|
Department of Urban & Regional Planning
College of Environmental Design
King Abdulaziz University
*********************************
URP-426 : Regional Planning "2"
**********************************
(Two Lectures per week, 90 minutes per lecture)
Brief Course Outline
Aim of the Course :
Having studied relatively wide range of theoretical issues in the context of URP-525 (Regional Planning "1"), during lat semester, this course aims to study the impacts of those theories and some others on the pragmatic side of development policies, especially at regional levels. This will broaden the knowledge of students about the pragmatic consequences of policies, and will enable them to adopt caution when learning from theories for the formulation of development policies. The course will also deal with strategic issues, like Tourism, Urban Growth Boundaries and Environmental Impact Assessment. However it is important to emphasize that this outline and the handouts attached to it do not stand alone : they just help students to prepare for meetings, but do not substitute lecturing.
References :
The references are listed at the end of each handout. Keywords for internet research "by subject" are also provided. Students should prepare for lectures in advance. However, other reference materials will be occasionally given during classes.
Grading
Mid-term and final exams will be given. Furthermore, every student will be asked to prepare a term-paper, addressing one of the strategic issues studied during URP-425 or during this course URP-426, or one of the strategic development issues (education, tourism, population, health, economy,.. etc.) with reference to the pragmatic implications (real or expectation) it has on the development of Saudi Arabia. Besides this, every student should keep-on an up-to-date note taking, and that in turn requires full attendance. The precise assignment of grades to activities will be as follows:
Attendance : 10%
Notebooks & Note taking : 10%
Term Paper : 20%
Mid-term Exam : 25%
Final Exam : 35%
Total Grade : 100%
Subjects of Lecturing:
* Introduction to the course and explanation of the required term-paper: Handout No. "1". (One week).
* Examples for the Influence of the Central Place Theory on Chapping-up Rural Development Policies: The Key-settlements in Rural Britain: Handout No. "2". (One week).
* Examples for the Influence of the Central Place Theory on Chapping-up Rural Development Policies: The Village Clusters in Rural Saudi Arabia: Handout No. "3" (One week).
* Example for the Influence of the Growth Pole Theory on Chapping-up Regional and Urban Development Policies: The Case of Norway: Handout No. "4". (One week).
* The French Metro-Poles as they were drawn in the Light of the Growth Pole Theory: Handout No. "5". (One week).
* Formulation of the Spanish Industrial Poles in the Light of the Growth Pole Theory: Handout No. "6". (One week).
* The British Regional Growth Areas, with Reference to the Growth Pole Theory Handout No. "7". (One week).
* The British Enterprise Zones: Handout No. "8". (One week).
* Influence of the Growth Pole Theory on Chapping-up Regional and Urban Development Policies in Some Developing Countries: Handout No. "9". (One week).
* The Jeddah Industrial City as an Example for the Similar Cases in Saudi Arabia: Handout No. "10". (One week).
* Regional Disparities: Handout No. "11". (One week).
* Environmental Impact Assessment: Handout No. "12". (One week).
* Tourism Development: Handout No. "13". (One week).
* Attempts to Regulate City Growth: Green Bells and Urban Growth Boundaries: Handout No. "14". (One week).
* Student-led Seminars, based on term-papers : Handout No. "15".
(Remaining of the Semester, three papers per meeting).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (1).
Term Paper
Aim:
To train students on the techniques of writing about strategic (rather than local) development issues.\
Description of the Task:
It is necessary to notify students about the term-paper that every one of them should prepare, right from the start of the semester, in order to give them amble time to adequately prepare the paper.
Every student should choose to write 30-50 pages, supported by figures and data, about the strategic (regional and national) arenas of one of the development issues in Saudi Arabia: e.g. tourism, service provision, village clusters, industrial development, urban growth boundaries, structure of places, ... etc..
Students should be able to deal with the chosen topics strategically rather than locally. The strategic treatment should meat several criteria, like extensiveness in spatial and issue coverage, long-term views, general effects and impacts, magnificent economic and social considerations (costs, returns, social impacts .. etc..).
At the end of the term, every student should be given 15 minutes to briefly explain his findings in seminar type of discussions, after which he should submit his report, which should account to 20% of the final grade.
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (2).
Example for the Influence of the Central Place Theory on the Chapping-up Rural Development Policies : The Key-Settlements in Rural Britain
Aim:
To broaden the knowledge of students about the objectives, ways of application and consequences of this policy which was tailored in the light of the mechanisms embodied in this influential development theory.
Expectations :
After studying this subject, students should be able to scientifically explain several issues, such as:
* The concepts borrowed for this policy from this theory.
* The objectives drawn for the Key-settlements in Britain
* The ways of application.
* The consequences of the policy.
* The gap between the actual consequences and the theoretically expected consequences.
* Tips for improving the consequences.
* The lessons to learn from this experience.
Why Learning about this topic?
The importance of illuminating this experience emerges from two main considerations, as follows:
1. This policy was introduced in rural Britain for solving several problems that still exist in rural areas, worldwide, such as unemployment, depression, backwardness and lack of facilities and utilities.
2. It was applied in rural Britain in the mid-1970s, as a means to prepare for reverse migration, the situation that is currently considered by the Saudi Spatial Development Strategy as a means for achieving relatively balanced development throughout the country.
The Aims Drawn for the Key-Settlements:
1. Provision of services / facilities / utilities for highly dispersed rural settlements, in away that maintains viable levels of efficiency.
2. Stimulating self-development gap between rural and urban areas, in a way that would trim rural depopulation and encourages reverse migration.
The concepts Borrowed for the Key-Settlements from the theory :
1. The concept of "Threshold", borrowed from the Central Place Theory.
2. The economics of concentration, borrowed from the growth pole theory (Polarization of factors of production and spread of benefits).
Note: Elaborations will be provided in class.
Application
Different counties in Britain identified central settlements, and concentrated facilities and growth initiatives in them for the purpose of serving the surrounding dispersed rural settlements and stimulating their economic development.
Economic Consequences :
1. Adopting this policy economically justified the provision of facilities and the adoption of development initiatives in such highly dispersed rural settlements: i.e. without the policy, provision of such facilities and development initiatives would have not been economically justified.
2. Key-Settlements proved inability to compete with urban areas in stimulating economic development, spreading benefits to surroundings or actively stimulating reverse migration: weak markets, low levels of investments and humble factors of production were amongst the drawbacks.
Social Consequences :
1. The policy led to provision of facilities / services in such remote and previously abandoned rural areas.
2. However, population of the non-key settlements was disadvantaged by excessive concentration of facilities / services in key-settlements, while neglecting the provision of efficient road and transport linkages among key and non-key settlements. In other worlds, population of all settlements were quantitatively considered to justify the "threshold" concept of provision of services, but actually population of non-key settlements were not properly served: a gap between efficiency and equity: this will be further explained in class.
Lessons to Learn :
You have to draw several lessons from this brief for rural development in Saudi Arabia and discuss them in class.
References:
- Cloke P.J. 1983. Key-Settlements in Rural Areas. Methuen and Co. Ltd., London.
* For further reading, search the net "by subject", using the following key words:
(Key-Settlements)
(Concentration of Developments)
URP – Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (3)
Examples for the Influence of the Central Place Theory on Chapping-up the Rural Development Policies : The Village Clusters in Rural Saudi Arabia
Aim :
To broaden the knowledge of students about the objectives, ways of application and consequences of the policies that were tailored in the light of the mechanisms embodied in this influential development theory.
Expectations :
After studying this subject, students should understand several issues, such as:
* Definition of "rurality", with reference to many countries.
* Definition of "rurality" in Saudi Arabia.
* Number and distribution of rural gatherings in Saudi Arabia.
* The basic and the balancing criteria for choosing the Central Village in the Saudi Village Clusters.
* The Main Differences in Application and Consequences between the Village Clusters in Rural Saudi Arabia and the Key-Settlements in Rural Britain.
Criteria for Identifying what is a rural area :
* Most of the European and some of the African countries consider all areas where most of population work in primary and extractive activities "rural areas".
* In the United States of America, any community is considered rural when it has population number less than 25000 persons, regardless of the activities of people.
* Some European countries (e.g. France and Germany) consider any community that has less than 2000 population as a rural: in Ireland, less than 1500 persons, in Belgium, Netherlands and Greece, less than 5000 persons.
* In Japan, a rural community has less than 5000 persons, with gross population density of 4000 per each square kilometer.
* In Britain, a rural community exists where population gross density is below eight persons per acre.
* In Italy, a rural community is considered as such when more than 50% of the population there works in agriculture and in other primary sectors, regardless of population size and density.
* In Egypt, community is rural when the concerned area is not a capital for a county, regardless of activity and population size (administrative considerations).
* Accordingly, borrowing ideas from the rural development policies applied in other countries should be done with caution, since definition of rurality differs from country to another.
Rurality in Saudi Arabia :
Within context of the 1974's population census, many considerations were adopted to distinguish what is rural, among which were the dispersion of population and settlements, mobility of residences, and the activities linked to primary sectors, especially agriculture. Indeed, the start was from the top of the hierarchy, when 103 cities were identified, classifying the remaining settlements and towns as rural: a total of 10365, from which 8953 were considered villages and 1412 were considered Hijarahs (bedwin settlements). 31% of the villages and bedwin settlements were later judged by the Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs as expandable.
Village Clusters :
The ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (MOMRA) provides municipal services to all parts of the country through municipalities and village clusters. The latter were initially established in 1976, to provide municipal services to areas where settlements and villages were highly dispersed and small in sizes. It seems that centrality, with its relevance to the "threshold" and "range" concepts, was borrowed for the Saudi Village Cluster Programs, from the Christaller's Central Place Theory, a matter that will be explained in class. However, the program was first initiated as a means for offering municipal services, but was gradually adopted by the other service-linked ministries and agencies as basis for providing community facilities and public utilities in the rural areas: centrality of the central villages in the clusters matched the required efficiency (threshold) measures.
Criteria for Identifying a Village Cluster's Central Village
* The basic criteria include:
- Expandability
- Availability of water resources for people and activities – for current and future.
- Central to adequate number of dispersed villages.
- Availability of a suitable size of population, in the surrounding villages.
* The balancing criteria :
- The village is central to more villages and population.
- The village is spatially far from the service boundary of a current village cluster or a municipality.
- Topographical considerations and expandability.
- Share of regions or parts of regions in the nation-wide or region-wide total number of village clusters.
The Starting Point :
Between 1976 and 1983, a total of 45 village clusters were established, nationwide: 6 in Riyadh, 7 in Kassim, 4 in the Eastern Province, 8 in Hail, 3 in Madinah, 3 in Makkah, 4 in Assir, 4 in Jizan, 2 in Al-Baha, and one in each of the Tabuk and the Aljouf regions. Some have been upgraded to municipalities. More elaborations will be done during relevant lectures.
Important Notes :
It is important to notice that :
* In the application process, central villages of village clusters were linked to the surrounding villages by roads, albet mostly continuously-maintained agricultural roads. This shows that the program, especially after it was adapted by other ministries as a spatial basis for service provision, adhered to social equity measures, unlike the key-settlement program in rural Britain.
* The village Cluster Program originally borrowed the centrality concept from the Christaller's Central Place Theory, especially with reference to the concept of "threshold".
* Upgrading some village clusters to municipalities demonstrate the Almakdassi's philosophy, previously studied within the context of URP-425.
References :
- Deputy Ministry for Rural Affairs, 1984. Studies in Integrated Rural Development. Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
* For further reading, search the net "by subject" using the following Keywords:
(Rurality)
(Village clusters)
(Rural Development
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (4)
Examples for the Influence of the Growth Pole Theory on Chapping-up Regional and Urban Development Policies : The Case of Norway
Aim :
To learn about the objectives, applications and consequences of the regional policy in Norway, which has borrowed many of the mechanisms embodied by the Growth Pole Theory.
Expectations :
By the end of this, students are expected to know about issues such as:
* Main geographical, social and economic features of Norway, compared to the Saudi Arabian.
* Vocabularies of the regional features and policies in Norway.
* The decentralized concentrations, represented by the Norwegian Local Growth Centers, as a work-to-workers strategy.
* The methods of application
* Consequences of the Norwegian Growth Centers, compared to the objectives drawn for them.
* The lessons to learn for development in Saudi Arabia.
National Perspective :
In the mid 1970's when the concerned regional policy was adopted, Norway had:
- A total area of 324,000 square kilometers, of which 308,000 (95%) was land area.
- 72% of the land was made up of mountains, 25% forest and 3% was cultivated.
- Population totaled to four million inhabitants
- Prior to oil discovery, economy was based on natural resources (fish, timer, ores, and water power).
- The Norwegian annual produced oil and gas increased from 0.3 million tons in 1971 to 62.5 million tons in 1984.
Regional Perspective :
- Norway is divided into five main geographical and planning administrative regions: the east, the west, the north, the south and the middle.
- By the year 1975, the east, where oil production was concentrated, gained more population through rapid and massive immigration (see the table).
Region
Share in Land Area (%)
Share in Population (%)
East
29
47
South
5
5
West
18
25
Middle
13
9
North
35
12
- The spatial migration of people was accompanied by sectoral shifts of jobs, in favour of the tertiary sector's activities at the expense of the primary sector's. The table below shows the situations y the end of the 1970s.
Region
Share of Primary Sectors in Total Jobs (%)
Share of Secondary Sectors in Total Jobs (%)
Share of tertiary Sectors in Total Jobs (%)
East
8
39
53
South
10
42
48
West
14
41
45
Middle
17
32
51
North
20
31
49
- Therefore, similarity existed between the main national and regional development features in Norway and in Saudi Arabia, especially during the early start of the oil era in bother countries.
The Adopted Approach to Regional Policy
- By the end of the 1970s, adoption of an active regional policy in Norway was declared inevitable, to mitigate regional disparities in away that would at least slow down the growth of the capital Oslo and the other large cities in the East which were at the expense of the other regions. Provision of jobs and stimulation of development in rural areas were amongst the regional development objectives.
- A strategy of "decentralized concentrations" was adopted, in the form of spreading local growth centers throughout the country – outside the east, in which vast range of incentives for industrial development were adopted.
Has the Regional Policy Succeeded in Norway?
- The rural local growth centers were faced in their early start stages by the problem of social conservatism against working in manufacturing industries.
- Most of industries in those centers were small in size. They were unable to employ high number of rural people, especially due to being not accompanied by local training centers.
- The centers were unable to stimulate the attractions and locational transfer of large industries from large cities to them.
- Industries in those centers continued loosing the value added opportunities due to embarking on exporting raw and semi-processed materials.
- The strategy of linking incentives to number of employees as a main criterion for determining the levels of the incentive grants led to unreal employment, the matter that negatively influenced productivity of labors: this will be further explained in class.
- More consequences will be discussed during lecture.
Question : What lessons could be borrowed from this experience for the future of the regional development in Saudi Arabia?
References :
- Galenson W., 1986. A Welfare State Striking Oil: the Norwegian Experience. University Press of America, U.S.A.
* Keywords for net searching "by subject":
(Regional policy in Norway).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (5)
The French Metro-poles as were Drawn in the Light of the Growth Pole Theory
Aim :
To inform students about the pioneering experience of the French Industrial Metro-poles as were tailored in the light of the ideas incorporated in the "originally-French" Growth Pole Theory" many countries adopted the French style, like Spain and South-Koreas.
Expectations :
The students are expected to know about:
- Aims, methods of application and consequences of this case.
- Drawing lessons from this pioneering experience.
Background :
The French specialized literature is exceptionally rich in discussion and analysis of the Growth Pole Theory. To remind you, this theory was pioneered by the French scholar Francioa Perroux, in 1955. From there and since then, the philosophies embodied in this theory invaded the arenas of development policy making, all over the world.
Before the 1960s, the French regional policy was encouraging excessive concentration of development, for national economic objectives: benefits of concentration.
The Change in Regional Policy :
The French Legislation of 1955 listed a number of critical areas, with severe unfavorable conditions, such as high unemployment rates, exceptionally low levels of income, ..etc. However, the French Fourth Plan suggested that regional policy would be wasteful and ineffective if it took the form of general scattering of resources: to be successful, it must concentrate its efforts on well-chosen point of application, to which resources would be attached and from which benefits would be dispersed, as the plan suggested. Therefore, the philosophies of Francioa Perroux, within the context of the Growth Pole Theory, came, since then, to shape up the regional development policy in France.
Aims of the Regional Policy :
Mitigation of unemployment and stimulation of industrial development, especially outside the exceptionally growing capital of Paris, were amongst the French prominent regional development goals.
Methods of Application
- The Fourth plan First divided the country into seven main regions.
- The plan programmed Twenty Two areas, within those regions, for industrial development, with a detailed plan for each of those 22 "growth centers" indicating specification about typology, locational, design and other aspects of implementation and following-up programs.
- The growth areas (center) were those parts of the seven regions : where economic growth have already taken place, where basic resources and requirements for future expansion existed, and from where benefits were expected to diffuse to the surrounding areas.
- The plan provided wide range of industrial incentives in such areas (centers), avoiding the provision of community facilities (schools, ..etc.). The intension was to develop such areas as industrial growth centers rather than population centers.
Has the Policy Succeeded in Stemming Migration to Paris?
- The adoption of the growth Pole policy, mainly in the form of the eight city-regions with concentrated growth areas, was largely to mitigate migration to Paris.
Share of Paris in France's Total Population
Year
1954
1962
1968
1975
Paris Region
17%
18%
19%
19%
Rest of France
83%
82%
81%
81%
Total
100%
100%
100%
100%
Note: Population of Paris 1954 = 7,317,000
Reference: Hough, 1982.
- The application of policy started in 1963. The policy succeeded only in slowing down the growth of Paris. Reasoning will be explained in class.
Has the Policy Stimulated the Creation of Enterprises?
- The policy succeeded more in attracting some firms out from Paris, but the large consumer-oriented industries continued operating in Paris.
Net Creation of Jobs in Manufacturing Industry in France 1954-79
(Thousands of Jobs)
Period
West
Paris
East
Total
1954-61
+138
+108
+133
+373
1962-68
+119
-82
+16
+132
1969-75
+355
-48
+204
+511
1976-79
-83
-108
-167
-351
What were the difficulties that faced the policy in France?
- The funds provided for the poles in France were equivalent to only tenth of the comparable funds in the U.K., although regional unbalance was far more acute in France.
- The incentives provided for the industrial regions were declared inadequate.
- The metro-poles encouraged the out-migration of inhabitants from rural areas.
- Even with the policy, one can still divide France into the Rich Paris, the Moderate East and the Poor West.
Question : What lessons could be drawn from this case to development in Saudi Arabia?
References :
* Hough J.R., 1982. The French Economy. Croom Helm, London.
- Keywords for net searching "by subject":
(City regions)
(French Metropoles)
URP-426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (6)
Formulation of the Spanish Industrial Poles in the Light of the Growth Pole Theory
Air :
To study this Spanish giant regional strategy with reference to the philosophies of the growth pole theory.
Expectations :
Students are expected to get acquainted about several issues from within this topic, such as:
- Aims of the giant strategy of the Spanish industrial poles.
- The methods of application, and the consequences of the strategy in Spain in the light of the objectives drawn for it.
- Drawing lessons for the development in Saudi Arabia.
Policy Objectives :
- Adoption of the Spanish Industrial poles began in the early 1960s, borrowing ideas from the Perroux's ideas initiated in France, in 1955. Many of the Spanish policy makers received part of their training in France.
- In a country with limited investment resources for regional development it was seen sensible to concentrate such resources in areas with potentials for development, borrowing justifications from the concepts of agglomeration, economics of scale and service benefits of concentration.
- In a country that suffered from social conservatism against industrialization (in the early 1960's) growth pole strategy would spread growth and development mindedness into such areas.
- The pole policy was judged capable of stimulating inter-regional development, so that national industrial development goals could be better achieved.
Application of Policy :
- The initial development poles were established in 1964: two were designated industrial promotion poles (in areas with no industrial development but with potentials for it) and five as industrial development poles (in areas where industrialization has already started).
- In 1969, further four industrial promotion poles were designated, and another one was designated in 1972.
- Vast range of incentives was provided in those national poles, to encourage enterprises creation.
Has the Policy Succeeded in Spain?
- The Pole Policy doubled the investment in industrialization compared with what could have happened in no-policy situation.
- The early seven Spanish poles generated a total of 55.517 jobs between 1964 and 1971. Although this figure appears regionally magnificent, it employed less than 1% of the Spanish labor force, a very humble achievement share as a national strategy.
- The pole regions attracted population from rural areas: population in those regions increased from 6,200,000 inhabitations in 1960 to 7,000,000 in 1970. This negatively influenced the rural activities, in the light of the weak spread effects: annual rate of job increase in the pole areas was 7000, faced by an annual rundown in agricultural employment of 110,000 jobs.
- Only 3% of the gross value creation of the total Spanish industry in 1971 was produced by the pole industries.
Some of the difficulties that faced the poles :
- The duration of incentives were clearly planned for seven years in the early seven poles. This negatively influenced their abilities to stimulate enterprise establishment and polarization.
- Granting subsidies was not spread throughout the life-span of the enterprises, a matter that led high number of them to closure.
- A considerable proportion of pole enterprises did not adhere to market requirements, a matter that influenced their operational returns.
- Industrial expansion was slowed down by bottlenecks in infrastructure provision.
- The initial poles were faced with social conservatism in their early stages, a matter that negatively influenced their abilities to employ rural population, especially in absence of training and awareness programs.
Question : What lessons could be drawn from this case to the development in Saudi Arabia?
References :
* Richardson H.W. 1975. Regional Development Policy and Planning in Spain. Saxon House, England.
- Keywords for net searching "by subject":
(Spanish Industrial Poles).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (7)
The British Regional Growth Areas, with Reference to the Growth Pole Theory
Aim :
To teach students about the concepts borrowed (from the Growth Pole Theory) for the British regional growth areas, as a policy for balanced development and reverse-migration purposes.
Expectations :
Students are expected to know about :
- Similarities of features and aims of this policy to situations in Saudi Arabia.
- Aims, methods of application and consequences of this policy.
- The lessons to learn from this experience for the future of development in Saudi Arabia.
Justifications for the adoption of policy :
- The costs of public outlay would be less for a policy of concentration.
- Concentrated development would be more efficient, owing to the concept of external economies.
- The policy was perceived as promising in both arenas of stimulating development and generating jobs.
- The policy would disperse development, and would help remote areas.
Application of Policy :
- Three measures were formulated for the application of policy, as follows:
1) Concentration of industries, at regional level, had to be directed to areas with potential prospects for development and future expansion.
2) Such areas would be programmed in order to be fostered by a wide range of infrastructure and incentives, so that they would be able to stimulate the attraction and creation of industries.
3) Provision of services would be in the context of coherent plans.
4) Duration of the growth areas would not be determined right from the start, unlike in Spain.
- First, eight growth areas were designated in Central Scotland. Fostering those areas with incentives and services (and linking them with other centers) were handled within the context of sub-regional plans, a matter that led to the formulation and effectiveness of the regional councils.
- The growth area policy was initially adopted under the conservative government but it was largely abandoned when the labor party came to power. The latter replaced the incentives by tax allowances in October 1970.
- However, 40% of the total grants given to establishing firms were directed to the growth areas. Furthermore "Regional Employment Premium" was introduced in such areas to offset costs of employing labor in manufacturing industries.
Consequences :
- Certain problematic parts within the development (or growth) areas were designated as "Special Development Areas", with higher levels of incentives. However, in order to prevent movement of enterprises to such parts, the other parts within the growth areas were designated "Intermediate Development Areas".
- The growth areas generated 220,000 jobs, between 1963 and 1970, compared with 150,000 jobs that could have been generated without it.
- 80% of the firms which moved to the development areas, did that mainly due to difficulties faced in their original locations (inadequate premises, …etc.): they were pushed from their original locations rather than pulled by better conditions in the development areas. They were small in production and employing capacity means.
Question : What lessons could be drawn from this case to the development in Saudi Arabia?
References :
* Damesick P.J., 1987. Regional Problems, Problem Regions and Policy in the United Kingdom. Oxford University Press, New York, U.S.A.
- Keywords for net searching "by subjects":
(British Development Areas)
(Economics of Agglomeration)
(Economics of Scale).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (8)
The British Urban Enterprise Zones
Aim:
To teach students about the change in history, when the concepts embodied within the Growth Pole Theory became more influential in chapping-up the urban rather than the regional development policies in Britain, as a case study.
Expectations :
Students are expected to know about :
- The new urban shifts of the development policies, related to this theory.
- The aims and methods of application of the Enterprise Zones.
- The consequences on enterprise and job generation.
- The consequences on the development of the surrounding areas.
- The lessons to learn from this experience.
Justifications, Objectives, Application and Consequences :
- Enterprise Zones (EZs) were announced as an experimental initiative in the 1980's British Budget. Their purpose has been described in the Department of the Environment brochure (April, 1981) as follows:
"The idea is to see how far industrial and commercial activity can be encouraged by the removal of certain tax burdens, and by relaxing or speeding up the application of certain statutory or administrative controls"(in Tym R. & Partners, 1984, p. 1).
- The areas designated as EZs had to enjoy several advantages, some of which were introduced by Tym and Partners (1984) as follows:
1. Exemption from Development Land Tax (DLT);
2, Exemption from rates on industrial and commercial property;
3. 100% allowances from Corporation and Income Tax for capital expenditure on industrial and commercial buildings;
4. Exemption from industrial training levies and from the requirement to supply information to Industrial Training Boards (ITBs); and
5. Greatly simplified planning regime: developments which conform to the adopted scheme for each zone do not require express planning permission.
- The concept of the Enterprise Zone was cleverly formulated in a modern fashion for Perroux's ideas. Concentrating infrastructure facilities and other economic privileges was deemed a good approach to adopt in attracting firms to certain urban areas from were benefits could spread to the surrounding areas. In other terms, EZs were adopted as a policy probably due to a political belief in the theoretical justifications attributed to concentrated industries e.g. mechanisms of polarization, trickling benefits to the surroundings and stimulating the role of the Perroux's propulsive industry in initiating benefits through the forces of external economies. The British Conservative Parties in opposition in 1978 were probably searching for policies by which they could strengthen their electoral position. The introduction of EZs as a new policy aimed at the attraction of more Jobs in certain areas, from where benefits might spread to other areas, would seem to have been one such policy.
- In terms of application, the first 11 zones were designated in 1981-82. A second batch of 14 zones was designated in 1983-84. In aggregate terms, they totaled 25 EZs, of which 23 were in Britain and two were in Northern Ireland.
- According to the British Department of Environment (1985), there were 53,500 employees in the British EZs in December 1985, the largest number of them occurred in the 11 first round designated zones. At the same time, just over 2,330 establishments were located in the British Zones collectively. In the U.K., the 23 EZs covered an area of 3,486 hectares, of which 50% was developed by 1985.
- The total number of employees increased by 46% (10,400) in the first round zones between designation and December 1985. Employment in the second round zones increased by 170% (i.e. 9,300) between designation and December 1985. The number of establishments increased in all zones.
- However, such success in terms of job creation was preceded by generous investments. For example, there has been substantial public investment in land acquisition, infrastructure and buildings in all the British EZs which totaled to Pound Sterling 172 million by March 1985.
- Therefore, two points may be highlighted regarding the above. First, the first round EZs have shown a better performance than the second round ones in terms of polarization. This emphasizes the importance of the time dimension for such as policy. The success of the Conservatives in retaining office seems to have given the EZs a longer life than if another party had come to power. Second, the ESz enjoyed generous incentives and privileges without which they might not have shown such effective polarization.
- In order to assess the success of the EZs, it is necessary to judge their ability to stimulation the creation of jobs from scratch, to polarize industries from outside their individual regions and to spread benefits to their surrounding areas. The previously provided data shows a dramatic increase in job numbers in all the British EZs up to 1985. However the figures do not go far enough in giving the proportion of jobs which were actually generated – rather than polarized – by the zones. It is difficult, therefore, to evaluate the ability of the EZs to create jobs from scratch. Nevertheless, 85% of firms would be operating in the same regions in the absence of EZs and that only 4 – 12% of new firms might not have been started without the zones. Furthermore, 90% of the relocating firms came from the same regions. If such findings are accepted, then at least two points can be emphasized: First, EZs were more successful in influencing location decisions of existing firms than in stimulating the generation of firms from scratch; and, Second, EZs seem to affect decisions on site location of firms which relocate within their regions, but with less ability to influence their decisions as to which region they will locate in; i.e. they stimulate polarization only of within-region enterprises.
- Therefore, EZs showed great ability in terms of attracting firms from the same regions but not from other regions. In doing so, EZs were accused of attracting firms which could have stimulated development in different decayed urban areas in their regions. Thus, the polarization success shown by EZs could be at the expense of the surrounding decayed urban areas – and also at the expense of the backward and depressed areas in the same regions.
Question : What lessons could be drawn from this case to the development in Saudi Arabia?
References:
* Keeting M. Midwinter A. and Taylor P., 1983. Enterprise Zone and Area Projects. Department of Administration, University Strathclyde, U.K.
- Keywords for the net search "by subject".
(Enterprise Zones).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (9)
Influence of the Growth Pole Theory on Chapping-up Regional and Urban Development Policies in Some Developing Countries
Aim :
To widen the knowledge and apprehension of students through giving them a brief about the adoption of policies related to the Growth Pole Theory in some developing countries.
Expectations :
Students are expected to know about :
* Policy-related features in the three developing case studies: India, South-Korea and Nigeria.
* Aims, methods of application and consequences of those relevant policies, in the three developing countries.
* Lessons learnt for the other developing countries in general and for Saudi Arabia in particular.
Aims of policy in some developing Countries :
- Many developing countries intentionally or blindly borrowed the concepts of Francois Perroux and applied them as policies for purposes such as overcoming regional disparities and/or improving national industrial outputs. This lecture aims to cast light on the experience of regional development concentrations in some developing countries so that study issues can be better explained for the future of policy in Saudi Arabia: the cases of South Korea, Nigeria and India will be briefly consulted.
- Concentration policies have been applied in developing countries for different aims. Korea, for example, adopted the policy for the purpose of minimizing congestion problems and over-concentration of manufacturing in Seoul – the capital city – so that regional disparities could be made less acute. The policy was adopted in Nigeria for, in the first instance, attracting firms to concentrations for economic advantages, secondly, to overcome the problem of high land costs which was facing individual investors, and thirdly, to reduce the cost of development infrastructure to individual indigenous and foreign investors. Clearly, the policy was applied in Nigeria to enhance national industrial output rather than for regional equity purposes - i.e. similar aims to the policy in Spain. In India, the policy was adopted primarily for achieving balanced regional growth. Furthermore, the policy has been applied in countries like Algeria, Tunisia, Iran and many others. However, due to the absence of substantive references which would enable the evaluation of policy performance in a large number of developing countries, only the experiences of Nigeria, South Korea and India will be highlight in this brief.
Applications :
- The policy has been implemented in South Korea through the designation of five main regions, namely, The Southern Coastal Industrial Area; the South; the Pusan Region; the Seoul Region; and the Middle Region. Industrial estates have been established in all these regions, except for the congested city of Seoul. The criteria used for selection of the locations for industrial estates were not clearly explained. However some analysis mentioned that the Southern Coastal Area was chosen as a special industrial area for three reasons: first, it is suitable for building large ports for the import of raw materials from abroad and for the export of processed goods; second, the area is accessible to Japan – a big market; and third, the area contains large cities which could be counter poles to the city of Seoul. Assuming that the criteria used in selecting the other industrial areas in Korea were of a similar nature, potential for future growth and development – implying suitability of land form, availability of raw materials, accessibility to efficient markets, … etc. – seems to have been one of the main factors considered in selecting the Korean industrial areas.
- The policy was implemented in Nigeria through the designation of sixteen urban centers. In each of them, with Greater Lagos, the capital city, as the largest, industrial estates have been built by the Nigerian Regional Councils. Nigeria has never considered the reduction of regional disparities in the country. The policies were of purely sectoral-economic nature rather than of spatio-economic. Greater Lagos alone accounted for about 40% of the gross output, 30% of the total employment and 30% of the total number of industrial establishments in Nigeria, in 1977. Despite that, the policy advocated concentration of industries in urban centers – including the congested Greater Lagos itself. Accordingly, regional disparities continued to increase with rural Nigeria suffering most.
- In India, the rapid increase in aggregate population intensified the general economic problems and regional disparities. It was estimated, in 1977 that by the year 2000 India's population was expected to exceed nine hundred million. To highlight regional disparities in India, it is worthwhile to notice that of the total manufacturing workforce, 49.4% were concentrated in the four relatively industrialized cities of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, in 1977.
- On the other hand, these four states accounted for only 29.7% of the total population in India. In order to minimize regional disparities, the Indian Government built 440 industrial estates in the backward and depressed regions. The aims set for these industrial estates collectively were: first, to encourage industrialization in the backward and depressed regions; second, to strengthen and develop the base of small towns and rural areas; and third, to cut-down concentration of population and manufacturing I the large metropolitan areas, and hence to promote decentralization.
Supporting Policies and Incentives :
- Two questions lend themselves to discussion: First, what kind of supporting policies have been adopted by these countries in order to attract manufacturing industries to the designated growth centers and industrial estates? Second, have these policies succeeded in the three countries? In terms of the first question, Korea built industrial estates and provided in them a wide range of infrastructure services. This was the most important tool by which the Korean Government influenced the location of industries. Tax incentives and subsidies were the second major policy employed by the Korean Government in order to move firms from Seoul and other industrial areas towards the industrial estates. Industries leaving Seoul and relocating in the industrial estates were exempted from income and corporation taxes. On the other hand, high acquisition and registration taxes were levied on any new factory locating in Seoul. The levy was as much as five times the normal one.
- In Nigeria, the industrial estates built in the sixteen urban centers had been equipped with a wide range of facilities – such as banks, housing plots for workers and executives, electricity, water supply, sanitation disposal systems and other amenities, rail sidings and goods access roads. The intention was to stimulate the creating of industries in urban areas. Most of the industrial estates were located in close proximity to ports, from where their imported raw materials could be easily transported. An important point to notice here is that there had been no financial incentive policy accompanying the industrial estates policy in Nigeria.
- In India, the 440 industrial estates established in the backward and depressed regions had been equipped with all the required facilities – costing 500 million rupees. A range of incentives and subsidies were offered in favor of firms locating in any of those industrial estates – e.g. loans and a subsidy equivalent to 15% of the initial capital costs.
Consequences of Policies :
- In term of the previously stated second question, which conjectures on whether or not the policy had succeeded in these three countries, share of the total Korean manufacturing output in the city of Seoul had decreased appreciably since the adoption of the policy. Bearing in mind that the policy was introduced in Korea in 1962, the share of the city of Seoul in the total manufacturing enterprises in the Seoul region decreased from 76.4% in 1963 to 70.9% in 1972. This was attributed mainly to the policy of industrial estates. Heavy industries such as chemicals and steel – which were heavily dependent on semi-processed raw materials – moved to concentrate in the Southern Coastal Industrial Area: most of them moved from the city of Seoul. Nevertheless, the consumption-oriented goods and tertiary industries continued to concentrate in Seoul. Therefore, in general, the policy achieved some success in slowing down the manufacturing growth rate in Seoul but never succeeded in bringing it to an end: similar results to the similar policy in France. In terms of spreading benefits to the surrounding areas, the Korean industrial estates had not demonstrated tangible success. Mostly, they were developed self-contained cells in run-down urban areas.
- The backward and forward linkages between the Nigerian industries and the agricultural sector which engaged the highest proportion of manpower was weak. To understand this, backward linkage is defined as the ratio of inputs from other sectors to total output. The forward linkage is the ratio of sales to other sectors to total sales. This argument suggests the failure of the Nigerian industrial estates in terms of spreading functional benefits to other economic sectors and a lessening of the ability to stimulate the maximization of national industrial output: the aim which those industrial estates were established to achieve.
- By all accounts, the Indian industrial estates as an approach to tackling regional disparities were a failure. The share of the Indian cities (with a population of more than 100,000) in total industries rose from 25. 64% in 1963 to 43. 04% om 1083/ Pm the ptjer jamd. The sjare pf the naclward amd de[ressed tpwms (with a population of less than 100,000) declined from 22. 77% in 1963 to 20. 232% in 1973. As previously stated, subsidy and incentive policies were meant to favor the backward and depressed areas over the same period. Thus, the policy had not succeeded in attracting industries from the large urban areas to the depressed and backward regions. Furthermore, the share of the large urban areas in total manufacturing enterprises in India kept increasing. This is a clear failure of the 440 industrial estates and their incentive policies in the depressed and backward regions in India. Factors like poor market conditions and unavailability of raw materials and skilled labor in rural India might have worked in favor of the large urban areas, in India.
Reasons for the Inability of Policies to Show Better Results in those Countries :
- Why have concentration policies not shown better results in those three countries? Some problems and mistakes have accompanied formulation and implementation of these policies, without which better results could have been obtained in those three countries. Some of the difficulties and mistakes accompanied the application of the policy in South Korea were as follows:
1. Most of the industrial plants located in rural areas had their headquarters in more centralized areas. Their employees were mainly skilled workers from larger urban centers. Their products were usually transported to urban areas – where demand levels could justify relatively high prices. Consequently, benefits were spreaded up the hierarchy of urban centers rather than centrifugally to the surrounding areas. Therefore, the policy failed to overcome regional disparities, and the growth of Seoul in terms of population and market continued – although at a lower rate;
2. Most of the petro-chemical raw materials were imported from overseas. This led to two negative impacts: first, prices of such products inside Korea became causally linked to the prices in the countries from which they wee imported; and second, this important sector of the Korean industry became less linked with local activities and materials. Therefore, the Korean industrial estates had failed to spread benefits in such a way that local activities could be developed and/or local materials utilized;
3. Almost all the Korean industrial estates had not been implemented in the context of comprehensive urban planning and development programs. Consequently, urban development lagged behind industrial development in Korea. The weak spread mechanisms shown by the Korean industrial estates intensified this problem; and
4. The large Southern Coastal Industrial Area was occupied by large heavy industrial complexes which worked to spread benefits to overseas countries – from which raw materials were imported and to which most of their products were exported – and to Seoul, where some manufactured products were sold. The other backward and depressed areas have not benefited from such economic cycles.
- In Nigeria, the policy suffered from several problems and mistakes, such as:
1. The ambiguity of the objectives of the industrial estates established in the sixteen Nigerian urban centers led to a failure in terms of adopting proper supportive policies. It was not clear whether the industrial estates were there only to contribute to the enhancement of the national industrial output or to influence the spatial distribution of industries as well. Clearly, ambiguity of objectives made continuous assessment of policy consequences, and hence policy monitoring, a difficult task to carry out in Nigeria;
2. Despite the growing agricultural activities and the availability of some raw materials, most industries tended to import semi-processed raw materials from abroad. Like in Korea, this led to week backward and forward linkages with local activities, raw materials and other indigenous sectors; and
3. Concentrating industrial estates in the sixteen urban centers – with the congested Greater Lagos as the largest one – at a time of aggressively increasing regional disparities was perhaps the wrong policy at the wrong time. Massive rural-urban migration consequently occurred. The losers were the rural areas and their agricultural pursuits.
- The 440 industrial estates in the backward and depressed regions of India failed collectively, as previously mentioned, in pulling population and industries out from large pressurized urban areas. Some of the factors blamed for the failure were as follows:
1. Industries were mainly of a capital intensive nature. Therefore, they had little to offer for curing the problem of high unemployment levels in India in general, and in the backward and depressed rural areas in particular;
2. As the Korean, the Indian industrial estates were not elements in comprehensive regional spatio-economic plans. Thus, weak linkages with local activities led to a weak ability to spread benefits to the surrounding areas;
3. Some national policies contradicted with the policy of industrial estates as a means of overcoming regional disparities. For example, the national policy of price equalization throughout India encouraged industries to locate in urban areas, where they could make profits under such circumstances in the only way possible – selling more; and
4. The financial incentives provided were not generously biased in favour of the rural depressed regions, where most of the Indian industrial estates were located. Furthermore, no economic burdens and levies were put on industries locating in urban areas. Consequently, urban areas continued to attract more industries and population.
- In conclusion, the policy has achieved little success in Korea and clearly failed in India and in Nigeria. In all the three cases, the polarization mechanism was causally related to generosity of incentives while the benefit trickling-down mechanism of concentrated industries was almost negligible. However, weak linkages between industries, local activities and raw materials, lack of skilled labor (especially in rural areas) and lack of comprehensive approaches to urban and industrial development were some of the common problems.
Question : What lessons could be drawn from these experiences to the Saudi development?
References:
* Several References : Handouts will be provided in class.
- Keywords for net search "by subject".
(Rural Industrial Estate in India)
(Industrial Cities in South Korea)
(Industrial Cities in Nigeria)
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (10)
The Jeddah Industrial City as an Example for the Similar Cases in Saudi Arabia
Aim :
To learn about a case in Saudi Arabia, which borrowed concepts from those initially embodied within the Growth Pole Theory.
Expectations :
Students are expected to know about :
* The statistical and economic background to the Saudi (light-industries) industrial cities.
* The objectives drawn and the incentives incorporate.
* The consequences and the suggestions for strategic improvements.
Task :
Students are asked to collect materials, such as reports about the industrial strategies / cities in Saudi Arabia, and a map for and statistics about the industrial estate of Jeddah. These will be used in class for a workshop-based meeting.
The workshop will answer questions such as the followings:
* How to draw a sample frame and to choose sample units for a study from multi-disciplined population (i.e. factories in this case)?
* How to find about issues like the followings?
- Existence of propulsive industries within the industrial city of Jeddah.
- The Extent to which functional linkages exist, amongst industries.
- The extent to which functional linkages exist between those industries and the surrounding areas and the local factors of production (investments, labor, capital, raw materials and markets).
Intention :
It is intended to adopt the method of learning-by-doing in this task, in order to diversify the methods of acquiring knowledge. Furthermore, students, can easily sample from residential units, but were not trained to sample from other types of population (e.g. industries). This task will help them to overcome this drawback. It is also noticeable that students will be able to judge whether the mechanisms embodied in the Growth Pole Theory do really function in this industrial estate.
References :
They are embodied in the previous description of the task.
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (11)
Regional Disparities
Aim :
To study some terminologies and philosophies that is related to regional balanced and imbalanced development.
Expectations :
Students should be able (after studying this) to understand many relevant issues, such as:
* Some related definitions, such as; backward, forward and depressed regions; forward and backward economic linkages; neo-classical, cumulative causation and core-periphery development models.
* Measurement of regional disparities.
* Possibility of and requirement for minimizing regional development disparities.
Definitions :
- Disparities mean inequalities.
- Backward Regions means regions that have not yet been proven as forward or depressed ones.
- Depressed Regions are regions that were deserted by previously established investments due to being unable to retain them; i.e. became problematic regions.
- Forward Regions are regions that proved able to grow and retain investments.
- Backward linkages are the ratios of inputs from other local sectors to total inputs in the stage of processing/production.
- Forward linkages are the ratios of sales to other local sectors to total sales in the stage of processing/production.
Question :
Is occurrence and perpetuity of regional disparities inevitable?
Three development models attempted to answer this question, as follows:
1. The Neo-Classical Model :
* This model is based on several assumptions:
- Full employment (i.e. unemployment = 0)
- Perfect competition.
- One homogenous commodity
- Zero transport costs
- Fixed supply of labor (entrants to laborforce = leavers)
- No technical Progress.
Under these unrealistic conditions :
- Higher wages to labor are found in areas where labor is less and capital is more.
- Higher returns to capital are found in areas where capital is less and labour is more.
* In this since, the Neo-Classical Model believes that labour and capital would practice migration in opposite directions, until equality between regions in per-capita income are attained: i.e. total regional equality could be achieved only under these unrealistic conditions, or assumptions.
Note : The per-capita income, in private sector, was then described as the best measure for regional equalities/disparities, since it responds to the sum of the supply/demand/price mechanisms.
2. The Cumulative Causation Model :
* This model believes that, under free marked conditions, developed areas would continue to develop, with negligible ability to spread benefits to the surrounding areas from where factors of production tend to be supplied (refer to the Myrdal's concepts of backwash and spread, and to the Hirschman's concepts of polarization and trickling).
* In the view of this model, existence of regional disparities is inevitable, and the aim should be towards mitigating them rather than totally eroding them.
3. The Core Periphery Model
* Friedmann (1966) described the development relation between core and periphery as "colonial", where cores keep growing and depriving peripheries from their factors of production, with less ability to spread benefits to them.
* He drew the attention to the fact that the more governments attempt to reverse flows of factors of production and investments to be from cores to peripheries (rather than the opposite) the more that would be at the expense of the national economy. He rather suggested that the colonial development relation would make it impossible to totally overcome regional disparities, and suggested that development of peripheries should be realistically limited to their real potentials.
Note: Therefore, only the Neo-classical model believes that (under those totally unrealistic assumptions) regional disparities could be eroded.
Question : What lessons could be drawn from these models to the Saudi development?
References :
* Armstrong H. and Taylor J., 1985. Regional Economic and Policy, Philip Allan Publishers. Oxford.
- Keywords for net searching "by subject".
(Regional Disparities)
(Backward Regions).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (12)
Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)
Aim :
To acknowledge students about this development concept, and the role of planners towards it, in a way that they become convinced about the multi-disciplined fields that they are expected to be involved in, in future.
Expectations :
Students should be able to :
* Understand this concept, and the background to its adoption.
* Know about the countries that tend to apply it.
* Know about the types of projects that officially need EIA reports, as requirements for attaining development permissions.
* Know about the contents of an EIA report.
* Be aware of the role of planners in this respect.
Definition :
- EIA is an evaluation for the actual or potential implications of existing or intended significant projects on the various dimensions of the environment (air, land, sea, and underground).
Background :
Public concerns peaked in the 1970s, to call for evaluating the consequences of both private and public significant projects and enterprises on the environment. That was because private investors in particular tended to avoid applying voluntary measures to protect environment from impacts of their projects, unless required by law to do so. Causing pollution, transforming physical characters of the environment and depleting resources were amongst the negative impacts of the Industrial Revolution in Europe during the 19th and the 20 centuries. With improvement of technology, damage to environment could be both more aggressive and more rapid.
The Countries Involved :
The OECO (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) countries adopted, in 1976, the submission of an EIA report as a requirement for permitting the establishment or the continuation of a significant project. Independent bodies would prepare such a report. Those countries included USA, Australia, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Japan, Holland, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Britain and Switzerland.
Projects most Requiring EIA Reports :
- Major Installation for Extractive or Manufacturing Industries.
- Power Plants of all Types, and Water Supply Schemes.
- Major Transport Infrastructures.
- New Town and other Large-scale Urbanizations.
Contents of an EIA Report :
- Description of the project in concern, regardless of the environment in which it is intended to be established, suggesting features of the suitable environments for this project.
- Description of the targeted environment, regardless of the intended project, suggesting the type of investments environmentally adequate for this environment.
- Assessment of the impacts of the intended project on the targeted environment and, in case of unsuitability, suggesting:
a) Alternative environments to the intended project.
b) Alternative projects to the intended environment.
- Overall final analysis and compilation of the report.
Role of Planners
Planners do the coordination and management role in preparing such a report, with other specialized people preparing the detailed assessments according to the related specializations (e.g. chemical, traffic, mineral, plantation, geology, ..etc..).
References :
* Department of the Environment (DoE), 1985. Environmental Impact Assessments. Crown, England.
- Keywords for net searching "by subject".
(Environmental Impacts)
(Environmental Impacts Assessment).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (13)
Tourism Development
Aim :
To teach students about some of the concepts and philosophies related to this fashionably growing and promising development sector.
Expectations :
* Define tourism and tourists, and classify them.
* Know about the impacts of tourism on development.
* Differentiate between tourism primary and secondary attractions.
* Learn about the strategic approaches to tourism development, with reference to Jeddah as a case study.
* Draw lessons for the future of tourism development in Jeddah and in Saudi Arabia.
Definition :
It has been so difficult to formulate an agreed-upon single definition for tourism, due to many reasons, amongst which are the following:
- Seasons of and reasons for travel does significantly vary.
- The sectors involved in travel and in serving travelers (before and during travel as well as upon arrival to the intended places) are so many; travel agencies, banking, catering,.. etc.
Lately, the International association of scientific experts in tourism (IASET) adopted the definition suggested in 1989 by the Swiss Professors, Hunziker and Krapl, which is:
"Tourism is the sum of the phenomena and relationships arising from the travel and stay of non-residents, in so far as they do not lead to permanent residence and are not connected with any earning activity in the area visited".
A task : Students are asked to list the main features of tourists, in the light of this definition, in preparation for discussion in class.
Importance of Tourism Development :
- Development of domestic tourism can trim the leakage of money that happen due to citizens traveling to abroad tourism areas; students are asked to elaborate on this in class, with reference to the concepts of the regional economic multipliers, that were studied, within URP -425.
- Development of domestic tourism because inevitable, since the situation of a country on the international scale of "Tourism Industry and Trade" should be either a looser or a gainer. Further explanations and demonstration will be provided in class.
- The approach of comprehensiveness to tourism development became inevitable as well. This approach treats leisure as only one purpose of tourism: other purposes include religious, cultural, educational, medical, shopping,.. etc. This approach, which is embodied within the previously written definition of tourism, ensures that the related enterprises and investments would gain returns on year-round basis rather than only during the narrow leisure seasons, especially in case of attracting tourists from abroad.
- The social and value benefits of domestic tourism are clear to analysts.
Question :
How important is a place as a tourism destination?
Three elements tend to be evaluated in order to answer this: attractions, accessibility and amenities.
- Attractions include site attractions (e.g. climatic, scenic, historical, educational, and cultural) and event attractions (e.g. congresses, exhibitions, sporting).
- Accessibility is a function of the distance moved and the means of external transport existed.
- Amenities include accommodation, catering, entertainment, communication ,..etc.
References :
* Burkrat A. and Medilk S., 1989. Tourism : Past, Present and Future. Pitman, U.K.
- Keywords for net searching "by subject":
(Tourism)
(Tourism Development)
(Tourism Industry)
(Tourism Economy).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (14)
Attempts to Limit or Regulate City Growth : The Green Belts (GBs) in Britain and the Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) in Saudi Arabia
Aim :
To discuss the reasonings, procedures and impacts of the attempts to limit or regulate city outward growth.
Expectations :
Students are expected to :
* Define and compare/contrast the GBs and the UGBs.
* Study in the methods of application and the consequences of each of them.
* Learn lessons for the future of this urban active strategy in Saudi Arabia.
Green Belts (GBs) :
Definition :
A green belt is applied in Britain to mean a line or a wide area drawn around or in some parts around the concerned city, to prevent its outward expansion in all or in some directions.
Current Objectives of the GBs :
* Limiting urban sprawl.
* Preventing mergence of cities/settlements.
* Increasing efficiency of public services.
* Preventing invasion of developments to agricultural and other valuable areas that locate in the urban fringes.
History
* The first attempt to draw green belts around cities in Britain is traced back to the law initiated by the Queen Elisabeth the first in 1850. The law prevented building on an area of three miles wide from the London's Gates. That was due to the need to preserve enough pastures and agricultural area as well as to decrease the chances of disease (black-death) inventions: buildings became isolated from forests.
* The late 1930s brought back the green belt policy as a means to stop invasion of buildings to agricultural areas that located in urban fringes. Local governments applied this policy around the large cities, especially London.
Application Methods :
* Local governments were buying the private lands that were located within the green belt areas, in order to prevent emergence of new unfavourable developments. That approach was apparently troubled due to some owners not willing to sell their lands.
* The Green Belt Act 1938, which was formulated by the central government, enabled to local governments to buy lands within Green Belt jurisdictions by negotiations or by law, if needed. But buying those lands was extremely expensive.
* The Town Planning Act 1947 invented the necessity of obtaining building permissions in order for any development to take place in the concerned areas. Therefore, controlling developments in such areas became possible and cheaper, since the ownership patterns of lands were kept as they were. This law was later adopted within urban areas as well, and became internationally applied since then.
The uses Allowed Within or Beyond the GBs :
They are those uses which do not contradict with the nature of those areas, such as:
* Agricultural buildings
* Hospitals
* Sport centers
* Mining
* Cemeteries
Some of the Impacts of the GBs :
* Increased prices (due to decreased supply) of lands and housing units in the concerned cities: middle and low income people suffered most, and this preluded for the emergence of the strategy of the new-cities.
* It better preserved the agricultural and other economically valuable areas in the urban fringes, though their prices significantly decreased.
* It increased the chances of getting city centers rehabilitated and redeveloped.
* It increased building and population densities in the concerned cities. This necessarily increased efficiency of public utilities and community facilities in such cities.
The Concept of Urban Growth Boundaries (UGBs) :
* It has been applied in the Saudi cities since 1410H, on a five-year basis, for regulating the outward expansions of the cities in the light of the actual needs for such outward expansions.
* Public Utilities and community facilities would not be provided in any area unless officially encompassed by the urban growth boundaries.
* The concerned municipalities prepare studies estimating the need for outward expansions during the forthcoming five years. Requirements for fostering such expansions would be strategically catered for by the concerned national five-year plan.
Objectives of the UGBs :
* Increasing the efficiency of the public utilities and community facilities in the cities.
* Giving the cities their real fabric size.
* Other objectives will be highlighted in class.
Questions :
Students should use the upper-explained experience of the GBs to answer the following questions with regard to the UGBs, in preparation for class:
* How does the UGB differ from the GB in terms of objectives and methods of application?
* How might the UGB differ from the GB in terms of consequences?
References :
* Alghamdi A., 1991. Urban Growth Boundaries. In the Journal of Engineering Sciences, Vol. 3, pp. 3-21, College of Engineering, King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
- Keywords for net searching : "by subject":
(Green belts)
(Limitation of Urban Growth)
(Urban Growth Boundaries).
URP – 426 : Regional Planning "2". Handout No. (15)
Student-led Seminars
Aim :
To enable students to explain the findings of their term-papers, and to share ideas in class-based seminars, supervised by the instructor, for the remaining of the semester.
Expectations :
* Help students to seriously prepare their papers, since they are asked to present the findings to audience.
* Train students on gaining courage and building personality for presenting their ideas.
* Enable students to share ideas and participate in enriching the course.
Department of Urban and Regional Planning
College of Environmental Design
King Abdulaziz University
URP 426 – Regional Planning 2.
Sample of the Exam Sheet
You have 90 minutes to answer all questions.
1. A – Criteria of rurality may differ from country to another. Demonstrate this with reference to examples from the cases studied in this course.
B – What do you learn from this answer?
2. What lessons could you learn for the industrial development in Saudi Arabia from the following experiences:
a) The local industrial centers in Norway.
b) The rural industrial cities in India.
c) The enterprise zones in Britain
3. In the light of what you studied in this course, what lessons would you learn for the following fields of development in Saudi Arabia :
a) Tourism development
b) Environmental Impact Assessment
c) Urban Growth Boundaries.
* Good Luck to You *
|