Jennifer Day

Effects of Involuntary Residential Relocation on Household Satisfaction in Shanghai, China

Classical theories of urban relocation in market economies frame a household residential move as a way for a household to reset itself to a desired level of satisfaction—that is, to make itself as happy as possible given a set of constraints. In Chinese cities, where not all who relocate are willing movers, the picture is more complicated. Currently, Shanghais development policies encourage population migration to the urban edge. This includes not only housing for those that made a choice to move, but also housing designated as resettlement housing for those involuntarily resettled. Urban policy in China continues to resettle unwilling denizens at the edges of the city, without an understanding of how these policies affect the well-being of that population. Very little research focuses on the actual outcomes for displaced households. This research attempts to fill this knowledge gap. Using a household survey, data were collected on relative mover satisfaction with a variety of aspects of the old and new locations. Models were developed to test the hypothesis that socio-economic and choice factors play a role in the satisfaction that a household derives from moving. The results suggest that a suburban move produces less happiness for involuntary movers.

Urbanization for Everyone: Benefits of Urbanization in Indonesia’s Rural Regions

The motivation for this paper is to understand the value of urban agglomeration to rural economies in Indonesia. It has recently been argued that Indonesia has not leveraged urbanization for economic growth as effectively as peer countries such as China, India, Vietnam, and Thailand. This analysis is deepened by looking at within-country differences in the relationship between the growth of cities and the concomitant growth in rural economies located in proximity to these cities. Three sets of models are developed that examine growth over three relatively homogenous 4-year time periods. These are 1996–1999, the years roughly corresponding to the Asian financial crisis; 2001–2004, the years during which Indonesia recovered from the financial crisis, and also the first years of decentralized governance in the country; and 2004–2007, during which the country had regained precrisis gross domestic product (GDP) levels. Recognizing the strong possibility of feedback relationships between key variables, the final models treat economic growth as being jointly determined with population growth, human capital accumulation, and infrastructure legacy. The findings suggest that some of the most effective policy responses for increasing rural incomes could be seen in the increase of accessibility for rural areas to major metropolitan centers.

Beyond univariate measurement of spatial autocorrelation: disaggregated spillover effects for Indonesia

Most studies that incorporate spatial effects use a very limited number of spatial variables in the growth model, e.g. growth spillovers or infrastructure impacts of neighbouring regions. This article innovates on previous work in spatial econometrics by differentiating among spatial contributions to economic development; e.g. infrastructure, capital, human capital, land and labour. We explore whether including more spatial effects can improve the viability of a growth model, and also test the hypothesis that the differential spatial effects of various important predictor variables are discernible for Indonesia. We develop two econometric estimations based on the Durbin representation of the Spatial Error Model. We take advantage of a panel data set spanning Indonesias post-decentralization years, 2003–2008. The first model uses a modified fixed effects formulation, and the second uses a maximum likelihood estimator. The two sets of models are reported together to serve as a check to the robustness of the results. Multiple estimation methods were attempted, including (to control for potential endogeneity) two-stage least squares (2SLS) and generalized method of moments (GMM). The findings suggest that various types of spillover effects affect a place by different processes, and accounting for this variety of processes in growth models improves the efficacy of those models. Our findings suggest that, for Indonesian districts, the influence of neighbours extends beyond GRDP per capita levels and growth, and also includes demographics, human capital and infrastructure components. We also demonstrate empirically that accounting for spatial effects in analysis of GRDP per capita can improve growth-model estimations.

A Free, Open-Source Tool for Identifying Urban Agglomerations using Point Data

Abstract This paper describes a software tool for identifying urban agglomerations in low-information settings. The framework outlined in this paper is designed to work using point data. Our tool and all required data are provided free and in open-source format. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of using point-based geographies in regional analysis, discusses the practical and ethical challenges of distinguishing urban from rural regions, details the function of our software, and directs the interested reader to the source code. The paper also examines the tools outputs for Sri Lanka and compares them with published United Nations urbanization figures. Our outputs indicate that Sri Lankas urban population is significantly undercounted in official statistics.

Urban Peripheries as Growth and Conflict Spaces: The Development of New Towns in China

This chapter demonstrates that China’s urban peripheries are experiencing simultaneous forces of urban and rural expansion that are driving urbanization. We argue that the urban forms emerging in the peripheries are neither monolithic, nor directed into existence only from within formal policy. Rather, they are formed through multiple interrelated processes that are representative of these simultaneous forces of urbanization and encompass both formal and informal development approaches. We substantiate our arguments through the lens of two particular types of peri-urban development: (1) urban new towns developed from a “top-down,” city-centric urban expansion process; and (2) rural new towns developed from a “bottom-up,” rural-centric urbanization process. We define the term “top-town” and “bottom-up” based on China’s urban hierarchy and cultural context, wherein cities (the “top”) are often endorsed with higher values over the rural (the “bottom”) counterparts. The downward trend features the process that cities are expanding towards the urban outskirt next to which rural areas are located. The upward trend reflects the process that some rural areas located in the urban periphery are creating functional urban fabric and converging into urban lifestyles. This characterization used throughout this chapter is different from the government-led versus community-led distinction that is used elsewhere. We further pose that both forms of urbanization should be acknowledged in China’s formal planning system, rather than policy makers continuing to view the “top-down” process as the only legitimate modes for peri-urban development.

Using an Online Data Portal and Prototype Analysis Tools in an Investigation of Spatial Livability Planning

This paper introduces an online spatial data portal with advanced data access, analytical and visualisation capabilities which can be used for evidence based city planning and supporting data driven research. Through a case study approach, focused in the city of Melbourne, the authors show how the Australian Urban Infrastructure Network AURIN portal can be used to investigate a multi-facetted approach to understanding the various spatial dimension of livability. While the tools explore separate facets of livability employment, housing, health service and walkability, their outputs flow through to the other tools showing the benefits of integrated systems.

Community investment in wind farms: funding structure effects in wind energy infrastructure development.

Wind energy development is an increasingly popular form of renewable energy infrastructure in rural areas. Communities generally perceive socioeconomic benefits accrue and that community funding structures are preferable to corporate structures, yet lack supporting quantitative data to inform energy policy. This study uses the Everpower wind development, to be located in Midwestern Ohio, as a hypothetical modeling environment to identify and examine socioeconomic impact trends arising from corporate, community and diversified funding structures. Analysis of five National Renewable Energy Laboratory Jobs and Economic Development Impact models incorporating local economic data and review of relevant literature were conducted. The findings suggest that community and diversified funding structures exhibit 40-100% higher socioeconomic impact levels than corporate structures. Prioritization of funding sources and retention of federal tax incentives were identified as key elements. The incorporation of local shares was found to mitigate the negative effects of foreign private equity, local debt financing increased economic output and opportunities for private equity investment were identified. The results provide the groundwork for energy policies focused to maximize socioeconomic impacts while creating opportunities for inclusive economic participation and improved social acceptance levels fundamental to the deployment of renewable energy technology.

An Advanced Web API for Isochrones Calculation Using OpenStreetMap Data

This chapter demonstrates a software that finally makes urban reachability analysis free, open-source, and usable for non-technical urban analysts. We aim to provide researchers with a highly-parametric API (Application Programming Interface) for creating isochrones worldwide, meeting various scenario requirements with high accuracy. We start with OpenStreetMap road data that the software cleans by applying a sub-graph algorithm, removing isolated road links. This results in a fully-connected network for isochrones calculation, improving the web API stability. Then, a non-recursive breadth-first-search algorithm runs in parallel to generate isochrone links. The isochrones are then constructed using either link buffers or concave hulls to meet various accuracy requirements. The final outputs, including isochrones polygons, lines, and nodes with traverse distance attributes, can be exported in popular formats. The API supports thousands of isochrone calculations simultaneously, and is fully accessible online. The source code will also be provided for free for anyone to take and modify.

A free, open-source tool for identifying urban agglomerations using polygon data

This paper describes the function of a software tool for identifying urban agglomerations in low-information settings using free, open data. The framework outlined here is designed to work using polygon data. This paper describes the advantages and disadvantages of using polygon-based geographies in regional analysis, discusses the practical and ethical challenges of distinguishing urban from rural regions, and discusses the relevance of this tool in the analysis of global city regions. It also describes the logical structure of our polygon-based software tool and directs interested readers to the source code. We finally examine the agglomeration results for Sri Lanka and compare them with published urbanization figures. We conclude that there are very large disparities between our model’s outputs and the urbanization estimates from the United Nations and that our tools can be used as a less discretionary way to identify actual levels of urbanization. We hope that other analysts will continue to refine the progression toward a less discretionary model of identifying urban regions.

Operationalizing the Capabilities Approach for Modeling Household Welfare Shifts in Urban Systems: A Special Focus on the Transportation Outcomes of Urban Resettlement

This paper operationalizes the Sen-Nussbaum Capabilities Approach (CA) towards measuring household well-being shifts that occur in response to resettlement of urban households. In this chapter, household welfare (we often use the term ‘household well-being’ interchangeably) refers to the quality of people’s lives; urban resettlement is defined as the relocation of residence and/or jobs. With a particular focus on the accessibility and mobility outcomes of urban resettlement, this chapter provides a critical survey of the current quantitative modeling approaches to modelling the impacts of urban resettlement on household well-being. We identify major methodological limitations in the current quantitative approaches, including: (1) structural dependence on instrumental rationality as the guiding framework for representing people’s behavior and welfare after resettlement; and (2) neglect of agency and choice in evaluating the welfare outcomes of resettlement. We then argue that these methodological limitations can be ameliorated based on applying the CA. Our proposed CA-based quantitative models improve upon existing models by incorporating representation of: (1) the presence of a wider range of rationalities in people’s location and travel choices after resettlement, e.g., possible “suboptimal” choices that people may make due to constrains in their decision-making processes; (2) the plurality in agency, i.e., interpersonal diversity in viewing and pursuing well-being after resettlement; and (3) the critical role of real choice, i.e., having real opportunities to choose where to live and how to travel. Such modeling practices could better represent people’s reasons for making location and travel decisions after resettlement, thus generating a more reflective representation of resettlement-welfare outcomes.