Search results for: human needs and urban planning

Authors: Yuhan Liu, Zhongde Wang

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This paper mainly analyzes the research and application of narrative theory in the field of urban space. This study used the PRISMA systematic review method, systematically studied 3098 Chinese literature through the search and screening of relevant domestic key literature databases, and reviewed the research status of narrative theory in urban space from three aspects: "theoretical perspective", "research object" and "research application". Finally, this paper points out the future development direction of narrative theory research based on the shortcomings of existing research in order to provide new ideas for future research.

Keywords: narrative theory, urban space, PRISMA, systematic review

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Authors: Valentina Talu, Giulia Tola

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Current researches and applications aimed at exploring the role of spatial configuration as a means for improving the autonomy of people with ASD (Autism Spectrum Disorder), almost exclusively focus on the definition of criteria for the design of closed, separated, private spaces devoted only to people - mainly children - with ASD. In fact, very few researches specifically investigate the relation between the city and people with autism, focusing on their sensory experiences related to the interaction with the urban environment. The growing incidence of ASD and the need to guarantee during adulthood the actual opportunity to exercise the achieved level of autonomy and independency, emphasizes the necessity to ‘broaden’ the research perspective by investigating also the specific contribution of urban mobility policies and urban design to the enhancement of the quality of life of people with ASD. Starting from these considerations, the paper describes an ongoing research focused on the relation between the city and people with autism spectrum disorder, with the specific aim of promoting their possibility of walking across the city at the neighborhood scale, thus making the access to relevant urban spaces and services possible. In the first part, the paper proposes a framework for illustrating the commonly recurring problems that people with ASD face in their daily life when they interact with the urban environment (with reference to the capability approach). Subsequently, with the support of an in depth analysis of existing contributions (researches and projects) and an exchange with different experts (neuropsychiatrists, teachers, parents), are identified two urban requirements, then 'translated' into an integrated system of urban mobility policies and extra-small tactical project aimed at enhancing the actual possibility for people with ASD of walking through the city autonomously and safely. According to this vision, the promotion of the autonomy of people with ASD through the adoption of mobility policies and micro tactical urban projects can represent an opportunity for promoting and improving the overall quality of urban life.

Keywords: city and people with ASD, quality of urban life of disadvantaged people, urban capabilities, urban design

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Authors: A. Hakimiyan, H. Namazi

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Human behavior is defined as a range of behaviors exhibited by humans who are influenced by different internal or external sources. Human behavior is the subject of much research in different areas of psychology and neuroscience. Despite some advances in studies related to forecasting of human behavior, there are not many researches which consider the effect of the time delay between the presence of stimulus and the related human response. Analysis of EEG signal as a fractal time series is one of the major tools for studying the human behavior. In the other words, the human brain activity is reflected in his EEG signal. Artificial Neural Network has been proved useful in forecasting of different systems’ behavior especially in engineering areas. In this research, a time delay neural network is trained and tested in order to forecast the human EEG signal and subsequently human behavior. This neural network, by introducing a time delay, takes care of the lagging time between the occurrence of the stimulus and the rise of the subsequent action potential. The results of this study are useful not only for the fundamental understanding of human behavior forecasting, but shall be very useful in different areas of brain research such as seizure prediction.

Keywords: human behavior, EEG signal, time delay neural network, prediction, lagging time

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Authors: Giovanni Incerti

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The paper presents a method for a simple and immediate motion planning of a SCARA robot, whose end-effector has to move along a given trajectory; the calculation procedure requires the user to define in analytical form or by points the trajectory to be followed and to assign the curvilinear abscissa as function of the time. On the basis of the geometrical characteristics of the robot, a specifically developed program determines the motion laws of the actuators that enable the robot to generate the required movement; this software can be used in all industrial applications for which a SCARA robot has to be frequently reprogrammed, in order to generate various types of trajectories with different motion times.

Keywords: motion planning, SCARA robot, trajectory tracking, analytical form

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Authors: Preetinder Kaur Randhawa

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The rural areas can be differentiated from urban areas in terms of their economic activities as rural areas are primarily involved in agricultural sector and provide natural resources whereas, urban areas are primarily involved in infrastructure sector and provide manufacturing services. Census of India defines a Census Town as an area which satisfies the following three criteria i.e. population exceeds 5000, at least 75 percent of male population engaged in non-agricultural sector and minimum population density of 400 persons per square kilometers. Urban areas can be attributed to the improvement of transport facilities, the massive decline in agricultural, especially male workers and workers shift to non-agricultural activities. This study examines the pattern, process of rural areas transformed into urban areas/ census town. The study has analyzed the various factors which are responsible for land transformation as well as the socio-economic transformation of the village population. Nilpur (CT) which belongs to Rajpura Tehsil in Patiala district, Punjab has been selected for the present study. The methodology adopted includes qualitative and quantitative research design, methods based on secondary data. Secondary data has been collected from unpublished revenue record office of Rajpura Tehsil and Primary Census Abstract of Patiala district, Census of India 2011. The results have showed that rate of transformation of a village to census town in Rajpura Tehsil has been one of highest among other villages. The census town has evolved through the evolutionary process of human settlement which grows in size, population and physical development. There must be a complete economic transformation and attainment of high level of technological development. Urban design and construction of buildings and infrastructure can be carried out better and faster and can be used to aid human habitation with the enhancement of quality of life. The study has concluded that in the selected area i.e Nilpur (CT) literacy rate has increased to 72.1 percent in year 2011 from 67.6 percent in year 2001. Similarly non-agricultural work force has increased to 95.2 percent in year 2011 from 81.1 percent in year 2001. It is very much clear that the increased literacy rate has put a positive impact on the involvement of non-agricultural workers have enhanced. The study has concluded that rural-urban linkages are important tools for understanding complexities of people livelihood and their strategies which involve mobility migration and the diversification of income sources and occupations.

Keywords: Census Town, India, Nilpur, Punjab

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Authors: Yurnalis Usman

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In an organization, institution or enterprise, human resource is very important aspect since many human skills cannot be replaced by technology tools even though technology has advanced rapidly now. The relationship among people is very necessary to create a subordinate and leader relation in the assumption that human beings are creatures who have feeling, desires, needs, aspirations and ideas differing from one another. This study on human relation was conducted at the Faculty of Economics of UNSYIAH, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, while the research object is associated with human relations and employee performance in Faculty of Economics of UNSYIAH. To determine the extent of employee relations in Faculty of Economics with fellow employees or superiors, the employees are given some questions. The result shows that human relations influence the employee performance at Faculty of Economics UNSYIAH strongly.

Keywords: human relation, employee performance, communication, Syiah Kuala

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Authors: Muhammad Kamran Hanif Khan, Fahad Mushtaq

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Background: In both developed and underdeveloped countries, coronary artery disease (CAD) is a serious cause of death and disability. Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is becoming more prevalent in emerging countries like Pakistan due to the spread and acceptance of Western lifestyles. Material and Methods: An observational cross-sectional investigation was conducted, and data collection relied on a random cluster sampling method. The sample size for this cross-sectional study was calculated using the following factors: estimated true proportion of 17.5%, desired precision of 2%, and confidence interval of 95%. The data for this study was collected from a sample of 1387 adults. Results: The average age of those living in rural areas is 55.24 years, compared to 52.60 years for those living in urban areas. The mean fasting blood glucose of the urban participants is 105.28 mg/dL, which is higher than the mean fasting blood glucose of the rural participants, which is 102.06 mg/dL. The mean total cholesterol of the urban participants is 192.20 mg/dL, which is slightly higher than the mean total cholesterol of the rural participants, which is 191.97 mg/dL. CAD prevalence is greater in urban areas than in rural areas. ECG abnormalities prevalence is 16.1% in females compared to 12.5% in men. Conclusion: The prevalence of CAD is more common in urban areas than in rural ones for all of the measures of CAD used in the study.

Keywords: CVD prevalence, CVD risk factors, rural area, urban area

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Authors: Tamer ElSerafi

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In recent approaches to heritage conservation, the whole context of historic areas becomes as important as the single historic building. This makes the provision of infrastructure and network of mobility an effective element in the urban conservation. Sustainable urban conservation projects consider the high density of activities, the need for a good quality access system to the transit system, and the importance of the configuration of the mobility network by identifying the best way to connect the different districts of the urban area through a complex unique system that helps the synergic development to achieve a sustainable mobility system. A sustainable urban mobility is a key factor in maintaining the integrity between socio-cultural aspects and functional aspects. This paper illustrates the mobility aspects, mobility problems in historic districts, and the needs of the mobility systems in the first part. The second part is a practical analysis for different mobility plans. It is challenging to find innovative and creative conservation solutions fitting modern uses and needs without risking the loss of inherited built resources. Urban mobility management is becoming an essential and challenging issue in the urban conservation projects. Depending on literature review and practical analysis, this paper tries to define and clarify the guidelines for mobility management in historic districts as a key element in sustainability of urban conservation and development projects. Such rules and principles could control the conflict between the socio–cultural and economic activities, and the different needs for mobility in these districts in a sustainable way. The practical analysis includes a comparison between mobility plans which have been implemented in four different cities; Freiburg in Germany, Zurich in Switzerland and Bray Town in Ireland. This paper concludes with a matrix of guidelines that considers both principles of sustainability and livability factors in urban historic districts.

Keywords: sustainable mobility, urban mobility, mobility management, historic districts

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Authors: Bachir Nora

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Integrating vegetation into urban environments is crucial for enhancing quality of life, particularly through microclimate regulation and the reduction of urban heat islands. This study investigates the impact of different street tree species on the urban microclimate in the El-Houria neighborhood of Mostaganem, Algeria, using the ENVI-met software for advanced environmental simulations. it focused on three tree species—Robinia pseudo-acacia, Populus alba, and Jacaranda mimosifolia—to evaluate their effectiveness in influencing key meteorological parameters, including air temperature, mean radiant temperature, surface temperature, and the predicted percentage of dissatisfied (PPD) thermal comfort index. Statistical analyses were conducted to compare these parameters across different tree species, ensuring the robustness of our findings. Our results indicate that Robinia pseudo-acacia is the most effective species, capable of reducing air temperature by up to 1°C and surface temperature by up to 12°C. These findings underscore the importance of strategically selecting tree species to mitigate the effects of climate change, improve thermal comfort, and reduce energy consumption in urban settings. The study offers valuable insights for urban planners and policymakers, providing practical guidance for sustainable urban design practices tailored to the Algerian context.

Keywords: heat islands, microclimate simulation, street tree alignment, sustainable urban design, thermal comfort.

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Authors: A. Ascenso, C. Silveira, B. Augusto, S. Rafael, S. Coelho, J. Ferreira, A. Monteiro, P. Roebeling, A. I. Miranda

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Innovative nature-based solutions (NBSs) can provide answers to the challenges that urban areas are currently facing due to urban densification and extreme weather conditions. The effects of NBSs are recognized and include improved quality of life, mental and physical health and improvement of air quality, among others. Part of the work developed in the scope of the UNaLab project, which aims to guide cities in developing and implementing their own co-creative NBSs, intends to assess the impacts of NBSs on air quality, using Eindhoven city as a case study. The state-of-the-art online air quality modelling system WRF-CHEM was applied to simulate meteorological and concentration fields over the study area with a spatial resolution of 1 km2 for the year 2015. The baseline simulation (without NBSs) was validated by comparing the model results with monitored data retrieved from the Eindhoven air quality database, showing an adequate model performance. In addition, land use changes were applied in a set of simulations to assess the effects of different types of NBSs. Finally, these simulations were compared with the baseline scenario and the impacts of the NBSs were assessed. Reductions on pollutant concentrations, namely for NOx and PM, were found after the application of the NBSs in the Eindhoven study area. The present work is particularly important to support public planners and decision makers in understanding the effects of their actions and planning more sustainable cities for the future.

Keywords: air quality, modelling approach, nature based solutions, urban area

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Authors: Mathew Nyashanu, George K. Kiggundu, Mandu S. Ekpenyong

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There is an increased number of young people engaging in early sexual relationships worldwide. Furthermore, statistics for early pregnancy among young people have also increased, especially in low and middle-income countries. This has health implications for both the parents and the baby. High uptake in family planning contraception among young people can reduce early pregnancy and subsequent negative health outcomes on the young parents and the baby. This study was set to explore the factors influencing the uptake of family planning contraceptive services among young people (18-24 years) at a community level in rural Budaka district, Uganda. The study utilised an explorative qualitative approach. The study found out that religion, partner resistance; perceived loss of libido, perceived barren, long waiting time and distance from the health facility, lack of privacy/confidentiality, excessive menstrual bleeding, cancer, and fear of having disabled babies, limited the utilisation of family planning contraceptive services while contraception as HIV prevention and child spacing encouraged young people to use family planning contraceptive services. There is a need for a culturally orientated community-based contraceptive health promotion approach to increase the uptake of family planning contraception services among young people.

Keywords: Young people, Family Planning, Contraceptives, Black sub-Sahara African

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Authors: Elahe Memari, Ahmad Aslizadeh, Ahmad Memari

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To compile and execute a strategy for State Road Management and Transportation Organization, we need to identify and include them in the process of planning. Therefore, present research work tries to rely on experiences by managers and experts from State Road Management and Transportation Organization and other sources like books, magazines and new papers, such factors have to be identified and be applied in this important and vital process before proceeding to strategic planning. Trying to present a conceptual model from factors effective on strategic planning success in fulfillment of State Road Management and Transportation Organization, the present research figures on indicating the role of organizational factors in efficiency of the process to managers. In this research connection between six main factors studied in fulfillment of State Road Management and Transportation Organization objectives. The factors are improvement of strategic thinking in senior managers, improvement of organization business, rationalizing resource allocation in different sections of the organization, conformity of strategic planning with organization needs, conformity of organization activities with environmental changes, stabilization of organizational culture, all approved through implemented tests.

Keywords: improvement of organization business, rationalization of resource allocation in different sections of the organization, stability of organizational culture, strategic planning

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Authors: R. Karami, A. Gharaei

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The aim of this study was to investigate ecotourism status in Chabahar coastal zone using swot analysis and strategic planning. Firstly, the current status of region was studied by literature review, field survey and statistical analysis. Then strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) were identified as well as opportunities and threats (external factors) using Delphi Method. Based on the obtained results, the total score of 2.46 in IFE matrix and 2.33 in the EFE matrix represents poor condition related to the internal and external factors respectively. This condition means both external and internal factors have not been utilized properly and the zone needs defensive plan; thus appropriate planning and organizational management practices are required to deal with these factors. Furthermore strategic goals, objectives and action plans in short, medium and long term schedule were formulated in attention to swot analysis.

Keywords: tourism, SWOT analysis, strategic planning, Chabahar

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Authors: Kuladeep Kumar Sadevi

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The shift towards raising global urban population has intense implications on the sustainability of the urban livelihoods. Rapid urbanization has made governments, companies and civil societies recognize that they are barely equipped to deal with growing urban demands, especially water, waste and energy management. Effective management of land, water, energy and waste at a community level should be addressed well to attain greener cities. In pursuit of Green livelihoods; various norms, codes, and green rating programmes have been followed by stakeholders at various levels. While the sustainability is being adapted at smaller scale developments, greening the urban environment at community/city level is still finding its path to reality. This is due to lack of the sense of ownership in the citizens for their immediate neighborhoods and city as a whole. This phenomenon can be well connected to the theory of 'tragedy of commons' with respect to the community engagement to manage the common pool resources. The common pool resource management has been well addressed by Elinor Ostrom, who shared the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2009 for her lifetime of scholarly work investigating how communities succeed or fail at managing common pool (finite) resources. This paper examines the applicability of Elinor Ostrom's 8 Principles for Managing a Commons, to meet urban sustainability. The key objective of this paper is to come up with a model for effective urban common pool resource management, which ultimately leads to sustainability as a whole. The paper brings out a methodology to understand various parameters involved in urban sustainability, examine the synergies of all such parameters, and application of Ostrom’s principles to correlate these parameters in order to attain effective urban resource management.

Keywords: common pool resources, green cities, green communities, participatory management, sustainable development, urban resource management, urban sustainability

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Authors: Bader Eddin Al Asali, N. Srinivasa Reddy

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Cities are dynamic in nature and are characterized by concentration of people, infrastructure, services and markets, which offer opportunities for production and consumption. Often growth and development in urban areas is not systematic, and is directed by number of factors like natural growth, land prices, housing availability, job locations-the central business district (CBD’s), transportation routes, distribution of resources, geographical boundaries, administrative policies, etc. One sided spatial and geographical development in cities leads to the unequal spatial distribution of population and jobs, resulting in high transportation activity. City development can be measured by the parameters such as urban size, urban form, urban shape, and urban structure. Urban Size is the city size and defined by the population of the city, and urban form is the location and size of the economic activity (CBD) over the geographical space. Urban shape is the geometrical shape of the city over which the distribution of population and economic activity occupied. And Urban Structure is the transport network within which the population and activity centers are connected by hierarchy of roads. Among the urban land-use systems transportation plays significant role and is one of the largest energy consuming sector. Transportation interaction among the land uses is measured in Passenger-Km and mean trip length, and is often used as a proxy for measurement of energy consumption in transportation sector. Among the trips generated in cities, work trips constitute more than 70 percent. Work trips are originated from the place of residence and destination to the place of employment. To understand the role of urban parameters on transportation interaction, theoretical cities of different size and urban specifications are generated through building block exercise using a specially developed interactive C++ programme and land use transportation modeling is carried. The land-use transportation modeling exercise helps in understanding the role of urban parameters and also to classify the cities for their urban form, structure, and shape. Muscat the capital city of Oman underwent rapid urbanization over the last four decades is taken as a case study for its classification. Also, a pilot survey is carried to capture urban travel characteristics. Analysis of land-use transportation modeling with field data classified Muscat as a linear city with polycentric CBD. Conclusions are drawn suggestion are given for policy making for the sustainability of Muscat City.

Keywords: land-use transportation, transportation modeling urban form, urban structure, urban rule parameters

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Authors: S. Halioui, I. Arikan, M. Schmidt

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Tourism sector in Tunisia faces several problems that range from economic challenges to environmental degradation and social instability. These problems have been intensified because of the increased competition in the tourism market, the political instability, financial crises, and recently terrorism problems have aggravated the situation. As a consequence, a new framework that promotes sustainable tourism in the country and increases its competitiveness is urgently needed. Planning for sustainable tourism sector requires the integration of complex interactions between economic, social and environmental aspects. Sustainable tourism principles can be implemented with the help of Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) process, which ensures the full integration of economic, social and environmental considerations while planning for the tourism sector in Tunisia. Results of the paper have broad implications for policy makers and tourism professionals.

Keywords: sustainable tourism, strategic environmental assessment, tourism planning, policy

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Authors: Fakhrul Anwar Zainol, Wan Norhayate Wan Daud, Zulhamri Abdullah, Mohd Rafi Yaacob

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Malaysia has made great strides in eradicating poverty. Based on the latest figures of the 9th Malaysian Plan Mid-term review, the overall hardcore poverty percentage is down to 0.7%, and only 3.6% of the Malaysian population is living below the overall poverty line. While in the past significant efforts had been taken by the government through various developmental project to alleviate poverty in rural area had proven successful. Today, urban poverty in Malaysia is an increasingly visible phenomenon due to rural-urban migration and the natural population growth in urban areas. Given the changing dimensions and emerging new forms of poverty as a result of unwanted effects of development there is a dire need to re-examine and re-visit urban poverty in Malaysia. Based on the leaders’ perceptions, this study affirmed that social entrepreneurship organizations in Malaysia have try to overcome the urban poverty through social entrepreneurship. The new framework has been developed from the results of this study. It shows that social entrepreneurship contributed to the organizational effectiveness. This result indicates that it is important to have social entrepreneurship in order to increase the socio economy and achieve the organization’s mission. Therefore, this study has proven that social entrepreneurship is beneficial to the Malaysian.

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship, Organizational Effectiveness, Urban Poverty, Malaysia.

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Authors: Mariana Damova, Stanko Stankov, Emil Stoyanov, Hristo Hristov, Hermand Pessek, Plamen Chernev

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We will present one of the first use cases on the DestinE platform, a joint initiative of the European Commission, European Space Agency and EUMETSAT, providing access to global earth observation, meteorological and statistical data, and emphasize the good practice of intergovernmental agencies acting in concert. Further, we will discuss the importance of space-bound disruptive solutions for improving the balance between the ever-increasing water-related disasters coming from climate change and minimizing their economic and societal impact. The use case focuses on forecasting floods and estimating the impact of flood events on the urban environment and the ecosystems in the affected areas with the purpose of helping municipal decision-makers to analyze and plan resource needs and to forge human-environment relationships by providing farmers with insightful information for improving their agricultural productivity. For the forecast, we will adopt an EO4AI method of our platform ISME-HYDRO, in which we employ a pipeline of neural networks applied to in-situ measurements and satellite data of meteorological factors influencing the hydrological and hydrodynamic status of rivers and dams, such as precipitations, soil moisture, vegetation index, snow cover to model flood events and their span. ISME-HYDRO platform is an e-infrastructure for water resources management based on linked data, extended with further intelligence that generates forecasts with the method described above, throws alerts, formulates queries, provides superior interactivity and drives communication with the users. It provides synchronized visualization of table views, graphviews and interactive maps. It will be federated with the DestinE platform.

Keywords: flood simulation, AI, Earth observation, e-Infrastructure, flood forecasting, flood areas localization, response planning, resource estimation

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Authors: Shivani Jha, Klaus Baier, Rafiq Azzam, Ramakar Jha

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In India, generally people migrate from rural area to the urban area for better infra-structural facilities, high standard of living, good job opportunities and advanced transport/communication availability. In fact, unplanned urban development due to migration of people causes seriou damage to the land use, water pollution and available water resources. In the present work, an attempt has been made to use satellite data of different years for urban change detection of Chennai metropolitan city along with pattern analysis to generate future scenario of urban development using buffer zoning in GIS environment. In the analysis, SRTM (30m) elevation data and IRS-1C satellite data for the years 1990, 2000, and 2014, are used. The flow accumulation, aspect, flow direction and slope maps developed using SRTM 30 m data are very useful for finding suitable urban locations for industrial setup and urban settlements. Normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) and Principal Component Analysis (PCA) have been used in ERDAS imagine software for change detection in land use of Chennai metropolitan city. It has been observed that the urban area has increased exponentially in Chennai metropolitan city with significant decrease in agriculture and barren lands. However, the water bodies located in the study regions are protected and being used as freshwater for drinking purposes. Using buffer zone analysis in GIS environment, it has been observed that the development has taken place in south west direction significantly and will do so in future.

Keywords: urban change, satellite data, the Chennai metropolis, change detection

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Authors: Katarina Pogacnik, Ursa Zakrajsek, Nejc Sirk, Ziga Lampret

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Due to an increase in living standards along with global population growth and a trend of urbanization, municipalities and regions are faced with an ever rising energy demand. A challenge has arisen for cities around the world to modify the energy supply chain in order to reduce its consumption and CO₂ emissions. The aim of our work is the development of a computational-analytical platform for dynamic support in decision-making and the determination of economic and technical indicators of energy efficiency in a smart city, named Energy Atlas. Similar products in this field focuse on a narrower approach, whereas in order to achieve its aim, this platform encompasses a wider spectrum of beneficial and important information for energy planning on a local or regional scale. GIS based interactive maps provide an extensive database on the potential, use and supply of energy and renewable energy sources along with climate, transport and spatial data of the selected municipality. Beneficiaries of Energy atlas are local communities, companies, investors, contractors as well as residents. The Energy Atlas platform consists of three modules named E-Planning, E-Indicators and E-Cooperation. The E-Planning module is a comprehensive data service, which represents a support towards optimal decision-making and offers a sum of solutions and feasibility of measures and their effects in the area of efficient use of energy and renewable energy sources. The E-Indicators module identifies, collects and develops optimal data and key performance indicators and develops an analytical application service for dynamic support in managing a smart city in regards to energy use and sustainable environment. In order to support cooperation and direct involvement of citizens of the smart city, the E-cooperation is developed with the purpose of integrating the interdisciplinary and sociological aspects of energy end-users. Interaction of all the above-described modules contributes to regional development because it enables for a precise assessment of the current situation, strategic planning, detection of potential future difficulties and also the possibility of public involvement in decision-making. From the implementation of the technology in Slovenian municipalities of Ljubljana, Piran, and Novo mesto, there is evidence to suggest that the set goals are to be achieved to a great extent. Such thorough urban energy planning tool is viewed as an important piece of the puzzle towards achieving a low-carbon society, circular economy and therefore, sustainable society.

Keywords: circular economy, energy atlas, energy management, energy planning, low-carbon society

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Authors: Purabi Saikia

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The present study was carried out across 84 vegetated grids (>10% vegetation cover) along an urbanization gradient, ranging from the urban core to peri-urban and natural vegetation in and around Ranchi, Eastern India, aiming to examine the phytosociological attributes by belt transect (167 transects each of 0.5 ha) method. Overall, plant species richness was highest in natural vegetation (242 spp.), followed by peri-urban (198 spp.) and urban (182 spp.). Similarly, H’, CD, E, Dmg, Dmn, and ENS showed significant differences in the tree layer (H’: 0.45-3.36; CD: 0.04-1.00; E: 0.25-0.96; Dmg: 0.18-7.15; Dmn: 0.03-4.24, and ENS: 1-29) in the entire urbanization gradient. Various α-diversity indices of the adult trees (H’: 3.98, Dmg: 14.32, Dmn: 2.38, ENS: 54) were comparatively better in urban vegetation compared to peri-urban (H’: 2.49, Dmg: 10.37, Dmn: 0.81, ENS: 12) and natural vegetation (H’: 2.89, Dmg: 13.46, Dmn: 0.85, ENS: 18). Tree communities have shown better response and adaptability in urban vegetation than shrubs and herbs. The prevalence of rare (41%), very rare (29%), and exotic species (39%) in urban vegetation may be due to the intentional introduction of a number of fast-growing exotic tree species in different social forestry plantations that have created a diverse and heterogeneous habitat. Despite contagious distribution, the majority of trees (36.14%) have shown no regeneration in the entire urbanization gradient. Additionally, a quite high percentage of IUCN red-listed plant species (51% and 178 spp.), including endangered (01 sp.), vulnerable (03 spp.), near threatened (04 spp.), least concern (163 spp.), and data deficient (07 spp.), warrant immediate policy interventions. Overall, the study witnessed subsequent transformations in floristic composition and structure from urban to natural vegetation in Eastern India. The outcomes are crucial for fostering resilient ecosystems, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable development in the region that supports diverse plant communities.

Keywords: floristic communities, urbanization gradients, exotic species, regeneration

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Authors: Y. S. Lin, H. L. Lin

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Climate change and land-use change caused by urban expansion increase the frequency of urban flooding. To mitigate the increase in runoff volume, low-impact development (LID) is a green approach for reducing the area of impervious surface and managing stormwater at the source with decentralized micro-scale control measures. However, the current benefit assessment and practical application of LID in Taiwan is still tending to be development plan in the community and building site scales. As for urban design, site-based moisture-holding capacity has been common index for evaluating LID’s effectiveness of urban design, which ignore the diversity, and complexity of the urban built environments, such as different densities, positive and negative spaces, volumes of building and so on. Such inflexible regulations not only probably make difficulty for most of the developed areas to implement, but also not suitable for every different types of built environments, make little benefits to some types of built environments. Looking toward to enable LID to strength the link with urban design to reduce the runoff in coping urban flooding, the research consider different characteristics of different types of built environments in developing LID strategy. Classify the built environments by doing the cluster analysis based on density measures, such as Ground Space Index (GSI), Floor Space Index (FSI), Floors (L), and Open Space Ratio (OSR), and analyze their impervious surface rates and runoff volumes. Simulate flood situations by using quasi-two-dimensional flood plain flow model, and evaluate the flood mitigation effectiveness of different types of built environments in different low-impact development strategies. The information from the results of the assessment can be more precisely implement in urban design. In addition, it helps to enact regulations of low-Impact development strategies in urban design more suitable for every different type of built environments.

Keywords: low-impact development, urban design, flooding, density measures

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Authors: Sakapas Saengchai, Vilasinee Jintalikhitdee, Mathinee Khongsatid, Nattapol Pourprasert

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This paper studied the participation of people of the five villages of Bang Nang Li Community in Ampawa District, Samut Songkram Province, in designing community planning. The population was 2,755 villagers from the 5 villages with 349 people sampled. The level of involvement was measured by using Likert Five Scale for: preparing readiness of local people in the community, providing information for community and self analysis and learning, designing goals and directions for community development, designing strategic plans for community projects, and operating according to the plans. All process items reported a medium level of involvement except the item of preparing readiness for local people that presented the highest mean score. A test of a correlation between personal factors and level of involvement in designing the community planning unveiled no correlation between gender, age and career. Contrarily, the findings revealed that the villagers’ educational level and community membership status had a correlation with their level of involvement in designing the community planning.

Keywords: community development, community planning, people participation, educational level

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Authors: Fang Tang, Jacob Longazo

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This paper describes a sliding autonomy approach for coordinating a team of robots to assist the human operator to accomplish tasks while adapting to new or unexpected situations by requesting help from the human operator. While sliding autonomy has been well studied in the context of controlling a single robot. Much work needs to be done to apply sliding autonomy to a multi-robot team, especially human-robot team. Our approach aims at a hierarchical sliding control structure, with components that support human-robot collaboration. We validated our approach in the USARSim simulation and demonstrated that the human-robot team's overall performance can be improved under the sliding autonomy control.

Keywords: sliding autonomy, multi-robot team, human-robot collaboration, USARSim

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Authors: Adel Bessadok

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The theory of values postulates that each human has a set of values, or attractive and trans-situational goals, that drive their actions. The Basic Human Values as an incentive construct that apprehends human's values have been shown to govern a wide range of human behaviors. Individuals within and within societies have very different value preferences that reflect their enculturation, their personal experiences, their social places and their genetic heritage. Using a focus group composed by Islamic religious Preachers and a sample of 800 young students; this ongoing study will establish Moderate Islamic Values parameters. We analyze later, for the same students sample the difference between Moderate Islamic Values and Schwartz’s Basic Human Values. Keywords—Moderate Islamic Values, Basic Human Values, Exploratory Factor Analysis and Confirmatory Factor Analysis.

Keywords: moderate Islamic values, basic human values, exploratory factor analysis, confirmatory factor analysis

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Authors: Hassan Sheikh, Mehdi Nilipour, Amiraslan Fila

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Many conventional town planning processes do little to give children and young people a voice on what is important about the urban environment. As a result of paying little attention to the children, their physical, social and mental needs are hardly met in urban environments. Therefore, urban spaces are impotent to attract children, while their recreational space has been confined to home or virtual spaces. Since children are just taking the first steps to learn the world beyond house borders, their living environment will profoundly influence almost all aspects of their lives. This puts a great deal of responsibility on the shoulders of planners, who need to balance a number of different issues in urban design to make places more child-friendly. The main purpose of present research is to analyze and plan a child-friendly environment in an on-going urban settlement development for the benefit of all residents. Assessing children’s needs and regard them in development strategies and policies will help to “plan for children”. Following this purpose, based on child-friendly environment studies, indicators of child-friendly environments were collected. Then three distinct characteristics of case study, which are being under-construction, lack of social ties between dwellers and high-rise building, determined seven indicators included basic services, Urban and environmental qualities, Family, kin, peers and community, Sense of belonging and continuity, participation, Safety, security and freedom of movement and human scale. With the survey, Informal observation and participation in small communities, essential data has been collected and analyzed by SPSS software. The field study is Shahid-Keshvari town in Isfahan, Iran. Eighty-six middle childhood, children (ages 8-13) participated. The results show Children's satisfaction is correlated with basic services and the quality of the environment, social environment and the safety and security. The considerable number of children and youth (55%) like to live somewhere other than the town. Satisfaction and sense of belonging and continuity have a strong inverse correlation with age. In other words, as age increases, satisfaction and consequently a sense of belonging will be reduced; thus children and youth consider their future somewhere out of the town. The main reason for dissatisfaction was the basic services and social environment. More than half of children (55%) expressed their wish to develop basic services in terms of availability, hierarchy, and quality. Among all recreational places, children showed more interest to the parks. About three-quarters (76%) considered building a park as a crucial item for residents. The significant number of children (54%) want to have a relationship with more friends. This could be due to the serious shortage of the leisure spaces such as parks or playgrounds. Also, the space around the house or space between the apartments has not been designed for play or children’s activities. Moreover, the presence of strangers and construction workers have a negative impact on children's sense of peace and security; 60% of children are afraid of theft and 36% of children found strangers as a menace. The analysis of children’s issues and suggestions provides an insight to plan and design of child-friendly environment in new towns.

Keywords: child-friendly city (CFC), child-friendly environment, child participation, under-construction environment, Isfahan Shahid-Keshvari Town

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Authors: Roman Girma Teshome

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The intersection between development and human rights has been the point of scholarly debate for a long time. Consequently, a number of principles, which extend from the right to development to the human rights-based approach to development, have been adopted to understand the dynamics between the two concepts. Despite these attempts, the exact relationship between development and human rights has not been fully discovered yet. However, the inevitable interdependence between the two notions and the idea that development efforts must be undertaken by giving due regard to human rights guarantees has gained momentum in recent years. On the other hand, the emergence of sustainable development as a widely accepted approach in development goals and policies makes this unsettled convergence even more complicated. The place of sustainable development in human rights law discourse and the role of the latter in ensuring the sustainability of development programs call for a systematic study. Hence, this article seeks to explore the relationship between development and human rights, particularly focusing on the place given to sustainable development principles in international human right law. It will further quest whether there is a right to sustainable development recognized therein. Accordingly, the article asserts that the principles of sustainable development are directly or indirectly recognized in various human rights instruments, which provides an affirmative response to the question raised hereinabove. This work, therefore, will make expeditions through international and regional human rights instruments as well as case laws and interpretative guidelines of human rights bodies to prove this hypothesis.

Keywords: sustainable development, human rights, the right to development, the human rights-based approach to development, environmental rights, economic development, social sustainability

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Authors: Mohsin Ali Baloch, Saira Baloch

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Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the levels of serum lipid profiles in Urban and Rural Population of Sindh, to indicate the existing risk of cardiovascular diseases. Material and Methods: Study was conducted at Liaquat University of Medical & Health Sciences, in the cities of Jamshoro and Hyderabad of Sindh. Blood samples from 300 healthy individuals were collected in fasting condition, out them 100 were from rural population, 100 were urban while 100 were used as control group. The biochemistry of these samples was obtained by the analysis of total Cholesterol, high density lipoprotein Cholesterol (HDL), low-density lipoprotein Cholesterol (LDL) and Triglycerides using kit method on Analyzer Clinical Chemistry. Results and Conclusion: Serum levels of total cholesterol, Triglycerides, and LDL cholesterol were significantly raised in the rural and urban males, whereas HDL cholesterol was decreased as compared to the Healthy controls that indicated significant risk of CVD. Urban population was with more risk of CVD and male gender in both groups was at more risk. The worst lipid profile in gender wise distribution was observed in male gender of urban population with highest Total Cholesterol/HDL Ratio while female gender also shown moderate risk of CVD with highest LDL/HDL Ratio.

Keywords: cardiovascular diseases, lipid profiles, urban and rural population, LDL/HDL Ratio

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Authors: Melissa Dickinson

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In the context of intense global competitiveness and urban transformations, today’s cities are faced with enormous challenges. There is increasing pressure among cities and regions to respond promptly and efficiently to fierce market progressions, to offer a competitive advantage, higher flexibility, and to be pro-active in creating future markets. Consequently, competition among cities and regions within the dynamics of a worldwide spatial economic system is growing fiercer, amplifying the importance of intangible capital in shaping the competitive and dynamic economic performance of organisations and firms. Accordingly, this study addresses how intangible capital influences urban economic development within an urban environment. Despite substantial research on the economic, and strategic determinants of urban economic development this multidimensional phenomenon remains to be one of the greatest challenges for economic geographers. The research provides a unique contribution, exploring intangible capital through the lenses of entrepreneurial capital and social-network capital. Drawing on business surveys and in-depth interviews with key stakeholders in the case of the three UK Core Cities Birmingham, Bristol and Cardiff. This paper critically considers how entrepreneurial capital and social-network capital is a crucial source of competitiveness and urban economic development. This paper deals with questions concerning the complexity of operationalizing ‘network capital’ in different urban settings and the challenges that reside in characterising its effects. The paper will highlight the role of institutions in facilitating urban economic development. Particular emphasis will be placed on exploring the roles formal and informal institutions have in delivering, supporting and nurturing entrepreneurial capital and social-network capital, to facilitate urban economic development. Discussions will then consider how institutions moderate and contribute to the economic development of urban areas, to provide implications in terms of future policy formulation in the context of large and medium sized cities.

Keywords: urban economic development, network capital, entrepreneurialism, institutions

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Authors: L. Salvati, D. Smiraglia, S. Bajocco, M. Munafò

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This paper focuses on Land Use and Land Cover Changes (LULCC) occurred in the urban coastal regions of the Mediterranean basin in the last thirty years. LULCC were assessed diachronically (1975-2006) in two urban areas, Rome (Italy) and Athens (Greece), by using CORINE land cover maps. In strictly coastal territories a persistent growth of built-up areas at the expenses of both agricultural and forest land uses was found. On the contrary, a different pattern was observed in the surrounding inland areas, where a high conversion rate of the agricultural land uses to both urban and forest land uses was recorded. The impact of city growth on the complex pattern of coastal LULCC is finally discussed.

Keywords: land use changes, coastal region, Rome prefecture, Attica, southern Europe

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