Search

Copyright of EURE is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Beijing is a typical traditional city in China, originating from the uniform and conventional grid plan, but transformed diversely, either on purpose or spontaneously. This research took the diversification process of grid blocks as an angle to understand the transformation process of Beijing's urban morphology. It took 194 grid blocks within the 3rd Ring Road of Beijing as research objects. First, the paper proposed a whole view of Beijing's grid blocks by 1) visualizing their construction process, 2) classifying 5 morphological clusters by 7 indicators (Block size, Block shape regularity, Intensity, Coverage, Network density, Plot shape regularity, Standard deviation of plot size), and 3) investigating their distribution. Second, the diversification process of grid blocks was clarified from two layers: the block-boundary layer and the inner-space layer. Finally, the mechanism of block form diversification was clarified by exploring the connections between elements in each layer, and the influence of urban development on block form transformation. The study re-defined the diversification process in a more quantitative way from both time and spatial dimension. It concluded that the diversification is influenced by changes in urban planning principles and locations, and emerged thorough the long-term transformation and re-subdivision. The interaction between the boundary and the inner space stimulates the diversification. And based on these, it concluded with a discussion of limitations and potentials on grid blocks' construction and renovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper, set against the backdrop of expanding urban rail networks and dynamic urban development, focuses on the distribution and evolution of commercial Points of Interests (POIs) within the central urban rail transit areas of Beijing. The study examines data from four different years—2008, 2013, 2017, and 2020—to observe the temporal evolution of commercial entities. It identifies stable explanatory variables affecting the distribution and evolution of commercial POIs, which include rail transit accessibility, characteristics of the working and residential population distribution around stations, and the construction intensity in the vicinity of station areas. Through statistical analysis and model building, relatively stable linear regression equations were established, with R 2 values generally maintained above 0.5 (except for 2017). The study advances our understanding of the influence of rail transit on urban commercial spaces and how this influence shifts with temporal and urban developmental changes. It elucidates the correlation between changes in the number of businesses and spatial configuration, offering insights and information for urban planners and policy makers. This research also serves as a model for exploring the interplay between urban rail transit and commercial spaces in other major cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bitácora Urbano/Territorial is the property of Bitacora Urbano/Territorial and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Bitácora Urbano/Territorial is the property of Bitacora Urbano/Territorial and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

International authorities such as the European Commission and the United Nations pay special attention to sustainable urban development, for this purpose, strategies such as the European Green Deal or the Sustainable Development Strategy 2030 agenda, SDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities are developed. Urban development represents a fundamental direction in the transition process towards the green economy, a sustainable economic model. The paper aims to identify the degree of efficiency of economic development in the context of sustainable development for 41 cities in Romania, Germany, Japan, United States of America and Australia. To achieve this objective, the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method is used, with the aim of identifying the gaps regarding the sustainability of the analyzed cities. Data Envelopment Analysis allows the evaluation of the efficiency of urban settlements in the sample based on representative variables, selected as input. So, the research is ready to give answer to question like "What are the efficient cities in terms of sustainability?" and "What are the relationships between the cities included in the sample?". The main results showed that there are cities that have a model of sustainable economic development, but certain cities present significant gaps from the point of view of efficient sustainable economic development. In addition, port cities seem to develop an association relationship, with inefficient port cities being associated with efficient port cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Hong Kong's smart city development as the case study, this paper aims to discover the influence of public trust on citizens' perception of Hong Kong's smart city performance in an international dimension, comparing with the smart city ranking by research agencies. Our central investigation further focuses on the association of public trust and digital trust, using COVID19 contact tracing app as an example. This paper uses data from a Hong Kong-based territory-wide survey in 2021 to conduct the analysis. The result suggests a positive relationship between public trust, subjective perception and digital trust, and supports that public acceptability is a cornerstone of an effective public policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper about the high-quality development level of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is of vital importance to promote high-quality development of China. An evaluation index system that can comprehensively describe the high-quality development of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region is designed in this paper. There are 27 indexes selected to evaluate the high-quality development of the cities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei province from three dimensions: target level, standard level and index level. By applying the SOM (Self-Organizing Map) algorithm to cluster analysis of high-quality development levels. The results of the study showed that there are variations in high-quality development of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster. Beijing has the highest quality development level, followed by Tianjin and Hebei, and a significant gap exists between Beijing and Hebei in terms of the level of quality development. In addition, the high-quality development level of cities in Hebei Province are not balanced. Therefore, Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei city cluster should break down administrative barriers, making overall plans and promoting coordinated development among regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of EURE is the property of Pontificia Universidad Catolica de Chile and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The interest in changing social ties in urban neighbourhoods has generated sociological debate for decades. This paper contributes to this debate by focusing on the relationship between community and neighbourhood formation in the development of an informal settlement. While informal urbanisation is widely researched, the attention is usually placed on urban planning and development rather than a socio-spatial aspect. Drawing on an ethnographic case study, this paper analyses the transformation of agricultural land to urban settlement following residents’ self-organisation in Mexico City. The case study shows how social ties developed alongside collaboration between residents, highlighting a relationship between the social and spatial processes. Collaborative processes from small neighbour groups to broader neighbourhood-wide projects that contributed to the delivery of basic services and urban infrastructure also enabled the formation of community support networks. The findings highlight the intertwined nature of community and neighbourhood formation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the expansion and directions of urban growth in Zagazig city, a large city in the Nile Delta of Egypt. The paper assessments the spatial expansion and directions of the urban area for the years 1952, 1984, 2000, 2019. Besides, urban growth shapes were determined using the coefficient of the shape equation. Moreover, the Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) model was used to determine the impact of the spatial factors (roads network, waterways, and the no residential uses) on urban growth and its directions. Finally, a prediction of urban growth directions that could accommodate the population growth up to 2050 was identified using the rate of the growth equation. The year 2050 was chosen according to the urban development plan proposed by the government 2050 for the region. The urban growth expansion and directions revealed that the unsustainable trend of built-up expansion continued in this area. The built-up area increased 14,81 km2 during the period (1952–2019), resulting in a lack of original agricultural land, pare land. Otherwise, the western direction was also continued to occupy the urban distance directions in the entire period (1952–2019) with an increase of 32.3 percent in the city. The coefficient of the urban growth shape equation shows that the urban growth in the city took an unincorporated shape (stripe shape) in1952 recorded a 0,1 value. While the city was transformed to incorporate shape (circular and radiative shapes) during the years1984, 2000, and 2019 with recorded value 0,3. The OLS model results indicate that the most effective spatial factor on urban growth was the no-residential uses and roads network along the directions based on the Pearson coefficient recorded 0,8841, 0,8431 and the coefficient of determination R2 recorded 0,7816, 0,7108 respectively. The urban area directions of Zagazig city are expected to reach 34.8 percent, especially in the western direction by 2050. Furthermore, the urban distance directions are expected to rise 30.7 % also in the western direction. The study has confirmed that it is beneficial to identify current and future urban growth, urban growth shapes, and development that help regional planning authorities manage future urban growth and development following the area's carrying capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the imbalance between their historic physical buildings and the requirements of its residents, heritage sites are subject to several urban pressures. However, the major potential for urban growth in such locations is in their historic assets. The purpose of this research is to provide an approach for conserving and enhancing urban history in a manner that is beneficial to the environment, society, culture, and economics. Heritage conservation is attempting to distinguish itself. This is due to the fact that conservation and sustainability objectives do not always coincide. The findings are based on research conducted in Mosul and a study of sustainable development's concepts and pillars. With the use of UNDP reports, the present condition in Mosul was determined. The results demonstrate the need of devising a strategy to safeguard historic cities while allowing residents to continue to reside there. This plan should include objectives, strategies, and instruments to ensure that the "historic living city" can adapt and evolve in accordance with the sustainable development principles and the sustainability cycles. The paper uses an inductive methodology to apply sustainable development to historic city centers worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Key cities represent the strongest competitiveness level of each province and city. At present, the problem of unbalanced development level of key cities in China is more prominent. Improving urban competitiveness has become an urgent problem for urban governments. In order to study the competitiveness of 35 key cities in China, this paper formulates a total of 27 indicators from the five levels of economic development, social undertakings, public infrastructure, ecological environment and technological innovation, and uses measurement software to draw the advantages and disadvantages of relevant urban development. The results show that the top cities in the comprehensive competitiveness of 35 key cities in China include Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Guangzhou, and the differences among key cities are more prominent in all dimensions. The relative level of competitiveness development of key cities corresponds to the level of regional economic development and technological innovation to a certain extent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper develops a scenario analysis and visualization tool for an Integrated Transport, Land-Use and Energy (iTLE) model to spatially analyze and predict changes in transport and land-use environment. The decision support tool operates by taking the iTLE model output data as input which includes residential location of households, individuals' characteristics, and vehicle fleet information. Use of the tool is showcased through a scenario analysis of a 'business as usual (BAU)' projection versus a 'COVID-19 pandemic scenario' for Halifax, Canada. Agent-based microsimulation explores the possible future changes in households' socio-demographic characteristics and travel behaviour in the post-pandemic time. Forecasting up to the year 2025 and comparing between BAU and pandemic scenario shows that, many of the lower median income areas in the BAU projection are estimated to have a much lower median income under the COVID-19 scenario. Furthermore, the COVID-19 scenario only slightly decreases the proportion of the overall population with a transit pass. Under the pandemic scenario, the percentage of households with three or more cars experiences significant growth in urban and suburban areas. Outcomes of this study will offer policymakers a greater understanding of the transformation pattern of urban and suburban neighborhoods in the post-pandemic period. The developed iTLE VIZ tool will allow planners to formulate complex transport and land-use scenarios and simulate them for examining urban systems transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper explores the urban dynamicity and urban growth types of Raiganj, a small city in West Bengal. The paper evaluates the landuse landcover (LULC) changes and spatial expansion of the urban area for the year 1991, 2001, 2011, and 2019. The LULC Change revealed that the unsustainable trend of built-up expansion continued in this area. The built-up area increased 4.30 percent (1991) to 20.25 percent (2019), resulting in a loss in prime agricultural land, fallow land, and vegetation. The weights of evidence and Pearson's Chi-square test have revealed that Raiganj (UA) has a low degree of freedom. Shannon entropy results indicates that high growth of sprawl is taking place in Raiganj (UA). The analysis of urban growth types shows that the urban growth took place as edge expansion in the beginning (1991–2001), which has been increased in 2001–2011 and 2011–2019. The study has established that it is useful to identify recent and future urban growth, urban growth typology, and development that help local planning authorities manage growth and development following the area's environmental or ecological carrying capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The red line of Permanent Basic Farmland is the most important part in the "three-line" demarcation of China's national territorial development plan. The scientific and reasonable delineation of the red line is a major strategic measure being taken by China to improve its ability to safeguard the practical interests of farmers and guarantee national food security. The delineation of Permanent Basic Farmland zoning (DPBFZ) is essentially a multi-objective optimization problem. However, the traditional method of demarcation does not take into account the synergistic development goals of conservation of cultivated land utilization, ecological conservation, or urban expansion. Therefore, this research introduces the idea of artificial immune optimization and proposes a multi-objective model of DPBFZ red line delineation based on a clone selection algorithm. This research proposes an objective functional system consisting of these three sub-objectives: optimal quality of cropland, spatially concentrated distribution, and stability of cropland. It also takes into consideration constraints such as the red line of ecological protection, topography, and space for major development projects. The mathematical formal expressions for the objectives and constraints are given in the paper, and a multi-objective optimal decision model with multiple constraints for the DPBFZ problem is constructed based on the clone selection algorithm. An antibody coding scheme was designed according to the spatial pattern of DPBFZ zoning. In addition, the antibody-antigen affinity function, the clone mechanism, and mutation strategy were constructed and improved to solve the DPBFZ problem with a spatial optimization feature. Finally, Tongxu County in Henan province was selected as the study area, and a controlled experiment was set up according to different target preferences. The results show that the model proposed in this paper is operational in the work of delineating DPBFZ. It not only avoids the adverse effects of subjective factors in the delineation process but also provides multiple scenarios DPBFZ layouts for decision makers by adjusting the weighting of the objective function. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In many cities in developing countries, the design and implementation of flood adaptation measures face planning challenges, they are often underdeveloped in practice. This paper aims to investigate the potential for urban flood adaptation solutions and design in practice within the context of a climate-vulnerable Southeast Asian city. We specifically explore the "design workshop" -- an essential process providing valuable experience and conditions for effective climate adaptation in Bangkok. As part of our research, the workshop was organized to introduce and experiment the implication of adaptation pathway approach with designers, urban planners, and decision-makers. Findings reveal that the design workshop provided a collaborative environment, offers transformative space for formulating integrated and context-specific flood adaptation solutions - new possibilities for urban climate resilience in the making. The application of the adaptation pathways facilitates a concrete, quantifiable, and time-bound design process for identifying and sequencing potential flood adaptation measures in Bangkok. Consequently, this paper concludes that multidisciplinary and collaborative processes, along with the introduction of adaptation pathways, stimulating urban flood adaptation planning and implementation in a more collaborative and participative way. However, it is important to note that the feasibility assessment of the proposed solutions still requires essential conditions such as policy synchronization, technical skills, and local resources. To effectively realize these strategies in real-world urban planning practice, this research suggests that local governments should consider implementing a multidisciplinary design process in urban development and flood risk management. • There are opportunities for assessing co-benefits of adaptation measures at the local level. • The flood resilience planning should incorporate real-time data to identify long-term adaptation strategies. • The local government should invite a stimulating design approach along with experimentation of various adaptive measures. • Multidisciplinary approaches are essential for successful flood resilience planning in Bangkok. • The Adaptation Pathways helps to demonstrate the possibilities for long-term perspectives in Flood Risk Management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Boletim de Geografia is the property of Universidade Estadual de Maringa and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Purpose: The paper discusses the role and importance of smart governance as a modern form of urban development, identifies the key determinants of smart governance, analyzes models, evaluation and measurement indicators in smart and sustainable cities, and ranks 127 Croatian cities, regardless of city size. Methodology: A comprehensive database was prepared for the preparation of the study, including ten indicators of key smart governance determinants related to political participation of citizens, delivery of quality services to citizens, and sustainable functioning of city administration, in line wiTha review of models and indicators from previous studies. Results: The main goal of this research is to determine a correlation between the size of the city according to the number of inhabitants and statistically significant indicators of smart governance and, based on the value of the correlation coefficients, to determine the weights for the indicators in the process of city ranking. By aggregating the weighted z-scores, the Smart Governance Index was created for all Croatian cities and that index is not related to the size of a city. Conclusion: Statistically significant indicators for the formation of the Smart Governance Index for 127 cities in Croatia are the indicators of political participation and sustainable functioning of city administration. It is necessary to include as many indicators as possible in the future period so that the ranking results are as relevant as possible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the four aspects of economic development, scientific and technological innovation, ecological environment protection and shared coordination, this paper constructs a regional high-quality evaluation index system on three dimensions, namely target layer, criterion layer and index layer. The entropy method, comprehensive evaluation method and Gini coefficient were adopted to evaluate regional high-quality development and they are used to explore the balance of high-quality development of cities regionally. As the object of research, the data from 2010 to 2019 of 11 cities in Hebei was collected and conducted or processed. The research results indicate that economic growth is a key factor to promote the high-quality development of Hebei; the evaluation results reveal that the high-quality development among the 11 cities in Hebei have different scores; the balance analysis demonstrates that the high-quality development differences of cities in Hebei present a decreasing trend. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of urban development, a large number of industrial heritages are in needs of being renovated as a result of the failure of meeting new needs. However, there has not yet formed an innovative and sustainable update design process. Based on the analysis of the problems existing in the renewal and reconstruction of industrial heritages, this paper, hereinafter, will establish an innovative design system by way of introducing extenics and BIM and combining the formalized and innovative advantages of extenics and the characteristics of BIM: information storage, processing and visual programming. In combination with the design of practical cases, this essay conducted the system, to verify its rationality and effectiveness; to discover limitations in its operation, and as the ultimate purpose, to propose directions for further research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, urban population growth and the diversity of vehicles have increased. Location prediction in VANETs is extremely necessary for consumer applications such as routing, network management, knowledge dissemination protocols, and road cognition, among others. This could increase the performance of VANETs. In this paper a Kalman filter is used to predict the vehicle's future location. We conducted experiments exploitation each vehicle quality traces and model-driven traces. We quantitatively compare the prediction performance of a Kalman filter and neural network-based methods. This paper proposes a location prediction algorithm for nonlinear vehicular movement using an Extended Kalman filter (EKF). Evaluation of the ESCL-VNET algorithm with EKF assess the given better results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Water Sensitive Design (WSD) is gaining attention as a Nature-based Solution (NbS) to urban water problems. It incorporates green infrastructure with engineered urban water systems through innovative design of the built environment and urban landscape. In Africa, Johannesburg and Cape Town are two cities engaging with WSD at a policy level. This paper uses the Strategic Niche Management (SNM) approach in a comparative analysis of ongoing engagement with WSD in Johannesburg and Cape Town. We explore the extent to which this engagement signals the launch of the transition towards water resilience. WSD represents a niche that is in synergy with the visions of sustainable urban (water and environmental) management in both cities. Results indicate a progressive engagement with WSD by different actors at regime and niche levels. However, the lack of coordination and capacity deficiencies due to limited social networks and higher order learning are challenges that constrain take-off and further consolidation of the WSD approach in the transition towards water resilient futures. Furthermore, we find urban governance practitioners struggle with reconciling the pursuit of visions of sustainability to be realised through nature-based urban development with the pressing infrastructure deficits that persist in most African cities. • Cape Town and Johannesburg are engaging with Water Sensitive Design as a Nature-based Solution to address urban pressures. • The approach holds promise, yet both cities face challenges that constrain the transition towards water resilient futures. • Challenges include the lack of coordination, capacity deficiencies, limited social networks and higher order learning among governance stakeholders. • Policy practitioners in African cities struggle to reconcile visions of sustainability with pressing infrastructure deficits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The evaluation simulation of urban green space landscape planning scheme based on PSO-BP neural network model is carried out in this paper. PSO-BP neural network can combine the principle of landscape ecology, integrate more evaluation indicators of ecology and urban development into the urban green space landscape planning scheme, and simply understand and predict human behavior, so as to make a more comprehensive evaluation and prediction of the urban green space landscape planning scheme. It not only has superior memory storage and learning ability, but also can simply understand and predict human behavior, so that more influencing factors that cannot be added in the past can be considered in the scheme evaluation and analysis, and the evaluation of urban green space landscape planning scheme is more comprehensive, scientific and reasonable. Experiments show that PSO-BP neural network has smaller error and better generalization ability than BP neural network. PSO-BP neural network rating model can analyze its more reasonable proportion according to the relationship between different types of green space and indicators, and give corresponding adjustment suggestions, which has guiding significance for the modification and adjustment of urban green space landscape planning scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Studies of Lithuania's History is the property of Lietuvos Istorijos Studijos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With the expansion of the city and the rapid development of public transport, the subway as a mass public transport means to bear a very large number of passengers, so that in the morning and evening rush hour, some subway stations are almost saturated. Once a disaster happens in a subway station, the saturated space environment makes it difficult for passengers to evacuate. In addition, the subway station is usually located underground, buried depth of about 10m-30m, the accident station passengers have to overcome their own gravity to the ground to escape, which increases the difficulty of passenger evacuation. Fire is one of the biggest security hidden dangers in subway operation. Once it happens, it will bring huge loss to the safety of social resources and people's life and property. On the basis of summarizing the present situation of fire evacuation in urban rail transit stations at home and abroad, this paper firstly analyzes and studies the factors that affect the fire evacuation ability of stations. Then through the station fire evaluation index to build the safety evacuation evaluation index system. Finally, through the VR technology, computer simulation, field investigation and other methods to quantify the index, the Fuzzy Network analysis of the station fire safety evacuation capacity comprehensive evaluation and put forward targeted countermeasures and suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the course of the 21st century, a century in which the urbanization process of the previous one is ever on the rise, the novel smart city concept has rapidly evolved and now encompasses the broader aspect of sustainability. Concurrently, there has been a sea change in the domain of Earth observation (EO) where scientific and technological breakthroughs are accompanied by a paradigm shift in the provision of open and free data. While the urban and EO communities share the end goal of achieving sustainability, cities still lack an understanding of the value EO can bring in this direction, an next a consolidated framework for tapping the full potential of EO and integrating it in their operational modus operandi. The "SMart URBan Solutions for air quality, disasters and city growth" H2020 project (SMURBS/ERA-PLANET) sits at this scientific and policy crossroad, and, by creating bottom-up EO-driven solutions against an array of environmental urban pressures, and by expanding the network of engaged and exemplary smart cities that push the state-of-the-art in EO uptake, brings the international ongoing discussion of EO for sustainable cities closer to home and contributes in this discussion. This paper advocates for EO as an integral part of a smart and sustainable city and aspires to lead by example. To this end, it documents the project's impacts, ranging from the grander policy fields to an evolving portfolio of smart urban solutions and everyday city operations, as well as the cornerstones for successful EO integration. Drawing a parallel with the utilization of EO in supporting several aspects of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, it aspires to be a point of reference for upcoming endeavors of city stakeholders and the EO community alike, to tread together, beyond traditional monitoring or urban planning, and to lay the foundations for urban sustainability. • Solid convergence between smart city and sustainable urban development scope. • Exploitation of Earth observation enhances the smartness and resilience of cities. • Six critical foundational aspects for Earth observation - smart city integration. • Earth observation supports timely and informed decision making in cities. • Earth observation is key to enhance monitoring of environmental urban pressures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The creation of Smart Cities is an emerging research and application field that has the objective to increase city resilience and improve the quality of life for citizens. In this paper an extensive and thorough gap analysis that was performed in the framework of the SMURBS 1 1 https://smurbs.eu/ project is presented. The gap analysis identified 117 gaps in the legal, methodological, and technological framework, in the thematic areas of air quality, disasters, urban growth and migration. The identified gaps can be used by policy makers in local, regional, national, or even at EU or UN level to form new policies that will bridge these gaps and lead to the creation of resilient and sustainable smart cities. • Earth observation and smart cities. • Gap analysis, gap prioritization. • Legal, technological, methodological frameworks. • Air quality, disasters, health, urban growth, social inequality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At present, the urbanization in Beijing is developing fast, and its accompanying rapid accumulation pattern of urban infrastructure stock is undoubtedly of great significance to the realization of Beijing's infrastructure construction and urbanization coordinated development. This paper analyzes the time series of changes in 8 types of infrastructure stock and 10 types of infrastructure materials in Beijing through the stock accounting model. The decoupling relationship between the level of urbanization in Beijing and the infrastructure stock is analyzed through the decoupling model. Its purpose is to achieve social and economic development while achieving the optimal scale of infrastructure stock construction, thereby promoting the progress of Beijing's new urban development. The results show that: (1) Beijing's infrastructure stock was on an upward trend from 1949 to 2018. In 2018, the total infrastructure stock expanded to 1,384 times that of 1949, reaching 3,342.036 million tons. It has experienced a process of slow growth from 1949 to 1975, rapid growth from 1976 to 2008, and steady growth from 2009 to 2018. (2) From 1949 to 2018, in terms of building types, Beijing has the largest housing stocks, followed by the road stocks, the pipeline stocks and the track stocks. In terms of material types, gravel, cement, bricks, and steel account for about 99% of the infrastructure material stock in Beijing. (3) The state has reached weak decoupling between the level of urbanization in Beijing and the stock of roads and track, and is moving from "weak decoupling" to finally achieving "strong decoupling", while the state between the level of urbanization and housing stocks and pipeline stocks has not yet reached decoupling. The state between the level of urbanization and the stock of various infrastructure materials has not yet reached a state of decoupling, and most of them are extended decoupling, which puts great pressure on Beijing's resources and environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite efforts to achieve environmental sustainability, the globe is not yet on the right track; various difficulties have lately emerged because of development, including natural resource depletion, biodiversity loss, and pollution issues. The strategic objectives of the environment for the year 2030 aim to achieve rational management of natural resource assets and the maintenance of the balance of ecosystems and biodiversity, and hence, it is necessary to deal with the important challenges of current urban development, which directly and indirectly affect resources and ecosystems, and human health. This has led to development of tools to consider the relationship between human activities and environmental sustainability in a policy-relevant way. Such tools can identify policies that might simultaneously achieve sustainability, preserve resources while protecting health and equity. This paper aims at understanding the impact of various urban development sectors on environmental ecosystems through employing a systematic framework to formulate appropriate measures and policies to confront these challenges. Various methodological frameworks are reviewed leading to selection of the ecosystems-enriched Drivers, Pressures, State, Exposure, Effect Action (eDPSEEA) as an appropriate tool for assessing and determining the cause and effect of an ecosystem to guide and direct responses and actions in the Egyptian context. El Fayoum Governorate is selected as a case study to test the suitability of this framework. The study concludes that the application of this systemic methodological approach can enhance understanding of the interrelationships among the multifaceted components within the urban system and its impacts on ecosystems, helping to enhance the decision-making and implementation processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been a swift rise in the development of smart cities. This evolution has been prompted by the rise in emerging technologies such as edge computing, IoT, data science, and analytics. Combining these technologies has paved the way for new, automated systems for managing and monitoring procedures and industries, resulting in increased efficiency and improved quality of life. While these interconnected services assist in managing the growing population in the urban environments through efficient service delivery and increased operational efficiency, they also increase the risk of adversary threats, security, and privacy challenges to smart cities. This paper presents the holistic view of the security landscape and highlights the security threats, challenges, and risks to the smart city environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Romania, the sustainable urban mobility plan (SUMP) is required to fund projects through the Regional Operational Program 2014-2020 (Urban Mobility Investment) and the Large Infrastructure Operational Program 2014-2020. In addition, SUMP is mandatory, as mentioned in the Law no. 350 / 2001 (with its subsequent amendments and completions), on territorial planning and urbanism, which states that a General Urban Plan must include, inter alia, an urban mobility plan. Since 2015, cities in Romania started to develop SUMPs in line with their own economic development requirements, ensuring the transition to a sustainable transport system that meet citizens' mobility needs and improving the quality of their lives. SUMPs have already started to be implemented, but currently there is not sufficient information on the state of implementation, although monitoring information should also be provided. Consequently, an assessment is needed to confirm whether these plans achieve their objectives and whether the impact of the adopted measures is the expected one. The main objective of this paper is to compare SUMPs from 30 cities in Romania, classified according to the number of inhabitants, and to propose an improved monitoring and evaluation methodology, allowing thus to intervene and review them in due time. The aim of the research is to avoid introducing measures that do not have the expected effect, to improve them, or introduce other complementary measures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents Sub-transmission and Distribution Network Expansion Planning (S&DNEP) including Distributed Generation (DG) and Distribution Automation (DA) considering reliability indices. The objective function is to minimize investment, operation, maintenance, and reliability costs subjected to AC power flow, system operation and generation unit and DG limits, reliability, and distribution automation constraints (including the constraints of protection devices and volt/VAr control mechanism). The proposed model is a Mixed Integer Non-Linear Programming (MINLP) model, which is hard to solve. For this reason, an MINLP problem is transformed into a Mixed Integer Linear Programming (MILP) model. The validity of the proposed method is investigated in the two synthetic test networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

the construction of high-speed railway improves the accessibility of cities along the route and plays a certain role in promoting the economic development of cities. The construction of Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway improves the timeliness and accessibility of Chengdu to Chongqing, and plays a certain role in promoting the development of cities along the Neijiang River.This paper mainly analyzes the influence of Chengdu-Chongqing high-speed railway on the economic development of Neijiang city after its completion, and puts forward some targeted suggestions for the development of Neijiang. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Estudios Atacameños is the property of Estudios Atacamenos and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In Human's day to day lifestyle, Population growth, human activities in urban and rural places have a great impact on the improvement in transportation zone. Mainly the noise level is increased by the traffic Vehicles such as Government vehicles, Private vehicles, commercial vehicles are caused the noise. Noise is created by traffic is causes many harmful effects such as highly increasing of stress, Sleepiness, difficulties in communication and hearing losses (it may be Permanent or Temporary hearing losses) problem. Hence it is required to monitoring the status of traffic noise produced by the number of vehicles. In the present work, monitoring the ambient noise level along a state highway corridor on State Highway(SH-85) passing through Magadi Taluk to Somwarpet Taluk via, Ramangar, Tumkuru, Mandya, Mysuru, Hassan Distrcict has been considered. We studied noise level at different location in Nagamangala. The data was collected from 2 different locations over a period of 6 months and noise level was compared. Noise level monitoring was conducted day and night twice in 6 months, at two different locations and results were discussed. The monitoring ambient noise level results were discussed with Prescribed Standards. Monitoring of Ambient Noise Level, locations, Methods and Methodology's, Results and Discussions are also described in this Paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities and their residents are impacted by the growing effects of climate change in various ways. Urban areas, infrastructure, and green places are all destroyed by extreme weather events. The goal of measures made to strengthen cities' resilience and adaptation to climate change is to lessen or eliminate negative effects or to boost the advantages of hazards. They vary in personality and shape according on the degree of economic and social development as well as the availability of financial, institutional, human, and intellectual resources. The methods and equipment utilised in planning and urban development are very crucial. The study focuses on structuring urban space, highlighting the value of environmental services, and strengthening resilience to climate change via planning and implementation initiatives. The study is concentrated on Polish cities that have developed Urban Adaptation Plans (MPA). The purpose of this paper is to outline the blue-green infrastructure projects covered by the MPA, discuss the opportunities for their implementation, and demonstrate how they contribute to urban spaces' increased appeal, better quality of life, and increased local community awareness and participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India is rapidly urbanizing country with cities experiencing both demography and spatial growth. According to United Nation 2014, population projection of 2050 indicates that more than half the population in the country will reside in cities. Lakes are being considered as one of the important feature of the city's landscape and play an important role in urban life by contributing to ecological sustainability. In metropolitan cities, lakes play a key role in influencing living condition of the people and their environs, increase in ground water table, regulates micro climate, recreational place for each neighbourhood involving in community participation and home for flora and fauna. Rapid expansion of urban areas due to rise in economic growth and population due to growth of IT and industrial sector is increasing additional demand on natural resources thereby causing land-use changes. Bangalore City also faces the same problem because of the fastest growing nature in all the aspects like rapid development such as additional infra structure, environmental pollution, informal settlements and destruction of ecological structure has led to reduction of green and open spaces, as well as degradation and disappearance of Water bodies; decrease in water storage capacity, flora and fauna diversity. Kengeri Lake having an area of 32 acres 16 guntas located in Vrishabhavathi valley of Bangalore Metropolitian area is degraded due to developmental activities. This paper deals with analysing the impact of surrounding development on Kengeri Lake and to propose suitable conservation strategies for environmental improvement of the lake. Research methodology deals with identifying the impacts of different landuse in the catchment area of Kengeri Lake through visual survey and opinion survey. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Management of road accidents has been a challenging task in the country like India, whose vision is more focused on smart cities development. The reporting of vehicle accident incidents immediately in case of emergency is being delayed and the death rate is increasing in such cases, due toless concentration on usage of technology in the management of road accidents in smart cities. The recent availabletechnology used in the management of accidents through vehicles are challenging, as they not smart enough, unreliable, ease of application is unrealistic, not so economic friendly, and they are not meant for all vehicles too, as the detection of accidents and the immediate response or plan of action for it is unrealistic. The main contribution from our research is to detect accidents and respond to the notification which would be sent through our accident management system generating short message serviceto the concern person's family, nearby hospital, ambulance, local volunteer, police station, vehicle customer care, to all the respondentsimmediately. In this paper we have a proposed our idea on managing the road accidents in smart cities through smart vehicle technologywhich would assist the policy makers of smart city mission. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Brasileira de Pesquisa em Turismo is the property of Associacao Nacional de Pesquisa e Pos-Graduacao em Turismo and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

With increasing migration, commodification of land, and urbanization in Kathmandu, there is growing interaction and antagonism between local landowners and groups who wish to own land, which has generated a discourse about land. This paper considers perceptions, beliefs, practices, and policies about land as discourse on land. Such discourse included meanings and uses of land. On discourse about landownership, land seekers think that Newars do not need the land that they are historically owning, and land brokers (dalāls) are suggesting landowners to sell land and build houses or live off on the interest of the money by depositing it in the bank. Dalāls act not only as intermediaries between owners and buyers in the land market but as amplifiers and communicators, and often as creators, of discourse. The physical and socioeconomic environment of Kathmandu is changing in such a way that landowners are unable to hold, or hold for long, their land, and they are becoming increasingly influenced by the discourse that land is a high-value commodity that should be sold. Such discourse can be explained by the political economic theory that considers the city as a growth machine that commodifies space for private profit-making and capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nova Economia is the property of Nova Economia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Creating a new capital city is a critical decision, yet it has happened across the globe and across the years. Due to various reasons, capital cities were created and transformed their countries and affected their overall worldwide presence. This paper derives a comparison between the capital of Kazakhstan, Astana and the new Egyptian Administrative Capital that is currently under construction. This review article showed that despite the differences, similarities can be pointed out in relation to political, social, and economic aspects. The results figured out that both capitals are major initiatives for nation-building as well as regional and economic development. The authors conclude from the similarities between the two capital cities' approaches that Egypt's new administrative capital can follow the well-off steps of Astana aside from the contextual differences and challenges that should not be underestimated. The authors also derive a set of elements that create a significant capital city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Bitácora Urbano/Territorial is the property of Bitacora Urbano/Territorial and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In order to track how cities develop and grow, multidimensional systems of urban development indicators taking into account the balance between economic, social, and environmental aspects are the best solution found so far. However, there is no unique measurement system that would be widely accepted and applied within various urban areas to verify whether a given city is developing in a sustainable way. The aim of this paper is to apply the TOPSIS algorithm on the basis of selected urban indicators, in order to evaluate the progress of a single city towards the concept of sustainable development observed over a longer period of time. A capital city of Poland, Warsaw, faces several challenges associated with development policy evaluation, thus confirming the need for this research. We meticulously selected 48 indicators from the economic, social and environmental areas as an input for TOPSIS algorithm, which allowed us to calculate a new proposed aggregated index for evaluating urban policy on the example of Warsaw. Research has shown usefulness of applied TOPSIS algorithm in assessing the long-run development of an urban area towards the concept of a sustainable city. The results of our analysis indicated that over a period of ten years, during 2008-2017, the urban policy decision-making has been balancing the socio-economic and environmental aspects and the city of Warsaw has been developed in a sustainable manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Cuadernos de Geografia: Revista Colombiana de Geografía is the property of Universidad Nacional de Colombia and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

• Geodiversity is an essential resource for sustainable tourism in urban areas. • Proposal of classification of the sites for the purposes of geotourism development. • The geotourist potential does not always depend on the degree of protection. Geodiversity is a basis for geotourism development. Geosites and geodiversity sites then represent particular issues of geotourist interest, however, in some cases, their potential and suitability for the geotourism is not recognized. The paper is focused on the geotourism potential assessment that forms a basis for sustainable use of geodiversity in an urban area. By using the set of criteria for assessing geosites and geomorphosites, the mutual relationships between particular values are examined and based on the assessment and statistical methods, the classification of the sites regarding their suitability for geotourism development is elaborated. The results show that the suitability of the sites for geotourism does not always depend on the degree of legal protection, but rather on the educational values or scientific values of geosites and geodiversity sites. Based on the classification, the conceptual development of geotourist activities can be proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Over the last decades, tourism has experienced continued growth, and its impact on economic activity can be observed through its effects on the balance of payments and the labour market, as well as connections with other economic activities. According to the ITB report (2016), urban tourism recorded the largest increase, noting that tourist arrivals in urban areas increased by 58% in the past five years. This was due lo growing urbanization, better road accessibility and air connectivity between cities, shorter stays and an increasing number of trips per year. In recent years, the number of tourist arrivals in urban areas has also increased in Croatia. In 2018, over 12 million arrivals were recorded, which represents 64% of the total tourist arrivals for that year. Methodology: The aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between tourism (tourism indicators) and sustainable development (investment in sustainable development) in cities in Croatia. The survey covered all 128 cities. The data analysis was conducted using descriptive analysis, correlation analysis, Mann-Whitney test and regression analysis. Results: The results show that there is a correlation between tourism and sustainable development in the analysed cities. Cities with thriving tourism pay more attention to sustainable development. Conclusion: It is necessary to continuously increase the levels of knowledge and understanding of tourism in accordance with the principles of sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of posthumanism and the proliferation of neoliberal rationality have not only changed the meaning of the word human, but also the status of the human. Technological autonomy overpowers and replaces human agency and the human becomes marginal and peripheral on a planetary scale; in the same manner that humans have lost control over the machine, they have also lost control over their agentic narrative on a global scale and on a literary one. And in the same way neoliberal commodification reduces humans to non-humans and transforms technology to a transcendent other that can transform and control the body, neoliberal posthumanism transformed the genre of the novel. The authors argue that the decentralization of the human, triggered by posthumanism, and the commodification of the genre of the novel, triggered by neoliberalism, transformed the most popular subgenre of the novel, the bildungsroman into a geschäftsroman. There is considerable evidence that indicates that many contemporary novels no longer focus on the growth of human beings, but rather on the growth of businesses, instead. This paper analyzes Mohsin Hamid's How to get Filthy Rich in Rising Asia (2013), arguing that it is a poignant example of a geschäftsroman, in which the human is decentralized and the growth of the city and the development of the economy become the narrative's nucleus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Ratings are an increasingly popular part of urban sustainability governance and are widely understood as tools to guide policy and ensure transparency. This understanding is part of a more general shift in governance towards “New Public Management” that emphasizes public accountability and the accuracy of quantitative metrics and technical knowledge in policy evaluation. But critics have assessed ratings as broader mechanisms of governmentality, through which authorities shape, instrumentalize, and control conduct, and promote particular urban trajectories, in politicized ways. This paper examines STAR Communities, a recently developed urban sustainability rating system in the USA, to understand how such ratings behave at the interface of knowledge and policy, and how seeking transparency through ratings can produce unexpected outcomes that evade sustainability. This paper is not a critique of a specific rating system or set of indicators, but does yield a critique of the kinds of unexpected outcomes that are possible when we privilege quantitative measures of achievement. The study finds: 1) ratings are often used as labels rather than as policy inputs; 2) ratings can exacerbate existing inequalities and create new inequalities within and between municipalities because, while ratings can bring financial benefits, certification demands significant financial and political resources; and, 3) ratings can incentivize the realignment of governance priorities, as cities ‘grab’ points by pursuing quickly implemented, uncontroversial, and politically ‘safe’ policies and programs. The study also finds that sustainability managers continue to pursue quantitative sustainability measurement because of dominant assumptions that ‘counting is what counts’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]