschaftliche Fachdisziplinen, die sich theoretisch und empirisch mit der Stadt oder Teilen von ihr in sozio-ökonomischer, funktional- und sozialräumlicher sowie in historischer Perspektive befassen, vor allem Stadtsoziologie, Stadtgeographie und Stadtgeschichte. Das Verständnis von Stadt als Gegenstand der Forschung konstituiert sich über das jeweilige Fachverständnis und unterliegt im Laufe der Zeit Veränderungen

Reurbanisierung

Als Reurbanisierung wird eine Entwicklungsphase von Agglomerationsräumen westlicher Industriestaaten bezeichnet, in deren Verlauf die Kern- und Innenstädte durch den Zuwachs an Wohnbevölkerung und/oder Arbeitsplätzen wieder an sozialer, kultureller und ökonomischer Dynamik gewinnen. Erklärungen der Reurbanisierung verweisen auf ein komplexes Ineinandergreifen demografischer, ökonomischer, sozialer und politischer Faktoren