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PERFORMER project
Posted on: 17 April 2014
By: mackene
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The main objective of the EU-funded PERFORMER project is to develop, install and finally assess energy and environmental benefits of an innovative integrated concept for the monitoring and evaluation of building energy performance, towards energy performance guarantee.
World Tourism Organisation publications
Posted on: 17 April 2014
By: mackene
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This is a listing of report from the World Tourism Organisation published so far in 2014. You should be able to view them by logging in to the University of Westminster’s subscription.
UK Shopping Centre Development Report
Posted on: 17 April 2014
By: mackene
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The report benchmarks UK regions in terms of shopping centre density (GLA/1,000 people) and discusses topics such as key schemes for delivery, key schemes in the pipeline and key investment deals.
The China Urban Sustainability Index 2013
Posted on: 17 April 2014
By: mackene
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The China Urban Sustainability Index is an annual research project undertaken by the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) and the Urban China Initiative (UCI). UCI is a think tank co-founded by McKinsey & Company, Columbia University, and Tsinghua University in 2010. UCI’s mission is to convene leaders from the public and private sectors to promote sustainable urbanization and economic growth in China. The analysis deploys 23 metrics, which cover four categories: economy, society, resources and environment. It ranks 185 cities, of varying sizes and at different stages of development, by their level of sustainability from 2005 to 2011. The study also benchmarks sample Chinese cities against advanced global cities. The aim is to understand how China’s sustainability drive is evolving, and to provide an international reference for Chinese cities during this process.
Preventing a global condo bubble collapse – and slowing inequity
Posted on: 17 April 2014
By: mackene
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This blog considers whether the rapid profusion of high-rise investment condos around the world is widening the gap between rich and poor and leading to a worldwide housing bubble.
OECD Environmental Performance Reviews: Colombia 2014
Posted on: 16 April 2014
By: mackene
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This report is the first OECD review of Colombia’s environmental performance. It evaluates progress towards sustainable development and green growth, with a focus on waste and chemicals management and policies that promote more effective and efficient protection and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Greening the property tax
Posted on: 16 April 2014
By: mackene
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This paper reviews the literature and policy discussions about the role of the property tax for land use. Various externalities of the development of land, such as new infrastructure needs, the loss of open space or air pollution due to longer commutes as people locate far from city centres, are not internalised fully by property taxes or other policy instruments and this is often thought to contribute to excessive land use and urban sprawl. The impact of property taxes on land use intensity and sprawl is ambiguous in theory, however, and it depends on tax design, as well as land use regulation policies and other taxes that can influence municipalities’ incentives to convert land for development. Yet, there is some evidence suggesting that higher property taxes can limit urban sprawl, in particular when the tax on land is higher than on structures, although effects are small given relatively given a limited price elasticity of land use. Various property tax design options are discussed that may help to better internalise land use related externalities.
The political economy of property tax reform
Posted on: 16 April 2014
By: mackene
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Property taxes are generally considered by economists to be good taxes, and many countries are being advised to increase and improve their property taxes. In practice, however, property tax reforms have often proved to be difficult to carry out successfully. This paper discusses why property taxes are particularly challenging to reform and suggests several ways in which efforts to reform this tax may become more successful in the future. After a brief introductory section on the ‘disconnect’ between the economics and the politics of property tax reform, Section 2 summarizes recent experiences in five OECD countries with property tax reform. Against this background, Section 3 sets out the key elements of a good property tax reform and Section 4 discusses several aspects of property tax reform that seem to have derailed or distorted reforms in practice. Unfortunately, some of the solutions countries have adopted to deal with such problems are themselves problematic, either because they do not really solve the problem or because they hamper rather than work towards the establishment of a good property tax. s Section 5 outlines that it is possible to devise strategies for property tax reform that incorporate more acceptable solutions to most problems. As Section 6 concludes, that while good property tax reform is not easy, it can definitely be achieved if an appropriately designed reform package is properly introduced and implemented.
Defining the eco-city: A discursive approach
Posted on: 16 April 2014
By: mackene
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No universally accepted definition of the eco-city exists. There may be some general agreement about the sorts of broad principles on which it should be based, but in practice eco-city initiatives remain characterised by tremendous conceptual, contextual, and practical diversity. In this paper the authors explore this empirical diversity, using discourse analysis to compare and contrast a series of initiatives around the world, and then discuss its implications. They conclude that a search for a prescriptive definition may not be so fruitful; instead, it may be useful to consider the eco-city as an ambition or objective which there will be multiple ways to achieve.
Oxfordshire Strategic Housing Market Assessment: Key findings on housing need
Posted on: 16 April 2014
By: mackene
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This report sets out key findings of the Oxfordshire Strategic Housing Market Assessment relating to the overall need for housing to 2031. It describes the approach and factors considered to identifying overall housing need. It starts by examining what level of housing would be needed on the basis of past population trends, and then considers the degree to which this needs to be adjusted to take account of the identified need for affordable housing, to improve housing affordability and to support committed economic growth in line with the approach Government expects councils to follow.
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