Metropolitan Housing Development in Urban Fringe Areas-A Case Study of Three Metropolitan Cities of South Africa: Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane

Purpose:The metropolitan cities of Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane play an important role in the economy of the Gauteng province in South Africa.The region constitutes to 22.4 percent of the total population of South Africa and has a strong presence and contributes in areas of manufacturing sector,financial and business services,retail and wholesale trade,etc.The rapid urban population,increase in the informal settlements and socio-economic opportunities has resulted in considerable urban sprawl in and around the urban fringe areas of these metropolitan cities.The urban fringe areas of these metros often come under the influence of rapid urbanization process and pressures.Coupled with the economical and potential land dynamics and lack of priority of spatial development guidelines,these areas attract rapid and haphazard development from communities and developers.Research Design/Methodology:This research is based on a qualitative approach through a comprehensive literature review that included content analysis of key documents on housing sector such as IDPs(Integrated Development Plans),Municipal Annual Reports,Growth Development Strategies,and among other sectoral documents on housing sector.Some of the key priority issues considered in the housing sector included:eradication of housing backlogs,spatial restructuring of housing,provision of choice in terms of location,tenure and housing typology.Findings:The current paper discusses the approaches of metropolitan housing development processes in three metropolitan cities of South Africa from Gauteng region,namely:Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.The paper discusses the existing housing sectoral scenario along with the fringe areas in three cities with focus on:formal and informal settlements,housing segregation and the backlogs,current institutional arrangements,role of public private participation,and scope for alternate mechanisms.The paper concludes in discussion on sustainable development options for housing development in urban fringe areas.

An investigation of the health value and self-care capabilities of the elderly in urban-rural fringe area nursing homes and the related in？uencing factors

Objective：To investigate the health value and self-care capabilities of the elderly living in urban-rural fringe area nursing homes and the factors that influence these variables.Methods：A cluster sampling method was used to select 280 elderly individuals from seven urban-rural fringe communities in Xianning to complete a survey regarding their health value and self-care capabilities.Results：The total health value and self-care capability scores of the elderly were 7.45 ± 1.45 and100.25±22.56,respectively.Both of these scores significantly differed by age,education level,marital status,and income（P 〈 0.05,P 〈 0.01）.Self-care capability was correlated with health value（r=0.521）.A multivariate linear regression analysis showed that health value,marital status,and age predicted selfcare capability.Conclusions：Elderly people living in the urban-rural fringe area with higher health values also had higher self-care capabilities.The self-care capabilities of the elderly can be enhanced by improving their health value using the ＂knowing-trusting-acting＂ model.

On the Socio-Economic Development Features on the Fringe Areas of Large Cities in China

Regional studies are basically carried out in three areas. Studies on regional develop-ment theory, the characteristics and state of regional development, and on decision mak-ing and policy, In recent years, regional development theories were introduced to China,such as growth pole theory, gradient theory, and central place theory, etc. Much benefi-cial work has been done concerning these theories. Much exploration has also been madeon decision-making and policy studies in connection with regional, territorial and cityplanning. However, not much has been done with regard to the research on the character-istics and state of regional development and most of them are descriptive. Therefore, thereis a lack of guiding theory for decision-making and policy studies and also a lack of re-search, on regional characteristics and state, which has inevitably resulted in erroneousdecision-making and reform measures. The stepping up of research on the charecteristicsand state plays a key role in raising, the regional scientific research level. In this article, theauthors concentrate their research on the city fringe areas and try to explore thesocio-economic features and state of these particular areas.

Optimal land use allocation of urban fringe in Guangzhou

In response to the strong drive for social and economic development, local governments have implemented urban master plans, providing measures and timeframes to address the continuous demand for land and to alleviate urban problems. In this paper, a multi-objective model was constructed to discuss the problem, including economic benefits and ecological effectiveness, in terms of land use optimization. A genetic algorithm was then adopted to solve the model, and a performance evaluation and sensitivity analysis were conducted using Pareto optimality. Results showed that a set of tradeoffs could be acquired by the allocation of land use. In addition, the Pareto solutions proved the model to be efficient; for example, a limit of 13,500 ha of urban area conformed to plan recommendations. The reduction in crop land, orchard land, grassland, and unused land provided further efficiencies. These results implied that further potential regional land resources remain and that the urban master plan is able to support sustainable local development in the years to come, as well as verified that it is feasible to use land use allocation multi-objective modeling and genetic algorithms.

Location choice of Chinese urban fringe residents on employment, housing, and urban services： A case study of Nanjing

Urban fringe area is the most important space for city development. It inctudes several complicated elements, such as population, space, and management organization. On the basis of local population attributes in the city fringe area combined with people＇s movement characteristics in time and space, this article reclassifies basic public service facilities and discusses the relationship between facility layout and housing, employment, and commuter transportation. Through a questionnaire survey in Qiaobei District of the urban fringe area in Nanjing and on the basis of comparative analysis, we discuss the impact factor on the choice of housing, urban services, and the tolerance of commuting time. Our findings indicate mutual promoting and restricting connections among living, employment, and services. Workers＇ living situation determines their daily behavior, such as dining, shopping, and entertainment. Furthermore, different income levels have a great influence on residents＇ choices with regard to places to live and develop their careers.

可持续食物供给导向的城市边缘区农林用地规划与空间管控研究

Commercial agricultural production, which has altered the global distribution of farmland, garden plot, and woodland, cuts links between cities and their neighboring production land, as well as links between production land and the environment, affecting the quality of food supply and inducing ecological crisis. Closely related to urban-rural public welfare and regional ecological security, sustainable food supply, which is featured by various types, local production, and short-chain transportation, is an effective way to address the negative impact of commercial agriculture. This paper clarifies the important role of agricultural and forest land in urban fringe areas through analyzing the functional connotation and spatial bases of sustainable food supply, and proposes a planning strategy for systematic land protection and efficient spatial management in accordance with the current situation of food supply and compound demands in urban areas. Specifically, it consists of: identifying the land and the support space with potential for diversified food production;establishing an agriculture and forestry support network system and integrating it into regional landscape ecological network;guiding the low impact utilization of production units by following the natural process and resource characteristics;enhancing land protection efficiency based on supporting links.