Political fragmentation and land use changes in the Interior Plains

Recent years have witnessed growing interest in the critical role of local/regional governance structures in shaping physical land development and associated natural resource management processes. This article investigates how political fragmentation in local governance can affect land use patterns through a watershed-level analysis of population and employment density changes in the Interior Plains, the largest physiographic division of the US. Population density change rates are found to be negatively associated with a higher degree of political fragmentation, while employment density does not show such a clear relationship with political fragmentation. This finding shows that political fragmentation may present significant challenges to land and water resource management, a result consistent with the previous empirical research

Urban-Planning Tactics and Strategies in New Decision-Making Process

The basis on which the main economic and social p institutions are situated, which until a few years ago we believed to be solid, began to waver dangerously, spreading in the public and scholars an atmosphere of uncertainty and concern that could hinder the seeking rigorous and convincing interpretations and therapies to deal with a particularly negative picture. According to Ulrich Beck, the systemic crisis triggered by the failure of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. definitively immersed us in a “global capitalism of uncertainty” such that the climate we are experiencing is characterized by a widespread awareness that unmistakable changes are about to arrive. Their direction, however, is still unknown. In this clearly problematic state, the disciplines that contribute most to the development of urban-planning practices are suffering even more evidently from a crisis of visibility and legitimateness due to which the role of planning tools is subject to rapid objection and substantial resizing. Over the years of feverish growth that pre- ceded the economic collapse in 2008, local administrators increasingly restricted planners’ field of initiative, limiting them to ensuring the feasibility of transformation initiatives that were promoted by private operators. And now that urban dynamics have experienced an almost unprecedented setback, the tasks assigned to planners will be drastically marginalized even more. A survey of the most important writings dedicated to the current socioeconomic crossroads encountered in many Western countries indicates that this planning crisis is situated within a more general decline in the social sciences. Furthermore, this dual setback represents an important reflection on the extraordinary difficulty encountered, especially in Europe, by the welfare system and the system of representative democracy. Therefore, the proposal for a new planning paradigm cannot help but direct, at least in part, a more general reconsideration of the conditions under which, even before the market and society, the governmental functions of the territory are exercised along an analytical path that finds a particularly meaningful intersection in the operation of decision- making processes. Faced with the intensive research programme illustrated in this volume, the reflection presented below offers a restricted contribution. Its utility resides not so much in the presentation of an original, mature theoretical/critical apparatus but in indicating a promising line of reasoning that aims to investigate the existing connection between new decision-making processes, the ways in which it is possible to favour public participation in territorial government, and, finally, the changes in the market economy and social context. The latter inevitably constitutes the background to and reference for innovations introduced as much in participatory processes as in the practice of urban planning. In particular, the first part aims to highlight the presence of the common roots of the economic crisis, society, and the settlement formations that have been produced in this first glimpse of the third millennium. The second part instead examines the conditions presiding over the identification of integrated solutions, i.e. those capable of favouring the search for a common way out of this particularly difficult situation. Finally, the third part derives the main consequences for a change in the planning tools that allow their effectiveness to ultimately unfold

Urban–Rural Differences in Physical Activity in Belgian Adults and the Importance of Psychosocial Factors

Recent research in urban planning and public health has drawn attention to the associations between urban form and physical activity in adults. Because little is known on the urban–rural differences in physical activity, the main aims of the present study were to examine differences in physical activity between urban and rural adults and to investigate the moderating effects of the physical environment on the relationship between psychosocial factors and physical activity. In Flanders, Belgium, five rural and five urban neighborhoods were selected. A sample of 350 adults (20–65 years of age; 35 adults per neighborhood) participated in the study. Participants wore a pedometer for 7 days, and self-reported physical activity and psychosocial data were also collected. Results showed that urban adults took more steps/day and reported more walking and cycling for transport in the neighborhood, more recreational walking in the neighborhood, and more walking for transportation outside the neighborhood than rural adults. Rural adults reported more recreational cycling in the neighborhoods. The physical environment was a significant moderator of the associations between several psychosocial factors (modeling from family, self-efficacy, and perceived barriers) and physical activity. In rural participants, adults with psychosocial scores above average were more physically active, whereas there were no differences in physical activity according to psychosocial factors in urban participants. These results are promising and plead for the development of multidimensional interventions, targeting specific population subgroups. In rural environments, where changing the environment would be a very challenging task, interventions focusing on modifiable psychosocial constructs could possibly be effective