The necessity of analysing cities in a comprehensive way

City planners can have an enormous impact on human actions. They make important choices which influence how people for decades or even centuries live and travel in urban areas. The realised ideas of urban planners have large influence on social interrelations, the use of transport modes, the quality of life, the economic potential of urban districts, etc.. City developers often develop urban Idealtypen, theoretical models of urban configurations, deliberately overstressing some aspects of reality, while neglecting others. Therefore, creating more or less rational distortions of reality. The Idealtypen are used to provide insight in urban configurations to be striven for. Examples of urban Idealtypen are the Garden City, the Radiant City and the Broadacre City. What kind of urban Idealtypen are developed in the last centuries, and what influence did they have on urban reality? How where such Idealtypen influenced by changing scientific methods of thought? What is a harmonious urban region? Is this an urban Idealtype to be striven for in the current society with the actual fundamental trends?

The Economic Impact of the High-Speed Train on Urban Regions

The impact of new transport systems depends on the spatial behaviour of urban actors. Connection to the High-Speed Train (HST)-network implies a reduction of the generalised transportation costs and thus an extension of the maximum acceptable transportation distances of actors. Individuals can either travel further or reach their destinations earlier; it means that their relevant region has become larger. With more welfare elements available within their relevant region, their welfare potential will increase. To improve their competitive edge in a service and information economy, cities have to have high grade (international) facilities, and to be attractive and well accessible. To achieve this, the urban actors involved have to strive for several kinds of balance. The advent of the HST can contribute to achieving these balances. It can inter alia play an important role in improving simultaneously the quality of urban life and the accessibility of city centres, and stimulating the development of diversified districts. The HST-connection can have a catalysing effect on a regional economy (it draws new activities and thus causes a region's economy to grow), or a facilitating effect (the new infrastructure will accommodate economic growth that is already in progress in an urban region). The advent of the HST can be beneficial to those cities that already hold a strong competitive position. They normally already have a relatively high economic potential and attractive location factors for new service companies and well-educated residents. Both these advantages will be further enhanced by the improving external accessibility. In weaker urban regions, the advent of the HST can be an opportunity to improve their competitive position and to obtain a higher position in the European urban hierarchy. The improving external accessibility may help to enhance their economic potential and location factors. However, a precondition for economic growth and renewal for these cities will be that this economic potential exceeds a certain critical (sometimes psychological) level. When it does not, the improved external accessibility may also lead to backwash effects (for instance, companies moving out of the urban region concerned, since their local markets will no longer be protected by transport barriers). Therefore, the advent of the HST is likely to particularly stimulate these weaker regions to improve their economic attractiveness.

The necessity of analysing cities in a comprehensive way

City planners can have an enormous impact on human actions. They make important choices which influence how people for decades or even centuries live and travel in urban areas. The realised ideas of urban planners have large influence on social interrelations, the use of transport modes, the quality of life, the economic potential of urban districts, etc.. City developers often develop urban Idealtypen, theoretical models of urban configurations, deliberately overstressing some aspects of reality, while neglecting others. Therefore, creating more or less rational distortions of reality. The Idealtypen are used to provide insight in urban configurations to be striven for. Examples of urban Idealtypen are the Garden City, the Radiant City and the Broadacre City. What kind of urban Idealtypen are developed in the last centuries, and what influence did they have on urban reality? How where such Idealtypen influenced by changing scientific methods of thought? What is a harmonious urban region? Is this an urban Idealtype to be striven for in the current society with the actual fundamental trends

The Economic Impact of the High-Speed Train on Urban Regions

The impact of new transport systems depends on the spatial behaviour of urban actors. Connection to the High-Speed Train (HST)-network implies a reduction of the generalised transportation costs and thus an extension of the maximum acceptable transportation distances of actors. Individuals can either travel further or reach their destinations earlier; it means that their relevant region has become larger. With more welfare elements available within their relevant region, their welfare potential will increase. To improve their competitive edge in a service and information economy, cities have to have high grade (international) facilities, and to be attractive and well accessible. To achieve this, the urban actors involved have to strive for several kinds of balance. The advent of the HST can contribute to achieving these balances. It can inter alia play an important role in improving simultaneously the quality of urban life and the accessibility of city centres, and stimulating the development of diversified districts. The HST-connection can have a catalysing effect on a regional economy (it draws new activities and thus causes a region's economy to grow), or a facilitating effect (the new infrastructure will accommodate economic growth that is already in progress in an urban region). The advent of the HST can be beneficial to those cities that already hold a strong competitive position. They normally already have a relatively high economic potential and attractive location factors for new service companies and well-educated residents. Both these advantages will be further enhanced by the improving external accessibility. In weaker urban regions, the advent of the HST can be an opportunity to improve their competitive position and to obtain a higher position in the European urban hierarchy. The improving external accessibility may help to enhance their economic potential and location factors. However, a precondition for economic growth and renewal for these cities will be that this economic potential exceeds a certain critical (sometimes psychological) level. When it does not, the improved external accessibility may also lead to backwash effects (for instance, companies moving out of the urban region concerned, since their local markets will no longer be protected by transport barriers). Therefore, the advent of the HST is likely to particularly stimulate these weaker regions to improve their economic attractiveness

Social revitalisation of urban regions

This paper aims to analyse how social revitalisation can contribute to an (economically) attractive urban region and how such policies can be made more effective and efficient. To stimulate re-urbanisation and attract new economic activities and residents, much attention is paid to the concept of ''the attractive city''. Cities are observed to switch their focus from hardware (tangible services) to software (image, quality of life) and orgware (organising capacity). To enhance the effectiveness of social policy is in that context often considered a spearhead for cities. In practice, social policy does not always seem to be carried out effectively. Much money may be spent on solving a problem without effective progress being accomplished. Moreover, the results of social policy are often hard to measure, so that a lack of purpose may not be easy to detect. The paper is based on a comparative research of eight European urban regions.

Social revitalisation of urban regions

This paper aims to analyse how social revitalisation can contribute to an (economically) attractive urban region and how such policies can be made more effective and efficient. To stimulate re-urbanisation and attract new economic activities and residents, much attention is paid to the concept of ''the attractive city''. Cities are observed to switch their focus from hardware (tangible services) to software (image, quality of life) and orgware (organising capacity). To enhance the effectiveness of social policy is in that context often considered a spearhead for cities. In practice, social policy does not always seem to be carried out effectively. Much money may be spent on solving a problem without effective progress being accomplished. Moreover, the results of social policy are often hard to measure, so that a lack of purpose may not be easy to detect. The paper is based on a comparative research of eight European urban regions

A randomised comparison of the effect of haemodynamic monitoring with CardioMEMS in addition to standard care on quality of life and hospitalisations in patients with chronic heart failure: Design and rationale of the MONITOR HF multicentre randomised clinical trial

Background: Assessing haemodynamic congestion based on filling pressures instead of clinical congestion can be a way to further improve quality of life (QoL) and clinical outcome by intervening before symptoms or weight gain occur in heart failure (HF) patients. The clinical efficacy of remote monitoring of pulmonary artery (PA) pressures (CardioMEMS; Abbott Inc., Atlanta, GA, USA) has been demonstrated in the USA. Currently, the PA sensor is not reimbursed in the European Union as its benefit when applied in addition to standard HF care is unknown in Western European countries, including the Netherlands. Aims: To demonstrate the efficacy and cost-effectiveness of haemodynamic PA monitoring in addition to contemporary standard HF care in a high-quality Western European health care system. Methods: The current study is a prospective, multi-centre, randomised clinical trial in 340 patients with chronic HF (New York Heart Association functional class III) randomised to HF care including remote monitoring with the CardioMEMS PA sensor or standard HF care alone. Eligible patients have at least one hospitalisation for HF in 12 months before enrolment and will be randomised in a 1:1 ratio. Minimum follow-up will be 1 year. The primary endpoint is the change in QoL as measured by the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ). Secondary endpoints are the number of HF hospital admissions and changes in health status assessed by EQ-5D-5L questionnaire including healt

Functional mechanisms underlying pleiotropic risk alleles at the 19p13.1 breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility locus

A locus at 19p13 is associated with breast cancer (BC) and ovarian cancer (OC) risk. Here we analyse 438 SNPs in this region in 46,451 BC and 15,438 OC cases, 15,252 BRCA1 mutation carriers and 73,444 controls and identify 13 candidate causal SNPs associated with serous OC (P=9.2 × 10-20), ER-negative BC (P=1.1 × 10-13), BRCA1-associated BC (P=7.7 × 10-16) and triple negative BC (P-diff=2 × 10-5). Genotype-gene expression associations are identified for candidate target genes ANKLE1 (P=2 × 10-3) and ABHD8 (P<2 × 10-3). Chromosome conformation capture identifies interactions between four candidate SNPs and ABHD8, and luciferase assays indicate six risk alleles increased transactivation of the ADHD8 promoter. Targeted deletion of a region containing risk SNP rs56069439 in a putative enhancer induces ANKLE1 downregulation; and mRNA stability assays indicate functional effects for an ANKLE1 3′-UTR SNP. Altogether, these data suggest that multiple SNPs at 19p13 regulate ABHD8 and perhaps ANKLE1 expression, and indicate common mechanisms underlying breast and ovarian cancer risk