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Globally, various regulations regarding rent control and lease agreements are enacted with the aim of stabilizing the real estate market and ensuring tenants have access to stable housing options. This paper delves into the impact of extending lease contract terms, a strategy used alongside lease agreement regulations in South Korea for rent control purposes. It particularly forecasts outcomes using a theoretical framework that incorporates the mortgage-like characteristics of the chonsei system—a distinct lease arrangement prevalent in Korea—and considers the risk of default. This model illustrates how the nearly unconditional extension of chonsei contracts can lead to heightened prices for new chonsei deposits across comparable properties and areas. This escalation prompts a shift from traditional chonsei arrangements to a hybrid model that includes monthly rent payments. Additionally, this research adopts an empirical methodology to corroborate the predictions made by the theoretical model, drawing on credit score data from leading banks and information on real estate transactions. The study sheds light on the paradoxical outcomes of policies aimed at housing stability and explores potential structural shifts within the rental market, proposing pertinent policy recommendations in response to these findings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The risks of climate change are increasing, and their impacts seem inevitable on the livability of climate-vulnerable urban areas. In this regard, the present study aims to investigate the effects of climate change on the level of livability in Sistan and Baluchistan province, located in the southeast of Iran, which is facing severe climatic tensions. In this paper, daily climate data of temperature, humidity, wind, frost, and precipitation from 2000 to 2020 were analyzed temporally and spatially. From 2010 to 2019, the livability of this province's cities was also evaluated using the multi-criteria decision-making method. Geostatistical analysis methods were also applied to understand the relationship between climate and livability. The results showed that climatic drivers strongly influence the provinces of Sistan and Baluchistan. The northern regions of the province had the highest number of drought, frost, and windy days compared to the southern ones. But, the average humidity and temperature of the central and southern regions were assessed higher than the northern ones. Therefore, the above climatic features exerted different effects on the livability process. The livability situation results indicated that the cities' livability level was different in the studied years. Many cities had a downward trend. Also, based on spatial statistics analysis, the distribution of livability at the province level was uneven and clustered. In addition, the evaluation of the effect of climatic drivers on the livability of cities illustrated that there is a strong correlation between the humidity driver and the trend of livability (with a correlation of 0.35). However, the drivers of temperature, wind, frost, and drought (with correlations of 0.06, 0.02, 0.01, and 0.02) individually did not have a significant relationship with the livability trend. However, a combination of temperature-humidity (with a correlation of 0.3) and drought-humidity (0.31) drives greatly impacted the livability of the province's cities. [Display omitted] [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although sustainable urban development has been conceptualized in a vast array of proposals, it seems that the prioritization of economic development over environmental and social concerns limits real progress in making cities more sustainable. This paper studies whether an orientation towards self-reliance can contribute in some way to urban sustainability through examining the case of gardening in North Korean cities. The results demonstrate that even though self-reliance has long been a part of the national ideology, only its practice at the household level has resulted in significant improvements in urban sustainability. The key therein lies in family ties, the responsibility to which oblige people to actively practice a more conscious consumer behavior. Meanwhile, the economic empowerment of women, who sell a part of the harvest from their urban gardens at the local market, has not precipitated their broader involvement in either social or political activities. • Only the practice of self-reliance at the household level has supported urban sustainability in North Korea. • The economic empowerment of North Korean women has not precipitated their broader involvement in either social or political activities. • Coherent urban policy has assisted North Korea in avoiding the negative outcomes of marketization well documented in post-socialist cities of Europe. • The self-reliant city model has the potential to coexist with the free market. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial order and chaos represent contrasting states in urban environments. While order is perceived as an ideal status, chaos prompts strategic interventions for its mitigation. Both states entail varying cost implications for urban stakeholders. This theoretical research seeks to delineate public and private costs associated with spatial chaos. Introducing a novel method, the authors advance a taxonomy of urban costs, amalgamating four approaches to spatial dynamics with two modes of order provision, resulting in eight distinct analytical domains for theoretical exploration. Approaching from an economic sciences lens, this study recontextualizes traditional economic cost categories to resonate with contemporary urban economy. From the established taxonomy, the authors advocate the incorporation of operation, investment, opportunity costs, and costs of ambition for a more holistic discourse on overall urban costs in spatial planning and development. • Spatial chaos and spatial order might have an equal economic footing. • Operating in spatial chaos and order, as well as delivering the order, always entail cost implications for urban stakeholders. • A taxonomy of urban costs incurred by city users operating in the reality of spatial chaos is conceptualized in the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines the relational interactions between the professional stakeholders in the redevelopment of three historic former asylums in northern England. Each stakeholder in the redevelopment process has their own expertise, goals, opinions, and views of everyone else in the process. This relational perspective provides a counterpoint to the often atheoretical and non-critical examination of these issues. The article explores the perceptions that the stakeholders hold of themselves, each other and how this helps shape the process of historic building reuse. The empirical findings in this paper are based on semi- structured interviews with stakeholders involved in the redevelopment of three historic former asylum buildings in the north of England. It asks how the perceptions of stakeholders; of themselves, others and the process, affect the redevelopment outcome of three sites. Healey's (1992) conceptual framework of the redevelopment process is adapted to understand this situation – understanding the interaction between owners (where identifiable), planners (including planning consultants), conservation officers and heritage practitioners. Original findings demonstrated discord between the perceptions the stakeholders held for each other and the actual actions those stakeholders took. In addition, findings also indicate that they viewed themselves as objective experts - yet the findings show that the stakeholders brought their personal experiences and bias into the discussion of historic former asylums, particularly in relation to the history of the buildings. These findings are significant for academia and practice/ policy as it paints a more nuanced picture of stakeholders involved in the process of redevelopment, challenging prevailing opinions and explores the usually assumed homogenous groups of developers (Coiacetto, 2001) and property owners, something which is lacking in the literature currently. • Discord exists between the perceptions professional stakeholders held for each other and the actual actions those stakeholders took. • Professionals viewed themselves as objective experts yet they brought their personal experiences and biases into the discussions of reuse. • It is assumed that professional groups all work in the same way as each other and yet this is not true; this creates misunderstandings and miscommunications between stakeholder groups. • A conflicted view of former historic asylum sites was painted by the professional stakeholders as to whether a stigma persisted or not. • Professionals should be aware that they bring their experiences and opinions into their work. • Challenges prevailing perceptions that stakeholder groups by painting a more nuanced picture, particularly of under-researched groups of developers and property owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic have led to significant changes in travel behaviour and public activities, and they might have contributed to changes in residential location choices. However, research examining the relationship between residential location choice and COVID-19 is very limited. To that end, this paper focuses on how pandemic-induced changes in work patterns, travel preferences and daily activity patterns have altered residential preferences and potentially, relocation trends. The main determinants of residential location choice have been established in the literature over the past 30 years: physical attributes of the dwelling; surrounding built environment; affordability; and accessibility to transportation, workplaces, and services. However, each of these determinants are prioritised differently depending on the circumstances. Therefore, exploring how these priorities have shifted after the pandemic can pave the way for understanding how preferences for residential location choice shift as a consequence. From the review, the key findings include the decreasing importance of transport and workplace accessibility in residential location choice after the pandemic. Firstly, teleworking is becoming more prevalent within office jobs than before the pandemic, leading to less frequent trips to conventional workplaces, reducing the need to live within a commutable distance to a workplace. Secondly, trips to other activities have likewise become less frequent due to either remote alternatives (e.g., online shopping) or shifting towards services closer to home, reducing the need to travel in general. Another consequence of the pandemic is people staying at home longer than before, thus increasing the need for more desirable dwelling attributes such as larger house size and wider surrounding green space. Since these attributes are generally more affordable in areas less accessible to transport and services, this may subsequently lead to migrations to areas of lower population density, potentially decentralising urban areas. • Long-term teleworking has reduced the need to live near the workplace post-pandemic. • Residential preferences shift towards desirable dwellings at affordable prices. • Prevalence of online shopping has led to permanent changes in retail destinations. • Transport preference inclines towards car dependency over sustainable modes. • Overall findings suggest a potential shift towards urban decentralisation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The outbreak of COVID-19 caused unprecedented disruptions to public transport services. As such, this paper proposes a methodology for analyzing COVID-19 impact on public transport mobility. The proposed methodology includes: (1) a new unsupervised machine learning (UML) method, which utilizes a decoder-encoder architecture and a flow property-based learning objective function, to estimate the origin-destination (OD) flows of public transport systems from boarding-alighting data; and (2) a temporal-spatial analysis method to analyze OD flow change before and during COVID-19 to unveil its impact on mobility across time and space. The validation of the UML method showed that it achieved a coefficient of determination of 0.836 when estimating OD flows using boarding-alighting data. Upon the successful validation, the proposed methodology was implemented to analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the mobility of the New York City subway system. The implementation results indicate that (1) the rise in the number of weekly new COVID-19 cases intensified the impact on the public transport mobility, but not as strongly as public health interventions; and (2) the inflows to and outflows from the center of the city were more sensitive to the impact of COVID-19. • A new methodology for analyzing COVID-19 impact on public transport mobility. • It includes a proposed unsupervised ML method to estimate public transport system OD flows from boarding-alighting data. • It includes a temporal-spatial analysis method to analyze OD flow changes before and during COVID-19. • The proposed methodology was implemented in analyzing COVID-19 impact in the New York City area. • The methodology could support analyzing the impact of natural disasters on public transport mobility across time and space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, the concept of the smart city has gained growing popularity. As cities worldwide have set the aim to harness digital technologies to their development, increasing focus came to lie on the potential challenges and concerns related to data-driven urban practices. In the existing literature, these challenges and concerns have been dominantly approached from a pragmatic approach based on the a priori assumed 'goodness' of the smart city; for a small group of critics, the very notion of the smart city is questionable. This paper takes the middle-way by interrogating how municipal and civil society stakeholders problematize the challenges and concerns related to data-driven practices in five Dutch cities, and how they act on these concerns in practice. The lens of problematization posits that the ways of problematizing data-driven practices contribute to their actual enactment, and that this is an inherently political process. The case study shows that stakeholders do not only perceive practical challenges but are widely aware of and are (partly) pro-actively engaging with perceived normative-ethical and societal concerns, leading to different (sometimes inter-related) technological, legal/political, organizational, informative and participative strategies. Nonetheless, the explicit contestation of smart city policies through these strategies remains limited in scope. The paper argues that more research is needed to uncover the structural-institutional dynamics that facilitate and/or prevent the repoliticization of smart city projects. • The lens of problematization offers insights into the politics of smart city-building. • Five strategies addressing smart city-related concerns are identified. • The explicit contestation of smart city policies remains limited in scope. • Further research is needed into how context-specific factors shape smart city-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wayfinding is one of the most daily activities of peoples in urban spaces which could be facilitated by a set of landmarks to provide a mental map of the environment. Landmark detection in urban spaces is yet one of the great challenges in landmark-based wayfinding. This paper aims to apply new sources of geo-tagged photos derived from social media like Telegram for landmark extraction. This paper proposed a method to extract landmarks automatically through clustering of geo-tagged photos by Density Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) method and object detection by deep artificial neural network (deep belief network) algorithm. The proposed method is implemented in 48 different routes of 3 districts of Tehran, Iran. The accuracy assessment demonstrated the efficiency of the algorithms for landmark extraction from huge geo-tagged photographs. Furthermore, the extracted landmarks are evaluated by 120 wayfinders. The experimental results demonstrated the usability of the proposed landmarks in wayfinding process with 87% of user satisfaction. • This paper introduces a method for automatic landmark extraction from geotagged photos. • The proposed model uses DBSCAN and DNN. • The model is evaluated with regard to accuracy and user satisfaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Impacted by the compounding effects of climate change and urbanization, cities are facing a panoply of risks that threaten their sustainability. Recognizing the potentially catastrophic ramifications of inaction, local governments are increasingly involved in resilience-building activities that are informed by a vast body of research related to different socio-economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of urban planning and design. However, despite its significant impacts on growth and evolution of cities, limited research exists on how urban form can enhance resilience by increasing the abilities to plan for, absorb, recover from, and adapt to adverse events. As a step towards filling this gap, this paper explores how meso-scale urban form elements can affect urban resilience. This is done through synthesizing theoretical and empirical evidence reported in the literature. The focus is on morphological parameters related to the following urban form elements: neighborhoods, blocks, lots, and open spaces. Results show that existing evidence is mainly related to the associations between 'neighborhood density, size and configuration of open spaces, and land use mix' and resilience to 'climate change impacts', 'earthquakes', 'social issues', and 'resource scarcity'. There is also considerable evidence on the association between design of blocks/lots and resilience in terms of climate change adaptation/mitigation and adaptability to changing circumstances. The analysis also shows that each element influences and is influenced by other elements in the urban system and different elements should not be studied in isolation and the interplay between them should be considered. Existing evidence on conflicts is mainly related to density, but measures related to other elements may also involve conflicts. The paper concludes with a set of recommendations for future research towards improving resilience of urban form at the meso-scale. • The linkages between meso-scale urban form and resilience are explored. • Studied elements are neighborhoods, blocks, lots, and open spaces. • Existing evidence is mainly related to density, land use mix, and open spaces. • To develop optimal urban forms, synergies and trade-offs between different elements should be considered. • Further empirical evidence on the links between meso-scale urban form and resilience is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Residential mobility has become an increasingly important issue in China, where urban families participate frenetically in the commodity housing market leading to soaring property prices. Applying place dependence approach and logistic regression models, this paper examines the association between residential mobility intentions and place dependence for employment and education in Beijing. The results reveal that people's intentions to move homes are driven by place dependence on the access to high-quality schools for their children, while the dependence for employment is rather weak. The findings indicate children's education has emerged as a new driving force that shapes urban space in contemporary China and therefore should be a focal point for planners and policy makers in urban resource distribution. This paper provides evidences to further our understanding of the high premium of properties that enable access to good schools. The needs for other spatial utilities and sentimental attachment to a place also encourage residential mobility intentions, which deserves further research. • Residential mobility intention was analyzed in Zhongguancun area in Beijing. • Influences of children's education and parents' employment were measured. • Children's education has emerged as a new driving force affecting residential choices. • Place dependence provides a useful lens to comprehend housing mobility in contemporary cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Walkability is defined as the extent to which the built environment is friendly to people who walk, which benefits the health of residents and increases the liveability of cities, and studies of walkability have increasingly attracted the attention of researchers worldwide. To provide a roadmap for research on neighbourhood/community walkability, this paper critically reviews the literature on neighbourhood/community walkability studies using geographical information systems (GIS), which is an objective tool universally used in this area. The literature review covers 136 papers that were published between 2008 and 2018 and retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection database. Firstly, a bibliometric analysis is conducted to give a general view of recent studies. Secondly, a detailed critical review is performed from three major perspectives concerning neighbourhood walkability, namely, walkability measurements, the built environment and health, and the applications of walkability. Finally, research trends and future directions are discussed. The implications include: (a) factors affecting walkability and their interactions should be investigated; (b) more accurate data need to be available for the measurement of walkability; (c) relevant research in the contexts of different countries could be expanded and compared; (d) the application of walkability could be developed in terms of depth and width. • A detailed roadmap for research on neighbourhood/community walkability is provided. • A bibliometric analysis is used to review recent studies from multiple viewpoints. • A critical review is conducted from three major perspectives of walkability studies. • The limitations of existing studies and future research directions are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different types of high-rise residential buildings have proliferated in different countries at least since the 1940s, for a range of reasons. This paper aims to provide an overview of the current state of evidence on how planning, urban design and architectural aspects of high-rise residential buildings may influence social well-being and mental health. A systematic review following the PRISMA guidelines was conducted. Searches for peer-reviewed papers were conducted in MEDLINE, Embase, PsycInfo, Scopus, SciELO, and Web of Science; 4100 papers were assessed. 23 empirical studies published between 1971 and 2016 were included. The review found that house type, floor level, as well as spaces intrinsic to high-rise residential buildings (e.g. shared stairwells) are associated with social well-being and mental health. However, conceptual gaps and methodological inconsistencies still characterise most of the research in this field. We expect that research about and policy attention to this subject may intensify due to its strategic relevance in the face of global challenges such as increasing urbanization and loneliness. This paper concludes by highlighting a number of recommendations for future research. • House type, floor level, and spaces intrinsic to high-rises are associated with social well-being and mental health. • Most research shows methodological problems and lack of conceptual consensus. • Cross-national research and studies in cities in the Global South are needed. • There is a lack of studies on positive mental health. • Mediators, moderators and confounding variables need to be studied conjointly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The debate on the role of urban agriculture in the sustainable city discourse remains unresolved in the conventional literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to review relevant literature to clarify the role of urban agriculture in sustainable cities. The search for literature was guided by themes such as: a) urban agricultural practices, b) indicators for the measurement of sustainable cities, c) economic, social and environmental benefits of urban agriculture, and d) negative effects of urban agriculture on the city. The results from a synthesis of the literature indicate that urban agriculture supports the economic, social and environmental sustainability of cities. However, if the discussion gives credence to only the economic dimension of sustainability, then urban agriculture loses the debate. This is because the economic benefits of prime city land that is used used for non-agricultural purposes (such as commercial or industrial) is profound. However, the social and environmental functions of responsible urban agriculture, particularly in reducing the rift between urbanisation and nature, may be difficult to quantify. These social and environmental functions underscore the importance of urban agriculture in the city landscape. The paper concludes by arguing that focussing on only economic sustainability in the urban agriculture-sustainable city discourse is a travesty of the idea of sustainable development. The paper presents practical steps that can be taken to preserve agriculture in cities towards their sustainability. • The role of urban agriculture in the sustainable city discourse is unresolved. • The paper aims to clarify this through a review of literature across the globe. • The paper's conceptual framework is based on the tripartite view of sustainable development. • The roles are profound if the discussion focusses on the tripartite dimension of sustainable development. • The paper outlines measures that can ensure the sustenance of urban agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traffic congestion is one of the key issues relating to sustainability and livability in many large cities. In particular, the situation in the growing megacities of developing countries has been worsening and is now attracting considerable attention from researchers and politicians. An understanding of the spatio-temporal patterns of this congestion is necessary in order to formulate effective policies to relieve it. Much of the research to date has focused on single districts for relatively short periods (days or weeks) using GPS, while long-term analysis of spatial and temporal patterns of traffic congestion at the city level has been rare. The aim of this paper is to help fill this gap in the literature by applying a big data analytic approach to a sample of 10.16 million records of traffic congestion indexes for 233 roads in the Beijing area over a six-month period. This analysis revealed four typical traffic congestion patterns in Beijing, which can be described as the weekend mode, holiday mode, weekday mode A, and weekday mode B. Each of these patterns possesses unique spatial and temporal characteristics. Compared with working days, on which congestion is regular and agglomerated, weekends and holidays are characterized by long-lasting congestion peaks throughout the day. Non-commuting travel on weekends and holidays, including trips for tourism, shopping, entertainment, and children's after-school activities, are major contributors to traffic congestion of the weekend and holiday mode. Owing to poor jobs-housing balance, the suburban new towns and job centres had relatively higher congestion than other areas. These findings shed significant light on geographical patterns of traffic congestion in growing megacities. • Traffic congestion is a key issue relating to urban sustainability. • This paper apples a big data analytic approach to a sample of 10.16 million records of traffic congestion. • There are four typical traffic congestion patterns in Beijing. • No-commuting travels on weekends and holidays are major contributors to traffic congestion. • The suburban new towns and job centres had relatively higher congestion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing use of the Internet and mobile devices, social networks are becoming the most used media to communicate citizens' ideas and thoughts. This information is very useful to identify communities with common ideas based on what they publish in the network. This paper presents a method to automatically detect city communities based on machine learning techniques applied to a set of tweets from Bogotá's citizens. An analysis was performed in a collection of 2,634,176 tweets gathered from Twitter in a period of six months. Results show that the proposed method is an interesting tool to characterize a city population based on a machine learning methods and text analytics. • This paper proposes a method to automatically detect communities in the Twitter social network. • We collected a data set of tweets of Bogotá-Colombia citizens in a period of six months. • We represent the complete tweets collection using the Word2Vec model and natural language techniques. • We extract communities using a clustering algorithm to detect latent topics. • Each citizen is projected in a 2D visualization in which the obtained latent topics are colored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the role of the built environment in subjective well-being (SWB) can provide important input to urban planning debates on synergies and conflicts between environmental and social sustainability of cities. Hitherto, there is little empirical evidence on how SWB is shaped by compact versus low-density sprawled urban form. This paper investigates this topic using survey data collected in Oslo metropolitan area. In addition to SWB measures, the paper examines life domains as intermediate variables between urban form and SWB. Findings suggest that, compared with residents of lower-density neighborhoods, compact-city residents have higher levels of personal relationships satisfaction and perceived physical health, similar levels of leisure satisfaction, but lower levels of emotional response to neighborhood and higher levels of anxiety. Potential benefits of the compact city for personal relationships and physical health seem to be at least partially cancelled out by lower emotional response to neighborhood and increased anxiety. Compact urban form has nonsignificant associations with life satisfaction, eudaimonia, and happiness. However, when additionally controlling for variables relevant to urban problems – perceived safety, noise, and cleanliness – emotional response to compact neighborhoods becomes significantly positive and the impact of anxiety diminishes, resulting in a significant positive association of compactness with life satisfaction. This study's outcomes are encouraging for urban sustainability as they indicate that moderately high-density development does not negatively influence SWB, as is often claimed, and that by addressing problems such as fear of crime, noise, and litter, it has the potential to promote SWB. • The compact city is not necessarily detrimental to subjective well-being. • There are important synergies between the compact city and human well-being. • Compact urban forms can be beneficial for physical health and social relationships. • Safety and noise are issues that can negatively affect well-being in compact cities. • Life satisfaction in compact cities can be higher if these issues are addressed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transport policies for improving air quality are increasingly being implemented in city centres across the world. While the effectiveness of those policies is markedly affected by a strong social controversy, one missing element is the role that stakeholders engagement can play in identifying impacts and potential implementation strategies. This paper diverges from other commonly accepted approaches by allowing stakeholders evaluate a set of transport policies for improving air quality. The city of Madrid (Spain), where there is a clear intention to restrict traffic in its centre, was taken as case study. Local stakeholders were engaged in a series of semi-structure interviews and a final face-to-face workshop to evaluate the potential impacts, acceptability, and feasibility of eight transport policies. Results show two distinct viewpoints: stakeholders from public institutions and eco-mobility sectors; and stakeholders linked to retail, logistics, and car-sharing services. Consensus between those two groups was hard to achieve for three specific policies: (i) license-plate restrictions; (ii) charges to motor vehicles; and (iii) development of walking and cycling infrastructure. The paper outlines the methodological process, reflects on the usefulness of stakeholder engagement in the policy-making process, and concludes with a discussion on the acceptability of the evaluated transport policies in the local context of Madrid. • A total of eight transport policies for improving air quality are evaluated. • A collaborative approach is used based on semi-structure interviews and a face-to-face workshop. • A total of 28 key stakeholders are engaged during an ex-ante evaluation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is focused on sustainability assessment for some of the most prominent global megacities: London, New York, Hong Kong, Los Angeles, Sao Paolo, Rio de Janeiro, Paris, Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, Singapore, Shanghai, Sydney and Tokyo. The alternative city rankings are compared and linkages between different sustainability and smart city dimensions are explored. The paper applied ELECTRE III multi-criteria decision aid tool to a panel of twenty indicators. The proposed approach allowed considering performance under four different policy priorities: environmental, economic, social and smart, changing the focus of the sustainability assessment. The results have shown that Singapore dominates the sustainability rankings under environmental policy priorities. Tokyo leads under economic and social priorities, and London and Tokyo – under smart city priorities. The worst performing cities were Shanghai, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. The paper examines the innovative sustainability strategy and new governance structures that led Singapore to become the most sustainable city under environmental priorities and offers recommendations for the lower-ranking cities of Shanghai, Los Angeles and Rio de Janeiro. The assessment could be a valuable tool for policy makers and investors, and could help identify linkages between different sustainability dimensions, highlighting best practices as well as strategic opportunities in cities with sustainability potential. • The article reviews analytical methods for urban sustainability assessment; • The interdisciplinary linkages among various sustainability dimensions are traced among 140+ cities with a special emphasis on megacities; • The multicriteria sustainability assessment is conducted for 14 global megacities under environmental, economic, social and smart priorities [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• This paper defines and then quantitatively analyzes the American main street • The analysis is a quantified assessment of whether assumptions about the value of main street retail can be supported. • The paper presents a literature summary of the causes of main street decline. • A conceptual framework posits three main street qualities: density, diversity and stability. • Using proxy variables for each category, 7,000 blocks in the City of Chicago are analyzed. • The data provides support for the three qualities of main street retail. • The conclusion presents some policy options for sustaining main street retail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Existing literature has overemphasized the power of state in the theorization of China's urbanization and transition, and after the reform and opening-up, substantial attention has been given to the interaction between state and market. Comparatively, the role of society has been vastly underestimated. The paper selects housing planting in Hohhot to explain how local villagers contended actively with local states for and over space to increase compensation for land requisition. The contention has caused severe social conflicts, high compensation cost, and forced demolition, thereby threatening local states' land finance and development. Essentially, space has become a useful tool for citizens to preserve their interests. This implies that with the rise of society, China's urbanization is transitioning from a high-speed and low-cost stage to a high-quality and high-cost stage. Due to the changing relation between state, capital, and society, many pertinent institutions need to be adjusted as well. The paper calls for additional attention to the state-society-relation perspective when theorizing China's urban development. • Apply housing planting in Hohhot to understand the new urban space landscape in China via the state-society-relation perspective. • Reveal the process of how villagers contend for and over space with local state to analyze the spatial power relation. • Offer political-economic implications of the rise of society in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology for the development of urban energy balances, which has been applied to the city of Madrid for the last ten years and is consistent with the guidelines of the International Energy Agency. The methodology is structured into three major modules: energy imports into the municipality, energy generation from either internal or external sources, and final energy consumption. The paper shows results for the most recent year for which data are available, as well as historical series for the period 2006–2015. It also includes a comparison of the main energy indicators with the national situation. The experience acquired during the ten years performing the energy balance in Madrid served to improve both the greenhouse gases and the air pollutant emission inventories, keeping their consistent with the energy balance, as well as to diagnose the city's current energy situation. This assessment was used to define a series of policies, energy saving and diversification measures, collected in different municipal plans, with the aim of decreasing the external energy dependence and the energy consumption, thereby lowering greenhouse gases emissions. Maintaining the same methodology and updating the historical series each year also allowed tracking the city's energy policy, as well as the evolution of the main energy indicators (i.e. per capita consumption and energy intensity). The methodology could be replicated in other cities worldwide, yielding improvements in their urban emission inventories. • Methodology to develop municipal energy balances • Ten years of experience in its application to the city of Madrid • Breakdown of final energy consumption by source and activity sector • Importance of being consistent with the municipal atmospheric emission inventory • Municipal energy balance as a useful tool for decision-making [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on two of the author's earlier pieces, and argues that Jane Jacob's most celebrated book was at its roots a form of NIMBYism and was thus regressive—the antithesis of any model of justice. The first half of the paper situates Jacobs in the now-familiar struggle with Robert Moses but also the bigger picture of redevelopment in mid-century Manhattan. The second half revolves around three aspects of Jacobs' approach to cities; the first is her focus on individual actors, the second a libertarian stance which argues that government was the problem, never the solution, and the third was a claim for universal principles (regarding, for instance, density and land-use), although these were not based upon any empirical evidence. In short, it is argued that while Jacobs was an admirable individual whose struggles have remained inspirational, it is a mistake to attempt to recycle her views in any type of urban design and to use her principles of neighborhood life as a model for how cities should evolve in the future. This is especially true of any considerations of how cities can be transformed into places that are more just. • The paper situated Jane Jacobs key ideas in the context of contemporary urban studies; • While her views seem to be common sense, they lack empirical support and are likely to contribute to gentrification; • The paper concludes that while her work has much to interest the contemporary reader, it is not a blueprint for a just city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Jane Jacobs suggested that 'just and diverse streets' reflect the functioning of the city as 'a problem of organised complexity'. The topic has recently been at the centre of the debate on her work. This paper looks at Jane Jacobs's reconstruction of the way a city works with reference to self-organisation and ethical aspects (trust and respect for diversity). The paper uses 'Street-Level epistemology' (SLe), which is a theory on the knowledge of ordinary people, in order to examine different ways to approach contemporary complex urban systems, resulting from myriads of self-organised practices and 'vital little plans'. The paper employs Jacobs's early works on cities, in particular, a chapter in her book titled 'Downtown Is for People', to outline a proper Jacobsian Street-Level approach (SLa) substantiated by an ethical-cognitive component. This SLa is associated with the Complexity Theory of Cities (CTC), to improve the understanding of how complex, non-linear, discontinuous, and contingent urban systems work while constantly progressing and transforming. The paper draws on Jacobs's legacy and advocates progress through specific advancements in the debate around theoretical planning within CTC that describes the city as an emerging complex order. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are economically segregated to various degrees. Segregation translates into greater homogeneity of neighborhoods: the rich and the poor usually occupy separate parts of the city. In response, urban-renewal policies often focus on creating an economically more heterogeneous neighborhood composition by replacing lower-income with middle-income households. Arguably with little or mixed success, as those policies seem to focus more on places (i.e. neighborhoods) than on the people who live there. In this regard, Jane Jacobs writings on "slums" and the conditions that favor "unslumming" processes are illuminating. Although in the last decades the word slum has gotten out of fashion (at least in developed countries), her contributions remain relevant in order to address the moral and empirical implications of an unequal spatial distribution of wealth. The paper discusses three aspects of Jacobs' writings and develops them further into three reflections on current ideas about segregation and policies trying to combat that. It concludes that debates and policies may benefit from 1) less focus on the economic differences between neighborhoods (and more on the living standard of each neighborhood and the people who live there); 2) more attention to the neighborhood population's own regenerating and development potential rather than the negative effects of segregation processes on neighborhood residents; and 3) a dynamic rather than static view on the neighborhood. • The paper discusses Jane Jacobs' contribution on slums and segregation. • It develops reflections on current ideas about segregation and policies trying to combat that. • It concludes that policies may benefit from: • 1) less focus on the economic differences between neighborhoods; • 2) more attention to the neighborhood population's own regenerating potential; • 3) a dynamic rather than static view on the neighborhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

European countries are facing rising demand for affordable housing by a widespread and differentiated audience. Both in Italy and in the Netherlands policy-makers and practitioners address this emerging need by implementing new social housing projects targeting diverse social groups – such as students, young households, welfare dependents, and refugees – which results in a fine-grained social mix. This paper discusses the development of these initiatives within wider trends in housing policies and in relation to the domestic debate on social mix in the two countries. Drawing on Magic Mix and Housing Sociale projects as case studies, respectively in the Netherlands and in Italy, we aim to explore and unfold the contemporary meanings and the practices attached to the idea of social mix. In so doing, this paper paves the way for a new conceptualization of social mix in the current post-crisis and hyper-diversified European scenario. We discuss traces of continuity and discontinuity between these forms of social mix and the mainstream idea of tenure mix, which has been a cornerstone of area-based urban renewal policy in many European countries. This paper contributes to the existing literature by offering insights into new practices of social mix in housing sphere. • Societal and historical contexts influence policy approaches, discourses, and values attached to the idea of social mix. • Recent forms of social mix in social housing projects in Italy and the Netherlands target a variety of low-income groups. • Social mix is reframed along five domains: discourses, target groups, practices, institutional frame, urban downscaling. • New role models are defined according to tenants' resourcefulness, rather than economic capital (i.e. middle-classes). • Mechanisms of conditionality require tenants to take part in community-oriented activities in return to affordable rents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapidly urbanizing cities in Southeast Asia experience increasing flood impacts due to the consequences of climate change. In these cities, policy efforts to build flood resilience are gaining momentum. The aim of this paper is to understand and assess flood resilience policy development, particularly in cities in developing countries. Bangkok is one of the cities that participates in the 100 Resilient Cities Programme (100RC) - the international policy platform for building resilient cities. In 2017, the Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) launched the 'Bangkok Resilience Strategy' to translate the resilience concept to its urban context. A framing perspective is adopted to reconstruct the strategy, process and anticipated outcome of Bangkok's flood resilience policy. We studied data obtained from 'insiders' (involved policy makers, experts and consultants) and 'outsiders' (local communities, civil society organizations and news media). Findings indicate that the economic growth frame is prevailing in the development of Bangkok's flood resilience policy, prioritizing structural flood protection with little attention for flood adaptation measures and related social impacts among vulnerable communities. The role of local communities and civil society in the formulation of Bangkok's flood resilience policy is limited. This paper therefore recommends cities in developing countries and cities in the 100RC Programme to organize a more inclusive resilience building process for addressing social problems regarding urban poor communities along with increasing flood safety and protection. • Strategy, process and outcome are key aspects of flood resilience building. • The formulation of Bangkok's flood resilience policy mainly involved 'insiders'. • The Bangkok Resilience Strategy prioritizes safeguarding economic growth. • Structural flood protection is persistent despite attempts to adopt new strategies. • To achieve flood resilient cities, 'outsiders' need to be involved and empowered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper connects the localization of government leaders with the theory of "sense of place" and constructs a theoretical framework reflecting the relationship between government leaders' localization and farmland conversion based on that theory. Then, the paper explores in depth the theoretical influence of government leaders' localization on farmland conversion and discusses a corresponding empirical test we conducted by constructing an econometric model and applying the statistical data of 284 cities in mainland China from 2004 to 2014. The results showed that, relative to outlanders, natives acting as government leaders could have the effect of inhibiting large-scale farmland conversion to some extent, and such an inhibition effect would be expanded by a drop in the promotion probability of the involved government leaders. The inhibition effect of government leaders' promotion at local levels on farmland conversion was not obvious, generally. The tenure extension of government leaders sometimes had a positive influence on the change of the farmland conversion scale, which was closely related to leaders' ongoing hopes for promotion at different stages in their careers. The research findings of this paper also provided policy implications for the Chinese government to effectively protect land resources and develop the local economy in an orderly manner based on perspectives for improving the administration system. • We connect the localization of government leaders with the "sense of place" theory. • Leaders' localization could inhibit overconversion of farmland to some extent. • Leaders' place attachment will expand with a drop in promotion probability. • Leaders' place attachment has clearer effects than place identity or dependence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Cities are increasingly turning towards specialized technologies to address issues related to society, ecology, morphology and many others. The emerging concept of Smart Cities highly encourages this prospect by promoting the incorporation of sensors and Big Data through the Internet of Things (IoT). This surge of data brings new possibilities in the design and management of cities just as much as economic prospects. While Big Data processing through Artificial Intelligence (AI) can greatly contribute to the urban fabric, sustainability and liveability dimensions however must not be overlooked in favour of technological ones. This paper reviews the urban potential of AI and proposes a new framework binding AI technology and cities while ensuring the integration of key dimensions of Culture, Metabolism and Governance; which are known to be primordial in the successful integration of Smart Cities for the compliance to the Sustainable Development Goal 11 and the New Urban Agenda. This paper is aimed towards Policy Makers, Data Scientists and Engineers who are looking at enhancing the integration of Artificial Intelligence and Big Data in Smart Cities with an aim to increase the liveability of the urban fabric while boosting economic growth and opportunities. Highlights • Smart Cities are gaining popularity and the Internet of Things (IoT) is leading to the generation of massive amounts of Data. • Big Data can be better managed through Artificial Intelligence processes and render faster and more intelligent systems • Technology must however not be the sole focus of Smart Cities as we may lose in human dimensions • Technology must support liveability dimensions to ensure Resilience, Safety and Sustainability as prescribed by the SDG 11. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Accra, the capital of Ghana, has been experiencing severe flood events since 1939, with the most affected often being the people living in vulnerable communities. Unfortunately, the flood management regimes by state agencies 2 2 National government decentralized agencies working at the city level have been limited to weak urban planning response in terms of demolition exercises, forced evictions or distribution of relief items. How successful have these regimes been? How have affected communities responded? What should be the urban planning response? These questions remain unanswered. This paper responds to these questions using cities as complex systems theory, and Agbogbloshie and Old Fadama communities in Accra as case studies. This study used a qualitative research approach comprising agency and community interviews, and document reviews. Findings indicate that flood management regimes have been ineffective due to city planning authorities 3 3 City level planning and management agencies and state agencies' limited recognition of the urban space as a complex system. As a result, constructs, responses and contexts of urban floods are determined based on land use legality and acknowledgment of urban communities by city planning authorities, evidence of urban planning, and community initiatives. Recommendations to improve the situation are proffered. Highlights • This paper examines the geopolitics of flood management responses in Accra. • It discusses residents responses to flood management regimes in vulnerable communities. • Flood responses are ineffective due to urban planning neglect and lack of participation. • Flood responses are shaped by the legitimacy and recognition of the communities by city authorities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract City managers need indicators for target setting, performance assessment, monitoring, management and decision-making purposes. The choice of the most suitable indicator framework is crucial, but difficult, as it requires expert knowledge. To help cities in their choice, this paper compares seven recently published indicator standards for Smart sustainable cities. A taxonomy was developed to evaluate each of their 413 indicators against five conceptual urban focuses (types of urban sustainability and smartness), ten sectoral application domains (energy, transport, ICT, economy, etc.) and five indicator types (input, process, output, outcome, impact). The results clearly discriminate between indicator standards suited for evaluating the implementation of predominantly smart city approaches versus standards more focused on sustainability assessment. A further distinction is possible in standards almost fully oriented towards impacts reached, and standards that allow for progress evaluation according to steps in the implementation process. Some standards provide a narrow focus on output indicators evaluating the progress in implementing smart urban ICT solutions (e.g. number of smart meters installed). Cities are encouraged to complement such evaluations with impact indicators that demonstrate the effects of those solutions. This paper provides guidance for city managers and policy makers to select the indicators and standard that best correspond to their assessment need and goals, and align with their stage in Smart sustainable city implementation. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • 7 city indicator standards (413 indicators) analyzed and compared • Clear differences in focus on sustainability or smartness and the role of ICT • Some standards focus on short-term evaluation of efficiency in smart city deployment. • Others allow evaluation of progress in steps, and achieved (sustainability) impacts. • Guidance for choice of an indicator standard that best suits your goal and need [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper explores the socio-economic conditions that produce the lack of affordable housing in cities along the U.S.-Mexico border and describes various efforts to tackle this issue. Specifically, the paper evaluates publicly funded initiatives such as Casas Urbi and Homex, privately funded projects, as well as community based initiatives such as the work of the non-profit organization Fundación Esperanza de Mexico in the city of Tijuana. The paper interrogates the use of self-build construction systems, volunteer support, community empowerment, ecological programs, and affordable financing as a framework for future affordable housing developments in the area. Highlights • In border cities manufacturing plants attract workers in need of affordable housing. • Private self-build and large-scale public projects have not been successful. • Community participation strategies have shown to be successful at small scales. • Esperanza de Mexico is building high-quality affordable housing in Tijuana. • This represents a new and promising strategy for affordable housing in Mexico. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The innovation recently brought into the market for mobility innovation (by apps, social networks and sharing economy practices) impacts upon the economic appeal of urban areas and strongly influences the preferences of individuals in happiness, lifestyles and related aspect of urban consumption. Several sharing devices are nowadays producing such effects, offering innovative solutions to support the availability of mobility supply. They do so by conveying useful tools to the whole community of users, by proposing new ways of producing knowledge and services, and by favoring symmetric information in the urban mobility market. The paper aims to discuss the impact of these innovation devices in shaping individual's mobility preferences, by drawing on a wide set of experiences that have introduced new technologies and shared mobility practices that provide significant information related to mobility. Drawing on a literature review referred to a wide set of new technologies and shared mobility practices based on significant information related to mobility, the paper draws its discussion on three analytical dimensions: the role that information has in shaping individual mobility choices, and how it may interact with individual preferences and needs; the varied forms of relevant mobility information made available by information-sharing devices; the many actors (corporations, public administrations, community groups...) who produce information collecting data and making them available in different forms. Drawing on these elements, a policy framework is discussed, to define suitable operational approaches to urban mobility that are more attentive to individual needs and more effective in terms of sustainability. Highlights • Information-sharing devices contribute to shape individuals' mobility choices. • Devices make available both objective and subjective forms of information. • Emerging actors like corporations and communities produce and make information usable. • Information allows unprecedented initiatives addressing individual mobility behaviours. • A policy framework for information-based initiatives is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Given the ongoing "mobility turn" in social science research, a more comprehensive understanding of segregation is needed. Activity-space-based segregation studies have aroused renewed interests in geography and urban planning research. Most of the existing studies utilized the differences in spatial characteristics of people's actual activity space to identify the segregation among social groups. However, few studies have examined activity-space-based segregation in terms of individuals' potential activity space and the temporal variations in their segregation experiences. This paper aims to help fill these two research gaps by implementing an empirical study in Beijing. We examine the activity-space-based segregation of the residents of different types of housing in a Beijing suburb in terms of both actual activity space and potential activity space. We further investigate the temporal variations of the residents' segregation experiences during a week. A 7-day individual GPS tracking dataset, combined with the activity diary data and the socioeconomic attributes data of 422 participants is used for the study. The major finding is that residents of different types of housing in Beijing do experience activity-space-based segregation, while the characteristics of segregation vary with respect to actual activity space and potential activity space. Also, participants' segregation experiences varies between different days of the week. This paper offers some empirical evidence on enriching the understanding of activity-space-based segregation research as well as improving the understanding about social segregation among the residents of different types of housing in Chinese cities. It also generates some nuanced knowledge for future policy recommendations in a broad context. Highlights • Residents of different housing types in Beijing do experience activity-space-based segregation, while the characters of segregation varies in AAS and PAS. • The residents of affordable housing have both the smallest AAS and PAS on weekdays, which makes them the most isolated group. • With respect to the residents of market housing and institutional housing, they have relatively large AAS on weekdays while having relatively moderate PAS. • As for the residents of resettlement housing, their PAS are relatively large, although their AAS are small. • Significant differences in the extensity of both the AAS and PAS of the residents in different housing types can only be identified on weekdays. In weekends, differences in the extensity of the activity spaces are not significant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Where we live affects all aspects of our life and thus our happiness. In recent years, and now for more than half of the population of the Earth, our place of residence or activity has been increasingly transformed into an urban one. However, while the impact of happiness studies has grown in importance during the last twenty years, we note that happiness-related concepts find it difficult to penetrate the planning and design of cities, and affect the field of urban studies. In this paper, we map the temporal evolution of the fields of happiness and urban studies into dynamic networks obtained by paper keywords co-occurrence analysis. We identify the main concepts of the "urban happiness" field and their capacity to agglomerate into coherent thematic clusters. We find that while quality of life and well-being are highly interconnected with some well-defined urban categories, other happiness-related concepts, as subjective well-being or happiness itself, are located in peripheral positions where their influence is minimised. We present a one-parameter spatial network model in order to reproduce the changes in the topology of these networks. Results explain the evolution and the level of interpenetration of these two fields as a function of "conceptual" distances, mapped into Euclidean ones. In addition to other approaches (i.e., co-frequency matrix of bibliometric analysis), complex networks science appears as a valid alternative and opens the way for the systematic study of other academic fields in terms of complex evolving networks. Highlights • We use paper keywords co-occurrence analysis to map the temporal evolution of the fields of happiness and urban studies. • We show how happiness concepts have penetrated the urban studies field during the past years. • The intersection between happiness and urban studies fields is most adequately described by quality of life and well-being. • Mapping of "conceptual distances" into Euclidean ones is used to explain the complex interplay between scientific fields. • The methodology is universal and can be applied to the systematic study of complex evolving networks of any kind. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Household decisions to move from or stay at a current location may be based on a great number of variables. There has been substantial discussion among planners about the effect of the built environment in the choice of residential location. However, there is limited research on the role of non-motorised accessibility on residential location. Households may base their decision to move from or stay at a current location on the neighbourhood's accessibility. The public transport accessibility, walkability and bikeability of a neighbourhood may affect residents' decisions to stay or move from their current location. The focus of this paper is on modelling and comparing the influence of non-motorised accessibility measures on the number of years that households stay at their current location. The paper addresses this issue by employing three non-motorised accessibility measures in separate ordered logistic regression (OLR) models. Focusing on metropolitan Melbourne, Australia, the Victorian Integrated Survey of Travel and Activity (VISTA, 2012) was adopted to model years of residency incorporating socio-economic characteristics, built environment features and accessibility measures. Key findings indicate that non-motorised accessibility has statistically-significant impacts on the number of years that residents live at their current address. Furthermore, of the accessibility measures, access to public transport has the greatest impact. Highlights • This paper aims at investigating the influence of non-motorised accessibility on residential location. • Focusing on Melbourne, Australia, three accessibility measures were employed in Ordered Logistic Regression (OLR) models. • Findings indicate that accessibility had significant impacts on residents' tendency to stay in the same neighbourhood. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Taxi is a core component of urban transit systems. Since they can provide more time-saving and convenient service than many other transit options, taxis have a certain passenger base. The analysis of taxi ridership can be used to better understand the travel mobility of passengers and the traffic structure of urban areas. In previous studies, taxi trajectory data have been widely used, especially in exploring taxi ridership, and point-of-interest (POI) data are usually used to evaluate the land-use type of a certain sub-district. On the basis of preceding research, this paper uses taxi trajectory data within the long time scale of one week. Five traffic factors are taken into consideration: pick-ups, drop-offs, and the ratio of pick-ups to drop-offs, pick-up probability and drop-off probability. The research model is divided into weekdays and weekends. For the calculation of probabilities, an index termed the Area Crossing Index is proposed to reflect the taxi cardinality and accessibility of a region. At the same time, POI and demographic data are used as explanatory variables. In this study, we also take the business hours of POIs into consideration. In order to explore the ridership in each hour, hierarchical clustering is used to determine the similarity characteristics of hourly dependent variables. Then, stepwise linear regression is used to screen and evaluate coefficients without collinearity. Finally, geographically weighted regression is adopted to evaluate spatial variability, and the coefficients of common explanatory variables on weekdays and weekends are examined. At the end of this paper, the causes of common explanatory factors on weekdays and weekends for each traffic factor are discussed. This paper also analyzes ridership by combining all the results of dependent variables and proposes some suggestions for taxi scheduling. Highlights • The Area Crossing Index is proposed to reflect the taxi cardinality and accessibility of a region. • Five indicators are used to analysis urban taxi ridership from different angles. • Full-day ridership patterns research through POI data with business time and demographic data • Analyze the taxi activities and taxi spatial-temporal distribution rules • Discuss urban traffic source and sink place, and propose some suggestions for taxi scheduling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Conflict is inevitable in public-private partnership (PPP) due to the long-term agreement and multiplicity of stakeholders with varying beliefs and interests. However, a thorough understanding of the root causes of conflict beforehand helps to minimize conflict occurrence, thereby ensuring a smooth PPP process. This paper aims to explore and evaluate the root causes of conflicts in PPPs through a comparative study between Ghana and China. Further, the most suitable conflict resolution mechanisms are explored from the Ghanaian and Chinese perspectives. Results show that causes of conflict ranked higher in Ghana directly relate to poor governance and contract arrangement, whereas causes related to poor risk management and communication are ranked higher in China. Further, arbitration and negotiation are the most suitable conflict resolution mechanisms for PPPs in Ghana and China respectively. The outputs of this study inform international private investors interested in PPPs in Africa and China of the possible sources of disputes and resolution mechanisms in PPPs. This will enable international investors to develop strategic measures before entering into the PPP markets of both regions. Highlights • Conflict is inevitable in public-private partnership arrangements • This paper explores the root causes of conflicts and conflict resolution mechanisms in PPPs • Causes of conflicts related to poor governance and contractual arrangements emerged as critical in Ghana, whereas causes related poor risk management and communication emerged as critical in China • Arbitration and Negotiations are the most suitable resolution mechanisms for conflicts in PPPs in Ghana and China respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract As a megacity, Beijing has experienced traffic congestion, unaffordable housing issues and jobs-housing imbalance. Recent decades have seen policies and projects aiming at decentralizing urban structure and job-worker patterns, such as subway network expansion, the suburbanization of housing and firms. But it is unclear whether these changes produced a more balanced spatial configuration of jobs and workers. To answer this question, this paper evaluated the ratio of jobs to workers from Smart Card Data at the transit station level and offered a longitudinal study for regular transit commuters. The method identifies the most preferred station around each commuter's workpalce and home location from individual smart datasets according to their travel regularity, then the amounts of jobs and workers around each station are estimated. A year-to-year evolution of job to worker ratios at the station level is conducted. We classify general cases of steepening and flattening job-worker dynamics, and they can be used in the study of other cities. The paper finds that (1) only temporary balance appears around a few stations; (2) job-worker ratios tend to be steepening rather than flattening, influencing commute patterns; (3) the polycentric configuration of Beijing can be seen from the spatial pattern of job centers identified. Highlights • We evaluated the ratio of jobs to workers from Smart Card Data at the transit station level in Beijing. • A year-to-year evolutionary analysis of job to worker ratios was conducted at the transit station level. • We classify general cases of steepening and flattening job-worker dynamics. • The paper finds that only temporary balance appears around a few stations in Beijing. • Job-worker ratios tend to be steepening rather than flattening from 2011 to 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper presents the big data architecture and work flow used to download georeferenced tweets, store them in a NoSQL database, analyse them using the Apache Spark framework, and visualize the results. The study covers a complete year (from December 10, 2016 to December 10, 2017) in the city of Valencia (Eastern Spain), which is considered to be the third most important in Spain, having a population of nearly 800,000 inhabitants and a size of 135 km2. The concepts of a specific event map and a specific event map with positive or negative sentiment are developed to highlight the location of an event. This approach is undertaken by subtracting the heat map of a specific day from the mean daily heat map, which is obtained by taking into account the 365 days of the studied period. This paper demonstrates how the proposed analysis from tweets can be used to depict city events and discover their spatiotemporal characteristics. Finally, the combination of all daily specific events maps in a single map, leads to the conclusion that the city of Valencia city has appropriate urban infrastructures to support these events. Highlights • Big Data tools are used for harvesting, storing and analysing Twitter data. • Specific events are highlighted automatically in maps. • Urban infrastructure adequacy to city events is studied. • Background knowledge of the dynamics of the city is obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Despite the fact that China is becoming increasingly urbanised, some Chinese cities have witnessed a loss of urban population. In recent years, with the extensive expansion of the Chinese High-Speed Railway (HSR) network, the reduction in travel time has greatly increased the mobility of people across cities, thus affecting the spatial redistribution of the urban population in China. An important question arises: for cities experiencing population loss, when they were connected to the HSR network, did the HSR further aggravate this urban shrinkage? Using cities experiencing population loss as a sample, the paper provides a quantitative assessment of population loss in HSR-served cities. A Difference-in-Difference (DID) method was adopted to investigate whether the HSR aggravated population loss in shrinking cities. On the whole, empirical results show that the phenomenon of urban shrinkage in China was further aggravated by the HSR. Furthermore, the results unveil the dynamic impact of the HSR on shrinking cities, and multi-stage DID results reveal that the impact of the HSR on urban population may have a certain time lag effect. The HSR has significantly contributed to the population loss of shrinking cities four to five years after it first started operating. The paper highlights that the HSR does not always yield growth opportunities; on the contrary, for cities suffering from population decline, the HSR may bring a serious challenge. Highlights • The phenomenon of urban shrinkage in China was further aggravated by the HSR. • The multi-stage DID results reveal that the impact of HSR on urban population may have a certain time lag effect. • The paper highlights that HSR does not always yield growth opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Although the causes of asthma are inconclusive, it is fairly known that exposure to outdoor air pollutants can cause asthma, especially children's asthma morbidity. Whereas transportation is one of the major sectors that generate air pollutants, previous research that investigates the correlation between transportation and asthma narrowly focuses on the contribution of automobile traffic to children's asthma. Developing three spatial regression models (a spatial lag (SL) model, a spatial error (SE) model, and a general spatial (SAC) model), this paper investigates the roles of a variety of transportation factors in two distinct stages of children's asthma morbidity; asthma and severe asthma. With consideration to asthma-related socio-economic factors in the City of Seoul, the SE (R2 = 0.31) and SAC (R2 = 0.34) models consistently indicate that three out of four transportation factors associate with children's severe asthma at statistically significant level. They include the negative influence of bus transit and dense intersections, and the positive influence of active transportation activities on children's asthma severity. Interestingly, however, no significant contribution of transportation factors to children's asthma morbidity was identified by the SE (R2 = 0.29) and SAC (R2 = 0.28) models. Shedding more light on the complexity of children's asthma morbidity and severity, this paper proposes collaborative partnerships not only among multi- dimensional agencies, but also among multi-level government organizations. Highlights • Transportation factors become a significant contributing factor to children's severe asthma rather than asthma morbidity. • The transportation factors include bus transit, dense intersections, and active transportation activities. • The strong public health insurance program reduces the influence of socio-economic characteristics on children's asthma. • It is important to consider children asthma when planning transportation strategies such as Complete Streets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract An emerging literature recognizes cities as the optimal scale for food policy innovation, pointing to their pervasive emphasis on the adoption of a systemic approach to address the complex socio-ecological issues that have disrupted the internal metabolism of the food system. To date, however, no empirical effort has been made to identify the meanings and goals attributed to such an approach by municipal actors who are concretely involved with its implementation. To begin to fill this gap, this paper analyzes data (collected through a semi-structured questionnaire and a focus group) from 33 cities across the globe as part of a project that aimed to understand how a systemic approach to food is interpreted and applied in different urban contexts and, more broadly, whether there is a gap between food systems theory and practice. The analysis highlights a widespread emphasis on food policy integration and on the creation of an inclusive governance context but it also uncovers low levels of engagement by city governments with key food system actors operating at higher governance scales. As the paper concludes, there are substantial knowledge gaps that raise the need for a new research and policy agenda focused on the dialectical relationships between ordinary food practices and infrastructural transformations to enhance understanding of the role of food in place-making processes and to meet the challenge of systemic food change. Highlights • Adds empirical weight to ongoing theorizations of systemic approaches to food policy • Identifies tendency by cities to connect food with other complex systems and policy priorities • Examines the nature and functioning of multi-actor urban food governance contexts • Highlights lack of understanding by city food policy actors of the relational character of scale and place-making processes • Raises the need for a new interdisciplinary research agenda that engages planners, urban designers and social scientists [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Most existing studies of high-speed rail (HSR) have paid attention to inter-regional trunk lines. This paper presents a case study of the City-Cluster HSR (C-HSR), a particular type of HSR line serving municipalities within a city-cluster (conceptually equivalent to a mega-city region in Europe or a mega-region in the United States context). The study investigated the effects of C-HSR on regional spatial reconfiguration along the corridor between Shanghai and Nanjing (namely the Hu-Ning Corridor) located in the Yangtze River Delta, China. In particular, the study attempted to answer the following questions: What role does the C-HSR play in city-cluster growth of the corridor? Does it increase regional integration or induce polarization? Three research steps are carried out: identifying the type of travel benefiting most from the C-HSR, describing the changing paradigm of city network structure in the corridor, and revealing the mechanism of the change. Based on the perspective of a "space of flows", the passenger flows of Hu-Ning C-HSR in 2010 and 2015 were compared in terms of link intensity and aggregation intensity. The results show that the main service objects of C-HSR were secondary intermediate districts and their trips to urban districts in different municipalities. These trips provide the opportunity for potential sub-districts, especially those adjacent to regional core urban districts, to give rise to a horizontal and polycentric city network and promote regional integration. The competitive travel distance to other transits, reasonable travel time, and internal conditions are found to be the main C-HSR's effects. This ex-post study uses a combination of aggregated flows and individual movements, a perspective not yet applied to the regional level, to explain the process of reconstruction of the regional spatial system. Theoretically, the findings are conducive to illustrate this emerging spatial phenomenon and presenting hard evidence of the importance of short and medium HSR service in an advanced stage of urbanization. In practical terms, they have implications for regional planning policies on C-HSR station set up, regional land use layout, and industry distribution, and provide suggestions for C-HSR operation schemes. Highlights • This paper is aimed to evaluate the C-HSR's cohesion effect by characterizing the distribution of actual passenger flows. • We use combination of aggregated flows and individual movements, a perspective not yet applied to the regional level. • The findings have implications for regional planning policies on C-HSR station set up and operation schemes and land use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The rising fluidity of the society in contemporary China has led to a restructuring of people's cognition and emotion toward their place of residence. Although a growing body of literature has attempted to identify place-based factors that influence residents' attachment to their neighborhoods in Chinese large cities, little effort has been devoted to unraveling the migrant-local distinction regarding the meaning and mechanism of neighborhood attachment. Using both questionnaire survey data and in-depth interview data collected in 23 neighborhoods of Guangzhou, China, this paper aims to explore the meaning and mechanism of neighborhood attachment through the combination of both structure equation modelling and qualitative analysis. The novelties of this study relate to the focus of migrant-local distinction and to the breakdown of place attachment into its social and functional dimensions. Results from structure equation modelling show that local residents have stronger attachment to their neighborhoods than migrants. Migrants' neighborhood attachment is more related to its social dimension, as measured by social contact and social trust, and locals' neighborhood attachment is more linked to its functional dimension, as measured by satisfaction with living environment of the neighborhood. This paper enhances our understanding of the nature of place attachment by taking into account the effects of institutional constraints and migration experiences. Highlights • Social dimension and functional dimension contribute to place attachment. • Social dimension interacts with functional dimension. • Social dimension is an important predictor of place attachment for the migrant group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Zhengzhou is one of the fastest growing cities in China, but has attracted comparatively little international attention. This paper charts the contemporary transformation of Zhengzhou and highlights some of the challenges that arise from its recent growth. It demonstrates the rise of Zhengzhou from small town to megacity. This transformation has occurred in less than seven decades with Zhengzhou benefiting from its geographic importance and its position as a provincial capital in China's hierarchical system of government. While western accounts typically focus on the role of market forces and agglomeration economies in explaining the rise of megacities, we show the role of political decisions in explaining the growth of Zhengzhou as an international centre for manufacturing, commerce and logistics. The paper concludes that innovation and reform in regional governance, particularly to deal with emerging challenges, are necessary, if it is to develop a well-functioning megacity. Highlights • Zhengzhou is one of the eight great capitals of ancient China benefiting from its geographic importance; • Zhengzhou's contemporary transformation highlights the importance of political decision-making in shaping urban development in China; • Zhengzhou is leading the way of e-commerce cross-border trade and logistics industries. • Challenges facing Zhengzhou call for paradigm change in the governance of urban development [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper seeks to contribute to the growing literature on how neighborhood amenities such as parks relate with active ageing. It draws attention to this relationship in the context of developing country - India where with changing demographics, population ageing is emerging as a major challenge. It builds on empirical evidences from a neighborhood park in the city of Pune - a metropolis of 3.5 million people in western India. Employing a mixed research approach, the paper explains how a neighborhood park plays a significant role in promoting healthy living among older persons by offering various perceived health benefits. Although various physical characteristics of park encourage physical activities, it is found that social connections such as groups formed in the park encourage regular participation in physical activities and thereby provide psychological health benefits and social support for older users. The paper argues for considering the important role of parks in fostering social participation critical for active ageing while designing cities that are friendly and supportive to ageing populations. Highlights • Parks help in active ageing by offering physical, mental and social benefits • In neighborhood parks, older persons are dominant and regular users with women outnumbering men • Older persons use parks differently at different times of the day and prefer absence of noisy activites • Park use facilitates social participation at various levels leading to perceived health benefits • Social interaction in parks follows existing groupings amongst people of same age, gender and status [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper explores the influence of mining activities on towns in Ghana in order to appreciate their political economy and implications for urban planning. It first provides a historical account of the relations between mining activities and emergence of towns. Second, the legal environment informing the development or otherwise of mining towns is presented. Third, implications of mining induced towns on Ghana's urban planning are discussed. Using documentary review and empirical cases of selected mining towns, findings indicate that the political economic situation of Ghana's mining industry has produced and continues to shape affected intermediate towns in five ways: 1) some mining towns are experiencing relative growth, while others are slowly dying; 2) death or complete collapse of mining communities after mining boom 3) changed functions and local economy after mine operations are closed down; 4) emergence of new mining settlements resulting from new investments; and 5) resettlement communities resulting from displacement from the harmful effects of mine operations. These factors have implications for urban planning, and this paper proposes three entry points with implications for other developing countries: a space in Ghana's urban development policy for mining towns; a re-look at the content and focus of corporate social responsibilities of mining firms; and a functional link between growth of mining and urban planning. Highlights • The paper analyses the political economy of mining towns in Ghana. • It provides a historical account of the relations between mining activities and emergence of towns. • The legal environment for the development or otherwise of mining towns is analysed. • The implications of mining induced towns on Ghana's urban planning are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]