Search results for: urban water resilience

Authors: Ghadir Hummeid

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Undoubtedly, our world is leading all the purposes and efforts to achieve sustainable development in life in all respects. Sustainability has been regarded as a solution to many challenges of our world today, materiality and immateriality. With the new consequences and challenges our world today, such as global climate change, the use of non-renewable resources, environmental pollution, the decreasing of urban health, the urban areas’ aging, the highly increasing migrations into urban areas linked to many consequences such as highly infrastructure density, social segregation. All of that required new forms of governance, new urban policies, and more efficient efforts and urban applications. Based on the fact that cities are the core of life and it is a fundamental life axis, their development can increase or decrease the life quality of their inhabitants. Architects and planners see themselves today in the need to create new approaches and new sustainable policies to develop urban areas to correspond with the physical and non-physical transformations that cities are nowadays experiencing. To enhance people's lives and provide for their needs in this present without compromising the needs and lives of future generations. The application of sustainability has become an inescapable part of the development and projections of cities' planning. Yet its definition has been indefinable due to the plurality and difference of its applications. As the conceptualizations of technology are arising and have dominated all life aspects today, from smart citizens and smart life rhythms to smart production and smart structures to smart frameworks, it has influenced the sustainability applications as well in the planning and urbanization of cities. The term "smart city" emerged from this influence as one of the possible key solutions to sustainability. The term “smart city” has various perspectives of applications and definitions in the literature and in urban applications. However, after the observation of smart city applications in current cities, this paper defined the smart city as an urban environment that is controlled by technologies yet lacks the physical architectural representation of this smartness as the current smart applications are mostly obscured from the public as they are applied now on a diminutive scale and highly integrated into the built environment. Regardless of the importance of these technologies in improving the quality of people's lives and in facing cities' challenges, it is important not to neglect their architectural and urban presentations will affect the shaping and development of city neighborhoods. By investigating the concept of smart cities and exploring its potential applications on a neighbourhood scale, this paper aims to shed light on understanding the challenges faced by cities and exploring innovative solutions such as smart city applications in urban mobility and how they affect the different aspects of communities. The paper aims to shape better articulations of smart neighborhoods’ morphologies on the social, architectural, functional, and material levels. To understand how to create more sustainable and liveable future approaches to developing urban environments inside cities. The findings of this paper will contribute to ongoing discussions and efforts in achieving sustainable urban development.

Keywords: sustainability, urban development, smart city, resilience, sense of belonging

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Authors: Ahmad E. Aldousaria, Abdulla Al Kafy

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Urbanization is an incessant process that involves the transformation of land use/land cover (LULC), resulting in a reduction of cool land covers and thermal comfort zones (TCZs). This study explores the directional shrinkage of TCZs in Kuwait using Landsat satellite data from 1991 – 2021 to predict the future LULC and TCZ distribution for 2026 and 2031 using cellular automata (CA) and artificial neural network (ANN) algorithms. Analysis revealed a rapid urban expansion (40 %) in SE, NE, and NW directions and TCZ shrinkage in N – NW and SW directions with 25 % of the very uncomfortable area. The predicted result showed an urban area increase from 44 % in 2021 to 47 % and 52 % in 2026 and 2031, respectively, where uncomfortable zones were found to be concentrated around urban areas and bare lands in N – NE and N – NW directions. This study proposes an effective and sustainable framework to control TCZ shrinkage, including zero soil policies, planned landscape design, manmade water bodies, and rooftop gardens. This study will help urban planners and policymakers to make Kuwait an eco–friendly, functional, and sustainable country.

Keywords: land cover change, thermal environment, green cover loss, machine learning, remote sensing

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Authors: Rahel Birhanu Kassaye, Ralf Otterpohl, Kumelachew Yeshitila

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Water resource management and land degradation are among the critical issues threatening the suitable livability of many cities in developing countries such as Ethiopia. Rapid expansion of urban areas and fast growing population has increased the pressure on water security. On the other hand, the large transformation of natural green cover and agricultural land loss to settlement and industrial activities such as quarrying is contributing to environmental concerns. Integrated water harvesting is considered to play a crucial role in terms of providing alternative water source to insure water security and helping to improve soil condition, agricultural productivity and regeneration of ecosystem. Moreover, it helps to control stormwater runoff, thus reducing flood risks and pollution, thereby improving the quality of receiving water bodies and the health of inhabitants. The aim of this research was to investigate the potential of applying integrated water harvesting approaches as a provision for water source and enabling land restoration in Jemo river catchment consisting of abandoned quarry site adjacent to a settlement area that is facing serious water shortage in western hilly part of Addis Ababa city, Ethiopia. The abandoned quarry site, apart from its contribution to the loss of aesthetics, has resulted in poor water infiltration and increase in stormwater runoff leading to land degradation and flooding in the downstream. Application of GIS and multi-criteria based analysis are used for the assessment of potential water harvesting technologies considering the technology features and site characteristics of the case study area. Biophysical parameters including precipitation, surrounding land use, surface gradient, soil characteristics and geological aspects are used as site characteristic indicators and water harvesting technologies including retention pond, check dam, agro-forestation employing contour trench system were considered for evaluation with technical and socio-economic factors used as parameters in the assessment. The assessment results indicate the different suitability potential among the analyzed water harvesting and restoration techniques with respect to the abandoned quarry site characteristics. Application of agro-forestation with contour trench system with the revegetation of indigenous plants is found to be the most suitable option for reclamation and restoration of the quarry site. Successful application of the selected technologies and strategies for water harvesting and restoration is considered to play a significant role to provide additional water source, maintain good water quality, increase agricultural productivity at urban peri-urban interface scale and improve biodiversity in the catchment. The results of the study provide guideline for decision makers and contribute to the integration of decentralized water harvesting and restoration techniques in the water management and planning of the case study area.

Keywords: abandoned quarry site, land reclamation and restoration, multi-criteria assessment, water harvesting

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Authors: Malik Muhammad Akhtar, Tanzeel Khan

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Various natural and anthropogenic factors are affecting recharge processes in urban areas due to intense urban expansion; land-use/landcover change (LULC) and climate considerably influence the ecosystem functions. In Quetta, a terrible transformation of LULC has occurred due to an increase in human population and rapid urbanization over the past years; according to the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, the increase of population from 252,577 in 1972 to 2,275,699 in 2017 shows an abrupt rise which in turn has affected the aquifer recharge capability, vegetation, and precipitation at Quetta. This study focuses on the influence of population growth and LULC on groundwater table level by employing multi-temporal, multispectral satellite data during the selected years, i.e. 2014, 2017, and 2020. The results of land classification showed that barren land had shown a considerable decrease, whereas the urban area has increased over time from 152.4sq/km in 2014 to 195.5sq/km in 2017 to 283.3sq/km in 2020, whereas surface-water area coverage has increased since 2014 because of construction of few dams around the valley. Rapid urbanization stresses limited hydrology resources, and this needs to be addressed to conserve/sustain the resources through educating the local community, awareness regarding water use and climate change, and supporting artificial recharge of the aquifers.

Keywords: climate changes, urbanization, GIS, land use, Quetta, watershed

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Authors: Samaneh Abedini, Diana Coholic

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The transition from adolescence into adulthood involves many changes that result in increased vulnerability to psychological challenges. This developmental stage can be especially stressful for female youth living in underserviced regions. If mental health problems are left untreated in socially marginalized youth, these challenges can extend into adulthood. We know that a lack of access to mental health services and supports can influence adolescents’ psycho-social development and well-being, while resilience and emotion regulation can help them cope with these challenges. Feasible therapeutic programs can play a significant role in assisting youth in developing these characteristics and skills. Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy for Children (MBCT-C) and Holistic Art-Based Program (HAP) are two examples of mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) that address emotion regulation, coping strategies, and resilience in marginalized youth. While each program’s beneficial effects have been documented, there is a lack of research comparing MBIs with youth, within underserviced geographical locations, and across different cultures. In this study, the sample was 42 female youth between the ages of 12 and 17 years from Iran. 42 female youth from the Elm o Honar High School, located in rural parts of Iran, Isfahan province, have been enrolled in the study. The participants were assigned to one of the MBIs (three MBCT-C experimental groups (n=20) and three HAP experimental groups (n=22)). All participants completed measures including the Child and Youth Resilience Measure-28 (CYRM-28), Child and Adolescent Mindfulness Measure (CAMM), and Difficulties in Emotion Regulation Scale (DERS) at baseline and post-intervention. At the end of intervention, the MBCT-C and HAP experimental groups showed significant changes in resilience and emotion regulation. However, the changes in resilience in HAP groups were not significant; the participants in MBCT-C experimental groups showed significant improvement in resilience. The study provided initial evidence that mindfulness-based intervention can be potentially beneficial for improving mental health status in marginalized Iranian female youth living in the middle east culture.

Keywords: benefits, female, marginalized, mindfulness, youth

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Authors: Mona Shojaei

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The Sub-Atmospheric Vapor Pipeline (SAVP) introduces a distinct approach to seawater desalination with promising applications in both land and industrial sectors. SAVP systems exploit the temperature difference between a hot source and a cold environment to facilitate efficient vapor transfer, offering substantial benefits in diverse industrial and field applications. This approach incorporates dynamic boundary conditions, where the temperatures of hot and cold sources vary over time, particularly in natural and industrial environments. Such variations critically influence convection and diffusion processes, introducing challenges that require the refinement of the convection-diffusion equation and the derivation of temperature profiles along the pipeline through advanced engineering mathematics. This study formulates vapor temperature as a function of time and length using two mathematical approaches: Eigen functions and Green’s equation. Combining detailed theoretical modeling, mathematical simulations, and extensive field and industrial tests, this research underscores the SAVP system’s scalability for real-world applications. Results reveal a high degree of accuracy, highlighting SAVP’s significant potential for energy conservation and environmental sustainability. Furthermore, the integration of SAVP technology within smart and green building systems creates new opportunities for sustainable urban water management. By capturing and repurposing vapor for non-potable uses such as irrigation, greywater recycling, and ecosystem support in green spaces, SAVP aligns with the principles of smart and green buildings. Smart buildings emphasize efficient resource management, enhanced system control, and automation for optimal energy and water use, while green buildings prioritize environmental impact reduction and resource conservation. SAVP technology bridges both paradigms, enhancing water self-sufficiency and reducing reliance on external water supplies. The sustainable and energy-efficient properties of SAVP make it a vital component in resilient infrastructure development, addressing urban water scarcity while promoting eco-friendly living. This dual alignment with smart and green building goals positions SAVP as a transformative solution in the pursuit of sustainable urban resource management.

Keywords: sub-atmospheric vapor pipeline, seawater desalination, energy efficiency, vapor transfer dynamics, mathematical modeling, sustainable water solutions, smart buildings

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Authors: J.Zambrano Nájera, M.Gómez Valentín

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Increases in urbanization during XX century, have brought as one major problem the increased of sediment production. Hydraulic erosion is one of the major causes of increasing of sediments in small urban catchments. Such increments in sediment yielding in header urban catchments can caused obstruction of drainage systems, making impossible to capture urban runoff, increasing runoff volumes and thus exacerbating problems of urban flooding. For these reasons, it is more and more important to study of sediment production in urban watershed for properly analyze and solve problems associated to sediments. The study of sediments production has improved with the use of mathematical modeling. For that reason, it is proposed a new physically based model applicable to small header urban watersheds that includes the advantages of distributed physically base models, but with more realistic data requirements. Additionally, in this paper the model proposed is compared with a lumped model, reviewing the results, the advantages and disadvantages between the both of them.

Keywords: erosion, hydrologic modeling, urban runoff, sediment modeling, sediment yielding, urban planning

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Authors: Rana Sameeh

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The city is the greatest symbol of human civilization and has been built for safety and comfort. However, uncontrolled urban growth caused some anonymous and unsightly images of the cities such as unused or abandoned spaces. When social interaction is missed in a public space it means the public space is lost since public spaces reflect the social life and interaction of people. Accordingly; this space became one of the most meaningless parts of the cities and has broken the continuity of the urban fabric. Lost urban spaces are the leftover unstructured landscape within the urban fabric. They are generally the unrecognized urban areas that are in need of redesign, since they have a great value that can add to their surrounding urban context. The research significance lies within the importance of urban open spaces, their value and their impact on the urban fabric. The research also addresses the reuse and reclamation of lost urban spaces in order to increase the percentage of green areas along the urban fabric, provide urban open spaces, develop a sustainable approach towards urban landscape and enhance the quality of the public open space and user experience. In addition, the reuse of lost space will give it the identity and function it lacks while also providing places for presence, spending time and observing. Creating continuity in a broken urban fabric represents an exploratory process in the relationship between infrastructure and the urban fabric and seeks to establish an architectural solution to leftover space within the city. In doing so, the research establishes a framework (criteria) for adaptive reuse of lost urban space throughout inductive and deductive methodology, analytical methodology; by analyzing some relevant examples and similar cases of lost spaces and finally through field methodology; by applying the achieved criteria on a case study in Alexandria and carrying on SWOT analysis and evaluation of the potentials of this case study.

Keywords: adaptive reuse, lost urban space, quality of public open space, urban fabric

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Authors: Md. Imran H. Khan, T. Farrell, M. A. Karim

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Highly porous and hygroscopic characteristics of pear make it complex to understand the cellular level water distribution. In pear tissue, water is mainly distributed in three different spaces namely, intercellular water, intracellular water, and cell wall water. Understanding of these three types of water in pear tissue is crucial for predicting actual heat and mass transfer during drying. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the proportion of intercellular water, intracellular water, and cell wall water inside the pear tissue. During this study, Green Anjou Pear was taken for the investigation. The experiment was performed using 1H-NMR- T2 relaxometry. Various types of water component were calculated by using multi-component fits of the T2 relaxation curves. The experimental result showed that in pear tissue 78-82% water exist in intracellular space; 12-16% water in intercellular space and only 2-4% water exist in the cell wall space. The investigated results quantify different types of water in plant-based food tissue. The highest proportion of water exists in intracellular spaces. It was also investigated that the physical properties of pear and the proportion of the different types of water has a strong relationship. Cell wall water depends on the proportion of solid in the sample tissue whereas free water depends on the porosity of the material.

Keywords: intracellular water, intercellular water, cell wall water, physical property, pear

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Authors: Zhenyu Zhang, Hsi-Hsien Wei

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Highway networks play a vital role in post-disaster recovery for disaster-damaged areas. Damaged bridges in such networks can disrupt the recovery activities by impeding the transportation of people, cargo, and reconstruction resources. Therefore, rapid restoration of damaged bridges is of paramount importance to long-term disaster recovery. In the post-disaster recovery phase, the key to restoration scheduling for a highway network is prioritization of bridge-repair tasks. Resilience is widely used as a measure of the ability to recover with which a network can return to its pre-disaster level of functionality. In practice, highways will be temporarily blocked during the downtime of bridge restoration, leading to the decrease of highway-network functionality. The failure to take downtime effects into account can lead to overestimation of network resilience. Additionally, post-disaster recovery of highway networks is generally divided into emergency bridge repair (EBR) in the response phase and long-term bridge repair (LBR) in the recovery phase, and both of EBR and LBR are different in terms of restoration objectives, restoration duration, budget, etc. Distinguish these two phases are important to precisely quantify highway network resilience and generate suitable restoration schedules for highway networks in the recovery phase. To address the above issues, this study proposes a novel resilience quantification method for the optimization of long-term bridge repair schedules (LBRS) taking into account the impact of EBR activities and restoration downtime on a highway network’s functionality. A time-dependent integer program with recursive functions is formulated for optimally scheduling LBR activities. Moreover, since uncertainty always exists in the LBRS problem, this paper extends the optimization model from the deterministic case to the stochastic case. A hybrid genetic algorithm that integrates a heuristic approach into a traditional genetic algorithm to accelerate the evolution process is developed. The proposed methods are tested using data from the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, based on a regional highway network in Sichuan, China, consisting of 168 highway bridges on 36 highways connecting 25 cities/towns. The results show that, in this case, neglecting the bridge restoration downtime can lead to approximately 15% overestimation of highway network resilience. Moreover, accounting for the impact of EBR on network functionality can help to generate a more specific and reasonable LBRS. The theoretical and practical values are as follows. First, the proposed network recovery curve contributes to comprehensive quantification of highway network resilience by accounting for the impact of both restoration downtime and EBR activities on the recovery curves. Moreover, this study can improve the highway network resilience from the organizational dimension by providing bridge managers with optimal LBR strategies.

Keywords: disaster management, highway network, long-term bridge repair schedule, resilience, restoration downtime

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Authors: Livia Calcagni

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Most of the largest cities in the world are located in areas that are vulnerable to coastal erosion and flooding, both linked to climate change and rising sea levels (RSL). Nevertheless, more and more people are moving to these vulnerable areas as cities keep growing. Architects, engineers and policy makers are called to rethink the way we live and to provide timely and adequate responses not only by investigating measures to improve the urban fabric, but also by developing strategies capable of planning change, exploring unusual and resilient frontiers of living, such as floating architecture. Since the beginning of the 21st century we have seen a dynamic growth of water-based architecture. At the same time, the shortage of land available for urban development also led to reclaim the seabed or to build floating structures. In light of these considerations, time is ripe to consider floating architecture not only as a full-fledged building typology but especially as a full-fledged adaptation solution for RSL. Currently, there is no global international legal framework for urban development on water and there is no structured performance based building design (PBBD) approach for floating architecture in most countries, let alone national regulatory systems. Thus, the research intends to identify the technological, morphological, functional, economic, managerial requirements that must be considered in a the development of the PBBD framework conceived as a meta-design tool. As it is expected that floating urban development is mostly likely to take place as extension of coastal areas, the needs and design criteria are definitely more similar to those of the urban environment than of the offshore industry. Therefor, the identification and categorization of parameters takes the urban-architectural guidelines and regulations as the starting point, taking the missing aspects, such as hydrodynamics, from the offshore and shipping regulatory frameworks. This study is carried out through an evidence-based assessment of performance guidelines and regulatory systems that are effective in different countries around the world addressing on-land and on-water architecture as well as offshore and shipping industries. It involves evidence-based research and logical argumentation methods. Overall, this paper highlights how inhabiting water is not only a viable response to the problem of RSL, thus a resilient frontier for urban development, but also a response to energy insecurity, clean water and food shortages, environmental concerns and urbanization, in line with Blue Economy principles and the Agenda 2030. Moreover, the discipline of architecture is presented as a fertile field for investigating solutions to cope with climate change and its effects on life safety and quality. Future research involves the development of a decision support system as an information tool to guide the user through the decision-making process, emphasizing the logical interaction between the different potential choices, based on the PBBD.

Keywords: adaptation measures, floating architecture, performance based building design, resilient architecture, rising sea levels

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Authors: Arun Kumar

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For the present study a total of 219 women, from urban and rural areas of Sagar district of central India were selected. The mean age at menarche of rural women was found 13.89±1.17 years and for urban women, it was 13.78±1.12 years. The difference between the mean age at menarche of urban and rural women was statistically insignificant (t=0.580, p≤0.05). Mean age at menopause among rural women was (47.4±4.92). The difference between the mean of urban and rural women was statistically insignificant (t=0.739 and p≤0.05). These findings indicate that rural women experience menopause at a later age as compared to their urban counterparts.

Keywords: menarche, menopause, urban, rural, Bidi workers

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Authors: I. P. Singh, Ajesh Kumar Kapoor

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Rapid globalization have led to a change towards massive uncontrolled urbanization. Whereas during initial years negligence was there in the name of development, growth and vision toward healthier and better tomorrow. Considering the scenario of developing nations (India) where 70% of their population is living on 30% (urban areas) of their total land available. The need of an hour is to consider the ethical values of each and every person living in urban fringes, whereby the sustainable urban development is promoted which encompasses the move toward low carbon developments. It would help reviving a city lung space and reducing carbon credits as per Kyoto Protocol 1991. This paper would provide an overview about Indian scenario of current urban areas, ongoing developments, series of regulatory policy measures, materials innovative use and policies framed and opted for low carbon development.

Keywords: urban sustainability, indicators for sustainable development, low carbon development, Indian Policies toward low carbon development

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Authors: Duran Fiack, Jeremy Cumberbatch, Michael Sutherland, Nadine Zerphey

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Civic leaders have increasingly relied upon local climate adaptation plans to identify vulnerabilities, prioritize goals, and implement actions in order to prepare cities for the present and projected effects of global climate change. The concept of sustainability is central to these efforts, as climate adaptation discussions are often framed within the context of economic resilience, environmental protection, and the distribution of climate change impacts across various socioeconomic groups. For urban centers, the climate change issue presents unique challenges for each of these dimensions; however, its potential impacts on marginalized populations are extensive. This study draws from the ‘just sustainabilities’ framework to perform a qualitative analysis of climate adaptation plans prepared by 22 of the 100 largest U.S. cities and examine whether, and to what extent, such initiatives prioritize social equity improvements. Past research has found that the integration of sustainability in urban policy and planning often produces outcomes that favor environmental and economic objectives over social equity improvements. We find that social equity is a particularly prominent theme in local-level climate adaptation efforts, relative to environmental quality and economic development. The findings contribute to the literature on climate adaptation and sustainability within the urban context and offer practical insight for local-level stakeholders concerning potential obstacles and opportunities for the integration of social equity initiatives into climate adaptation planning. Given the likelihood that climate changes will continue to impose unique challenges for marginalized communities in urban areas, advancing our understanding of how social equity concerns are integrated into adaptation efforts is likely to become an increasingly critical area of inquiry.

Keywords: climate adaptation plan, climate change, social equity, sustainability

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Authors: Chang Hsueh-Sheng, Chen Tzu-Ling

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Earthquake is an unpredictable natural disaster and intensive earthquakes have caused serious impacts on social-economic system, environmental and social resilience, and further increase vulnerability. Due to earthquakes do not kill people, buildings do. When buildings located nearby earthquake-prone areas and constructed upon poorer soil areas might result in earthquake-induced ground damage. In addition, many existing buildings built before any improved seismic provisions began to be required in building codes and inappropriate land usage with highly dense population might result in much serious earthquake disaster. Indeed, not only do earthquake disaster impact seriously on urban environment, but urban growth might increase the vulnerability. Since 1980s, ‘Cutting down risks and vulnerability’ has been brought up in both urban planning and architecture and such concept has way beyond retrofitting of seismic damages, seismic resistance, and better anti-seismic structures, and become the key action on disaster mitigation. Land use planning and zoning are two critical non-structural measures on controlling physical development while it is difficult for zoning boards and governing bodies restrict development of questionable lands to uses compatible with the hazard without credible earthquake loss projection. Therefore, identifying potential earthquake exposure, vulnerability people and places, and urban development areas might become strongly supported information for decision makers. Taiwan locates on the Pacific Ring of Fire where a seismically active zone is. Some of the active faults have been found close by densely populated and highly developed built environment in the cities. Therefore, this study attempts to base on the perspective of carrying capacity and draft out micro-zonation according to both vulnerability index and urban growth index while considering spatial variances of multi factors via geographical weighted principle components (GWPCA). The purpose in this study is to construct supported information for decision makers on revising existing zoning in high-risk areas for a more compatible use and the public on managing risks.

Keywords: earthquake disaster, vulnerability, urban growth, carrying capacity, /geographical weighted principle components (GWPCA), bivariate spatial association statistic

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Authors: Meenakshi Pappu

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The term, 'urban ecology' has often been misconstrued by the educational practitioners as well as the researchers as a study under a single discipline i.e., the environmental sciences. One who has done research extensively in this study would always argue that urban ecology is not a study under a single discipline, but it is a study across disciplines such as social sciences and other sciences like architecture, engineering, planning, ecology, geography, biology, economics, sociology, anthropology, psychology and health sciences. The aim of this paper is to discuss at length the scope of Urban Ecology as an interdisciplinary study. The paper highlights the nuances of urban ecology as a study across disciplines and the challenges and the implications it holds for future research by conducting a qualitative survey in the particular areas.

Keywords: educational practitioners, interdisciplinary, researchers, urban ecology

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Authors: Seyed Armin Hashemi, Somayeh Rahimzadeh

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The urban green space and environment should be considered to be among the most fundamental elements of the sustainability of natural and human life in the new citizenship. The present research is intended to evaluate the impact of irrigation using urban wastewater of Cadmium (Cd) in the soil and leaves of the pine trees of Rasht in the forest territories of Rasht. For this purpose, following the exact specification of the geographical and topographical attributes of under treatment area, 100 sample trees were implemented randomly –systematically in each compound studied. Approaching the end of growth season, five trees were selected randomly in each of the plats and samples of leaves were collected from the parts near to the end of the crown and the part which was adjacent to the light. At the foot of each of the trees selected, a soil profile was dug and samples of soil were extracted from three depths of 0-20, centimeters. The measurements done in the laboratory showed that the density of nutritious elements of the samples of leaf and soil in the compound irrigated with wastewater .The results of the present research suggest that urban can be used as a source of irrigation whereas muck can be employed in forestation and irrigation with precise and particular supervision and control.

Keywords: irrigation, forestation, urban waste water, pine, wastewater

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Authors: Ahmad Sharif Ahmadi, Yoshitaka Kajita

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With massive population expansion and fast economic development in last decade, urban land has increasingly expanded and formed high informal development territory in Kabul city. This paper investigates integrated urbanization trends in Kabul city since the formation of the basic structure of the present city using GIS and remote sensing. This study explores the spatial and temporal difference of urban land expansion and land use categories among different time intervals, 1964-1978 and 1978-2008 from 1964 to 2008 in Kabul city. Furthermore, the goal of this paper is to understand the extent of urban land expansion and the factors driving urban land expansion in Kabul city. Many factors like population expansion, the return of refugees from neighboring countries and significant economic growth of the city affected urban land expansion. Across all the study area urban land expansion rate, population expansion rate and economic growth rate have been compared to analyze the relationship of driving forces with urban land expansion. Based on urban land change data detected by interpreting land use maps, it was found that in the entire study area the urban territory has been expanded by 14 times between 1964 and 2008.

Keywords: GIS, Kabul city, land use, urban land expansion, urbanization

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Authors: Vincenzo Russo, Rosella Giacometti

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The paper aims to assess the insurance industry's resilience under Solvency II against adverse scenarios. Starting from the economic balance sheet available under Solvency II for insurance and reinsurance undertakings, we assume that assets and liabilities follow a bivariate geometric Brownian motion (GBM). Then, using the results available under Margrabe's formula, we establish an analytical solution to calibrate the volatility of the asset-liability ratio. In such a way, we can estimate the probability of default and the probability of breaching the undertaking's Solvency Capital Requirement (SCR). Furthermore, since estimating the volatility of the Solvency Ratio became crucial for insurers in light of the financial crises featured in the last decades, we introduce a novel measure that we call Resiliency Ratio. The Resiliency Ratio can be used, in addition to the Solvency Ratio, to evaluate the insurance industry's resilience in case of adverse scenarios. Finally, we introduce a simplified stress test tool to evaluate the economic balance sheet under stressed conditions. The model we propose is featured by analytical tractability and fast calibration procedure where only the disclosed data available under the Solvency II public reporting are needed for the calibration. Using the data published regularly by the European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) in an aggregated form by country, an empirical analysis has been performed to calibrate the model and provide the related results at the country level.

Keywords: Solvency II, solvency ratio, volatility of the asset-liability ratio, probability of default, probability to breach the SCR, resilience ratio, stress test

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Authors: Lopita Pal, Suresh V. Madha

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Wetlands are areas of marsh, fen, peat land or water, whether natural or artificial, permanent or temporary, with water that is static or flowing, fresh, brackish or salt, including areas of marine water the depth of which at low tide does not exceed six metres. The rapidly expanding human population, large scale changes in land use/land cover, burgeoning development projects and improper use of watersheds all has caused a substantial decline of wetland resources in the world. Major degradations have been impacted from agricultural, industrial and urban developments leading to various types of pollutions and hydrological perturbations. Regular fishing activities and unsustainable grazing of animals are degrading the wetlands in a slow pace. The paper focuses on the spatio-temporal change detection of the area of the water body and the main cause of this depletion. The total area under study (22°19’87’’ N, 88°20’23’’ E) is a wetland region in West Bengal of 213 sq.km. The procedure used is the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI) from multi-spectral imagery and Landsat to detect the presence of surface water, and the datasets have been compared of the years 2016, 2006 and 1996. The result shows a sharp decline in the area of water body due to a rapid increase in the agricultural practices and the growing urbanization.

Keywords: spatio-temporal change, NDWI, urbanization, wetland

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Authors: Luojie Tang

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Riverside space is an important public space and ecological corridor in urban areas, but mountainous urban rivers are often overlooked due to their deep valleys and poor accessibility. This article takes the Qing Shui Xi River in Chongqing as an example, and through long-term field inspections, measurements, interviews, and online surveys, summarizes the problems of poor accessibility, limited space for renovation, lack of waterfront facilities, excessive artificial intervention, low average runoff, severe river water pollution, and difficulty in integrated watershed management in riverside space. Based on the current situation and drawing on relevant experiences, this article summarizes the design methods for riverside space in deep valley rivers in mountainous urban areas. Regarding spatial design techniques, the article emphasizes the importance of integrating waterfront spaces into the urban public space system and vertical linkages. Furthermore, the article suggests different design methods and improvement strategies for the already developed areas and new development areas. Specifically, the article proposes a planning and design strategy of "protection" and "empowerment" for new development areas and an updating and transformation strategy of "improvement" and "revitalization" for already developed areas. In terms of ecological restoration methods, the article suggests three focus points: increasing the runoff of urban rivers, raising the landscape water level during dry seasons, and restoring vegetation and wetlands in the riverbank buffer zone while protecting the overall pattern of the watershed. Additionally, the article presents specific design details of the Qingshuixi River to illustrate the proposed design and restoration techniques.

Keywords: deep-cut river, design method, mountainous city, Qingshuixi river in Chongqing, waterfront space design

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Authors: J. C. Hoyos, J. Zambrano Nájera

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Increasing urbanization has led to changes in the natural dynamics of watersheds, causing problems such as increases in volumes of runoff, peak flow rates, and flow rates so that the risk of storm flooding increases. Sewerage networks designed 30 – 40 years ago don’t account for these increases in flow volumes and velocities. Besides, Andean cities with high slopes worsen the problem because velocities are even higher not allowing sewerage network work and causing cities less resilient to landscape changes and climatic change. In Latin America, especially Colombia, this is a major problem because urban population at late XX century was more than 70% is in urban areas increasing approximately in 790% in 1940-1990 period. Thus, it becomes very important to study how changes in hydrological behavior affect hydraulic capacity of sewerage networks in Andean Urban Watersheds. This research aims to determine the impact of urbanization in high-sloped urban watersheds in its hydrology. To this end it will be used as study area experimental urban watershed named Palogrande-San Luis watershed, located in the city of Manizales, Colombia. Manizales is a city in central western Colombia, located in Colombian Central Mountain Range (part of Los Andes Mountains) with an abrupt topography (average altitude is 2.153 m). The climate in Manizales is quite uniform, but due to its high altitude it presents high precipitations (1.545 mm/year average) with high humidity (83% average). Behavior of the current sewerage network will be reviewed by the hydraulic model SWMM (Storm Water Management Model). Based on SWMM the hydrological response of urban watershed selected will be evaluated under the design storm with different frequencies in the region, such as drainage effect and water-logging, overland flow on roads, etc. Cartographic information was obtained from a Geographic Information System (GIS) thematic maps of the Institute of Environmental Studies of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia and the utility Aguas de Manizales S.A. Rainfall and streamflow data is obtained from 4 rain gages and 1 stream gages. This information will allow determining critical issues on drainage systems design in urban watershed with very high slopes, and which practices will be discarded o recommended.

Keywords: land cover changes, storm sewer system, urban hydrology, urban planning

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Authors: Reza Mokhtari Malekabadi, Leila Jalalabadi, Zahra Kiyani Ghaleh No

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Today, systems of management and urban planning, attempt to reach more sustainable development through monitoring developments, urban development and development plans. Monitoring of changes in the urban places and sustainable urban development accounted a base for the realization of worthy goals urban sustainable development. The importance of women in environmental protection programs is high enough that in 21 agenda has been requested from all countries to allocate more shares to women in their policies. On the other hand, urban waste landfill has become one of the environmental concerns in modern cities. This research assumes that the impact of women on recycling, reduction and proper waste landfill is much more than men. For this reason, three districts; Yousef Abad, Heshmatieh and Nezam Abad are gauged through questionnaire and using the analytical research hypothesis model. This research will be categorized as functional research. The results have shown that noticing the power of women, their participation towards realization of the development objectives and programs can be used in solving their problems.

Keywords: citizens, urban, environmental, sustainability, solid waste, Tehran

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Authors: Yun Zhang

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Urban housing in China is typified by residential districts that occupy 25 to 40 percentage of the urban land. In residential districts, squares, roads, and building facades, as well as plants, usually form a four-grade spatial structure: district entrances, central landscapes, housing cluster entrances, green spaces between dwellings. This spatial structure and its elements not only compose the visible residential landscape but also play a major role of carrying rain water. These elements, therefore, imply ecological significance to urban fitness. Based upon theories of landscape ecology, residential landscape can be understood as a pattern typified by minor soft patch of planted area and major hard patch of buildings and squares, as well as hard corridors of roads. Use five landscape districts in Hangzhou as examples; this paper finds that the size, shape and slope direction of soft patch, the bend of roads, and the form of the four-grade spatial structure are influential for adapting to natural rainwater circulation.

Keywords: Hangzhou China, rainwater, residential landscape, spatial character, urban housing

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Authors: Melis Inalpulat, Levent Genc

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In the present study, an attempt was made to state the Land Use Land Cover (LULC) transformation over three decades around the urban regions of Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale provincial centers (PCs) in Turkey. Landsat imageries acquired in 1984, 1999 and 2014 were used to determine the LULC change. Images were classified using the supervised classification technique and five main LULC classes were considered including forest (F), agricultural land (A), residential area (urban) - bare soil (R-B), water surface (W), and other (O). Change detection analyses were conducted for 1984-1999 and 1999-2014, and the results were evaluated. Conversions of LULC types to R-B class were investigated. In addition, population changes (1985-2014) were assessed depending on census data, the relations between population and the urban areas were stated, and future populations and urban area needs were forecasted for 2030. The results of LULC analysis indicated that urban areas, which are covered under R-B class, were expanded in all PCs. During 1984-1999 R-B class within Balıkesir, Bursa and Çanakkale PCs were found to have increased by 7.1%, 8.4%, and 2.9%, respectively. The trend continued in the 1999-2014 term and the increment percentages reached to 15.7%, 15.5%, and 10.2% at the end of 30-year period (1984-2014). Furthermore, since A class in all provinces was found to be the principal contributor for the R-B class, urban sprawl lead to the loss of agricultural lands. Moreover, the areas of R-B classes were highly correlated with population within all PCs (R²>0.992). Depending on this situation, both future populations and R-B class areas were forecasted. The estimated values of increase in the R-B class areas for Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale PCs were 1,586 ha, 7,999 ha and 854 ha, respectively. Due to this fact, the forecasted values for 2,030 are 7,838 ha, 27,866, and 2,486 ha for Balıkesir, Bursa, and Çanakkale, and thus, 7.7%, 8.2%, and 9.7% more R-B class areas are expected to locate in PCs in respect to the same order.

Keywords: landsat, LULC change, population, urban sprawl

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Authors: Yan Jia China

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The ruins is a kind of historical intention, which is also the current real existence of developing city. Zen culture of ancient China has a profound esthetic emotion, similarly, the west establish the concept of aesthetics of relic along with the Romanism’s (such as Rousseau etc.) sentiment to historical ruins at the end of 18th century. Nowadays, with the decline of traditional industrial society as well as the rise of post-industrial age, contemporary society must face the ruins and garbage problem which is left by industrial society. Commencing from the perspective of emotion and memory, this paper analyzes the importance for emotional needs as well as their existing status of several projects, such as the Capital Steelworks in Beijing (industrial devastation), the Shibati old section in Chongqing (urban slums) and the Old Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem (ruins of war). It emphasizes urban design which is started from emotion and the sustainable development of city memory through managing the urban ruins which is criticized by people with the perspective of ecology and art.

Keywords: cultural heritage, urban ruins, ecology, emotion, sustainable urban memory

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Authors: Luz-Marina Roberts, Ancil Kirk, Aisha Donaldson, Anya Seepaul, Jade Lakhan, Shianna Tikasingh

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Climate change has produced a crisis that particularly threatens small island states in the Caribbean. Developers and climate enthusiasts alike are now forced to find new and sustainable ways of building. Focus on existing buildings is particularly needed in Trinidad and Tobago, like other islands, especially as these countries are vulnerable to climate threats and geographic locations with close proximity to a hurricane. Additionally, since many colonial-era style buildings still exist, the idea that they are energy inefficient is at the forefront of the work of policy-makers. The question that remains is can these buildings be retrofitted to reflect the modern era while considering climate resilience. This paper aims to investigate the energy efficiency of colonial-era buildings in Port of Spain and whether these buildings in Trinidad and Tobago, if found to be energy inefficient, can be more energy efficient and sustainable. This involves collecting surveys from building management in colonial-era buildings and researching literature on colonial architecture in the Caribbean and modern innovations in green building designs. Additionally, the data and experiences from the Town and Country Planning Division in the Ministry of Planning and Development of Trinidad and Tobago will inform the paper. This research will aid in re-envisioning how green infrastructure can be applied to urban environments with older buildings and help inform planning policy as it relates to sustainability and energy efficiency.

Keywords: spatial planning, climate resilience, energy efficiency, sustainable development

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Authors: Muhammad Nasar-u-Minallah, Dagmar Haase, Salman Qureshi

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Rapid urbanization significantly change land use, urban nature, land surface vegetation cover, and heat distribution, leading to the formation of urban heat island (UHI) effect and affecting the healthy growth of cities and the comfort of human living style. Past information and present changes in Land Surface Temperature (LST) and urban landscapes could be useful to geographers, environmentalists, and urban planners in an attempt to shape the urban development process and mitigate the effects of urban heat islands (UHI). This study aims at using Satellite Remote Sensing (SRS) and GIS techniques to develop an approach for assessing the urban nature and UHI effects in Lahore, Pakistan. The study employed the Radiative Transfer Method (RTM) in estimating LST to assess the SUHI effect during the interval of 20 years (2000-2020). The assessment was performed by the available Landsat 7/ETM+ and Landsat 8/OIL_TIRs data for the years 2000, 2010, and 2020 respectively. Pearson’s correlation and normalized mutual information were applied to investigate the relationship between green space characteristics and LST. The result of this work revealed that the influence of urban heat island is not always at the city centers but sometimes in the outskirt where a lot of development activities were going on towards the direction of expansion of Lahore, Pakistan. The present study explores the usage of image processing and spatial analysis in the drive towards achieving urban greening of Lahore and a sustainable urban environment in terms of urban planning, policy, and decision making and promoting the healthy and sustainable urban environment of the city.

Keywords: urban nature, urban heat islands, urban green space, land use, Lahore

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Authors: Clemencia Gomez

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Geology is currently absent from Colombia's education system, leading to a lack of geological awareness that hinders essential scientific training about Earth and its spatial and temporal dimensions. Understanding geological concepts is crucial for tackling challenges like climate change, sustainable resource management, geological risk mitigation, and groundwater management. Citizens have the right to receive a comprehensive scientific education that enhances their critical thinking regarding social, environmental, and economic issues. Geological sciences are vital in this context, as they enable the sustainable use of the planet's resources and effective management of human impacts. Additionally, geoethics should be integral to every citizen's education, highlighting the necessity of responsibly utilizing natural resources found in the Earth's surface and subsurface, which are fundamental to many everyday products. The Colombian associations of Geology aims to address these gaps by advocating for the appointment of geologists in municipalities. These professionals would assist in reviewing technical aspects of urban planning, identifying geological risks, pinpointing water supply opportunities, supporting sustainable mineral-energy projects, and promoting geological education in schools. The role of a professional in Earth sciences is crucial for municipalities for several reasons: Natural Resource Management: Earth scientists help in managing and conserving natural resources such as water, minerals, and soil. Their expertise ensures sustainable use and helps prevent depletion. Environmental Protection: They assess environmental impacts and advise on policies to protect ecosystems and biodiversity. This is vital for maintaining the health of local environments. Disaster Preparedness and Response: Professionals in this field analyze geological hazards like earthquakes, floods, and landslides. They contribute to developing early warning systems and emergency response plans, which can save lives and property. Climate Change Mitigation: Earth scientists study climate patterns and contribute to strategies for mitigating climate change impacts. This includes advising on land use planning and developing resilience strategies for communities. Urban Planning and Development: Their expertise is essential in urban planning, ensuring that infrastructure development considers geological and environmental factors. This helps prevent construction in hazardous areas and promotes sustainable development. Public Education and Awareness: They play a vital role in educating the public about Earth-related issues, fostering greater community engagement in environmental conservation and disaster preparedness. In summary, professionals in Earth sciences significantly contribute to the sustainability, safety, and well-being of municipalities and their residents.

Keywords: social geology, safety, sustainability, municipalities

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Authors: Islam Abouelhamd

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Rives have long been recognized as one of the most important natural resources, They are important to ensure human health, civilization, and sustainable development, and the importance of rivers as the focal point of cities was established from the early times of civilization and will remain so. Urban design of Riverfront has been an issue of wide concern and extensive discussion since the 1970s, however, Cities seek a riverfront that is a place of public enjoyment, They want a Riverfront where there is ample visual and physical public access to both the water and the land, they want a place that contributes to the quality of life in all of its aspects; economic, social, and cultural, on another hand, Successful urban design of Riverfront requires an understanding of development processes, dimensions of urban design and an appreciation of the distinctiveness of Riverfront locations. A close association between cities and river is inherently over the history of civilization, and in fact, many urban cities in Egypt are located close to Nile River areas. Always trying to use the land closer to the river to take advantage of the benefits it provides, And in spite of the significant role played by the littoral fronts in the life of the city, the riverfronts have remained generally in Egypt and especially in Asyut city neglected. According to the knowledge gained from the literature review, review of case studies and the historical researches of Asyut Riverfront, this research aims to identify the urban transformations of Asyut riverfront and expect the Opportunities and Challenges which will play an important part of the future urban design issues and researches will prepare, especially in the case study area (northern areas of Asyut riverfront). After that, the case study data, historical framework and International experiences were collected and analyzed to Produce Primary indicators of the expectations of the riverfront urban design process inside the case study area, In addition to preparing the conclusions of the theoretical framework and recommendations for the paper.

Keywords: civilization, sustainable development, riverfront, urban transformations

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