Zilin Wang, Saeed Rahmani, Daphne Cornelisse
et al.
While autonomous vehicles have achieved reliable performance within specific operating regions, their deployment to new cities remains costly and slow. A key bottleneck is the need to collect many human demonstration trajectories when adapting driving policies to new cities that differ from those seen in training in terms of road geometry, traffic rules, and interaction patterns. In this paper, we show that self-play multi-agent reinforcement learning can adapt a driving policy to a substantially different target city using only the map and meta-information, without requiring any human demonstrations from that city. We introduce NO data Map-based self-play for Autonomous Driving (NOMAD), which enables policy adaptation in a simulator constructed based on the target-city map. Using a simple reward function, NOMAD substantially improves both task success rate and trajectory realism in target cities, demonstrating an effective and scalable alternative to data-intensive city-transfer methods. Project Page: https://nomaddrive.github.io/
Despite the presence of literature on just transitions in cities, the knowledge gap exists in analyzing the evolving trends and trajectories of justice themes in urban transitions. This study develops a comprehensive analytical framework to identify the emerging research trends related to urban just transition by using LDA. Based on the socio-ecological-technological system (SETS) analytical framework and justice-related theoretical frameworks, this research examines the evolving characteristics and prominent issues in existing studies on just transition in urban contexts. We find that the E-T dimension within SETS is receiving increasing attention from researchers, while the inclusiveness and restorativeness dimensions within urban justice are more specifically analyzed. The study not only identifies the complex trends and dynamic changes in the process of urban just transition but also identifies key research areas for future investigations. It provides scholars and practitioners in the field of urban transformation with valuable insights and references, aiming to foster the development of more sustainable and just urban areas.
Urbanization. City and country, Political institutions and public administration (General)
Abstract While resilience assessments have begun considering equity, many fail to account for the nuanced impacts of infrastructure disruptions on sub-populations. This study hypothesizes the necessity of considering equity factors and empowering policymakers in tailoring plans for sub-populations during ‘black swan’ events. Departing from the ‘one-size-fits-all’ risk analysis, it promotes a more inclusive resilience perspective. Using the Travel Characteristic Survey dataset, the study examines socio-demographic, temporal, and spatial factors affecting the Hong Kong metro system’s resilience. Younger and older cohorts showed higher preparedness and robustness against both disruptions and attacks, but lower recovery capabilities. By mitigating disparities in resilience impacts, this framework shifts from utilitarian principles to integrating deontological theory in resilience analysis, recognizing citizens’ intrinsic value, advocating for social justice, and promoting sustainability. It also guides stakeholders in identifying stations needing improvements to address diverse social needs more efficiently. Moreover, it integrates resilience-by-design and resilience-by-intervention approaches, enhancing individual systems and external emergency measures.
In recent years, urban policy-makers have been urged to adopt the development of urban policies for shrinking cities from an urban management perspective. However, urban management in shrinking cities is a difficult problem because it is fiscally restrictive compared with cities with growing populations. This study aims to clarify the types of effective per capita municipal expenditures correlated with population changes in small and medium-sized cities. The research design adopted cross-sectional studies from 2007 to 2022 for all Japanese small and medium-sized cities with populations of less than 200,000. The nonlinear relationship was analyzed via the eXtreme gradient boosting algorithm. As a result, this study revealed 1288 shrinking cities, accounting for 82.56% of all small and medium-sized cities in Japan. For the shrinking cities, this study identified the types of per capita municipal expenditures that correlate with population change: population change was correlated with welfare expenditures. Specifically, the population grew in cities that increased in per capita expenditures on children and decreased in those on welfare recipients and the older population. Our findings suggest that municipal policy-makers should prioritize per capita expenditures on child welfare to sustain the population in small and medium-sized cities.
Urbanization. City and country, Political institutions and public administration (General)
تواجه المناطق التاريخية تحديات كبيرة عالمياً ومحلياً، حيث التحضر السريع وتزايد معدلات الهجرة والتنمية
غير الواعية بأهمية التراث، وقصور الخطاب الكلاسيكي للتراث، وبالتالي، دعا مركز التراث العالمي إلى تطبيق "توصية
نهج المناظر الحضرية التاريخية"، وبالتالي تحاول هذه الورقة في الجزء النظري مراجعة ومناقشة تطور هذا النهج
وعلاقته بالمناهج المعاصرة، ومناقشة وتأطير خطوات وأدوات تطبيقه، ثم تتناول في الجزء التطبيقي دراسة وتحليل حالة
"مدينة بالارات – أستراليا" وحالة " شبه جزيرة إسطنبول التاريخية – تركيا"، وهي حالات عالمية رائدة لتطبيق هذا
النهج، وحالة محلية وهي " إعادة إحياء سوق السلاح كمركز مجتمعي- مصر"، لرصد مدى إمكانية تطبيق هذا النهج في
ظروف مختلفة، ومدى فاعليته في الحفاظ المستدام والتوفيق بين عمليات الحفاظ والتنمية، بما يحقق جودة العيش لمجتمع
التراث، ثم تتوصل هذه الورقة في الجزء الثالث إلى استنتاج أن هذا النهج يحقق التكامل والاستدامة والمرونة كأداة فاعلة
لإدارة عمليات الحفاظ، والتوفيق بين الحفاظ والتنمية وإدارة التغير، في إطار عملية محورها مشاركة مجتمع التراث،
وبالتالي توصى الورقة بملاءمة هذا النهج كآلية فاعلة لإدارة واستدامة عمليات الحفاظ على المناطق التاريخية بمصر.
Historic areas face great challenges globally and locally, with rapid urbanization, increasing
rates of migration, development that is unaware of the importance of heritage, and the
shortcomings of the classical discourse of heritage. Therefore, the World Heritage Center
called for the application of the “Recommendation of Historic Urban Landscape Approach”
and thus this paper attempts, in the theoretical part, to review and discuss the development of
this approach and its relationship to contemporary approaches, and a discussion and framing
of the steps and tools for its application. Then, in the applied part, it deals with studying and
analysing the case of “Ballarat - Australia” and the case of “Historic Istanbul Peninsula -
Turkey”, which are pioneering global cases of applying this approach, and a local case, which
is “Community-centered revitalization of Souq al-Silah in Cairo- Egypt” to monitor the extent
to which this approach can be applied in different circumstances, and the extent of its
effectiveness in sustainable conservation and reconciliation between conservation and
development processes, in order to achieve quality of life for the heritage community. Then
this paper, in the third part, comes to the conclusion that this approach achieves Integration,
sustainability, and flexibility as an effective tool for managing conservation operations, and
reconciling conservation, development, and change management, within the framework of a
process focused on the participation of the heritage community. Therefore, the paper
recommends the suitability of this approach as an effective mechanism for managing and
sustaining conservation processes for historical areas in Egypt.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
Emanuela Alves da Rocha, Patricia Regina Chaves Drach, Eloisa Carvalho de Araujo
The food landscape of Brazilian cities is directly linked to territorial planning and socio-spatial inequality. This article characterizes the agro-food environment in the first district of Petrópolis (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) and analyzes more sustainable alternatives that strengthen short consumption circuits. The mapping of food-related commercial and agricultural establishments is part of this study. The analysis, combined with the average family income by census sector, the division by neighborhoods, and certain characteristics of urban mobility, allows for reflection on priority areas for action and forms of investment, through public policies, in the direct relationship between producer and consumer, such as the expansion of street markets, and the creation of structures for direct sale along public spaces. Food segregation as a reality in Petrópolis and the recognition of the importance of the rural environment and local production must be considered to identify more sustainable solutions to mitigate food insecurity.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
Javier Conde, Andres Munoz-Arcentales, Johnny Choque
et al.
We study the benefits and challenges of using Linked Open Data in smart city applications and propose a set of open source, highly scalable tools within the case of a public-rental bicycle system, which can act as a reference guide for other smart city applications.
This study investigates the impact of the 2018 summer heat wave on urban mobility in Seoul and the role of economic complexity in the region's resilience. Findings from subway and mobile phone data indicate a significant decrease in the floating population during extreme heat wave, underscoring the thermal vulnerability of urban areas. However, urban regions with higher complexity demonstrate resilience, attracting more visitors despite high temperatures. Our results suggest the centrality of economic complexity in urban resilience against climate-induced stressors. Additionally, it implies that high-complexity small businesses' clusters can serve as focal points for sustaining urban vitality in the face of thermal shocks within city. In the long run perspective, our results imply the possibility that people are more concentrated in high complexity region in the era of global warming.
Mohammad Yousuf Mehmood, Syed Junaid Haqqani, Faraz Zaidi
et al.
Cities are widely considered the lifeblood of a nations economy housing the bulk of industries, commercial and trade activities, and employment opportunities. Within this economic context, multinational corporations play an important role in this economic development of cities in particular, and subsequently the countries and regions they belong to, in general. As multinational companies are spread throughout the world by virtue of ownership-subsidiary relationship, these ties create complex inter-dependent networks of cities that shape and define socio-economic status, as well as macro-regional influences impacting the world economy. In this paper, we study these networks of cities formed as a result of ties between multinational firms. We analyze these networks using intra-regional, inter-regional and hybrid ties (conglomerate integration) as spatial motifs defined by geographic delineation of world's economic regions. We attempt to understand how global cities position themselves in spatial and economic geographies and how their ties promote regional integration along with global expansion for sustainable growth and economic development. We study these networks over four time periods from 2010 to 2019 and discover interesting trends and patterns. The most significant result is the domination of inter-regional motifs representing cross regional ties among cities rather than national and regional integration.
تعتبر النباتات من اهم مكونات الطبيعة وهي ليست نتاج عشوائي، بل نتاج تفاعلات طبيعية وفقا للضوابط الكونية، ووفقا للعديد من العوامل الهامة: مثل نوعية التربة والمناخ والإضاءة، الخ، والتي تشكل حلقة أساسية في عملية الاتزان البيئي. حيث أن للنباتات العديد من الأدوار الإيجابية التي يمكن الاستفادة منها في عملية تصميم وتنسيق المواقع متمثلة في قدرة النباتات على السيطرة على المناخ، وكمصدات للرياح، وكحواجز للصوت، وتقليل الاحتباس الحراري، وتساهم في خفض تأكل التربة، والحفاظ على الموائل الحيوانية والحشرية والطيور، الخ. كما إنها تحافظ على صحة الإنسان وتقلل التلوث، وتساهم في تحسين الصورة البصرية وتعزيز النواحي الجمالية للمدن وتحقيق اعلي استغلال لتحسين جودة ونوعية الحياة لتحسين البيئة الحضرية.
يهدف البحث الي ابتكار أداة لقياس مدى كفاءة تصميم النباتات في تحقيق الاستدامة والكفاءة لعملية تصميم وتنسيق المواقع. حيث جاءت أهمية البح في" ابتكار أداة يمكن أن تساهم في عملية تحديد النباتات الملائمة عند تصميم وتنسيق المواقع. تتكون منهجية البحث من ثلاث مراحل رئيسية. المرحلة الأولى يتم استنباط الاطار العام للأداة من خلال مراجعة الأدبيات ومجموعة من الدراسات الخاصة بالعناصر والمؤشرات القياسية لعملية اختيار النباتات، ثم المرحلة الثانية وتشمل مرحلة تدقيق الأداة المستنتجة واختبارها من خلال التطبيق التحليلي لبعض دراسات الحالة المختارة يتم من خلالها مدي نجاح الأداة في تحديد النباتات وعمل التحديث اللازم لمؤشرات القياس وعناصر التصميم الخاصة بالأداة، ثم المرحلة الثالثة من خلالها إجراء دراسة ميدانية لضبط وتقييم ملائمة وأهمية المؤشرات المستخلصة من خلال استبيان للخبراء والمتخصصين بمصرفي مجالات تنسيق المواقع، التصميم العمراني، العمارة، مهندسين زراعيين، تخطيط بيئي. وقد أمكن من نتائج التحليل الإحصائي الوصول إلى الصياغة المقترحة في صورتها النهائية وتوقع مدى كفاءتها في تحقيق الاستدامة لمشاريع تنسيق المواقع في مصر.
Plants are considered one of the most important components of nature. They are not a random product, but a product of natural interactions according to cosmic controls, and to many other important factors.The quality of the soil, climate, lighting, etc., forms an essential link in the process of environmental balance. Plants have many positive roles that can be used in the process of designing and coordinating sites. It can preserve human health, reduces pollution, contributes to improving the visual image, enhancing the aesthetic aspects of cities, and achieving the highest utilization to improve the quality of life and the urban environment.
The research aims to innovate a tool that can monitor the impact of planting design on promoting sustainable landscape. The research was divided into three main parts. The first part was to deduct the scientific framework of the tool, through reviewing the literature and a set of studies concerning the elements and standard indicators of the plant selection process.The second part attempts to refine the tool through the analytical application of selected case studies. The third part presents the paper empirical study, conducting a field survey with experts from various disciplines in the fields of landscape planning and planting in Egypt. The results of the statistical analysis inducted the final elements of the tool, and their relative weights, as an effective proactive tool for promoting sustainable landscape in Egypt.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
O objetivo do artigo é analisar a situação dos últimos vinte anos da região do Vale do Paranhana/Rio Grande do Sul, localizada no sul do Brasil, e verificar se há um processo de resiliência regional. A contribuição teórica e empírica do trabalho consiste em analisar uma região com especialização produtiva de um país periférico, uma vez que a maioria dos estudos existentes é conduzida em contextos distintos do que se encontra num território com essas características. Para a condução do estudo, optou-se por caracterizar a região em relação a diversos indicadores socioeconômicos, como evolução da população, PIB, emprego, principais atividades econômicas e Índice de Desenvolvimento Humano dos municípios que a compõem, analisando dados estatísticos secundários de bases oficiais. Após análise, verifica-se que a região demonstrou capacidade de resiliência até 2014, perceptível através da análise das bases de dados, e posterior declínio, bastante significativo em termos de empregos formais, estabelecimentos e PIB per capita, e depois esta tornou-se enfraquecida. Entende-se que a região do Vale do Paranhana conta com possibilidades de desenvolver capacidades que a tornem resiliente, apesar dos indicadores negativos apresentados. Contudo, uma compreensão mais assertiva sobre o Vale do Paranhana poderia ser obtida com a utilização também de dados primários, o que ressalta a necessidade de abordagem mista no estudo da resiliência regional.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
Abstract
Against the backdrop of shrinking populations, new strategies for maintaining services of general interest in European rural areas are required at both a European and a German level. With regard to this, the field of post-school education as a service of general interest is seen as playing an important role with considerable effects on regional development processes. Educational institutions, traditionally highly centralised, have been shown to influence decisions on staying in or leaving rural areas and thus can further intensify regional demographic developments. In this paper, we examine two examples of post-school educational opportunities in Scotland and Sweden that have been able to establish themselves in a rural setting affected by shrinking trends. Our interpretation is that the continued stability of these examples is due to the ability of local actors to utilise local resources in a meaningful way. The aim of this paper is therefore to contribute to a structured understanding of how local actors manage limited resources to provide services of general interest in the environment of rural, sparsely populated regions in the long term. To enable a systematised analysis of our data, we use an analytical framework originally developed to understand the resources generated by informal planning practices in rural areas.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
Mariapia Rita Iandolo, Francesca Razzano, Chiara Zarro
et al.
The aim of this work is to perform a multitemporal analysis using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform for the detection of changes in urban areas using optical data and specific machine learning (ML) algorithms. As a case study, Cairo City has been identified, in Egypt country, as one of the five most populous megacities of the last decade in the world. Classification and change detection analysis of the region of interest (ROI) have been carried out from July 2013 to July 2021. Results demonstrate the validity of the proposed method in identifying changed and unchanged urban areas over the selected period. Furthermore, this work aims to evidence the growing significance of GEE as an efficient cloud-based solution for managing large quantities of satellite data.
Drones are vital for urban emergency search and rescue (SAR) due to the challenges of navigating dynamic environments with obstacles like buildings and wind. This paper presents a method that combines multi-objective reinforcement learning (MORL) with a convolutional autoencoder to improve drone navigation in urban SAR. The approach uses MORL to achieve multiple goals and the autoencoder for cost-effective wind simulations. By utilizing imagery data of urban layouts, the drone can autonomously make navigation decisions, optimize paths, and counteract wind effects without traditional sensors. Tested on a New York City model, this method enhances drone SAR operations in complex urban settings.
In spite of being one of the smallest and wealthiest countries in the European Union in terms of GDP per capita, Luxembourg is facing socio-economic challenges due to recent rapid urban transformations. This article contributes by approaching this phenomenon at the most granular and rarely analysed geographical level - the neighbourhoods of the capital, Luxembourg City. Based on collected empirical data covering various socio-demographic dimensions for 2020-2021, an ascending hierarchical classification on principal components is set out to establish neighbourhoods' socio-spatial patterns. In addition, Chi2 tests are carried out to examine residents' socio-demographic characteristics and determine income inequalities in neighbourhoods. The results reveal a clear socio-spatial divide along a north-west south-east axis. Moreover, classical factors such as gender or citizenship differences are revealed to be poorly determinant of income inequalities compared with the proportion of social benefits recipients and single residents.
We're just passing one of the great milestones in human history – but hardly anyone is noticing. It isn't anything outwardly dramatic, like a revolution or a war. But it is fundamental, in the sense that the Industrial Revolution in Britain was fundamental. Future historians, doubtless, will call it the Urban Revolution. For the first time in history, a majority of the world's six billion people are living in cities. Between 2000 and 2025, on the best estimates we have from the United Nations, the world's urban population will double, to reach five billion; city-dwellers will rise from 47 percent to over 61 percent of the world's population. But that's not all. Most of this explosive growth will occur in the cities of the developing world. There will be a doubling of the urban population, in the coming quarter century, in Latin America and the Caribbean, in Asia and in Africa together – above all in Asia and Africa. Even by 2015, the UN predict that there will be 358 "million cities", with one million or more people; no less than 153 will be in Asia. And there will be 27 "mega-cities", with ten million or more – 18 of them in Asia. It is here, in the exploding cities of some of the poorest countries of the world, that the central challenge lies. A huge challenge, to be sure – but also a huge range of opportunities: opportunities for greater freedom, greater freedom above all for development, as people leave behind their traditional bondage to the land and the total dominance of the daily struggle for food. Urbanization is a fundamental form of liberation of the human spirit: in the famous German quotation from the Middle Ages, Stadtluft macht Frei: the city air makes you free. It does more than that: just because it frees up human creativity, the city is the place where the great advances occur – artistic, intellectual, technological and also organizational. You need urbanization if you're going to get development. Urban growth is potentially a great thing. But only potentially. Urbanization is a basic precondition for development. But it doesn't of itself guarantee development. There's good urban growth and there's bad urban growth. Managing urban growth so that it contributes positively to economic advance, reconciling it with ecologically sustainable forms of development and reducing social exclusion, represents the key challenge for urban planners and urban …
Disparity in spatial accessibility is strongly associated with growing inequalities among urban communities. Since improving levels of accessibility for certain communities can provide them with upward social mobility and address social exclusion and inequalities in cities, it is important to understand the nature and distribution of spatial accessibility among urban communities. To support decision-makers in achieving inclusion and fairness in policy interventions in cities, we present an open-source and data-driven framework to understand the spatial nature of accessibility to infrastructure among the different demographics. We find that accessibility to a wide range of infrastructure in any city (54 cities) converges to a Zipf's law, suggesting that inequalities also appear proportional to growth processes in these cities. Then, assessing spatial inequalities among the socioeconomically clustered urban profiles for 10 of those cities, we find urban communities are distinctly segregated along social and spatial lines. We find low accessibility scores for populations who have a larger share of minorities, earn less, and have a relatively lower number of individuals with a university degree. These findings suggest that the reproducible framework we propose may be instrumental in understanding processes leading to spatial inequalities and in supporting cities to devise targeted measures for addressing inequalities for certain underprivileged communities.
A smart city is a place where existing facilities and services are enhanced by digital technology to benefit people and companies. The most critical infrastructures in this city are interconnected. Increased data exchange across municipal domains aims to manage the essential assets, leading to more automation in city governance and optimization of the dynamic offered services. However, no clear guideline or standard exists for modeling these data flows. As a result, operators, municipalities, policymakers, manufac-turers, solution providers, and vendors are forced to accept systems with limited scalability and varying needs. Nonetheless, it is critical to raise awareness about smart city cybersecurity and implement suitable measures to safeguard citizens' privacy and security because the cyber threats seem to be well-organized, diverse, and sophisticated. This study aims to present an overview of cyber threats, attacks, and countermeasures on the primary domains of smart cities (smart government, smart mobility, smart environment, smart living, smart healthcare, smart economy, and smart people) to present information extracted from state-of-the-art to policymakers to perceive the critical situation and, at the same time, to be a valuable resource for the scientific community.