Journal of Planning Education and Research current issue

Report from the Editors

Wu, W., Brooks, M. — 2009-09-24

Modeling Housing Appreciation Dynamics in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods

Galster, G., Tatian, P. — 2009-09-24

There is long-standing interest in predicting if and when less advantaged urban neighborhoods will experience upsurges in their housing prices, yet little research has investigated year-to-year neighborhood price dynamics. The authors advance knowledge in this realm by employing anually updated, readily available indicators created from the Home Mortgage Disclosure Act and assessor’s data from Washington, D.C., census tracts for 1995 to 2005 to estimate a hazard model of the year when consistent, substantial, and sustained housing price appreciation starts in disadvantaged neighborhoods, based on predictors measured one and two years in advance. The results suggest that proximity to stronger neighborhoods, a robust metropolitan housing market, and inflows of higher-status home buyers are key predictors of appreciation onset in disadvantaged neighborhoods, but replications and refinements are needed before firm generalizations about this process can be made.

Group Learning in Participatory Planning Processes: An Exploratory Quasiexperimental Analysis of Local Mitigation Planning in Florida

Deyle, R., Schively Slotterback, C. — 2009-09-24

Scholars have identified group learning as both an outcome of effective participatory planning processes and as the means to achieving agreement on planning outputs and to building constituencies for plan implementation. This article examines the challenges of designing empirical studies of group learning in participatory planning processes that have strong internal and external validity and reports the results of a quasiexperimental analysis of how different degrees of participation increase mutual understanding of planning problems and solutions.

Deliberative Planning in a Multicultural Milieu

Umemoto, K., Igarashi, H. — 2009-09-24

This article explores the utility of deliberative planning theory given the scholarly debate over its limitations and prospects. A case study situated in the Japanese city of Kawasaki illustrates how deliberative planning theory can illuminate the limitations of deliberative planning theory and practice while revealing potential paths to create more democratic and inclusive planning processes. The case underscores the importance of (1) public acknowledgement of the constraints to deliberative planning, (2) deliberating over the design of a deliberative process, (3) mitigating identified constraints to deliberative planning, and (4) being open to alternative or parallel strategies given structural and other constraints in deliberative processes.

Relationships between Residential Development and the Environment: Examining Resident Perspectives

Asligul Gocmen, Z. — 2009-09-24

This research explores how residents perceive the relationships between residential development patterns and the natural environment. Based on a fall 2004 survey of 283 residents from urban, suburban, exurban, and conservation neighborhoods in Michigan’s Washtenaw and Livingston Counties, this research indicates that residents may not have a clear understanding of the environmental impacts of residential development. The results suggest a need for environmental education especially with regard to the land development and water quality relationship and the impacts of large-lot, automobile-dependent developments. The study also suggests that further research is needed on the relationship between land development and the environment.

The Use of LEED in Planning and Development Regulation: An Exploratory Analysis

Retzlaff, R. C. — 2009-09-24

Some jurisdictions in the United States have enacted green building policies and incentives that use a building assessment system to rate their sustainability. One such system is Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). Using data from a survey of LEED policy administrators and a comparison of LEED policies, this research seeks to understand the status and structure of such policies, their impacts on the built environment, how they work in practice, and the role of planners. The article outlines three types of policies that use the LEED system— government requirements, requirements for private development, and incentives— and finds that LEED policies have been very narrowly applied. Planners have an important role in administering green building polices because they address issues beyond building design and construction and require a holistic and integrative perspective.

Commuting Trends in U.S. Cities in the 1990s

Lee, B., Gordon, P., Richardson, H. W., Moore, J. E. — 2009-09-24

This article attempts to explain the increase in commuting times in the 1990s after decades of stability. Although traditional explanations, for example both demographic variables (population growth and densities) and transportation variables (e.g. road capacity and transit use), pass the statistical significance tests, their overall impact was small. Instead, the article argues for the importance of strong income growth in the late 1990s, not least because it was associated with an increase in non-work vehicle miles traveled; these affect commuting times because many non-work trips take place in peak hours.

Contracts and Retaliation: Securing Housing Exchanges in the Interstice of the Formal/ Informal Beirut (Lebanon) Housing Market

Fawaz, M. — 2009-09-24

The current housing policy paradigm supports the integration of informal settlements’ housing markets with the larger housing markets. Given, however, that housing production and exchange happen in a continuum of formal and informal processes, this article seeks to look at the effects of this integration on the conditions of housing acquisition for low-income urban dwellers. Based on a case study in Hayy el-Sellom (Beirut), the article traces the changing practices that ensued from the integration of this informal settlement’s housing market in the affordable housing market of the city’s suburbs by looking at how exchanges were secured and redress sought in cases of default. Research findings indicate that the introduction of practices borrowed from the larger housing market did not improve market securities. This suggests that rather than focusing on the formal—informal divide, planners should devise context-specific methods to address locally identified market weaknesses.

Commentary: Virtual Planning: Second Life and the Online Studio

Hollander, J. B., Thomas, D. — 2009-09-24

This article reports on the use of Second Life in three urban planning and design courses. Second Life is one of the latest in a new breed of computer games based on the simultaneous use of virtual three-dimensional space by millions of users throughout the globe. The course instructors found that while the virtual planning studio can introduce real dangers to students and technological limitations exist, Second Life provides a heretofore unprecedented tool for teaching planning.

Commentary: Pervasive Urban Media Documentation

Krieger, M. H., Govindan, R., Ra, M.-R., Paek, J. — 2009-09-24

Review: City Bound: How States Stifle Urban Innovation, by Gerald E. Frug and David J. Barron. Ithaca: Cornell University Press. 2008. 260 pages. $35.00 (hardback)

Fischel, W. A. — 2009-09-24

Review: Energy for Sustainability: Technology, Planning, Policy, by John Randolph and Gilbert M. Masters. Washington, DC: Island Press. 2008. 816 pages. $85.00 (hardback)

Throgmorton, J. A. — 2009-09-24

Urban Transformations: Understanding City Design and Form, by Peter Bosselman. Washington, Covelo, London: Island Press. 2008. 310 pages. $45 (paperback), $90 (hardcover)

Banerjee, T. — 2009-09-24