Publications

Urban Growth

Young Women in Cities: Urbanization and Gender-biased Migration

Yumi KOH, Li JING, Yifan WU, Junjian YI, and Hanzhe ZHANG

Young women outnumber young men in cities in many countries during periods of economic growth and urbanization. This gender imbalance among young urbanites is more pronounced in larger cities. We use the gradual rollout of special economic zones across China as a quasi-experiment to establish the causes of this gender imbalance. Our analysis suggests that a key contributor is gender-differential incentives to migrate due to rural women’s higher likelihood of marrying and marrying up in cities when urbanization creates more economic opportunities and an abundance of high-income marriage-age men.

Koh, Yumi and Li, Jing and Wu, Yifan and Yi, Junjian and Zhang, Hanzhe, Young Women in Cities: Urbanization and Gender-biased Migration (January 4, 2024).

View Paper
Urban Life

Insourcing the Smart City: Assembling an Ideo-technical Ecosystem of Skills, Talent, and Civic-mindedness in Singapore

Orlando WOODS, Tim BUNNELL, and Lily KONG

This article examines an alternative model of smart city formation, one based on the principle of insourcing technical competencies and capabilities to those responsible for city governance. This model counters the logic of technological outsourcing upon which many assumptions and critiques of the smart city rest, and thus reveals ways in which a more generative discourse can be forged. Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from public and private sector organizations, we develop a case study of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative. Through coordinated efforts to reorganize the public sector’s technological functions, develop nation-wide skills upgrading programs, and repatriate overseas tech talent, the government strives to assemble an ideo-technical ecosystem of talent, skills, and civic-mindedness in Singapore. This is an ecosystem designed to establish the public sector as the driver of urban innovation, and thus maximize the benefits of “civic tech”.

View Paper
Urban Infrastructure

Cities, settlements and key infrastructure

David DODMAN, Bronwyn HAYWARD, Mark PELLING, Vanesa CASTAN BROTO, Winston T. L. CHOW, et al.

In all cities and urban areas, the risk faced by people and assets from hazards associated with climate change has increased (high confidence1 ). Urban areas are now home to 4.2 billion people, the majority of the world’s population. Urbanisation processes generate vulnerability and exposure which combine with climate change hazards to drive urban risk and impacts (high confidence). Globally, the most rapid growth in urban vulnerability and exposure has been in cities and settlements where adaptive capacity is limited, especially in unplanned and informal settlements in low- and middle-income nations and in smaller and medium-sized urban centres (high confidence). Between 2015 and 2020, urban populations globally grew by more than 397 million people, with more than 90% of this growth taking place in less developed regions.

DODMAN, David; HAYWARD, Bronwyn; PELLING, Mark; CASTAN BROTO, Vanesa; CHOW, Winston T. L.; and et al.. Cities, settlements and key infrastructure. (2022). Climate Change 2022: Impacts, adaptation, and vulnerability. 1, 907-1040.

View Paper
Urban Life

Insourcing the smart city: Assembling an ideo-technical ecosystem of talent, skills, and civic-mindedness in Singapore

Orlando WOODS, Tim BUNNELL, and Lily KONG

This article examines an alternative model of smart city formation, one based on the principle of insourcing technical competencies and capabilities to those responsible for city governance. This model counters the logic of technological outsourcing upon which many assumptions and critiques of the smart city rest, and thus reveals ways in which a more generative discourse can be forged. Drawing on a series of in-depth interviews with senior stakeholders from public and private sector organizations, we develop a case study of Singapore’s Smart Nation initiative. Through coordinated efforts to reorganize the public sector’s technological functions, develop nation-wide skills upgrading programs, and repatriate overseas tech talent, the government strives to assemble an ideo-technical ecosystem of talent, skills, and civic-mindedness in Singapore. This is an ecosystem designed to establish the public sector as the driver of urban innovation, and thus maximize the benefits of “civic tech”.

WOODS, Orlando; BUNNELL, Tim; and Kong, Lily. Insourcing the smart city: Assembling an ideo-technical ecosystem of talent, skills, and civic-mindedness in Singapore. (2023). Urban Geography. 1-20.

View Paper
Urban Growth

Cities in a pandemic: Evidence from China

Badi H. BALTAGI, Ying DENG, Li JING, and Zhenlin YANG

This paper studies the impact of urban density, city government efficiency, and medical resources on COVID-19 infection and death outcomes in China. We adopt a simultaneous spatial dynamic panel data model to account for (i) the simultaneity of infection and death outcomes, (ii) the spatial pattern of the transmission, (iii) the intertemporal dynamics of the disease, and (iv) the unobserved city-specific and time-specific effects. We find that, while population density increases the level of infections, government efficiency significantly mitigates the negative impact of urban density. We also find that the availability of medical resources improves public health outcomes conditional on lagged infections. Moreover, there exists significant heterogeneity at different phases of the epidemiological cycle.

Baltagi, B. H., Deng, Y., Li, J., & Yang, Z. (2023). Cities in a pandemic: Evidence from China. Journal of Regional Science, 63, 379–408. https://doi.org/10.1111/jors.12626

View Paper
Urban Growth

Compensating and taxing land regulations

Edward TI

In this article, I synthesise the literature regarding the law and economics approach dealing with compulsory acquisition. Contrary to the status quo, I reason that regulations not amounting to an acquisition, but which adversely affect economic value, should also be compensable from an efficiency lens. This can be accommodated within the existing jurisprudence by recognising that acquisition ‘gains’ can also include environmental amenities, rather than only limiting these to land or property in specie by the acquiring authority. Similarly, where landowners enjoy an uplift in value from regulations, some part of this windfall profit should be taxable. The article takes reference from South Australia and Victoria’s statutory frameworks, the latter primarily because of the commencement of the Windfall Gains Tax and State Taxation and Other Acts Further Amendment Act 2021 (Vic) in July 2023. The broader principle advocated however is that more efficient and just outcomes would ensue if both acquisitions and regulations affecting land value are compensated on the same yardstick.

TI, Seng Wei, Edward. Compensating and taxing land regulations. (2023). Adelaide Law Review. 44, (1), 135-162.

View Paper
Urban Growth

Strata plan cancellations in Australasia: A comparative analysis of nine jurisdictions

Edward TI

A growing number of Australasian jurisdictions now permit a supermajority of owners to terminate a co-owned building scheme allowing proprietors to redevelop, or more commonly, sell the underlying land. This planning tool aids municipal rejuvenation, prevents urban sprawl and provides new housing. In this paper, I examine the provisions pertaining to cancellation of unit plans under nine jurisdictions – New Zealand and all eight jurisdictions in Australia. This comparative analysis highlights several unique aspects of the Unit Title Act 2010 (NZ) such as the way its voting thresholds are calculated and the idiosyncratic application of the ‘just and equitable’ standard in endorsing all forms of plan cancellations. At the same time, NZ’s unit title jurisprudence has been described as ‘relatively immature’. This confluence provides the basis to analyse these novel issues from both doctrinal and comparative perspective across the nine jurisdictions.

TI, Seng Wei, Edward. Strata plan cancellations in Australasia: A comparative analysis of nine jurisdictions. (2022). Monash University Law Review. 48, (1), 1-35.

View Paper
Urban Growth

Big houses on a small island: legislating Singapore’s ‘good class’ bungalows

Edward TI

Land reform in post-independent Singapore was led by compulsory purchase predominantly in the 1960s–70s and resulted in numerous kampungs or villages being demolished. With efficient assembly of land, high-rise public flats were built to accommodate the country’s burgeoning population. Today, 95 per cent of residents reside in high-rise dwellings and Singapore is the 3rd most densely populated country globally. Remarkably, planning regulations protect a housing typology known as ‘good class bungalows’ (GCBs). Though housing less than 0.2 per cent of Singapore households, GCBs collectively take up 7 per cent of the available land for housing. Numbering less than three thousand, GCBs have statutorily required large minimum lot sizes and are situated in Singapore’s choiciest residential enclaves. Development of GCB land to more intensive use is strictly prohibited. In this article, I examine the legal policies and socioeconomic rationale for maintaining this uniquely Singaporean institution, concluding that there are indeed cogent justifications for its existence.

TI, Seng Wei, Edward. Big houses on a small island: legislating Singapore’s ‘good class’ bungalows. (2022). International Journal of Housing Policy. 1-17.

View Paper
Urban Growth

Attenuation of agglomeration economies: Evidence from the universe of Chinese manufacturing firms

Li JING, Liyao LI, and Shimeng LIU

This paper quantifies industry-specific spatial attenuation of agglomeration economies by taking advantage of unique geocoded administrative data on the universe of Chinese manufacturing firms. The estimates of industry-level attenuation speed further allow us to systematically assess the goodness of fit of various spatial decay functional forms and to evaluate the micro-foundations that govern the decay patterns across industries. We obtain three main findings. First, agglomeration spillovers attenuate by about 90 percent on average from 0–1 km to 1–5 km in China, with large heterogeneity in the extent of attenuation ranging from 73 percent to 116 percent across industries. Second, the spatial decay speed is positively linked with proxies for knowledge spillovers and labor market pooling but is negatively linked with proxies for input sharing and the share of the state sector. Last, the inverse square distance decay function presents the best goodness of fit among the tested functional forms.

JING, Li; LI, Liyao; and LIU, Shimeng. Attenuation of agglomeration economies: Evidence from the universe of Chinese manufacturing firms. (2022). Journal of Urban Economics. 130, 1-18.

View Paper
Urban Growth

Comparative Lessons in Sectional Title Laws: Mitigating Urban Inequality in South Africa

Edward TI

Urban inequality in South Africa is a formidable problem that is linked to the injustices of its historical apartheid past. This paper identifies sectional titles, a form of property ownership where proprietors wholly own their apartment unit while co-owning the land and common property, as critical to providing more affordable housing. Sectional title schemes mitigate urban inequality by giving a greater proportion of the country the opportunity to own legally secure, well-located dwellings while serving as a platform where communal living could take place. Two suggestions how sectional title legislation can further alleviate aspects of urban inequality are made (1) Permitting a supermajority of sectional owners to terminate a sectional scheme prevents holdout and allows urban land to be redeveloped, providing an increase in housing. (2) Municipalities could consider mandating ethnic integration in sectional schemes to counter the organic formation of mono-racial residential enclaves which remain in present-day South Africa.

TI, Edward S. W.. Comparative lessons in sectional title laws: Mitigating urban inequality in South Africa. (2022). Oxford Journal of Legal Studies. 42, (4), 1012-1039.

View Paper