In February 2016, China's State Council released guidelines representing a change in the country's approach toward neighborhood design: to move away from superblock neighborhoods and create a finer network of urban blocks and streets. The paper traces the circumstances that prompted this change. Drawing on a comparative review of international literature and practice, it explores the opportunities and challenges for urban design. While modifications of the superblock are somewhat overdue, it should not be entirely abandoned. The suggestions and overall blueprint warrant a more circumspect approach and should be adopted with discretion.
As globalization proceeds, transnational property development is increasing. Especially in emerging markets, foreign developers' influence in changing the local landscape is becoming significant. In this research, the behavioral patterns of foreign developers in the apartment market of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam were identified. To understand the dynamics of foreign developers, the types of products that were being created, where the investments were located, and the differences in development strategies adopted by foreign developers in comparison to domestic counterparts were identified. To accomplish this, data on apartment projects and statistics were collected, and a series of spatial analyses including sieve mapping, histogram analysis, factor analysis and logistic regression was conducted. In addition, closer examination was made of specific cases to understand the dynamics among foreign and domestic developers, also allowing the identification of some regularities in the patterns of foreign developments. Besides presenting detailed results, this paper also seeks to account for the conditions that appear to have generated these patterns and characteristics.
HighlightsThe effectiveness of adopting urban master plans to limit development in disaster-prone areas was empirically tested for China's Yangtze River Delta region over the past thirty years.Environmental risk modeling was conducted to estimate the cumulative scope of urban built-up land located in highly hazardous areas.Master plans, especially when the pattern of urban development shows high compliance with master plans' preservation zoning, have a significant effect on limiting development in high-risk areas.The effect of master plans was not significant in a region vulnerable to high risks from multiple environmental hazards.Locational adjustment through municipal planning may avoid large-scale property losses from unexpected environmental hazards during the rapid development phase of a city.
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