Muhammad Dzaky Ramzy

(1306161)

- Part One
Compact Cities in the Context of Developing Countries
A. The Compact City Debate:
A Global Perspective
As the problems associated with global environmental change and globalisation
deepen, so too does the need for urban policy and professional practice to
respond
to them. This can best be achieved through the assertion of an environmental
basis
for architectural, planning and design practice and the recognition of a global
rationale that has to be considered everywhere and at all spatial levels. In policy
terms, it involves accepting that the key issue is the relationship between social
and political organisations at various scales rather than the assertion of the
primacy of social organisation at one scale. The current global interest in the
ability of compact city approaches to realise sustainable urban development
reflects these preoccupations and the problems that create them.

B. Compact Cities in Developing Countries:

Assessment and Implications

This chapter has four aims. The first is to collect data on densities and other
correlates for a large sample of cities in developing countries.1 The second is to

evaluate the costs and benefits of compact cities in developing countries,

especially with respect to transportation and environmental externalities. The third
aim is to discuss the concept of sustainable urbanisation with respect to
compactness in developing country contexts. Finally, the chapter explores the
implications, if any, of developing country urban compactness for cities in
developed countries, especially the United States.
C. Compact City Policies forMegacities:
Core Areas and MetropolitanRegions
This chapter arose out of (and provides the context for) a research
programme into urban design and management approaches for sustainable
development in the core areas of megacities in developing countries.1 The
chapter first addresses the urbanisation process and policy responses at the
broader metropolitan regional scale. Parallels are drawn with megacities in
developed countries and the idea of travel time, as a structuring constraint, is
introduced. The final section deals with inner city and core area spatial
development issues.

D. The Regional Dimension of theCompact City Debate:

Latin America
In developing countries, the attempt to create more sustainable and
compact citieswill have to deal with the contradictions that exist between the
nature of spatial transformations and the sort of regulations and resources
available. The development of large-scale real estate investment has proceeded
faster than the ability of public works to provide the infrastructure to service it.

E. The Agricultural Consequencesof Compact UrbanDevelopment:

The Case of Asian Cities
Asias urban population has tripled in size and increased by over one-half
a billion people over the last three decades. Three decades from now Asias
population will have tripled once more, increasing by over one billion people.
Most of the new population will reside in the cities and on their fringes (Angel et
al., 1993). In developed countries a variety of urban policy measures have been
put forward to accommodate natural increase and net in-migration to
metropolitan areas (Geyer and Kontuly, 1996).
F. The Need for CompactDevelopment in the Fast-Growing Areas of China:
The Pearl River Delta
The protection of valuable agricultural land is important in China, where
cities have been growing rapidly since the economic reform of 1978. The Pearl
River Delta has pioneered the urbanisation process with tremendous changes in
recent years that have caused a significant loss of valuable agricultural land.
Excessive agricultural land has been consumed in the early 1990s as a result of
the property boom in southern China, leading to excessive land conversion and
urban sprawl (Yeh and Li, 1999). Rapid land development and agricultural land
losses are taking place in Dongguan. Of the total area of Dongguan, 23.7% had
undergone changes between 1988 and 1993, much higher, for example, than the
3.2% landuse change in Hong Kong over a similar period between 1987 and
1995 (Yeh and Li, 1997; Yeh and Chan, 1996).

G. The Sustainable City as Metaphor:

Urban Environmentalism in Medelln, Colombia
This chapter has focused on the symbolic content of the urban
sustainability agenda and illustrated the means and possibilities of the

mobilisation of meaning through a case study of Medelln. It is important to clarify

that this symbolic content is not divorced from the technical rationality of
environmental systems management, but simply acts at a different level.
Technological rationality consists of an analytic explanation of external reality,
whilst the symbolic aspect condenses and internalises its meaning. In the
process, the objects of the technical agenda undergo a kind of metamorphosis
they become, as it were, ethereal, representations of something other than
themselves, objects of collective desire.

H. A High-Density Instant City:

Pudong in Shanghai
Chinas economy has been predicted to grow at around 5% to 7% a year
for the next 20 years, moderating to 3 to 5% in the following 30 years (Shao,
1999). With such aggressive growth, China may become home to many large,
instant and intensified cities, of which Pudong in Shanghai is an example. The
challenge facing urban decision-makers is whether such cities will become poorly
planned and haphazardly juxtaposed city forms, or efficiently restructured urban
developments with a sustainable future.
I. Urban Climate and Compact Cities in Developing Countries
In both hot, dry and warm, humid climates, the desirable bioclimatic
solutions to promote comfort through natural conditioning do not necessarily
reflect

the

global

architectural

tendencies

in

mainstream

architectural

publications. Indeed, many commentators in these journals object to architectural

images that tend to reflect traditional forms of urban development or recall motifs
from the past.
Environmental and cultural differences in the developing world require
differentiated solutions to the promotion of compact cities, while globalising
trends favour universal solutions. The planning of compact cities and the design

of urban developments within these cities must respond to these differences. The
concept of modernity is related to global images, but truly modern compact cities
of the developing world must be conceived as a form of urban development that
promotes and contributes to the development process. Urban growth is not only
a result of development but is also a motor of development.
- Part Two
Intensification, Urban Sprawl and the Peripheries
A. Can Urban Management Deliver the Sustainable City? Guided Densification
in Brazil versus Informal Compactness in Egypt
The experience with guided densification in Brazilian cities like Curitiba and
So Paulo reveals the potential for modifying existing urban areas, creating even
more

compact

urban

environments

that

optimise

public

investment

in

infrastructure and transport. Even in cities that are apparently as saturated as So

Paulo, there is still room for the maximisation of development opportunities within
the urban fabric. The Brazilian cities examined in this chapter show that proper
management and accurate knowledge of the built environment are essential
conditions for pursuing densification policies. These may help to reduce urban
sprawl and the loss of rural land, and recapture urban vitality, diversity and intraurban economic development.

B. City Expansion Policy versus Compact City Demand:

The Case of Dhaka
One fundamental problem of the planning and development of Dhaka lies
in its institutional framework, which is fragmented, and this affects the
performance of other sectors as well. The implementation of the 1995 Dhaka
Metropolitan Development Plan has been handicapped because of its new type of
planning approach; it requires new institutional arrangements that have not yet
been implemented. Institutional reorganisation is a contentious issue, which is

bound up in relationships between central and local government, and in

arguments about the division of power. The fragmentation and weak controls have
meant that violation of the city master plan is found even in the formal sector, for
example there is malpractice in distributing plots and green land to influential
individuals for development (Khan, 1998).

C. The Inverted Compact City of Delhi

This chapter has argued that urban Delhi is an inverted compact city. A
policy of decentralised concentration was pursued by the DDA only halfheartedly
and led to no major gains. But many policy initiatives can be taken to contain
urban sprawl and to bring compaction to the city of Delhi.
First, it should be accepted that the compact city planning approach is not
merely about attaining high population densities and high-intensity development.
It is also about attaining a higher quality of life for its present and future residents.
Alexander Maller calls it structured accidentalness: a congested, livable urban
environment (Maller, 1999, p.131). Second, the focus of the compact city
planning approach will have to be firmly on the urban poor as they form the single
largest group, and their needs have been largely neglected. Third, the policy of
containment at the planning division level should be vigorously pursued and all
the commercial district centres should be completed within the next five years.
D. Views from the Urban Fringe:
Habitat, Quality of Life and Gender in Santiago, Chile
From the analysis above, it can be gathered that the different types of
urban and housing policies and strategies implemented in Chile throughout
different governments have stimulated urban sprawl. This sprawl has generated
various impacts on the citys residents, affecting more negatively those living in
the lower income peripheral areas. Santiagos urban sprawl has a global impact at

the level of the city and its surroundings, and a local level impact on the district
and neighbourhood.

E. Minimising the Negative Effects of Urban Sprawl:

Towards a Strategy for Brazil
Despite being an academic exercise, the application makes possible a
comparison between the actual tax values and those estimated with the proposed
alternative. For example, the owner of a parcel with 300m2 and a onelevel house,
which is a quite common in medium-sized Brazilian cities, would pay around
US$100 per year. This same parcel would have added to this basic tax value an
additional amount of US$133 per year if all basic infrastructure networks served it.
However, if the land parcel was vacant, and if the taxation strategy proposed here
was applied, there would be an additional tax value of US$302 per year added.

F. Rethinking the Compact City:

Informal Urban Development in Caracas
The dominance of the European vision of compact cities as ideal places to
live and experience the vitality and variety of urban life has been questioned by
Jenks et al. in relation to its relevance and sustainability in emerging nations
associated with extremes of growth and size (1996, pp.45). They introduce the
terms urban intensification and consolidation, which relate to the range of
processes which make an area more compact, describing a number of strategies
by which an area can become more heavily built up or used. Thereby they
distinguish between intensification of built form and activities. Built form
intensification comprises: redevelopment of existing buildings or previously
developed sites, at higher densities; sub-division or conversion of buildings;
building of extensions to existing structures; and development on previously
undeveloped urban land. Activity intensification is defined as: increased use of

existing buildings or sites; changes of use which lead to an increase in activity;

and increases in the numbers of people living in, working in, or travelling through
an area (Williams et al., 1996, p.84).

- Part Three
Responses to Compaction at Low and High Densities
A. The Relevance of the Compact City Approach:
The Management of Urban Growth in South African Cities
The current sprawling, fragmented and separated form of South African
towns and cities is entirely unsustainable. Greater compaction is essential. There
is an increasing national awareness of the need for this and of how it might be
achieved technically, but there are a number of entrenched policies and practices
which need to be changed if rapid improvement is to happen. The critical variable
is political will. What is required, and what has not yet emerged, is a powerful
political champion for compaction. Perhaps the greatest single institutional
stumbling block is that the distribution of national cabinet portfolios is fractured
along sectoral lines: urban issues, for example, are spread over a wide range of
government departments such as Housing, Environment, Transport, Economic
Affairs. The creation of an integrated urban ministry to consider urban
development holistically is arguably the single most effective measure to make
rapid progress.
B. Cultural and Institutional Obstacles to Compact Cities in South Africa
This chapter has not attempted to refute the idea of the compact city, but
has tried to show that there are serious obstacles to achieving it in South Africa.
These obstacles are the current survival strategies of the poor that necessitate
lower building densities; the freedom and power afforded private landowners and
developers within the capitalist market system; the lack of development control

measures to ensure that development takes place at higher densities, at central

localities and with mixed uses; the lack of exemplars of compact living and the
advantages thereof within the existing city; and the anti-urban mindset of both
rich and poor. It is not sufficient merely to draft policy documents on the need for
a compact city, and then to set out the principles to achieve it.

C. From Fragmentation to Compaction?

The Case of Durban, South Africa
The idea of compaction has been useful at a macro-level in framing a
spatial strategy for Durban and in raising debates over the distribution of costs
and benefits of government interventions spatially across the city. While there
has been an acceptance of the concept, and of linked spatial policies,4 there are
still significant disjunctures between policy and implementation. Localised
decisions are still taken on grounds that are contrary to the idea of compaction,
as are some key national policies, such as housing subsidies. Moreover, local
authorities do not have the leeway to engender compaction by reshaping
financial instruments in creative ways. Market forces, land markets, nimbyism5
and lifestyle preferences seem to contradict an integrative and urbanist version of
compaction.

D. High-Rise and High-Density Compact Urban Form:

The Development of Hong Kong
Hong Kongs urban form has mainly been driven by the explosive
population growth and land scarcity, and the strategy for urban compaction is the
response to the physical constraints on its urban growth. As a result, Hong Kong
is the most compact city and the highest density city in the world. People are well
adapted to high-rise and high-density living and the approach seems very

successful. This experience can be used to argue that urban compaction is an

acceptable way of development and living.
E. The Compact City of Hong Kong:
A Sustainable Model for Asia?

Sustainability and urban form are closely connected in a way that fits the
local context. Hong Kongs inherent compact city form supports the current belief
in the need to reduce the physical separation of activities. Its high-density
mixeduse urban form favours public transport, particularly for less-polluting rail
systems. The transit-oriented developments contribute to public transport
patronage, which benefits commuters.

- Part Four
Transport, Infrastructure and Environment
A. Transport Dilemmas in Dense Urban Areas:
Examples from Eastern Asia
Public policy on transport needs a keen awareness of the implications of
highdensity urban land-use patterns. The high densities of many Asian cities provide
transport planning with both challenges and opportunities. There are challenges
because such cities are vulnerable to traffic saturation and can never provide high
levels of road capacity per person. There are opportunities because land-use
patterns in Asian cities are potentially highly suited to the non-automobile modes of
transport that can provide high accessibility at low cost and in an ecologically
sustainable way. Policy settings aimed at exploiting this opportunity are likely to reap
rapid and significant benefits, as demonstrated to some extent by the experiences of
Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Seoul. Densities in Seoul and Hong Kong are so
high that even with strong restraint of private traffic, they still face problems of very

high traffic intensity. Bangkok, by contrast, illustrates that a traffic disaster can arise
very quickly as motorisation increases in a dense city with no traffic restraint.

B. Bangkok Mass Transit Development Zones

Cultural characteristics, and the extent to which the market economy is
allowed free rein, determine the degree to which the public, and particularly
landowners and investors, will accept public direction to influence the pattern and
form of development. Planning regulations, which are considered acceptable in
Europe, would be considered a flagrant interference of individual rights over private
land in many developing countries. This is particularly the case in Thailand, which
has both a laissez-faire capitalist economy and a democratic government with
numerous political parties representing factional interests.
C. Bulk Engineering Services:
Costs and Densities
The chapter starts by examining the key literature regarding bulk
infrastructure costs and urban form. This is followed by a brief description of the
bulk infrastructure potential cost model used to generate the potential cost maps
and density considerations inherent in the model. The cost maps resulting from
the application of the model in the metropolitan area of Greater Pretoria are then
analysed in terms of location and density conditions. Some conclusions are
drawn concerning the implications for the compact city argument and
sustainability.

D. Compact City Environmental Strategies:

Calcuttas Urban Ecosystem
Calcutta, with its high overall densities and compact urban form, has made
progress in developing environmental strategies, but it cannot yet be held up as a

model for compact cities in the developing world. Much remains unresolved.
There is a need to review any analysis of ecological functions in terms of social
and cultural values, but whose values do we use to establish whether ecological
indicators represent a healthy city or simply a pragmatic resource management
system? Is the East Calcutta created ecosystem acceptable as a model
because it creates employment? In assessing the ecological viability of cities, it
would be a mistake not to give social and human health indicators a high
weighting, lest mere economic measures become the reductionist rationale for
accepting inappropriate conditions. At the same time, people like Ghosh, who
know only too well the scope of Calcuttas ecological challenges, see no room for
half measures.

E. Spatial Analysis of Urban Sustainability:

Tainan City, Taiwan
This research in Tainan is at an early stage of development. But it has
shown the benefit of using sustainability indicators, linked to GIS, to identify
particular issues concerning sustainable development. By doing so, it has
provided a potential tool for policy makers to identify where action is needed and
then to monitor progress. This will help Tainan to achieve urban forms that will be
more sustainable both now and in the future.

F. Energy Use and Household Income:

A Developing Country Perspective
This study provides an understanding of energy utilisation in a stratified
urban society. The energy used in Bangalore is quite substantial, and includes
the consumption of significant quantities of non-commercial fuels such as
firewood. No policy instrument has been wielded to regulate the flow of these
fuels to Bangalore; it is largely left to market forces. Thus, consumers get their

supply from retail depots, which in turn obtain firewood from commission agents
creating a predicament for the poor, who are exploited by the private
contractortrucker- retailer nexus. But the major social cost of this private
enterprise is environmental degradation in the form of deforestation.