A simple model to evaluate relative urban conditions

The urban development process intends to enhance urban equipment, infrastructure and services to improve urban conditions and reduce inequalities. While planning activities usually demand a sizeable amount of data to assess these conditions, it is hard to find a straightforward procedure to translate these data into a comprehensive and balanced set of projects and programs. Most urban projects have a strong sectorial character and it is difficult to compare parks with roads or sanitation with schools. Development projects are normally justified in their own terms, yet rarely are sectorial demands equably met by the proposed projects. The following model intends to facilitate this task, providing a simple yet efficient means to assess urban conditions, evaluate and compare the sectorial demands and assemble a balanced set of development goals that can be used to estimate the overall investment needed. The proposed system assesses urban conditions through a set of selected indicators, derived from a compact data base. These indicators represent the performance of the basic urban sectors at each urban zone, thus providing the necessary spatial component to the system. The indicators are normalised to allow comparison of conditions between different sectors. The values of the normalised indicators are then used to evaluate the relative quality of services at each urban zone. By displaying the normalised indicators as bar charts, it is easier to visualise sectorial demands and spatial imbalances. The model is built on a spreadsheet, making fairly easy to verify how much improvement in the sector is needed to attain the desired performance level in each zone. New values can be entered interactively until a preferred urban conditions pattern is attained. The information produced by the model can be used as the basic guideline to dimension sectorial projects and compose a comprehensive development program. Besides describing and discussing all the procedures adopted, a simple yet complete example illustrates the use of the model.planning; urban; development; model; infrastructure; condition; regional

South Sudan urban development strategy

Southern Sudan - the ten southern provinces of Sudan - has attained autonomy and may soon achieve total independence from Sudan. Yet decades of civil war not only prevented development but destroyed the infrastructure left over from the colonial period. While Southern Sudan is fortunate to have oil resources that can finance building up the new nation, the task is enormous - there are no cities, there is no established industrial base, there are no means of transport, agriculture is incipient and cattle raising still follows ancient nomadic traditions. To aggravate the situation, millions of returning refugees and internally displaced persons are returning to their homelands and need to be settled. This paper, by outlining a simple, pragmatic strategy to setup the 10 state capitals, is a response to the effort of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) in solving these issues. The establishment of a basic urban system - even with minimal services and infrastructure - is critical to support the establishment of initial economic activities, provide a base for the provincial administrations, supply basic human needs to the existing population and organize the resettlement effort. This effort would complement the works to recover the national road system and the development of Juba as the national capital and main base of operations of GOSS. After discussing the current issues and conditions, available resources and expected demand, a three phase urban development strategy is suggested to jump start the transformation of the existing settlements into operational urban centres. The development proposal is completed by a brief discussion on urban standards and design recommendations to be adopted.urban; regional; development; planning; strategy; sudan; africa

The urban component of the energy crisis

The spiral of higher oil prices that is occurring currently is mostly caused not by the lack of reserves, but by increasing demand on the existing supply. However, increase of supply would only temporarily attenuate the issue, as demand is expected to continue to soar and eventually outstrip the reserves of fossil fuels, which combined account of almost all our present energy sources. It is not that fossil fuels will disappear, but rather the certainty that they will become progressively scarcer and definitely more expensive as time goes by, has become an irreversible and well established trend. The cost increase of a critical resource - energy - will force unforeseen changes in production and in distribution of goods, affecting the whole productive matrix - including employment. Not only new products and distribution systems based on higher energy costs will need to be conceived and implemented but especially the current reliance on fossil fuels - oil, gas and coal - will need to be replaced almost entirely by sustainable sources - an extraordinarily complex enterprise that should consume our efforts in the next 40 years. Energy consumption will be further aggravated by the expected 2.3 billion population increase from now to 2050, which is expected to be almost entirely concentrated in the urban centres of Asia, Latin America and Africa. Since these additional urban spaces are still to be developed, urban development strategies that consider higher energy costs could effectively alleviate the transition period from fossil fuels to sustainable sources. Rather than providing a recipe for urban planning, this paper stresses the need for further research to incorporate the energy cost component with the urban development context and the dissemination of information on this matter.energy; environment; urban; development; planning;

A simple model to evaluate relative urban conditions

The urban development process intends to enhance urban equipment, infrastructure and services to improve urban conditions and reduce inequalities. While planning activities usually demand a sizeable amount of data to assess these conditions, it is hard to find a straightforward procedure to translate these data into a comprehensive and balanced set of projects and programs. Most urban projects have a strong sectorial character and it is difficult to compare parks with roads or sanitation with schools. Development projects are normally justified in their own terms, yet rarely are sectorial demands equably met by the proposed projects. The following model intends to facilitate this task, providing a simple yet efficient means to assess urban conditions, evaluate and compare the sectorial demands and assemble a balanced set of development goals that can be used to estimate the overall investment needed. The proposed system assesses urban conditions through a set of selected indicators, derived from a compact data base. These indicators represent the performance of the basic urban sectors at each urban zone, thus providing the necessary spatial component to the system. The indicators are normalised to allow comparison of conditions between different sectors. The values of the normalised indicators are then used to evaluate the relative quality of services at each urban zone. By displaying the normalised indicators as bar charts, it is easier to visualise sectorial demands and spatial imbalances. The model is built on a spreadsheet, making fairly easy to verify how much improvement in the sector is needed to attain the desired performance level in each zone. New values can be entered interactively until a preferred urban conditions pattern is attained. The information produced by the model can be used as the basic guideline to dimension sectorial projects and compose a comprehensive development program. Besides describing and discussing all the procedures adopted, a simple yet complete example illustrates the use of the model

South Sudan urban development strategy

Southern Sudan - the ten southern provinces of Sudan - has attained autonomy and may soon achieve total independence from Sudan. Yet decades of civil war not only prevented development but destroyed the infrastructure left over from the colonial period. While Southern Sudan is fortunate to have oil resources that can finance building up the new nation, the task is enormous - there are no cities, there is no established industrial base, there are no means of transport, agriculture is incipient and cattle raising still follows ancient nomadic traditions. To aggravate the situation, millions of returning refugees and internally displaced persons are returning to their homelands and need to be settled. This paper, by outlining a simple, pragmatic strategy to setup the 10 state capitals, is a response to the effort of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) in solving these issues. The establishment of a basic urban system - even with minimal services and infrastructure - is critical to support the establishment of initial economic activities, provide a base for the provincial administrations, supply basic human needs to the existing population and organize the resettlement effort. This effort would complement the works to recover the national road system and the development of Juba as the national capital and main base of operations of GOSS. After discussing the current issues and conditions, available resources and expected demand, a three phase urban development strategy is suggested to jump start the transformation of the existing settlements into operational urban centres. The development proposal is completed by a brief discussion on urban standards and design recommendations to be adopted

South Sudan urban development strategy

Southern Sudan - the ten southern provinces of Sudan - has attained autonomy and may soon achieve total independence from Sudan. Yet decades of civil war not only prevented development but destroyed the infrastructure left over from the colonial period. While Southern Sudan is fortunate to have oil resources that can finance building up the new nation, the task is enormous - there are no cities, there is no established industrial base, there are no means of transport, agriculture is incipient and cattle raising still follows ancient nomadic traditions. To aggravate the situation, millions of returning refugees and internally displaced persons are returning to their homelands and need to be settled. This paper, by outlining a simple, pragmatic strategy to setup the 10 state capitals, is a response to the effort of the Government of Southern Sudan (GOSS) in solving these issues. The establishment of a basic urban system - even with minimal services and infrastructure - is critical to support the establishment of initial economic activities, provide a base for the provincial administrations, supply basic human needs to the existing population and organize the resettlement effort. This effort would complement the works to recover the national road system and the development of Juba as the national capital and main base of operations of GOSS. After discussing the current issues and conditions, available resources and expected demand, a three phase urban development strategy is suggested to jump start the transformation of the existing settlements into operational urban centres. The development proposal is completed by a brief discussion on urban standards and design recommendations to be adopted

The urban component of the energy crisis

The spiral of higher oil prices that is occurring currently is mostly caused not by the lack of reserves, but by increasing demand on the existing supply. However, increase of supply would only temporarily attenuate the issue, as demand is expected to continue to soar and eventually outstrip the reserves of fossil fuels, which combined account of almost all our present energy sources. It is not that fossil fuels will disappear, but rather the certainty that they will become progressively scarcer and definitely more expensive as time goes by, has become an irreversible and well established trend. The cost increase of a critical resource - energy - will force unforeseen changes in production and in distribution of goods, affecting the whole productive matrix - including employment. Not only new products and distribution systems based on higher energy costs will need to be conceived and implemented but especially the current reliance on fossil fuels - oil, gas and coal - will need to be replaced almost entirely by sustainable sources - an extraordinarily complex enterprise that should consume our efforts in the next 40 years. Energy consumption will be further aggravated by the expected 2.3 billion population increase from now to 2050, which is expected to be almost entirely concentrated in the urban centres of Asia, Latin America and Africa. Since these additional urban spaces are still to be developed, urban development strategies that consider higher energy costs could effectively alleviate the transition period from fossil fuels to sustainable sources. Rather than providing a recipe for urban planning, this paper stresses the need for further research to incorporate the energy cost component with the urban development context and the dissemination of information on this matter

The urban component of the energy crisis

The spiral of higher oil prices that is occurring currently is mostly caused not by the lack of reserves, but by increasing demand on the existing supply. However, increase of supply would only temporarily attenuate the issue, as demand is expected to continue to soar and eventually outstrip the reserves of fossil fuels, which combined account of almost all our present energy sources. It is not that fossil fuels will disappear, but rather the certainty that they will become progressively scarcer and definitely more expensive as time goes by, has become an irreversible and well established trend. The cost increase of a critical resource - energy - will force unforeseen changes in production and in distribution of goods, affecting the whole productive matrix - including employment. Not only new products and distribution systems based on higher energy costs will need to be conceived and implemented but especially the current reliance on fossil fuels - oil, gas and coal - will need to be replaced almost entirely by sustainable sources - an extraordinarily complex enterprise that should consume our efforts in the next 40 years. Energy consumption will be further aggravated by the expected 2.3 billion population increase from now to 2050, which is expected to be almost entirely concentrated in the urban centres of Asia, Latin America and Africa. Since these additional urban spaces are still to be developed, urban development strategies that consider higher energy costs could effectively alleviate the transition period from fossil fuels to sustainable sources. Rather than providing a recipe for urban planning, this paper stresses the need for further research to incorporate the energy cost component with the urban development context and the dissemination of information on this matter