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As the global community strives to address the pressing challenges of environmental degradation and social inequality, the role of architecture in promoting sustainable development has gained unprecedented significance. This paper explores the intrinsic connection between architecture and sustainable development, focusing on Egypt as a case study. The research follows theoretical and practical application methodology, where case studies and solutions are applied. Egypt, with its rich historical heritage and rapidly urbanizing cities, presents a unique context to investigate how the built environment can contribute to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined by the United Nations. This study adopts a multidisciplinary approach, integrating architectural analysis, urban planning principles, environmental science, and social studies to examine the various ways in which architecture influences and interacts with sustainability goals. Case Studies include two locations in Egypt as future concepts to solve problems: Downtown Cairo and Nubia-Aswan, where ideas were introduced towards a better quality of life. The findings of this research underscore the importance of collaboration between various stakeholders, such as government bodies, non-governmental organizations, architects, and the public, to create a holistic approach to sustainable architectural design and urban planning towards resilient communities. The paper also emphasizes the need for education and awareness campaigns to foster a culture of sustainability within the architectural and construction sectors. Proposed projects were introduced in the International Union of Architects (UIA) World Congress of Architects in Copenhagen 2023 and published in UIA Guidebook 2030. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: In collaboration with their home cities, universities increasingly develop courses in which students investigate urban sustainability challenges. This paper aims to understand how far-reaching the collaboration with urban stakeholders in these courses is and what students are meant to learn from the transdisciplinary pedagogies. Design/methodology/approach: This research is designed as a qualitative multiple-case study into the intentions of transdisciplinary courses in which universities collaborate with their home cities: Delft University of Technology in Delft and Amsterdam Institute for Advanced Metropolitan Solutions in Amsterdam. The study compares the written intentions of eight courses in course descriptions with the ideal intentions that teachers describe in interviews. Findings: First, seven of the eight investigated courses were designed for urban stakeholders to participate at a distance or as a client but rarely was a course intended to lead to a collaborative partnership between the city and students. Second, the metacognitive learning objectives, such as learning to deal with biases and values of others or getting to know one's strengths and weaknesses in collaboration, were often absent in the course descriptions. Learning objectives relating to metacognition are at the heart of transdisciplinary work, yet when they remain implicit in the learning objectives, they are difficult to teach. Originality/value: This paper presents insight into the levels of participation intended in transdisciplinary courses. Furthermore, it shows the (mis)alignment between intended learning objectives in course descriptions and teachers' ideals. Understanding both the current state of transdisciplinarity in sustainability courses and what teachers envision is vital for the next steps in the development of transdisciplinary education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a review of urban slum and suburban sprawl situations across the world. The article is more descriptive in nature than analytical and has the objective of bringing out the interrelationships among urbanization, urban slums, suburban sprawls, and environmental sustainability. It begins by examining the concepts of urbanization, urban slums, suburban sprawl, safe cities, resilient cities, and sustainable cities. It then goes on to look at the causes and consequences of urban slums and suburban sprawl. Findings from the study revealed that slums and suburban sprawls are cogs in the wheel of safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. Therefore, the study recommends efficient urban management, the implementation of urban master plans, development control, and citizen participation in urban planning and management. Above all, for the achievement of safe, resilient, and sustainable cities, this study places more emphasis on the use of modern techniques of environmental monitoring and management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa's urbanization rate has quadrupled from 14% in 1950 to about 44% in 2022. A variety of urban growth models have been used to measure and monitor urbanization, its drivers and implications for urban planning and sustainability. This paper reviews the performance of various Cellular Automata (CA)-based urban growth models and their implications for the urbanization processes in Africa. To this end, we employ a systematic review approach to identify the final 18 articles published in Web of Science-indexed journals until 2022. Our review found that the CA-based urban growth model has been successfully used in Africa to track the impacts of urban growth, assess different city growth scenarios and compare the performance of various CA-integrated models. Yet, most of the reviewed CA-based studies have focused on more urbanized regions of the continent. The result also reveals that integrating the CA model with other statistical methods improves its broader application and practicality than a conventional CA model. Our findings give planners, policymakers, and other urban stakeholders a more in-depth understanding of the challenges of unplanned urbanization and the need for meaningful participation from urban stakeholders in city growth and sustainable land use management that balances urban growth and the environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decades, local governments have begun to develop urban food planning instruments focused on improving public health and environmental sustainability, but shortcomings still exist. This paper builds on the case of the Melbourne Metropolitan Region (Australia) to elaborate on how urban food planning and management can address the challenges exposed by a systemic approach. Challenges include strengthening local food economies, developing a nexus between the urban environment, public health, and sustainability, and the circular management of food production resources. Our study contributes to urban food planning and management practice by identifying how policy instruments have successfully addressed these key challenges, and existing inconsistencies between policies and planning. Furthermore, policies should go beyond incentives for urban gardens and explore new areas of intervention, including integrating local producers and retailers into urban food planning, prioritizing fresh food commercialization over ultra-processed products, and integrating composting into waste management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nature-based solutions (NBS) is a relatively novel concept and real-world application has only started to proliferate in cities, which motivates addressing early attempts of cross-boundary collaboration for implementing NBS. The aim of this paper is to reflect about the process of transdisciplinary research-practice collaboration on NBS and its associated learnings, potentials and challenges. To do so, this paper reflects on one of the local urban-regional innovation partnerships within the Naturvation research project, which included urban planning practitioners, researchers and public and private organisations, and aimed to understand what NBS can achieve in cities and how to advance implementation through collaboration. This paper is based on embedded research and uses participant observation as methodological inspiration. It draws on two streams of literature to frame the reflections; (a) transdisciplinary research, to reflect on the collaborative process of research and practice engaging in learning and knowledge co-production and (b) boundary concepts, to capture the boundaryspanning nature of NBS. Observations, grey literature and the "network compass" [Schneider, F., T. Tribaldos, C. Adler, R. O. Biggs, A. de Bremond, T. Buser, C. Krug et al. 2021. "Co-Production of Knowledge and Sustainability Transformations: A Strategic Compass for Global Research Networks." Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 49: 127-142. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cosust.2021.04.007] were used expost to identify and map fields of action and associated potentials and challenges. The process included joint problem understanding and building relations, visioning and creation of roadmaps, targeted collaboration and horizontal learning. This paper suggests that future research-practice collaboration on NBS should focus on relational capacities and communicative skills, and integrating joint reflection and learning as central components for co-producing knowledge. Furthermore, transdisciplinary collaboration requires facilitation and management skills, which should be considered an area of expertise and not taken for granted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities located in the Arctic often have extreme geographic and environmental contexts and unique sociopolitical and economic trajectories that, when combined with amplified effects of climate change in the region, impact future sustainable development. Well-recognized and standardized sustainable development indicator (SDI) frameworks such as ISO 37120 or UN-Habitat City Prosperity Index are often used to compare data across cities globally using comprehensive sets of indicators. While such indexes help characterize progress toward development and guide short- and long-term decision-making, they often lack relevance to specific contexts or characterize future visions of urban growth. To evaluate the extent of these deficiencies and to provide a comparative analysis of approaches to sustainable urban growth in the Arctic, this paper analyzes city planning documents for five northern cities - Anchorage (USA), Utqiagvik (USA), Reyjavik (ISL), Iqaluit, (CAN), Whitehorse, (CAN) - for goals, targets, and indicators and compare these to thematic areas and indicators defined by ISO 37120:2018 Sustainable Cities and Communities. The results confirm that although international SDI frameworks may be useful for comparative analysis of cities across diverse regions, they exclude important local factors that influence goal-oriented urban sustainability planning strategies employed in the Arctic region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Promoting the shift from private cars to micromobility (e.g., bike, e-bike, scooter) can represent a valuable action to improve city sustainability and liveability. Micromobility can help to replace trips by individual private cars (e.g., daily short round trips) as well as to improve coverage and accessibility of transit services, and, subsequently, to reduce the traffic impacts (e.g., pollutant emissions). It can be seen as a potential solution to move people more efficiently in urban areas, as well as to push people towards a more active mobility behaviour, contributing to the well-being goals. In this context, the paper, rather than inferring the users' propensity to change their travel mode, proposes a methodology to identify car trips that can be considered the most compatible with micromobility. Estimation of the potential demand (e.g., the upper level of car trips that could be replaced by micromobility) is carried out by exploiting the opportunity offered by floating car data (FCD) for characterising car trips. Its goodness is therefore evaluated through an application to a real case study (i.e., the city of Trani, Apulia Region, Southern Italy), divided into seventy traffic zones, and where a FCD dataset of about 5,200 trips was available. The FCD allowed the car trips to be characterised (e.g., origin and destination, path features) instead of using the traditional surveys. The results indicate that a significant share of daily car trips can be substituted (i.e., the most compatible) by micromobility (31% of car round trips in the case study), with considerable potential environmental gains (traffic emission reduction; less than 21% of total emissions from private cars). Results can be of interest to local authorities in integrating micromobility in urban mobility planning and promoting new sustainable transport alternatives, as well as to transport companies for designing new appeal services. The developed methodology is parametric and uses easy-to-obtain data available worldwide; thus, it can be easily transferred to other city contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Lighting has emerged as a central concern in the domain of city planning and design in recent decades. Better lighting does more than just make cities safer and more secure; it also makes them more aesthetically pleasing and easier to live in. A single type of optical sensor is no longer sufficient to meet the needs of intelligent lighting for urban roads, and as such, there is a growing demand for cutting-edge control systems that can adapt to the dynamic lighting needs in urban environments. This paper's goal is to create an intelligent urban lighting control system by integrating optical multisensor technology and the gray model (GM model). Programmable logic controller (PLC) serves as the system's central processing unit, with light intensity sensors and color sensor-detecting devices placed strategically throughout each city and linked directly to the controller. Each road streetlight is equipped with a motion sensor detection device that is tasked with identifying the presence of vehicles and pedestrians within its field of view. Data fusion technology is utilized to process the environmental data gathered by optical multisensors, the collected data are then used to control and predict outcomes using the robust prediction capability of the GM model, and the result is a lighting control strategy that is both efficient and intelligent. In the end, the strategy presented in this paper is applied to improving the management of an industrial park lighting system's energy consumption. The results of the evaluations show that the fresh method is successful in dimming, prediction, and control. This conclusively demonstrates the efficacy of the paper's proposed design solution, which integrates optical multisensor technology with sophisticated control algorithms and data analysis to improve the quality of life in urban areas by boosting the efficiency and sustainability of the urban lighting system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides a comprehensive analysis of the intricate interplay between public administration and environmental sustainability. Emphasizing the crucial role of public administrations at both local and national levels, the study explores innovative approaches to combat environmental challenges. At the local level, the research focuses on Barcelona as a case study, delving into the city's groundbreaking Urban Mobility Plan. The unique implementation of the superblocks concept showcases effective strategies for reducing pollution, promoting sustainable mobility, and fostering overall environmental well-being. On a national scale, the paper delves into legislative frameworks and strategies formulated by public administrations to address environmental issues. It underscores the necessity of coherent policies that align with international standards, taking into account the global nature of environmental challenges. By exploring diverse strategies at different governance levels, the paper contributes nuanced insights into the challenges and opportunities faced by public administrations in their quest to enhance environmental sustainability. The findings not only underscore the critical role of public administration in tackling environmental issues but also provide valuable insights for shaping future policies and initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhoods and urban contexts are full of potential hidden inside them in an intangible form and can be used for their development and sustainability. Therefore, studying, discovering, and using them can help revive worn and historical textures. These mental factors include things not in the city's outward appearance but in its heart and memory. The mindscape of the city includes everything that has meaning for its residents. Collective memories lead to strengthening their sense of belonging. The sense of belonging and collective memory is one factor that promotes social participation in the neighborhood and urban contexts. Social involvement is an efficient factor in facilitating neighborhood management, attracting investment, and helping environmental issues. Finally, it plays an influential role in sustaining life in urban contexts. Despite the plans that have been made to promote the sense of collective memory and increase the sense of belonging to the place, Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood has yet to achieve its growth and prosperity as in the past. Therefore, this paper focuses on studying how mindscape can help the sustainability and development of cities. The research method in this paper is based on document study, the review of documents related to prominent research in the fields of objective landscape, place identity, sense of place, and surface, and was carried out by descriptive-analytical research method. The method of collecting information is in two forms: documentary and field. Field information will be collected through two questionnaires (see Appendices A and B) from residents and experts. In this research, after reviewing and studying the documents and analyzing the field data, we present the proposed model of the influential factors of the mental landscape in the sustainability of urban contexts and draw the following conclusions: The concept of the mindscape holds significant importance in the context of creating sustainable cities and communities. It encompasses belonging, collective memories, and factors promoting social participation. Safeguarding and nurturing collective memory, the sense of place, belonging, and social participation are crucial in sustaining the mindscape and ensuring the long-term well-being of urban environments. By prioritizing these elements, cities and communities can foster a stronger connection between residents and their surroundings, resulting in a more vibrant and resilient urban fabric. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a comprehensive state-of-the-art analysis and mathematical modeling of the National Program for Smart Cities (PRONACES) initiatives in Mexico's journey towards smart city development. The focus is on examining how PRONACES integrates technological innovation with urban planning and sustainability, leveraging mathematical models to optimize and predict the outcomes of various smart city initiatives. The methodology includes a review of current literature to establish the state of the art, followed by the development and application of mathematical models to assess and forecast the effectiveness of PRONACES strategies. These models are based on a variety of parameters including urban growth, technology adoption, resource allocation, and environmental impact. Key findings demonstrate the significant role of PRONACES in transforming urban landscapes in Mexico. The mathematical models provide valuable predictions and insights into the potential outcomes of various smart city strategies, indicating pathways for efficient resource management, infrastructure development, and sustainable urban growth. The paper concludes with an emphasis on the importance of mathematical modeling in planning and implementing smart city initiatives. The challenges and opportunities presented by Mexico’s unique urban landscape are discussed, along with recommendations for future research and policy-making in the field of smart urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This paper aims to explore the effects of collaborative innovation (CI) in urban planning practice by investigating the influence of a platform for collaboration between academia and external partners (practitioners and community groups). Unlike previous research on learning outcomes from the perspective of students (Fokdal et al., 2020), the aim of this article is to investigate the transformative learning (TL) experience from the perspective of the external partners. Design/methodology/approach: The outcomes of the TL experience were assessed through four elements: disorienting dilemma; critical reflection; engagement in discourse; and reflective and critical taking action. Findings: The claim that collaboration with multiple actors through TL processes can help promote innovative ways to view and practice planning outside of academia has to a certain extent been confirmed. This paper provides evidence that such transformative processes can have an impact on the individuals involved and shows the importance of individuals acting as change agents – or drivers of innovation. In addition, the importance of a collaborative platform – acting as an intermediary – in facilitating TL processes in planning practices is highlighted in the context of Serbia. Originality/value: This paper is a continuation of existing research on educational initiatives that attempt to integrate sustainability into the curricula and bring innovation to urban planning practice; showcase outcomes of the TL experience for sustainable development, especially when addressing the innovative ways that planning is practiced outside of academia; and push for change toward a more sustainable future not only within and but also outside of academia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we argue that the theory of cultural niche construction provides a cogent and fruitful framework for studying and managing human−environment relationships, including our conceptualizations of them. We first review the development of the ideas of niche construction from evolutionary to social contexts. We then discuss how various human cognitive and affective goals are achieved through our engagement and interaction with the environment, as cognitive and affective niche construction. We extend this analysis to the built environment, as urban niche construction, and provide two examples of urban design for which niche construction provides useful theoretical and practical insights. We also discuss how different urban policy initiatives are related through the lens of cultural niche construction. This paper proposes the theory of cultural niche construction as a framework to conceptualise, model and manage human‐environment relationships towards sustainability. It illustrates how to do these with two cases of urban niche construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For spatial practices such as architecture, urban design and planning, degrowth remains an abstract concept, as there is no clear alignment of its principles into spatial strategies. To bridge this gap, this paper examines how degrowth can be operationalised into sustainable spatial practices. Through a review of more than 200 sustainable spatial projects across the world operating at the building, neighbourhood and citywide scales, the paper shows that while the majority of sustainable interventions representative of dominant architecture and urban design culture do not align to degrowth principles, a significant number of examples using sustainability strategies such as convivial technologies, building retrofitting, urban renaturation and revitalisation, eco-urbanisation and spatial infrastructure upgrading are in fact aligned to degrowth principles. We suggest that these examples form a potential stepping-stone to enable an urban design and building culture rooted in a degrowth agenda, however further research and conceptualisation are needed to enable this to happen. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urbanization induced growth of secondary cities presents several issues and challenges for sustainable development. Yet, secondary cities continue to receive less attention from scholars, city planners and policymakers in Africa. Understanding the spatial and temporal dynamics of secondary cities is critical for achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11. This paper examines the emerging spatial and temporal evolution of two secondary cities in Northern Ghana. The paper utilizes raster data (1990–2019) and applied landscape metrics to analyze spatial development in Wa and Bolgatanga municipalities along three concentric rings. The results show significant increase in built areas over the study period. Urban development in the two cities is becoming more or less fragmented, dispersed and contiguous. Inadequate spatial planning, weakly regulated development and uncoordinated land markets account for the fragmentated spatial forms. The two cities exhibit a monocentric form that fluctuates, is dynamic, and discontinuous. The paper reflects on the implications of the findings and suggests the need for a planned extension of secondary cities in Africa to generate efficient urban forms, curtail sprawl and protect the natural environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding how the planning system is (not) functioning remains a challenge for many urban planners in the developing world. This paper responds by conducting an analysis of the discourse between national and local planners. It seeks to unfold the challenges of informal settlement planning in Accra, Ghana. Through in-depth interviews, this paper suggests that: (I) Grounding sustainability must be conducted by implementing the plans rather than producing the plans. (II) Empowering local planners should be a primary task to incrementally remedy the challenging planning system in countries like Ghana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An increasing number of disasters across the globe have prompted the creation of strategies for disaster risk reduction and resilience to save lives and property in line with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the New Urban Agenda (NUA). The 2030 Agenda calls for all development planning to simultaneously tackle disaster risk reduction and inclusiveness. This paper aims to remold urban planning for upcoming new towns in developing countries so that planners can be able to include indigenous knowledge systems in urban planning. The study was conducted in a new town, Gokwe, Zimbabwe, with a population of 8,118 from which a sample size of 229 was drawn using Cochran's sample size determination formula and the 30% rule. A mixed-methods analytic case study was conducted to evaluate the potential of the town's planning processes in preventing natural and human-induced disasters. The study used questionnaires, semistructured interviews, desktop sources, focus group discussions, and remote sensing. It analyzed the strategies, scope, and relevance of Gokwe town disaster risk-reduction strategies and their integration into town planning and development using six wards, from 1992 to 2020. The Urban Disaster Reduction Index (UDRI) model was applied based on the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction indicators to measure the extent to which the town council's development planning can help to reduce disaster and foster sustainable development. The UDRI was calculated for the four Sendai Framework priority areas and proved that the council's disaster management is weak. The chief cause was found to be the town's development control regulations and the national urban councils act that excludes contributions from local communities and leadership, placing new town planning in the hands of bureaucrats, technicians, and politicians only. It was concluded that for disaster management to improve requires local DRR and national urban development policies reformulation. This research exposed that the practice and scholarship of urban planning in most low-income countries such as Zimbabwe must be changed from mere physical design to a holistic process approach of community building. There is need to redefine sustainable development as a dynamic and continuous approach that brings together physical considerations, societal values, and technology in crafting solutions for urban development challenges. Environmentalists, planners, policymakers, engineers, economists, and society at large must combine forces to bring about the most sought-after urban sustainability that ensures environmental protection, spatial coordination, and economic and social development for the present and future generations. The paper calls for adoption of a dynamic multidisciplinary and cyclic rather than the current static and unidirectional planning advanced by traditional urban planning theories, such as the rational–comprehensive, incremental, and the transactive theories. Urban planning should not be viewed as a technical, empirical, and scientific activity that does not require any input from ordinary citizens. Planning processes should afford the public an active role, not only in planning but right from policy setting, planning, development, and management of the established town. Town development should be a mutual process in which leaders gather more information from the community and for the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantifying the progress and interactions of the 11 indicators of Sustainable Development Goal 11 plays a crucial role in improving urban living and promoting urban prosperity. SDG 11, focused on sustainable cities and communities, employs forward-thinking strategies to address challenges arising from urban prosperity and development, such as land scarcity and resource shortages. This paper positions the indicators of SDG 11, analyzing the patterns, trends, dynamics, and issues of urbanization development in Guilin using a combination of geospatial satellite resource data and categorical statistical data. The study introduces a framework and positioning method for assessing sustainable development at the city–county scale, exploring the current state, spatial aggregation, synergies, and trade-offs in the development of Guilin City. The study introduces a framework and positioning method for assessing sustainable development at the city–county scale. Utilizing a localized evaluation system, it explores the developmental status of Guilin City. The application of Moran's Index observes spatial aggregation among entities. By investigating Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, it delves into the interplay of synergies and trade-offs within the studied region. Ultimately, it reveals significant disparities in the developmental landscape of the evaluated area, with a comprehensive spatial distribution indicating higher levels of development in the central and western regions and lower levels in the southeastern part. Strengthened cross-leverage and coordination are imperative to address the interconnections and harmonization of the developmental trends of the six synergistic indicators and nine trade-off indicators during the developmental process. The sustainable development of Guilin lays the groundwork for urban planning, construction, conservation, and management, positioning it as a potential model for successful sustainable development practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABBREVIATIONS Propelled by more energy-efficient technologies such as light-emitting diodes, the growth of outdoor light at night is raising concerns about light pollution (LP). Given mounting evidence of LP’s risks to human wellbeing, nature and wildlife, and views of the dark sky, this paper examines the extent to which LP concerns are addressed in land use plans, policies, and regulations in nine U.S. cities, including Flagstaff, Arizona, a city known for its model lighting code. Through a review of zoning and other ordinances, area and sectoral plans and policies, media reports, and interviews with planners, this study documents that LP has yet to be taken seriously in municipal codes of most study cities. Drawing from the Flagstaff model, it offers recommendations for evidence-based, objective standards for three key dimensions of LP-mitigation: limiting total illumination or lumens per acre, shielding of lamps, and specifying luminaire characteristics.AMA: American Medical Association; APA: American Planning Association; CCT: Correlated Color Temperature; CRI: Color Rendition Index; ESCO: Energy Service Companies; f.c.: foot candle; HPS: High-Pressure Sodium; IDA: International Dark-Sky Association; LED: Light-Emitting Diode; LP: Light Pollution; LPS: Low-Pressure Sodium; LZ: Lighting Zone; NSA: Narrow-Spectrum Amber [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, participatory design (PD) has an increasing focus on sustainable urban futures. Given the complexity of designing with and for urban sustainability, PD in this context often takes place in long-term processes which involve evolving networks of actors operating from different perspectives on this issue. This paper highlights the need for collective learning in these processes and for clarifying how PD methods support it. Hence, we explore the value of learning theories, and – more particularly – the established learning theory of expansive learning to understand how these PD practices engage with learning. We focus on the value of more carefully addressing learning theories in one particular area of PD approaches, namely participatory prototyping. This is done by reflecting on a participatory prototyping trajectory in existing residential suburbs from which conclusions are drawn on participatory prototyping and on PD in a broader sense for supporting collective learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities play increasingly recognised roles in global climate change responses: as change laboratories, spaces of opportunity, and as administrative and economic hubs that concentrate human and financial resources and needs. They host high climate mitigation potential and acute climate adaptation vulnerabilities. Scholarship flags conventional urban planning approaches to limit global warming to 1.5°C as inadequate. Yet urban sustainability transitions literature features few examples of functioning alternative governance and planning paradigms. This paper assesses one such approach, new municipalism: social movements centred on a democratic transformation of the local economy and state. We combine attention to urban sustainability transitions and new municipalism research to interrogate whether and how the latter can facilitate the provision of leadership and institutional arrangements that enable urban transformation to sustainability. Our desk study considers two prominent examples of new municipalism in Spain, where Barcelona en Comú and Ahora Madrid arose as anti-austerity movements to combat neoliberal urban agendas during the 2010s. We find that the praxis of collective decision-making associated with new municipalism does offer inclusive, innovative policy pathways and the potential to implement experimental knowledge and learning in complex real-world settings at the urban scale. We argue, however, that powerful neoliberal mechanisms impose structural constraints on the very push for deep political change that new municipalist movements embody. By linking transformative climate governance needs with new municipalism movements and wider political economic structuring forces, we explicate the tensions and contested dynamics of institutionalising progressive social movements in the multi-scalar governance of urban sustainability transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Twenty-first-century population growth is raising the need for more land space in urban areas and this has led to the construction of high-rise buildings, reducing horizontal urban development and making construction of residential high-rise buildings (RHB) a necessity in major cities around the world. In this regard, urban density and high-rise construction are key factors when determining a city's sustainability and the liveability of urban areas. Sustainability indicators were identified in previous research and quantification has proven to be a useful tool for RHB design. This paper provides an overview of the various sustainability factors applied to RHB design. The paper also compiles information on the sustainability strategy, description of RHB issues and how this type of building can affect urban design. Some strategies may improve the natural environment such as incorporating green spaces, combining living, working and leisure activities, providing facilities for children and the elderly such as playgrounds and reasonably natural settings, ease of access to public transport, road networks and shopping facilities and so forth. The research is based on a descriptive approach and it analyses previous studies. The findings show that the environmental, economic and social aspects of sustainable development (SD) should be considered to implement sustainability in RHBs. Previous literature reviews on RHBs considered social aspects in less detail. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is published as part of the Geografiska Annaler: Series B, Human Geography special issue 'Revisiting the green geographies of welfare planning', edited by Johan Pries and Mattias Qviström. ABSTRACT In the midst of the growing ecological crisis, the 'compact city' has become the mainstream urban paradigm for the sustainable future of western cities. However, the uneven implementation of densification policies can have adverse impacts on the amount and quality of urban green spaces, which are vital resources for local communities. This paper explores the controversies of introducing compactness in the case of Toronto's 'towers in the park': housing estates built in comprehensively planned neighbourhoods from the 1950s through the 1970s. It does so through the lenses of urban design and landscape planning, by tracking the evolution of narratives that underpin the current urban regime, and by assessing their legitimacy from the perspective of residents. The findings highlight a persistent mismatch between Toronto's dominant urban design paradigm and the sociomaterial context of its uncritical application. Exemplar episodes of tower infill show two discursive tropes to justify compactness: the alleged underuse of open spaces, and the creation of a proper public realm by replacing these spaces with buildings and streets. Beyond uncovering the fallacy of both claims, this paper outlines an alternative perspective for more equitable strategies for common green spaces, outside unconditional protection and zealous quest for "value uplift." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to analyse the process of connecting the railway and the port of Setúbal within the development of sustainable urban policies. Since the nineteenth century, cities have faced challenges concerning the logistics of transportation. The urban specificities of port cities attracted the attention of experts in the mid-twentieth century, after some cities had relocated or restructured their port areas. Consequently, by the end of the twentieth century, intermodality became a fundamental tool to guarantee a sustainable urban plan. Currently, the sustainability paradigm has increased the concerns about port cities, due to their environmental, social, and economic qualities. This article aims to explore the historical relationship between the railway and the port of Setúbal. Focus is placed on the attempts to develop an intermodal system in Setúbal, while confronting it with its urban development. By discussing the restructuring process of the port of Setúbal since the arrival of the railway, this paper provides an overview of the interests and actors involved in the connection between these infrastructures. The historical analysis of the port-rail infrastructure reveals the urgency of this kind of understanding for current and future sustainable urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social sustainability has increasingly become a goal for urban policy and planning, and for local and regional developmental strategies. Neighbourhoods are a common spatial scale for studying social sustainability and there is a growing focus on social sustainability in urban neighbourhoods for both researchers and policymakers. This paper is based on a qualitative case study of a neighbourhood defined by the municipality as at-risk of negative social development in a municipality in northern Sweden. The aim is to describe the perceived threats and promoters for social sustainable development in a neighbourhood defined as at-risk, and to analyse these in relation to a perspective of spatial scale. The study is based on data from interviews with municipal representatives, local professionals and residents, representing different experiences and perspectives in the neighbourhood. Four themes illustrating threats to socially sustainable development were identified: crime, unrest and unsafety; segregation and social exclusion; reputation and stigmatisation; and low involvement in municipal processes. The promoters for socially sustainable development identified in the respondents' stories reflect four themes: strong community spirit; safety and low criminality; lively civic society and well-functioning public services. Our results show that neighbourhood social sustainability cannot be studied or acted upon without being put in a context of spatial scale and an understanding that processes occurring at a particular scale only can be adequately understood when considered in relation to other scales, i.e. the development in the neighbourhood can only be understood in relation to the development in the city and at national level. There is also a need for an awareness of how different aspects of socially sustainable development relate to each other, by strengthening or counteracting each other. Key policy highlights There are no "magic bullet solutions" to ensure social sustainable development at the local level. Rather, actions and interventions must embrace complexity. The risk for counteracting processes must be acknowledged in any actions to promote social sustainability. Social sustainability processes occurring at a particular scale can only be adequately understood and addressed when considered in relation to other scales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper builds on an acceleration mechanisms framework from transition studies and analyzes the role of green events for sustainable urban transformations. We study eight regional garden shows in German small and medium-sized cities, using interview and document data as well as on-site visits for an in-depth qualitative analysis. Our findings reveal that garden shows contribute to urban sustainability through implementing green projects and supporting small initiatives. We find that instrumentalizing and upscaling are crucial mechanisms for accelerating urban transitions, while replicating, partnering and embedding play a supporting role. The importance of these mechanisms, however, varies over time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper will explore whether and how different modes of postsocialist urban transformation of inherited large housing estates (LHE) from the socialist past have influenced quantitative changes in urban green space (UGS) at the neighborhood level. The investigation will be conducted on a representative LHE neighborhood in the city of Niš, Serbia. This paper will introduce the Urban Green Transformation Index (UGTI) that combines five weighted parameters by employing the geographic information system–multicriteria decision-making (GIS–MCDM) method, which uses linear aggregation with a weighted overlay approach. This describes the impact that transformations have on UGSs for their permanency. The results from this paper indicate that the LHE redevelopment processes have caused constant pressure on the UGS throughout the postsocialist period, which has led to their regressive changes. The index presented in this paper could be used as a corrective, or mandatory, or both urban and land use planning and decision-making tool when assessing the degree of environmental and social sustainability of newly planned construction within the LHE neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paper presents analyses of the strategies and projects that have been implemented and realised in landscape architecture, environmental protection, and sustainable design in the chosen cities in Poland and Slovakia. There are several levels of evaluation: the first one is policy approach (which includes strategic documents, conceptions, plans which have been elaborated), the second one is the level of landscape design and sustainability (including architectural competitions and project realisation) and the third one is public participation (involvement of the public in urban planning, bottom-up initiatives, support of the communities). Ten cities in Poland and ten cities in Slovakia have been chosen. (The Paper brings an overview what are the current topics, with a great emphasis on what are the trends in landscape architecture and what are the obstacles, which need to be overcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inherited system features and challenges that can hinder urban planning initiatives must be taken into consideration before a path towards a sustainable future can be established. By putting the lock-in effect under scrutiny, it is possible to gain valuable insight to emphasize positive lock-ins and to prevent maladaptation and unsustainable solutions. This paper aims to review the current trends of urban studies regarding sustainability, resilience, and the lock-in effect, focusing on both hot topics and mutual integration by following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses for Scoping Reviews (PRISMA-ScR protocol) and analyzing the top-cited articles on these topics from 2015 to 2021 in the Web of Science database. Based on the revised literature, the potential lock-ins of climate-friendly and sustainable urban development are not adequately discussed. Moreover, while urban sustainability and resilience are often treated as overlapping areas, there is a lack of publications that carefully examine their interlinked long-term perspectives for any hindering effects. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the discourses of urban politics around the decision-making processes and the implementation of two sustainability projects in Seoul – the Cheonggyecheon Restoration Project and the Remaking Sewoon Project. Using an archival analysis, it investigates how the recent rapid socio-economic transformations in Korea have affected the discourses around the urban politics of sustainable policies in Seoul. "Green" has become a new paradigm for urban redevelopment in Korea since the early 2000s, and the research finds that the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) uses sustainability plans as a "sustainability fix" heavily focused on "pro-growth" development to win support for its restoration projects among citizens and for global approval. However, with increased democratization and the growing role of civic groups in urban politics, we see a move towards more just sustainability in urban sustainability planning in Korea. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We show that while some of them can be seen as mobile policies in the McCann/Ward and Peck/Theodore sense, most have been developed in situ with only diffuse connections to policies elsewhere or via innovatively combining selected aspects of several extant policies from elsewhere. By contrast, while the mobile policy literature acknowledges that "teritorialisation" and transformation of policies can occur, this is subordinate to the uprooting, mobilization and circulation of policies across space (Ward & McCann, [19], p. 170). Conclusion: Rebalancing Mobile Urban Policies Discourse This paper has set out to open up debate around mobile urban policy discourse by addressing pertinent questions about the ways in which innovative new urban policies are generated. Recent scholarship on how cities come to adopt new policies has focused on the notion of mobile policy. [Extracted from the article]

This paper explores the Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE) initiative, a pioneering approach initiated by India to propel sustainable urban development through targeted behavioural change. Positioned at the nexus of individual action and urban sustainability, LiFE underscores the potential of integrating lifestyle adjustments into the broader urban planning and policy-making framework. By examining the initiative's evolution from a grassroots movement to a key element of government policy, this paper highlights its innovative strategies aimed at promoting eco-friendly living and its significant impact on urban environments. Through case studies and an analysis of the initiative's alignment with global sustainability goals, we reveal how LiFE complements existing urban agendas by focusing on the micro-level actions of individuals and communities. This paper contributes to the discourse on sustainable urbanization by showcasing the critical role of behavioural change in achieving urban sustainability goals, thereby offering insights into the formulation of more holistic and effective urban policies. Significantly the paper articulates how LiFE's principles, through enhancing global policies and harnessing the power of technological advancements within the Smart Cities agenda, herald a new paradigm in urban sustainability efforts. • The LiFE initiative emphasizes individual behavioral changes over infrastructural reforms to promote urban sustainability. • The concept originated as a grassroots movement in India and has evolved into a significant element of governmental policy on environmental sustainability. • Case studies, such as the eco-village of Piplantri, demonstrate how individual and community actions can significantly contribute to sustainability goals. • LiFE strategically complements Sustainable Development Goal 11 (SDG 11) and the New Urban Agenda by focusing on micro-level actions that bridge the gap between policy intentions and tangible outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban green spaces (UGS) are a central part of cities and offer multiple ecological and social benefits necessary for a higher quality of life of inhabitants. However, rapid unguided urban growth together with planning policies on rezoning can lead to transformation of UGS to commercial, residential, and other uses. These processes of land use change result in inequities in the distribution of UGS in the city. Yet, data and metrics that capture changes in the geography of UGS is scarce within African cities. This paper addresses this need by examining the spatio-temporal geography of UGS at the neighborhood-scale in Kumasi, the next biggest city in Ghana. Five (5) UGS distribution indicators were computed from remote sensing data for 2013 and 2020 and compared across neighborhoods. Further, a GIS network analysis method was deployed to analyse access to parks in Kumasi. The results showed that between 2013 and 2020, green spaces in Kumasi became fragmented and disconnected despite a slight increase in quantity. The level of UGS fragmentation was found to significantly vary among the neighborhoods. Fragmentation and depletion in UGS were profound at the outskirts of Kumasi while majority of the population cannot access the nearest park under 30-min' walk. These findings contribute to a complete and holistic understanding of the distribution and accessibility of UGS at the neighborhood level in cities and disparities in UGS exposure in the Global South. The findings provide important insights for urban policies while the data and methods serve as blueprints for local authorities, particularly in Ghana to track their progress towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 11, target 7. • This paper deploys remote sensing and network analysis to explore the changing geography of, and accessibility to, urban green spaces (UGS) in Kumasi. • Green spaces in Kumasi became fragmented and disconnected between 2013 and 2020. • Fragmentation and depletion in UGS were profound at the outskirts of Kumasi. • Most (58%) of the inhabitants in Kumasi are without access to parks within 30 min' walk range. • Recommendations to improve UGS provision and preservation are proffered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As materializations of trends toward developing and implementing urban socio-technical and enviro-economic experiments for transition, eco-cities have recently received strong government and institutional support in many countries around the world due to their ability to function as an innovative strategic niche where to test and introduce various reforms. There are many models of the eco-city based mainly on either following the principles of urban ecology or combining the strategies of sustainable cities and the solutions of smart cities. The most prominent among these models are sustainable integrated districts and data-driven smart eco-cities. The latter model represents the unprecedented transformative changes the eco-city is currently undergoing in light of the recent paradigm shift in science and technology brought on by big data science and analytics. This is motivated by the growing need to tackle the problematicity surrounding eco-cities in terms of their planning, development, and governance approaches and practices. Employing a combination of both best-evidence synthesis and narrative approaches, this paper provides a comprehensive state-of-the-art and thematic literature review on sustainable integrated districts and data-driven smart eco-cities. The latter new area is a significant gap in and of itself that this paper seeks to fill together with to what extent the integration of eco-urbanism and smart urbanism is addressed in the era of big data, what driving factors are behind it, and what forms and directions it takes. This study reveals that eco-city district developments are increasingly embracing compact city strategies and becoming a common expansion route for growing cities to achieve urban ecology or urban sustainability. It also shows that the new eco-city projects are increasingly capitalizing on data-driven smart technologies to implement environmental, economic, and social reforms. This is being accomplished by combining the strengths of eco-cities and smart cities and harnessing the synergies of their strategies and solutions in ways that enable eco-cities to improve their performance with respect to sustainability as to its tripartite composition. This in turn means that big data technologies will change eco-urbanism in fundamental and irreversible ways in terms of how eco-cities will be monitored, understood, analyzed, planned, designed, and governed. However, smart urbanism poses significant risks and drawbacks that need to be addressed and overcome in order to achieve the desired outcomes of ecological sustainability in its broader sense. One of the key critical questions raised in this regard pertains to the very potentiality of the technocratic governance of data-driven smart eco-cities and the associated negative implications and hidden pitfalls. In addition, by shedding light on the increasing adoption and uptake of big data technologies in eco-urbanism, this study seeks to assist policymakers and planners in assessing the pros and cons of smart urbanism when effectuating ecologically sustainable urban transformations in the era of big data, as well as to stimulate prospective research and further critical debates on this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Trees absorb CO 2 and reduce the impact of GHGs. This paper deals about the carbon uptake dynamics produced by the management of unused lands as tool to help the fulfilment of international commitments on atmospheric CO 2. The paper introduces a new perspective of using the unused lands around Municipalities to compensate the carbon emissions of urban contexts, according to the Sustainable Energy Action Plans as answer to climate change, already approved by the most part of Cities in Europe. The model of the carbon dynamics is based on a genetic algorithm which allows to find the sequence of operations on the unused land in space (portions of the land) and time (rotation of cuts and plantations) to ensure the reaching of a given outcome in terms of carbon captured. The algorithm, therefore, behaves as design support of land management, enriching the literature available for the sector. The paper identifies two possible original scenarios of storing carbon referred as " emergency " and " constant rate "; the first produces after fifty years a maximum carbon uptake of the order of 100 tC/ha while the second a maximum uptake rate of the order of 2 tC/(year ha), after an initial start-up period of 40–50 years. • Mathematical model to evaluate tree growth and carbon sink from reforestation. • Optimization model to manage the carbon uptake in different scenarios. • Forest represents an effective way to remove carbon from atmosphere. • Carbon stock per unit of unused areas around cities and urban area. • Climate mitigation tool suitable by municipality in the context of SECAPs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A "smart city" involves planned urbanisation, a system which has been adopted in many countries involving tailor-made solutions to suit local challenges while making the most of local opportunities. Smart city initiatives started in Mauritius in 2015 after the "Smart City Scheme" (SCS) Regulations were issued the same year under the Investment Promotion Act (IPA). By 2021 there were twelve approved smart cities in the main island of Mauritius in different phases of completion, while other such projects are seeking approval. While the smart city concept encourages the development of land into coordinated urban planning, it is mostly agricultural land in Mauritius which is being targeted for such real estate investment. The conversion of some lands belonging to large sugar companies for development into hotels and leisure facilities was part of the Mauritian government strategy to diversify the sugar industry after the dismantling of the African Caribbean Pacific-European Union (ACP-EU) Sugar Protocol. Since 2002 the IPA has enabled the development of luxury residential property in the Integrated Resort Scheme (IRS). As from 2007 the Real Estate Development Scheme (REDS) included not only the IRS but also the Real Estate Scheme (RES) and the Invest Hotel Scheme (IHS), which are smaller in size and more affordable. In 2015 Mauritian decision-makers came up with the "smart city" concept as a blueprint for coordinated urban planning with large-scale mixed-use developments involving smart technology and pioneering innovation. Regulatory approval for a "smart city" project includes a SCS certificate, a Land Conversion Permit where necessary, an environment impact assessment (EIA), a licence and a Building and Land Use Permit, all of which are issued via a fast-track procedure. As a small island developing State (SIDS) Mauritius has limited land resources and it is important that the setting up of smart cities should be limited and environmentally sustainable. Setting up a smart city involves more than mere urbanisation and property development, and the plan must be carefully evaluated. This paper critically reviews the regulation of smart cities and smart city initiatives in the context of land use planning in Mauritius to consider the extent to which they are environmentally sustainable, and makes recommendations to improve their environmental sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

These time-based travel models, Gilbert and Woodcock argue, aim to reduce urban dispersion by concentrating activities within the time-frames in contrast to automobile travel which disperses activity through travel speed. This is the second special issue arising from the 10th State of Australasian Cities Conference (SOAC) hosted by a consortium of Melbourne-based universities: RMIT University, the University of Melbourne, Monash University and Swinburne University of Technology. Kent's paper offers an important point of departure for travel research, such that familial travel has been often overlooked as a key multi-occupant trip component of overall travel demand, despite most travel surveys being conducted at the household scale. [Extracted from the article]

Urban liveability is a global priority for creating healthy, sustainable cities. Measurement of policy-relevant spatial indicators of the built and natural environment supports city planning at all levels of government. Analysis of their spatial distribution within cities, and impacts on individuals and communities, is crucial to ensure planning decisions are effective and equitable. This paper outlines challenges and lessons from a 5-year collaborative research program, scaling up a software workflow for calculating a composite indicator of urban liveability for residential address points across Melbourne, to Australia's 21 largest cities, and further extension to 25 global cities in diverse contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on a case study of Alexandria city, Egypt, this paper investigates the configuration, interrelation, and integration of urban expansion within the framework of sustainability transitions to enhance the performance of sociotechnical transitions. It explores two main arguments; first, to evaluate the recent urban planning innovations, and second, to raise awareness of the participatory planning model to enhance the involvement of the three pillars to better integrate urban sustainable development. It presumes there is a linkage between urban sustainability transitions and the geographical transitions. It further evaluates whether this linkage would benefit accommodating the rapid population growth of Alexandria. This research applies an empirical methodology to test concepts and patterns known from theory generating three scenarios from empirical data. Moving beyond the 'niche–regime dichotomy', this study concludes that innovative practices and vested interests are typically constituted in a dualistic manner and tend to incite processes of change in both. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The need to develop sustainable stormwater management is intensifying due to climate impacts and urban densification. Such complex planning processes require insights into disparate issues, connecting heterogeneous actors. While many decision-support tools are developed to facilitate such planning, research assessing their usefulness is requested. This study introduces and assesses one such ICT-tool; the Visual Water platform, aiming to support sustainable stormwater planning in Swedish municipalities. The study aims to identify critical points to consider for developers of related decision-support tools and to detangle requirements and tradeoffs in making them relevant and user-friendly, building on test-sessions with Swedish practitioners. Results show that the platform responds to challenges within municipal planning as outlined by Swedish practitioners. However, though the platform content is considered relevant, its application in real-world planning is perceived as somewhat unclear. The paper discusses ideas for how sustainability-related decision-support tools better can respond to user demands. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between cultural heritage and sustainable development has been on the agenda of many related stakeholders for many years. Thus, cultural heritage was introduced into the sustainable development agenda in September 2015, being emphasized within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations (UN). Believing in this relationship, this paper focuses on capacities and limitations of various disciplines in reaching SDGs through cultural heritage conservation and management (CHC&M). The paper argues that we need innovative and transformative strategies and policies for the conservation and management of cultural heritage to be able to reach UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This requires a strong collaboration among various disciplines, primarily architecture, urban design, urban and regional planning - kin disciplines - as well as economics, geography, demography, and urban sociology. The research presented in this paper is based on a thorough literature review on sustainable development, SDGs, cultural heritage, and conservation and management of cultural heritage with an aim to put forward an interdisciplinary approach for CHC&M which will then lead to reaching SDGs. With this aim in mind, the research identifies the actual one to-one relationship between SDGs and CHC&M, while emphasizing the role of each kin discipline on CHC&M and sustainable development through a critical analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban scholarship has begun to trouble the neat alignment of smart city governance with urban entrepreneurialism. Starting from the proposition that states remain central in smart city governance and that unfolding the smart city involves crafting new performances of the state, this paper revisits evolving theorisations of urban governance through the lens of urban entrepreneurialism to examine how municipal state roles and practices are being refashioned and reoriented. Utilising empirical research on smart city governance across Australia's two largest cities, Sydney and Melbourne, we identify and tease out the active roles and the constitutive and experimental practices of entrepreneurial municipal statecraft involved in smart city governance. We frame these as 'extrospective' or 'beyond-the-state' in which new forms of partnerships are forged, and 'introspective' in which the dispositions, capabilities and competences of the municipal state itself are reformed. The paper enriches entrepreneurial accounts of smart cities and the situated and contextually-articulated agenda pursued in the name of governing 'the smart city'. It highlights plural municipal state agenda and the reworking of practices and performances of the municipal state that these entail. It remains imperative, the paper concludes, to attend critically to the ways that smart co-constitutes the state in unpredictable ways. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Resilient food infrastructures responsive to instability and change often form at the urban edge of food systems. As such, they could take heed of knowledge practices that occur at the urban edge. This paper conceptualizes learning as a co-productive activity that can be scaffolded by space, and examines how it applies to the re-imagination of food systems. By considering walking as a method in the design of desired foodscapes, this paper addresses how "time niches" foster embodied knowledges of care and haptic connection. The two cases that illustrate this – a set of walking workshops with Singapore-based participants and a visualising workshop with visiting conference participants – consider how so-called lay and expert knowledges may come together in knowledge co-production in future-making practices. The paper explores how civic and decolonial practices occur in the sustainability transition of food. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the common practice and the regulatory requirements related to the urban planning of our cities continues to define environmental quality through compliance with urban planning codes, the inadequacy of this parameter is increasingly evident. For this reason, numerous urban regeneration programs, and above all urban sustainability assessment standards, evaluate the environmental sustainability levels and livability, as if they were a project indicator. The paper describes the most consolidated indicators and proposes the use of the livability indicator of the public space promoted by the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona with some modifications that make it more consistent with the Milanese and Italian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial order refers to the perceived harmony, integrity, and completeness of the architectural heritage. Nevertheless, to the best of our knowledge, this concept has not been used yet to assess the heritage. This paper aims to demonstrate a multidimensional assessment of the architectural heritage value, in its urban environment, with the use of spatial order concept. We used field survey and statistical analysis to evaluate an example architectural heritage—Warsaw Ochota railway station in Poland—in four dimensions of spatial order such as architectural, esthetic, social, and functional. We found that the value of the heritage varies according to the spatial order dimensions and depends on the urban environment. Our findings could be useful for urban development policy, especially spatial planning. In particular, we postulate the need to focus on place-based approach to formulating policies for the protection and conservation of architectural heritage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transit-oriented development (TOD) is characterized as compact, mixed-use, and pedestrian-friendly development around transit stations, aiming to balance land use and transportation, enhance sustainability, and improve public transport accessibility. There are various TOD assessment methods; each target one of these goals. This paper proposes a comprehensive approach that addresses TOD goals in a multistage assessment. In the first stage, we identify station areas' typology using weighted node, place, and tie indices based on the correlation between land use and transportation. Then, feasible station areas for enhancing density and diversity are selected using a canonical score. In the second stage, station areas' typology is defined by sustainability criteria and a TOD index. Then, the efficiency of selected station areas for compactness is assessed using Data Envelopment Analysis. Finally, public transport accessibility is optimized for these stations in the third stage. We investigate the effects of weighting indicators of the node–place model in the first stage and aggregation methods in the second stage. We conduct a feasibility and efficiency assessment for the typology of station areas in Metro Montreal. This study attempts to advocate a holistic perspective for TOD assessment with a case study implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]