Search results for: urban road dust

Authors: Xin Li

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The uncertainty and the complexity of the urban environment combining with the threat of climate change are contributing factors to the vulnerability in multiple-dimensions in Chinese megacities, especially in Shanghai. The urban area occupied high valuable technological infrastructure and density buildings is under the threats of climate change and can provide insufficient ecological service to remain the trade-off on urban sustainable development. Urban ecological-based adaptation (UEbA) combines practices and theoretical work and integrates ecological services into multiple-layers of urban environment planning in order to reduce the impact of the complexity and uncertainty. To understand and to respond to the challenges in the urban level, this paper considers Shanghai as the research objective. It is necessary that its urban adaptation strategies should be reflected and contain the concept and knowledge of EbA. In this paper, we firstly use software to illustrates the visualizing patterns and trends of UEBA research in the current 10 years. Specifically, Citespace software was used for interpreting the significant hubs, landmarks points of peer-reviewed literature on the context of ecological service research in recent 10 years. Secondly, 135 evidence-based EbA literature were reviewed for categorizing the methodologies and framework of evidence-based EbA by the systematic map protocol. Finally, a conceptual framework combined with culture, economic and social components was developed in order to assess the current adaptation strategies in Shanghai. This research founds that the key to reducing urban vulnerability does not only focus on co-benefit arguments but also should pay more attention to the concept of trade-off. This research concludes that the designed framework can provide key knowledge and indicates the essential gap as a valuable tool against climate variability in the process of urban adaptation in Shanghai.

Keywords: urban ecological-based adaptation, climate change, sustainable development, climate variability

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Authors: Shahab Mirzaean Mahabadi, Elham Ebrahimi

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The urban development process in the historical urban context has predominately witnessed two main approaches: the first is the Preservation and conservation of the urban fabric and its value, and the second approach is urban renewal and redevelopment. The latter is generally supported by political and economic aspirations. These two approaches conflict evidently. The authors go through the history of urban planning in order to review the historical development of the mentioned approaches. In this article, various values which are inherent in the historical fabric of a city are illustrated by emphasizing on cultural identity and activity. In the following, it is tried to find an optimized plan which maximizes economic development and minimizes change in historical-cultural sites simultaneously. In the proposed model, regarding the decision maker’s intention, and the variety of functions, the selected zone is divided into a number of components. For each component, different alternatives can be assigned, namely, renovation, refurbishment, destruction, and change in function. The decision Variable in this model is to choose an alternative for each component. A set of decisions made upon all components results in a plan. A plan developed in this way can be evaluated based on the decision maker’s point of view. That is, interactions between selected alternatives can make a foundation for the assessment of urban context to design a historical-cultural landscape. A genetic algorithm (GA) approach is used to search for optimal future land use within the historical-culture landscape for a sustainable high-growth city.

Keywords: urban sustainability, green city, regeneration, genetic algorithm

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Authors: Azazhu Wassie

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This study tried to analyze and identify the drainage pattern and catchment characteristics of the river basin and assess the impact of the hydrologic parameters (catchment area, rainfall intensity, runoff coefficient, land use, and soil type) on the referenced study area. Since there is no river gauging station near the road, even for large rivers, rainfall-runoff models are adopted for flood estimation, i.e., for catchment areas less than 50 ha, the rational method is used; for catchment areas, less than 65 km², the SCS unit hydrograph method is used; and for catchment areas greater than 65 km², HEC-HMS is adopted for flood estimation.

Keywords: Arc GIS, catchment area, land use/land cover, peak flood, rainfall intensity

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Authors: Ioannis Kavouras, Eftychios Protopapadakis, Emmanuel Sardis, Anastasios Doulamis

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In this paper, we investigate the appropriateness and usability of three different free and open-source rendering tools for urban planning visualizations. The process involves the selection of a map area, the 3D rendering transformation, the addition of nature-based solution placement, and the evaluation and assessment of the suggested applied interventions. The manuscript uses a case study involved at Dilaveri Coast, Piraeus region, Greece. Research outcomes indicate that a Blender-OSM implementation is an appropriate tool capable of supporting high-fidelity urban planning, with quick and accurate visibility of related results for end users and involved in NBS transformations.

Keywords: urban planning, nature based solution, 3D gaming tools, game engine, free and open source

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Authors: Naveed Mazhar

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Our cities are known to have significant modifying effects on the local climate. The nature of the modifications depends on a range of physical variables, usually assessed at a wide range of spatial scales. Physical spatial dimensions, such as measured parameters of microclimates and their significant influence on human sensations, are known to have far-reaching effects on human thermal comfort and by corollary a force that influences human perception. Less scholarship has thrown light on the subjective dimension and insufficiently demonstrates a relational approach between human behavior and how it is affected by the phenomenon of urban microclimates. Other than identifying gaps in the most recent scholarship and providing future research opportunities, the scope of this study will help improve urban design guidelines and raise framework standards of socially responsive urban design. This study will help equip future professionals to ameliorate the effects of urban microclimates on participant’s perceptions enabling more frequent usage of the outdoor urban spaces. However, it is informed that the physical parameters of an outdoor open space determine psychological human adaptations and is a measure of the degree to which people are willing to adapt to their surroundings. A large amount of research is available related to urban microclimates. However, very few studies are focused on the elucidation of the critical factors influencing human perceptions of the microclimates in urban spatial configurations. Based on the most recent scholarship, this study has evaluated the role urban microclimatic conditions have in the formation of human perceptions and, by extension, behavioral patterns formulating in outdoor open spaces. Furthermore, this study also defines, in the backdrop of the current scholarly literature, the socio-spatial interdependence of behavioral patterns with relationship to the built urban fabric and its resultant correlation with human perception. A comprehensive review and analysis of the recent research conducted within the scope of the study will help frame gaps, issues, current research methods and future research opportunities.

Keywords: urban design, urban microcliamate, human perception, human behavioral patterns

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Authors: Mohammadreza Mojtahedi

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Rapid urbanization presents multifaceted challenges, including environmental degradation and public health concerns. As the inevitability of urban sprawl continues, it becomes essential to devise strategies to alleviate its pressures on natural ecosystems and elevate socio-economic benchmarks within cities. This research investigates urban agriculture's economic contributions, emphasizing its pivotal role in food provisioning and export potential. Adopting a descriptive-analytical approach, field survey data was primarily collected via questionnaires. The tool's validity was affirmed by expert opinions, and its reliability secured by achieving a Cronbach's alpha score over 0.70 from 30 preliminary questionnaires. The research encompasses Neishabour's populace of 264,375, extracting a sample size of 384 via Cochran's formula. Findings reveal the significance of urban agriculture in food supply and its potential for exports, underlined by a p-value < 0.05. Neishabour's urban farming can augment the export of organic commodities, fruits, vegetables, ornamental plants, and foster product branding. Moreover, it supports the provision of fresh produce, bolstering dietary quality. Urban agriculture further impacts urban development metrics—enhancing environmental quality, job opportunities, income levels, and aesthetics, while promoting rainwater utilization. Popular cultivations include peaches, Damask roses, and poultry, tailored to available spaces. Structural equation modeling indicates urban agriculture's overarching influence, accounting for a 56% variance, predominantly in food sufficiency and export proficiency.

Keywords: urban agriculture, food supply, export potential, urban development, environmental health, structural equation modeling

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Authors: Paul Anyaogu, E. U. M. Igbo

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This study examines the public view on child street hawking in Aba Urban, Abia State, Nigeria, its causes and effect on the child participant and society at large. The study tends to investigate the influence of socioeconomic status on child street hawking. The current situation reflects a chronic urban poverty, which disposed of parents/guardians to send their children and wards of school age to income yielding activities. A social survey research design was employed to select the respondents. A total of 1,108 questionnaires were administered to the respondents of 18 years and above and 1,038 were retrieved. Also, 24 in-depth interviews were conducted in the study area. The findings revealed that child street hawking is on the increase and a serious threat to social cohesion and national security. The study also revealed that poverty is a major cause of child street hawking. The study recommends that government should create job opportunities for urban dwellers, as well as provide social amenities and also put up poverty alleviation/eradication programmes for the people.

Keywords: Aba Urban, child street hawking, dangers, disposition, poverty

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Authors: Amir Hossein Ashari, Sedighe Erfan Manesh

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When investigating Iranian traditional and historical urban development, such as that seen in Shiraz, our attention is drawn to mosques as a focal point. Vakil Mosque in Shiraz is completely consistent, coordinated and integrated with the Bazaar, square and school. This is a significant example of traditional urban development. The position of the mosque in the most important urban joint near bazaar in a way that it is considered part of the bazaar structure are factors that have given it social, political, and economic roles in addition to the original religious role. These are among characteristics of sustainable development. The mosque has had an important effect in formation of the city because it is connected to main gates. In terms of access, the mosque has different main and peripheral access paths from different parts of the city. The courtyard of the mosque was located next to the main elements of the city so that it was considered as an urban open space, which made it a more active and more dynamic place. This study is carried out via library and field research with the purpose of finding strategies for taking advantage of useful features of the mosque in traditional urban development. These features include its role as a gathering center for people and city in sustainable urban development. Mosque can be used as a center for enhancing social interactions and creating a sense of association that leads to sustainable social space. These can act as a model which leads us to sustainable cities in terms of social and economic factors.

Keywords: mosque, traditional urban development, sustainable social space, Vakil Mosque, Shiraz

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Authors: Vahid Ayan, Joshua R Omer, Alireza Khavandi, Mukesh C Limbachiya

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In Iran, utilization of reclaimed asphalt pavement (RAP) aggregate has become a common practice in pavement rehabilitation during the last ten years. Such developments in highway engineering have necessitated several studies to clarify the technical and environmental feasibility of other alternative materials in road rehabilitation and maintenance. The use of recycled concrete aggregates (RCA) in asphalt pavements is one of the major goals of municipality of Tehran. Nevertheless little research has been done to examine the potential benefits of local RCA. The objective of this study is laboratory investigation of incorporating RCA into RAP for use in unbound subbase application. Laboratory investigation showed that 50%RCA+50%RAP is both technically and economically appropriate for subbase use.

Keywords: Roads & highways, Sustainability, Recycling & reuse of materials

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Authors: Fares Elturki, Shaban Ismael Albrka Ali Zangena, H. A. M. Yahia

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Safety is an important consideration in the design and operation of streets and highways. Traffic and highway engineers working with law enforcement officials are constantly seeking for better methods to ensure safety for motorists and pedestrians. Also, a highway safety improvement process involves planning, implementation, and evaluation. The planning process requires that engineers collect and maintain traffic safety data, identify the hazards location, conduct studies and establish project priorities. Unfortunately, in Libya, the increase in demand for private transportation in recent years, due to poor or lack of public transportation led to some traffic problems especially in the capital (Tripoli). Also, the growth of private transportation has significant influences on the society regarding road traffic accidents (RTAs). This study investigates the most critical factors affect RTAs in Tripoli the capital city of Libya. Four main classifications were chosen to build the questionnaire, namely; human factors, road factors, vehicle factors and environmental factors. Moreover, a quantitative method was used to collect the data from the field, the targeted sample size 400 respondents include; drivers, pedestrian and passengers and relative importance index (RII) were used to rank the factors of one group and between all groups. The results show that the human factors have the most significant impacts compared with other factors. Also, 84% of respondents considered the over speeding as the most significant factor cusses of RTAs while 81% considered the disobedience to driving regulations as the second most influential factor in human factors. Also, the results showed that poor brakes or brake failure factor a great impact on the RTAs among the vehicle factors with nearly 74%, while 79% categorized poor or no street lighting factor as one of the most effective factors on RTAs in road factors and third effecting factor concerning all factors. The environmental factors have the slights influences compared with other factors.

Keywords: road traffic accidents, Libya, vehicle factors, human factors, relative importance index

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Authors: Nafisa Mahbub, Hajo Ribberink

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Electrification of long-haul trucks has been in discussion as a potential strategy to decarbonization. These trucks will require large batteries because of their weight and long daily driving distances. Around 245 million battery electric vehicles are predicted to be on the road by the year 2035. This huge increase in the number of electric vehicles (EVs) will require intensive mining operations for metals and other materials to manufacture millions of batteries for the EVs. These operations will add significant environmental burdens and there is a significant risk that the mining sector will not be able to meet the demand for battery materials, leading to higher prices. Since the battery is the most expensive component in the EVs, technologies that can enable electrification with smaller batteries sizes have substantial potential to reduce the material usage and associated environmental and cost burdens. One of these technologies is an ‘electrified road’ (eroad), where vehicles receive power while they are driving, for instance through an overhead catenary (OC) wire (like trolleybuses and electric trains), through wireless (inductive) chargers embedded in the road, or by connecting to an electrified rail in or on the road surface. This study assessed the total material use and associated life cycle GHG emissions of two types of eroads (overhead catenary and in-road wireless charging) for long-haul trucks in Canada and compared them to electrification using stationary plug-in fast charging. As different electrification technologies require different amounts of materials for charging infrastructure and for the truck batteries, the study included the contributions of both for the total material use. The study developed a bottom-up approach model comparing the three different charging scenarios – plug in fast chargers, overhead catenary and in-road wireless charging. The investigated materials for charging technology and batteries were copper (Cu), steel (Fe), aluminium (Al), and lithium (Li). For the plug-in fast charging technology, different charging scenarios ranging from overnight charging (350 kW) to megawatt (MW) charging (2 MW) were investigated. A 500 km of highway (1 lane of in-road charging per direction) was considered to estimate the material use for the overhead catenary and inductive charging technologies. The study considered trucks needing an 800 kWh battery under the plug-in charger scenario but only a 200 kWh battery for the OC and inductive charging scenarios. Results showed that overall the inductive charging scenario has the lowest material use followed by OC and plug-in charger scenarios respectively. The materials use for the OC and plug-in charger scenarios were 50-70% higher than for the inductive charging scenarios for the overall system including the charging infrastructure and battery. The life cycle GHG emissions from the construction and installation of the charging technology material were also investigated.

Keywords: charging technology, eroad, GHG emissions, material use, overhead catenary, plug in charger

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Authors: Dan Zhu, Jie Shi

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This study explores the relationship between solar potential and block typology and density by analyzing sixteen existing typical street blocks with different topologies and densities in Shanghai, a representative high-density urban in China. Several indicators are proposed to quantify, and a methodology is conducted to evaluate and compare the solar potential both on façade and roof across various selected urban forms. 1) The importance of appropriate solar energy indicators and geometric parameters to be used in comparative studies, and 2) the relationship between urban typology, density, and solar performance are discussed. In this way, the results reveal the key design attributes contributing to increasing solar potential.

Keywords: block typology, geometric parameters, high-density urban, solar potential

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Authors: Lim Poh Im

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This paper examines the current strategic and planning issues in the provision of affordable housing in urban centres in Malaysia from the perspective of sustainability. Sustainability here refers to social sustainability such as the need to address urban poverty and ensure better quality of life; economic sustainability in ensuring that the financial mechanisms are healthy and stable in the long-run, and to a lesser extent, environmental sustainability in reducing pollution related problems and building footprint. The Malaysian affordable housing sector has undergone tremendous transformations since the sixties, transcending from the earlier social housing catering to the poorer strata of the society, to the current state of housing woes plaguing the young urban middle class. The increase in urban land prices and construction costs, coupled with rampant property speculative and manipulative activities have resulted in situations of housing that are largely unaffordable even to the middle income sector of the urban populations. To overcome such scenario, the public as well as private sectors in the recent years, have came up with various intermediate, as well as medium-term policies aimed to curb the burning housing needs of the urban populations. Key strategies include financial intervention in regulating the interests rates, imposing property gain taxes; loosening the requirement for density and other planning requirements, faster approval of projects, compulsory contribution from developers, etc. Some of the policies are commendable, while others are ad-hoc by nature, and are not able to resolve the long-term socio-economic challenges. This paper discusses and examines the issues from the ‘sustainability’ perspective, focusing on key fiscal, land use and planning policies, as well as the more subtle (but important) political and institutional factors shaping the provision of mass housing for the urban populations in Malaysia.

Keywords: affordable housing, urban housing, sustainable housing, planning for urban housing

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Authors: Mahdieh Zamzamzadeh, Ahmad Abdullah Saifizul, Rahizar Ramli

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The road accidents involving heavy vehicles have been showing worrying trends and, year after year, have increased the concern and awareness levels on safety of roads and transportations especially in developing countries like Malaysia. Statistics of road crashes continue to show that there are many contributing factors on the capability of a heavy vehicle to stop on safe distance and ultimately prevent traffic crashes. However, changes in the road condition due to weather variations and the vehicle dynamic specifications such as loading conditions and speed are the main risk factors because they will affect a heavy vehicle’s braking performance due to losing control and not being able to stop the vehicle, and in many cases will cause wheel lock up and accordingly skidding. Predicting heavy vehicle skidding distance is crucial for accident reconstruction and roadside safety engineers. Despite this, formal tools to study heavy vehicle skidding distance before stopping completely are totally limited, and most researchers have only considered braking distance in their studies. As a possible new tool, this work presents the iterative use of vehicle dynamic simulations to study heavy vehicle-roadway interaction in order to predict wheel lock up effects on skidding distance and safety. This research addresses the influence of the vehicle and road conditions on skidding distance after wheel lock up and presents a precise analysis of skidding phenomenon. The vehicle speed, vehicle loading condition and road friction parameters were all varied in a simulation-based analysis. In order to simulate the wheel lock up situation, a heavy vehicle model was constructed and simulated using multibody vehicle dynamics simulation software, and careful analysis was made on the conditions which caused the skidding distance to increase or decrease through a method using to predict skidding distance as part of braking distance. By applying many simulations, the results were quite revealing relation between the heavy vehicles loading condition, various sets of speed and road coefficient of friction and their interaction effect on the skidding distance. A number of results are presented which illustrate how the heavy vehicle overloading can seriously affect the skidding distance. Moreover, the results of simulation give the skid mark length, which is a necessary input data during accident reconstruction involving emergency braking.

Keywords: accident reconstruction, Braking, heavy vehicle, skidding distance, skid mark, wheel lock up

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Authors: Tommy Lo

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This paper presented the changes in temperature and air ventilation of an inner urban area at different development stages during 2002 to 2012 and the high-rise buildings to be built in 2018. 3D simulation models ENVI-met and Autodesk Falcon were used. The results indicated that replacement of old residence buildings or open space with high-rise buildings will increase the air temperature of inner urban area; the air temperature at the pedestrian level will increase more than that at the upper levels. The temperature of the inner street in future will get higher than that in 2002, 2008 and 2012. It is attributed that heat is trapped in the street canyons as the air permeability at the pedestrian levels is lower. High-rise buildings with massive podium will further reduce the air ventilation in that area. In addition, sufficient separations among buildings is essential in design. High-rise buildings aligned along the waterfront will obstruct the wind flowing into the inner urban area and accelerate the temperature increase both in daytime and night time.

Keywords: micro-climate change, urban design, ENVI-met, construction engineering

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Authors: Sara Bouzekri, Said Madani

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In many Mediterranean cities such as Algiers, the human activity, the strong mobility the urban sprawl, the air pollution, the problems of waste management, the wasting of the resources and the degradation of the environment weaken in an unquestionable way the farming. The question of sustainable action vis-a-vis these threats arises then in order to maintain a level of desired local development. The methodology is based on a multi-criteria method based on the AFOM diagnosis, which classifies agricultural strength indicators and those of threat, according to an analytical approach. In a sustainable development perspective, it will be appropriate to link the threat factors of the case study with the factors of climate change to see their impact on the future of agriculture. This will be accompanied by a SWOT analysis, which crosses the most significant criteria to arrive at the necessary recommendations based on future projects for urban agriculture.

Keywords: Algiers, environment, urban agriculture, threat factors

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Authors: Yan Wang, Yasushi Asami, Yukio Sadahiro

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In urban context, urban nodes such as amenity or hazard will certainly affect house price, while classic hedonic analysis will employ distance variables measured from each urban nodes. However, effects from distances to facilities on house prices generally do not represent the true price of the property. Distance variables measured on the same surface are suffering a problem called multicollinearity, which is usually presented as magnitude variance and mean value in regression, errors caused by instability. In this paper, we provided a theoretical framework to identify and gather the data with less bias, and also provided specific sampling method on locating the sample region to avoid the spatial multicollinerity problem in three distance variable’s case.

Keywords: hedonic regression, urban node, distance variables, multicollinerity, collinearity

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Authors: Lei Danyang, Lu Jialiang

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As nightlife is getting richer in urban area, urban nightscape has become an increasingly important part of the urban landscape. Understanding urban nightscape from the perspec­tive of pedestrian perception is very important to improve the livability and walkability of a city. The purpose of this study is to analyze the nightscapes of two different urban forms. The research methods are literature investigation and field investigation. From analyzing the lighting, sensory ex­perience, and night activities, this research studies the two streets, Pei Ho Street and Yen Chow Street West in Sham Shui Po. Results revealed that the two streets are on the two extremes of the two characters of the night and a better balance needs to be found between them. Because of the different land usage and stakeholders, the two streets should play different roles in the nightscape, so their balance points are also different. On the one hand, Pei Ho Street, which has a strong commercial atmos­phere, should not only retain its vitality and diversity but also ensure its function of relaxation at night; on the other hand, in Yen Chow Street West, it is necessary to develop its potential of reconnecting people with the darkness of the night while ensur­ing its safety. These findings may not only provide policymak­ers with information to help them improve the nightscape and livability of the Sham Shui Po area but also help bridge the gap between research and design. In the future, more attention should be paid to pedestrian preference and nightscape perception of vulnerable groups.

Keywords: Hong Kong, pedestrian perception, Sham Shui Po, urban form, urban nightscape

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Authors: Tikumporn Rodkhunmuang

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The importance of ‘international law of governance’ is the means and end to deal with international affairs. This research paper seeks to first study the historical development of international law of governance from the classical period of the international legal framework of global governance until the contemporary period of its framework. Second, the international law of governance is extremely turning into the crucial point in its long history because of the changing of China's foreign policies towards ‘One Belt One Road Initiative’. Third, the proposing model of the existing international law of governance within Chinese characteristics will be the new rules and modalities of modern diplomacy and governed international affairs. Methodologically speaking, this research paper is conducting under mixed methods research, which are also included numerical analysis and theoretical considerations. As a result, this research paper is the critical point of the international legal framework of global governance that changing the diplomatic paradigm as well as turning China into a great-power in international politics. So, this research paper is useful for international legal scholars and diplomats for slightly changing their understanding of the rapidly changing their norms from western norms to the eastern norms of international law. Therefore, the outcome of the research is the modern model of China to make a diplomatic relationship with other countries in the global society.

Keywords: global governance, international law, landscape, one belt one road

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Authors: Balaji Ganesh Rajagopal, Subramanian Appavu alias Balamurugan, Ayyalraj Midhun Kumar, Krishnan Nallaperumal

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Intelligent Transportation System is an Emerging area to solve multiple transportation problems. Several forms of inputs are needed in order to solve ITS problems. Advanced Traveler Information System (ATIS) is a core and important ITS area of this modern era. This involves travel time forecasting, efficient road map analysis and cost based path selection, Detection of the vehicle in the dynamic conditions and Traffic congestion state forecasting. This Article designs and provides an algorithm for traffic data generation which can be used for the above said ATIS application. By inputting the real world traffic situation in the form of video sequences, the algorithm determines the Traffic density in terms of congestion, number of vehicles in a given path which can be fed for various ATIS applications. The Algorithm deduces the key frame from the video sequences and follows the Blob detection, Identification and Tracking using connected components algorithm to determine the correlation between the vehicles moving in the real road scene.

Keywords: traffic transportation, traffic density estimation, blob identification and tracking, relative velocity of vehicles, correlation between vehicles

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Authors: Jianjia Wang, Tong Yu, Haoran Zhu, Kun Liu, Jinwei Hao

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The underlying pattern in the modern city is agglomeration. To some degree, the distribution of urban spatial density can be used to describe the status of this assemblage. There are three intrinsic characteristics to measure urban spatial density, namely, Floor Area Ratio (FAR), Building Coverage Ratio (BCR), and Average Storeys (AS). But the underlying mechanism that contributes to these quantities is still vague in the statistical urban study. In this paper, we explore the corresponding extrinsic factors related to spatial density. These factors can further provide the potential influence on the intrinsic quantities. Here, we take Shanghai Inner Ring Area and Manhattan in New York as examples to analyse the potential impacts on urban spatial density with six selected extrinsic elements. Ebery single factor presents the correlation to the spatial distribution, but the overall global impact of all is still implicit. To handle this issue, we attempt to develop the Boltzmann statistical model to explicitly explain the mechanism behind that. We derive a corresponding novel quantity, called capacity, to measure the global effects of all other extrinsic factors to the three intrinsic characteristics. The distribution of capacity presents a similar pattern to real measurements. This reveals the nonlinear influence on the multi-factor relations to the urban spatial density in agglomeration.

Keywords: urban spatial density, Boltzmann statistics, multi-factor correlation, spatial distribution

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Authors: U. Tumaini, J. Msuya

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Food insecurity is a worrying challenge worldwide with sub-Saharan Africa including Tanzania being the most affected. Although factors that influence household food access security status and ways of coping with such factors have been examined, little has been reported on how these coping strategies vary along the urban-rural continuum especially in medium-sized towns. The purpose of this study was to identify food insecurity coping strategies employed by households and assess whether they are similar along the urban-rural continuum. The study was cross-sectional in design whereby a random sample of 279 households was interviewed using structured questionnaire. Data were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Version 20 software. It was revealed that the proportion of households relying on less preferred and quality foods, eating fewer meals per day, undertaking work for food or money, performing farm and off-farm activities, and selling fall back assets was higher in rural settings compared to urban and peri-urban areas. Similarly, more households in urban and peri-urban areas cope with food access insecurity by having strict food budgets compared to those in rural households (p ≤ 0.001). The study concludes that food insecurity coping strategies vary significantly from one spatial entity to another. It is thereby recommended that poor, particularly rural households should be supported to diversify their income-generating activities not only for food security purposes during times of food shortage but also as businesses aimed at increasing their household incomes.

Keywords: food coping strategies, household food insecurity, medium-sized towns, urban-rural continuum

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Authors: Signe Voltelen, Kristin Astrup Aas

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In the Scandinavian cities, there is a raised focus on the potential of using urban agriculture in city development, both as a tool for handling challenges provoked by climate change and to develop new, and stronger social communities. During the last couple of years, Copenhagen has experienced an increase in extreme weather resulting in dramatical floods with huge humanitarian and economic consequences. As an approach for climate adaption and mitigation the government has made a strategy for changing a significant amount of the cities hard surfaces into green and absorbing surfaces. Including urban farms and gardens. In close collaboration with the municipality, it has been possible to implement citizen-run gardens under the different concepts climate adaption and food literacy. Like other European cities, Copenhagen has a historical tradition of small-scale farming for food security inside the city, and in the outskirts of the urban area. Lately, this tradition has gotten new relevance, and new initiatives are popping up. In addition to providing local food, the urban farm becomes a semi-public, semi-private room that invites to community and integration across ethnicity, social background, and age. The direct interaction in the process of farming creates a connection between the urban and the rural and are educational for people growing up and living their whole life in the dense city. In the paper, three local example models of urban agriculture are presented, and the experiences of their potential as tools for developing social and environmental sustainable cities is examined.

Keywords: city development, climate mitigation, community building, urban agriculture, urban- rural transition, food security

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Authors: Jaydip De

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Urban parks are open places, green fields and riverside gardens usually maintained by public or private authorities, or eventually by both jointly; and utilized for a multidimensional purpose by the citizens. These parks are indeed the lung of urban centers. In urban socio-environmental setup, parks are the nucleus of social integration, community building, and physical development. In contemporary cities, these green places seem to perform as the panacea of congested, complex and stressful urban life. The alarmingly increasing urban population and the resultant congestion of high-rises are making life wearisome in neo-liberal cities. This has made the citizen always quest for open space and fresh air. In such a circumstance, the mere existence of parks is not capable of satisfying the growing aspirations. Therefore in this endeavour, a structured attempt is so made to empirically identify the utility, visitors’ satisfaction, and future needs through the cases of two urban parks of Kolkata Metropolitan Area, India. This study is principally based upon primary information collected through visitors’ perception survey conducted at the Chinsurah ground and Chandernagore strand. The correlation between different utility categories is identified and analyzed systematically. At the same time, indices like Weighted Satisfaction Score (WSS), Facility wise Satisfaction Index (FSI), Urban Park Satisfaction Index (UPSI) and Urban Park Necessity Index (UPNI) are advocated to quantify the visitors’ satisfaction and future necessities. It is explored that the most important utilities are passive in nature. Simultaneously, satisfaction levels of visitors are average, and their requirements are centred on the daily needs of the next generation, i.e., the children. Further, considering the visitors’ opinion planning measures are promulgated for holistic development of urban parks to revitalize sustainability of citified life.

Keywords: citified life, future needs, visitors’ satisfaction, urban parks, utility

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Authors: Christos Karolemeas, Avgi Vassi, Georgia Christodoulopoulou

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Although the past decades, planning a cycle network became an inseparable part of all transportation plans, there is still a lot of room for improvement in the way planning is made, in order to create safe and direct cycling networks that gather the parameters that positively influence one's decision to cycle. The aim of this article is to study, evaluate and visualize the bikeability of cities. This term is often used as the 'the ability of a person to bike' but this study, however, adopts the term in the sense of bikeability as 'the ability of the urban landscape to be biked'. The methodology used included assessing cities' accessibility by cycling, based on international literature and corresponding walkability methods and the creation of a 'bikeability index'. Initially, a literature review was made to identify the factors that positively affect the use of bicycle infrastructure. Those factors were used in order to create the spatial index and quantitatively compare the city network. Finally, the bikeability index was applied in two case studies: two Greek municipalities that, although, they have similarities in terms of land uses, population density and traffic congestion, they are totally different in terms of geomorphology. The factors suggested by international literature were (a) safety, (b) directness, (c) comfort and (d) the quality of the urban environment. Those factors were quantified through the following parameters: slope, junction density, traffic density, traffic speed, natural environment, built environment, activities coverage, centrality and accessibility to public transport stations. Each road section was graded for the above-mentioned parameters, and the overall grade shows the level of bicycle accessibility (low, medium, high). Each parameter, as well as the overall accessibility levels, were analyzed and visualized through Geographic Information Systems. This paper presents the bikeability index, its' results, the problems that have arisen and the conclusions from its' implementation through Strengths-Weaknesses-Opportunities-Threats analysis. The purpose of this index is to make it easy for researchers, practitioners, politicians, and stakeholders to quantify, visualize and understand which parts of the urban fabric are suitable for cycling.

Keywords: accessibility, cycling, green spaces, spatial data, urban environment

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Authors: K. M. Kim, S. J. Lee, D. S. Oh, Sadohara Satoru

Abstract:

The climate change poses a serious challenge to urban sustainability. To alleviate the environmental risk, urban planning has been concentrated on climate adaptation and mitigation, and the sustainable urban model, smart city, has been suggested. However, with regard to sustainable smart city development, a majority of researchers have focused mainly on the aspect of adaptation, which causes the lack of the approaches for mitigation. Therefore, the objective was to identify the planning elements of smart city with integrative reviews about mitigation and adaptation. Moreover, the concepts of smart cities in Sweden, Japan, and Korea were analyzed to find out the country-specific characteristics and strategies for achieving smart city.

Keywords: sustainable urban planning, climate change, mitigating and adaptation, smart city

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Authors: Taehyun Kim, Hyunjoo Park, Taehyun Kim

Abstract:

Since the rapid economic development, Korea has recently entered a period of low growth due to population decline and aging. Due to the urbanization around the metropolitan area and the hollowing of local cities, the ecological capacity of a city is decreasing while ecological footprints are increasing, requiring a compact space plan for maintaining urban functions. The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between urban spatial structure and residents' ecological footprints for sustainable spatial planning. To do this, we try to analyze the relationship between intra-urban spatial structure, such as net/gross density and service accessibility, and resident ecological footprints of food, housing, transportation, goods and services through survey and structural equation modeling. The results of the study will be useful in establishing an implementation plan for sustainable development goals (SDGs), especially for sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11) and responsible consumption and production (SDG 12) in the future.

Keywords: ecological footprint, structural equation modeling, survey, sustainability, urban spatial structure

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Authors: Thembelihle Portia Lubisi, Malusi Ntandoyenkosi Mkhize, Jonas Kalebe Johakimu

Abstract:

Fertilizers play an important role in maintaining the productivity and quality of plants. Inorganic fertilizers (containing nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) are largely used in South Africa as they are considered inexpensive and highly productive. When applied, a portion of the excess fertilizer will be retained in the soil, a portion enters water streams due to surface runoff or the irrigation system adopted. Excess nutrient from the fertilizers entering the water stream eventually results harmful algal blooms (HABs) in freshwater systems, which not only disrupt wildlife but can also produce toxins harmful to humans. Use of agro-chemicals such as pesticides and herbicides has been associated with increased antimicrobial resistance (AMR) in humans as the plants are consumed by humans. This resistance of bacterial poses a threat as it prevents the Health sector from being able to treat infectious disease. Archaeological studies have found that pyrolysis liquids were already used in the time of the Neanderthal as a biocide and plant protection product. Pyrolysis is thermal degradation process of plant biomass or organic material under anaerobic conditions leading to production of char, bio-oils and syn gases. Bio-oil constituents can be categorized as water soluble (wood vinegar) and water insoluble fractions (tar and light oils). Wood vinegar (pyro-ligneous acid) is said to contain contains highly oxygenated compounds including acids, alcohols, aldehydes, ketones, phenols, esters, furans, and other multifunctional compounds with various molecular weights and compositions depending on the biomass material derived from and pyrolysis operating conditions. Various researchers have found the wood vinegar to be efficient in the eradication of termites, effective in plant protection and plant growth, has antibacterial characteristics and was found effective in inhibiting the micro-organisms such as candida yeast, E-coli, etc. This study investigated characterisation of South African forestry product processing waste with intention of evaluating the potential of using the respective biomass waste as feedstock for boil oil production via pyrolysis process. Ability to use biomass waste materials in production of wood-vinegar has advantages that it does not only allows for reduction of environmental pollution and landfill requirement, but it also does not negatively affect food security. The biomass wastes investigated were from the popular tree types in KZN, which are, pine saw dust (PSD), pine bark (PB), eucalyptus saw dust (ESD) and eucalyptus bark (EB). Furthermore, the research investigates the possibility of mixing the different wastes with an aim to lessen the cost of raw material separation prior to feeding into pyrolysis process and mixing also increases the amount of biomass material available for beneficiation. A 50/50 mixture of PSD and ESD (EPSD) and mixture containing pine saw dust; eucalyptus saw dust, pine bark and eucalyptus bark (EPSDB). Characterisation of the biomass waste will look at analysis such as proximate (volatiles, ash, fixed carbon), ultimate (carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, oxygen, sulphur), high heating value, structural (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) and thermogravimetric analysis.

Keywords: characterisation, biomass waste, saw dust, wood waste

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Authors: Danish Farooq, Janos Juhasz

Abstract:

Car-motorcycle accidents have been observed higher in recent years, which caused mainly riders’ fatalities and serious injuries. In-depth crash investigation methods aim to investigate the main factors which are likely involved in fatal road accidents and injury outcomes. The main objective of this study is to investigate the involved factors in car-motorcycle accidents in Budapest city. The procedure included statistical analysis and data sampling to identify car-motorcycle accidents by dominant accident types based on collision configurations. The police report was used as a data source for specified accidents, and simulation models were plotted according to scale (M 1:200). Car-motorcycle accidents were simulated in Virtual Crash software for 5 seconds before the collision. The simulation results showed that the main involved factors to car-motorcycle accidents were human behavior and view obstructions. The comprehensive, in-depth analysis also found that most of the car drivers and riders were unable to perform collision avoidance manoeuvres before the collision. This study can help the traffic safety authorities to focus on simulated involved factors to solve road safety issues in car-motorcycle accidents. The study also proposes safety measures to improve safe movements among road users.

Keywords: car motorcycle accidents, in-depth analysis, microscopic simulation, safety measures

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Authors: Bashir Ahmad Amiri, Nsenda Lukumwena

Abstract:

The global trend indicates that more and more people live and will continue to live in urban areas. Today cities are expanding both in physical size and number due to the rapid population growth along with sprawl development, which caused the cities to expand beyond the growth boundary and exerting intense pressure on environmental resources specially farmlands to accommodate new housing and urban facilities. Also noticeable is the increase in urban decay along with the increase of slum dwellers present another challenge that most cities in developed and developing countries have to deal with. Today urban practitioners, researchers, planners, and decision-makers are seeking for alternative development and growth management policies to house the rising urban population and also cure the urban decay and slum issues turn to Smart Growth to achieve their goals. Many cities across the globe have adopted smart growth as an alternative growth management tool to deal with patterns and forms of development and to cure the rising urban and environmental problems. The method used in this study is a literature analysis method through reviewing various resources to highlight the potential benefits of Smart Growth in both developed and developing countries and analyze, to what extent it can be a strategic alternative for Afghanistan’s cities, especially the capital city. Hence a comparative analysis is carried on three countries, namely the USA, China, and India to identify the potential benefits of smart growth likely to serve as an achievable broad base for recommendations in different urban contexts.

Keywords: growth management, housing, Kabul city, smart growth, urban-expansion

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