CALL FOR ABSTRACTS

Land Use Policy Special Issue on “Collaborative Decision-making for Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Regeneration”

Guest Editors:

Dr. Hao Wang, Central University of Finance and Economics (hao.wang@cufe.edu.cn)

Prof. Bo-sin Tang, The University of Hong Kong (bsbstang@hku.hk)

Dr. Helen Wei Zheng, The University of Manchester (helen.zheng@manchester.ac.uk)

Prof. Kenneth Reardon, University of Massachusetts Boston (Kenneth.Reardon@umb.edu)

Prof. Geoffrey Qiping Shen, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (geoffrey.shen@polyu.edu.hk)

Rationale of the Special Issue

Urban regeneration activities provide opportunities for renewing old urban fabric, reusing large quantities of abandoned urban areas, controlling rampant urban sprawl, and addressing a series of social, economic, and environmental challenges (Mayer, et al., 2005: Wang et al., 2014; Zheng et al., 2017). However, previous experience has shown that urban regeneration initiatives, even with invigorating policy imaginaries, sometimes caused negative consequences, such as social exclusion and gentrification, loss of unique local characteristics, high housing prices, and other problems (Larsen and Hansen, 2008; Montgomery, 2008; Rohe, 2009). Urban regeneration has taught us valuable lessons such as: physical renewal alone is problematic; local social networks matter; total clearance cannot solve the underlying problems that cause decline; listening to local residents is particularly important as experts do not have all the answers (Rohe, 2009).

Collaborative decision making is a process aiming to combine the input from all stakeholders and make the optimal choice from the standpoint of the objectivity and reality. The process of urban regeneration inevitably involves different issues at multiple spatial scales and various stakeholders, all of which complicate the planning, decision-making,

implementation, and evaluation of urban regeneration (Wang et al., 2013; Zheng et al., 2014). Urban regeneration initiatives are also characterized by the complexity of potential solutions (Mayer et al., 2005). One major challenge in dealing with various issues among different stakeholders is to establish a discussion while creating a consensus (Randolph & Freestone, 2012). It calls for the collaboration of various organizations, communities, and individuals to work together, seek for common benefits, and avoid the cost of addressing conflicts for advancing the capacity of collaborative decision-making in complex urban regeneration (Jung et al., 2015; Pe?rez et al., 2018). It is also important to understand the underlying dynamics of urban regeneration, how different aspects of the built environment interact with each other, and how the wider policy context and strategies can contribute to more sustainable development.

Despite many efforts to understand the urban regeneration process and its impacts, knowledge about collaborative decision-making for sustainable and inclusive urban renewal is still limited. Past research on urban renewal decision-making is characterized by a loose pattern that ranges from a single issue to various approaches. Inclusive decision- making has been highlighted in recent decades (Kingston, 2007). Property-led regeneration always ignores social issues, local competiveness improvement, and infrastructure investment (He and Wu, 2016). In consideration of long-term development, these issues should be prioritized. Associated policy-making is dependent on local contexts, different stages of urbanization, and economic capacities (Couch et al., 2011; Kleinhans, 2004; Smith, 2017). Meanwhile, the emergence of new technologies has greatly shifted contemporary decision-making approaches and policy-making processes (Hanzl, 2007). To tap into the latest advancement and encourage more studies in this research agenda, this special issue of Land Use Policy aims to advance academic knowledge and provoke policy debates on collaborative decision-making for sustainable and inclusive urban regeneration.

We would like to invite authors from around the world to contribute different types of submissions including critical literature reviews, case studies, and original research papers on collaborative decision-making for sustainable and inclusive urban regeneration, which include but are not limited to the following themes:

Theme 1: Theorizing Collaboration in Sustainable and Inclusive Urban Regeneration.

– Key drivers/factors influencing collaborative decision-making for sustainable and inclusive urban regeneration;

– Exploration in theoretical aspects of collaborative processes, group dynamics, empowerment and conflict management;

– Examination of theoretical perspectives and models for analyzing the processes of collaboration, negotiation, conflict and decision making.

Theme 2: Decision Support Tools/Approaches for Urban Regeneration.

– Development of new tools/approaches to support collaborative decision-making on urban regeneration, e.g., decision support systems that utilize advanced technologies and big data, participatory GIS application, etc.;

– Evaluation on the performance of collaborative decision support tools for urban regeneration, e.g., multi-indicator assessment on the effectiveness of decision support tools, in terms of economic, social, and environmental impacts;

– Applications of collaborative decision support tools to real cases of urban regeneration at multiple spatial scales.

Theme 3: Stakeholder Management in Collaborative Decision-making of Urban Regeneration.

– Identification of the roles of, and relationships between, different stakeholders in the process of urban regeneration, including but not limited to governments, investors/developers, architects/urban planners, citizens and community organizations;

– How to reduce conflicts and disputes between key stakeholders/decision makers by theoretical and practical approaches, in order to improve collaborative decision-making of urban regeneration policies and initiatives;

– How to facilitate and enhance public participation and inclusive urban regeneration, e.g., using innovative measures and technologies, applying institutional approaches, etc.

Important Dates & Submission Information

If you are interested in being involved in this special issue, please send an 800-word abstract (including the rationale, methods, data and expected results of your papers) to the guest editors (Email: hao.wang@cufe.edu.cn or helen.zheng@manchester.ac.uk) on or before Jan 15, 2020.

For more information about the aims of the journal and submission guidelines, please see https://www.journals.elsevier.com/land-use-policy