PhD Programme in Urban Development and Governance: Research Clusters Specialisation
Urban Land Governance (ULG)
Description
Land governance can be defined as “the process by which decisions are made regarding the access to and use of land, the manner in which those decisions are implemented, and the way that conflicting interests in land are reconciled” (GLTN/FAO/UN-Habitat). Good land governance is at the heart of properly functioning land institutions, such as tenure systems and property rights, and is instrumental in determining the success of land administration, management of natural resources, land markets, and land-based revenue generation. These land-based challenges, moreover, are at the root of some of the most pressing concerns in managing cities, including: local economic development; strategic and physical planning; enabling social housing and poverty reduction measures; providing infrastructure and basic services; and managing the urban environment.
Overall research field
The ULG specialisation challenges students and researchers to investigate land governance questions in three main clusters: 1.
property rights and the rule of law;
2. land markets and finance; 3. Possible topics
water management and natural resources.
Within these themes, ULG research interests and focal areas include, but are not limited to, the following: •
Land grabbing and land conflict
•
Access to land for affordable housing
•
Tenure security
•
Land-based revenues and land value capture
•
Land-based instruments for social and economic policy
•
Flood resilience management through better land policies and planning systems
•
The governance of land and natural resources in peri-urban areas and the urban-rural continuum
Specialisation
Urban Housing and Livelihoods (UHL)
Description
The UHL Research Objective is to understand processes of neighbourhood development (new housing development, urban regeneration, slum upgrading), including policy design, implementation and the impact on local initiatives and livelihoods
Overall research field
• • •
Possible topics
What type of initiatives do the urban poor (low income families, slum dwellers) take, individually or collectively, to improve the liveability of their settlement? How are the urban poor involved, in theory and in practice, in the design and implementation of neighbourhood development policies, programmes and projects? What is the impact of neighbourhood development programmes and projects on the local initiatives and livelihoods of the urban poor?
Social housing: • • • •
Social housing in low and middle income countries (incl. public housing, government-built housing, subsidized housing programmes, low-income housing, affordable housing) Dutch and European context of social housing Formal (and informal) rental housing sector Management of medium and high rise (social) housing developments
Case studies in Rotterdam, Western Balkans (e.g. Albania), South Africa, Guatemala. Informal settlement dynamics: • • • •
Integrated urban upgrading Land tenure regularization Resettlement Forced evictions, clearance and relocation
Livelihood, poverty alleviation and social policies: • • • •
Urban livelihood strategies of the poor Livelihood asset management Policy, institutions and processes affecting livelihoods of the urban poor Social vulnerability context of the urban poor
Neighbourhood regeneration and design: • • •
Mixed-used neighbourhood development Gentrification Green and sustainable building technologies
Cross-cutting themes: • Participation • Rights-based approach to housing • Urban accessibility (social, economic, political, physical) • Social exclusion and inclusion • Spatial segregation and integration Specialisation
Managing and Financing Urban Infrastructure (MFUI): Water & Sanitation, Energy, Transport and Green Buildings
Description
The MFUI specialisation provides hands-on knowledge and expertise on how local governments can most efficiently provide, manage, finance and operate municipal infrastructure to delivery desired levels of service.
Overall research field
The specialisation is connected to our Green City work field where providing resilient, energy efficient and smart infrastructure plays a prominent role in helping cities to become more sustainable and green. It covers aspects of drinking water, wastewater, drainage & urban floods using green infrastructure, integrated solid waste, green building, transport & mobility, electricity and renewable energy infrastructure sectors, and is primarily focused on developing and transition countries.
Possible topics
Departing from a particular research framework, our research interests involves theories, concepts and aspects of governance, management and finance to explain, to assess and to evaluate the quality of the services being delivered by local governments as well as their impacts on the local socio-economic and environmental sustainability.
Specialisation
Urban Environment and Climate Change (UECC)
Description
Overall research field
The Urban Environment and Climate Change (UECC) specialisation investigates the most recent trends, developments and challenges related to green and low carbon growth, climate resilience and ecosystems services in contemporary cities. Among others, our research interests focus on the relationship between different urban designs and environmental impacts, urban governance arrangements for climate change adaptation, multiple level and multi actor governance, sustainability assessment methodologies and climate change and environmental decision making and finance.
Possible topics
Potential research includes, but is not limited to: •
Urban Structure, Planning and Design:
This is dedicated to the physical level: how we design urban environments at the neighborhood, urban and regional level. It is mostly oriented to the urban structure and morphology and their links with climate change. • Urban Governance & Policies: Institutional and Social Dimensions: This concerns the interaction between a multiplicity of social actors (the state, political parties, civil society organizations) and the decision-
making processes involved in planning urban environment and climate change. • Assessment, Economics and Finance: Here we focus on the processes that cities adopt to assess and finance their green growth and low carbon and climate resilience actions, policies and projects and the existing techniques and instruments that can be applied.
Specialisation
Urban Competitiveness and Resilience (UCR)
Description
Cities cannot be understood as autonomous entities nowadays, as complex processes on local, regional and global scales affect them. In order to understand better these processes, it is important to consider the qualities of the city that influence its performance at the local and regional levels, as well as its position in global economic network.
Overall research field
UCR investigates the relationship between globalization processes, local economic development, and urban conditions facilitating the ability of cities to successfully compete or collaborate with other cities on various scales. Given the increasing dependency of cities on global economic networks, it is crucial to find the balance between social wellbeing, local economic development and global strategies that can ensure resilience to socioeconomic shocks and fluctuations.
Possible topics
Our research interests include (but are not limited to): 1.
Which urban factors, urban policies and urban plans are required to make cities more competitive in the global economic network?
2.
Which urban characteristics are important for attracting Greenfield Foreign Direct Investments in cities?
3.
How to develop more resilient cities and with healthy relationships between local, regional and global firms?
4.
Which economic sectors should be promoted in cities in order to boost sustainable local economic development and social wellbeing?
5.
How does global economic unevenness affect economic inequality in African countries and cities?
6.
Could Africa Feed the World?
7.
Agricultural Revolution and Urbanization in Africa
8.
Towards African Technologies
9.
Urban Planning and Socio-economic Inequality
Specialisation Possible topics
Urban Strategies and Planning (USP) • Cities planning, the influence of visions and actors in the planning process. • The underlying features of urban development and the role of selforganization within. • The connecting of micro-interventions (such as place-making/ streetscaping) and planning and implementation on the meso- and macrolevels (e. g. the municipal and national levels) • The development of urban morphologies around certain patterns (e. g. densification vs urban expansion) and the influence of urban policies • Dissolving dichotomies (such as the urban formal / informal sphere; rural-urban-linkages, bottom-up/top-down) and future stakeholders and their respective roles and interests within the urban context