The French new towns — Les Villes Nouvelle

The new towns programme in France can be said to have run its course and now is an opportune moment to look back at the programme and review the context, content and progress. The paper gives a general context within which the new towns developed from the time of the Third National Plan, and subsequent policies aimed to stem migration to Paris. Progress of the new towns is discussed and some of the problems and successes are highlighted.     

One-dimensional model for municipal solid waste (MSW) settlement considering coupled mechanical-hydraulic-gaseous effect and concise calculation

A new model entitled the coupled mechanical-hydraulic-gaseous effect and biochemical degradation for municipal solid waste (MSW) is proposed to simulate and predict the MSW settlement in this study. The coupled model can be used to simulate and predict the distributions of gas and water pressure as well as total waste settlement. Model verification indicates that because of degradation, the excess pore gas pressure increases rapidly and reaches a peak value in a short time, and then it dissipates gradually. But the excess pore water pressure may not always increase at the beginning, which depends on hydraulic conductivity of MSW. Dissipation of the excess pore water pressure is slower than that of the excess pore gas pressure. A waste settlement experiment was conducted in the laboratory using a synthetic MSW. The data was used to verify the developed model, which gave satisfactory results. Based on the experimental results, a new formula is proposed to simulate biochemical degradation.     

Building consensus on divisive issues: a case study of the Yukon wolf management team

This article presents a case study of a successful effort to reach agreement on one of the most intractable environmental issues of our time: wolf management. This case is unusual in several ways. In this case, the members of the negotiating team were ordinary citizens rather than leaders of organized groups. This team was given an unusually high level of authority to write the plan as they saw fit; the agency pledged to implement “whatever they came up with.” The agency convened the process, but agency personnel were not members of the team and attended only when they were invited. The team members were able to reach agreement on this tough issue even though polar opposites were at the table—one who felt that wolves are a “spiritual essence” and another who felt that, as he put it, “wolves, coyotes, and cockroaches have a lot in common”. They produced a detailed plan that addressed all the issues in just 5 months. Another unusual aspect of this effort is that the final agreement does not list the team members. They explained that they wanted their plan to “stand alone” and be judged based on what it said, not on who was involved.However, just after their agreement was completed, a new, pro-wolf control government was elected that refused to endorse the plan. While the government gave various reasons for not ratifying the plan, more and more diverse interest groups came out in support for both the plan and the process that created it. Eventually, overwhelming public support forced the government to sign and implement the plan as written. This demonstrates that, while it is important for a team to seek the sanction of decision-makers, it is perhaps even more important for the general public to see the effort and the final agreement as fair. Strong support from a broad spectrum of the public can help win the necessary political support.In addition to discussing the unorthodox aspects of this consensus-building effort, this article also attempts to give the reader a front row seat to this process by using the informants' own words—words rich in detail, brimming with color and spoken straight from the heart. Certainly their experience dispels any notion that such efforts are simply a matter of following a recipe. During the process, members of the negotiating team experienced the entire gamut of emotions—anger, defeat, humor and, finally, a genuine sense of pride. As team member Patty Denison put it, “We showed that a random group of people could work together and do something truly monumental.”     

Tourism and town planning in Catalonia

The coastal tourist areas of Spain have seen open conflict between planners and the public over the flood of tourist developments. The Costa Brava in the region of Catalonia is chosen for the purpose of this study which looks at the effects of the Land Use law of 1976 requiring all municipalities to prepare General Plans. The failure of plans which attempted to severely restrict tourist growth, and this paper's conclusions, that the expansion of tourist pressure into new areas may create new conditions, suggest a regional approach to policy.     

Floater mortality within settlement areas can explain the Allee effect in breeding populations

The Allee effect (the positive relationship between population growth rate and population size) is a constraint of some animal populations at low numbers, which increases their likelihood of extinction because of a decrease in reproduction and/or survival. We were able to demonstrate that the Allee effect can be the result of a mortality increase affecting floaters (i.e. dispersing individuals able to enter as breeders in the reproductive population when a breeding territory or a potential mate – owner of a suitable breeding territory – becomes available). Previously, potential mechanisms underlying Allee effects were always related to the breeding portion of a population only. In contrast, our understanding of or solutions to population declines due to the Allee effects can reside elsewhere, away from breeding territories.     

Housing association and local authority provision in rural housing markets: a Mid‐Wales case study

Over the last decade or so, rural housing problems in Britain have become an important focus of attention both for researchers and planners. Inaccessibility to adequate housing is a significant component of the more all‐embracing problems of rural deprivation. The rented sector is of particular relevance to the amelioration of these problems, but the supply has been increasingly restricted both in the private and in the public sector. Great stress has therefore been laid on the ability of housing associations to provide rented sector housing. This paper investigates the work of one particular housing association in Mid‐Wales — Cymdeithas Tai Dyffryn Teifi (CTDT) and assesses the degree of complementarity achieved with housing provision by the local councils operating in the same rural locality. The particular areas of effectiveness of a housing association in this context are thereby evaluated.     

For an improved rural housing to limit distress migration

Third World cities have been suffering from many problems notably slums, squatter housing, unemployment and so on. The aim of this study is to discuss the process and means of transforming rural life so as to create better opportunities and enhance the living conditions in the countryside. It is suggested that this approach would retain a substantial part of the rural population in the rural areas, thus avoiding the urban problems and chaotic unplanned development.     

The politics of drought: The pauperization of lsiolo Boran

Isiolo Boran are becoming a population of permanent paupers. During the colonial period they were protected from Somali incursions, and their way of life preserved. Since Independence, however, largely as a result of increasing government intervention and market integration, they have become caught in a vicious spiral of poverty and decline.     

Planning & urban change in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has undergone revolutionary change to its economy since 1973, followed more recently by serious economic problems. The largely peripheral effects of urban planning upon the transformation of Jeddah from medieval town to international city are considered. The main urban problems and opportunities facing the city are identified, and the paper concludes with a question against the relevance of ‘Western’ notions of planning to another culture undergoing dynamic urban change.     

Seasonal decline in reproductive performance varies with colony size in the fairy martin, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Petrochelidon ariel</Emphasis>

Reproductive success within populations often varies with the timing of breeding, typically declining over the season. This variation is usually attributed to seasonal changes in resource availability and/or differences in the quality or experience of breeders. In colonial species, the timing of breeding may be of particular importance because the costs and benefits of colonial breeding are likely to vary over the season and also with colony size. In this study, we examine the relationship between timing of breeding and reproductive performance (clutch size and nest success) both within and between variable sized colonies (n = 18) of fairy martins, Petrochelidon ariel. In four of these colonies, we also experimentally delayed laying in selected nests to disentangle the effects of laying date and individual quality/experience on reproductive success. Within colonies, later laying birds produced smaller clutches, but only in larger colonies. The general seasonal decline in nest success was also more pronounced in larger colonies. Late laying birds were generally smaller than earlier laying birds, but morphological differences were also related to colony size, suggesting optimal colony size also varies with phenotype. Experimentally delayed clutches were larger than concurrently produced non-delayed clutches, but only in larger colonies. Similarly, delayed clutches were more likely to produce fledglings, particularly later in the season and in larger colonies. We suggest that the reduced performance of late breeding pairs in larger colonies resulted primarily from inexperienced/low quality birds preferring to settle in larger colonies, possibly exacerbated by an increase in the costs of coloniality (e.g., resource depletion and ectoparasite infestations) with date and colony size. These findings highlight the importance of phenotype-related differences in settlement decisions and reproductive performance to an improved understanding of colonial breeding and variation in colony size.