Hasil untuk "Settlements"

G. Mcgranahan, D. Balk, B. Anderson

Jason Corburn, D. Vlahov, B. Mberu et al.

The informal settlements of the Global South are the least prepared for the pandemic of COVID-19 since basic needs such as water, toilets, sewers, drainage, waste collection, and secure and adequate housing are already in short supply or non-existent. Further, space constraints, violence, and overcrowding in slums make physical distancing and self-quarantine impractical, and the rapid spread of an infection highly likely. Residents of informal settlements are also economically vulnerable during any COVID-19 responses. Any responses to COVID-19 that do not recognize these realities will further jeopardize the survival of large segments of the urban population globally. Most top-down strategies to arrest an infectious disease will likely ignore the often-robust social groups and knowledge that already exist in many slums. Here, we offer a set of practice and policy suggestions that aim to (1) dampen the spread of COVID-19 based on the latest available science, (2) improve the likelihood of medical care for the urban poor whether or not they get infected, and (3) provide economic, social, and physical improvements and protections to the urban poor, including migrants, slum communities, and their residents, that can improve their long-term well-being. Immediate measures to protect residents of urban informal settlements, the homeless, those living in precarious settlements, and the entire population from COVID-19 include the following: (1) institute informal settlements/slum emergency planning committees in every urban informal settlement; (2) apply an immediate moratorium on evictions; (3) provide an immediate guarantee of payments to the poor; (4) immediately train and deploy community health workers; (5) immediately meet Sphere Humanitarian standards for water, sanitation, and hygiene; (6) provide immediate food assistance; (7) develop and implement a solid waste collection strategy; and (8) implement immediately a plan for mobility and health care. Lessons have been learned from earlier pandemics such as HIV and epidemics such as Ebola. They can be applied here. At the same time, the opportunity exists for public health, public administration, international aid, NGOs, and community groups to innovate beyond disaster response and move toward long-term plans.

D. Satterthwaite, D. Archer, Sarah Colenbrander et al.

Approximately 1 billion people currently live in informal settlements, primarily in urban areas in low- and middle-income countries. Informal settlements are defined by poor-quality houses or shacks built outside formal laws and regulations. Most informal settlements lack piped water or adequate provision for sanitation, drainage, and public services. Many are on dangerous sites because their inhabitants have a higher chance of avoiding eviction. This paper considers how to build resilience to the impacts of climate change in informal settlements. It focuses on informal settlements in cities in low- and middle-income countries and how these concentrate at-risk populations. This paper also reviews what is being done to address climate resilience in informal settlements. In particular, community- and city-government-led measures to upgrade settlements can enhance resilience to climate-change risks and serve vulnerable groups. It also discusses how the barriers to greater scale and effectiveness can be overcome, including with synergies with the Sustainable Development Goals.

Jun Yang, Yichen Wang, Chunliang Xiu et al.

Abstract Rapid urbanization has caused radical changes in urban climates. As a result, issues related to urban thermal environments have become more prominent. Finding a balance between urban expansion and thermal environment quality is key to ensuring sustainable urban development. Taking Dalian City (China) as an example, we used multi-source datasets, including Luojia1-01 nighttime light imagery, Landsat-8, Sentinel-2, and building vector data, to analyze the thermal characteristics of different local climate zones (LCZs). Additionally, the LCZ combination mode with the lowest heat island effect intensity in the human settlements was also investigated. The results showed that the human settlements covered an area of 351.976 km2, with 33.476% corresponding to building LCZs (LCZ1-10) and 66.524% to natural LCZs (LCZA-G). The different LCZs had different thermal environment characteristics, and the UHIA values for the building LCZs were significantly higher than those of the natural LCZs. Additionally, for the building LCZs, the UHIA values for compact building LCZs (LCZ 1–3) were also significantly higher than those for open and spare building LCZs. With the current settlement area and population size, the most appropriate LCZ layout model for the study area was LCZ5 + LCZ6 + (LCZ7+LCZ8+LCZA + LCZC + LCZD + LCZE + LCZG), which had areas 28.585, 57.170, 57.170, 28.585, 54.236, 54.236, and 54.236 km2, respectively. This layout model had the smallest UHIA value (11.654 °C), and urban planning according to the above ratio can alleviate the UHI effect in different cities.

T. Esch, W. Heldens, Andreas Hirne et al.

Abstract Today, approximately 7.2 billion people inhabit the Earth and by 2050 this number will have risen to around nine billion, of which about 70% will be living in cities. The population growth and the related global urbanization pose one of the major challenges to a sustainable future. Hence, it is essential to understand drivers, dynamics, and impacts of the human settlements development. A key component in this context is the availability of an up-to-date and spatially consistent map of the location and distribution of human settlements. It is here that the Global Urban Footprint (GUF) raster map can make a valuable contribution. The new global GUF binary settlement mask shows a so far unprecedented spatial resolution of 0.4 ″ ( ∼ 12 m ) that provides – for the first time – a complete picture of the entirety of urban and rural settlements. The GUF has been derived by means of a fully automated processing framework – the Urban Footprint Processor (UFP) – that was used to analyze a global coverage of more than 180,000 TanDEM-X and TerraSAR-X radar images with 3 m ground resolution collected in 2011–2012. The UFP consists of five main technical modules for data management, feature extraction, unsupervised classification, mosaicking and post-editing. Various quality assessment studies to determine the absolute GUF accuracy based on ground truth data on the one hand and the relative accuracies compared to established settlements maps on the other hand, clearly indicate the added value of the new global GUF layer, in particular with respect to the representation of rural settlement patterns. The Kappa coefficient of agreement compared to absolute ground truth data, for instance, shows GUF accuracies which are frequently twice as high as those of established low resolution maps. Generally, the GUF layer achieves an overall absolute accuracy of about 85%, with observed minima around 65% and maxima around 98%. The GUF will be provided open and free for any scientific use in the full resolution and for any non-profit (but also non-scientific) use in a generalized version of 2.8 ″ ( ∼ 84 m ). Therewith, the new GUF layer can be expected to break new ground with respect to the analysis of global urbanization and peri-urbanization patterns, population estimation, vulnerability assessment, or the modeling of diseases and phenomena of global change in general.

Annie Wilkinson

This paper highlights the major challenges and considerations for addressing COVID-19 in informal settlements. It discusses what is known about vulnerabilities and how to support local protective action. There is heightened concern about informal urban settlements because of the combination of population density and inadequate access to water and sanitation, which makes standard advice about social distancing and washing hands implausible. There are further challenges to do with the lack of reliable data and the social, political and economic contexts in each setting that will influence vulnerability and possibilities for action. The potential health impacts of COVID-19 are immense in informal settlements, but if control measures are poorly executed these could also have severe negative impacts. Public health interventions must be balanced with social and economic interventions, especially in relation to the informal economy upon which many poor urban residents depend. Local residents, leaders and community-based groups must be engaged and resourced to develop locally appropriate control strategies, in partnership with local governments and authorities. Historically, informal settlements and their residents have been stigmatized, blamed, and subjected to rules and regulations that are unaffordable or unfeasible to adhere to. Responses to COVID-19 should not repeat these mistakes. Priorities for enabling effective control measures include: collaborating with local residents who have unsurpassed knowledge of relevant spatial and social infrastructures, strengthening coordination with local governments, and investing in improved data for monitoring the response in informal settlements.

W. Gong, C. Juang, J. Wasowski

Abstract Mountainous regions are inherently susceptible to geohazards, such as landslides and debris flows, with the threat of natural disasters compounded by human activities (mainly settlements). Lessons learned from past events that involved the interactions between human activities and geohazards are helpful for future site selections of human settlements in mountainous regions. To this end, the events associated with county seat relocations in Badong, a typical county in the Three Gorges Reservoir region, China, are studied from an engineering geologist's perspective. Over its history, the county seat was relocated multiple times, with the first relocation traced back to the Song dynasty (960–1279 CE) and the last two relocations linked to the Three Gorges Dam project. By studying geohazards and their interactions with human activities in these county-seat relocations, and through the reconstruction of these events, we secure insights into decision-making for these events. As part of the reconstruction of these relocation events, we analyze a giant pre-historic landslide, whose discovery ultimately prompted the third relocation. Using the case history of this landslide, we also discuss and emphasize the importance of proactive monitoring of geohazards for disaster resilience enhancement, recognizing that our knowledge of nature is vastly incomplete.

Xue Luo, Jun Yang, Wei Sun et al.

Abstract Based on the multi-source data (e.g., building vector and remote sensing data) of the main urban areas of Chongqing, China, this study selected a few natural factors—the relief degree of the land surface (RDLS), land cover index (LCI), annual average land surface temperature (LST), water resource index (WRI), and frontal area index (FAI)—and used the geographic information system spatial analysis method to quantitatively investigate the spatial variation in the suitability of human settlements in mountainous areas from the perspective of ventilation. The study findings can be summarized as follows: 1) The population distribution in the main urban areas of Chongqing is affected by, in descending order, the LCI, FAI, RDLS, WRI, and LST. 2) In the main urban areas of Chongqing, the RDLS ranges from 0.21 to 2.82; it is low in the south and high in the north. The LCI ranges from 0.02 to 0.99; it is relatively low in those urban areas with a high building density. The LST ranges from 15.30 to 24.87 °C; in contrast to the spatial pattern of the LCI, the LST in the urban centers is higher than at the urban peripheries. The WRI ranges from 0.04 to 0.79; it is highest along the Yangtze and Jialing rivers. The FAI ranges from 0 to 1.63, exhibiting a gradual decline from the urban centers to the urban peripheries. As the FAI increases, the ventilation capacity worsens. 3) The ventilation-based human settlements index ranges from 0.06 to 0.54 in the mountainous areas of the city, gradually increasing from the southwest to the northeast in the main urban areas of Chongqing. In addition, zones with unsuitable human settlements are mainly distributed in mountainous regions with a high RDLS and relatively scarce water resources, whereas zones with suitable human settlements are primarily distributed in regions with a moderate RDLS, adequate vegetation cover, appropriate LST, abundant water resources, and adequate ventilation. The study findings can be used to evaluate the comfort level of human settlements, and have strategic significance to the efficient planning of urban development and the optimal layout of the population distribution.

M. Nadimpalli, Sara J. Marks, M. Montealegre et al.

Mushtaq H Khan

The political settlements framework argues that the distribution of organizational power is important for understanding the economic and political effects of institutions and policies. Institutions and policies describe rules that in turn determine resource allocation, and these can affect different types of organizations in very different ways. Organizations can be expected to support, resist or distort particular institutions or policies depending on their interests and capabilities. The distribution of organizational power can therefore determine the institutions and policies that are likely to persist as well as the ones most likely to be developmental in that context. This directs our attention to the importance of accurately identifying the relative power and capabilities of relevant organizations that describe a particular political settlement and how these may be changing over time. The articles in African Affairs that have used the political settlements framework demonstrate its usefulness. In this overview we examine the motivations behind the development of the framework and some of the challenges of applying it in the context of dynamic interactions between institutions and organizations. We also discuss the most appropriate definition of a political settlement, the questions the framework is most suited to answer and the challenges ahead for developing the framework and its applications.

Mustakimov I.A., Abzalov L.F., Gatin M.S. et al.

Research objectives: To characterize the legal status of a basqaq, daruga and shihne in the Turkic-Mongol states during the epoch of the Mongol Empire and its uluses, as well as to prove of the authentication of these offices. Authors intend to clarify the basic rights and obligations of these officers and their position in the administrative structure on a base of legal monuments, official acts, chronicles, and historical works. The first part of the article is an analysis of shihne institution. Materials and methods of research: The basic materials are historical sources including decrees of rulers, historical chronicles and political treatises as well as results of previous researches. Authors use structure functional analysis historical legal method, comparative historical and comparative legal approach, institutional analysis, critical analysis of sources and researches. Scientific novelty: It is the first attempt at research of problem of correlation of the terms “basqaq” and “daruga” and as well as their Persian analogue “shihne” on a base of legal acts on the appointment for these office. Also, it is the first Russian translation of three yarlyks on the appointment of shihne from the “Dastur al-katib fi ta‘yin al-maratib” by Muhammad b. Hindushah Nakhchivani, which are studied using an interdisciplinary approach. Results of the research: The authors find that shihne was a special officer who represented the interests of the ruler (sultan, khan, ilkhan) in the certain region. His functions included providing stability for the region while ensuring the loyalty of its population using different ways including forced and procedural methods. This office could function at the different levels of administrations – from the region (vilayet, ulus) to smaller settlements. The second, forthcoming part of the article will be devoted to the comparative analysis of the status of shihne with that of basqaq and daruga and the evolution of these offices in the Turkic-Mongol states.

W. Furian, T. Sauter

<p>This study investigates simulated glacial lake outburst floods (GLOFs) at five glacial lakes in the Everest region of Nepal using the three-dimensional model OpenFOAM. It presents the evolution of GLOF characteristics in the 21st century considering different moraine breach scenarios and two Shared Socioeconomic Pathways scenarios. The results demonstrate that in low-magnitude scenarios, the five lakes generate GLOFs that inundate between 0.35 and 2.23 km<span class="inline-formula">²</span> of agricultural land with an average water depth of 0.9 to 3.58 m. These GLOFs reach distances of 59 to 84 km, affect 30 to 88 km of roads or trails, and inundate 183 to 1699 buildings with 1.2 to 4.9 m of water. In higher scenarios, GLOFs can extend over 100 km and also affect larger settlements in the foothills. Between 80 and 100 km of roads, 735 to 1989 houses and 0.85 to 3.52 km<span class="inline-formula">²</span> of agricultural land could be inundated, with average water depths of up to 10 m. The high precision of the 3D flood modeling, with detailed simulations of turbulence and viscosity, provides valuable insights into 21st-century GLOF evolution, supporting more accurate risk assessments and effective adaptation strategies.</p>

Françoise Okah Efogo, Paul Awoa Awoa

This article focuses on the challenges that uncertainty poses to countries in global and regional value chains. In this perspective, it focuses specifically on African countries and enriches the results with a comparative approach. Indeed, using a gravity model for 49 African countries and all their trading partners from 1990 to 2019, the paper proposes a comparative analysis of the effects of uncertainty on global trade in value chains and on trade in value chains within Africa. The robustness of the results shows that domestic uncertainty can drive the expansion of intra-African trade in value chains, while uncertainty in the partner country hinders the flourishing of trade relationships within a value chain.

Zhihao Shi, Libang Ma, Wenbo Zhang et al.

In the process of rapid industrialization and urbanization, China's rural settlements are undergoing rapid differentiation and reorganization. Their spatial pattern and multifunction have attracted much attention. In the Loess Hilly Region of China, topographic factors are deeply involved in the formation and evolution of the spatial pattern and multifunction in rural settlements. Therefore, this paper proposed a new method of topographic gradient analysis based on micro-geomorphic units. Taking Tianshui City in Longzhong Loess Hilly Region as an example, we analyzed the gradient differentiation and spatial correlation of the spatial pattern and multifunction in rural settlements. The results indicated that: (1) The topographic gradient differentiation of spatial pattern in rural settlements was distinct. As the topographic gradients rose, the numerical distributions of TA, AREA_CV, MPI, PR, and SHDI were generally concentrated from high to low values. The numerical distribution of LFI was generally scattered from low to high values. In addition, the numerical distribution of AWMSI and AWMPFD showed the "arch bridge" pattern. (2) The topographic gradient differentiation of multifunction in rural settlements was distinct. The overall level of LF was relatively low, and the numerical difference was small. It had the characteristics of concentrated distribution and marginal distribution in geographical space. The overall level of PF was low, and the spatial distribution had strong urban directivity and significant topographic gradient differences. The overall level of EF was relatively low, and the spatial distribution had significant horizontal zonality and topographic gradient differences. (3) Rural settlements' scale, distribution, and structure were generally synergistic with LF and PF, but there were trade-off relationships with EF. Moreover, the trade-off/synergy relationships between spatial pattern and multifunction had significant spatial heterogeneity in terms of spatial distribution. This paper is significant for formulating settlement development and construction plans, guiding spatial reconstruction and functional reorganization, improving settlement living environment, and promoting rural revitalization.

Mays Moneer Abd Ali, Bashar M. Nema

This study investigates how decentralization and transparency offered by blockchain technology could revolutionize traditional finance. Even with the rise of well-known cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum, a general understanding of blockchain’s influence on the financial industry is still lacking. We identified five major application cases—transparent credit scoring, effective consumer identification, expedited insurance settlements, improved cybersecurity, and the emergence of decentralized finance—where blockchain technology is well positioned to tackle persistent issues. We show how blockchain technology may address problems such as opaque credit scoring, poor customer identity, convoluted insurance settlement procedures, and susceptibility to cyberattacks by thoroughly examining various use cases. According to our research, a greater number of traditional financial institutions need to embrace and integrate blockchain innovations into their functions to promote inclusivity, transparency, and decentralization.

Chenlin He, Xiaojun Wang, Jiyu Jiao et al.

Abstract The combination of fingerprint positioning and 5G (the 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology) offers broader application prospects for indoor positioning technology, but also brings challenges in real-time performance. In this paper, we propose a fingerprint positioning method based on a deep convolutional neural network (DCNN) using a classification approach in a single-base station scenario for massive multiple input multiple output-orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (MIMO-OFDM) systems. We introduce an angle-delay domain fingerprint matrix that simplifies the computation process and increases the location differentiation. The cosine distance is chosen as the fingerprint similarity criterion due to its sensitivity to angular differences. First, the DCNN model is used to determine the sub-area to which the mobile terminal belongs, and then the weighted K-nearest neighbor (WKNN) matching algorithm is used to estimate the position within the sub-area. The positioning performance is simulated in a DeepMIMO indoor environment, showing that the classification DCNN method reduces the positioning time by 77.05% compared to the non-classification method, with only a 1.08% increase in average positioning error.

K. Dovey, M. Oostrum, I. Chatterjee et al.

Abstract Informal settlement is the most pervasive mode of urbanization throughout cities of the global South, yet little is known of how informal urban design works as a production of urban space. This paper maps the emergence and transformation of street/laneway networks and buildings in a broad range of settlements. While such data cannot reveal the social, economic and political complexity of individual cases, it demonstrates the range of informal morphologies and self-organizational practices that produce them. Building types, plots, blocks, streets and lanes are analyzed to extract the informal rules or logics that are embodied within such morphologies. This is a nascent study that begins to reveal the ways in which informal settlement works to produce habitable land, affordable housing and public space. The prospect is a better knowledge base for understanding how such practices may or may not produce ‘slums’, how upgrading practices may be improved and how informal production may be anticipated and harnessed.

I. Mccallum, C. Kyba, J. L. Bayas et al.

It is well established that nighttime radiance, measured from satellites, correlates with economic prosperity across the globe. In developing countries, areas with low levels of detected radiance generally indicate limited development – with unlit areas typically being disregarded. Here we combine satellite nighttime lights and the world settlement footprint for the year 2015 to show that 19% of the total settlement footprint of the planet had no detectable artificial radiance associated with it. The majority of unlit settlement footprints are found in Africa (39%), rising to 65% if we consider only rural settlement areas, along with numerous countries in the Middle East and Asia. Significant areas of unlit settlements are also located in some developed countries. For 49 countries spread across Africa, Asia and the Americas we are able to predict and map the wealth class obtained from ~2,400,000 geo-located households based upon the percent of unlit settlements, with an overall accuracy of 87%. Nighttime lights from satellite are combined with a map of human settlements, showing that 19% of these areas, mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, have no detectable artificial light. These data were then used in models to predict well-being.

A. Zerbo, R. Delgado, P. A. González

Abstract More than half of the world population lives in the cities and around one billion in poor urban areas. These numbers are projected to increase, while Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest rate of informal settlements due his rapid urbanization. The urban informal settlements of Sub-Saharan Africa house everyday health risks. These risks have considerable cumulative impacts on the wellbeing and health of the urban vulnerable group. Despite the public health consequences of urbanization and the increase of informal settlements number in African cities, there is a paucity in data about the risks at small scale and the vulnerability in poor urban areas. Through the database search engine of MEDLINE, WHO Library and Information Networks for Knowledge and website of Urban Africa Risk Knowledge; from information of the existing literature, this paper tried to analyse the everyday health risks, and vulnerabilities in urban informal settlement in Sub-Saharan Africa region. A search combining keywords associated with health risks and informal settlement in Sub-Saharan Africa were used to identify the relevant documents, and this search yielded 86 articles, of which 15 met the criteria for inclusion in the analysis. The risks of communicable diseases due to inadequate sanitation have been the most frequent subjects of study. Informal settlers in Sub-Saharan Africa face everyday health risks arising from lack of clean water, adequate sanitation, and life in overcrowding houses. Consequently, there is a burden of communicable and non-communicable diseases, undernourishment and injuries. The most vulnerable group is children under five with a high rate of mortality. Everyday health risks in urban informal settlements must be taken into account for a better understanding of the full spectrum of urban risks. This is essential in the establishment of efficient public health policies and intervention in urban areas.

M. Islam, Magued Iskander

Abstract In the past few decades, the number of tunnels constructed next to an existing tunnel has been gradually increasing in order to accommodate infrastructure needs in congested urban cities. When a new tunnel is constructed adjacent to an existing tunnel, both the relative position of the tunnels and the construction sequence affect the ground settlement and internal forces in the linings of both tunnels. Therefore, it is important to study the influence of these factors and their relationship to tunnel construction. A review of twin tunnelling induced ground settlement is presented in this paper. A wide range of data is collected, summarized, and compared with each other to infer interaction phenomenon related to ground settlement. This data is gathered from published field observations, laboratory tests, and finite element analyses. The paper begins with an overview of single tunnelling induced settlements, volume losses, and factors which can affect twin tunnelling induced ground settlements. Next, a summary of the effects of construction sequence, pillar width, and cover depth, among other influencing factors, has been presented for four twin tunnelling configurations including (i) side-by-side, (ii) piggyback, (iii) perpendicularly crossing, and (iv) offset arrangement twin tunnelling. The paper also presents a summary of available techniques to calculate ground settlements induced by a new tunnel excavation in the presence of an existing tunnel. Finally, the paper summarizes available knowledge on ground settlement induced by various twin tunneling arrangements and identifies known unknowns.