Are master plans effective in limiting development in China's disaster-prone areas?

Abstract

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.

The Seventeenth-century Transition of Seoul′s Spatial Structure to Functional Pragmatism

“…To examine the spatial relationship between locations of administrative buildings and major streets, spatial data from historic maps, master plans, and geographically rectified aerial photos were collected using a standard method for processing geospatial data (Kim and Rowe, 2013). In particular, three historic maps of Seoul produced in 1751, 1861, and 1902 provided key data.…”

Selection of Policies on Typhoon and Rainstorm Disasters in China: A Content Analysis Perspective

“…By using the geological space database of the Yangtze River Delta in China, Kim and Rowe [7] pointed out that, although urbanization can reduce property losses due to earthquakes, flood, landslides, ground subsidence, and sea-level rise, it will tremendously restrict the urban development of those regions that face environmental dangers. Du et al [8] evaluated the disaster-relief capacity of the Guizhou, Dalishi community in terms of three criteria: Individual Disaster Coping Capacity (IDCC), Actual Community Disaster Coping Capacity (ACDCC), and Potential Community Disaster Coping Capacity (PCDCC).…”

Flood induced vulnerability in strategic plan making process of Riyadh city

“…Thus, composite vulnerability score incorporating physical and social vulnerabilities has been effective in actual assessment of potential risks posed by floods and resulting damages. Use of composite score values as input-decisive variables in the master plan making process has been quite an established practice in North America, European Union and far eastern countries including China, South Korea, Japan, and Australia (Kim & Rowe, 2013;Viegas, Saldanha, Bond, Ribeiro, & Selig, 2013). Specifically, investment decision on city's infrastructure to make it resilient against the natural disasters including flood is largely influenced by the estimated vulnerability score of the city neighborhoods (Melgarejo & Lakes, 2014;Saraswati, 2014).…”