Principles of Good Practice in City Development Strategy - Essay Example

Principles of Good Practice in Development Strategy The world’s fastest developing cities in the late 1990s were majorly found in Europe and Asia. Some of these cities include China, Indonesia, New Delhi, Podgorica, and Ho Chi Minh City amongst others. This was reflected in the urban population increase that was approximated to be an average of 3.2 and 3.3 percent respectively. However, decades ago, Europe and Asia had a cradle of civilization that shaped the modern world and the way of life to many of their citizens. Nevertheless, Europe and Asia had been a battlefield for several wars that led to the destruction of millions of properties and wealth. Due to the multinational economic aspects of globalization, several cities in Europe and Asia have become the so called global cities or world cities. This has been so due to the urban development in Europe and Asia that has progressively moved away from the standard model of the locational economy, for example, the monocentric model. This model has exceptionally been a fertile instrument due to its simplicity, conceptual elegance, and rigor. The monocentric model can be helpful for large cities since it explains the process of residential decentralization vividly. The rapid development in Europe and Asia cities has been a threat to human health and urban productivity. Urban areas are the primary source of economic growth to many nations. It is therefore necessary for city authorities should create high-quality public space for business activities. The quality urban man-made landscapes and architecture development play an important role in the living conditions of urban populations. This is important in attracting knowledge industry business, a qualified and creative workforce and for tourism. For that reason, the interaction of architecture, infrastructure, and urban planning must be increased in order to create attractive, user-oriented public spaces. This will help tremendously in achieving high standard terms of the living environment a “Baukultur”. This term refers to a sum of all economic, cultural, technological, ecological, and social aspect that influence the quality and process of planning and construction. Nevertheless, this approach should not be limited to public spaces alone as a “Baukultur” is required for large cities development as a whole. It is thus fundamental for both government and cities to make their authority felt (Allan Wood & Beare, 2014). This is chiefly important for the preservation of architectural heritage historical buildings that may act as tourist attraction sites. Safeguarding and creating functional and well-designed metropolitan spaces, infrastructure is a duty that should be tackled together by the nation and local authorities as well as by citizens. Modernization of network infrastructure and improvement of energy efficiency is a principle that can be used in the development of cities. Sustainable, affordable and accessible urban transport system have contributed tremendously to the quality of life and environment of a devolved nation. Most large cities should focus on traffic management and interlinking transport modes which have been a problem for many countries. However, urban transport must be reconciled with different requirements of housing, environment, and public spaces, and work areas. Technical infrastructure especially water supply, waste water treatment, and other supply networks that must be improved at early stages. This will help in meeting future requirements due to high-quality urban living (Rootman, 2000). The essential perquisites for sustainable public utility service are energy efficiency and economical use of available ecological resources and economic efficiency in their operation. This is important in the improvement and innovation of housing stock that can have an impact on energy efficiency and residents quality of life. Efficient and sustainable use of resources can bring a significant impact on the settlement structure of a city. This can be achieved by spatial and metropolitan planning that prevents urban sprawl by active control of the land supply of speculative development. The other strategy involves mixing housing, education, employment, and supply of recreational facilities to a large city. It is therefore important for cities to ensure and enhance its resident’s quality of life and their attractiveness as business locations. This can be done by using complex information and communication technologies in the fields of social services, employment, safety and security, and health. It is also necessary for cities such as Bangladesh to adjust to climate change that poses a lot of threat to the resident of the city. A well-constructed and planned capital development can provide a low carbon way of accommodating growth, improving environmental quality and reducing carbon emissions. This can be achieved by innovating prevention, adapting measure and mitigation that aid in the development of new industry (Sassen, 2006). City development can sometimes be a hectic experience and task to town authorities and residents. In order to turn a city into a modern business district, the authorities should draft a master plan that can accommodate global business functions. With the help of Beijing Municipal Institute of City Planning and Design, Beijing deployed this principle of inviting international architectural design companies as a promotional strategy. The master plan helped Beijing city in reducing the operation costs for business service companies. This was done by providing subsidies, tax cuts, and other benefits. This increased the number of foreign investors who helped in the development of the city in various ways. According to SOHO , this boosted the economic growth of the nation by over 82 percent of the GDP (Grande-Bretagne, 2005). Therefore, it is fundamental for every large city to adopt this principle in the development strategy. The local economy and labor market policy of a city determines a lot in the business sector. This help in securing the economic stabilization that may hamper the development process if not properly scrutinized. Labor market and economic policies that are tailored to the requirements of the particular neighborhoods is the appropriate instrument. This is to create and secure jobs and which will facilitate start-up of new businesses. Access opportunities to local labor markets should be improved by offering demand-oriented exercise of the residents. According to European Union and JEREMIE, several cities are called upon to create a better conditions to strengthen the local economy hence promoting labor markets (Luck & Race, 2011). As stated earlier in this paper, Jack supported that environmental development should be managed and assessed accurately by the municipal authorities in urban areas so as to improve and make the surrounding conducive to development. Having well-structured municipal authorities like that Sant Cugat will also help the city in managing of the solid and liquid waste materials, and this make the environment be user-friendly. In most cases, developed cities such as Podgorica are normally environment-friendly and this will promote many business activities. In some cities for example, Ho Chi Minh City, the environment is not user-friendly or comfortable for business activities due to the poor disposal of waste materials. This is one of the factors that hinder several activities such as trade that is the main factor that has led to the development of many cities in Asia and Europe. In Asia, most cities are affected by the cyclones, storm surges, floods, and earthquakes are the major natural hazards in the Chittagong region. However, CCC has tried to develop necessary awareness Programs as well as infrastructure to cope with such events. This has driven away many investors who may be interested in starting a business that may bring a lot of revenue to the city. It is fundamental for such cities to hold motivational programs on various occasions to generate awareness among the public and to develop adequate preparedness regarding earthquake disaster risk mitigation. Enacting appropriate legislation for land-use control is also necessary. Such legislation should consider the objective conditions and the reality that the majority of the urban and rural population is poor. The role of the informal sector should be appreciated and recognized in urban legislation and planning (Greene & Lee, 2011). Several cities sin Asia and Europe have a plethora of options when it comes to improving their overall environmental performance. Policy and good environmental governance play a tremendous role in the overall growth of a city. These help out in ensuring that new buildings and infrastructure are developed with certain minimum efficiency standards in mind. They also encourage citizens to change their behavior, for instance, the establishment of a congestion charge to minimize traffic to promote affordable alternative means of commuting (Schrenk, 2011). City leaders can ensure that the natural environment remains preserved within the city’s boundaries by providing that green spaces within city boundaries are off limits for further development. This encompasses regions where a city administration can lead the way, as well as measures that the residents of a city will have to implement themselves. Having the spatial information is an indispensable aspect of metropolitan and rural development, management and planning. The growing importance of spatial information has been due to recent strides in spatial data capture, management, and access as well as the development of analytical techniques such as high-resolution mapping of urban environments. If a town utilizes such information and technologies available, it will be able to support the operation of the allocated properties rights, housing needs, land use planning, and taxation and land management. This will also support the management of primary problems like flooding control, disaster management, environmental management, health, and transportation. Most importantly, managing performance of a city includes monitoring, evaluation and reporting functions is a significant challenge to many large cities (Wright, 1997). This may include data collection and analysis that can be performed without relevant spatial information. The other principle that may be applied to a large city is to focus on the role of entrepreneurial local governments planning and developing a strategy for mega projects. In order to attract mobile capital, the local governments should adopt risk-taking entrepreneurial approaches such as subsidies, megaproject construction, and tax abatements to create an attractive business environment. A city requires good roads in order to enable its occupants to carry out day-to-day activities efficiently. It should have well designed and maintained streets and public places. Having a well-structured plan will lead to the provision of efficient and affordable urban transportation. These will give the residents an opportunity to have mobility and access to other places. A good number of towns and cities in Europe include New Delhi today have invested in underground tube train tunnels and subway stations as an effort to provide its occupants with a reliable form of transport together with the now renowned electric trains (Lewis, 2006). Other than providing trains as a means of public transportation, these cities have also done massive road expansion together with effective and impressive road architecture to curb dragging traffic jams and save lots of time and energy for its occupants. Educational and recreational facilities can also help in the development of a city. Most cities in Europe for example Batumi has developed due to the availability of the coastal region that has provided reactional activates such as swimming, skiing and boat riding. This has attracted many tourists who come to visit such cities hence earning income. Theatres are also other recreational facilities that can attract many investors and tourist to certain cities. During holidays, cities along the coastal regions normally receive a lot of tourists who have come for summer holidays (Greene & Lee, 2011). It is also fundamental for cities that tend to develop to have resources that can act as an income generating activity. The income can be used to develop other sectors of the city i.e. the health facilities which will attract many people to live in the city. Therefore, it is important for such cities to identify their potential and what the can do best in order to earn income. Attaining a suitable environmentally growth can be a hectic experience to many developing cities. In Asia, the rapid economic growth has been generated by the highest level of air pollution levels. This has increased the greenhouse gas emissions in the world. This has made the air quality in such cities to be poor hence dangerous to human’s health. Noise and air pollution are a major threat not only to the environment but also to humans’ health and animals. According to World Health Organization, more than one million premature deaths are caused by air pollution that has continually impacted health and mortality rates (Great Britain, 2007). Most developed cities i.e. Lhasa, industrial wastes are frequently treated before emission so as to curb some of this health hazards incurred when dangerous gasses are emitted to the atmosphere. The rate of economic development is a very imperative determinant of environmental conditions of a city. From the available descriptions of metropolitan, environmental glitches and impacts on the following presents a general characterization of the diverse complications and severity of impacts most often faced by Asia cities such as Dhaka, Nagoya, and Tokyo which has four different income strata-low-income, lower-middle income, upper-middle income, and high-income. This typology is very essential to large upcoming cities and developing cities like Kathmandu that has been affected by pollution problem. A city is brought about by concentrated municipal sewerage, motorization and industrialization, and poor sanitation. The pollution problems normally bring advanced technological changes and economic developments of a city (Nas, 2002). The other strategy that can be used to curb barriers to environmental development is by mobilizing public support and participation. This is so because many cities like Kathmandu unlikely to grow without constituencies that demand environmental quality and willingness to pay for it. This will help curb the vested interests. It is, therefore, important for the public to also assist in curbing some of these environmental barriers that may drag behind the development of a city. Having the public support is very essential as it will help in finding, implementing and financing solutions to some of these barriers to development. For instance, in Shenyang, due to the low income of the residents, the participation of the community groups and NGOs helps a lot in driving away some of the barriers (Calkins, 2012). According to Calkins, the public is important in formulating and implementing new urban environmental strategies and action plans. It will therefore important for the local authorities to integrate workable environmental strategies and initiate the new environmental programs to address the critical urban environmental problems. This may require better facilities and equipment, incentives for improved institutional functioning, and stronger institutions. It is important for such cities to mobilize financial resources for both capital and recurrent expenses. The city should the set achievable goals (Calkins, 2012). Similarly, cities that are located in the East Asia such as Singapore have been rewarded for outstanding economic growth performance and physical achievement. The climatic changes have brought a lot of changes in urban areas governance. Although metropolitan areas in upcoming cities are most at risk from effects of climate variations, the institutional basis for adaptation to climate changes in these cities. It is imperative for the local to develop an information base historical and current conditions that would allow one to undertake detailed local risks assessment. The design of local city adaptation programs of action can provide a platform for cities such as Bangkok and Manila to receive external support from different organizations such as NGOs. In other cities like Iran, the hot climate is not favorable to many individuals, and this tends to drive away investors (Wright, 1997). Although urbanization offers outstanding opportunities for poverty eradication and the support of sustainable development, sufficient planning is essential to acquire the potential reimbursement of urbanization and reduce its costs and adverse side-effects. The climatic changes have brought a lot of changes in urban areas governance. Although metropolitan areas in upcoming cities are most at risk from effects of climate variations, the institutional basis for adaptation to climate changes in these cities. It is imperative for the local to develop an information base historical and current conditions that would allow one to undertake detailed local risks assessment. The design of local city adaptation programs of action can provide a platform for cities such as Bangkok and Manila to receive external support from different organizations such as NGOs. In other cities like Iran, the hot climate is not favorable to many individuals, and this tends to drive away investors. Although urbanization offers outstanding opportunities for poverty eradication and the support of sustainable development, sufficient planning is essential to acquire the potential reimbursement of urbanization and reduce its costs and adverse side-effects (Greene & Lee, 2011). In a nutshell, Asia and Europe cities present unique cultural and architectural qualities, strong forces of social inclusion, and exceptional potentials for economic development. However, some of this cities suffer from demographics problems, social exclusion, and social insecurity on specific population groups amongst others. The above principles have helped a lot of large cities in Asia and Europe to develop rapidly which has attracted many foreign investors to these cities. Cities that tend to develop successfully should employ some of these principles. Modernizing the networks and improving energy efficiency is one of the principles that has been used by some of the most developed cities in Europe and Asia. This is so because tit contributes tremendously to the quality of life and environment for the local citizens. Sufficient water supply and waste management are crucial to urban areas due to the large population. Mixing of housing, education, and employment can also help a country to develop with easy. This can be done by using complex information and communication technologies in the fields of social services, employment, safety and security, and health. High-class recreational facilities are also fundamental to city development strategy. This attracts foreign tourist who in turn will give the city revenue. This can be directed to other development projects within the city. Bibliography ALLANWOOD, G., & BEARE, P. (2014). User experience design: creating designs users really love. ROOTMAN, I. (2000). Evaluation in health promotion: principles and perspectives. WHO Regional Publications. JACK, W. (1999). Principles of health economics for developing countries. 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