Search results for: urban road traffic signs

Authors: Sahar Shams

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Coeliac disease (CD) is a widely reported disease particularly in countries with predominant Caucasian populations. It presents with many signs and symptoms including iron deficiency (ID) and iron deficiency anaemia/anaemia (IDA/A). The exact association between ID, IDA/A and CD and how accurate these signs are in diagnosing CD is not fully known. This systematic review was conducted to investigate the accuracy of both ID & IDA/A as a diagnostic indicator for CD and whether it warrants point of care testing. A systematic review was performed looking at studies published in MEDLINE, Embase, Cochrane Library, and Web of Science. QUADAS-2 tool was used to assess risk of bias in each study. ROC curve and forest plots were generated as part of the meta-analysis after data extraction. 16 studies were identified in total, 13 of which were IDA/A studies and 3 ID studies. The prevalence of CD regardless of diagnostic indicator was assumed as 1%. The QUADAS-2 tool indicated most of studies as having high risk of bias. The PPV for CD was higher in those with ID than for those with IDA/A. Meta-analysis showed the overall odds of having CD is 5 times higher in individuals with ID & IDA/A. The ROC curve showed that there is definitely an association between both diagnostic indicators and CD, the association is not a particularly strong one due to great heterogeneity between studies. Whilst an association between IDA/A & ID and coeliac disease was evident, the results were not deemed significant enough to prompt coeliac disease testing in those with IDA/A & ID.

Keywords: anemia, iron deficiency anemia, coeliac disease, point of care testing

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Authors: Chunhong Zhao

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Remotely sensed land surface temperature (LST) is vital to understand the land-atmosphere energy balance, hydrological cycle, and thus is widely used to describe the urban heat island (UHI) phenomenon. However, due to technical constraints, satellite thermal sensors are unable to provide LST measurement with both high spatial and high temporal resolution. Despite different downscaling techniques and algorithms to generate high spatiotemporal resolution LST. Four major metropolitan areas in Texas, USA: Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio, and Austin all demonstrate UHI effects. Different cities are expected to have varying SUHI effect during the urban development trajectory. With the help of the Landsat, ASTER, and MODIS archives, this study focuses on the spatial patterns of UHIs and the seasonal and annual variation of these metropolitan areas. With Gaussian model, and Local Indicators of Spatial Autocorrelations (LISA), as well as data fusion methods, this study identifies the hotspots and the trajectory of the UHI phenomenon of the four cities. By making comparison analysis, the result can help to alleviate the advent effect of UHI and formulate rational urban planning in the long run.

Keywords: spatiotemporal analysis, land surface temperature, urban heat island evaluation, metropolitan areas of Texas, USA

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Authors: Srikanth Pandurangi, Basheer Mohammed, Nezar Al Sayegh

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In order to meet the increasing demand for housing care for Kuwaiti citizens, the government authorities in Kuwait are undertaking a series of projects in the form of new large cities, outside the current urban area. Al Mutlaa City located to the north-west of the Kuwait Metropolitan Area is one such project out of the 15 planned new cities. The city accommodates a wide variety of residential developments, employment opportunities, commercial, recreational, health care and institutional uses. This paper examines the application of comprehensive transportation demand modeling works undertaken in VISUM platform to understand the future intracity and intercity travel distribution patterns in Kuwait. The scope of models developed varied in levels of detail: strategic model update, sub-area models representing future demand of Al Mutlaa City, sub-area models built to estimate the demand in the residential neighborhoods of the city. This paper aims at offering model update framework that facilitates easy integration between sub-area models and strategic national models for unified traffic forecasts. This paper presents the transportation demand modeling results utilized in informing the planning of multi-modal transportation system for Al Mutlaa City. This paper also presents the household survey data collection efforts undertaken using GPS devices (first time in Kuwait) and notebook computer based digital survey forms for interviewing representative sample of citizens and residents. The survey results formed the basis of estimating trip generation rates and trip distribution coefficients used in the strategic base year model calibration and validation process.

Keywords: innovative methods in transportation data collection, integrated public transportation system, traffic forecasts, transportation modeling, travel behavior

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Authors: Sareh Edalati, Nasrin Omidvar, Arezoo Haghighian Roudsari, Delaram Ghodsi, Azizollaah Zargaran

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Background and aim: Improving consumer’s food choices and providing a healthy food environment by governments is one of the essential approaches to prevent non-communicable diseases and to fulfill the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The present study aimed to provide an analysis of the nutrition labeling policy as one of the main components of the healthy food environment to provide learning lessons for the country and other low and middle-income countries. Methods: Data were collected by reviewing documents and conducting semi-structured interviews with stakeholders. Respondents were selected through purposive and snowball sampling and continued until data saturation. MAXQDA software was used to manage data analysis. A deductive content analysis was used by applying the Kingdon multiple streams and the policy triangulation framework. Results: Iran is the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region, which has implemented nutrition traffic light labeling. The implementation process has gone through two phases: voluntary and mandatory. In the voluntary labeling, volunteer food manufacturers who chose to have the labels would receive an honorary logo and this helped to reduce the food-sector resistance gradually. After this phase, the traffic light labeling became mandatory. Despite these efforts, there has been poor involvement of media for public awareness and sensitization. Also, the inconsistency of nutrition traffic light colors which are based on food standard guidelines, lack of consistency between nutrition traffic light colors, the healthy/unhealthy nature of some food products such as olive oil and diet cola and the absence of a comprehensive evaluation plan were among the pitfalls and policy challenges identified. Conclusions: Strengthening the governance through improving collaboration within health and non-health sectors for implementation, more transparency of truthfulness of nutrition traffic labeling initiating with real ingredients, and applying international and local scientific evidence or any further revision of the program is recommended. Also, developing public awareness campaigns and revising school curriculums to improve students’ skills on nutrition label applications should be highly emphasized.

Keywords: nutrition labeling, policy analysis, food environment, Iran

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Authors: N. S. Kubanza, D. Simatele, D. K. Das

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The purpose of this paper is to understand the urban environmental problems in Kinshasa and the consequences of these for the poor. This paper particularly examines the concept of environmental injustice in solid waste management in Kinshasa, the capital of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The urban low-income communities in Kinshasa face multiple consequences of poor solid waste management associated with unhealthy living conditions. These situations stemmed from overcrowding, poor sanitary, accumulation of solid waste, resulting in the prevalence of water and air borne diseases. Using a mix of reviewed archival records, scholarly literature, a semi-structured interview conducted with the local community members and qualitative surveys among stakeholders; it was found that solid waste management challenge in Kinshasa is not only an environmental and health risk issues, but also, a problem that generates socio-spatial disparities in the distribution of the solid waste burden. It is argued in the paper that the urban poor areas in Kinshasa are often hardest affected by irregularities of waste collection. They lack sanitary storage capacities and have undermined organizational capacity for collective action within solid waste management. In view of these observations, this paper explores mechanisms and stakeholders’ engagement necessary to lessen environmental injustice in solid waste management (SWM) in Kinshasa.

Keywords: environmental justice, solid waste management, urban environmental problems, urban poor

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Authors: Viktória Sugár, Orsolya Frick, Gabriella Horváth, A. Bendegúz Vöröss, Péter Leczovics, Géza Baráth

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Urban greenery has multiple positive effects both on the city and its residents. Apart from the visual advantages, it changes the micro-climate by cooling and shading, also increasing vapor and oxygen, reducing dust and carbon-dioxide content at the same time. The above are all critical factors of livability of an urban fabric. Unfortunately, in a dense, historical district there are restricted possibilities to build green surfaces. The present study collects and systemizes the applicable green solutions in the case of a historical downtown district of Budapest. The study contains a GIS-based measurement of the eligible surfaces for greenery, and also calculates the potential of oxygen production, carbon-dioxide reduction and cooling effect of an increased green surface.  It can be concluded that increasing the green surface has measurable effects on a densely built urban fabric, including air quality, micro-climate and other environmental factors.

Keywords: urban greenery, green roof, green wall, green surface potential, sustainable city, oxygen production, carbon-dioxide reduction, geographical information system

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Authors: Michael Dimmer, Holger Flederer

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The basis of realizing a construction project is a technically flawless concept which satisfies conditions regarding environment and costs, as well as static-constructional terms. The presented software system actively supports civil engineers during the setup of optimal designs, by giving advice regarding durability, life-cycle costs, sustainability and much more. A major part of the surrounding conditions of a design process is gathered and assimilated by experienced engineers subconsciously. It is a question about eligible building techniques and their practicability by considering emerging costs. Planning engineers have acquired many of this experience during their professional life and use them for their daily work. Occasionally, the planning engineer should disassociate himself from his experience to be open for new and better solutions which meet the functional demands, as well. The developed expert system gives planning engineers recommendations for preferred design options of new constructions as well as for existing bridge constructions. It is possible to analyze construction elements and techniques regarding sustainability and life-cycle costs. This way the software provides recommendations for future constructions. Furthermore, there is an option to design existing road bridges especially for heavy duty transport. This implies a route planning tool to get quick and reliable information as to whether the bridge support structures of a transport route have been measured sufficiently for a certain heavy duty transport. The use of this expert system in bridge planning companies and building authorities will save costs massively for new and existent bridge constructions. This is achieved by consequently considering parameters like life-cycle costs and sustainability for its planning recommendations.

Keywords: expert system, planning process, road bridges, software system

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Authors: A. Maghoul, A. Rostampouryasouri, MR. Maghami

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The development of an urban design and power network planning has been gaining momentum in recent years. The integration of renewable energy with urban design has been widely regarded as an increasingly important solution leading to climate change and energy security. Through the use of passive strategies and solar integration with Urban Building Energy Modeling (UBEM) tools, architects and designers can create high-quality designs that meet the needs of clients and stakeholders. To determine the most effective ways of combining renewable energy with urban development, we analyze the relationship between urban form and renewable energy production. The procedure involved in this practice include passive solar gain (in building design and urban design), solar integration, location strategy, and 3D models with a case study conducted in Tehran, Iran. The study emphasizes the importance of spatial and temporal considerations in the development of sector coupling strategies for solar power establishment in arid and semi-arid regions. The substation considered in the research consists of two parallel transformers, 13 lines, and 38 connection points. Each urban load connection point is equipped with 500 kW of solar PV capacity and 1 kWh of battery Energy Storage (BES) to store excess power generated from solar, injecting it into the urban network during peak periods. The simulations and analyses have occurred in EnergyPlus software. Passive solar gain involves maximizing the amount of sunlight that enters a building to reduce the need for artificial lighting and heating. Solar integration involves integrating solar photovoltaic (PV) power into smart grids to reduce emissions and increase energy efficiency. Location strategy is crucial to maximize the utilization of solar PV in an urban distribution feeder. Additionally, 3D models are made in Revit, and they are keys component of decision-making in areas including climate change mitigation, urban planning, and infrastructure. we applied these strategies in this research, and the results show that it is possible to create sustainable and energy-efficient urban environments. Furthermore, demand response programs can be used in conjunction with solar integration to optimize energy usage and reduce the strain on the power grid. This study highlights the influence of ancient Persian architecture on Iran's urban planning system, as well as the potential for reducing pollutants in building construction. Additionally, the paper explores the advances in eco-city planning and development and the emerging practices and strategies for integrating sustainability goals.

Keywords: energy-efficient urban planning, sustainable architecture, solar energy, sustainable urban design

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Authors: J. L. Oliver, T. Agryzkov, L. Tortosa, J. F. Vicent, J. Santacruz

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This paper aims to demonstrate how a system of indicators can be used in order to evaluate some heritage areas which can be understood as minor ones. We mean by that those urban areas with high heritage interest from an academical point of view, but never properly valued. The reasons for this situation may be diverse, either they are not old enough, or they may show the modest architecture, the fact is these areas have not been considered deserving of protection, as the historical ones. As a result of this reality, they usually show now a very degraded urban space, which in addition contribute to accelerate a process of deterioration. Using a technic well known in urban design, we propose here a system of indicators for patrimonial purposes, as a tool to identify and quantify the heritage value of these kinds of areas. As a case study, we apply this system in some part of the City of Quito (El Ecuador).

Keywords: heritage cities, indicators, spatial analysis, historic sites

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Authors: Yueying Chen

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A city can be developed through memory, and memory is one of the most important elements for urban contexts. Collective memory is a collection of personal memories that can be preserved with objects, places, and events of heritage, expressing culture through spatial changes. These preserved forms can evoke a sense of community and certain emotions. Collective memory in cities reflects urban spatial alterations and historical developments. It can be preserved and reflected by revitalisation projects. A major current focus in collective memory research is how to identify and preserve memory in an intangible way. The influential elements within the preservation of collective memory mainly include institutions and objects. However, current research lacks the assessment of the collective memory after alterations of urban heritage. The assessment of urban heritage lacks visualization and qualitative methods. The emergence of the application of space syntax can fill in this gap. Hengshan Mansions was a new project in 2015. The original residential area has been replaced with a comprehensive commercial area integrating boutique shopping, upscale restaurants, and creative offices. Hengshan Mansions is located in the largest historic area in Shanghai, and its development is the epitome of the traditional culture in Shanghai. Its alteration is the newest project in this area and presents the new concept of revitalisation of urban heritage. For its physical parts, modern vitality is created, and historical information is preserved at the same time. However, most of the local people are moved away, and its functions are altered a lot. The preservation of its collective memory needs to discuss furtherly. Thus, the article builds a framework to assess the collective memory of urban heritage, including spatial configuration, spatial interaction, and cultural cognition. Then, it selects Hengshan Mansions in Shanghai as a case to analyse the assessed framework. Space syntax can be applied to visualize the assessment. Based on the analysis, the article will explore the influential reasons for the collective memory after alterations and proposes relevant advice for the preservation of the collective memory of urban heritage.

Keywords: collective memory, alternation of urban heritage, space syntax, Hengshan Mansions

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Authors: Robert G. Nini

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The quality of road pavement is affected mostly by the type of sub-grade which is acting as road foundation. The roads degradation is related to many factors especially the climatic conditions, the quality, and the thickness of the base materials. The thickness of this layer depends on its California Bearing Ratio (CBR) test value which by its turn is highly affected by the quantity of water infiltrated under the road after heavy rain. The capacity of the base material to drain out its water is predominant factor because any change in moisture content causes change in sub-grade strength. This paper studies the effect of the soaking period of soil especially clay on its CBR value. For this reason, we collected many clayey samples in order to study the effect of the soaking period on its CBR value. On each soil, two groups of experiments were performed: main tests consisting of Proctor and CBR test from one side and from other side identification tests consisting of other tests such as Atterberg limits tests. Each soil sample was first subjected to Proctor test in order to find its optimum moisture content which will be used to perform the CBR test. Four CBR tests were performed on each soil with different soaking period. The first CBR was done without soaking the soil sample; the second one with two days soaking, the third one with four days soaking period and the last one was done under eight days soaking. By comparing the results of CBR tests performed with different soaking time, a more detailed understanding was given to the role of the water in reducing the CBR of soil. In fact, by extending the soaking period, the CBR was found to be reduced quickly the first two days and slower after. A precise reduction factor of the CBR in relation with soaking period was found at the end of this paper.

Keywords: California Bearing Ratio, clay, proctor test, soaking period, sub-grade

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Authors: Osagbai Joshua Eriki, Ngozi Agunwamba, Alice Hill, Lorna Almond, Maniya Duffy, Devashini Naidoo, David Ho, Raman Deo

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Aims: To evaluate the baseline eating pattern in a psychiatric hospital through quantifying purchases of food and drink items at the hospital shop and to implement a traffic light healthy eating labeling system. Method: A electronic till with reporting capabilities was purchased. A two-week period of baseline data collection was conducted. Thereafter, a system for labeling items based on the nutritional value of the food items at the hospital shop was implemented. Green labeling represented the items with the lowest calories and red the most. Further data was collated on the number and types of items purchased by patients according to the category, and the initial effectiveness of the system was evaluated. Result: Despite the implementation of the traffic light system, the red category had the highest number of items purchased by patients, highlighting the importance of promoting healthy eating choices. However, the study also showed that the system was effective in promoting healthy options, as the number of items purchased from the green category increased during the study period. Conclusion: The implementation of a traffic light labeling system for items sold at the hospital shop offers a promising approach to promoting healthy eating habits and choices. This is likely to contribute to a toolkit of measures when considering the multifactorial challenges that obesity and weight issues pose for long-stay psychiatric inpatients

Keywords: mental health, nutrition, food, healthy

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Authors: Ibrahim Ilker Ozyigit, Ertugrul Filiz, Seda Birbilener, Semsettin Kulac, Zeki Severoglu

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In this study, we have performed genetic diversity analysis of Tilia tomentosa genotypes by using randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) primers. A total of 28 genotypes, including 25 members from the urban ecosystem and 3 genotypes from forest ecosystem as outgroup were used. 8 RAPD primers produced a total of 53 bands, of which 48 (90.6 %) were polymorphic. Percentage of polymorphic loci (P), observed number of alleles (Na), effective number of alleles (Ne), Nei's (1973) gene diversity (h), and Shannon's information index (I) were found as 94.29 %, 1.94, 1.60, 0.34, and 0.50, respectively. The unweighted pair-group method with arithmetic average (UPGMA) cluster analysis revealed that two major groups were observed. The genotypes of urban and forest ecosystems showed a high genetic similarity between 28% and 92% and these genotypes did not separate from each other in UPGMA tree. Also, urban and forest genotypes clustered together in principal component analysis (PCA).

Keywords: Tilia tomentosa, genetic diversity, urban ecosystem, RAPD, UPGMA

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Authors: Tayfun Salihoğlu

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Following the Law No: 6306 on Transformation of Disaster Risk Areas, urban transformation in Turkey found its legal basis. In the best practices all over the World, the urban transformation was shaped as part of comprehensive social programs through the discourses of renewing the economic, social and physical degraded parts of the city, producing spaces resistant to earthquakes and other possible disasters and creating a livable environment. In Turkish practice, a contradictory process is observed. In this study, it is aimed to develop a method for better understanding of the urban space in terms of disaster risks in order to constitute a basis for decisions in Kocaeli Urban Transformation Master Plan, which is being prepared by Kocaeli Metropolitan Municipality. The spatial unit used in the study is the 50x50 meter grids. In order to reflect the multidimensionality of urban transformation, three basic components that have spatial data in Kocaeli were identified. These components were named as 'Problems in Built-up Areas', 'Disaster Risks arising from Geological Conditions of the Ground and Problems of Buildings', and 'Inadequacy of Urban Services'. Each component was weighted and scored for each grid. In order to delimitate urban transformation zones Optimized Outlier Analysis (Local Moran I) in the ArcGIS 10.6.1 was conducted to test the type of distribution (clustered or scattered) and its significance on the grids by assuming the weighted total score of the grid as Input Features. As a result of this analysis, it was found that the weighted total scores were not significantly clustering at all grids in urban space. The grids which the input feature is clustered significantly were exported as the new database to use in further mappings. Total Score Map reflects the significant clusters in terms of weighted total scores of 'Problems in Built-up Areas', 'Disaster Risks arising from Geological Conditions of the Ground and Problems of Buildings' and 'Inadequacy of Urban Services'. Resulting grids with the highest scores are the most likely candidates for urban transformation in this citywide study. To categorize urban space in terms of urban transformation, Grouping Analysis in ArcGIS 10.6.1 was conducted to data that includes each component scores in significantly clustered grids. Due to Pseudo Statistics and Box Plots, 6 groups with the highest F stats were extracted. As a result of the mapping of the groups, it can be said that 6 groups can be interpreted in a more meaningful manner in relation to the urban space. The method presented in this study can be magnified due to the availability of more spatial data. By integrating with other data to be obtained during the planning process, this method can contribute to the continuation of research and decision-making processes of urban transformation master plans on a more consistent basis.

Keywords: urban transformation, GIS, disaster risk assessment, Kocaeli

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Authors: G. Sivaraj, K. M. Parammasivam, R. Veeramanikandan, S. Nithish

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Reduction of ground clearance or (ride height) is a vital factor in minimizing aerodynamic drag force and improving vehicle performance. But in India, minimization of ground clearance is limited because of the road conditions. Due to this problem, reduction of aerodynamic drag and performance are not fully improved. In this view, this paper deals with the development of self-retractable front spoilers which are most suitable for Indian road conditions. These retractable spoilers are fitted in the front portion of the car and in speed below 60 km/hr these spoilers are in retracted positions. But, when the car crosses a speed above 60 km/hr, using electronic circuit the spoilers are activated. Thus, using this technique aerodynamic performance can be improved at a speed above 60 km/hr. Also, when the car speed is reduced below the 60 km/hr mark, the front spoiler are retracted which makes it as a normal car. This is because, in Indian roads, speed breakers are installed to cut off speed at particular places. Thus, in these circumstances there are chances of damaging front spoilers. Since, when the driver sees the speed breaker, he will automatically apply break to prevent damage, at this time using electronic circuit the front spoiler is retracted. However, accidentally when the driver fails to apply brakes there are chances for the front spoilers to get a hit. But as the front spoilers are made of Kevlar composite, it can withstand high impact loads and using a spring mechanism the spoilers are retracted immediately. By using CFD analysis and low-speed wind tunnel testing drag coefficient of the 1:10 scaled car model with and without self-retractable spoilers are calculated and validated. Also, using wind tunnel, proper working of self-retractable at car speed below and above 60 km/hr are validated.

Keywords: aerodynamic drag, CFD analysis, kevlar composite, self-retractable spoilers, wind tunnel

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Authors: Ishan Kumar Garg

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Urban Fringes have been witnessing unforeseeable, haphazard, and ineffective spatial planning systems for many decades. It invades peripheral villages in the zest of the land as an abundant resource. The process, popularly known as "Urban Sprawl", is commonly seen in many fast-growing cities, especially in developing countries like India. The research for this paper reveals significant neglect in rural development policies, which are not recognized as crucial in current town and country planning regulations. This promotes urban-centric development in the fringe areas that are subjected to real-estate speculation. Therefore, being surrounded by arbitrary urban functions, these villages compromise with necessary strategies to retain the rural cultural identities, traditional ways of living, and villages’ interconnections while remaining deprived of urban amenities such as adequate water supply, education, sanitation, etc. Such socio-spatial separation makes us wonder about their right to development. The possibilities of a sustainable and socially inclusive city expansion are also explored through direct consumer–manufacturer media to bring positive socio-financial transformation. The paper aims to identify a rational playground for both the rural and urban population, which creates possibilities for economic and knowledge transactions beyond their local boundaries. This is achieved by empowering the intact community of villages with economic sufficiency and developing skills to pass on to future generations. In the above context, revolving around unregulated urban sprawl, the northeast region of Bareilly city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh is also discussed, i.e., currently under the influence of such development pressures. As we see, exclusive developments like residential, hospitality, industries, etc., over the unplanned landscapes are emerging with the development aligned to only urban means, not the rural. The paper ultimately re-envisions urban-rural associations through appropriate design combinations with economic growth. It integrates broken linkages by revising methodologies and encourages local entrepreneurship that taps the possibility of a gradual social transformation. Concurrently, the addition of required urban amenities leads to rural life strengthening and fulfilling aspirations. Since the proposed thesis carries through an inclusive fringe development, the study caters to cities of similar scales and situations that bolster such coexistence.

Keywords: smart growth framework, empowering rural economy, socio spatial separation, urban fringe development, urban sprawl consequences

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Authors: Salimah Hasnah, Namratha Radhakrishnan

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Communities play a vital role in mobilizing people and resources for the benefit of all. Since time immemorial, communities have been spear heading different activities ranging from disaster management, palliative care, local economic development and many more with laudable success. Urban agriculture is one such activity where communities can prove to make a real difference. Farming activities in cities across different developed countries have proved to have favorable outcomes in the form of increased food security, neighborhood revitalization, health benefits and local economic growth. However, urban agriculture in the developing nations have never been prioritized as an important planning tool to cater to the basic needs of the public. Urban agricultural practices are being carried out in a fragmented fashion without a formal backing. The urban dwellers rely heavily on their far-off rural counterparts for daily food requirements. With the onset of the pandemic and the recurring lockdowns, the significance of geographic proximity and its impact on the availability of food to the public are gradually being realized around the globe. This warrants a need for localized food systems by shortening the distance between production and consumption of food. The significance of communities in realizing these urban farming benefits is explored in this paper. A case-study approach is adopted to understand how different communities have overcome barriers to urban farming in cities. The applicability of these practices is validated against the state of Kerala in India wherein different community centered approaches have been successful in the past. The existing barriers are assessed and way forward to achieve a self-sufficient localized food systems is formulated with the key lessons from the case studies. These recommendations will be helpful to successfully establish and sustain farming activities in urban areas by leveraging the power of communities.

Keywords: community-centric, COVID-19, drivers and barriers, local food system, urban agriculture

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Authors: Kawar Salih

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It has been proven that designing sustainable buildings starts from early stages of urban design. The design of urban blocks specifically, is considered as one of the pragmatic strategies of sustainable urbanism. There have been previous studies that focused on the impact of urban block design and regulation on the outdoor thermal comfort in the semi-arid regions. However, no studies have been found that concentrated on that impact on the internal behavior of buildings of those regions specifically the daylight quality and energy performance. Further, most studies on semi-arid regions are focusing only on the cooling load reduction, neglecting the heating load. The study has focused on two parameters of urban block distribution which are the block orientation and the surface-to-volume ratio with the consideration of both heating and cooling loads of buildings. In Duhok (a semi-arid city in Kurdistan region of Iraq), energy consumption and daylight quality of different types of residential blocks have been examined using dynamic simulation. The findings suggest that there is a considerable higher energy load for heating than cooling, contradicting many previous studies about these regions. The results also highlight that the orientation of urban blocks can vary the energy consumption to 8%. Regarding the surface-to-volume ratio (S/V), it was observed that after the twice enlargement of the S/V, the energy consumption increased 15%. Though, the study demonstrates as well that there are opportunities for reducing energy consumption with the increase of the S/V which contradicts many previous research on S/V impacts on energy consumption. These results can help to design urban blocks with the bigger S/V than existing blocks in the city which it can provide better indoor daylight and relatively similar energy consumption.

Keywords: blocke orienation, building energy consumption, urban block design, semi-arid regions, surfacet-to-volume ratio

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Authors: Panagiotis Lemonakis, Theodoros Αlimonakis, George Kaliabetsos, Nikos Eliou

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It is very well known that certain vertical and longitudinal slopes have to be assured in order to achieve adequate rainwater runoff from the pavement. The selection of longitudinal slopes, between the turning points of the vertical curves that meet the afore-mentioned requirement does not ensure adequate drainage because the same condition must also be applied at the transition curves. In this way none of the pavement edges’ slopes (as well as any other spot that lie on the pavement) will be opposite to the longitudinal slope of the rotation axis. Horizontal and vertical alignment must be properly combined in order to form a road which resultant slope does not take small values and hence, checks must be performed in every cross section and every chainage of the road. The present research investigates the rain water runoff from the road surface in order to identify the conditions under which, areas of inadequate drainage are being created, to analyze the rainwater behavior in such areas, to provide design examples of good and bad drainage zones and to track down certain motorcycle types which might encounter hazardous situations due to the presence of water film between the pavement and both of their tires resulting loss of traction. Moreover, it investigates the combination of longitudinal and cross slope values in critical pavement areas. It should be pointed out that the drainage gradient is analytically calculated for the whole road width and not just for an oblique slope per chainage (combination of longitudinal grade and cross slope). Lastly, various combinations of horizontal and vertical design are presented, indicating the crucial zones of bad pavement drainage. The key conclusion of the study is that any type of motorcycle will travel for some time inside the area of improper runoff for a certain time frame which depends on the speed and the trajectory that the rider chooses along the transition curve. Taking into account that on this section the rider will have to lean his motorcycle and hence reduce the contact area of his tire with the pavement it is apparent that any variations on the friction value due to the presence of a water film may lead to serious problems regarding his safety. The water runoff from the road pavement is improved when between reverse longitudinal slopes, crest instead of sag curve is chosen and particularly when its edges coincide with the edges of the horizontal curve. Lastly, the results of the investigation have shown that the variation of the longitudinal slope involves the vertical shift of the center of the poor water runoff area. The magnitude of this area increases as the length of the transition curve increases.

Keywords: drainage, motorcycle safety, superelevation, transition curves, vertical grade

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Authors: Adedayo Jeremiah Adeyekun, Samuel Oluwagbemiga Ishola

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This research paper focuses on the study of the master plan of rural Farrukhnagar, a town in Gurugram with an aim to proffer solutions to the problems associated with the planning of the town. The commercial zone has been selected for the case study. The findings from the case studies will reveal problems that will require a proposed design of a new ultra-modern market to position traders selling along the road in well-deserved stalls, waste disposal/incinerator system for proper management of waste and cleanliness within the market square, design of stormwater drainage to avoid flood during the rainy season and the design of car/auto – tricycle parks to create more space in the existing market cycle and thereby avoiding congestion. The research proposes urban and architectural solutions to improve the rural commercial service settings in Farrukhnagar which is a study area in Gurugram, Haryana, India.

Keywords: management, commercial, service, planning, congestion

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Authors: Safar Ghaedrahmati, Leila Soltani

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Population centralization in urban area and metropolitans, especially in developing countries such as Iran increase metropolitan's problems. For few decades, the population of cities in developing countries, including Iran had a higher growth rate than the total growth rate of countries’ population. While in developed countries, the development of the big cities began decades ago and generally allowed for controlled and planned urban expansion, the opposite is the case in developing countries, where rapid urbanization process is characterized by an unplanned existing urban expansion. The developing metropolitan cities have enormous difficulties in coping both with the natural population growth and the urban physical expansion. Iranian cities are usually the heart of economic and cultural changes that have occurred after the Islamic revolution in 1979. These cities are increasingly having impacts via political–economical arrangement and chiefly by urban management structures. Structural features have led to the population growth of cities and urbanization (in number, population and physical frame) and the main problems in them. On the other hand, the lack of birth control policies and the deceptive attractions of cities, particularly big cities, and the birth rate has shot up, something which has occurred mainly in rural regions and small cities. The population of Iran has increased rapidly since 1956. The 1956 and 1966 decennial censuses counted the population of Iran at 18.9 million and 25.7 million, respectively, with a 3.1% annual growth rate during the 1956–1966 period. The 1976 and 1986 decennial censuses counted Iran’s population at 33.7 and 49.4 million, respectively, a 2.7% and 3.9% annual growth rate during the 1966–1976 and 1976–1986 periods. The 1996 count put Iran’s population at 60 million, a 1.96% annual growth rate from 1986–1996 and the 2006 count put Iran population at 72 million. A recent major policy of urban economic and industrial decentralization is a persistent program of the government. The policy has been identified as a result of the massive growth of Tehran in the recent years, up to 9 million by 2010. Part of the growth of the capitally resulted from the lack of economic opportunities elsewhere and in order to redress the developing primacy of Tehran and the domestic pressures which it is undergoing, the policy of decentralization is to be implemented as quickly as possible. Type of research is applied and method of data collection is documentary and methods of analysis are; population analysis with urban system analysis and urban distribution system

Keywords: population centralization, cities of Iran, urban centralization, urban system

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Authors: Provides Ng

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Platform economy is a peer-to-peer model of distributing resources facilitated by community-based digital platforms. In recent years, digital platforms are rapidly reconfiguring the public realm using hyper-personalisation techniques. This paper aims at investigating how urban planning can leapfrog into the digital age to help relieve the rising tension of the global issue of labour flow; it discusses the means to transfer techniques of hyper-personalisation into urban planning for plasticity using platform technologies. This research first denotes the limitations of the current system of urban residency, where the system maintains itself on the circulation of documents, which are data on paper. Then, this paper tabulates how some of the institutions around the world, both public and private, digitise data, and streamline communications between a network of systems and citizens using platform technologies. Subsequently, this paper proposes ways in which hyper-personalisation can be utilised to form a digital planning platform. Finally, this paper concludes by reviewing how the proposed strategy may help to open up new ways of thinking about how we affiliate ourselves with cities.

Keywords: platform urbanism, hyper-personalisation, digital inventory, urban accessibility

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Authors: F. Tang, S. Boskovich, A. Raheja, Z. Aliyazicioglu, S. Bhandari, N. Tsuchiya

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Calpoly Autonomous Transportation Experience (CATE) is a driverless vehicle that we are developing to provide safe, accessible, and efficient transportation of passengers throughout the Cal Poly Pomona campus for events such as orientation tours. Unlike the other self-driving vehicles that are usually developed to operate with other vehicles and reside only on the road networks, CATE will operate exclusively on walk-paths of the campus (potentially narrow passages) with pedestrians traveling from multiple locations. Safety becomes paramount as CATE operates within the same environment as pedestrians. As driverless vehicles assume greater roles in today’s transportation, this project will contribute to autonomous driving with pedestrian traffic in a highly dynamic environment. The CATE project requires significant interdisciplinary work. Researchers from mechanical engineering, electrical engineering and computer science are working together to attack the problem from different perspectives (hardware, software and system). In this abstract, we describe the software aspects of the project, with a focus on the requirements and the major components. CATE shall provide a GUI interface for the average user to interact with the car and access its available functionalities, such as selecting a destination from any origin on campus. We have developed an interface that provides an aerial view of the campus map, the current car location, routes, and the goal location. Users can interact with CATE through audio or manual inputs. CATE shall plan routes from the origin to the selected destination for the vehicle to travel. We will use an existing aerial map for the campus and convert it to a spatial graph configuration where the vertices represent the landmarks and edges represent paths that the car should follow with some designated behaviors (such as stay on the right side of the lane or follow an edge). Graph search algorithms such as A* will be implemented as the default path planning algorithm. D* Lite will be explored to efficiently recompute the path when there are any changes to the map. CATE shall avoid any static obstacles and walking pedestrians within some safe distance. Unlike traveling along traditional roadways, CATE’s route directly coexists with pedestrians. To ensure the safety of the pedestrians, we will use sensor fusion techniques that combine data from both lidar and stereo vision for obstacle avoidance while also allowing CATE to operate along its intended route. We will also build prediction models for pedestrian traffic patterns. CATE shall improve its location and work under a GPS-denied situation. CATE relies on its GPS to give its current location, which has a precision of a few meters. We have implemented an Unscented Kalman Filter (UKF) that allows the fusion of data from multiple sensors (such as GPS, IMU, odometry) in order to increase the confidence of localization. We also noticed that GPS signals can easily get degraded or blocked on campus due to high-rise buildings or trees. UKF can also help here to generate a better state estimate. In summary, CATE will provide on-campus transportation experience that coexists with dynamic pedestrian traffic. In future work, we will extend it to multi-vehicle scenarios.

Keywords: driverless vehicle, path planning, sensor fusion, state estimate

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Authors: Xvelian Qin

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Urban "organic renewal" based on the development of existing resources in high-density urban areas has become the mainstream of urban development in the new era. As an important stock resource of public space in high-density urban areas, promoting its value remodeling is an effective way to alleviate the shortage of public space resources. However, due to the lack of evaluation links in the process of underpass space renewal, a large number of underpass space resources have been left idle, facing the problems of low space conversion efficiency, lack of accuracy in development decision-making, and low adaptability of functional positioning to citizens' needs. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to construct the evaluation system of under-bridge space renewal potential and explore the renewal mode. In this paper, some of the under-bridge spaces in the main urban area of Chongqing are selected as the research object. Through the questionnaire interviews with the users of the built excellent space under the bridge, three types of six levels and twenty-two potential evaluation indexes of "objective demand factor, construction feasibility factor and construction suitability factor" are selected, including six levels of land resources, infrastructure, accessibility, safety, space quality and ecological environment. The analytical hierarchy process and expert scoring method are used to determine the index weight, construct the potential evaluation system of the space under the bridge in high-density urban areas of Chongqing, and explore the direction of renewal and utilization of its suitability. To provide feasible theoretical basis and scientific decision support for the use of under bridge space in the future.

Keywords: high density urban area, potential evaluation, space under bridge, updated using

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Authors: Kush Kumar, Varun Joshi

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Slope instability is a major problem of the mountainous region, especially in parts of the Indian Himalayan Region (IHR). The on-going tectonic, rugged topography, steep slope, heavy precipitation, toe erosion, structural discontinuities, and deformation are the main triggering factors of landslides in this region. Besides the loss of life, property, and infrastructure caused by a landslide, it also results in various environmental problems, i.e., degradation of slopes, land use, river quality by increased sediments, and loss of well-established vegetation. The Indian state of Uttarakhand, being a part of the active Himalayas, also faces numerous cases of slope instability. Therefore, the vulnerable landslide zones need to be delineated to safeguard various losses. The study area is focused in Garhwal and Tehri -Garhwal district of Uttarakhand state along National Highway 58, which is a strategic road and also connects the four important sacred pilgrims (Char Dham) of India. The lithology of these areas mainly comprises of sandstone, quartzite of Chakrata formation, and phyllites of Chandpur formation. The greywacke and sandstone rock of Saknidhar formation dips northerly and is overlain by phyllite of Chandpur formation. The present research incorporates the lineament density mapping using remote sensing satellite data supplemented by a detailed field study via kinematic analysis. The DEM data of ALOS PALSAR (12.5 m resolution) is resampled to 10 m resolution and used for preparing various thematic maps such as slope, aspect, drainage, hill shade, lineament, and lineament density using ARCGIS 10.6 software. Furthermore, detailed field mapping, including structural mapping, geomorphological mapping, is integrated for kinematic analysis of the slope using Dips 6.0 software of Rockscience. The kinematic analysis of 40 locations was carried out, among which 15 show the planar type of failure, five-show wedge failure, and rest, 20 show no failures. The lineament density map is overlapped with the location of the unstable slope inferred from kinematic analysis to infer the association of the field information and remote sensing derived information, and significant compatibility was observed. With the help of the present study, location-specific mitigation measures could be suggested. The mitigation measures would be helping in minimizing the probability of slope instability, especially during the rainy season, and reducing the hampering of road traffic.

Keywords: Indian Himalayan Region, kinematic analysis, lineament density mapping, slope instability

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Authors: Julia Rey Perez, Victoria Dominguez Ruiz

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The phenomenon of depopulation puts the authorities at risk of abandoning a number of rural-urban areas of significant cultural value, affecting their architecture and intangible cultural heritage. The purpose of this research is to present a methodology created according to the UNESCO Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL), which through the identification of cultural values and attributes, leads to ´Strategic Plans´ build upon the culture and heritage. This methodology is based on the analysis of the town from three perspectives: 1) from the public administration, 2) from the discipline of architecture, and 3) from citizen perception. In order to be able to work on the development of a diagnosis from three very different approaches, collaborative cartographies have been used as working tools. The methodology discussed was applied in Valverde de Burguillos, in Spain, leading to the construction of an inclusive ‘Strategic Plan’ that integrates the management of the town within the overall territorial development plan. The importance of incorporating culture and heritage as a conductor for sustainable urban development through the HUL approach has allowed the local authorities to assume these new tools for heritage conservation, acknowledging community participation as the main element for the ´Strategic Plan” elaboration.

Keywords: rural heritage, citizen participation, inclusiveness, urban governance, UNESCO

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Authors: Junhang Luo

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With the transformation of spatial structure and the deepening of urban development, the demand for a better life and the concerns for social resources equities of residents are increasing. As an important social resource, park plays an essential role in building environmentally sustainable cities. Thus, it is important to examine park accessibility for low-income and how it works in relative deprivation, so as to provide all residents with equitable services. Using the network and buffer methods of GIS, this paper analyzes urban park accessibility for low-income residents in Chongqing, China. And then conduct a satisfaction evaluation of park resource accessibility with low-incomes through questionnaire surveys from deprivation dimensions. Results show that the level of park accessibility in Chongqing varies significantly and the degree of relative deprivation is relatively high. Public transportation convenience improves and the number of community park increases contribute positively to improving park accessibility and alleviating the relative deprivation of public resources. Combined with the innovation pattern of social governance in China, it suggests that urban park accessibility needs to be jointly governed and optimized by multiple social resources from the government to the public, and the service efficiency needs the index system and planning standards according to local conditions to improve quality and promote equity. At the same time, building a perfect park system and complete legislation assurance system will also play a positive role in ensuring that all residents can enjoy the urban public space more fairly, especially low-income groups.

Keywords: urban park, accessibility, relative deprivation, GIS network analysis, chongqing

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Authors: Francine Morales Tavares, Jose Alberto Rio Fernandes

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The expanding concept of Heritage and the increased relevance of how heritage places relate to their surroundings is associated with an important shift in public heritage policies and how they consider the development of cities and communities, with an increasingly relevant role of management. Within the current discussions, management plans, mandatory since the year 2005 in areas classified by UNESCO as World Heritage, it is a tool for the reconciliation of cultural heritage demands with the needs of multiple users of a certain area, being especially critical in the case of urban areas with intense touristic pressure. Considering the transformations of the heritage policy management model, this paper discusses the practices on the integration of cultural heritage in urban policies through indicators which were selected from resource manual 'Managing Cultural World Heritage (2013)' and analyzed two case studies: The Management Plan of the Historic Centre of Porto (Portugal) and The Management Plan for the Historic Site of Olinda (Brazil). The empirical evidence concluded that for the historic centre of Porto the increase of tourism is the main aim driver in the management plan, with positive and negative aspects on the heritage management point of view, unlike Olinda, where the plan for the development of local urban policies was identified as essential. Plans also differ in form, content and process but coincide on being unaligned with committed local political leaders’ agendas, with the consequent misunderstandings between theory and practice, planning and management, and critically missing in the field integration of urban policies. Therefore, more debate about management plans, more efficient tools and also, appropriate methodologies to correlate cultural heritage and urban public policy are still lacking.

Keywords: world heritage, management plan, planning, urban policies

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Authors: Natalie Rosales

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Based on an ethical vision which recognizes the vital role of human rights, shared values, social responsibility and justice, and environmental ethics, planning may be interpreted as a process aimed at reducing inequalities and overcoming marginality. Seen from this sustainability perspective, planning evaluation must utilize critical-evaluative and narrative receptive models which assist different stakeholders in their understanding of urban fabric while trigger reflexive processes that catalyze wider transformations. In this paper, this approach servers as a guide for the evaluation of Mexico´s urban planning systems, and postulates a framework to better integrate sustainability notions into planning evaluation. The paper is introduced by an overview of the current debate on evaluation in urban planning. The state of art presented includes: the different perspectives and paradigms of planning evaluation and their fundamentals and scope, which have focused on three main aspects; goal attainment (did planning instruments do what they were supposed to?); performance and effectiveness of planning (retrospective analysis of planning process and policy analysis assessment); and the effects of process-considering decision problems and contexts rather than the techniques and methods. As well as, methodological innovations and improvements in planning evaluation. This comprehensive literature review provides the background to support the authors’ proposal for a set of general principles to evaluate urban planning, grounded on a sustainability perspective. In the second part the description of the shortcomings of the approaches to evaluate urban planning in Mexico set the basis for highlighting the need of regulatory and instrumental– but also explorative- and collaborative approaches. As a response to the inability of these isolated methods to capture planning complexity and strengthen the usefulness of evaluation process to improve the coherence and internal consistency of the planning practice itself. In the third section the general proposal to evaluate planning is described in its main aspects. It presents an innovative methodology for establishing a more holistic and integrated assessment which considers the interdependence between values, levels, roles and methods, and incorporates different stakeholders in the evaluation process. By doing so, this piece of work sheds light on how to advance urban sustainability through the integration of evaluation methodologies into planning.

Keywords: urban planning, evaluation methodologies, urban sustainability, innovative approaches

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Authors: Getaneh Berie Tarekegn

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A precise localization system is crucial for many artificial intelligence Internet of Things (AI-IoT) applications in the era of smart cities. Their applications include traffic monitoring, emergency alarming, environmental monitoring, location-based advertising, intelligent transportation, and smart health care. The most common method for providing continuous positioning services in outdoor environments is by using a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Due to nonline-of-sight, multipath, and weather conditions, GNSS systems do not perform well in dense urban, urban, and suburban areas.This paper proposes a generative AI-based positioning scheme for large-scale wireless settings using fingerprinting techniques. In this article, we presented a semi-supervised deep convolutional generative adversarial network (S-DCGAN)-based radio map construction method for real-time device localization. It also employed a reliable signal fingerprint feature extraction method with t-distributed stochastic neighbor embedding (t-SNE), which extracts dominant features while eliminating noise from hybrid WLAN and long-term evolution (LTE) fingerprints. The proposed scheme reduced the workload of site surveying required to build the fingerprint database by up to 78.5% and significantly improved positioning accuracy. The results show that the average positioning error of GAILoc is less than 0.39 m, and more than 90% of the errors are less than 0.82 m. According to numerical results, SRCLoc improves positioning performance and reduces radio map construction costs significantly compared to traditional methods.

Keywords: location-aware services, feature extraction technique, generative adversarial network, long short-term memory, support vector machine

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