Alain Bertaud

阿兰 .柏图

 

 

A web page dedicated to the study of urban spatial structures

It is necessary to bridge the gap between 50 years of progress in urban economic research and the intellectual stagnation typically found in operational urban planning. It is unfortunate that the main audience of most urban economists are other urban economists rather than urban practitioners. Urban planners, meanwhile, are most of the time working without any reference to a theoretical framework. However, urban planners  are taking day to day decisions that affect the lives and livelihood of millions of people.

As an urban planner, my goal is to translate the theories (and sometime the jargon) and equations of urban economists into approaches and methods which can lead to concrete decision making in the everyday world of an urban planning office.  The following reports and papers, always produced at the request of a municipality or of an urban investor (mostly the World Bank), illustrate these new approaches and methods. This is only a beginning.  I am currently working on a book titled "Order without design". This book will use a data base developed over 35 years of urban planning work around the world. The book will aims at providing a theoretical framework for operational planning based on current urban economic research.

Alain Bertaud's Reports and papers that can be downloaded from this site:

Click icon above for an enlarged image of average built-up densities in 49 cities.

  1. Urban Spatial Structures and City Planning
  2. Comparative Urban structures
  3. Asian Cities
  4. European cities
  5. North, Central and South American Cities
  6. Land Use and Financial Models (AKA "Bertaud Model")
  7. Links

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A. Urban Spatial Structures and City Planning

  1.  "The Spatial Organization of cities" (PDF file; 3.9 Meg)        
  2.  " Urban Planning and Air Pollution in South Asia"    (PDF; 0.3 Meg)
  3.  "Efficiency in Land Use and Infrastructure Design" (1988) Co-authored with Marie Agnes Bertaud and James O. Wright (PDF 6.5 Meg)

  4. " Note on Urban Transport and Cities Spatial Structures"  (ABDCE Conference  April 2002)  (PDF 3.5 Meg)

  5. "Policy responses to informal housing : regulatory reform : "(Princeton, April 9, 2003) (PowerPoint 3 Meg)

  6. "Política del Suelo y vivienda: la experiencia international". (Ciudad de Mexico, 3 de Julio 2003, PowerPoint   3.5 Meg)

  7.  “Analyzing Building-Height Restrictions: Predicted Impacts, Welfare Costs, and a Case Study of Bangalore, India” coauthored with Jan K. Brueckner, (April 2003) (PDF, 0.5 Meg)

  8. Planning Course for Chinese Urban Planners (English Version) (June 2003, Power point)

          Part 1:  The Use and value of Urban Planning  (PPT file)

                        Transcript of lecture part 1 (PDF file)

          Part 2: The role of, government, urban planners and markets  (PPT file)

                        Transcript of lecture part 2 (PDF file)

          Part 3: The Spatial Structure of Cities: International Examples of the Interaction of Government, Topography and Markets  (PPT file)

                        Transcript of lecture part 3 (PDF file)

          Part 4: Practical decisions facing urban planners (PPT file)

                        Transcript of lecture part 4 (PDF file)

 

 9.   Cultural Heritage Preservation and Markets (Vienna, UNESCO Conference, May 2005, 2.3 Meg)

10   Spatial Tools to Analyze the Impact of Land Markets on Affordability and Urban Spatial Structures  (World Bank, Washington DC, Feb 2008,  PPT file 13 Meg)

 B. Comparative Urban structures                         

  1.  "Metropolis: A Measure of the Spatial Organization of 7 Large Cities" (April 2001) (PDF 2.3 Meg)
  2. " La Estructura Espacial de Áreas Metropolitanas:" El Papel de los Urbanistas en una Economía de Mercado Panama, Marzo 10-13 2003       (Powerpoint 9.00 Meg)
  3. " Metropolitan structures around the World,"  (Marikina, May 2003, PowerPoint 8 Meg)
  4.  "The Spatial Distribution of Population in 48 World Cities: Implications for Economies in Transition" coauthored with Stephen Malpezzi (December 17, 2003,  PDF 2.0 Meg)
  5. "International Comparison: Spatial Development and Poverty - An application to Gauteng, South Africa"  Pretoria, South Africa, April 10 2008. (PPT 6 Meg)

C. Asian Cities

  1. "A spatial Study of the Pearl River Delta - Dec 2001" (PDF 3.9 Meg)
  2.  "Measuring Constraints on Land Supply- The case of Hong Kong (July 1997)" (PDF 0.6 Meg)
  3.  "India -  Urban Land Reforms Issues" (Word file, 0.2 Meg)
  4. "Mumbai FSI Conundrum"   Should Mumbai FSI (FAR) be increased? who will benefit? (July 2004, PDF file 0. 6 Meg)
  5. "Mumbai: why reform the current FSI system?, experience in other cities"  (Mumbai, April 3 2008, Pdf 7Meg)
  6. FSI restrictions and Real Estate Markets in Mumbai : (Mumbai, April  7, 2003) (PowerPoint 1.3 Meg)
  7. "Ahmedabad Land use issues"  (PDF file, 2.1 Meg)     
  8. "Bangalore- Note on Land Issues" ( Word File 1 Meg)
  9.  "Land use regulations in Indonesia- Constraints imposed on the poor" (PDF, 1.3Meg)

  10.  The Issue of Urban Land Scarcity in the Maldives  (Dec 2002) (PDF 0.5 Meg)

  11.  Tehran spatial issues (January 2003, PDF  5 Meg)

  12. Kabul Urban Development Issues (January 2005, PDF 5 Meg)

  13. China: Urbanization in 2 towns in Sichuan Province, Land Use and Land  Pricing Issues ( July 19 2006, PDF 3 Meg)

    13.  China: Housing Affordability, The supply side  (Beijing, July 2007, PPT 3 Meg)

    14. 低价住房的供给及相关政策 -  北京? 2007年7月19日  (Housing Affordability, Chinese version)

    15. China: Urban Land Use Issues ( August 2007, PDF 4 meg)

     

D. European cities

  1.  "The Spatial Structures of Central and Eastern European cities: more European than Socialist?" (May 2004, PDF1 Meg)
  2. "The Spatial Development of Warsaw Metropolitan Area" (Dec 2000) Co-authored with Marie Agnes Bertaud (PDF 1.6 Meg)
  3. "Riga- Latvia- Note on Riga Spatial Structure" (PDF; 6 Meg)
  4.  "Cities Without Land Markets"  Co-authored with Bertrand Renaud - World Bank working paper (PDF; 0.3 Meg)
  5.  ГОРОДА БЕЗ ЗЕМЕЛЬНЫХ РЫНКОВ: МЕСТОПОЛОЖЕНИЕ И ИСПОЛЬЗОВАНИЕ ЗЕМЛИ В СОЦИАЛИСТИЧЕСКОМ ГОРОДЕ (pdf  1.1 meg)

  6.  "Cracow in the Twenty First Century: Princes or Merchants?" A city’s structure under the conflicting influences of land markets, zoning regulations and a socialist past             (PDF;     4.5 Meg)

  7.  The spatial development of Budapest (Jan 1999) (PDF  5 Meg)

  8.  Note on Prague's City Structure  (Jan 2002) (PDF 0.5 Meg)

  9. Urban development in Albania: the success story of the informal sector   June 2006 (PDF 2 Meg)

     

E. North, Central and South American Cities

  1. "Clearing the Air in Atlanta: Transit and Smart Growth or Conventional Economics?." (PDF file, 3.6 Meg)
  2.  "The Costs of Utopia -Brasilia, Johannesburg and Moscow" (PDF 1.3 Meg)
  3. "Sprawl and urban spatial structures: growing pains or real issue?" (PPT 28 meg, Princeton, Dec 15 2005)

F. Land Use and Financial Models (AKA "Bertaud Model")

Land use and financial models are used to test the feasibility of large land development projects. They can also be used to test the affordability of land use regulations. They allow trade off between many different parameters, land use, land use intensity (FAR), rate of interest, scheduling of works. They should be used from the early design stage to completion of the project. They should not be used after design is completed but in parallel with design. A number of models used in real projects in real cities are presented here. Each model is different from the other reflecting the different issues faced by the land development project.

1.   МОДЕЛЬ ПОДГОТОВКИ ПРОЕКТА РАЗВИТИЯ ГОРОДСКИХ ТЕРРИТОРИЙ, Ален Берто & Сергей Истомин (Moscow, Jan 1994, PDF 3 Meg)

      spreadsheet corresponding to text (XLS file, 86 k )

 More land use models soon!

 

 

    Resume of Alain Bertaud        email to Alain Bertaud: duatreb@msn.com

Links

Stephen Malpezzi , University of Wisconsin http://www.bus.wisc.edu/realestate/faculty/malpezzi/pub-malpezzi.asp

Richard Green, George Washington University : http://real-estate-and-urban.blogspot.com/

Shlomo Angel : http://www.campusi.com/isbn_0195137159.htm

Dennis Letbetter Cityscapes: http://www.studioletbetter.com/cit/cit.html

World Bank Urban Studies and Policies : http://www.worldbank.org/urban/

University of California: http://repositories.cdlib.org/escholarship/

DFID : http://www.ucl.ac.uk/dpu-projects/drivers_urb_change/urb_infrastructure/City_planning.htm

University of Illinois . REEC http://www.reec.uiuc.edu/events/FisherForum/FisherForum2004/program.htm

MIT Urban Issues : http://web.mit.edu/urbanupgrading/upgrading/resources/bibliography/Physical-issues.html

Help your kids manage their TIME   http://www.mytimetimer.com/home_click.html

 

 

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