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Citizens participate in various activities to fulfill their needs, advance their socio-economic status, and enhance their well-being through social and health-related engagements. However, activity participation is influenced by many factors in the built environment, such as the spatial and temporal dissemination of activities, which therefore necessitate travel to overcome physical distances. Moreover, individual attributes such as gender, daily schedules, and other socio-economic characteristics also influence mobility patterns. In this paper, we aim to investigate these factors in the specific context of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area using three different samples of residents from annual mobility surveys conducted between 2018 and 2020. To this end, we employ a sequence analysis method that examines the entire trajectory of an individual's daily activities and travel, considering the number, order, and duration of activities. In this way, we analyse in detail how various individual characteristics and the built environment influence the fragmentation of activities. Our study yields multiple results. First, we find that even in a transport-oriented city, the fragmentation of activities is shaped by gender, especially after age 30, when major changes occur in an individual's life course, in particular caring responsibilities and family status. Second, we observe that the educational level and year of the sample also play a central role in shaping mobility patterns. Finally, our paper makes a methodological contribution by defining sequence distances, after projecting the original space onto the factorial one defined by the Multiple Correspondence Analysis. This study shows that mobility policies should not focus solely on transport aspects, but also consider the built environment, dwelling location, gender, equity, and individual lifetime characteristics in an integrated manner. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing public opposition, megaevents such as the Summer Olympics continue to proliferate both in the Global North and South, thus reshaping the built environment of cities and the living conditions of their inhabitants. This paper presents a novel analytical tool that expands the perspectives from which to explore urban megaevents. Building on the controversy among megaproject scholars around Albert Hirschman's Hiding Hand principle, we study the diverse roles that optimism can play in the justification, planning, implementation, and evaluation of megaevents. This approach has the potential to unveil key urban policy agendas underpinning the hosting of megaevents. It does so by focusing on two key aspects: first, the various types and degrees of power exercised by the involved stakeholders in their attempts to justify and support or oppose an event during the planning phase, and second, the coping mechanisms deployed by the promoters as they face unexpected constraints during the implementation phase. In doing so, the approach can help to develop more nuanced and context-specific criteria for evaluating the success of megaevents. We exemplify the approach by using the 1992 Barcelona Olympics as an illustrative case study. • The Hiding Hand controversy provides a framework for the analysis of urban megaevents. • We use the Barcelona 1992 Olympics as case study to illustrate the framework. • Sincere and strategic overoptimism play diverse roles throughout a megaevent lifecycle. • The analysis exemplifies the context-dependence of the notions of success and failure. • Sincere and strategic overoptimism typically operate in tandem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to understand the probable links between social capital and social infrastructure. The inclusion of these two dimensions into urban analysis may help to better understand the nature and characteristics of the relationships between the built environment and the level of organisation of the residents, and whether these have an impact on the vulnerability of the territories. Through use of statistical techniques (visual grouping and cluster analysis, among others), this article seeks to construct a comprehensive measure of social capital, as well as a comprehensive index of social infrastructure. These two in combination show, as the main results, that the characteristics of the built environment may promote higher levels of social interaction, also leading to higher levels of civic engagement and participation. However, the results also suggest that this relationship may be bidirectional. Finally, the mapping of the two indices applied in the city of Barcelona is presented and these results are compared with a previously constructed index of vulnerability for the same territory, allowing an overall better understanding of Barcelona's socio-urban behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since March 2020, the COVID-19 disease has become a global concern, and its concentration has been primarily in urban settings. Previous research suggests that multidimensional factors allow understanding the distribution of the disease but has limitations such as having nonhomogeneous units as the object of study, not incorporating changes in sanitary control measures over time or the absence of mobility variables. To overcome these shortcomings, we investigated the association between socioeconomic, demographic, and built environment factors with infection rates in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, one of the most compact and mixed-use environments in Europe. For this purpose, we use spatial regression models at five different stages that capture variations in sanitary control measures. Our results indicate that before the lockdown, infections were concentrated in high-income areas, but once it started the pattern shifted toward areas characterized by overcrowding, with more people who did not have the opportunity to telework, as well as nursing homes. Although commuting time also maintained a positive association with infections, the use of public transportation was not observed to have a direct impact. Contrary to what was speculated at the beginning of the pandemic, density was not shown to be a decisive factor in explaining infection rates; therefore, the results suggest keeping the focus on the quality of housing to avoid intrafamily infections but particularly in those where elderly dependents live. Likewise, public transportation can maintain its benefits for the most vulnerable urban populations as long as minimum safety measures are guaranteed in its interior. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The theories of Jane Jacobs have gained momentum as a framework to address the challenges faced by present-day cities. Of special relevance is the concept of urban vitality as an indicator of street vibrancy and quality of life among city residents. This study aims to revisit her principles from an applied perspective by developing an updated index that measures the conditions for urban vitality as described in her most celebrated book, The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961), and by also incorporating contemporary contributions made by recent literature on the topic. We develop a composite measure of 22 variables of the built and social environment, and we test it in the urban context of a peripherical and low-income district in Barcelona (Spain). Results show that urban vitality can be found in a wide variety of urban spaces such as compact fabrics and even housing projects, only when population density is combined with physical features that promote intense and diverse human activity. The methodological tool developed in this paper is intended to serve as a basis for future research as well as to guide public policies that aim to address some of the key challenges of contemporary urban agenda. • We present an updated version of Jane Jacobs urban vitality index. • Peripheral and low-income enclaves are able to foster the conditions for vitality. • Keys for vitality: population density, everyday facilities, dense network of local business and accessibility. • An index of urban vitality is a useful and replicable tool for urban practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today's cities face simultaneous challenges due to rapidly growing populations, urban sprawl, climate change, and environmental pollution which pose a pressure on our traditional urban drinking water supplies. In this context, stormwater could augment our over-drafted urban groundwater resources. However, urban stormwater runoff carries a myriad of dissolved contaminants (e.g., organics, metals, nutrients), which pose a serious risk to the environmental and public health. Moreover, dissolved contaminants of urban origin – such as trace metals and organic compounds of emerging concern – may not be adequately removed by conventional stormwater treatments. Therefore, it is of the utmost importance to fully understand stormwater contaminant presence, transport, and fate in the built environment to design novel or improve conventional treatment systems. To address this knowledge gap, we have conducted 7 field sampling campaigns during storm events at different Barcelona locations (within 3 districts) to investigate contaminant presence in different urban compartments (e.g., roofs, conventional streets with automobile traffic, pedestrian streets, and green infrastructure outlets). Preliminary results have confirmed presence of toxic metals in Barcelona urban rain and stormwater runoff along with significant differences depending on the catchment areas. After a storm event, trace metal concentrations followed the order: roof rain < pedestrian street runoff < conventional street runoff. Additionally, blue-green infrastructures (bioretention systems) had lower mean metal concentrations at the effluent (outlet) than the influents (inlet). Our initial results on metal occurrence in stormwater collected in the city of Barcelona will provide stormwater quality foundation for water agencies, municipalities, and companies in other water-stressed regions with Mediterranean climate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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