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While cities are attractive places, brimming with opportunities and possibilities for their inhabitants, they have also been found to have negative consequences, especially on physical and mental health. In a world of ever-growing urban populations, it is important to understand how to make cities healthier and more pleasant places to live. In the present study, we investigated the impact of art as an urban intervention and compared it to the well-known effects of greenery (i.e., plants and vegetation) in an identically framed intervention. Specifically, we looked at how people engage with a Graetzloase (a type of parklet) and its embedding urban environment in terms of visual and spatial attraction as well as wellbeing. The Graetzloase displayed either abstract art or greenery and was placed on two distinct streets that, among other elements, also contained art and greenery. Our field study captured the ongoing experiences during people's exploration of the urban environment by employing mobile eye-trackers and physiological devices. While our findings demonstrated a certain level of visual and spatial attraction towards the Graetzloases, it was not as pronounced as initially anticipated. Nevertheless, our analyses still inform on What decorating element should be placed in a Graetzloase, as well as Where to implement the Graetzloase. Our results suggest that artistic elements are more visually attractive (i.e., they were looked at for longer times) than the greenery, and that both visual and spatial attraction towards the Graetzloases are greatly impacted by the street context. We found that the Art Graetzloase when displayed in a wide street containing greenery elements, is visually more present in the participant's visual field than all the other experimental combinations. The more precise analyses of the participant viewing behavior confirm this trend. Regarding wellbeing, we found no evidence for the impact of street context or the types of decorations in the Graetzloases. Our results establish an initial empirical foundation for the design and placement of not only future parklets but also urban art interventions in general. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: In the context of the internet economy era, historic cities face increasing pressure to attract tourists through effective urban design strategies. Immersive districts, particularly in historic Chinese cities, have emerged as an innovative approach to enhance tourism experiences, achieving notable success. This paper explores the use of immersive design strategies in the Guitanglou (簋唐楼) district in Xi'an, China, with a focus on gamification theory. Methods: The study employs in-depth interviews and content analysis to examine the design strategies employed in the Guitanglou immersive district. Through these methods, the research investigates how immersive experiences can be used to enhance tourist engagement in historic sites. Results: The research introduces a "4S" design model, consisting of Scene, Socialization, Story, and Stimulus. The model suggests that by innovating design within these four key areas, tourists can engage more deeply with the immersive district, resulting in stronger cultural resonance and emotional connections. Discussion: This study offers new insights into tourism and urban design, highlighting how immersive districts can serve as effective platforms for disseminating historical and cultural values. The findings suggest that leveraging communication strategies familiar to digital natives can create a balance between cultural preservation and economic growth, offering a fresh perspective on urban design in historic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently the transportation sector has witnessed several new technologically driven disruptions that have amplified the complexity of city planning and policymaking. Traditional well-established processes of decision-making in urban planning and transportation are proving insufficient to deal with this degree of complexity and uncertainty. This paper proposes an alternative approach, combining qualitative and normative urban design, with quantitative and predictive transport modelling. This requires urban designers and transport modellers to co-create goal-driven and agile transport models that act as a heuristic tool to guide planning decisions in early design stages. Heuristic modelling is informed by design optioning and vice versa in an iterative loop. A case study is presented to demonstrate how this approach is operationalized to study the impacts of automated vehicles on urban planning. Design workshops are used as a method to elicit responses from stakeholders, which are used to co-create the simulation models. This collaborative process grounds the research in real-world practice and enhances the communication of design proposals and research findings across disciplines. By integrating design thinking methods with agent-based transport simulations, this approach provides a better understanding of emergent effects in complex urban systems and improves stakeholder engagement in the planning process. This article is part of the theme issue 'Co-creating the future: participatory cities and digital governance'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite growing calls for evidence-informed policy-making, policy- and decision-makers in municipal governments often face barriers to the integration of evidence into their work. These barriers may be especially prominent in small-to-medium-sized cities, which are often comparatively resource-strained relative to the larger cities that are the focus of much of the existing literature. We interviewed 30 municipal actors involved in urban planning at the City of Regina—the municipal government representing the medium-sized city of Regina located in western Canada. Our study revealed that evidence was often positioned differently among policy- and decision-makers. Interviewees had different definitions of evidence, accessed various sources of evidence, placed differing levels of trust in certain forms of evidence, and experienced different barriers to the integration of evidence into their day-to-day work. This article contributes to a better understanding of the role of evidence among urban planners and has important lessons on how to bridge the gap between urban planning policy- and decision-makers and producers of evidence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the potential for creating walkable communities in Riyadh using a qualitative research methodology. This approach encompassed: (1) systematic selection of international case studies renowned for their walkability strategies, (2) critical comparative analysis of these case studies, and (3) extraction of a Walkability model to derive strategic guidelines and recommendations tailored to Riyadh's context. Through literature review, four international case studies emblematic of effective walkability practices were examined. Key themes and strategies that emerged from these analyses included integrated public transit, compact urban design, pedestrian infrastructure, community engagement, cultural considerations, and context-sensitive innovation. Based on these themes we threaded a comprehensive model for sustainable walkability in Riyadh. To assess such model, we extracted conceptual framework and suggested future hypotheses for future studies. By synthesising these findings, the research proposed a walkability model to advance Riyadh's transformation into a walkable city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last three decades, in France as in other European countries, urban projects have given increasing importance to negotiations between public and private players, and to iterative and incremental design processes. Among the tools implemented by architects and other professionals in France, the plan-guide has progressively challenged the master plan as uncertainty about the means and the ends of projects grew. To understand the rationale of the plan-guide, it is useful to look at the way it was first deployed as the main working tool of Île de Nantes urban renewal project in the early 2000s. That case study sheds light on how urban projects relying on plan-guides became instrumental within neoliberal agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biomimicry is a discipline that develops human-made solutions inspired by the design and functions of living things in nature. This approach aims to provide innovative and effective solutions in terms of sustainability and efficiency. Artificial intelligence is a field of technology that enables computer systems to have human-like intelligence. These systems can assist humans by performing tasks such as data analysis, learning and problem solving and have great potential in solving complex problems. This article evaluates the interaction of participatory urban design, biomimicry and artificial intelligence technologies in the field of urban planning and design. Biomimicry explores how natureinspired designs and processes can be used in urban spaces, while AI technologies use analytical and predictive capabilities to improve the efficiency of urban systems. The article discusses examples of both concepts at the urban scale and discusses the benefits that arise from bringing these stakeholders together. The use of biomimicry principles in urban planning and design contributes to issues such as sustainability, energy efficiency, efficient use of natural resources, energy and resource conservation, adaptation and resilience. Artificial intelligence technologies, on the other hand, increase efficiency while solving complex and difficult problems in urban areas with big data analytics, predictive capabilities and automated decision-making systems. In this article, a participatory process model is proposed to reveal the interaction of biomimicry and artificial intelligence technologies in urban planning and design. Increasing research in this field will contribute to the optimization of planning processes and the realization of sustainable development goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The space claims necessary for ensuring the liveability of public spaces often clash with on-street parking demand for private vehicles. Balancing these needs in a fair discussion has proven difficult. Demand for parking is expressed in clear-cut numbers, while liveability is a more emergent and qualitative concept. This paper seeks to (1) define the physical values of liveability; (2) translate them into generic space claims; (3) confront these claims with the demand for parking places in existing urban neighbourhoods; and (4) explore how this information could inform public debate and policy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Journal of Planning Education & Research is the property of Sage Publications Inc. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In China, the decline of industrial communities suffering from both the aging of physical space and the breakdown of social relations. How to make marginalized and closed industrial communities actively integrate into the development of urban renewal has gradually become an issue of concern. The paper takes the "Jingzhou New Town Industrial Park Urban Design Project" as an opportunity to explore a transformation path suitable for China's national conditions through the study of the history, culture, current problems, and renewal strategies of this heritage-type industrial community. The study finally proposes three renewal strategies for industrial communities, which provide samples with certain reference value for the renewal of old industrial communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The text discusses two books, "The City Creative" by Carriere and Schalliol, and "The Largest Art" by Ryan, which focus on urban design and placemaking. Carriere and Schalliol critique mainstream creative placemaking, emphasizing the importance of grassroots approaches that address local community needs. On the other hand, Ryan's book explores urban design as a distinct art form, advocating for a pluralist approach that embraces the complexity and evolving nature of cities. Both books offer valuable insights into urban interventions and the diverse perspectives that shape urban spaces. [Extracted from the article]

Background Methods Results Conclusions Urbanicity is a well‐established risk factor for psychosis. Our recent multi‐national study found an association between urbanicity and clinical psychosis in Northern Europe but not in Southern Europe. In this study, we hypothesized that the effect of current urbanicity on variation of schizotypy would be greater in North‐western Europe countries than in Southern Europe ones.We recruited 1080 individuals representative of the populations aged 18–64 of 14 different sites within 5 countries, classified as either North‐western Europe (England, France, and The Netherlands) with Southern Europe (Spain and Italy). Our main outcome was schizotypy, assessed through the Structured Interview for Schizotypy‐Revised. Our main exposure was current urbanicity, operationalized as local population density. A priori confounders were age, sex, ethnic minority status, childhood maltreatment, and social capital. Schizotypy variation was assessed using multi‐level regression analysis. To test the differential effect of urbanicity between North‐western and Southern European, we added an interaction term between population density and region of recruitment.Population density was associated with schizotypy (β = 0.248,95%CI = 0.122–0.375;p < 0.001). The addition of the interaction term improved the model fit (likelihood test ratio:χ2 = 6.85; p = 0.009). The effect of urbanicity on schizotypy was substantially stronger in North‐western Europe (β = 0.620,95%CI = 0.362–0.877;p < 0.001) compared with Southern Europe (β = 0.190,95%CI = 0.083–0.297;p = 0.001).The association between urbanicity and both subclinical schizotypy and clinical psychosis, rather than being universal, is context‐specific. Considering that urbanization is a rapid and global process, further research is needed to disentangle the specific factors underlying this relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Environmental & Social Management Journal / Revista de Gestão Social e Ambiental is the property of Environmental & Social Management Journal and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Green travel offers significant benefits, including reducing pollution and alleviating traffic congestion. Despite these advantages, green travel is less popular in cold regions, particularly during winter, due to comfort, convenience, and safety concerns. While climate factors are immutable, enhancing the urban environment can promote winter green travel. This paper examines the impact of urban environments on residents' willingness to engage in green travel in cities located in cold regions during winter. Using data from Shenyang, China, a comprehensive structural equation model based on the stimulus–organism–response (S-O-R) theory was constructed, revealing the causal relationships and underlying structure between environmental factors and green travel willingness. The model demonstrates that social, built, natural, and travel environments collectively shape residents' willingness to engage in green travel, with the social environment emerging as the most impactful factor. Additionally, this study identified two crucial mediating variables, travel perception evaluation and attitude towards green travel, which indirectly influence green travel willingness. This study also identifies nine critical factors—often underappreciated in traditional analyses—that should be prioritised in urban planning. These findings advance the understanding of green travel behaviour in winter cities by illustrating the complex interplay between environmental factors and individual attitudes while providing actionable guidance for fostering supportive social environments and strategically enhancing built and travel environments to promote green travel in cold climates. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Christopher Alexander argued that modernist approach to architecture prioritizes innovation, abstraction, and mechanistic efficiency at the expense of human-centered and organic values. According to Christopher Alexander, this shift has led to a proliferation of buildings that are visually striking, but often feel cold, impersonal, and disconnected from the deeper needs of the people who inhabit and/or see them. Alexander called for a return to timeless architectural principles such as harmony, balance, and a deep connection to the natural and cultural context. He introduced the concept of living structure, which emphasizes creating spaces that resonate with the intrinsic order found in nature and human life, fostering environments that are not only functional and beautiful but also profoundly life-affirming. Alexander challenged the dominance of “iconic” but alienating designs, calling for a holistic, human-centered approach to architecture that prioritizes the well-being of individuals and communities, creating spaces that nurture a sense of place, belonging, and harmony with the world around them.

This paper investigates the potential for creating walkable communities in Riyadh using a qualitative research methodology. This approach encompassed: (1) systematic selection of international case studies renowned for their walkability strategies, (2) critical comparative analysis of these case studies, and (3) extraction of a Walkability model to derive strategic guidelines and recommendations tailored to Riyadh’s context. Through literature review, four international case studies emblematic of effective walkability practices were examined. Key themes and strategies that emerged from these analyses included integrated public transit, compact urban design, pedestrian infrastructure, community engagement, cultural considerations, and context-sensitive innovation. Based on these themes we threaded a comprehensive model for sustainable walkability in Riyadh. To assess such model, we extracted conceptual framework and suggested future hypotheses for future studies. By synthesising these findings, the research proposed a walkability model to advance Riyadh’s transformation into a walkable city.

The Regional Climate Model (RegCM) proves valuable for climate analysis and has been applied to a wide range of climate change aspects and other environmental issues at a regional scale. The model also demonstrated success in diverse areas of urban research, including urban heat island studies, extreme climate events analysis, assessing urban resilience, and evaluating urbanization impacts on climate and air quality. Recently, more studies have been conducted in utilizing RegCM to address climate change in cities, due to its enhanced ability over the years to capture meteorological phenomena at city scales. However, there are many challenges associated with its implementation in meso-scale research, which are attributed to various shortcomings and thus create room for further improvement in the model. This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the RegCM over the years and its customisation across various parameters, demonstrating its versatility in urban climate studies and underscoring the model’s pivotal role in addressing multifaceted challenges in urban environments. By addressing these aspects, the paper offers valuable insights and recommendations for researchers seeking to enhance the accuracy and efficacy of urban climate simulations using the RegCM system, thereby contributing to the advancement of urban climate science and sustainability.

Street networks allow people and goods to move through cities, but they are vulnerable to disasters like floods, earthquakes, and terrorist attacks. Well-planned network design can make a city more resilient and robust to such disruptions, but we still know little about worldwide patterns of vulnerability, or worldwide empirical relationships between specific design characteristics and resilience. This study quantifies and measures the vulnerability of the street networks of every urban area in the world then models the relationships between vulnerability and street network design characteristics. To do so, we simulate over 2.4 billion trips across more than 8,000 urban areas in 178 countries, while also simulating network disruption events representing floods, earthquakes, and targeted attacks. We find that disrupting high-centrality nodes severely impacts network function. All else equal, networks with higher connectivity, fewer chokepoints, or less circuity are less vulnerable to disruption's impacts. This study thus contributes a new global understanding of network design and vulnerability to the literature. We argue that these design characteristics offer high leverage points for street network resilience and robustness that planners should emphasize when designing or retrofitting urban networks.

This study estimates the relationships between street network characteristics and transport-sector CO2 emissions across every urban area in the world and investigates whether they are the same across development levels and urban design paradigms. The prior literature has estimated relationships between street network design and transport emissions – including greenhouse gases implicated in climate change – primarily through case studies focusing on certain world regions or relatively small samples of cities, complicating generalizability and applicability for evidence-informed practice. Our worldwide study finds that straighter, more-connected, and less-overbuilt street networks are associated with lower transport emissions, all else equal. Importantly, these relationships vary across development levels and design paradigms – yet most prior literature reports findings from urban areas that are outliers by global standards. Planners need a better empirical base for evidence-informed practice in under-studied regions, particularly the rapidly urbanizing Global South.

Equity in the built environment refers to the extent to which the built environment meets the needs of different groups through planning, design, construction, operation, management, and regulation. Though much studied in recent years, some needs and groups have received a greater research focus than others, and significant inequities continue to exist. Following PRISMA guidelines, we systematically reviewed the distributional and recognitional aspects of inequities experienced by vulnerable groups regarding their needs while using/occupying different types of built environments. We find that more studies focus on inequities regarding residential buildings, transportation facilities, and public open spaces, whereas comparatively few studies examine water and energy infrastructure, commercial buildings, educational buildings, and healthcare facilities. More studies focus on well-being, mobility, and access needs than shelter and safety needs. Inequities experienced by minorities, people with low socioeconomic status, people with health concerns, and vulnerable age groups receive more attention than the inequities experienced by people with gender/sexual-orientation vulnerability or displaced groups. The literature exhibits a relatively narrow focus on some subgroups, such as refugees, people experiencing homelessness, people with cognitive differences, people with visual or hearing impairments, children, and women. We argue that these findings demarcate high-impact future research directions to address vulnerable groups’ needs worldwide and suggest measures to alleviate inequities in the built environment.

Inclusion and diversity have become paramount within the festival sector and beyond, often focusing on bringing together a diverse group of people within one space. Within leisure studies, there has been a longstanding interest in leisure as spaces where people meet "others." Nevertheless, previous research found that physical proximity is often not sufficient to enable social mixing. Adopting a cross-disciplinary approach combining urban planning and design with cultural sociology and leisure studies, this article addresses how music festival organizers produce spaces of encounter within festival spaces. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with 31 organizers of music festivals in Rotterdam. Findings indicate that organizers use their knowledge of spatial design and symbolic boundaries to stimulate or block movement of audience groups, which affects segregation and mixing of audience groups within a festival. Spaces of encounter therefore are consciously designed through symbolic and social boundaries that have spatial consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The Olympic Games have been associated with many urban transformation projects throughout their history, often focusing on city expansion. Recent sustainability concerns, however, constitute a pressing challenge, with the regeneration of central areas fulfilling a key role in existing urban agendas. In this paper, the legacy of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games at two proposed centralities was analysed, namely, the Olympic Park, intended as a future neighbourhood to the west of the city, and Porto Maravilha (PM), an urban project aimed at revitalizing a central, historical area of the city. By comparing the Olympic Park and the first provided areas in PM, in terms of selecting urban design criteria through qualitative in loco assessments, this paper focused on analysing the impacts of urban forms and heritage on the consolidation of these two centralities, as well as encouraging social interaction and integration into the city. The analysis results indicated that urban design attributes such as human-scaled, mixed-use, context-based urban spaces could interfere with social interaction and the usability of spaces. Moreover, the repurposing of heritage buildings contributed to urban cohesion for legacy transformation. Hence, novel insights into urban design and heritage could become important for future editions of the Olympics so that host cities may fulfil their sustainability agendas.