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The digital economy is gradually emerging as a new driving force and engine for high-quality economic development. In the context of reaching carbon peak and carbon neutrality, can the digital economy empower the development of urban green technology innovation? Based on the panel data of 274 cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper measures the development level of digital economy at the city level and employs the two-way fixed effect model to empirically analyze the impact of digital economy on urban green technology innovation. The results indicate that: (1) Digital economy development exert a significant positive impact on urban green technology innovation. This conclusion still holds after a series of robustness tests. (2) Digital economy enhances urban green technology innovation by optimizing human capital structure, enhancing the level of financial and credit investment, and strengthening public environmental concern. (3) Heterogeneity analyses show that the digital economy has a greater positive effect on green technology innovation in the eastern region and non-resource cities. The higher the level of intellectual property protection and the better the development of the factor market, and the lower the intensity of environmental regulation, the greater the positive effect of the digital economy on urban green technology innovation. These findings are not only of great practical significance for accelerating the development of green technology innovation in China, but also serve as a reference for other developing countries to utilize the digital economy to empower the development of green technology innovation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'smart city' has received growing attention as a concept that could play an essential role in the sustainability of the Arctic. Today, the idea is associated with information and communication technology (ICT) when used in urban areas to improve quality of life, offer more efficient and effective use of cities' infrastructures, foster social inclusion, and mitigate environmental harm. However, the relationship between smart cities and Arctic sustainability remains ambiguous, especially from perspectives beyond those of techno-optimism. Our aim in this paper is to critically discuss the value of smart city concept for Arctic cities, from an urban dynamic perspective. To this end, this paper reflects on how the sustainability of Arctic cities can be challenged by urban dynamics in metrics for (1) smart city development, (2) politics and bureaucratization, and (3) the role of citizens. The paper has several implications for academia, practitioners, and policymakers: for the former, it advances an alternative debate to explore the complex relations between smart city development and Arctic sustainability; for practitioners and policymakers, it indicates the problematic but often hidden side of smart city development, stressing the need to carefully translate the concept and its promises to fit the unique Arctic context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last decades, many scholars have studied competition between cities and entrepreneurial urban policies. Coming from the evolving field of competition research, we are interested in how competition between cities is constructed and, for this purpose, examine the competition imaginary of Vienna, a city known less for its entrepreneurial policies than for its social welfare policies. The paper employs critical discourse analysis of Viennese policy papers from 1985–2015, a period particularly shaped by the process of competitization. The analysis shows that Vienna's social and welfare policies are also decisive for the city's positioning in city competition and rankings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper presents the first outcomes and results of using an integrated territorial tool applied by the Interreg V-A Slovakia-Hungary Cooperation Programme (2014–2020), the 'Territorial Action Plan for Employment', or, briefly: the TAPE. The tool is aimed at facilitating quality employment and cross-border labour mobility through the implementation of 2–7 interdependent projects within a geographically defined subregion of the programme area, with the involvement of SMEs, training institutions, NGOs and municipalities. The author introduces the tool and the nine TAPEs financed by the CBC programme and gives a comprehensive assessment of their outcomes and results from the points of view of cross-border labour market development, integrated soft planning and trust building with a special focus on the aspect of cross-border relevance. The study concludes that the tool does not meet the preliminary expectations: its cross-border relevance is not much stronger than the traditional standalone CBC projects. At the same time, the bottom-up cross-border planning exercise has significant added value which might make the tool attractive for other CBC programmes, too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All produced spaces are curious since they could, by definition, be different. Atriums—double height or greater vertical voids typically to be found in skyscrapers' lobbies—are an interesting illustration of this general contention. An internal feature of super-tall architecture the world over, the atrium flourishes in parts of cities where land value is high and given that atria could be occupied with directly rentable space this is an ostensibly puzzling affinity. Drawing primarily on the ideas of Henri Lefebvre and Walter Benjamin, this paper suggests that the presence of atria in major commercial—and increasingly public—buildings grows from oblique attempts to generate surplus value. Paradoxically, it is the voided space of the atrium that explains this strategy. My argument is that voids of open space can actually increase the value of objects, bodies, and practices that are assembled in and around them; paradoxically 'emptiness' itself can be monetised in a context of rentier capitalism. Defamiliarising the atrium, which is a distinctive and singular architectural feature of this moment, suggests a wider research agenda for those interested in critical analysis of the contradictory spaces that are produced when capital builds. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 2000s, plant closures have been a significant concern in Ontario, Canada. Scholars and policymakers alike aim to investigate the causes of plant closures and determine how to mitigate their impacts. Despite the large body of literature on plant closures, local economic development practitioners' perspectives and experiences have been neglected. To fill this gap, this paper interviewed twenty-two practitioners from various cities in Ontario to understand how practitioners perceive and respond to plant closures. The findings provide a comprehensive overview of the various dynamics of plant closures. Also, based on the findings, seven policy recommendations are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While industry tends towards mass personalisation and instant deliveries, the last mile of urban logistics is being challenged to decrease the number of vehicles in circulation and the distances they travel in city centres. The COVID-19 pandemic helped expose the inefficiency of cities in fulfilling citizens' real-time needs. Moreover, the first aim of this paper is to understand the barriers which policymakers face in providing a personalised response to citizens' needs and the second to ascertain how they can proactively serve their communities. In line with these concerns, empirical evidence was collected through a questionnaire to Portuguese policymakers, and the results were discussed in a focus group with experts. The results suggest a lack of tools to enable real-time visualisation and study of scenarios for implementing and organising means of delivery and storage. Moreover, although policymakers feel confident in their capacity to manage the last mile, they would struggle to operate autonomously. Therefore, this paper conceptualises an initial algorithm based on the dynamic collaboration of stakeholders and sharing of resources to guarantee fulfilment of citizens' necessities. Furthermore, future discussions shall emerge about the relationships and technical standards between stakeholders to provide the necessary logistical means for city management and operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Asian cities have promoted TOD to increase MRT use and decrease private vehicle use. A crucial factor in achieving this goal is improving the pedestrian environment, which can increase people's willingness to walk to MRT stations. This paper analyses how Asian cities have improved the pedestrian environment around MRT stations and the factors influencing walking willingness by reviewing literature and taking Taipei as the empirical area. The results demonstrated that reducing obstacles in pedestrian space, evening the pavement, using transparent window displays in stores along the pavement, and constructing rain shelters can increase people's willingness to walk. The simulations of improved environments can provide references for countries improving the pedestrian environment. The contribution and innovation are to point out the differences in the motivation and goals of TOD in Asian and Western cities and propose improvements to increase people's willingness to walk to achieve TOD's goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper offers a critical analysis of urban displacement and acts as an introduction to the Special Feature: 'Putting urban displacement in its place'. It begins by noting the magnitude and significance of displacement, and summarises its constituent components. Drawing upon the work of Hirsh, Eizenberg and Jabareen [2020. "A New Conceptual Framework for Understanding Displacement: Bridging the Gaps in Displacement Literature between the Global South and the Global North." Journal of Planning Literature 35 (4): 391–407], the paper then outlines four kinds of urban displacement processes which span cities in the Global South and North: development-induced displacement, slum clearance, eviction, and gentrification. Brief consideration is also given to the significance of studentification, touristification, and austerity for driving urban displacement. Next the paper explores three crucial issues regarding the conceptualisation of urban displacement: temporality, vulnerability to displacement, and its emotional impacts. The following section discusses rehousing/resettlement and post-displacement experiences. We then examine the contested relationship between displacement and gentrification. The penultimate section outlines some of the methodological challenges in undertaking research on displacement, and also returns to the theme of placing urban displacement via a discussion of urban politics. The final section summarises the four papers in the Special Feature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects upon the aftermath of the eviction of working-class communities from the core locations of Delhi to Narela, over 42 kilometres from Delhi's centre. The evictees were previously residing in 'informal settlements', which are colloquially known as bastis or labelled as 'slums' in policy documents. Drawing on interviews and focused group discussions, the paper examines the impact of displacement as experienced by the basti residents. I highlight the struggles that residents faced while making 'home' in their new area. Familiarity, repetition, networks, and safety are the few aspects I engage with to explain the process of placemaking in the city. I argue that displacement should be understood beyond the idea of physical dislocation. It should be seen through the lens of 'place' and how a place is constructed over a period of time against the larger spatial order that is produced in the cities. The paper contributes to academic understanding of the varying experiences of displacement within the affected communities and the contestations which produce spaces on the margins of cities in the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The strand research of regional branching identifies relatedness as a key driver of new specializations in a region. The purpose of the present paper is to extend the regional branching framework by investigating how a regional knowledge base of information and communication technologies (ICTs) and others (non-ICTs) influences the specialization of financial technology (FinTech) in China at the city level. Accordingly, the empirical analysis focuses on the relationship between relatedness and FinTech diversification using panel data spanning the period 2008–2021 covering 247 China's cities. We obtain that the role of ICTs relatedness is positively relevant in explaining the emergence and development of new FinTech domains. However, non-ICT relatedness is a negative factor in the process of FinTech diversification, which we attribute to the fact that FinTech is less reliant on other knowledge base except ICT sectors. Additionally, the effects of ICTs relatedness are higher in peripheral cities compared to core cities in promoting FinTech diversification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper discusses pedestrianism within the contemporary city. We do so by referring to two empirical studies of walking in the City of Aalborg, Denmark. The approach is a mix of qualitative and quantitative empirical documentation, focusing on what we term the "willingness to walk". Exploring what motivates pedestrians and how car-drivers consider modal shifts to walking, we argue, may be seen as discussion of willingness to walk. This may not be simply understood as instrumental acts of moving from A to B but rather as existentialist expressions of "floating life". To walk under the theoretical auspices of floating life means to be attentive to the mundane, embodied, and multi-sensorial qualities of moving physically by foot in the city. In the paper, we explore pedestrian practices in light of particular routes in the city, as well as in relation to the placement of parking garages in the city's mobility network. The purpose is to discuss how to approach and balance the development of car-free city centers within the conceptual idea of walking lines, framed as diagonals. From the data, we find that the willingness to walk from the car park to the main destination is on average 416 meters. Moreover, our data indicates that people are willing to walk 1.5 times the average distance if parking is appreciably cheaper and a free spot seems guaranteed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores an expanding area of policy interest: the networks and collaboration mechanisms between universities and creative industries actors in cities. While much is known about such relationships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM), they remain taken for granted and under researched in the creative industries. We argue that they are pivotal for different domains of research and policy, notably, cultural policy, higher education, innovation systems, and regional development. To that end, this paper aims to open up consideration of these relationships which we argue 1) stimulate innovation and 2) make broader contributions to local communities and economic regeneration via a creative economy approach. Using the Triple Helix framework, we explore university-industry-governemnt relationships and knowledge exchange mechanisms via a comparative analysis of two creative industries case cities: Shenzhen, China and Brisbane, Australia. Despite differences in certain important respects the two cities have both adopted creative industries policy frameworks. We found important differences between the cases in the roles and relative strength of the three sectoral actors. This study also shows a need for strategic incentives to foster collective capacity and governance interventions as a push to broker relationships that were not there before. Focussing on boundary spanning we also argue that cultural policy should have formal mechanisms and informal interactions to build a sustainable innovation ecosystem based on knowledge exchange. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Despite the ongoing debate on the interaction between the informal sector and agglomeration economies in cities, little is known about whether informal agglomeration generates the wage premium in cities in developing countries. This paper provides empirical evidence on the impacts of urbanization and localization, separated from formal and informal sources, on the earnings of informal workers and how the concentration of informal workers affects the wages of formal employees in cities in Vietnam. Using data from the 2013-2020 Vietnam Labor Force Surveys, this paper shows higher wages in bigger cities. In addition to workers' skills and local non-human endowment, agglomeration generates the wage premium in cities. Nevertheless, the impacts are different between small and large cities. Our results show that while informal workers benefit from urbanization and localization in large cities, their existence is over-concentrated in small cities and crowds out the formal sector in large cities of Vietnam. Thus, urban development policies should focus on the over-concentration of informal sector workers in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a service regime perspective on irrigated agricultural practices and their governance in cities of the developing world. Findings of the governance of irrigated urban agriculture and adjacent practices in Arusha (Tanzania) and Khulna (Bangladesh) show how service regimes bridge the gap between (formal) governance institutions and practices around irrigated urban agriculture. They cross-cut the different institutional layers in urban society and boundaries between agricultural and urban water systems. By acknowledging, facilitating and aligning service regimes, scholars and practitioners can strengthen governance arrangements for enhancing irrigated urban agriculture while safeguarding water quality and food safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This Special Feature explores the negotiated bureaucratic politics shaping urbanization in South Asia. City drafting refers to the flexible and contextual practices, procedures and policies required to haul diverse property regimes into order and provisionally render urban land clear and settled. The drafted city, we argue, is necessarily provisional and uneven, left open to politicised remapping, redrafting and resettlement by a host of institutionally embedded brokers, bureaucrats, clerks and surveyors each wielding their own political and socio-technical vision of land. These drafting practices, not only shape a politics of uneven urbanisation in South Asian cities, but also help to explain the persistent fractal morphology of urban property in South Asia; spanning categories of public, private, non-private, commons, unauthorised, regularised, agrarian, urban and so on. While the South Asian city is commonly understood through the high-resolution imagery of masterplanners, policymakers and investors, city drafting methodologically focuses on the grounded bureaucratic struggles of the map, plot, record and title, through which claims to property rights, exclusions and access are shaped. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information from the fifth wave of the Quality-of-Life Survey conducted by the Gauteng City-Region Observatory was used in this paper to investigate the relationship between living in informal dwellings and fear of crime. This examination is based on existing theories, including victimization/vulnerability, neighborhood disorder, and diffuse anxiety theories. Given the prominence of informal dwellings in most urban areas in South Africa, including Gauteng Province, this study examines whether living in informal dwellings determines fear of crime or feelings of unsafety. Multilevel cumulative logistic models were therefore estimated to account for similarities between individuals in the same wards while at the same time modeling for differences between wards. The results indicate that an individual residing in an informal dwelling is less likely to feel safe than one who resides in a formal dwelling in Gauteng Province. By focusing on informal dwellings as the predictor of interest, the present paper attempts to extend the panoply of predictors that can be used in empirical research when testing the above-mentioned theories. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the role of co-design methods in catalysing neighbourhood sharing and commoning in European cities. Through the comparative analysis of two design-mediated Urban Living Labs (ULLs) in Bagneux/Paris and Poplar/London, the paper explores how neighbourhood sharing of goods, spaces, and experiences are sustained in two different contexts. The paper then presents a co-design framework which was implemented in both cities, catalysing new sharing projects and relations in support of urban commons. We conclude that nesting co-design practices within ‘civic-organic’ ULLs can help to foster productive long-term relations between communities and academic partners based on mutual trust and help to initiate new sharing practices in the neighbourhoods of study. We argue that co-design methods are generative in this space, flattening knowledge hierarchies, supporting action on the ground, and developing situated responses to local needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we explore the social construction of place through a close analysis of the language used in online reviews to describe migrant-owned or -serving restaurants and their neighborhoods in Charlotte, NC. Through analysis of more than 2,000 online reviews of 16 restaurants across multiple platforms, we found that online restaurant reviews are key sites in which discourse about particular social groups and spaces is brought forth. In particular, through racialized narratives that rely on descriptions of lack, depictions of danger, and stereotypes, urban imaginaries are constructed that enable remaking Latin American neighborhoods. We further argue that reproducing such urban imaginaries serves to devalue migrant neighborhoods through presenting them as places that do not match modern city aspirations. This paper contributes to literature in food studies, urban geography, and rhetoric by examining the ways that digital food grammars pave the way for remaking migrant neighborhoods in emerging migrant gateway cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper interrogates what has and has not changed in 100 years of professional planning in Zanzibar, Tanzania. The geographical focus is on the area of the historic core of the city known as Ng'ambo (a KiSwahili place-name meaning 'the Other Side'). The gap between formal plans for infrastructure, housing, or neighbourhood development, and their implementation, is examined in its evolution over this century. The central focus of the empirical examination resides with the most recent planning initiatives, since 2011, which present a strongly inclusive and participatory emphasis for planning on the Other Side. The key research question is this: has this new era of inclusive planning strengthened the urban poor majority's citizenship, or has it continued the long run of state planning failures for Ng'ambo's residents? This essay argues that, despite progressive ambitions, in implementation there are a number of continuities with both colonial and post-independence planning, where outside powers and elite interests have predominated. The paper is built from more than thirty years of the author's research on urban planning in Ng'ambo and engagement with the literature of urban planning studies in Africa and the Global South. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities increasingly adopt diverse ethnic, social, and cultural characteristics, there is an emerging logic for planning and policy to reflect this hyper-diversity (inclusion) while resolving the looming sustainability-related challenges. However, what is not adequately addressed in the current literature on urban planning – which could also solidify the justification for more citizen inclusion – is what happens when citizens are involved in planning from the perspective of sustainability. In response, this paper asks a key question: "What are the implications, in the case of urban foodscape, when citizens are involved in planning from the perspective of sustainability?" This question is investigated in this paper in the domain of urban foodscapes and through qualitative interviews, with the support of maps, in the Dutch city of Almere. A novel theoretical combination of just sustainabilities and social licence to operate (SLO) was utilised to frame citizen inclusion in foodscape planning. The findings showed that based on everyday practical experiences of food access in the city, citizens were more concerned about social interaction, the representation of food from cultural origins, and local food production. This theoretical combination, as a way of deepening inclusion, would help avoid the tendency of urban planning being used as an instrument for glossing over social injustice under the guise of citizen participation. This paper, therefore, argues that SLO can be a key pathway for actualising just sustainabilities in both urban planning research and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs a unique dataset of clean energy and collects firm-level green innovation data that matches it with provinces and cities. Then, this paper executes quasi-natural experiments on green innovation to examine the effects of China's emission trading policy on green innovation. Further, this paper introduces the interactive terms of the pilot time and pilot area dummy variables into the spatial Durbin model (SDM) and spatial dynamic panel model (SDPM) to construct quasi-natural experiments to examine the spatial effect. The findings confirm a negative association between the 'policy treatment effect' and green innovation. The results also indicate a significant negative association between the emissions trading policy and clean energy. Besides, the empirical results reveal a positive correlation between clean energy and green innovation; clean energy promotes green innovation in the region and the surrounding areas. This paper complements existing research and provides empirical evidence and policy implications for developing clean energy, promoting green innovation, and improving the emission trading policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban freight transport is central to urban societies, and yet urban authorities have traditionally left it to private actors to resolve freight challenges. Urban authorities rely on different governance strategies to address freight that result in fragmented freight governance, as many solutions are fixed in time, sector, or place. Drawing on Bulkeley and Kern’s typology of four modes of governance – self-governing, governing through enabling, governing by provision, and governing by authority – this paper asks: in what ways do urban authorities use different modes of governance in the case of urban logistics? Empirically, the paper looks at the modes of freight governance through an explorative workshop, document analysis, and interviews from Norway’s four largest cities – Bergen, Stavanger, Oslo and Trondheim. It finds that these cities are limiting themselves to ‘less confrontational’ modes based on accommodating freight activities, which hinders institutionalisation of knowledge and prevents public governance from serving as a coordinating factor for urban logistics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been increasing attention to legal and political contention concerning refugees and asylum seekers in cities. However, there are further opportunities to analyze the relationship between civil society litigation and state institutions in Global South cities. In this paper, I analyze civil society litigation to re-open Refugee Reception Offices (RROs) in South Africa. Primarily based on legal research, I argue that civil society litigation to re-open RROs in specific cities represents an advocacy strategy to contextualize national rights and policies within urban spaces. The paper contributes to broader discussions on civil society advocacy and rights and governance in cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While literature extensively examines waste management issues in urban areas, limited attention has been given to rural developing waste contexts. This paper aims to understand the policy/implementation nexus between national and local government within the rural waste management context in two rural municipalities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The research utilizes a directed deductive content analysis applying a framework proposed by Pollans. Originally designed for urban contexts, this framework has proven valuable for comprehending solid waste management policy implementation challenges in rural settings. This paper proposes an adjustment to this framework, differentiating the disposal mode of governing into government-based and self-reliant-based approaches. The authors found a significant implementation gap in both municipalities, characterized by a predominant, incremental disposal-oriented governing mode. This contrasts with the visionary and aspirational modes of governing promoted by the national government, focusing on diversion and eco-efficient waste strategies. These divergent modes of governing influence current waste management practices, especially in rural municipalities. We recommend strategies towards narrowing the implementation gap by formulating policies tailored to local development needs. Finally, the research sheds light on the challenges and disparities in rural waste management policy implementation and provides insights into how rural areas can transition towards sustainable waste management practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Architectural anthropology offers a way to critically analyse spaces through the social life that happens around them. It is a qualitative approach that relies on ethnography to connect larger systems and subjective dimensions, self-reflexivity, and the use of visualisations as a key analytical tool. This paper reflects on the possible contribution of architectural anthropology to housing studies. More specifically, it looks at homing processes in social housing, interrogating how non-domestic spaces perform through tenants' inhabitation practices. It tests ways to visualise ethnographic data gathered during immersive fieldwork that involved participant observation and informal interactions in a high-rise estate in Brussels. Three types of visualisations (subjective map, annotated photograph, lived-in axonometry) are presented to articulate the paper's discussion of homing, un-homing and de-homing processes at the level of a district, urban interstices, and beyond social housing. Ultimately, the paper concludes that architectural anthropology may contribute further to housing studies by exploring the relationship between home(making) and urban contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a case study of the obstacles to green infrastructure implementation in the City of Vancouver. This case study has two aims, 1) to better understand the planning and decision-making processes hindering the widespread implementation of green infrastructure across the City of Vancouver, and 2) propose solutions to facilitate the uptake of GI. This paper begins by reviewing existing literature on barriers to green infrastructure implementation. Then, it investigates current perceptions of GI in the City of Vancouver, and what barriers exist to its implementation through document analysis and semi-structured interviews. Proposed solutions to green infrastructure implementation are reviewed and recommendations are provided for the City of Vancouver. It ends with a short discussion on the applicability of lessons learned from the study of Vancouver for other municipalities seeking to overcome barriers to green infrastructure implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transnational city networks have generally been portrayed as a more inclusive and egalitarian mode of international organizing. However, recent research has questioned these assumptions and highlighted the dynamics of power, domination and control at the heart of the functioning of these networks. These studies have also suggested a North–South power dynamic in global city networks, which seems to deny any significant agency to Global South cities in these networks. In this paper, I seek to qualify this view by analysing the manifestation of agency by an African city in a major transnational city network. I show how, despite finding itself at the bottom of the global city hierarchy, the City of Johannesburg was able to capitalize on the visionary leadership of its Mayor and a favourable domestic political alignment to direct the affairs of the United Cities and Local Governments and in the process shape global discourse on urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The first people to suspect or know about someone involved in acts of violent extremism will often be those closest to them: their friends, family and community insiders. They are ideally placed to play particular roles: (a) to notice any changes or early warning signs that someone is considering violent action to harm others, and (b) to influence and facilitate vulnerable individuals to move away from violent extremist involvements. The willingness of those close to potential or suspected violent actors to come forward and share their knowledge and concerns with authorities is thus a critical element in efforts to prevent violent extremist action. This Canadian study replicates the focus and methodology of three previous Community Reporting Thresholds studies with an increased scope and sample size. Our findings highlight the ways in which Canadian community respondents framed their understanding of and engagement with reporting as intimate bystanders on someone close radicalising to violence in relation to three main domains: needs-based, rights-based and systems-based. This paper will explore what we have learned from data across three Canadian cities with a particular emphasis on how the domains of needs, rights and systems are conceptualized and enacted by Canadian respondents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the suburbs of numerous cities worldwide are shrinking, research on how to address suburban decline remains scarce. This paper explores participatory mapping in shrinking suburbs as a tool to articulate knowledge co-creation between local officials and communities to inform planning decisions. The paper argues that participatory planning helps to identify sweet spots, everyday life community spaces upon which to anchor regeneration strategies. Using as a case study Minamiashigara, a shrinking suburb of Tokyo, the paper discusses how sweet spots can be integrated into existing municipal strategies to alleviate the consequences of shrinkage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the emergence of the concept of sustainable development, the Olympic Games have become a vehicle to demonstrate and promote the principles and practices of sustainability. The aim of this paper is to explain and evaluate how the application of sustainable development in the context of the Summer Olympic Games has evolved. Two processes have been influential in this change: first, the institutional expectations of the International Olympic Committee have encouraged greater responsibility towards the creation of legacies by potential host cities through the IOC Charter, the Olympic Agenda 2020, and the Olympic Agenda 2020+5; and second, the context and inventiveness of host cities has created new perspectives on sustainability to secure the event and raise its global profile. This paper will focus on the sustainability benchmarks established in London 2012 and evaluate whether these have been continued or extended in the subsequent editions of the Summer Games in Rio de Janeiro (2016), Tokyo (2021) and Paris (2024). The changing discourses reveal the tensions between the IOC's agendas for the event, the motivations of the host cities and the realities of delivery in changing socio-economic and political circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This document is a collection of papers that explore the concept of Olympic urbanism, which refers to the close relationship between city planning and the Olympic Games. The papers discuss various cities that have hosted the Olympics and cover topics such as the impact of the Games on urban form and planning culture, the sustainability and legacy of the Games, and the role of security in Olympic city planning. The papers emphasize the need for historical awareness when analyzing the Olympic experience of a city and highlight the complex and unpredictable nature of urban planning for the Games. [Extracted from the article]

This paper considers the urban consequences of failing to host Olympic Games. Using the example of Paris and its unsuccessful bids to hosts the Olympic Games of 1992, 2008 and 2012, the paper analyses the pre- and post-bid status of key projected 'Olympic' sites within the context of urban plans and aspirations of the city of Paris. The French capital attracts special attention because of the rapid succession of submissions that proved to be outbid by those presented to the IOC by the cities of Barcelona (1992), Beijing (2008) and London (2012). The paper will briefly outline the reasons for failing to attract the Games but will devote most of its space for an analysis of the siting of the planned Olympic Villages, which often form the most lasting of legacies of Olympic Games in host cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper sheds light on the effectiveness of a concrete target-based performance evaluation system (TPES) for localities in enhancing local environmental enforcement in China. We conduct a difference-in-differences (DID) specification and exploit unique firm-level data to investigate the effects of the TPES on SO2 emission reduction through the Two control Zones (TCZ) policy. The results suggest that the TPES significantly reduces SO2 emissions of firms located at the TCZ cities, both in extensive and intensive margins. We also find that the treatment effects vary largely across enterprise sizes, ownership types, and local economic development. Our findings further verify how the long-standing distortions in the decentralized implementation of nationwide environmental regulations in China are remedied with a proper performance evaluation system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inter-city population mobility, a critical phenomenon in the modern urbanisation process, is closely related to urban industrial structure and socioeconomic development. This paper aims to investigate the dynamics of population flows and their intricate ties to industrial structure, so we employ the graph neural networks (GNNs) method to simulate inter-city population flows in China, which efficiently integrates demographic and socioeconomic data with Tencent migration big data while accounts for geographical relationships between cities. The results show that the model's predictive accuracy using the CPC index was high for road and rail traffic and moderate for air transportation. A comparison with real-world data verified the model's effectiveness in predicting the urban hierarchy and regional aggregation of flows. Using GNNExplainer, the results indicated that population size positively influenced population flow, while developed manufacturing reduced population mobility for road and rail traffic but increased it for air transportation. By conducting scenario simulations in Northeast China, we found that enhancing the region's industry and consumer service industry could mitigate negative population outflows. The conclusions drawn from this study offer valuable perspectives to policymakers and urban planners, enabling them to make well-informed and judicious choices concerning urban planning, transportation, and resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Digital analytical tools combined with 3D documentation are used incrementally in building rehabilitation in the conservation state analysis process. In the last decade, due to the current advancements in the Architecture Engineering Construction (AEC) industry, the application of BIM methods in heritage building conservation started becoming more attractive for specialists and practitioners. In light of the latest concepts in data management at city level, as a result of the discussion about smart city representations, the use of a shared digital environment that caters to technical studies related to conservation analysis, building provenance, structural changes, and urban context transformations can lead to reduced time, improved quality, and lowered cost of city management for all domain experts and city stakeholders. This paper explores the benefits of multi-scale and discipline digitization for the restoration of heritage buildings, highlighting the potential impact of innovative data integration, methods, and workflows on architectural renovation and energy upgrades. Specifically, it focuses on the integration of conservation information for heritage buildings and large-scale environmental analysis data for historic clusters in modern cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reliability is one big concern for future communication networks such as 5G and beyond to support massive machine-type communications. These networks face reliability issues due to the frequent movement of users or/and a deep fading environment, particularly in urban areas. To overcome this bottleneck, a reliable communication protocol is proposed in this paper by incorporating the hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) along with non-orthogonal multiple access (NOMA) schemes. The NOMA scheme helps in improving spectral efficiency and maintaining fairness among the users, while HARQ initiates a retransmission of the user signal in case of unsuccessful decoding of the received signal. Unlike existing work, the proposed scheme allows the base station (BS) to utilise the available resources most efficiently by initiating the retransmission of the signal of the user who failed to decode the received signals. A two-user scenario is considered in this framework and all the possible combinations of positive and negative acknowledgement feedback from users are analysed. Depending upon the feedback received from the receiver, BS exploits transmission mode diversity during signal retransmission. The extensive Monte Carlo simulations are executed to analyse the outage performance of the proposed communication system. To validate the efficacy of the proposed scheme, numerically simulated results are compared with the existing research works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to water supply is still a problem in African cities. This has sparked discussions about how small-scale private actors could collaborate with the state to improve water supply. However, scholarly discussions on water supply have hardly examined the role of such actors in maintenance and repair. This paper shows how water infrastructures are maintained and repaired through hybrid labor relations between private and public actors where formal and informal practices are combined. These findings allow us to shift conceptualization in maintenance and repair beyond the state and explain how private actors enact and challenge the state's power through maintenance and repair practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Academic literature has analysed the effects of renting vacation homes in recent years from the perspective of large cities. This paper aims to test whether these effects also occur in smaller tourist cities. For this purpose, the case of San Sebastian (Spain), a medium sized tourist city. We find that a one unit increase per 100 housing units in Airbnb listings leads to a citywide average monthly advertised rent of €1,284.20, an increase of 49.45€, on average. This implies a much higher effect of Airbnb on the rental market than previous studies that focused on large cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Economic policy uncertainty has prominent effects on investment and output. Using unique transaction-level data in China, this paper explores the impact of economic policy uncertainty on land transaction premiums in China. On average, a 1% increase in the policy uncertainty level reduces land transaction premiums by 3.907 percentage points. The impact of policy uncertainty is more profound for firms with tighter financial constraints and land located in cities with lower rent-to-price ratios. The influence of policy uncertainty becomes weaker after the anti-corruption campaign in China, especially in provinces scrutinised by the central inspection teams, implying that improvements in the political environment alleviates the impact of policy uncertainty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The public library serves as the point of convergence and the vector for information. However, the role of public libraries in promoting and contributing to the SDGs has been largely overlooked. This paper examines the strategic role public libraries can play in promoting SDGs and proffers key strategies for public libraries in promoting sustainable development. It is concluded in the paper that the public library that serves as the knowledge repository of the public owes the duty to ensure the dissemination of relevant information to educate, inform and mobilize the public toward collaborative efforts to save the growing cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on an intensive and unique survey of all Czech municipalities (n = 6,258) regarding the geoparticipatory spatial tools used in the decision-making processes of local administrations and the Index of Geoparticipation derived from the dataset. Furthermore, we have collected and analysed data regarding 238 participatory budgeting events in the Czech Republic from the years 2012–2020. This paper is divided into two sections. We investigate the relationships among the municipalities' membership in the Healthy Cities of the Czech Republic network (HCCZ), as well as the municipalities' levels of indebtedness and their performances in the Index of Geoparticipation and their usage of participatory budgeting. Our primary theory states that membership in HCCZ and higher values in the Index of Geoparticipation will support the use of participatory budgeting, while indebtedness will discourage municipalities from implementing participatory budgeting. We deepen the knowledge of participatory budgeting in the Czech Republic, while focusing on the qualitative analysis of projects that have been approved and implemented through the tool of participatory budgeting at the municipal level. Additionally, we examine what type of projects the funds are allocated to and how the characteristics of these projects change over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how CEOs educational background affects the agglomeration economies–firm performance relationship based on the upper echelons theory. With a sample of Chinese software and information technology services public listed firms, it is found that CEO educational specialization helps firms to reap the benefits of agglomeration. Specifically, firms led by CEOs with science or engineering degrees benefit more from specialization externalities, while firms led by CEOs with business, economics or legal degrees enjoy more diversity externalities. This paper contributes to the specialization versus diversity debate by stating the importance of individual CEOs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many regions or countries seek to transition to a low-carbon economy, but there is ambiguity about how carbon emissions change with economic growth. This paper captures characteristics of carbon emissions in China using the Tapio Method. To detect driving factors of carbon emissions in economic growth, we adopt the Log-Mean Divisia Index decomposition method. The results of the paper are as follows: (1) Economic growth in most regions of China has outpaced the growth rate of carbon emissions, showing the characteristics of decoupling. (2) Metropolitan cities have a greater impact on the level of decoupling in neighboring provinces and municipalities. (3) The decoupling of carbon emissions from economic growth is caused by declining energy intensity in China. (4) The energy mix and industrial structure have little impact on the growth rate of carbon emissions. In addition, some policy implications are summarized according to the findings of this paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The building stock in most historical urban areas in Algeria consists of old masonry buildings which are characterized by the rather high vulnerability. In that respect, to reduce the seismic risk there is a requirement for strategic urban planning and urban management policies. This paper focuses on the assessment of the seismic vulnerability using the RISK-UE methodology, namely the mechanical method LM2, which is adopted and applied to fit the Algerian urban features. In order to implement the RISK-UE LM2 methodology, an old urban center in Annaba city is chosen as a pilot area. Almost, the majority of the structures are unreinforced masonry buildings. In total 226 buildings were assessed, which are typical not only for this region but can be found in many other medium-sized Algerian urban environments. Three scenarios that take into account various values of the peak ground accelerations (PGA) are elaborated. Two scenarios use PGAs issued from an existing probabilistic seismic hazard analysis (PSHA) of Annaba city for 100 and 475 return periods. The third PGA for the last scenario is taken from the Algerian seismic code (RPA99/2003). In order to highlight the degree of vulnerability and risk of the studied masonry buildings, a comparison between the three seismic scenarios is presented in detail for each building’s typology. The obtained seismic vulnerability outcomes offer a great prospect to provide recommendations for making correct decisions to reduce the seismic risk and conduct adequate emergency planning in Algerian urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our objective in this paper is to evaluate the benefits of bus transit. To obtain the more accurate and highly discrimination results, this study establishes an evaluation indicator system from a stakeholder perspective and proposes a novel combined method consisting of dynamic network data envelopment analysis, cross-efficiency evaluation, and Shannon entropy aggregation method. An empirical study of bus transit systems in 33 key Chinese cities from 2016 to 2019 is provided. The results show that the benefit of bus transit in most key cities was ineffective. In contrast to production efficiency, focusing on improving service effectiveness is more conducive to improving the benefits of bus transit. Small cities have higher benefits than large cities. Meanwhile, the benefits of bus transit vary geographically. This evaluation outcome provides a more appropriate basis for decision-making related to the benefits of public transit services, as well as for operational and management studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban fabric can be characterised as an ever-evolving assemblage operating on multiple scales; constantly being constituted and reshaped by internal and external elements, not making it possible to regard any place as an isolated entity at a specific scale. Through an overview of relational place theory, this paper aims to theoretically discuss how local planning practices need to include a relational and multi-scalar approach to cope with complex urban and rural realities if they wish to create development in local places. To unfold this, the paper reveals some of the empirical implications of such a multi-scalar urban reality, by analysing how two selected Danish municipalities seek to relate to, respond to and comply with the networked and relational reality of place in their planning practices. The empirical work builds among others on students' field work and the cases expose the importance of working with totalities, relations and networks on multiple scales; however, they also reveal the challenges related to the manifestations of such a practice. The paper argues that, despite the challenges associated with this practice, the current complex global interconnectedness of places calls for an increased focus on strategic municipal planning approaches that are both multi-scalar and place-sensitive. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]