Meet the Editors

About this issue

Issue number
Volume 49 – Number 1

Summary

Paul J. Maginn is Associate Professor and Co-ordinator of the Masters of Public Policy programme at the University of Western Australia and a Fellow of the UWA Public Policy Institute. He is co-editor of several books including: Suburbia in the 21st Century: From Dreamscape to Nightmare? (2022) and Disruptive Urbanism: Implications of the Sharing Economy for Cities, Regions and Urban Policy (2020). You can find him on Twitter: @planographer.

 

 

 

Nicholas A. Phelps is Professor and Chair of Urban Planning and Associate Dean International in the Faculty of Architecture Building and Planning at the University of Melbourne. He previously taught in planning and geography schools at University College London, Southampton, Leeds, and Cardiff. His research interests cover the planning and politics of (post)suburbanization.

 
suburbs, Sub(urbanisms), Blandscapes, Blendscapes, Brutalscapes, Brownfields

Suburbs: The 3Bs: Bland, Blend and Brutal Scapes

About this issue

Issue number

Summary

The contributors to this issue provide a rich and diverse interpretation of the concept of suburban bland, blend and brutalscapes within different national and metropolitan contexts. Together they reveal several common threads: the identity of suburbs as lying somewhere between ‘the urban’ and ‘the rural’; the role of incrementalism in suburban development; the differential value placed on suburban land and property; and the social, cultural, and political-ecological importance of suburbs.

Paul J. Maginn
04 Apr 2023

Contents

Cover images: front: The Caspian Quarter, Barking Reach, East London (photo: CC sludgegulper): back: Stelingen, a suburban district of Garbsen near Hannover (photo: CC Daniel Schwen)

public spaces, Global North and South, Inclusion/Exclusion, Social interaction, Informal urbanism, Sports and recreation

Meet the Editors

About this issue

Issue number
Volume 48 – Number 2

Summary

Karina Landman is an Associate Professor in the Department of Town & Regional Planning at the University of Pretoria in South Africa. Her work focuses on spatial transformation, including research on gated communities and safer and sustainable neighbourhoods, regenerative and resilient cities and public space.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Christine Mady is Associate Professor at the Notre Dame University-Louaize. Lebanon. She is a member of the UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) International Development Peer Review College. Her research focuses on the role of public spaces in unstable contexts.
Main and high streets, Storefronts, Repurposing vacant retail buildings, Cultural placemaking, Urban revitalization

Meet the Editors

About this issue

Issue number
Volume 48 – Number 1

Summary

Conrad Kickert is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Architecture at the University at Buffalo. Conrad has a background in urbanism and architecture from The Netherlands and holds a PhD in architecture from the University of Michigan. He has worked as an urban researcher and designer in Europe and North America. His research focuses on the evolving relationship between urban form, urban life, and the urban economy.

 

 

 

 

Emily Talen is Professor of Urbanism at the University of Chicago, where she teaches urban design and directs the Urbanism Lab. She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Certified Planners, and the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship. Talen has written extensively on the topics of urban design, New Urbanism, and social equity. Her books include New Urbanism and American Planning; Design for Diversity; Urban Design Reclaimed; City Rules and Neighborhood. She is co-editor of the Journal of Urbanism.

 
Micromobility, Cycling, E-bikes, Electric Scooters, Skate boards, Sustaintable transport, public spaces, Commuting, First and last mile

Meet the editors

About this issue

Issue number
Volume 47 – Number 4

Summary

The contributors to this issue investigate how new forms of micromobility – e-bikes, e-scooters and skateboards – impact the city, its land-use and transport systems, the occupation of space, users and non-users, and the environment. They look at the potential benefits of micromobility and some of the pitfalls, and how local and national governments must find the means to mitigate problematic side-effects while facilitating the realization of the benefits.

Nils Fearnley is Chief Researcher for the research group Market and Governance at the Institute of Transport Economics, Norway. His research focuses on passenger transport and, increasingly, on new, smart, and shared forms of mobility. He is currently project manager for the Norwegian Research Council projects MikroReg (https://www.toi.no/project-mikroreg), and Regsmart (https://www.toi.no/project-regsmart).

Editorial: Micromobility and Urban Space

About this issue

Issue number
Volume 47 – Number 4

Summary

Micromobility is gaining momentum in cities around the world. The benefits of increased, flexible, affordable, fun, space-efficient, and emission-free mobility and access are immediately apparent. Numbers of privately-owned as well as shared electric scooters (e-scooters) have grown from almost zero in 2017 to completely dominate urban scenes across the developed world a few years later. In parallel, concerns with, inter alia, accident risk, littering and cluttering, undesirable use of public space, and conflicts with other modes of transport and other uses of public space have grown at the same pace (Fearnley, 2020; Stratford, 2002). Indeed, debates on the use of public space, for what and by whom are accentuated with the advent and surge of micromobility.

Micromobility takes many forms (ITF, 2020a). This special issue on micromobility and urban space accepts a broad definition, which includes shared and privately-owned, docked and dockless, as well as motorized (electric) and non-motorized mobility devices intended for single-person transport. With the current state of play, this includes (but is not limited to) kick-bikes, kick-scooters, e-scooters, bicycles, e-bikes, skateboards, hoverboards, segways, electric wheelchairs/rollators, and electric unicycles.

Shared as well as privately-owned micromobility offers promise to help solve a range of policy goals – including flexible, affordable, inclusive, and accessible mobility; local and greenhouse gas emission reductions; congestion relief including on-board crowding relief for public transport; complementation of public transport services to increase their catchment area; health benefits; cost efficiency; and space efficiency (Ydersbond et al., 2020; Voi, 2021; Reardon, 2020; Ziedan et al., 2021; Luo et al., 2021; Fyhri et al., 2017; Yan et al., 2021; ITF, 2020b). As this special issue substantiates, and in line with some of the references cited, the achievement of such potential advantages cannot be taken for granted. Market forces will not, by themselves, necessarily work in positive directions. Various forms of regulation of shared micromobility are essential (Fearnley, 2020).

Micromobility vehicles have traditionally been in private ownership. Recent innovations, including GPS technology, smartphone apps, 4G and 5G telecommunication, mobile payment solutions, and improvements in battery technology, have brought the sharing economy into the micromobility domain. No authoritative sources have attempted to quantify the relative sizes of shared versus privately-owned micromobility. However, a clear pattern can be found in most countries: apart from e-scooters, private ownership of micromobility devices still dominates. A probable exception are cities with low bicycle use that have become victims of the shared dockless bike tsunami since the mid-2010s, of which the Chinese experience is vividly illustrated by Taylor (2018). 

When it comes to the impact of micromobility on the use of urban space and on transportation systems, the distinction between privately-owned vehicles and shared ones is not limited to differences in their contribution to parking and cluttering: Karlsen and Fyhri (2021) document other ways in which they differ. Privately-owned e-scooters replace car trips to a larger extent than shared ones – although both predominantly replace walking. They are also used for longer trips than their shared counterpart. Shared e-scooters, on the other hand, are used in first/last mile combinations with public transport to a larger degree than privately-owned e-scooters (see also Fearnley et al., 2020a). Also, shared micromobility still tends to attract the typical early adopter: young, educated, male, and high income.

The market for shared micromobility is characterized by a few factors which contribute to some of the main challenges associated with shared free-floating micromobility. On the demand side, there are economies of scale, similar to network effects in public transport (Mohring, 1972), and economies of density as demonstrated by Arnott (1996) for the taxi market. The more vehicles a shared micromobility operator supplies in an area, the more attractive (available and accessible) are their products to consumers. For this reason, unregulated markets easily become a scene where operators, often armed with considerable venture capital, battle for market shares and future earnings potential, resulting in their vehicles flooding cities. We have seen this unfold in cities including Paris, Oslo, and Stockholm in the case of shared e-scooters, and in several Chinese cities for shared dockless bikes. On the supply side, the cost profile of shared micromobility is unusual in the realm of transportation. Relatively speaking, investment costs are moderate to low, and entry and exit costs appear low. Fluctuo (https://fluctuo.com/), a European shared micromobility monitoring service, offers weekly updates of launches and exits across Europe. Their reports are indicative of an industry with extremely mobile fleets which can be located and relocated globally to wherever they generate the most revenue. Inevitably, this exacerbates the unregulated market’s tendency to flood cities – sometimes overnight.

The sheer number of vehicles in poorly regulated markets has posed a major challenge for cities and their land-use authorities. Although increased micromobility – notably cycling – is usually an urban transport policy goal (see, for example, Hagen and Rynning, 2021; Pucher et al., 2021), it turns out that many cities are not prepared for the large influx of bikes and e-scooters that we have witnessed in recent years. The provision of parking facilities and bike lanes – also appropriate for e-scooters – has, in most cases, proved inadequate. As a result, we see a tendency for increased conflicts between pedestrians, cyclists, e-scooter users, and other users of increasingly scarce urban space. E-scooter users may, for example, take to the sidewalks for reasons of traffic safety and accessibility. In this way, shared micromobility has contributed to putting the need for more, and better protected, cycling infrastructure on the political agenda.

Shared micromobility schemes can be docked (station-based), or dockless (free-floating), or a combination of these. Whether a system is docked or dockless has profoundly different impacts on cities, the use of public space, and the need for local government intervention. Regular docked citybike schemes are easily managed by local authorities. Trips must start and end at designated racks whose location is defined by local authorities. The schemes’ opening hours and other codes of behaviour, including pricing policy, are largely determined by a local government. Dockless schemes, on the other hand, are quite the opposite. Trips can start wherever a vehicle can be found and end wherever users desire, as long as it is within the operator’s geographical operating area. Thus, dockless systems meet the needs and preferences of their users to a much greater extent than those that are station-based as US statistics confirm. While the growth in station-based bike schemes tends to flatten out, free-floating systems of shared micromobility appear to increase exponentially (NACTO, 2020). Also, in Norway, more than one in three e-scooter users state that they use the traditional, docked citybike scheme less due to the availability of shared dockless e-scooters (Fearnley et al., 2020b). However, there is wide evidence that unregulated dockless micromobility schemes can create some very particular problems regarding use of public space (Fearnley, 2020). Notable examples include cluttering caused by large numbers of parked e-scooters in central places, on pavements and in front of building entrances, and thrown into fountains, rivers, parks, or ditches. While such visual intrusion is in itself problematic, it threatens the safety and accessibility of others – especially those with mobility and sight impairments. On the positive side, dockless schemes tend to serve challenged and low-income communities better than their docked counterparts and thereby improve equity (Meng and Brown, 2021; Yan et al., 2021).

Motorized, or electric motor-assisted micromobility modes tend to attract slightly different demographies from non-motorized micromobility modes. E-bikes have, for example, proved relatively more popular with the elderly and women than traditional bikes (Fyhri et al., 2017; Fyhri and Fearnley, 2015, and they are also chosen for their higher speeds (Flügel et al., 2019). 

In several countries, the legal status of micromobility – including helmet requirement, minimum age, access to pavement riding or, as in the UK, an outright ban – depends on whether the micromobility vehicle is motorized. The organization of shared micromobility schemes is also affected by whether vehicles are motorized. While non-motorized vehicles are typically used for downhill trips and must be rebalanced regularly, shared fleets of motorized and motor-assisted micromobility vehicles require much less balancing.

This Issue

This special issue of Built Environment investigates how new forms of micromobility impact the city, its land-use and transport system, the occupation of space, users and non-users, and the environment. The perspective is international. The contributions cover a full continuum from the early accounts of conflicts and controversies caused by the introduction of new forms of personal mobility devices, to more mature micromobility markets where micromobility, given the right set of policy tools and corporate governance practices, offer solutions to many of the dilemmas associated with urban mobility, social inclusion, public space, and climate change – to name a few. 

We start in Ghana, where traditional bicycles are common, but recent micromobility inventions like the (shared) e-scooter do not yet dominate Ghanaian cities or streets. Regina Amoako-Sakyi et al.’s 2021 study predicts that e-scooters and other micromobility modes will have a rough time expanding into Ghana’s urban streetscape and transport systems. Their study documents low acceptability of – and even aggression towards – micromobility from local drivers, in a country where traffic accidents are already alarmingly high (Global Road Safety Facility, 2021). Add to that the fact that e-scooters’ accident risk is already very high compared with cycling (Fearnley, 2020), the recipe for disaster can only be avoided by means of broad awareness-building, careful regulation, and enforcement.

Lorne Platt (2021) offers a fascinating account of how skateboarders find new uses for, and interactions with, existing urban furniture, spaces, and built environment, often to the annoyance of their fellow residents. Just as cycling and micromobility are considered illegitimate in Ghana by many drivers (Amoako-Sakyi et al., 2021), so skateboarding continues to create conflict over the use of urban space several decades after it first appeared. Platt suggests many ways in which the consideration of skateboarders’ needs and preferences can create more interesting urban spaces for all.

The next contribution takes us to the UK and two case studies of the introduction of docked and dockless bicycle hire, respectively. While presented by shared bicycle companies as solutions to achieve transport policy goals at no cost to the public purse, they created a whole new set of challenges to urban local authorities (Dudley et al., 2021). The rise and fall of these services, initially showing great promise but subsequently unable to deliver either financially or transport-wise, with littering and vandalism as end results in the dockless case, echo the experiences of so many cities worldwide where dockless bikeshare schemes in particular fall between legislative stools and render local authority governance void. When contested, voluntary agreements between bikeshare companies and local authorities are, unfortunately, barely worth the paper they’re written on.

Although they acknowledge concerns and limitations regarding shared and privately-owned micromobility, the next three contributions are forward looking: they point to ways in which micromobility can be part of the solution to urban transport and contribute to urban strategies and goals (Shaheen et al., 2021; Uteng and Uteng, 2021; Sundqvist-Andberg et al., 2021). Susan Shaheen et al.’s paper reviews the history micromobility in the US before taking a forward look at dilemmas and, more prominently, opportunities for the future of shared micromobility, which depend heavily on soundly based regulatory and policy actions. Tanu Uteng and Andre Uteng’s paper combines land-use analysis with the potential accessibility gains of e-bikes. With two Norwegian case studies, they show how e-bikes can increase accessibility to jobs, especially in areas that surround city centres. This effect can be amplified with supporting transport and land-use measures, for example cycle lanes, speed limits, and densification and transformation of such areas. Henna Sundqvist-Andberg et al.’s paper analyses, in combination, the sustainability performance of the urban transport system and the sustainability of Finnish e-scooter service providers’ business models. The emphasis is on the latter, that is the degree to which sustainability is an integral part e-scooter companies’ business model. Although Finnish cities’ legal toolbox is limited, the authors find that e-scooter companies have incorporated several elements of sustainability into their business models, although their perspective rarely encompasses the entire urban transport system. As several contributors to this issue highlight, the importance of (co-)regulation in order to stimulate benefits and innovation, while at the same time attending to other societal goals, is emphasized. Where a city’s legal powers to regulate the market for shared micromobility are weak (or lacking), much can be achieved with active, two-way dialogues between city authorities and shared micromobility providers.

Micromobility offers many potential benefits but also some pitfalls. Outcomes depend crucially on how local and national governments find the means to regulate so as to mitigate problematic side-effects and to facilitate the realization of the benefits. Land use and transport are deeply intertwined policy areas. For urban micromobility, this is even more so. 

The future of micromobility is uncertain. Bicycles, skateboards, and e-scooters are undoubtedly here to stay. But new technologies, vehicles, and business models will inevitably emerge and disrupt urban mobility into the future. It is therefore essential that governments at all levels are proactive, flexible, and facilitative in order to achieve wider goals for transport, society and climate. The role of micromobility in a multimodal transport future must be maintained and promoted.

REFERENCES

  • Amoako-Sakyi, R.O., Agyemang, K.K., Mensah, C.A., Odame, P.K., Seidu, A.-A., Adjakloe, Y.A. and Owusu, S.A. (2021) Drivers’ cycling experiences and acceptability of micromobility use among children in Ghana. Built Environment, 47(4), pp. 433–460.
  • Arnott, R. (1996) Taxi travel should be subsidized. Journal of Urban Economics, 40(3), pp. 316–333. https://doi.org/10.1006/juec.1996.0035
  • Dudley, G., Banister, D. and Schwanen, T. (2021) Urban local authorities and the delivery of Micromobility strategies: obstacles in the implementation of bicycle hire in the UK. Built Environment, 47(4), pp. 480–497.
  • Fearnley, N. (2020) Micromobility – regulatory challenges and opportunities, in Sørensen, C.H. and Paulsson, A. (eds.) Shaping Smart Mobility Futures. Governance and Policy Instruments in Times of Sustainability Transitions. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-650-420201010.
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  • Fearnley, N., Berge, S.H. and Johnsson, E. (2020b) Shared E-Scooters in Oslo. TØI report 1748/2020. Oslo: TOI. Available at: https://www.toi.no/getfile.php/1352251-1580474379/Publikasjoner/T%C3%98I....
  • Flügel, S., Hulleberg, N., Fyhri, A., Weber, C. and Ævarsson, G. (2019) Empirical speed models for cycling in the Oslo road network. Transportation, 46(10). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11116-017-9841-8.
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  • Global Road Safety Facility (2021) Road Safety Country Profile: Ghana. GRSF/World Bank. Available at: https://www.roadsafetyfacility.org/country/ghana/.
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  • Mohring, H. (1972) Optimization and scale economies in urban bus transportation. American Economic Review, 62, pp. 591–604.
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  • Platt, L., 2021. Bodies, boards, and wheels in urban public space: skateboarding the ledges, rails, and steps of the city. Built Environment, 47(4), pp. 461–479.
  • Pucher, J., Parkin, J. and Lanversin, E. de (2021) Cycling in New York, London, and Paris, in Buehler, R. and Pucher, J. (eds.) Cycling for Sustainable Cities. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
  • Reardon, L. (2020) Smart mobility as a catalyst for policy change towards low carbon mobility? in Sørensen, C.H. and Paulsson, A. (eds.) 2020. Shaping Smart Mobility futures. Governance and Policy Instruments in Times of Sustainability Transitions. Bingley: Emerald Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1108/978-1-83982-650-420201008.
  • Shaheen, S., Cohen, A., Broader, J. (2021) What’s the ‘big’ deal with shared micromobility? Evolution, curb policy, and potential developments in North America. Built Environment, 47(4), pp. 499–514.
  • Stratford, E. (2002) On the edge: a tale of skaters and urban governance. Social & Cultural Geography, 3(2), pp. 193–206. https://doi.org/10.1080/14649360220133943.
  • Sundqvist-Andberg, H., Tuominen, A., Auvinen, H. and Tapio, P. (2021) Sustainability and contribution of electric scooter sharing business models to urban mobility. Built Environment, 47(4), pp. 541–558.
  • Taylor, A. (2018) The bike-share oversupply in China: huge piles of abandoned and broken bicycles. The Atlantic, 22 March. Available at https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2018/03/bike-share-oversupply-in-china-huge-piles-of-abandoned-and-broken-bicycles/556268/.
  • Uteng, T.P. and Uteng, A. (2021) Accessibility mapping through linking land use development potentials and planning for cycling. Built Environment, 47(4), pp. 515–540.
  • Voi 2021 Voi to host first Micromobility Disability Summit. Available at: https://www.voiscooters.com/blog/voi-to-host-first-micromobility-disability-summit
  • Yan, X., Yang, W., Zhang, X., Xu, Y., Bejleri, I. and Zhao, X. (2021) A spatiotemporal analysis of e-scooters’ relationships with transit and station-based bikeshare. Transportation Research Part D., 101(11). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.103088
  • Ydersbond, I.M., Auvinen, H., Tuominen, A., Fearnley, N. and Aarhaug, J. (2020) Nordic experiences with smart mobility. Transportation Research Procedia, 49, pp. 130–144. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trpro.2020.09.012.
  • Ziedan, A., Shah, N.R., Wen, Y., Brakewood, C., Cherry, C.R. and Cole, J. (2021) Complement or compete? The effects of shared electric scooters on bus ridership. Transportation Research Part D, 101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.trd.2021.103098.
 
Micromobility, Cycling, E-bikes, Electric Scooters, Skate boards, Sustaintable transport, public spaces, Commuting, First and last mile

Micromobility and Urban Space

About this issue

Issue number

Summary

The contributors to this issue investigate how new forms of micromobility – e-bikes, e-scooters and skateboards – impact the city, its land-use and transport systems, the occupation of space, users and non-users, and the environment. They look at the potential benefits of micromobility and some of the pitfalls, and how local and national governments must find the means to mitigate problematic side-effects while facilitating the realization of the benefits.

Nils Fearnley
10 Jan 2022

Contents

 
Festivals and festivalization, History of city festivals, Festivals and culture, Festivals and economy, Festival and place, Biennales, Carnival

Festival Cities: Culture, Planning and Urban Life

Festivals have always been part of city life, but their relationship with their host cities has continually changed.

John R. Gold and Margaret M. Gold
01 Dec 2020
Festivals have always been part of city life, but their relationship with their host cities has continually changed. With the rise of industrialization, they were largely considered peripheral to the course of urban affairs. Now they have become central to new ways of thinking about the challenges of economic and social change, as well as repositioning cities within competitive global networks. In this timely and thought-provoking book, John and Margaret Gold provide a reflective and evidence-based historical survey of the processes and actors involved, charting the ways that regular festivals have now become embedded in urban life and city planning.
 
Beginning with David Garrick’s rain-drenched Shakespearean Jubilee and ending with Sydney’s flamboyant Mardi Gras celebrations, it encompasses the emergence and consolidation of city festivals. After a contextual historical survey that stretches from Antiquity to the late nineteenth century, there are detailed case studies of pioneering European arts festivals in their urban context: Venice’s Biennale, the Salzburg Festival, the Cannes Film Festival and Edinburgh’s International Festival. Ensuing chapters deal with the worldwide proliferation of arts festivals after 1950 and with the ever-increasing diversification of carnival celebrations, particularly through the actions of groups seeking to assert their identity. The conclusion draws together the book’s key themes and sketches the future prospects for festival cities.
 
Lavishly illustrated, and copiously researched, this book is essential reading not just for urban geographers, social historians and planners, but also for anyone interested in contemporary festival and events tourism, urban events strategy, urban regeneration, or simply building a fuller understanding of the relationship between culture, planning and the city.
 
John R. Gold is Professor of Urban Historical Geography at Oxford Brookes University and Special Appointed Professor at Meiji University, Tokyo, Japan. 
 
Margaret M. Gold is Senior Lecturer in Creative Industries at London Metropolitan University and also teaches at Goldsmiths, University of London.
 

Preface and Acknowledgements

1 Introduction
 
2 Ancient and Modern
 
3 Biennale
 
4 Salzburg
 
5 Cannes
 
6 Edinburgh
 
7 Proliferation
 
8 Asserting Identity
 
9 Conclusion
 
Bibliography
 
Index

 

The city, Citizenship, Urban condition, Urban infrastructure, Urban conflict, Middle East

Being Urban

In Being Urban, Simon Goldhill and his team of outstanding urbanists explore the meaning of the urban condition, with particular reference to the Middle East.

Simon Goldhill
29 Sep 2020
In Being Urban, Simon Goldhill and his team of outstanding urbanists explore the meaning of the urban condition, with particular reference to the Middle East. As Goldhill explains in his introduction, ‘What is a good city?’, five questions motivate the book:
 
How can a city be systematically planned and yet maintain a possibility of flexibility, change, and the wellbeing of citizens?
 
How does the city represent itself to itself, and image its past, its present and its future?
 
What is it to dwell in, and experience, a city?
 
How does violence erupt in and to a city, and what strategies of reconciliation and reconstruction can be employed?
 
And finally, what is the relationship between the infrastructure of the city and the political process?
 
Following the introduction, the twelve chapters are grouped into four sections: Engagement and Space; Infrastructure and Affect; Conflict and Structures; and Curating the City. Throughout, the contributors reflect on aspects of urban infrastructure and culture, citizenship, belonging and exclusion, politics and conflict, with examples from across the Middle East, from Cairo to Tehran, Tel Aviv to Istanbul.
 
Not only will Being Urban further understanding of the topography of citizenship in the Middle East and beyond, it will also contribute to answering one of today’s key questions: What Is A Good City?
 
Simon Goldhill is Professor of Greek at the University of Cambridge, Fellow of King’s College, and Foreign Secretary and Vice-President of the British Academy.
 

Contents

 
  • Introduction: What Is a Good City?
    Simon Goldhill

Part I Engagement and Space

  • Chapter 1 The Public Realm
    Richard Sennett
  • Chapter 2 On Urban Failure
    Ash Amin
  • Chapter 3 On the Possibility of Urban Citizenship: Inclusive Identities, Exclusive Spaces
    Nezar AlSayyad and Sujin Eom ​

Part II Infrastructure and Affect

  • Chapter 4 Urban Atmospheres
    Matthew Gandy
  • Chapter 5 Atmospheric Urban Geopolitics 
    Sara Fregonese
  • Chapter 6 Becoming a Crowd: Multiple Narratives, Identities and Ambiguities: People’s Places in the Near East/Levant: Tahrir Square, Cairo, Taksim Square, Istanbul, Rabin Square, Tel Aviv
    Mike Turner and Yonca Erkan​

Part III Conflict and Structure

  • Chapter 7 The Conditions of Urbicide
    Wendy Pullan
  • Chapter 8 Sovereignty and the Urban Question: Exploring the Material Foundations for Imagined Communities of Allegiance in Conflict Cities
    Diane E. Davis
  • Chapter 9 Precariousness and Protest: Negotiating Urban Refuge in Cairo and Tel Aviv
    Irit Katz

Part IV Curating the City

  • Chapter 10 The Levantine Age: Cosmopolitanism and Colonialism in the Eastern Mediterranean
    Nasser Rabbat
  • Chapter 11 Excavating Urban Imaginaries in Tehran
    Somaiyeh Falahat
  • Chapter 12 A Spectral Sumud: Jaffa in Kamal Aljafari’s Port of Memory
    Mezna Qato and Sadia Shirazi

 

Inter-city HSR commuting phenomena, Interchange experiences in an HSR station, Spatial evolution with and between urban agglomerations, Impacts of HSR: hubs, linkages and surrounding development, Good station-area planning, Urban development around HSR stations, Intra-regional rail network improvement for rebalancing effects of HSR investment

Meet the editors

About this issue

Issue number
Volume 46 – Number 3

Summary

In 1993, Built Environment (Volume 19, No. 3/4) introduced ‘The Age of the Train’; twenty years later, there was a follow-up issue: ‘High-Speed Rail: Shrinking Spaces, Shaping Places’ (Volume 39, No. 3). Now, in 2020 this issue With case studies from China, Spain, France, the Netherlands and the UK, contributors to this issue examine the social, spatial and economic impacts of HSR at different scales and different stages of development in different parts of the world.

Chia-Lin Chen is Lecturer in Urban and Regional Planning in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Liverpool. Her research interests lie in exploring the relationship between transport and territorial dynamism across different spatial scales.

 

 

 

 

 

Robin Hickman is Professor of Transport and City Planning at the Bartlett School of Planning, University College London. He was a Visiting Research Associate at the Transport Studies Unit (TSU), University of Oxford (2011–2016) and Associate Director, leading on transport research at Halcrow (2004–2011).

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