Branko Cavrić

Waves of planning: a framework for studying the evolution of planning systems and empirical insights from Serbia and Montenegro

With increasing internationalization of urban planning throughout the twentieth century and in the past several decades in particular, planning ideas and practices have been exported from a few, and imported in many countries. However, this ‘trade’ happens without clear expectations about the ensuing dynamics between the internal context and external influences. This paper attempts to enhance understanding of how planning systems evolve and which factors affect them. The conceptual frameworks and typologies used to characterize planning systems and their determinants are reviewed. Building on previous work, an integrated framework is proposed that captures the process, factors and outcomes of urban planning systems. The history of planning in Serbia and Montenegro is used to illustrate how a planning system evolves under changing circumstances and influences and to demonstrate the complexity of such process. The case study is not intended to provide a detailed historical account of the country’s planning trajectory, but to highlight the applicability of elements of the framework in a real setting. In particular, the focus is on conditions of imposition versus voluntary adoption of planning ideas as a way of examining the interaction between the local context and imported models, as well as the implications of such interaction. The article concludes with several pointers about the necessary research on the nature of planning exports and imports and their effects on the resultant urban systems, processes, environments and quality of life.

Participatory measurements of sustainable urban development and quality of life in post-socialist Zadar, Croatia

Over the last two decades, there has been an intensive discourse and research about measuring sustainable urban development. Many cities, regions and countries have decided to introduce indicators for monitoring and measuring the progress towards sustainability. Today there is a wide spread perception that information on the environment in general, and urban environment in particular, is the determinant of effective rational decisions and allocation of resources. Such information would enable planners and decision makers to formulate redistributive policies and programmes to address some of the disparities that exist in a post-socialist city. Cities of the post-socialist world characterized by sharp disparities, socio-economic contrasts and environmental degradation provide an excellent laboratory for tracing information on the quality of urban life. The current situation in the emerging Croatian coastal city of Zadar reflects the diversity of the post-socialist urban change in a very fragile Mediterranean landscape. This paper takes a critical look at sustainable development and its measurements. It describes the participatory approach through which different local communities in Zadar were evaluating quality of life based on basic pillars of sustainable development. The identification and collection of their opinions provide valuable data base and community input into urban governance and development planning decision making.

Integrating Tourism into Sustainable Urban Development: Indicators from a Croatian Coastal Community

This case study gives an example how the cities of post-socialist Croatia could use urban indicators for monitoring and measuring the progress toward sustainability. Such information would enable planners and decision makers to formulate redistributive policies and programs addressing some of the disparities that exist in a post-socialist city. It focuses on the current situation in the emerging Croatian coastal city of Zadar, which reflects the diversity of the post-socialist urban change in a very fragile Mediterranean landscape. It describes the participatory approach through which different local communities were evaluating the quality of life based on five basic pillars of sustainability. Through direct participant involvement and in-depth interviews, the research team has managed to develop a structured and multilayered GIS database suitable for decision makers at the city and local levels. The conceptual implications of the findings contribute to rebuilding of “bottom-up” participatory approach in the process of creation and management of urban spaces.

An evaluation of the self-help housing scheme in Botswana, case of Gaborone city

Botswana like other developing countries faces a problem of acute shortage of housing, particularly for low-income urban families. The current housing problems are the outcomes of the economic, demographic and social changes which the country has experienced since independence in 1966. In particular the urbanization process which surfaced in the early 1980’s. The government has sought to cope with the problem of low-income urban housing by establishing a Self-Help Housing (SHHA) program in the main urban centers. The evaluation findings reveal that, on the whole, the impact of the SHHA approach on the improvement of low-income urban housing has been unsuccessful. The major problems of the scheme are lack of serviced land and inadequate finances for plot development. This has been exacerbated by the high urban development standards which are out of the reach of low-income urban families. The evaluation study also reveals that, there are some indications of non low-income urban households living in SHHA areas. The available evidence reveals that the number of those people in SHHA areas is not as big as has been speculated by most people in the country. However this paper calls for more investigation in this issue and a need for more tight measures to control this illicit practice. The major conclusions are that housing policies in Botswana are not supportive of the general housing conditions in low-income urban areas. Therefore there is a need for urban planners and policy makers of Botswana to take more positive action towards the improvement of low-income urban areas. This would require pragmatic policies geared towards the improvement of those areas. .

Challenges for Sustainable Urban Development

This chapter focuses on the key challenges facing cities in developing countries. Observations from the case study cities of Gaborone, Santiago and Johannesburg have indicated an overwhelming range and scale of challenges with extremely limited opportunities. Deterioration of socioeconomic, environmental and institutional capacity has been noted as a recurrent trend in all three cities. Equally, prioritization of socioeconomic and local environmental challenges has meant that global environmental concerns have not been accepted as urgent local issues. Consequently, the expectation that, through sustainable development, developing countries will catapult themselves into cleaner technologies (smaller ecological footprint with increasing standards of living) cannot be justified on the basis of the prevailing trends in the case study cities at this point. It is therefore clear that efforts to address sustainable urban development in a comprehensive manner will require many more resources and several times the capacity currently in place within such cities.

The Case Study Cities

This chapter examines the “sense of place” of Santiago de Chile, Johannesburg and Gaborone, reflecting on their environmental, physical, socioeconomic, policy and development perspectives. In each individual case study city, short textual episodes and topical themes are used to focus on the distinctive urban settings and sustainability experiences of previous and newly born generations of Latin American and African urban dwellers. For this chapter, the background information is resourced from individual DIMSUD project city reports covering a wide range of urban narrations and descriptions aiming at supporting more sustainable urban practices. After two years of investigation by DIMSUD partners, this chapter draws on synthetic rendering to try to come closer to understanding the individual qualities and dynamics of these three rapidly expanding cities.

Opportunities and Strategies for Sustainable Urban Development

Even though the global sustainable development paradigm has started to be translated into local visions for action in various developing countries and their respective cities, the process is extremely slow and fragmented. In particular, the absence of a comprehensive sustainability-based framework for national, regional and local planning indicates a lack of commitment to or incapacity for practical implementation beyond the political stage of signing global framework initiatives such as Agenda 21 and Habitat Agenda. All three case study cities exhibit several pieces of policies, legislation and strategies and plans at national and local levels from which a comprehensive approach to sustainable urban development can evolve. Therefore, political will and institutional capacity at national and local levels are likely to remain the key determinant factors towards realizing integrated strategies in the case study cities as well as most other cities in developing countries.