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Promoting sustainable communities aims at creating both environmentally and socially responsible living environments. This paper explores the role of affordable housing in promoting the long-term sustainability of a community within healthy living conditions by closely examining the relationship between affordable housing, urban development policies, and sustainability, with the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, serving as a case study. The first part of the paper focuses on the current building laws issued in the official newspaper in 2004 using a content analysis methodology to demonstrate the impact of the changes in the laws on the new morphology and social fabric of the city through the creation of a favorable environment for big developers, wealthy property owners, and real estate agencies and, at the expense of old city residents and low-income families. The second part of the paper uses the qualitative analysis methodology to justify the presence of large unused stock of residential units in Beirut, referring to information from multiple data sources selected based on their applicability to sustainable development, affordable housing, and urban planning in areas related to the case study, Beirut. This part then investigates the potential presented by this stock of residential units in Beirut to increase the supply of affordable housing and foster a sustainable community. This paper argues that the promoted vertical expansion of the city weighs heavily on the environment and fails to provide a diverse mix of housing units, excluding a significant portion of the community from the city. Alternative development models aligning with principles of sustainable development and challenging the current building laws can promote social inclusivity, reduce urban sprawl, and minimize environmental impacts associated with new constructions, thus preserving the city's physical and social fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Continuous enhancement of sustainable development capacity is one of the goals of building a well-off society. In order to understand the development of each region, it is necessary to make a comprehensive evaluation of their sustainable development capacity. This paper presents a study of the 11 regions of Hebei Province, China. Considering the influence of time on urban development, this paper comprehensively evaluates the sustainable development ability of each region in Hebei Province from three dimensions of society, economy and environment based on panel data. The evaluation results show that Shijiazhuang has the strongest sustainable development capacity. On this basis, the promoting factors and restricting factors of sustainable development in each region are found by using grey correlation analysis method. This study provides a reference for the future sustainable development of each district. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the process of global urban development, there are urgent ecological security and environmental pollution problems, green development is the fundamental way for urban sustainable development, economic transformation and mitigation of ecological and environmental problems. Based on the panel data of 283 cities at prefecture level and above in China from 2003 to 2017, this paper analyzes spatial–temporal evolution characteristics of urban green development efficiency (UGDE) and the peer effects of UGDE between cities of different grades. It is found that during the study period, in terms of temporal evolution, the average UGDE in China increased from 0.47 in 2003 to 0.61 in 2017, with a cumulative growth rate of 29.79%, showing a rising trend in general. In terms of spatial evolution, the number of low-efficiency cities and medium-efficiency cities continued to decrease. The eastern region has always been the main distribution area of higher-efficiency cities and high-efficiency cities; in the central region, UGDE in most cities improved significantly; in the western region, UGDE has always lagged behind that in the eastern and central regions. In addition, the center of gravity of UGDE presented a trend of northwest migration in general, with a total displacement of 100.07 km, and UGDE showed a spatial dispersion trend. The empirical results indicate that the improvement of UGDE in large cities has a driving effect on that in neighboring medium cities and small cities through the positive peer effect, and the growth of UGDE in medium cities has a promoting effect on that in neighboring small cities through the positive peer effect; the increase of UGDE in medium cities has a positive peer effect on that in neighboring large cities, and the growth of UGDE in small cities has a positive peer effect on that in neighboring medium cities; UGDE promotes each other between large cities through the positive peer effect. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates Smart-TRACS, an affordable and innovative smart technology solution to improve solid waste management and revenue collection in the rapidly expanding city of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. By analyzing data from key stakeholders in the solid waste management service chain, the study validates the hypotheses that: (H1) Smart-TRACS has improved solid waste management service provision, and (H2) Smart-TRACS has enhanced refuse collection charges collection rates in the piloted wards. Notably, Smart-TRACS registered a 129% increase in identified service users, 13.5% increase in revenue collection, 55% increase in revenue collection coverage, and many other positive impacts resulting from data-driven internal management optimization. This paper provides compelling evidence that leveraging data can drive improved efficiency, resilience, innovation and inclusivity in Dar es Salaam's city development. However, the paper also identifies limitations with Smart-TRACS, which underscore challenges hindering the city's transition to a smart city status. The absence of an actively implemented robust overarching city master plan, smart city coordination framework, a challenging business environment, and the risks associated with sudden institutional change pose significant obstacles to sustained smart city development and innovation. Addressing these core challenges is crucial for Dar es Salaam to embark on a sustainable path towards smart city development and realize its potential for transformative growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the development of rural settlements, the loss of distinctive rural characteristics, caused by the contradiction between urban expansion and the ideal of pastoralism, has attracted widespread attention from researchers worldwide. To effectively understand the development and trends of the Research of Features and Characteristics of Rural Settlements (abbreviated as RFCRS), this paper uses the knowledge mapping software CiteSpace to conduct co-citation analysis, research collaboration analysis, keyword clustering, and keyword co-occurrence. The study analyzes the basic concepts, the literature distribution characteristics, research clusters, key issues, and development trends of RFCRS. The research found that the current key issues in RFCRS include "Eco-logical services and environmental protection of rural settlements", "Sustainable planning and architectural design issues of rural settlements", and "Human settlement environment and service facility construction of rural settlements". This paper predicts that future RFCRS research trends will focus on the study of landscape features and characteristics based on ecology, climate, and aesthetics; study of architectural features and characteristics based on characteristic factors and hierarchical structure; and research on rural revitalization based on sustainable development principles. The paper also offers four priority research suggestions for researchers from different disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper takes 286 prefecture-level Chinese cities from 2011 to 2019 as research objects. It empirically examines the influence of digital finance on green development by using the EBM model, two-way fixed effect model, and instrumental variable method. It is found that digital finance can significantly promote the green development of Chinese cities, and this conclusion is still valid after the robustness tests, such as the instrumental variable method dealing with endogeneity and two-sided winsorization. The mechanism analysis results suggest that only the breadth of digital finance can significantly promote green development in the internal mechanism of digital finance, but the effect of coverage depth and digitization degree is not significant. The external mechanism of industrial structure upgrading assumes the mediating role of digital finance in improving the level of green development. The heterogeneity analysis results show that digital finance has a stronger impact on green development in the central and western cities and small-scale cities. This paper contributes to the study of the relationship between digital finance and green development and puts forward relevant suggestions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information and communication technology plays an essential role in affecting CO2 emissions and promoting green and sustainable development. This paper empirically examines the effect of the level of urban ICT development on CO2 emissions using panel data for Chinese cities from 2010 to 2020. On this basis, a spatial Durbin model is used to analyze the spatial spillover effects of ICT development level affecting regional CO2 emissions, and its direct, indirect and overall effects are further analyzed. The conclusions of the study are as follows. (1) The CO2 emissions of Chinese cities are correlated by spatial distance and show high-high or low-low clustering characteristics. (2) ICT development can reduce CO2 emissions in the region and increase CO2 emissions in neighboring regions. This conclusion still holds after several robustness tests. And when the level of ICT development increases by 1 standard deviation, CO2 emissions are reduced by 64%. (3) The mechanism of action shows that ICT can influence regional CO2 emissions through its technological innovation effect and industrial upgrading effect. (4) The impact of ICT development on regional carbon emissions is characterized by significant heterogeneity depending on the city's geographical location and whether or not environmental information is publicly available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas constitute one of the main issues of sustainability as defined by the United Nations with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The recent smart city concept represents a way for achieving the urban sustainability goals. The European Commission (EC) bases the smart city concept on three pillars: energy, transport and Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The main objective of the paper is to investigate the European smart city process, by focusing on urban mobility and their interconnections with the other two pillars. The methodological approach of territorial planning is used by identifying the plan dimensions and then analyzing the processes at master and sectorial level. The applied processes are verified with a review of the European documents that constitute the rules for defining and implementing the smart city concept. European guidelines indicate the SUMP as the integrated master plan that contributes to reach the convergence among energy, transport and ICT processes. By focusing on people mobility sector, European cities are implementing the Mobility as a Service (MaaS) plan at the sectorial level. This implies the necessity to enhance the knowledge of mobility phenomenon, in relation to emerging ICT and their impact on energy consumptions. The contribution of the work is given by the identification of a planning and implementation path focused on smart city, in urban areas, which connects the general goals of Agenda 2030 with the daily implications for citizens and therefore with the specific results. The paper results are useful: from one side, for researchers that work on advancements of theories, and from another side, for planners and decision makers to explore the European attempts towards urban sustainability and the real implementations on urban mobility systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always following a rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of a continuous updating of emerging topics concerning relationships among urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers. The Review Notes are made of five parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. This section of the Review Notes deals with the new frontiers of urban development through the lenses of the European program NextGenerationEU. In particular, this contribution deals with the topic of sustainable development in urban environments, analysing it in the frame of the Italian National Recovery and Resilience Plan. The paper takes into account the recent PNRR strategies, projects, and initiatives that intervene in multiple sectors - such as the environment, energy, and infrastructures - to promote sustainable development. It provides an overview of the proposed projects and interventions in different urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Recently, Jos Metropolis, Nigeria is witnessing a strong trend toward urban growth and expansion. This phenomenon has impacted Land Use/Land Cover and efficient management of land. This paper evaluated urban growth and changes in Land Use /Land Cover and examined the land use efficiency of the metropolis. Land Use and Land Cover changes were established from 1999 to 2022; Land consumption rate and population growth rate were determined, and computation of the SDG 11.3.1framework was done to examine the efficiency of land use. METHODS: Data were collected through official documents, the use of remote sensing, and, geographic information systems. Satellite imageries used to determine the classes and changes in Land Use/Land Cover changes were Landsat 5TM (1999), Landsat 7 ETM+(2004, 2009, and 2014), and Landsat 8 ETM+ (2018 and 2022). Global positioning system was used for ground-truthing, IDRISI Taiga software was used for image classification, and ArcGIS was used for map visualization. Four classes of Land Use and Land Cover were identified: Built-up, Meadows, Mountain/Vegetation, and Water bodies. FINDINGS: Results revealed that built-up area increased consistently from 3494.007 hectares in 1999 to 16995.360 ha in 2022 leading to a substantial reduction in other land use and land cover. The study confirmed a burgeoning population growth from 780,000 in 1999 to 1,563,193 in 2022. This growth had a significant impact on urban land use management, consuming a large proportion of land from 3494.007 hectares to 16995.36 hectares in 1999 and 2022 respectively. Results revealed a high land consumption rate of 0.0962 and 0.0884 during 2018-2022 and 1999-2004. A high population growth rate (0.0414) was recorded during 2018-2022. These dynamics intensified the rate of land acquisition for urban development. The average value of the SDG 11.3.1 framework was 2.3 which is higher than 1, indicating that urban expansion is moving away from land use efficiency. CONCLUSION: The paper recommended the establishment of a Growth Management Monitoring system by the state government for effective and efficient management of land resources through a spatial plan for the metropolis. This study has provided insight into the dynamics of Jos metropolitan LULC and land use efficiency management which could be useful to policymakers, urban planners, and researchers in initiating sustainable urban) development strategies and inclusive structure for its planning and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The coexistence of urban expansion and shrinkage in China has become increasingly apparent; therefore, the current strategic model of growth-oriented urban planning as the top-level design needs to be adjusted. This paper focuses on the city of Baishan, which is a typical shrinking city in China, and explores the feasibility of implementing the concept of smart shrinkage planning in shrinking cities in China by constructing a coupled PLUS-SD model. The results demonstrate the following conclusions: (1) The overall simulation of the coupled PLUS-SD model is superior to that of the PLUS model. In Baishan, the areas with the most changes in construction land will be located at the edges of the landforms by 2030. (2) Using the traditional planning scenario would only exacerbate the rate of construction land expansion in Baishan, deepening the incongruity between the city's population and construction land. (3) The smart shrinkage scenario will require strict control of the scale of construction land and optimization of the structure of the urban construction land, which would push the city in the direction of healthy and sustainable development. (4) The concept of smart shrinkage planning is a scientific and feasible plan for realizing the efficient and sustainable use of construction land in shrinking cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As China's urbanization enters the middle and late stages, urban regeneration has risen to the strategic level of building a new national development pattern and promoting high-quality urban development. Due to the wide range of disciplines and content involved in urban regeneration, there remains a lack of systematic and comprehensive theories and frameworks to lay a theoretical foundation for academic research and provide guidance for renewal practice. Therefore, this paper aims to construct a systematic and comprehensive theoretical framework of urban regeneration from the perspective of space reproduction, by employing the theory of the production of space as the basis of interdisciplinary research, and integrating related theories and research. The current paper proposes a theoretical framework that includes four core elements, namely the government, the market, society and space reproduction. Subsequently, the paper summarizes the subject, power, capital and interest of the three types of stakeholders (government, market, and society), their different emphases in the reproduction mechanism, and their various cooperative modes in practices. Meanwhile, under the concept of sustainable development and "people-oriented" approach, this paper emphasizes the importance of social factors and the suitability of the multi-stakeholder co-governance model of government, market and society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As more attention is given to green and sustainable industries, an analysis of the industrial impacts on all aspects of life, including inclusive affluence, is gradually developing. Idle rural residential land is a valuable resource and an important factor in promoting sustainable development. Balanced urban and rural development contributes to inclusive prosperity, so understanding the relationship between industry and the balanced development of urban and rural can significantly impact social development. In China, achieving the balanced development requires narrowing the urban-rural income gap. This paper analyzed the impact of reallocating idle rural residential land on promoting the balanced development. The study found that industry development has a positive impact on the balanced development, with a regression coefficient of 1.478. Regions with higher industry indices in counties had better outcomes regarding the balanced development. When the development of rural industry derived from idle residential land was in good condition, the effect increased by 3.326 percentage. The results showed heterogeneity, with the regression coefficient of industry development on the balanced development in county-level cities being 0.498 larger than in urban areas. In summary, the reallocation of idle residential land can promote sustainable development, increase residents' income, and improve overall regional economic development. The results are applicable to the comprehensive reallocation of rural land resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The sustainable development goals (SDGs) reflect the pursuit of achieving spatial justice. Both SDG 1.4 and SDG 11.1 reflect a concern for urban services. Life service resources, which are the new concept proposed by the Chinese government, also call for sustainable development path. However, few studies have focused on the realization of spatial justice in life service resources. This paper proposes a two-level, four-step analysis framework composed of quantity, structure, pattern, and coupling coordination to perceive the spatial justice of life service resources. Based on remote sensing technology and geographic information science, this paper acquires and analyses multi-source data including population density, building outlines, point of interests, subway lines, etc. Furthermore, the case study in downtown Beijing found the following: (1) The total life service resources are extensive and varying in type; (2) regional differences are evident and low-level equilibrium and high-level priority development coexist; (3) life service resources are concentrated in contiguous and multi-centre clusters with a greater north–south than east–west difference; (4) the overall level of life service resources is low, specifically for "high in the centre and low in the periphery" and "high in the east and low in the west". Future management should consider narrowing the development gap and formulating industry development plans to improve spatial justice. Finally, the comparison between Beijing and London and more cities in the future needs to consider the urban development stage, population density, and other aspects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities enhance the efficiency of green development among themselves through their borrowing population, economic activities density and advanced functions, but the positive green effect of the borrowing size is affected by the city size. Using panel data of 280 prefecture-level cities in China for the period 2009–2019, this paper measures the borrowing size in three dimensions, namely the borrowing population size, borrowing economic activity density and borrowing advanced functions, and uses the super efficiency slacks-based measure (SBM) model, including non-desired outputs, to measure the urban green development efficiency. After that, this paper empirically examines the effect of the borrowing size on the urban green development efficiency in the Chinese urban network using a double-fixed-effect model. A panel threshold regression with city size as the threshold variable is conducted to evaluate the nonlinear relationship quantitatively between the borrowing size and urban green development efficiency. The results show that all three dimensions of the borrowing size have positive effects on the urban green development efficiency. There is a significant double-threshold effect between the borrowing size and urban green development efficiency; under the threshold of the city size, there is a U-shaped relationship between the borrowing population size, borrowing advanced functions and urban green development efficiency, whereas there is an inverted U-shaped relationship between the borrowing economic activity density and urban green development efficiency. Accordingly, this paper argues that government should pay attention to the role of the borrowing size in promoting urban green development efficiency and reasonably expand the city size. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several studies have linked urban metabolism with sustainable development goals, but few studies have addressed how architectural design could contribute to the linkage. Japanese Architectural Metabolism promotes the empowering of individuals and encourages spontaneous growth through urban metabolism. However, Architectural Metabolism has lacked (1) links with sustainable urban development goals, (2) realistic and powerful strategies, and (3) the ability to keep up with information technology. Whether and how architectural design can contribute to sustainable and spontaneous urban growth remains unclear. This paper presents case studies of the growth and renewal of formal and informal urban organisms in East Asia. The cases reveal that sustainable spontaneous urban growth should be linked with a strong governance system as well as adaptive architectural and construction technology that is easy to master by users. This paper argues that the conditional basis of contemporary Chinese urban development can support the spontaneous growth of architecture. Finally, a design strategy is proposed that reconstructs participatory co-construction among the government, social investors, and users with information and adaptive construction technology. Its purpose is to realize the orderly metabolism and spontaneous growth of buildings and achieve economically, socially, and ecologically sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Under the general trend of reducing leverage and strictly controlling new implicit debts of local governments, the risk of nonstandard defaults by urban investment and development companies (UIDCs) continues to be released, which will increase the credit risk of UIDCs. This paper examines the impact of nonstandard default events of municipal investment platform companies on the urban investment bond (UIB) market through event analysis using 252 nonstandard default events of 32 municipal investment companies from 2018 to 2021 as sample data. The findings show that the UIB market is ineffective and affected by nonstandard defaults and that bond returns show abnormal short-term significant negative fluctuations. This study has important implications regarding the early warning of UIB default risk and the improvement of the sustainable development of urban investment enterprise financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Enhancing the spatio-temporal dynamic monitoring of the construction land of emerging major cities provides the basis for understanding the effects of human activities on the earth's ecological environment changes, which is regarded as an important way to improve human wellbeing and to achieve the UN SDGs. This paper, which uses Nanning as an example, adopts 30 m annual remote sensing land cover datasets from 1990–2021 to elaborately analyze the temporal evolution and spatial expansion of construction land and to evaluate the sustainable development level based on SDG 11.3.1. The conclusions of this paper are as follows: (1) For Nanning City, during 1990–2021, construction land area increased from 54.77 km2 to 326.33 km2—a nearly five-fold increase. Spreading expansion and finger-like expansion along roads played a leading role during the development of the construction land in Nanning. Liangqing and Yongning are the future directions of urban development. The LCRPGR of Nanning declined with one peak period around 1995, and the LCRPGR was relatively stable with a high intensity of land use. (2) For the other emerging major cities, continuous long duration data are more suitable for urban construction land monitoring compared with traditional sparse time-series monitoring. The rich information derived from continuous long duration data can help decision makers to formulate and implement more comprehensive measures. The research paradigm adopted in this study can be applied in other cities. The newly developed urban districts will have foreseeable high sustainable development risks, and urban development strategies at the international, national, and urban levels could reduce those risks and promote the realization of UN SDGs from different angles and with different intensities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban agglomerations are becoming an increasingly important factor in advancing regional development and reshaping a new pattern of regional competition. However, few studies are focused on the impact of expanding urban agglomerations on reducing carbon emissions and its possible mechanism. Based on 285 city-level panel data from 2006 to 2017, this paper uses a staggered Difference-in-Differences (DID) model to explore the reduction effect and its possible mechanism of sustainable regional development policy, characterized by urban agglomeration expansion policy in the Yangtze River Delta, on carbon emissions with policy shocks in 2010 and 2013. The results are as follows: (1) The urban agglomeration expansion policy shows a significant marginal contribution to the reduction of carbon emissions, especially for the later joined (new) cities, and the reduction effect is particularly significant in the first and third years after the expansion, indicating that there are significant short-term and long-term reduction effects of the expansion policy. (2) The heterogeneities of reduction effect among three provinces are significant. Zhejiang Province enjoys the largest proportion carbon emission reduction effect, followed by Anhui and Jiangsu provinces. To be specific, urban agglomeration expansion in Zhejiang Province reduced carbon emissions and carbon emissions intensity in the overall, incumbent cities and new cities, while it only increased the total carbon emissions of the incumbent cities in Jiangsu province. (3) The heterogeneities of reduction effect brought by 2010 and 2013 are also significant. The urban agglomeration expansion policy in 2010 reduced carbon emissions on the whole cities and the incumbent cities with later joined cities excluded, while it had a significant reduction effect on the total, incumbent cities, and the new cities in 2013. (4) There are two possible mechanisms of this reduction effect. One is the strengthening of economic ties and enhanced environmental synergy between governments, called the market integration mechanism, which only has a significant effect on carbon emission reduction in the incumbent cities. Another is through the upgrade of the structure of regional industries, which has a significant effect in both the incumbent and new cities. These findings suggest that when formulating urban agglomerations polices, governments must take into account the carbon emissions effect, and advance the upgrading of industrial structure in the urban agglomeration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Starting from the relationship between urban planning and mobility management, TeMA has gradually expanded the view of the covered topics, always following a rigorous scientific in-depth analysis. This section of the Journal, Review Notes, is the expression of a continuous updating of emerging topics concerning relationships among urban planning, mobility and environment, through a collection of short scientific papers. The Review Notes are made of four parts. Each section examines a specific aspect of the broader information storage within the main interests of TeMA Journal. In particular, the Economy, business and land use section aims at presenting recent advancements on relevant topics that underlie socio-economic relationships between firms and territories. The present note aims at highlighting the costs associated to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The hight investment costs and the gap that still divides cities from the achievement of the sustainable targets shed lights on the need to incentivize both public and private investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Small cities located on the periphery of large cities have long faced challenges such as difficulties in economic development and population loss, especially in China. The concentration of a few super-large cities in China has hindered the growth of per capita income in most small cities and led to a widening income gap between cities. In addition, studies have shown that central cities can have a polarizing impact on surrounding areas thereby hindering economic growth. To address these issues, this paper examines Baoding, a small city close to the capital, Beijing. Through literature and policy research, we analyse how Baoding can take advantage of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei integration policy and pursue its urban development in the presence of neighbouring large cities. By providing theoretical suggestions the research contributes to Baodin's urban development through five potential industries: healthcare, automotive, electronics, digital, and tourism. Furthermore, we emphasize the practical contributions such as: the importance of higher education as a key driver of sustainable development for the city. Based on our analysis, we suggest that Baoding's strategic development direction should be aligned with Beijing's needs while recognizing that such alignment is merely a means to an end. The goal of urban development should always be to improve the living standards and well-being of citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2017, China released the statement of High-Quality Development in response to the sustainable development goals proposed by the United Nations. As the spatial carriers of human economic, social, and cultural development, cities should be updated in order to enter a new period of high-quality urban development. In this paper, we use a multi-period DID model, consider the opening of high-speed railways as a quasi-natural experiment, and use the panel data of 285 prefecture-level and above cities in China from 2007 to 2020 to empirically analyze the effect of high-speed railway (HSR) opening on urban development quality and explore its transmission mechanism. The empirical results find that the HSR opening can significantly promote the level of high-quality urban development. The results remain the same after robustness tests such as PSM-DID and placebo tests. The study mechanism suggests that the HSR opening can significantly improve the quality of urban development through a population agglomeration effect, while capital agglomeration has a masking effect between the HSR opening and high-quality urban development. Further results show that there is heterogeneity in the impact of HSR opening on the high-quality development of cities in different regions and sizes, in which the boosting effect of HSR opening on the development quality of cities in eastern and western regions is more significant compared to cities in central regions; the boosting effect of HSR opening on the high-quality development level of medium-sized cities is stronger. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial transformation (IT) is the inevitable course for the sustainable development of resource-based cities, while digital inclusive finance (DIF) provides essential capital elements for industrial transformation. Based on the panel data of 115 resource-based cities in China from 2011 to 2019, this paper discusses the influence mechanism of digital inclusive finance on industrial transformation from the perspectives of the optimization of industrial structure (OIS) and the rationalization of industrial structure (RIS). The empirical results show that digital inclusive finance has a positive effect on both the optimization of industrial structure and the rationalization of industrial structure. Digital inclusive finance influences industrial transformation through residents' income and technological innovation. In addition, in the analysis of income gap and innovation gap, low-income regions have a better effect on the industrial transformation of industrial structure optimization, while high-income regions have a better effect in manufacturing upgrading, thus resulting in a more significant effect of industrial transformation on the rationalization of industrial structure. Obviously, the development of high-innovation regions has relative advantages with more channels for industrial transformation, which have significant effect of industrial transformation. Therefore, it is necessary to provide differentiated reform on the basis of unified development reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization, high city population growth rates, technological development, environmental impacts, and human wellbeing in urban areas have over the years become increasingly challenging concerns. These trends are related to the complex, multiple factors to be considered when evaluating “smart” cities, that is, municipalities that seek to improve residents’ quality of life by combining new technologies and environmentally sustainable practices. The above tendencies thus add to the myriad of indicators that need to be included in smart city assessments, whose intricacy hinders related decision-making processes. Based on the principles of multiple-criteria decision analysis, this paper seeks to integrate cognitive mapping and the Choquet integral to develop an assessment system that facilitates the evaluation of smart cities, which was named “SMART-C.” The research includes a panel of experts on smart cities who identifies the evaluation criteria and their respective interactions. The results of a real-life application of the assessment system developed in this paper are validated both by the panel members and a representative of the Lisboa E-Nova nonprofit association of the Lisbon City Council's Environment and Energy Department. These experts confirm that the proposed evaluation system facilitates making distinctions between cities according to how fully they develop “smartness.” The advantages and limitations of this assessment framework are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Turkey has been one of the earliest participants of the international climate policy process, since the Ministerial Conference on Atmospheric Pollution and Climate Change held in 1989. The country has prepared strategy documents, actions plans, sectoral policies, and projects to detect and adapt climate change effects. However, any of this has not turned into a main plan to support climate change mitigation on an international scale. The purpose of this paper is to identify local climate change mitigation strategies of Sakarya city, Turkey, by strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis. For this purpose, relevant information were gathered from Covenant of Mayors, greenhouse gas inventories of the city, National Energy Efficiency Action Plan, online workshop with 44 local stakeholders from private sector and local universities held on 13.10.2020. The results emphasized the importance of the cross-link between local adaptation and mitigation in terms of energy demand and energy-based emissions on national and international scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization has accelerated China's economic growth, but it has also brought many sustainability issues. This paper selected a random forest model to study the impact of local government-led urbanization on urban sustainable development. Urbanization affected urban sustainable development through government revenue expansion, land resources mismatch, and industrial structure adjustment. The results showed that the adjustment of industrial structure has the greatest impact on urban sustainable development, and the importance of the average output of industrial enterprises confirms it. Government revenue expansion and land resources mismatch are more important to the sustainable development of representative urban agglomerations. The goodness of fit of the random forest model is better than the multiple linear regression (MLR) model and the extreme gradient boosting (XGBoost) model. The generalization ability of the model is improved with the optimization of variables. The main contribution of this paper is that we have established a complete information dynamic game model on government revenue expansion, land resource mismatch, industrial structure adjustment, and urban sustainable development. And the random forest model is used to study the relationship between the above variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Green development is a significant concept that cannot be ignored in contemporary society. However, in the context of China's transition from high-speed growth to high-quality development, the complex impact of urban development has brought great challenges to the urban green environment. In this paper, the impact of urban development on green development efficiency (GDE) was studied. First and foremost, a Super-SBM model was introduced to measure the GDE of 41 cities in the Yangtze River Delta during 2009–2018. Moreover, a Tobit model was used to analyze the correlation between four urban development factors, including economic development and GDE. According to the results, the mean GDE of the Yangtze River Delta is 0.824, and the GDE in most cities there has shown a fluctuating growth trend in this decade. By comparison, the GDEs of coastal cities and cities in the southeast of the Yangtze River Delta were generally higher than those of cities in the north, indicating that the green development is geographically unbalanced, and there is spatial heterogeneity in the area studied. The study's results also suggest that the urban economic development, innovation level, and government planning play a significant role in stimulating urban green development, and that the expansion of urban construction area hinders the improvement of GDE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper presents an aspect of asset tracking and storage conditions. This paper aims to fill the gap in the development of Industry 4.0 in terms of fully digital asset tracking to be implemented by medium and large-size manufacturing and logistics facilities. The article presents an innovative technology for the remote monitoring of chemical raw materials, including fertilizers, during their storage and transport from the place of manufacture to the local distributor or recipient. Methods: The method assumes the monitoring and identification of special transport bags, so-called "big-bags," through embedded RFID tags or LEB labels and monitoring the key parameters of their content, i.e., temperature, humidity, insolation, and pressure, using a measuring micro-station that is placed in the transported raw material. Results: The automation of inference based on the collected information about the phenomenon in question (the distribution of parameters: pressure, temperature, and humidity), and expert knowledge, allows the creation of an advisory system prototype indicating how to manage the measuring devices. Conclusions: No similar solution in the field of monitoring environmental parameters has been implemented in the Polish market. The developed system enables the monitoring of 10,000 pieces of big bags in at least 30 locations simultaneously. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is widely accepted that permeability is a key attribute for sustainable development, but two puzzles remain unsolved. First, there is no consensus on its measurement. Second, there are still many new urban developments that lack this quality; regardless, it is a well-known urban design principle. This paper reviews different permeability measurements and proposes to categorize them into four quadrants, then compares eleven of them with four sets of abstract forms and four real cases from Southeast China. The two measures rooted in space syntax theory demonstrate their robustness in the abstract forms. In contrast, the area-based measures cannot quantify the differences between places with similar content. In the actual case studies, by comparing the differences between original plans and the real built forms, we suggest that three traps impair their permeability and therefore deviate greatly from the initial design visions, resulting in automobile-oriented travel patterns. The two new measures were used to quantify the different levels of permeability in these four cases. It is concluded that the qualitative urban design principles may fail to be delivered without a quantitative and precise description of urban form. Consistent measures and more empirical cases are needed to reveal the contribution of spatial networks to sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Attaining optimal eco-efficiency is of paramount importance in promoting the sustainable and harmonious development of the economy and environment within urban agglomerations. Firstly, this paper utilizes the Super-SBM model with undesirable output to measure the eco-efficiency (EE) of 64 cities in the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei metropolitan region (BTHMR), the Yangtze River Delta (YRD), the Pearl River Delta (PRD), and the Chengdu–Chongqing Economic Zone (CCEZ) from 2006 to 2019. Secondly, this study puts forth a novel and comprehensive index system aimed at evaluating the urbanization efficiency and sheds light on the spatiotemporal changes in EE and urbanization efficiency. Finally, the STIRPAT model is used to examine the influencing factors of EE and to investigate the correlation between EE and urbanization efficiency. The study found that the overall EE of the four typical urban agglomerations is high, but the trend varies with a decrease of about 12.9% from 2006 to 2019. The mean EE is in the order of CCEZ > PRD > BTHMR > YRD, with mean values of 0.941, 0.909, 0.842, and 0.732, respectively. The level of science and technology and the urbanization efficiency have a significant positive impact on EE, while population, industrial structure, FDI, and greening level have an inhibitory effect on urban eco-efficiency. Based on the results, policy suggestions such as paying attention to regional heterogeneity and giving full play to the government's macro-regulatory role in shaping the economic and industrial structure are proposed to serve as a guide for the coordinated development of urban agglomerations under the Dual Carbon Target. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global socio-environmental challenges and local impacts, global agendas, and local implementation: multi-level governance has never been more important – or more complex. To keep track of progress and the challenges in sustainable urban development, monitoring systems at all levels are at different stages of development and in need of harmonisation. In this context, national reporting can link the global level with the local one by identifying and reviewing framework conditions, and setting indicator and data standards for cities, counties, and municipalities. This raises questions about the awareness of different issues, resource imbalances and, not least, the effectiveness of standardised monitoring. This paper provides valuable insights into the lessons learned from the preparation of the first national progress report on the implementation of the New Urban Agenda. The reflections could support further governance and monitoring efforts not only at the national level but also across all levels. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

George Town in Penang is recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Malaysia. This article explores the case study of George Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Penang, Malaysia, focusing on its exemplary qualities. Including George Town in the UNESCO World Historical List 2008 was a notable achievement in historic preservation and urban growth. The primary aim of this essay is to analyse the effective strategies used in the preservation of George Town's cultural, architectural, and historical authenticity while concurrently fostering sustainable growth by two main primary entities: the City Council of Penang Island (MBPP) and George Town World Heritage Incorporated (GTWHI). Implementing these conservation programmes has not only resulted in preserving the city's physical and intangible history but has also revitalised its historic districts, thereby converting them into thriving centres for artistic expression, cultural activities, and tourist attractions. This article thoroughly examines relevant literature, policy papers, and onsite observations to elucidate the significant methods, problems, and results that have characterised George Town's progression as a World Heritage Site. The insights derived from the experience of George Town provide useful lessons for other cultural sites seeking to achieve a peaceful equilibrium between preservation, conservation, and future development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effective extraction of impervious surfaces is critical to monitor their expansion and ensure the sustainable development of cities. Open geographic data can provide a large number of training samples for machine learning methods based on remote-sensed images to extract impervious surfaces due to their advantages of low acquisition cost and large coverage. However, training samples generated from open geographic data suffer from severe sample imbalance. Although one-class methods can effectively extract an impervious surface based on imbalanced samples, most of the current one-class methods ignore the fact that an impervious surface comprises varied geographic objects, such as roads and buildings. Therefore, this paper proposes an object-oriented deep multi-sphere support vector data description (OODMSVDD) method, which takes into account the diversity of impervious surfaces and incorporates a variety of open geographic data involving OpenStreetMap (OSM), Points of Interest (POIs), and trajectory GPS points to automatically generate massive samples for model learning, thereby improving the extraction of impervious surfaces with varied types. The feasibility of the proposed method is experimentally verified with an overall accuracy of 87.43%, and its superior impervious surface classification performance is shown via comparative experiments. This provides a new, accurate, and more suitable extraction method for complex impervious surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A qualitative and quantitative deterioration of natural environments occurred recently worldwide. Loss of ecological capacities and agricultural decline are the critical consequences of urbanisation. This paper focuses on the value of assessing the urban sprawl in a southern Italy territory in order to evaluate the significant landscape transformations and provide a document to local administrators for a more balanced management of land use. The importance to calculate the soil consumption dynamics is remarkable in the investigated territory, Rende municipality in the Calabria region, southern Italy, since it is characterized by the same human pressure that occurred in other Mediterranean areas, so it is well representative of wider territories included in the Mediterranean setting. The transition from rural areas to urban settlements has been investigated via landscape analysis, and conducted for spatial and temporal changes over 25 years. The landscape analysis has integrated data from the orthophotos and Esri topographic base map. Quantitatively, the estimation of urban growth, in all its components, and soil consumption are evident by analysis of the number of patches. Qualitatively, the occurred consumption of fertile soil has caused a significant impact on local environmental conditions and on human activities resulting in decreasing of arable land, which decreased significantly over the considered period. This study addresses how knowledge of the change in urban areas is needed to effectively manage urban environmental impacts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In urban development, balancing the ecological services of park green space with residents' daily life and recreational needs, achieving sustainable development is an important issue in urban construction. The satellite cities of megacities have large development potential and are suitable research objects. This paper takes the Daxing District of Beijing as the research target and measures the integrated level of supply and demand by selecting unique evaluation indicators by integrating various dimensions and using the improved coupled coordination model and indicators with an expanded selection range at the smallest administrative unit of Chinese community unit scale innovatively. The study shows that: (1) The spatial heterogeneity between the supply and demand of parkland in 85 community units in Daxing New Town is obvious, the overall performance conforms with "demand exceeds supply", and the supply and demand are generally positively correlated. (2) The correlation degree of the matched supply and demand is analyzed, and it is found that 55 community units show a mismatch between supply and demand and 53 community units have a low level of coordinated development. (3) The superposition analysis shows that the comprehensive level of supply and demand decreases from north to south and from the center to the surrounding area. (4) According to the Daxing New City Park Green Space Coupling Coordination Relationship and Policy Document, we divided the community units in Daxing New Town into six types, and provided differentiated development suggestions. The results of the study can help to guide the sustainable construction of Daxing New City and provide a basis for the future construction of satellite cities in other megacities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban vitality is the primary driver of urban development. However, assessing urban vitality has always been a challenge. This paper builds on the research framework of sustainable development evaluation and selects evaluation indicators from the three systems of urban operation: economy, society, and environment. The deviation maximization (DM) method is used to evaluate urban vitality. Shanghai is then used as a case study for evaluation, and the comprehensive index of urban vitality is calculated for the city from 2010 to 2019. The evaluation results indicate that the urban vitality of Shanghai experienced a significant upward trend over ten years (2010-2019), which shows that the urban competitiveness of Shanghai is constantly strengthening. Next, the study focuses on the administrative region of Shanghai, to calculate the regional vitality level of Shanghai from 2010 to 2019 and to explore its spatial distribution characteristics. Then, a spatial autocorrelation analysis is used to explore the mechanism that affects the spatial distribution of urban vitality. The results demonstrate that the urban vitality in Shanghai shows a significant positive correlation in space. Moreover, there is a "High-High" gathering area, which includes Huangpu, Xuhui, Hongkou, and Changning in central area of Shanghai. This research provides a theoretical reference to support effective decision-making with respect to high-quality urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's National New Area program surged in the 2010s and drew ecological criticism as these projects' rapid urban expansion often threatened vulnerable ecosystems. However, the recent national ecological restoration efforts also have the potential to direct the 19 projects to shift from stimulating economic development to pursuing sustainable living environments. This essay studies the National New Areas on two scales: the first section traces the 19 projects' ecological performance by measuring two vegetation indices; the second section compares two exemplary cases of Binhai New Area (proposed in 2006) and Xiong'an New Area (2017) to reveal how the planning thinking evolved over a decade. The results show increases of 14 projects' mean Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and 12 projects' mean Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) from 2013 to 2021. The comparative case study suggests that Xiong'an has a promising ecological future due to the deconcentration-driven policies and consistent ecological plans, whereas the development-driven Binhai's contradictory plans led the early ecological ambition to an environmental cliché. This paper concludes that China's National New Areas are undertaking an ecological transition in the context of ecological civilization, which calls for planning practitioners' attention to renewing their working approaches and skill-sets to adapt to the paradigm shift. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The urban population of India is expected to reach 416 million by 2050. As more and more people shift from rural to urban areas, the urban centers will be facing serious sustainability challenges to meet the requirements of ever increasing population. One of the key problem areas will be the shortages of the affordable housings for the urban poor and the growth of slums. However, these slums are important component of urban ecosystem as they not only provide affordable shelters to the urban poor but also supply the urban area with its cheap labour force, therefore slums and slum dwellers should be treated as an integral part of urban ecosystem and should be included in the policy frameworks to make urban areas more inclusive and sustainable. This paper examines the sustainability of urban development through livelihood indicators of the slum dwellers of Darjeeling town. This empirical study was carried out in 8 different slum pockets of the town. The data was collected through questionnaires and were subsequently analyzed. The results shows that the slum pockets of Darjeeling town have higher literacy rates (including female literacy rate) as compared to both the national and the state averages, yet its performance in other livelihood indicators is very dismal. The attainment of the lower educational levels by slum dwellers indicates prevalence of very high dropout rates within the community. The slum dwellers face serious levels of deprivation as related to wellbeing indicator and environmental hygiene indicator in regard to access of safe drinking water and sanitation facilities respectively. The slum dwellers of Darjeeling town are forced to live in overcrowded substandard housing conditions with almost no municipal services and are situated on steep slopes which are often prone to the natural disasters. The mixed performance of the slum pockets in regard to the livelihood indicators suggests that the town of Darjeeling has been experiencing unbalanced growth in terms of sustainable development. Therefore a more holistic approach in policy framing is needed to address such multi-faceted problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization is the process of transformation through which cities develop, and higher percentages of the population come to live in the city or urban area. Urbanization has a positive impact in the path of development. According to World Bank estimation, more than 80% of global GDP generates in cities. Urbanization can contribute to sustainable growth through increased productivity and innovation if managed well. During 2011 census, Assam has an urbanization rate of 14% approximate which is lower compared to 31% of national urbanization rate. This paper intends to study the trend of urbanization in Assam over the years and the rate of growth of urban population. It also seeks to study the impact of urbanization on socio economic development and environment. The findings show that there is an increasing trend in the rate of growth of urbanization. Proper management and planning is required to induce organised and sustainable economic development and to protect the environment from degradation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The latest debate on smart cities and sustainability is underpinned by the United Nations' 2030 Agenda and their accompanying Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which place urban data and monitoring systems at the forefront. Therefore, there is a strong need to assess the data-driven capabilities that will help achieve the SDGs. To fill the capability gaps between existing tools and SDG indicators, new smart city data sources are now available. However, scant indicators and assessment criteria have been empirically validated. This paper identifies some of the challenges alongside the potential of using new local data in urban monitoring systems. A case study of an SDG monitoring platform implementation in a district of Berlin is examined, and the results show that the use of locale-specific, and unofficial data not only improves data availability, but it also encourages local public participation. Based on our empirical findings, we determine that the incorporation of new data for urban sustainability monitoring should be treated as a complex social process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The obvious characteristics of urban thermal environment and heat island effect have brought a series of negative effects on urban ecosystem structure and residents' health. Scholars at home and abroad have conducted basic researches on urban thermal environment, but there is a lack of researches on areas with rapid urbanization and many interference factors. There are few researches on measures or suggestions to improve urban thermal environment and heat island effect from the perspective of ecological sustainable development. To this end, this paper conducts a study on thermal environment effect of landscape ecological pattern and dynamic analysis of pattern evolution. This paper, based on the radiative transfer equation method, carries out back calculation and back analysis on the parameters of urban surface temperature to obtain the dynamic characteristics of urban thermal ecological landscape pattern. By combining the obtained urban surface temperature with the landscape index, this paper analyzes the internal change of urban surface thermal ecological landscape pattern. Through the spatial characteristics of the barycenter of urban thermal environment effect, the expansion and development trend of urban thermal environment effect is revealed. Then based on Moran'sI coefficient, the whole spatial correlation of urban thermal environment effect and the degree of spatial aggregation in local areas are analyzed. Finally, the corresponding experimental results and analytical results are given in combination with the experiments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Eco-efficiency, as one of the evaluation tools for sustainable development performance, has been a widely discussed topic in academia for the past several decades. However, the existing research on eco-efficiency is rather homogeneous. Most of it is based on the construction of a system of indicators that includes ecological constraints to evaluate its overall eco-efficiency, but it treats the eco-economic system as a 'black box', ignoring the fact that it is actually composed of several sub-systems. In this paper, based on a two-stage resource-environment system perspective, we construct a Super-NEBM model considering undesirable outputs to measure urban ecological efficiency; a spatial Durbin model is then used to analyse its influencing factors. The results indicate that (1) China's urban eco-efficiency levels are fluctuating, with a decreasing "east-central/northeast-west" trend. (2) The spatial heterogeneity of ecological efficiency levels in Chinese cities is obvious, with significant spatial agglomeration effects. (3) There are positive spatial spillover effects on the ecological efficiency of Chinese cities; economic development, industrial structure, financial development, population density, innovation capacity, infrastructure, marketisation and informatisation all have important direct effects on urban ecological efficiency; in addition, economic development, financial development, population density, marketisation, informatisation and foreign investment all have significant indirect effects of varying degrees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Western Himalaya are experiencing and epitomizing growing urbanization trends due to rapid population and tourism rise across the Indian Himalayan region. The pace and process of urban development in these regions are largely unplanned and unregulated; consequently, the altered landscape composition and configuration are influencing key ecological processes and functions supporting human wellbeing. Existing urbanization research addressing this issue has mainly focused on large urban centers, underrepresenting the potential role of medium-sized cities in sustainable landscape planning. Thus, this study attempted to quantify land use/land cover and landscape pattern dynamics in response to urban growth and expansion in and around two emerging urban centers—Dharamsala and Pithoragarh, Western Himalaya, over the past two decades. The study was split into three temporal periods, and intensity analysis was used to characterize transformational patterns in the city and outer zone of each landscape. The results indicate that, during the T2 and T3 period, the overall LULC dynamics was highest in Dharamsala and Pithoragarh, respectively. The urban development in Dharamsala occurred at the expense of cropland followed by vegetation and forest, while, in Pithoragarh, it occurred at the expense of cropland followed by vegetation loss dominated. Furthermore, the landscape pattern results highlighted the aggregation and homogenization at the city level, with a higher degree of disaggregation, fragmentation, and heterogeneity in outer zone. This paper highlights the importance of transformational patterns based on intensity analysis and landscape patterns to sustainable landscape development and planning. In addition, considering the past to present urban development trajectories, this study purposes a framework for sustainable landscape development in Himalaya for urban planners and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sustainable urban development must balance social, economic and environmental sustainability, compensate for shortages in development process and improve the welfare of society as a whole. In this paper, a comprehensive system for evaluating the sustainable development of the economy–society–environment system and a coupling coordination model of the three systems for analysing the level of city sustainable development are presented. In addition, the spatial autocorrelation cluster of the coupling coordination degree is analysed. The spatial–temporal evolution law is explored by integrating the panel data of 285 cities above the prefecture level in China (2003–2017). The results show that (1) the level of coupling coordinated development has raised; (2) the subsystem lagging problem has been alleviated, but only for approximately 20% of the economy–society–environment priority type cities; and (3) the degree of coupling coordination shows a positive spatial autocorrelation, which presents dispersion to agglomeration, with cities in the high–high agglomeration category mainly distributed in the eastern region and the concentration of cities in the low–low agglomeration category changing from the Midwestern region to part of the north-east China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Santarém, as in several Portuguese historic urban centres, population decline and aging have compromised social cohesion and economic vitality, and parts of the Historic Centre have visibly deteriorated, resulting in risks to the public of crumbling façades. Sustainable development in urban areas must involve a reorientation of spatial planning policies to integrate older areas into wider urban and regional development frameworks, considering them as part of the wider territory. This paper proposes that the operationalisation of the recommendations of the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach can provide robust evidence, co-produced with local communities, supporting sustainable urban planning policies, and that such an approach is wholly consistent with EU and national planning and conservation legislation. Through focusing on the values, meanings and significance of place, the processes shaping the HUL of an empirical test neighbourhood, the Mouraria in Santarém, are brought into focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the onset of rapid population growthand urbanisation levels in India, significant amount of population will be living in urban areas. As existing cities are already densely populated with limited infrastructure, the emergence of townships in the vicinity of urban areas offers great potential for accommodate them. Townships have thus become an important means of sustaining urbanisation in India. This paper discusses the emergence of township development in Pune city and its neighbouring areas by performing an analysis of existing townships as cases. The salient features and major advantages of these townshipsare discussed in detail. The paper finds that the township development in Pune has been rather evolutionary: from 'satellite townships' that were based on the concept of 'counter magnet settlements', to 'integrated townships' that were based on the concept of 'sustainable development', and further to 'smart townships' which use the principles of 'new urbanism'. The paper therefore brings about how such evolution of township development can be replicated by other Indian cities to achieve the urbanisation and urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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

Municipal green waste (MGW) has significantly increased with the development of urban green areas, and its utilization by composting is a good alternative to solve the problem. This paper presents the results from the quality assessment of two industrial composts (from the composting facility of a regional nonhazardous waste landfill) based on their physicochemical properties, hygienic safety (microbiological parameters), fertilizing potential (by fertilizing index, FI) and heavy metal polluting potential (by clean index, CI). Compost 1 (C1) was made from MGW (100%) and Compost 2 (C2) was made from MGW (75%) and discarded green peppers (25%). The evaluation of physicochemical parameters was conducted according to Bulgarian Standards (BDS) methods and microbiological analysis using selective, chromogenic detection systems. It was found that the EC, P, K, Mg, Cu, Cr and Ni were lower for C1 (p < 0.05–0.001). On the other hand, Pb concentration was higher compared to C2 (p < 0.001); the concentrations of Cd, Hg and the E. coli were very low for both composts; presence of Salmonella was not detected. The estimated quality indexes (FI and CI) classified C1 as Class B compost (very-good-quality compost with medium fertilizing potential) and C2 as Class A compost (best-quality compost with high soil fertility potential and low heavy metal content). The C1 and C2 composts meet the requirements of EU and Bulgarian legislation and can be used as soil fertilizers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]