A principal challenge facing the urban economist is the formulation of a rigorous economic explanation for a variety of observed regularities in the spatial structures of real-world cities. The most obvious among these is the dramatic spatial variation in the intensity of urban land-use. Buildings are tall near the centers of most cities, while suburban structures embody much lower ratios of ca...

This research explores the correlation between ‘walkability’ and the ‘sense of place’ in Tehran’s streets, particularly streets leading to the Imam Khomeini square (Maidan-e Tup-khana) at the heart of historic downtown. The goal is to evaluate the walkability through a measurable method in order to prioritize strategies to enhance various aspects of the historic districts. After reviewing the e...

Despite the burgeoning literature on creative cities, seldom explored is the context of cities rich in cultural capital but more orthodox in their approach to preserving the auton omy of culture. This article discusses the status of artistic spaces occupying aban­ doned industrial premises (‘creative brownfields’) in historic cities that traditionally shape their policies around prestigious cul...

Known for its ancient metropolises, China has recently amazed the world with its rapid urban development as it enters the new millennium. Although China is still a predominately agrarian society with only 36 percent of its population living in cities in 2000, it has more people living in cities (456 million) than the total population of any other nation in the world except India (National Burea...

Urban sprawl has been at the center of current debate on urban structure. Compared to the rich literature on urban sprawl in Western cities, relatively little is known about whether Chinese urban expansion is excessive or inefficient. This paper provides an integrated analysis of two seemingly contradictory phenomena in China’s urban development in recent two decades, namely development zones a...

The majority of humanity now lives in cities or towns, with this proportion expected to continue increasing for the foreseeable future. As novel ecosystems, urban areas offer an ideal opportunity to examine multi-scalar processes involved in community assembly as well as the role of human activities in modulating environmental drivers of biodiversity. Although ecologists have made great strides...

This paper examines how a cognitive boundary with no physical presence has affected life in the cities of Jaffa and Tel Aviv, not only during its time of existence (1921-1950) but many decades after it was erased from all official documents. In 1921, the national aspirations of Jews in Jaffa, embraced by the local British Mandate government, triggered a segregation process that resulted in an o...

This article analyzes the experiences of two projects which had a major urban impact in 1980s on Mexican cities, Guadalajara and Monterrey. In both cases, background behind planning different to regenerate historic city centers are discussed. The considerations local authorities regarding tired deteriorated image old downtown area also presented, outlining large-scale interventions that involve...