Search

This study was conducted to set up a new reference line for municipal solid waste quantification and characterization in the least urbanized cities of a developing nation. A survey was run to collect baseline data from 60 new municipalities of Nepal. The study covered a sample size of 3300 households, 600 institutions and 600 commercial establishments in those municipalities. The municipalities were further stratified according to geographical location, the degree of urbanization, household expenditure and population size to assess the influence on waste generation. The results indicated that the average per capita household waste generation is 115 g day-1 while the average total municipal waste generation was estimated to be 180 g day-1 per capita.The study also revealed that size of municipal population, geographic location, household expenditure and degree of urbanization were found to have a significant influence on the unit waste generation. The larger the size of municipal population the higher the per capita household waste generation, degree of urbanization and per capita waste production. Increasing household expenditure revealed an increase in the unit waste generation. The waste categories included organic waste, plastics, paper and paper products, textiles, rubber and leather, metals, glass, and others. The results indicated that organic waste dominated the characterization (62%), followed by plastics (12%) and paper/paper products (11%). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

Because the consumption of materials is generally higher than their recovery rate, improving municipal solid waste (MSW) management is fundamental for increasing the efficiency of natural resource use and consumption in urban areas. More broadly, the characteristics of a MSW management system influence the end-of-life (EOL) impacts of goods consumed by households. We aim to indicate the extent to which greenhouse gas emissions from a MSW management system can be reduced by increasing waste paper recycling. We also address the stakeholders’ contribution for driving transition towards an improved scenario. Life cycle assessment (LCA) addresses the EOL impacts of the paper industry, driven by the characteristics of MSW management in Florianópolis, Brazil, by varying the level of stakeholders’ commitment through different recycling scenarios. The results show that 41% of the climate change impacts from waste paper management could be reduced when increasing the waste paper recycling rates and reducing waste paper landfilling. To achieve such emissions reduction, the industry contribution to the MSW management system would have to increase from 17% in the business-as-usual scenario to 74% in the target scenario. We were able to measure the differences in stakeholders’ contribution by modelling the MSW management system processes that are under the industry’s responsibility separately from the processes that are under the government’s responsibility, based on the Brazilian legal framework. The conclusions indicate that LCA can be used to support policy directions on reducing the impacts of MSW management by increasing resource recovery towards a circular economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

Cities are emerging as the frontiers of low-carbon transition. The emergence of low-carbon cities in East Asian developmental states is often seen as serving nation-state-led transformative development and economic restructuring. But how are specific low-carbon infrastructures socially produced at the city level, especially in the context of social protests? What is the role of the local state? This paper addresses these questions through the case of Guangzhou's waste-to-energy incineration, an infrastructure that was selected as a national low-carbon technology in China in 2014. The paper proposes a conceptual framework of "performative legitimation of infrastructure" and, drawing from the empirical work, identifies five performative governance tools – (re)conceptualization, reterritorialization, bureaucratization, culturalization and codification – which respond to evolving social demands, consolidate the legitimacy of incineration and regulate state–society relations in different contexts. The production of urban low-carbon infrastructure is presented as a material-discursive process that supports the legitimation of the local state. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban lab is an experimental governance approach for the co-creation of innovative solutions to urban challenges, such as climate change. However, urban lab scholarship has overlooked lab formation as a distinct process and is almost exclusively based on European cases. Therefore, little is known about the role of context conditions for lab formation in general and beyond Europe in particular. To address these gaps, this paper inductively analyses urban lab formation in five cities in Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, develops a framework for the comparative analysis of lab formation challenges, and asks: What do the challenges encountered and the solutions developed during lab formation in these cities tell us about the context dependence of the urban lab approach and what are the implications for its potential beyond Europe? Comparing insights from Europe to the findings from Latin America, the paper answers these questions and identifies future research questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper utilizes a climate justice perspective to examine municipal green bonds (MGBs), a green-labelled debt instrument issued by subnational governmental entities, such as municipalities or cities, that determines financial, social and environmental redistributions in the context of climate change. This analysis focuses on the origins and financial construction of MGBs as the "descendant" of US municipal bonds and provides data on their recent diffusion in Africa and Latin America. It then draws connections with the lessons learned from critical analyses of US municipal bonds. The case study section explores one wastewater MGB of San Francisco (California) and creates material and theoretical connections with MGBs issued to finance water infrastructure in Mexico City (Mexico) and Cape Town (South Africa). The article concludes that the analysis and implementation of municipal green bonds needs a climate justice approach in order to recognize and address the production and reproduction of climate injustices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Within global debates, decentralization with respect to renewable electricity is positioned as pivotal in overlapping calls for decarbonization, energy access and just transitions. The promise is that technologies that are smaller and distributed will deliver a range of benefits, including enabling infrastructural innovations and expanding sustainable access, notably by empowering local authorities. While shifting to low-carbon systems is imperative, in this paper we call for attention to the complexity, opportunities and risks of commonly celebrated experiments in distributed electricity technologies when applied to African contexts. We draw on the case of Uganda, unpacking a series of four innovative electricity projects currently under way. For each case, we look at the actors involved and the imagined relationship between the projects and the incumbent grid. From these cases, we argue that, in this African context characterized by contested urban governance and fragmented networks, careful attention to supporting urban scale institutional and infrastructural development is necessary, although in many cases bypassed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper critically examines the dominant role of concrete in the modernization of Asian cities since the mid twentieth century. While builders, architects, planners and citizens have long praised the advantages of concrete, we argue that concrete can no longer be seen as socially and environmentally neutral in the Anthropocene. When concrete cracks, it does so literally and metaphorically. The cracks manifest not only in the actual material but as socioecological concerns. We employ the concept of "shadow places" to explore the underside of concrete production where those cracks emerge. Using case studies at the edges of Metro Manila, Philippines, we shed light on the precarious livelihoods of workers in an unregulated aggregate quarry and the dust pollution affecting neighbourhoods near cement plants. These two cases offer insights not only into specific socioecological issues but also into how communities negotiate them. We expose concrete's entanglements and their implications for urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

Thus, addressing inequalities will most often require the negotiation of scale as part of wider strategies to address urban inequality. This is the second part of the special double issue of I Environment and Urbanization i that seeks to advance our understanding of urban inequality and how it can be addressed at different scales. The author explores the multiplicity of discourses and reasons which might inform why people are "leaving" state-provided housing, and the implications for addressing the legacies of inequalities embedded in the apartheid state. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

This is especially true for post-conflict countries with authoritarian governments and poorly developed property regimes and cadastral systems. Tahir, acknowledging both the bottom-up and top-down characteristics of the state-building process, draws attention in particular to the issues of urban land governance, which he sees as a critical site for statecraft. It is more sensible for governments to focus on the character of urbanization and seek to improve how people and firms gain access to serviced land and property in cities. Tahir discusses its state-building process, going beyond the more common focus on peacebuilding and democratization to explore the crafting of the legal and administrative regimes that shape governance and the lived experience of the residents of Somaliland's cities. [Extracted from the article]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

This document is an editorial from the journal "Environment & Urbanization" that explores the connection between decarbonization and social justice in cities. It emphasizes the need to include low-income and informal settlements in decarbonization efforts and discusses research themes related to this topic. The editorial also addresses how infrastructural initiatives can align with efforts to promote social justice and highlights the potential for green gentrification. Overall, the document calls for more research and action to integrate decarbonization and social justice in urban areas. The text further discusses urban climate justice, the unequal distribution of climate change impacts, and the role of infrastructure investments in supporting or hindering climate justice. It also examines the role of urban labs in developing innovative solutions to climate challenges while promoting social justice. Additionally, the text addresses the environmental and social implications of concrete production in Asian cities and emphasizes the need to consider hidden injustices associated with its use. The overall aim of the text is to contribute to the understanding of how decarbonization can be integrated into climate action in a way that responds to poverty and promotes political inclusion. [Extracted from the article]

People's organized struggles for housing challenge Brazil's exclusionary urbanization. Occupations of vacant buildings by social movements have been pressing municipalities to guarantee the right to the city. Climate change accentuates the risks associated with exclusionary urbanization, and responses to its impacts demand mitigation and adaptation measures that support transformations tackling inequalities and vulnerabilities. This paper highlights the dimensions of inequality, as well as the role of social movements in setting an agenda on climate justice while reducing vulnerability and creating housing alternatives in vacant central buildings of São Paulo and Natal. To this end, we conducted a review of relevant literature along with participatory action-research on insurgent practices of housing social movements in both cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to investigate the structures of 935 conferences organised by OMICS and 296 conferences organised by WASET from 2015 through 2017. These conferences are characterised in existing literature as so-called predatory or questionable conferences that provide low-quality academic meetings. We analyse 40,224 presenters, focusing on top-ranked institutions according to three global university ranking systems (Academic Ranking of World Universities, Times Higher Education World University Rankings, and QS World University Rankings). Our analysis shows that participants in OMICS events were primarily researchers from the United States, India, the United Kingdom, and China. WASET attracted more researchers from Turkey, India, and South Korea. We found that 11.0% of OMICS and 5.7% of WASET presenters were affiliated with institutions ranked in the top 100 in one of the three aforementioned rankings. We also found that both companies mostly organised conferences in cities that were top tourist destinations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to analyze and explain how urban centrality influences tourism development in a city. Based on the panel data of 295 prefecture-level cities in China from 2005 to 2018, the paper develops explanatory mechanisms and discusses the influence theoretically and empirically. To advance the analysis, this paper constructs a new index for urban centrality. Our empirical findings are as follows: (1) urban centrality promotes tourism income significantly. (2) Mechanism analysis illustrates that urban centrality fosters tourism through the agglomeration and industrial structure effects. (3) Heterogenous analysis suggests that the influence of urban centrality on tourism varies with city sizes and locations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the multidimensional aspects of inequality that shape urban areas and imagines an alternative future for one such space in Johannesburg, South Africa. It builds on literature from urban studies and planning theory to explore planning practices that politicize inequality, valorize difference and promote the shared management of collective resources. Then, drawing on a decade of qualitative research, the paper imagines how cooperative urbanism could be applied in the factious context of Johannesburg, describing the potential for developing the former mining belt of the Witwatersrand as a series of multi-scalar interventions, networking sites of cooperative action to incrementally address the entrenched inequality of the region. Thus, the paper brings together interdisciplinary conversations on theory with empirical research, discussing concrete ways to continue shifting urban planning and development towards increased environmental and social justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 rapid increase in quantities and the mismanagement of municipal solid waste (MSW) in developing countries are increasing the environmental impacts such as air, water and soil contamination. The present scenario of MSW management deals with numerous issues such as lack of technological resources, strategical management, social awareness, public participation, etc. Globally, numerous efforts in the form of new policies, schemes and regulatory acts have been made to develop a systematic collection and transportation (C&T) method using advanced, integrated technologies. However, very few studies have addressed this issue for low- and middle-income countries due to the lack of availability of reliable resources and data sets. This paper addresses the present challenges in C&T methods and highlights the application of information communication technology in monitoring, capturing, data management, planning, live tracking and communication. This systematic mini-review is based on the availability of technical resources, consumer acceptance and cost-effectiveness of different technologies in managing the processes. The study revealed that the C&T methods in most developed countries are designed based on their geographical stretch, climatic factors, waste characteristics and compatible technology, resulting in sustainable MSW management. However, developing countries have followed the same monotonous approach in managing their MSW, which fails in C&T process. The case study provides a valuable resource for researchers and policymakers to frame a better C&T process based on the recent technological interventions, infrastructure development, and social and economic status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 paper examines the impact of specialization and diversity on economic growth of tourist cities. Industrial diversity is decomposed into two parts, related and unrelated diversity (UV). The paper constructs a panel threshold model with city size as the threshold variable, and empirically tests the nonlinear effects of specialization and diversity on economic growth of tourist cities from the perspective of city size. The results show that: First, tourism specialization has a positive impact on economic growth of tourist cities, and there is a double threshold effect based on city size. When the city size exceeds two thresholds, tourism specialization plays a significant role in promoting economic growth of tourist cities. Second, related diversity (RV) has a positive impact on economic growth of tourist cities, and there is no threshold effect based on city size. Third, the impact of unrelated diversity on economic growth of tourist cities has a single threshold effect based on city size. Specifically, when the city size is lower than the threshold value, unrelated diversity inhibits economic growth of tourist cities. Otherwise, unrelated diversity will promote economic growth of tourist cities. The conclusions are still valid after a series of robustness tests. The paper highlights that local governments of tourist cities should not pursue absolute tourism specialization or industrial diversity, but should design and adjust industrial structure reasonably according to the city size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

Based on 52 qualitative interviews with working-class individuals, this paper explores the social and economic decline of a coastal locale referred to as High Town in Teesside in the North East of England. First, the paper outlines how the locality expanded as a popular seaside resort under capitalism's post-war period. It then assesses how the seaside existed together with industrial work, offering stable employment opportunities, economic security and a sense of community. Next, the article documents the shift to neoliberalism in the 1980s, specifically the decline of High Town's seaside resort, the deindustrialization process and therefore the 2015 closure of High Town's steelworks. It explicates how this exacerbated the locale's economic decline through the loss of industrial work's 'job for life', its diminishing popularity as a coastal area and the further deterioration of the town centre. The paper concludes by suggesting that High Town has lost its raison d'être under neoliberalism and faces difficulties in revival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of growing urbanization, sanitation in many cities is in acute crisis with severe social and environmental consequences. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of sanitation for all by 2030 is increasingly elusive. Municipalities have been experimenting with a range of lower-cost sanitation solutions. Simplified Sewerage Systems (SSS) have emerged in different cities as one response, but with mixed results. This paper evaluates an SSS project in an informal settlement in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Drawing on a combination of a survey and focus group discussions, the paper examines the social and economic impacts of the SSS and identifies a set of key concerns for future urban sanitation interventions: affordability, maintenance and governance. We conclude by considering the implications for future research and practice on urban sanitation, including the limits of technology-based approaches and the necessity to focus on the diverse needs of residents in place. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban air mobility is a relatively new concept that has been proposed in recent years as a means of transporting passengers and goods in urban areas. It encompasses a diverse range of Vertical TakeOff and Landing (VTOL) vehicles that function more like passenger-carrying drones for on-demand transportation. Among them, the car-like VTOL is advantageous due to its compact configuration, safe rotors, high user affinity, and technological fashion. These characteristics are frequently derived from the flying car's Ducted Fan Lift System (DFLS). This study aims to develop a method for the rapid design and the evaluation of the aerodynamic performance of the DFLS, to support the preliminary scheme demonstration of the ducted fan flying car. The proposed method uses blade element theory to design the unducted fan and applies momentum theory to calculate the aerodynamic thrust of the DFLS. The DFLS of a 1:3 scale verifier for a flying car scheme was designed and evaluated using the proposed method and a numerical method, respectively. To validate the proposed method, a prototype of the scale DFLS was manufactured and tested, and the result was compared with those of the proposed theoretical method and the numerical method. This study demonstrates that while both the theoretical and numerical methods are capable of designing an unducted fan accurately, the theoretical method is simpler and faster. Compared to the DFLS test results, the theoretical method's average difference is approximately 1.9%. When evaluating the DFLS, the accuracy of the numerical calculation is reduced, and the difference is greater than 30% at low power. The theoretical method presented in this paper can be used to improve the aerodynamic design and evaluation efficiency of the DFLS and to aid in the configuration evaluation of VTOLs equipped with ducted fans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is very popular in bibliometrics to present results on institutions not only as tabular lists, but also on maps (see, for example, the Leiden Ranking). However, the problem with these visualisations is that institutions are frequently spatially clustered in larger cities whereby institutions are positioned one above the other. In this Brief Communication, we propose as an alternative to visualise bibliometric data on the city rather than the institution level to avoid this problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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.)

A rapid change in fast fashion has significantly accelerated the expansion of the volume of discarded clothing across the globe. Africa is the world's largest destination for second-hand clothes (SHC, sometimes known as 'Mitumba'). However, fewer studies have been conducted on Africa's SHC, making it challenging to evaluate the impact of the market and its value chain. This study examines the economic contribution and assessment of the SHC value chain and the resulting environmental challenges, identifies the trends of scholarly discourse on the topic in Africa, examines their methodologies and develops future research opportunities. The study shows that the SHC trade is an essential supply chain connecting developed and developing countries and a valuable clothing consumption alternative for people experiencing economic decline, poverty and low purchasing power. SHC is crucial in delivering fashion products to customers in underdeveloped African countries. It also creates job opportunities for hundreds of thousands of people in the trade, distribution, repairs, laundry services and upcycling. Results further show that Africans are being enriched with new skills and knowledge of the SHC trade, which is expected to help grow and promote small- to medium-sized enterprises. However, poorly made Mitumba become unmarketable, creating environmental challenges in cities across the continent. The study found fewer empirical studies, due largely to limited data on Africa's SHC trade. This calls for more empirical studies to scale the SHC trade in the region, expand the boundaries of entrepreneurial opportunities for Africa to interact with the global market, and alleviate the widespread problem of extreme poverty while also addressing the environmental challenges posed by SHC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted environmental and supply issues related to single-use protective masks for both the general public and some healthcare workers. Reusable fabrics are an interesting alternative to disposable nonwovens and offer a prospect of protection in other fields such as against fine particles in urban areas. In this paper, the behavior of 22 woven fabrics regarding air permeability, simulating breathability through the material, and filtration against 3 µm diameter particles is investigated. First, basic laws are verified between the performance of a single layer of fabrics and that of a stack. A relationship is established between air permeability and filtration efficiency, allowing one to be calculated when the other is known. Second, the influence of parameters defined at various scales of the structure (fibers, yarns and fabrics) is analyzed. The most sensitive structural parameters that can be considered as predictors are then identified and used in a model allowing the calculation of air permeability. In this model two levels of porosity are taken into account: a macroscopic porosity at the scale of the woven structure and a microscopic porosity at the scale of the thread. The model proposed in this study offers a convenient method to design an effective filter from data easily measurable during manufacturing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Urban Studies (Sage Publications, Ltd.) is the property of Sage Publications, Ltd. 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 21st century has seen the rise of a new phenomenon – the creation of statues and monuments celebrating the lives of entertainers. Drawing on debates about popular culture, placemaking and heritage, and in the context of recent controversies about the politics of statues and memorials, this paper examines a manifestation of this phenomenon as represented by statues of comedians erected in the towns of Northern England. The paper begins by sketching the characteristics of the statues and their subjects. It proceeds by reflecting on their emergence in the context of debates about the contested place of nostalgia in social and cultural theory. The paper uses a strategically selected sub-set of the statues to reflect on the emerging cultural and political imaginary of towns as sites of contemporary political struggles. It concludes by asserting that the significant affective investment into statues projects and the progressive potential of popular cultural nostalgia offer an important corrective to crude assumptions about the cultural lives of towns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]