Parking policy: The politics and uneven use of residential parking space in Melbourne

Pressures on on-street residential parking in intensifying Australian cities are popularly ascribed to new higher density housing with insufficient off-street parking, underscoring calls to strengthen parking requirements in new developments. Despite the potential impacts of conventional minimum parking policies (on housing, land use, and transport patterns), there is no or little evidence of who uses residential on-street parking. Nor is there clear evidence of to what extent off-street parking, or requirements for it, actually offset on-street parking use. This study examines residential parking use in one Australian city, Melbourne, via two complementary sources: an existing travel survey of 8,994 households, and a custom online survey with 307 local responses. Although they have limitations, the two surveys provide new insight into where and by whom the use of on-street parking space around the home is more common.The study finds the majority (77–83%) of on-street residential parking use is by residents of detached housing. Most users of on-street parking have sufficient off-street parking, and half use garage space for storage or housing purposes. Residents of new flats and apartments account for disproportionately little on-street parking use, are excluded from on-street permits, and have closely controlled off-street parking spaces of which a third are unused. The paper argues uneven use of residential parking reflects household choices, and differing rights to space embedded by zoning traditions that privilege lower density housing. Critical analysis is given both of the capability of conventional ‘predict and provide’ parking policies to manage residential parking, and to cope with urban change.     

The relevance of the ecosystem services framework for developed countries’ environmental policies: A comparative case study of the US and EU

The ecosystem services (ES) framework reveals ecosystems’ benefits to society and presents a fundamental natural resource management approach. In the last several decades, it has gained increasing attention from the research community, and it recently reached the political agenda. However, does the concept have the capacity to cause institutional change in environmental policy? To answer this question, we developed certain criteria for an “ideal” ES-driven policy. Based on these criteria, we analyzed the main water and biodiversity acts, current policy developments, and future trends within the US and the EU. Our analysis shows that most acts cannot be explicitly characterized as ES-driven policies, but parts of the concept are already included. The ES framework, increasingly a driver in several policy fields, can be assumed to be a major future influence for shaping existing environmental policies in the coming decades. We discussed the results based on its strengths for existing environmental policy conceptually, e.g., cross-sector cooperation and ES win-win and trade-off considerations, and its weaknesses operationally, such as measurability and governance changes.     

Parking futures: Shared automated vehicles and parking demand reduction trajectories in Atlanta

The coming of automated vehicles (AVs) and Mobility-on-Demand (MoD services) is expected to reduce urban parking demand and correspondingly alter the urban parking landscape in a significant way. Multiple modeling efforts have already demonstrated that Shared AVs (SAVs) have promising potential to decrease urban parking demand. However, previous studies have only examined SAV parking demand at one point in time, with various market penetrations. It remains unclear what the demand reduction trajectory will be like during the transition period when there is a mix of SAVs, Privately-Owned AVs (PAVs), Shared Conventional Vehicles (SCVs), and Conventional Private Vehicles (CPVs). This study fills this gap by developing an agent-based simulation model to examine the spatially and temporally explicit parking reduction trends with mixed travel modes from 2020–2040. The results indicate that in the most optimal AV and MoD adoption scenario, the parking demand will decrease by over 20% after 2030, especially in core urban areas. Meanwhile, the parking demand in residential zones may double, which could lead to transportation equity concerns. Additionally, parking relocation may also induce environmental issues by generating a considerable amount of empty Vehicle Miles Traveled (VMT). To reap the benefits brought by AVs and MoD systems and to mitigate the accompanying social and environmental issues, our results suggest that proactive policymakers in the next decade will need to modify land use regulations for both new developments and existing parking infrastructure in commercial and residential zones, as well as update travel demand management policies.     

China's agriculture,smallholders and trade: driven by the livestock revolution?*

China's sustained rapid economic growth and development has contributed to the surge in consumption and production of livestock in that country  termed the livestock revolution. Consumption trends are first reviewed, and changes in food consumption patterns include a marked shift away from grains and towards meats and dairy products. A question is to what extent this rapid increase in demand for livestock products is reflected in China's agri‐food trade statistics? While her agri‐food imports have dramatically increased since China's accession to the WTO, livestock products have not made a noticeable contribution, although the import of certain animal feedstuffs has. This implies China's continuing self‐sufficiency in most livestock products. The paper next considers developments in China's livestock farming sector and policies that have been contributing to these supply‐side developments. The paper concludes with an examination of issues that may be important to the future development of China's, and the world's, livestock situation;  this includes future demand developments, and the question of whether future demand growth in China might be met with local production, imports of final product, and/or imports of feedstuffs.     

The elephant in the scheme: Planning for and around car parking in Melbourne, 1929–2016

A relatively recent body of literature has looked critically at the role of car parking in urban areas, showing that a significant determinant of the extent of parking space is the planning system. Of particular importance are statutory minimum off-street parking requirements for new developments. If parking and parking policies are significant to urban outcomes, one question that follows is − how active a role (if any) has strategic urban planning had in car parking? In this paper we ask if, and in what ways, car parking has been a stated strategic planning interest over the course of nearly a century of planning for one city − Melbourne, Australia. Our approach has three parts: a content analysis of strategic planning documents over time; a corresponding analysis of statutory policies on the ground; and reflection on what this means for the relationships between strategy and policy.We find that extensive car parking, treated as a public good, was once specifically planned as a critical component of facilitating a car-based city. We show that car parking has receded as a strategic policy issue over time, but that statutory minimum parking requirements introduced in the 1950s continue to be entrenched. Even with more recent strategic plans seeking to curtail car use and increase urban densities, minimum parking policies originally introduced to achieve the opposite effects have remained largely intact. We argue that parking has a significant role in urban form but is, in our case study city, illustrative of gaps between strategic and statutory planning, and between planning practice and research. Whereas post-war planning instigated policy approaches to car parking as a means of planning for car use, strategic planning in Melbourne now plans around parking − the elephant in the scheme. The findings have implications for other intensifying cities with a history of minimum parking policies; as well as for cities now undergoing rapid motorisation.     

Parking and restaurant business: Differences in business perceptions and customer travel behaviour in Brisbane,Queensland, Australia

Restauranteurs in Australian cities often resist local government car parking management regimes and advocate for increased parking provision in local planning. But are restauranteurs’ views of the importance of car parking to their trade in line with reality? To explore this question this study surveyed restaurant businesses and customers in parallel at three restaurant precincts in inner-city Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The survey results indicate that restauranteurs and restaurant patrons have asymmetric views about the role of parking and the way it affects restaurant spend. This paper identifies two very different market segments when exploring the customer’s travel mode preferences to access restaurants. These two segments are influenced by the built environment in their choice of restaurant location which in turn, gives implications for planning practice. The results show the way in which customers access a restaurant is influenced by the built environment of the location of restaurant. The analysis has also highlighted that an investigation of trip chaining behaviour as part of the access decision for dining would be a future avenue for research. This paper provides evidentiary support for planning policy in relation to parking. On the one hand, this paper shows how planning authorities can make better decisions about transport infrastructure supply and parking control in conjunction with the restaurant sector. On the other hand planners can use the outcome of this paper as a way to help businesses to understand that sustainable transport options may, contrary to their view, be beneficial to their bottom line.     

A practical method for evaluating parking area level of service

In recent years, some of the commonly used indicators in parking management have changed. Maximizing the supply and minimizing the price were the main objectives before, but today, optimizing the parking supply and price is the major objective. This research introduces a parking area level of service, which has not been previously addressed, to evaluate the new objectives of sustainable development with the existing parking areas. For the purpose of this research, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) was selected as a case study to implement this method in an academic context. This method may also be utilized for other land uses, but some adjustments should be applied. In addition, based on the existing failures, some improvements are proposed to enhance parking efficiency.     

Farmland conversion to non-agricultural uses in the US and Canada: current impacts and concerns for the future

Conversion of farmland to non-agricultural uses presents a challenge to future food production and ecosystem services in US and Canada. Expansions of housing, transportation, industry, retail sales, schools and other developments are driving land out of farming. In the US there is annual conversion of 500,000 ha away from food and fibre production systems. Coupled with 1% annual population increase, this will reduce today's 0.6 ha per person to 0.3 ha by 2050. Canada has more land and smaller population, but farmland losses are occurring in fertile areas near coasts and in level valleys where highest quality land is located. Current rates of increase in agricultural productivity will not compensate for this land loss. Compared to US, there are more specific tools and legislation at the provincial level in Canada that provide opportunities for controlling sprawl. Important in both countries is general lack of awareness and concern about loss of productive farmland, a situation that could be improved through education. Stimulating collective understanding of this growing problem and providing viable solutions could provide the basis for national policy strategies to promote and assure sustainable food systems for the future and enhance the capacity to maintain vital ecosystem services.     

Human and Social Capital in Rural Development – EU and US PerspectivesHuman- und Sozialkapital in der Entwicklung des ländlichen Raums – Perspektiven aus der EU und den USALe capital social et humain dans le développement rural: Perspectives aux États-Unis et dans l'Union européenne

Human and Social Capital in Rural Development – EU and US Perspectives
Human and social capital play critical roles in rural development, in both the US and Europe. The development of these resources at the individual and community levels is both an ultimate goal of sustainable rural development (RD), and a key means to pursue it. Rural areas face a range of specific issues and challenges for human and social capital. In this article we examine some of these, finding similarity in many issues faced by EU and US rural areas, including the trend toward counter-urbanization in some locations. We also give examples of some apparently useful policy and grass-root approaches in the EU and US used to support farmers and in some cases rural people more generally. We assert that the US lags behind the EU in recognising the value of social capital development, but that it could learn from EU experience in terms of alternative approaches and their successes or failures. Traditionally, policies which promote the enhancement of rural human capital and strengthen social capital in rural areas have failed to attract large-scale RD funding or prominence. They have, however, gained in credibility, and influence within the policy rhetoric, in recent years. We suggest that they deserve a higher profile in RD policies given likely future trends and challenges.     

Traffic-restriction in Ramallah (Palestine): Participatory sustainability assessment of pedestrian scenarios using a simplified transport model

Assigning specific infrastructure per transport mode addresses discrepancies between mobility and land-use developments. This paper elaborates on pedestrian scenarios for central Ramallah, a major urban developing area in Palestine. The sustainability of the four alternative pedestrian scenarios is assessed according to the participatory multi-actor multi-criteria analysis, which integrates stakeholder objectives in the evaluation of the alternative scenarios. To determine the impact of each pedestrian scenario on the traffic flow, an origin–destination matrix is estimated by means of traffic counts, according the Furness distribution algorithm and the maximising-entropy approach. Results forward the medium Al-Zhara scenario as compromising alternative between the objectives of the governmental, transport operator and local business stakeholder groups, as it instigates less congestion, pollutant gas and greenhouse gas emissions. Detour routes subjected to parking constraints are proposed to optimise the reduced traffic flow.     

RURAL SOCIOLOGY AND ITS RELEVANCE TO THE AGRICULTURAL ECONOMIST: A REVIEW*

Following a discussion of the relationship between agricultural economics and rural sociology, the current status of the latter is discussed, including the differences between European and American approaches. The background to an emerging ‘sociology of agriculture’ is described and recent developments in the sociological analysis of some of its constituent components are considered. Particular attention is paid to the relationship between landholding and the social structure and to the development of ‘agribusiness’ as a vertically-integrated food-production complex. The impact of these on labour relations in agriculture and on the rural community are outlined. The article concludes with an assessment of future trends in rural sociology, concentrating on themes of rural development, the sociology of agriculture and the sociology of natural resources.     

US—Mexico fresh vegetable trade: the effects of trade liberalization and economic growth

Studies of US‐Mexico vegetable trade have generally emphasized the importance of US tariffs in determining the competitive advantage of US producers. Even so, research has identified at least four factors related primarily to the different levels of economic development in the US and Mexico that also have important effects on US‐Mexico agricultural trade in general and fresh vegetable trade in particular. These include the differential growth rates of US and Mexican real wages, production technology (yields), and per capita income as well as cyclical movements in the real Mexican Peso/US Dollar exchange rate. This study examines the relative contribution of NAFTA and the development‐related factors to likely future changes in US fresh vegetable imports from Mexico. The analysis employs an econometric simulation model of US and Mexican markets for five fresh vegetables (tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, bell peppers, and onions) accounting for 80% of US fresh vegetable imports. The results suggest that the 1994–1995 Peso devaluation rather than NAFTA was primarily responsible for the sharp increase in US imports of Mexican vegetables observed in the first years following the implementation of NAFTA. Over time, however, the results suggest that differences in the growth rates of US and Mexican production yields and, to a lesser extent, of US and Mexican real incomes and/or real wage rates could plausibly contribute more to the future growth of US tomato, squash, and onion imports from Mexico than the trade liberalizing effects of NAFTA.     

Production & trade structure and accession to the EC: The case of Greek agriculture

Summary

Greece's climatic and soil conditions, together with the size structure of its farms favour the production of Mediterranean‐type products, in which the country has a comparative advantage. However, the structure of agricultural production and exports has been changing, at least since 1961, when Greece became an Associate Member of the EC, with a shift from traditional crops (tobacco, cotton, olive oil and dried vine fruit), towards fruit and vegetables especially of late towards early varieties which do not coincide seasonally with EC production as well as certain “Northern” products (wheat, maize, and barley). Despite a substantial increase in livestock production, imports of meat, and dairy products have grown considerable faster than imports of other agricultural produce.

By presenting these trends, this paper attempts to show that in the post ‐ EC membership period (after 1.1.1981) developments in agricultural production and trade cannot be attributed to membership, since they had appeared long before it. This evidence also indicates that the above trends are not likely to change significantly within the EC in the future.     

Hope for new communities as an alternative to sprawl?: Insights from developer perceptions of amenities in future new communities in the U.S. and U.K

New Communities are again being promoted as an alternative to sprawling urban growth. This paper uses the results of a unique survey of the real estate development communities in the U.S. and U.K. to examine the likelihood that future New Communities will provide the array of amenities necessary to create developments that provide a true alternative to sprawl. Based on an analysis of this data we conclude that while developers do envision New Communities as more amenity rich than much of the suburban master-planned communities of the last few decades, they are nonetheless still likely to produce developments that have an insufficient array of amenities to make future New Communities a strong alternative to sprawl.     

DEVELOPMENTS IN THE FOOD MANUFACTURING AND DISTRIBUTIVE INDUSTRIES

This paper, in reviewing developments in food manufacturing and distribution, discusses trends in the overall demand for food, particularly the increase in demand for convenience foods. Along with this has gone an increased concentration of power in both the food manufacturing and distributive industries. The economic performance of these industries and the role of price competition is considered together with the possible consequences of polarisation of power between food manufacturers and distributors.     

Parking behaviour: The curious lack of cruising for parking in San Francisco

Cruising for parking has long been perceived as a major source of congestion and emissions in urban areas, but recent empirical work suggests that parking may not be as onerous as folklore suggests, and that the amount of vehicle travel attributable to cruising is minimal. In this paper, we reconcile these perspectives through a dynamic programming model of parking search, and empirical insights from a large-scale GPS dataset in San Francisco and the California Household Travel Survey. We first draw a conceptual distinction between parking search, the time between the driver’s decision to park and when a parking space is taken; and cruising, defined as excess vehicle travel due to parking search. In places with little or no through traffic, up to half of traffic can be searching for parking, but cruising can be zero. We then operationalize this distinction through a dynamic programming model. The model predicts that when parking is perceived to be scarce, drivers are more willing to take a convenient available space, even if it is some distance from their destination. Counter-intuitively, scarce parking can even suppress vehicle travel as perceived parking scarcity leads drivers to stop short of their destinations and accept a longer walk. Empirical data from California indicate that neighborhood density (a proxy for parking availability) has little impact on cruising for parking, but increases walk distances from parking locations to final destinations. We conclude that cruising for parking is self-regulating, and that in certain circumstances parking scarcity can even reduce vehicle travel.     

Parking futures: The relationship between parking space,everyday life and travel demand in the UK

The paper proposes and develops an original concept, dormant vehicles, which refers to vehicles that are stationary while waiting to be used again, such as current parked cars. The concept involves several types of vehicles (cars, bikes, vans, automated vehicles), durations, temporal locations and rates of recurrence that, with the emergence of new mobility futures, would have diverse forms with significant implications for land use, space and place. New forms of dormant vehicle include shared electric vehicles, dock-less bikes and delivery vans that besides parking would present new in-between use situations such as dropping-off, picking-up, delivering, charging and awaiting repair. The paper highlights that without thinking clearly about these aspects of the future, plans for sustainable, smart cities could fall into a similar trap as in historical versions of automobility and parking, that is, of overlooking dormant vehicles and the ways they shape and are shaped. Rather than parking conveniently disappearing from cities, it is instead likely to change in various respects. The paper sets out to put this research agenda at the forefront, drawing on social theories of practice to propose and develop this new concept, highlighting its potential contribution to urban futures thinking. Ultimately, the paper argues for inverting urban mobility futures to identify the new forms of dormant vehicles associated with them, and consider their implications for land use, space and place.     

The environmental and economic costs of sprawling parking lots in the United States

Urban sprawl is considered by most environmental scientists and urban planners to be a serious environmental problem. However, public perception about parking availability often forces planning offices to recommend parking lot sizes that exceed daily demands. The recent trend of increasing the size of stores, churches and even schools comes with increasing the size of parking lots that service these buildings. The objective of this paper is to analyze space allocation of parking lots in a typical midwestern county and to estimate the supply of parking spaces to potential demand. We also estimate the loss of ecosystem services represented by the area of parking lots in this county. We found that parking lots cover 5.65 km² (1 397 acres) of Tippecanoe County, Indiana which implies that 0.44% of the county area is devoted to parking lots. Our results show that there are approximately 2.2 parking spaces per registered vehicle, that parking lots make up more than 6.57% of the total urban footprint in this county, that the area of parking lots exceeded the area of parks in the city limits by a factor of three and that parking lot runoff and pollutants are significant compared to runoff and pollutants from these areas prior to their conversion to parking lots. As other authors have done before us we lament the poor use of land in urban regions of the United States, and encourage planners to think creatively about the use of land for parking.     

Study on the factors to transform underused land focusing on the influence of railway stations in central areas of Japanese Local cities

The recent increase in underused land, such as outdoor parking lots and vacant areas, is a serious problem that has led to the decline of central areas in Japanese local cities. To develop these land lots, the distribution of underused land as well as factors to transform these areas must be analyzed. However, the secular changes in underused land are not understood quantitatively, and transformation factors have not been analyzed from the viewpoint of underused lot types.In this study, we constructed a database of underused land using housing maps on GIS. Then we analyzed the relationship between the changes in underused land areas and commercial activity in the central areas of 37 core cities. Finally transformation factors from underused land to business-use and residential land were evaluated with an emphasis on the influence of the proximity to a railway station.Between 1985 and 2005, the results show that small areas of underused land have decreased in central areas, but there is a net increase of underused land. Additionally, commercial activity and population have declined in central areas compared to national trends and the average of core cities. Analyses of transformation factors reveal that outdoor parking lots negatively impact the transformation, but the combination of constructing of railway stations close to central areas and adopting land-use zoning for business-use and residential land have a positive affect on the transformation of underused land.