Capacity to Sustain Sustainability: A Study of U.S. Cities

Why do some governments implement more sustainability practices than others? Based on a national survey of U.S. cities, this article finds moderate levels of sustainability efforts and capacity in U.S. cities; about one‐third of the sustainability practices identified in this article have been implemented. The authors conclude that, first, capacity building is a useful conceptual focus for understanding sustainability implementation in U.S. cities. Capacity building involves developing technical and financial support and increasing managerial execution. Second, sustainability is strongly associated with managerial capacity, which includes establishing sustainability goals, incorporating goals in operations, and developing a supportive infrastructure. Third, getting stakeholders involved furthers the capacity for sustaining sustainability efforts. Citizen involvement is strongly associated with securing financial support for sustainability.     

Charismatic Urban Leaders and Economic Development: Good Mayors and Bad Mayors in Europe

The paper argues that decisions by strong mayors or council leaders can have a significant impact on their cities' economic fortunes. Good decisions include urban marketing exercises, the attraction of hallmark events and good land-use and infrastructural planning: bad decisions include engaging in political conflict with central government and engaging in illegal activity. Data from 16 European cities approximately arranged in matched national pairs to standardise for the degree of power decentralised to city government, and further standardised to take into account economic structure, suggest that good mayoral decisions have a marginally positive effect on economic growth but poor decisions have a significantly negative effect.     

Urban Pressures and Innovations: Sustainability Commitment in the Face of Fragmentation and Inequality

Local government innovations occur within environments characterized by high service‐need complexity and risk. The question of how broader environmental conditions influence governmental willingness or ability to innovate has been a long‐standing concern within organizational, management, and policy scholarship. Although wealth and education are robust predictors of the propensity to engage in a wide range of local sustainability activities, the linkages among governmental fragmentation, social inequality, and sustainability policies are not well understood. This study focuses on the conditions both within and across city boundaries in urban regions which inhibit adoption of sustainable development innovations. We utilize a Bayesian item response theory approach to create a new scale measuring sustainability commitment by local governments in the United States. The analysis finds service‐need complexity and capacity within local governments' organizational task environments have nonlinear influences on innovation in terms of both green building and social inclusion policy tools.     

Public–Private Partnerships in Urban Infrastructures: Reconciling Private Sector Participation and Sustainability

The speed and scale of urbanization provide serious challenges for governments all over the world with regard to the realization, maintenance, and operation of public urban infrastructures. These infrastructures are needed to keep up with living standards and to create conditions for sustainable development. The lack of public funds and the inefficiencies of public service provision have given rise to initiatives to stimulate private parties to invest their resources in public urban infrastructures. However, private sector participation creates a whole range of new challenges. The potential benefits are countered by concerns about the compatibility of the private sector's focus on short-term return on investment with the long-term perspective needed to realize sustainability targets. On the basis of a review of literature on experiences with private sector participation in urban infrastructure projects, this article identifies governance practices that help or hinder the reconciliation of private sector participation in urban infrastructure projects with the objective to increase the sustainability of the urban environment.     

经济转型期的政府职能与土地市场发育

土地市场的发育和繁荣与政府所提供的制度规则与激励是分不开的。但由于经济转型期政府职能的“缺位”与“错位”等问题使土地市场的发育仍然存在许多不足。对经济转型期政府在土地市场发育中的职能缺乏规范的分析,对政府在土地市场发育中的职能认识不清是产生上述问题的原因。经济转型期政府职能定位不同于成熟的市场经济国家,对市场的培育非常重要。因此,政府应该在明晰土地权利、培育竞争主体、维护土地市场竞争秩序等方面发挥作用;同时,实施有效的公共政策供给以调控土地市场,从而维护土地市场的良性发育。     

Urban Regimes, Sports Stadiums, and the Politics of Economic Development Agendas in Chicago

Sports issues have increasingly become prominent items on the urban policy agenda. Most demands for sports-related policies have been woven into the general fabric of economic development in the community. in this article, the authors examine the issues surrounding sports stadium development in Chicago from 1985–90. An urban regime framework, based on the notion of governing coalitions, is used to analyze the incorporation of stadiums into Chicago's policy agenda during these years. The article is instructive of the way in which progressive city administrations have used the regime to mediate corporate demands for the often intangible benefits of sports.     

外国与中国大城市发展：比较与借鉴

我国正处于城市化快速推进时期,大城市发展中有许多急待研究解决的问题,特别是在大城市的空间发展与管理、大城市郊区化、大城市房地产业等方面的问题较为突出。发达国家在这方面曾积累了很多经验,也有不少的教训,对其进行比较研究,可以使我们更好地配置资源,实现我国城市可持续发展。     

长株潭城市群连绵区小城镇发展窥探

连绵区小城镇发展在长株潭城市群建设中具有重要作用。长株潭城市群连绵区小城镇的发展,科学规划是先导,户籍改革是前提,资金筹备是关键,产业发展是根本,集约用地是途径。     

全面建设小康社会与统筹城乡发展

建立起社会主义市场经济条件下城乡经济社会一体化协调发展的机制,这是全面建设小康社会的基本要求。城乡二元结构是全面建设小康社会的重大障碍;统筹城乡经济社会发展是全面建设小康社会的目标;科学统筹城乡经济社会协调发展是实现全面建设小康社会的主要措施。     

加强城市文化建设 促进城市持续发展

城市文化 ,是一个城市生存的基础和城市人生活的精神支柱 ,是城市的一个精神亮点 ,也是人与人之间的联系纽带。在当代中国 ,要牢牢把握先进文化的前进方向 ,就必须大力加强城市文化建设 ,以城市文化的繁荣为城市经济及各项事业的发展提供精神动力、智力支持和思想保障 ,促进城市的可持续发展。一、城市文化的内涵及其对城市可持续发展的重要性城市文化与其他文化不同 ,是具有鲜明城市特点的一般文化。它强调的是标志性的或内在的价值 ,使城市充满朝气或者使其具有独特性 ,这就是城市的文化价值所在。从整体上来看 ,城市文化涉及三个要点 :一…     

产业集聚区与城市发展研究

我国城市的发展越来越呈现出产业化的趋势,而产业集聚区对城市发展的带动作用也越来越明显。为此,首先阐述了现代产业集聚区的内涵,其次说明了城市发展与产业集聚区发展之间的相互关系,指出城市发展对产业集聚区发展的支持与约束以及产业集聚区对城市发展的贡献,并针对两者之间的关系对怎样协调城市发展和产业集聚区发展提出一些意见和建议。     

Cities,Tax Revenues,and a State's Fiscal Future: The Value of Major Urban Centers

Competition among core cities or urban centers and suburban and rural areas besets numerous states. The competition often occurs amid a political environment in which suburban and rural areas enjoy a political majority in the state legislature, a majority that directs state investments to their areas. With Ohio as a case study, the issues that have created the urban–suburban–rural trichotomy are reviewed and an analysis of the tax returns, by area, to state investments is presented. The findings illustrate that urban centers produce more tax dollars per dollar of state investment than other areas, implying that state underinvestment in urban areas harms overall state tax revenues.