Abstract Green infrastructure offers nature-based solutions for mitigating surface urban heat island (SUHI) effects, but its cooling capacity within urban areas is constrained by space limitations. This study expands the scope beyond urban boundaries by investigating the summer impact of peri-urban agriculture (PUA) dynamics on SUHI mitigation based on time-series satellite observations across China. The results revealed that PUA management undergoes significant changes in response to encroaching urbanization pressure. The widespread agricultural marginalization nearer cities warrants attention, particularly given its strong impact on SUHI during summer. Larger cities derive less thermal benefit from PUA. To better isolate the non-local impact and decode the underlying biophysical mechanisms, we simulated various PUA scenarios for Changchun City with a coupled land-atmosphere model. The agricultural intensification scenario demonstrated an average cooling effect of 0.07–0.16 °C on urban cores, which is primarily driven by the increased convection efficiency. This non-local impact can be amplified by the positive feedback loop involving anthropogenic and soil heat. The findings present a novel perspective on harnessing PUA to enhance the cities’ climate resilience.
Abstract As concerns over the security of intercity connections intensify, the concept of urban network resilience has increasingly captured the attention of researchers in related fields. This study aimed to clarify the varying interpretations of urban network resilience among scholars and to identify the advancements and potential gaps in existing literature. The results indicated that differences in perceptions of urban networks have led scholars to define urban network resilience from two distinct perspectives. This divergence influenced the focal points of research, as well as the methodologies, structural measurement indicators, and optimization strategies employed in these studies. We argued for the need to further explore the concept of urban network resilience by considering the nuances of different urban networks, refining methodologies for the identification, description, and measurement of resilience, and recognizing the interconnections among various types and scales of urban networks. This review can provide scholars and policymakers with comprehensive insights into urban resilience, thereby assisting them in making more informed and effective decisions.
Teresa Santos, Ricardo Nogueira Mendes, Rui Pedro Julião
Many capital cities are expanding bicycle lanes or investing in public bike-sharing systems to make cycling mobility a viable transport solution within urban areas. While bicycles are fit for short-distance trips (
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
Not one single event affected as much of the world as the present period of warming is now doing. Due to the global energy crisis, climate warming and other issues, low-carbon eco-cities have become the general trend. In the context of this study, we aim to solve problems of resource-exhausted cities, which are in urgent need for green transformation. The selection of research objects is mostly based on representative regions (eastern, middle. and western regions) in China, which will lead to significant regional characteristics in eco-city planning. On the basis of the index selection, construction of the evaluation index system and calculation on the coordinated development degree of industrial structure and urbanization, we explore the coordination relationship between industrial transformation and urbanization level with the time span of three-time nodes (2005, 2010, 2015), which were also the speed-up of industrialization and urbanization in China. Results indicate that the transformation and upgrading of the current regional industrial structure is lagging behind, and the internal power of industrial upgrading is insufficient, which limits the ecological development of resource-exhausted cities. It can also be found that the coordinated development index of urbanization and industrial structure is too low. The main implications of this study state that resource-exhausted cities are still in the state of being on the verge of imbalance and still have a wide development space based on the division standard. Furthermore, compared to the rationalization industrial structure, this study indicates the contributive rate of industrial structure supererogation to the overall level of urbanization is bigger. Countermeasures about the urban environment from the ecology stratification plane and how the cities achieve the urban form of sustainable development as a complex organism are also proposed. Scientific analysis and discussion on resource-cities by studying and solving related problems on the eco-city’s construction has vital significance to urbanization and sustainable development, which can reflect the relationship between industry, city, and ecology.
Urbanization is playing a key role in big cities of developing countries, which, in effect, is increasing the population. This study takes care of the mega infrastructure project (Orange Line Metro Train (OLMT)) to explore and identify the H&S (Health and Safety) factors that affect the local residents and the main key stakeholders working on the project. A Sequential Mixed-Method approach of the OLMT-project includes qualitative and quantitative methods were adopted. The data have been collected from the targeted population working on the OLMT-project through a questionnaire. The main key finding of the study indicates that poor planning and a lack of communication between the public and government led to frustration. The most significant factors that identified in the study were unsafe to work practice, project scope constraints, lack in technical and material support, unsafe/bad condition, health/environment degradation, declination and loss of resources and time, no proper emergency system, and negligence in adopting safety rules and laws. The study also revealed that the consensus should also be noticed between the key stakeholders (e.g., contractors, clients, safety officials, academia) in the second round of the Delphi survey of the project. The study findings will help the key stakeholders to prioritize their energies towards attaining zero levels of inadequate health and safety practices in infrastructure projects. The study outcomes can also be generalized for the other developing countries having a similar work scenario.
Payam Aminpour, Steven A. Gray, Michael W. Beck
et al.
Abstract Coastal ecosystems nearby human societies collectively shape complex social-ecological systems (SESs). These ecosystems support high levels of ecological biodiversity while providing resources and services to humans. However, shoreline armoring, land transformation, and urban homogenization across urbanized coastal areas may degrade natural ecosystems and alter how humans and nature are connected. We hypothesize that these alterations extend to residents’ knowledge of SESs. We explore evidence of such cognitive outcomes in graphical mental models of more than 1350 coastal residents across eight states in the Northeast United States. Our results revealed that, in more urbanized areas, residents’ mental models underrepresented complex interdependence between humans and natural components, indicating limited systems thinking. Additionally, urbanization and shoreline armoring were associated with homogenization of mental models. We refer to these results as Urbanized Knowledge Syndrome (UKS). Importantly, respondents with more symptoms of UKS were less likely to self-report adoption of pro-environmental behaviors. These results indicate a potential societal-level erosion of ecological knowledge associated with urbanization in the same way more urbanized areas are associated with diminishing ecological function. Thus, diagnosing and treating UKS is an essential component of urban sustainability.
Onshore wind energy development is often delayed or even prevented by local resistance. Against this backdrop, we discuss financial participation as a measure to promote local acceptance by positively influencing the perceived experience of justice. Building on the concept of energy justice, this paper investigates the extent to which different forms of financial participation are suitable for better distributing costs and benefits, creating opportunities for participation, and examining who can participate financially. In addition to a comprehensive literature review, interviews were conducted with wind turbine planners and operators. These show that stakeholders engage in financial participation to different degrees across different projects and that the preferred form of participation varies from one region to another. Moreover, no model of financial participation appears to be suited to address all dimensions of energy justice, as all models are characterised by certain advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the availability of financial participation options alone is unlikely to increase local acceptance. Such options can, however, be effective when combined with other measures to increase acceptance.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
Johannesburg and the broader Gauteng City-Region in which it is located are considered to be the economic powerhouse of South Africa. This has led to massive population growth in the region, as well as severe inequality. Given South Africa’s history of racially excluding black South Africans from urban areas, ongoing research in this area has to analyse land cover and define ‘sprawl’ in a context where the technical language has politically loaded overtones. This article tries to understand the scale of informality within a broader examination of urbanization and sprawl. It concludes that in the absence of a formally adopted urban edge and under massive pressure from population growth (natural and via migration), formal dwellings (residential and economic) have grown unchecked, and informality is now growing at high speed and also largely without regulation or control. With no apparent political will to stop urban sprawl, both informal and formal covers are steadily pushing towards provincial borders, while densifying in Johannesburg in particular.
In 1990, 43% (2.3 billion) of the world’s population lived in urban areas, and by 2014 this percentage was at 54%. The urban population exceeded the rural population for the first time in 2008, and by 2050 it is predicted that urbanization will rise to 70% (see Albrito, “Making cities resilient: Increasing resilience to disasters at the local level,” Journal of Business Continuity & Emergency Planning, 2012). However, this increase in urban population has not been evenly spread throughout the world. As the urban population increases, the land area occupied by cities has increased at an even higher rate. It has been projected that by 2030, the urban population of developing countries will double, while the area covered by cities will triple (see United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, “World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision”). This emphasizes the need for resilience in the urban environment to anticipate and respond to disasters. Realizing this need, many local and international organizations have developed tools and frameworks to assist governments to plan and implement disaster risk reduction strategies efficiently. Sendai Framework’s Priorities for Action, Making Cities Resilient: My City is Getting Ready, and UNISDR’s Disaster Resilience Scorecard for Cities are major documents that provide essential guidelines for urban resilience. Given that, the disaster governance also needs to be efficient with ground-level participation for the implementation of these frameworks. This can be reinforced by adequate financing and resources depending on the exposure and risk of disasters. In essence, the resilience of a city is the resistance, coping capacity, recovery, adaptive capacity, and responsibility of everyone.
P. Cerutti, Rosiane Dutra Martins, J. Macke
et al.
Abstract According to academics and urban planners, the smart city concept favors technological products and solutions over end users and their adherence to a smart city proposal. The smart city concept is also considered in the cities of Latin America, one of the most urbanized and unequal regions of the world. Smart city implementation in such contexts can provide lessons on urban innovation when resources are scarce and the environments are volatile. Thus, it is possible to verify that one of the most implemented solutions to diminish the increasing urban congestion and its effects on citizens’ quality of life is related to smart urban mobility. This paper sought to evaluate the perception of bike-sharing users in a smart city and analyze the main motivations for using this system. The research analyzed the bike-sharing system of Passo Fundo, a medium-sized city in southern Brazil. Interviews with 526 residents identified three main motivations for using the bike-sharing system: (i) health and the environment, (ii) being social influencer, and (iii) the cyclist lifestyle. The respondents’ overall perception revealed their low satisfaction with the bike-sharing system and with the overall conditions for cycling. This finding calls for a better understanding of the planning and management of smart cities in conjunction with citizen’s perception and their effects on the city smartness. The research provides contributions regarding understanding the interconnected aspects of bike-sharing systems in the developing countries context. From a smart city perspective, we conclude that success within the domain of smart mobility can be achieved by observing the three factors revealed by the analysis. According to our results, meeting these criteria through public policies would increase bike-sharing, creating a green behavior trend.
This article explores whether there exists any difference in the earnings of self-employed migrant and native street vendors in a metro city, and if so, in what ways this difference is prominent. In order to accomplish the objective, we have collected data from women street vendors from Bengaluru city. The results depict that although there is no significant difference in the earnings between native and migrant street vendors, a significant difference exists in the size of investments made by them, that is, to earn the same amount of income, migrants need to invest more than natives. Moreover, the results, based on the Oaxaca–Blinder decomposition method, indicate that the pre-labour market endowment factors do not make a significant contribution to the overall difference in the rate of returns. The difference, instead, mainly exists because of the coefficient differences, which can be attributed to discrimination.
Online training events deserve more attention as a form of people-to-people connectivity. The purpose of the article is to elaborate on how online training events gain prominence in the context of the COVID-19 imposed restrictions on geographical mobility. The autoethnographic account provides new ideas on what higher education extra-curricular and capacity building activities should be taken into consideration when taking a comprehensive look at people-to-people sustainable connectivity. As the analysed three online training events that took place over the summer 2020 show, these virtual occasions of people-to-people connectivity are promising building blocks for the future exploration of the EU structural diplomacy towards India both in a bilateral setting and multilateral context of Asia-Europe Meeting.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
Abstract Cities rely on massive amounts of physical, chemical, and biological resources to support their growth and metabolism. These ‘metabolic inputs’ are accumulated in cities to form material stocks in buildings, infrastructures, transportation facilities, and household appliances. This study takes China’s urbanization as an example to illustrate the characteristics of material stock changes in developing countries and compare them with those in developed countries. Results show that (1) material stocks have been growing in China, but have saturated in developed countries, and (2) the major components of urban metabolism are construction and industrial materials (e.g., steel) in developing countries but biomass (e.g., food) in developed countries. The changes in the magnitude and types of material stocks can not only measure urban development but also directly link city and its residents, offering advantages in representing urbanization over the existing indices such as population, land use, or gross domestic product (GDP). Given the new insights provided by material stock, we recommend to embrace it as a critical index of urbanization for guiding urban planning and policy-making.
Civic engagement faces major challenges, especially in cities affected by declining populations, as social networks have been thinned out and services in the sector of voluntary municipal compulsory tasks have been reduced. At the same time, civic engagement is particularly important in such cities in order to compensate for bottlenecks in services of general interest. This paper examines the life worlds of voluntarily engaged people and aims to contribute to an understanding of the different levels of involvement of certain groups of people in certain phases of life. On the basis of project histories in civic engagement, initiated by younger groups of people, the obstacles and needs experienced by those involved are highlighted. The findings show that bureaucratic and hierarchical hurdles, low appreciation of voluntary work and conflicts of interest between funding bodies and those involved are perceived by the latter as major obstacles. On the other hand, there are individual factors of civic engagement that are in harmony with the conditions of the life worlds of those voluntarily active, such as working together, an open, flexible framework for individual action and its flexible division and organisation. The paper is based on empirical data collected in individual case analyses in the small town Weißwasser in Eastern Germany.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
This is an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Urban Economics on “Urbanization in Developing Countries: Past and Present”. We argue that the rapid urbanization and the rise of cities in the developing world demand new avenues of research and much more research to deal with the urban issues facing billions of people across the world that current work barely covers. This issue contains papers which move in that direction and signals a commitment by the journal to pursue this agenda.
Objective China faces growing levels of physical inactivity and obesity, associated with increasing urbanization and changing lifestyles in recent years. China is expanding its cities to accommodate a growing urban population. This paper identifies built environment factors that are associated with physical activity in China. Findings can inform urban design and development in China to support increased physical activity. Methods This paper is modeled on a review of built environment correlates of walking by Saelens and Handy (2008). Saelens and Handy reviewed research in developed countries. The present paper reviews 42 empirical studies that were conducted in China and were published between 2006 and 2014. Results Results discuss the association of built environment features and physical activity for transportation, recreation and work. Studies focus on adults and on major cities. Data on the built environment is typically self-reported. Strongest evidence was found for the positive association of physical activity with proximal non-residential locations, pedestrian infrastructure, aesthetics, and non-park physical activity facilities, and for the negative association of physical activity with urban residence. In terms of physical activity for transportation, evidence is strongest for associations between physical activity for transportation and proximal non-residential locations. Conclusion More research is needed on the built environment and physical activity, especially including research on significant features of Chinese cities, such as air pollution, high density levels, traffic safety, and others. Research on associations between built environment features and physical activity should consider the specific social and built environment contexts of Chinese cities.
This article describes how employment sub-centres can be identified applying geo-spatial modelling techniques in the context of metropolitan areas in India, and how the development of these employment centres can be linked to the levels of accessibility to labour, access to transport infrastructure as well as land use mix and land use diversity. For the city of Ahmedabad, employment sub-centres are identified for the year 2010, while the progression of employment in retail, commercial and industrial sectors in each of these centres is studied for the period from 1980 to 2010. Definite the signs of sprawl-type development and polarization reversal are observed, including the emergence of new employment sub-centres across the urban area, and the rapid growth of centres further away from the central business district. Retail and commercial sectors have grown exponentially, whereas industrial and manufacturing sector’s growth is stagnant. This development is mixed and heterogeneous, with the growth of the retail and the commercial sectors found to have a significant and positive relation with access to labour and transport infrastructure. These identified patterns of development provide important information to urban planners enabling them to make informed decision, for example, in locating future employment activities, identifying future transit-oriented development nodes, etc.