Search results for: urban policy

Authors: Benjamas Penboon, Zachary Zimmer, Aree Jampaklay

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Cambodia is a country where labor migration has been consistently high. Coupled with advancing labor opportunities in urban areas, a function partly of globalization, this is resulting in massive migration out of rural areas. This is particularly true in Cambodia where there are high migration and a very large proportion of adult children living some distant from their parents. This paper explores characteristics associated with migrant providing support to parents in rural Cambodia. With reference to perspectives of family altruism and solidarity, this analysis particularly focusses on how a series of variables representing family integration and residential location associates with intergenerational monetary and instrumental support from migrants. The study hypothesizes that migrants are more likely to provide support when parents are in need, and there are no alternative means of support. Data come from The Rural Household Survey (N=3,713), part of the 2011 Cambodian Rural Urban Migration Project (CRUMP). Multilevel multinomial models indicate international migrants are likely to give money, while internal migrants are likely to provide both money and instrumental support, especially when migrants have no sibling and their parent in poor health status. In addition, employed migrants are two times providing monetary compared to those unemployed. Findings elucidate the decision to which and why support occurs more often when no other source of support exists and also depends on the ability to provide of migrants themselves.

Keywords: migration, left-behind parent, intergenerational relations, support, rural, Cambodia

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Authors: Rowena R. De Guzman

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Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) integration requires that higher education institutions (HEIs) must adjust the quality of their educational services and develop a global mindset, through various quality assurance (QA) activities to a level producing global graduates and encouraging human resource mobility. For Philippine HEIs, QA involves enormous tasks and responsibilities, whereby the implementation of which involves various parties, agencies and stakeholders; and in that case innovations have to be installed to engage the whole system in the QA process. In this study, collaborative governance (CG), a concept from the field of public administration, is introduced in educational management, particularly in the area of QA management. The paper suggests that the exercise of and attitude toward CG in QA is relevant to the practice of activities across QA indicators in higher educational services among stakeholders from participating HEIs. Participants representing different interests are collectively empowered, and this compelled them to participate and support the QA activities of the HEIs. It is recommended to embed CG model in the system for HEIs undergoing or intending to undergo QA achieve their desired QA outcomes. The study supports the commitment of the Philippine government to the evolving policy and efforts to achieve comparable qualifications across the Asia-Pacific region under the auspices of the UNESCO.

Keywords: ASEAN integration, collaborative governance, global education, government policy, higher education, international demands, quality assurance

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Authors: Panpan Feng

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The concept of green infrastructure originated in Europe and the United States. It aims to ensure smart growth of urban and rural ecosystems and achieve sustainable urban and rural ecological, social, and economic development by combining it with gray infrastructure in traditional planning. Based on the literature review of the theoretical origin, value connotation, and measurement methods of green infrastructure, this study summarizes the research content of green infrastructure at different scales from the three spatial levels of region, city, and block and divides it into functional dimensions, spatial dimension, and strategic dimension. The results show that in the functional dimension, from region-city-block, the research on green infrastructure gradually shifts from ecological function to social function. In the spatial dimension, from region-city-block, the research on the spatial form of green infrastructure has shifted from two-dimensional to three-dimensional, and the spatial structure of green infrastructure has shifted from single ecological elements to multiple composite elements. From a strategic perspective, green infrastructure research is more of a spatial planning tool based on land management, environmental livability and ecological psychology, providing certain decision-making support.

Keywords: green infrastructure, multi-scale, social and ecological functions, spatial strategic decision-making tools

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Authors: Okyu Kwon, Dongho Kang, Byungsik Kim, Seungkwon Jung

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We propose a technique to measure the impact of loss of traffic function in a particular area to surrounding areas. The proposed method is applied to the city of Seoul, which is the capital of South Korea, with a population of about ten million. Based on the actual road network in Seoul, we construct an abstract road network between 1kmx1km grid cells. The link weight of the abstract road network is re-adjusted considering traffic volume measured at several survey points. On the modified abstract road network, we evaluate the traffic vulnerability by calculating a network measure of betweenness centrality (BC) for every single grid cells. This study analyzes traffic impacts caused by road dysfunction due to heavy rainfall in urban areas. We could see the change of the BC value in all other grid cells by calculating the BC value once again when the specific grid cell lost its traffic function, that is, when the node disappeared on the grid-based road network. The results show that it is appropriate to use the sum of the BC variation of other cells as the influence index of each lattice cell on traffic. This research was supported by a grant (2017-MOIS31-004) from Fundamental Technology Development Program for Extreme Disaster Response funded by Korean Ministry of Interior and Safety (MOIS).

Keywords: vulnerability, road network, beweenness centrality, heavy rainfall, road impact

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Authors: Farrin Nayebzadeh, Mohammadreza Eslami Amirabadi

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According to technological progress and urban development, the cities of the world are growing to become metropolitans, living in which can be enthusiastic, entertaining and accessibility to the facilities like education, economic factors, hygiene and welfare is high. On the other hand, there are some problems that have been ignored in planning for such high quality of life, most important of which, is human health. Two aspects of human health are physical health and mental health, that are closely associated. Human mental health depends on two important factors: Biological factor and environmental factor. Air pollution is one of the most important environmental risk factors that affects mental health. Psychological and toxic effects of air pollution can lead to psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety and changes in mood, cognition, and behavior, depression and also children's mental disorders like hyperactivity, aggression and agitation. Increased levels of some air pollutants are accompanied by an increase in psychiatric admissions and emergency calls and, in some studies, by changes in behavior and a reduction in psychological well-being. Numerous toxic pollutants interfere with the development and adult functioning of the nervous system. Psychosocial stress can cause symptoms similar to those of organic mental disorders. These factors can cause resonance of psychiatric disorders. So, in cities of developing countries, people challenge with mental health problems due to environmental factors especially air pollution that have not been forecasted in urban planning.

Keywords: air pollution, environmental factors, mental health, psychiatric disorder

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Authors: Fatemeh Yazdandoust, Derrick Mirrindi

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The excessive use of non-renewable fossil fuels has led to a pressing energy crisis that demands urgent attention. While renewable sources like solar, wind, and water have gained significant attention as alternatives, we must explore additional avenues. This study takes an interdisciplinary approach, investigating the potential of waste streams from energy production and other untapped natural sources as sustainable energy solutions. Through a review of case studies, this study demonstrates how these alternative sources, including human power, animal body heat, and noise, can seamlessly integrate into architecture and urban planning. This article first discusses passive design strategies integrating alternative energy sources into vernacular architecture. Then, it reviews the waste stream (exergy) and potential energy sources, such as human power, animal body heat, and noise, in contemporary proposals and case studies. It demonstrates how an alternative energy design strategy may easily incorporate these many sources into our architecture and urban planning through passive and active design strategies to increase the energy efficiency of our built environment.

Keywords: alternative energy sources, energy exchange, human and animal power, potential energy sources, waste stream

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Authors: Imalka Wasana Rathnayaka, Rasheda Khanam, Mohammad Mafizur Rahman

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TheCOVID-19 pandemic has created unprecedented challenges to both the health and economic states in countries around the world. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of governments' decisions to mitigate the risks of COVID-19 through proposing policy directions to reduce its magnitude. The study is motivated by the ongoing coronavirus outbreaks and comprehensive policy responses taken by countries to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 and reduce death rates. This study contributes to filling the knowledge by exploiting the long-term efficacy of extensive plans of governments. This study employs a Panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) framework. The panels incorporate both a significant number of variables and fortnightly observations from22 countries. The dependent variables adopted in this study are the fortnightly death rates and the rates of the spread of COVID-19. Mortality rate and the rate of infection data were computed based on the number of deaths and the number of new cases per 10000 people.The explanatory variables are fortnightly values of indexes taken to investigate the efficacy of government interventions to control COVID-19. Overall government response index, Stringency index, Containment and health index, and Economic support index were selected as explanatory variables. The study relies on the Oxford COVID-19 Government Measure Tracker (OxCGRT). According to the procedures of ARDL, the study employs (i) the unit root test to check stationarity, (ii) panel cointegration, and (iii) PMG and ARDL estimation techniques. The study shows that the COVID-19 pandemic forced immediate responses from policymakers across the world to mitigate the risks of COVID-19. Of the four types of government policy interventions: (i) Stringency and (ii) Economic Support have been most effective and reveal that facilitating Stringency and financial measures has resulted in a reduction in infection and fatality rates, while (iii) Government responses are positively associated with deaths but negatively with infected cases. Even though this positive relationship is unexpected to some extent in the long run, social distancing norms of the governments have been broken by the public in some countries, and population age demographics would be a possible reason for that result. (iv) Containment and healthcare improvements reduce death rates but increase the infection rates, although the effect has been lower (in absolute value). The model implies that implementation of containment health practices without association with tracing and individual-level quarantine does not work well. The policy implication based on containment health measures must be applied together with targeted, aggressive, and rapid containment to extensively reduce the number of people infected with COVID 19. Furthermore, the results demonstrate that economic support for income and debt relief has been the key to suppressing the rate of COVID-19 infections and fatality rates.

Keywords: COVID-19, infection rate, deaths rate, government response, panel data

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Authors: Giorgi Sulashvili, Vladimer Kekenadze, Olga Khutsishvili, Bela Khotenashvili, Tsiuri Phkhakadze, Besarion Tsikhelashvili

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The article dealt with the South Caucasus is a complex economic policy, which consists of strands: The process of deepening economic integration in the South Caucasus region; deepening economic integration with the EU in the framework of "Neighbourhood policy with Europe" and in line with the Maastricht criteria; the development of bilateral trade and economic relations with many countries of the world community; the development of sufficient conditions for the integration of the South Caucasus region in the world to enter the market. According to the author, to determine the place of Georgia in the regional policy of the South Caucasus, it is necessary to consider two views about Georgia: The first is the view of Georgia, as a part of global economic and political processes and the second look at Georgia, as a country located in the geo-economic and geopolitical space of the South Caucasus. Such approaches reveal the place of Georgia in two dimensions; in the global and regional economies. In the countries of South Caucasus, the tourism has been developing fast and has a great social and economic importance. Tourism influences deeply on the social and economic growth of the regions of the country. Tourism development formulates thousand new jobs, fixes the positions of small and middle businesses, ensures the development of the education and culture of the population. In the countries of South Caucasus, the Tourist Industry can be specified as the intersectoral complex, which consists of travel transport and it’s technical service network, tourist enterprises which are specialized in various types, wide network services. Tourists have a chance to enjoy all of these services. At the transitional stage of shifting to the market economy, tourism is among the priorities in the development of the national economy of our country. It is true that the Georgian tourism faces a range of problems at present, but its recognition and the necessity for its development may be considered as a fact. Besides, we would underline that the revitalization of the Georgian tourism is not only the question of time. This area can bring a lot of benefits as to private firms, as to specific countries. It also has many negative effects were conducted fundamental research and studies to consider both, positive and negative impacts of tourism. In the future such decisions will be taken that will bring, the maximum benefit at minimum cost, in order for tourism to take its place in Georgia it is necessary to understand the role of the tourism sector in the economic structure.

Keywords: transitional stage, national economy, Georgian tourism, positive and negative impacts

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Authors: N. Gigauri, V. Kukhalashvili, A. Surmava, L. Intskirveli, L. Gverdtsiteli

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Tbilisi, a large city of the South Caucasus, is a junction point connecting Asia and Europe, Russia and republics of the Asia Minor. Over the last years, its atmosphere has been experienced an increasing anthropogenic load. Numerical modeling method is used for study of Tbilisi atmospheric air pollution. By means of 3D non-linear non-steady numerical model a peculiarity of city atmosphere pollution is investigated during background western light air. Dust concentration spatial and time changes are determined. There are identified the zones of high, average and less pollution, dust accumulation areas, transfer directions etc. By numerical modeling, there is shown that the process of air pollution by the dust proceeds in four stages, and they depend on the intensity of motor traffic, the micro-relief of the city, and the location of city mains. In the interval of time 06:00-09:00 the intensive growth, 09:00-15:00 a constancy or weak decrease, 18:00-21:00 an increase, and from 21:00 to 06:00 a reduction of the dust concentrations take place. The highly polluted areas are located in the vicinity of the city center and at some peripherical territories of the city, where the maximum dust concentration at 9PM is equal to 2 maximum allowable concentrations. The similar investigations conducted in case of various meteorological situations will enable us to compile the map of background urban pollution and to elaborate practical measures for ambient air protection.

Keywords: air pollution, dust, numerical modeling, urban

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Authors: Amin Karimi, Lele Zhang, Mark Fackrell

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Rural-to-urban population migrations are a global phenomenon, with projections indicating that by 2050, 68% of the world's population will inhabit densely populated urban centers. Concurrently, the popularity of e-commerce shopping has surged, evidenced by a 51% increase in total e-commerce sales from 2017 to 2021. Consequently, distribution and logistics systems, integral to effective supply chain management, confront escalating hurdles in efficiently delivering and distributing products within bustling urban environments. Additionally, events like environmental challenges and the COVID-19 pandemic have indicated that decision-makers are facing numerous sources of uncertainty. Therefore, to design an efficient and reliable logistics system, uncertainty must be considered. In this study, it examine fleet sizing and routing while considering uncertainty in demand rate. Fleet sizing is typically a strategic-level decision, while routing is an operational-level one. In this study, a carrier must make two types of decisions: strategic-level decisions regarding the number and types of drones to be purchased, and operational-level decisions regarding planning routes based on available fleet and realized demand. If the available fleets are insufficient to serve some customers, the carrier must outsource that delivery at a relatively high cost, calculated per order. With this hierarchy of decisions, it can model the problem using two-stage stochastic programming. The first-stage decisions involve planning the number and type of drones to be purchased, while the second-stage decisions involve planning routes. To solve this model, it employ logic-based benders decomposition, which decomposes the problem into a master problem and a set of sub-problems. The master problem becomes a mixed integer programming model to find the best fleet sizing decisions, and the sub-problems become capacitated vehicle routing problems considering battery status. Additionally, it assume a heterogeneous fleet based on load and battery capacity, and it consider that battery health deteriorates over time as it plan for multiple periods.

Keywords: drone-delivery, stochastic demand, VRP, fleet sizing

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Authors: Jessica Gu, Yu Chen

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Knowledge Management (KM) is undoubtable crucial to organizational value creation, learning, and adaptation. Although the rapidly growing KM domain has been fueled with full-fledged methodologies and technologies, studies on KM evolution that bridge the organizational performance and adaptation to the organizational environment are still rarely attempted. In particular, creation (or generation) and diffusion (or share/exchange) of knowledge are of the organizational primary concerns on the problem-solving perspective, however, the optimized distribution of knowledge creation and diffusion endeavors are still unknown to knowledge workers. This research proposed an agent-based model of knowledge creation and diffusion in an organization, aiming at elucidating how the intertwining knowledge flows at microscopic level lead to optimized organizational performance at macroscopic level through evolution, and exploring what exogenous interventions by the policy maker and endogenous adjustments of the knowledge workers can better cope with different environmental conditions. With the developed model, a series of simulation experiments are conducted. Both long-term steady-state and time-dependent developmental results on organizational performance, network and structure, social interaction and learning among individuals, knowledge audit and stocktaking, and the likelihood of choosing knowledge creation and diffusion by the knowledge workers are obtained. One of the interesting findings reveals a non-monotonic phenomenon on organizational performance under turbulent environment while a monotonic phenomenon on organizational performance under a stable environment. Hence, whether the environmental condition is turbulence or stable, the most suitable exogenous KM policy and endogenous knowledge creation and diffusion choice adjustments can be identified for achieving the optimized organizational performance. Additional influential variables are further discussed and future work directions are finally elaborated. The proposed agent-based model generates evidence on how knowledge worker strategically allocates efforts on knowledge creation and diffusion, how the bottom-up interactions among individuals lead to emerged structure and optimized performance, and how environmental conditions bring in challenges to the organization system. Meanwhile, it serves as a roadmap and offers great macro and long-term insights to policy makers without interrupting the real organizational operation, sacrificing huge overhead cost, or introducing undesired panic to employees.

Keywords: knowledge creation, knowledge diffusion, agent-based modeling, organizational performance, decision making evolution

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Authors: Mansoureh Zangiabadi, Shamil Velji, Rajendra Kelkar, Neal Wade, Volker Pickert

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The EU has set itself a long-term goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80-95% of the 1990 levels by 2050 as set in the Energy Roadmap 2050. This paper reports on the European Union H2020 funded E-Lobster project which demonstrates tools and technologies, software and hardware in integrating the grid distribution, and the railway power systems with power electronics technologies (Smart Soft Open Point - sSOP) and local energy storage. In this context this paper describes the existing policies and regulatory frameworks of the energy market at European level with a special focus then at National level, on the countries where the members of the consortium are located, and where the demonstration activities will be implemented. By taking into account the disciplinary approach of E-Lobster, the main policy areas investigated includes electricity, energy market, energy efficiency, transport and smart cities. Energy storage will play a key role in enabling the EU to develop a low-carbon electricity system. In recent years, Energy Storage System (ESSs) are gaining importance due to emerging applications, especially electrification of the transportation sector and grid integration of volatile renewables. The need for storage systems led to ESS technologies performance improvements and significant price decline. This allows for opening a new market where ESSs can be a reliable and economical solution. One such emerging market for ESS is R+G management which will be investigated and demonstrated within E-Lobster project. The surplus of energy in one type of power system (e.g., due to metro braking) might be directly transferred to the other power system (or vice versa). However, it would usually happen at unfavourable instances when the recipient does not need additional power. Thus, the role of ESS is to enhance advantages coming from interconnection of the railway power systems and distribution grids by offering additional energy buffer. Consequently, the surplus/deficit of energy in, e.g. railway power systems, is not to be immediately transferred to/from the distribution grid but it could be stored and used when it is really needed. This will assure better energy management exchange between the railway power systems and distribution grids and lead to more efficient loss reduction. In this framework, to identify the existing policies and regulatory frameworks is crucial for the project activities and for the future development of business models for the E-Lobster solutions. The projections carried out by the European Commission, the Member States and stakeholders and their analysis indicated some trends, challenges, opportunities and structural changes needed to design the policy measures to provide the appropriate framework for investors. This study will be used as reference for the discussion in the envisaged workshops with stakeholders (DSOs and Transport Managers) in the E-Lobster project.

Keywords: light railway, electrical distribution network, Electrical Energy Storage, policy

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Authors: T. Schilirò, S. Bonetta, S. Bonetta, E. Ceretti, D. Feretti, I. Zerbini, V. Romanazzi, S. Levorato, T. Salvatori, S. Vannini, M. Verani, C. Pignata, F. Bagordo, G. Gilli, S. Bonizzoni, A. Bonetti, E. Carraro, U. Gelatti

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Air pollution is one of the most important worldwide health concern. In the last years, in both the US and Europe, new directives and regulations supporting more restrictive pollution limits were published. However, the early effects of air pollution occur, especially for the urban population. Several epidemiological and toxicological studies have documented the remarkable effect of particulate matter (PM) in increasing morbidity and mortality for cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and natural cause mortality. The finest fractions of PM (PM with aerodynamic diameter <2.5 µm and less) play a major role in causing chronic diseases. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has recently classified air pollution and fine PM as carcinogenic to human (1 Group). The structure and composition of PM influence the biological properties of particles. The chemical composition varies with season and region of sampling, photochemical-meteorological conditions and sources of emissions. The aim of the MAPEC (Monitoring Air Pollution Effects on Children for supporting public health policy) study is to evaluate the associations between air pollution and biomarkers of early biological effects in oral mucosa cells of 6-8 year old children recruited from first grade schools. The study was performed in five Italian towns (Brescia, Torino, Lecce, Perugia and Pisa) characterized by different levels of airborne PM (PM10 annual average from 44 µg/m3 measured in Torino to 20 µg/m3 measured in Lecce). Two to five schools for each town were chosen to evaluate the variability of pollution within the same town. Child exposure to urban air pollution was evaluated by collecting ultrafine PM (PM0.5) in the school area, on the same day of biological sampling. PM samples were collected for 72h using a high-volume gravimetric air sampler and glass fiber filters in two different seasons (winter and spring). Gravimetric analysis of the collected filters was performed; PM0.5 organic extracts were chemically analyzed (PAH, Nitro-PAH) and tested on A549 by the Comet assay and Micronucleus test and on Salmonella strains (TA100, TA98, TA98NR and YG1021) by Ames test. Results showed that PM0.5 represents a high variable PM10 percentage (range 19.6-63%). PM10 concentration were generally lower than 50µg/m3 (EU daily limit). All PM0.5 extracts showed a mutagenic effect with TA98 strain (net revertant/m3 range 0.3-1.5) and suggested the presence of indirect mutagens, while lower effect was observed with TA100 strain. The results with the TA98NR and YG1021 strains showed the presence of nitroaromatic compounds as confirmed by the chemical analysis. No genotoxic or oxidative effect of PM0.5 extracts was observed using the comet assay (with/without Fpg enzyme) and micronucleus test except for some sporadic samples. The low biological effect observed could be related to the low level of air pollution observed in this winter sampling associated to a high atmospheric instability. For a greater understanding of the relationship between PM size, composition and biological effects the results obtained in this study suggest to investigate the biological effect of the other PM fractions and in particular of the PM0.5-1 fraction.

Keywords: airborne PM, ames test, comet assay, micronucleus test

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Authors: Saheed A. Rufai

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Courses in Pedagogy and Curriculum Development expectedly occupy a core place in the professional education components of teacher education at Lagos, Lagos State, and Sokoto State Universities. This is in keeping with the National Teacher Education Policy statement that stipulates that for student teachers to learn effectively teacher education institutions must be equipped to prepare them adequately. However, there is a growing concern over the unfaithfulness of some of the dominant Nigerian models of teacher education, to this policy statement on teacher educators’ knowledge and skills. The purpose of this paper is to comparatively evaluate both the curricular provisions and the manpower for the pedagogy and curriculum development sub-components of the Lagos, Lagos State, and Sokoto State models of teacher preparation. The paper employs a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods. Preliminary analysis revealed a new trend in teacher educators’ pedagogical knowledge and understanding, with regard to the two intertwined sub-components. The significance of such a study lies in its potential to determine the degree of conformity of each of the three models to the stipulated standards. The paper’s contribution to scholarship lies in its correlation of deficiencies in teacher educators’ professional knowledge and skills and articulation of the implications of such deficiencies for the professional knowledge and skills of the prospective teachers, with a view to providing a framework for reforms.

Keywords: curriculum development, pedagogy, teacher education, dominant Nigerian teacher preparation models

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Authors: Diego Caballero Vélez

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In 1997 the Schengen Convention was incorporated in the mainstream of EU law by the Amsterdam Treaty. It came into effect in 1999 with the abolition of internal border controls in the EU, a milestone in the European integration project. In the meantime, due to the Yugoslav wars, nearly 700,000 asylum applications were filed in the European countries provoking a major refugee crisis. During this period, the opening of Eastern Europe fostered more cooperation and policy-making at the EU level in migration issues. Currently, a similar migratory crisis is taking place in Europe. The Syrian war has caused the most massive influx of immigrants in Europe since World War II. Nevertheless, the EU is adopting different migration policies from those implemented during the Yugoslav migration crisis. The current crisis has not led to a common European position but national responses have been offered on migration policies and responsibility for border security and asylum-seekers. A lot of factors can explain this change from a cooperation scenario to a no cooperation one, such as the economic crisis, but this research is focused on the premise that 'threat perception' lies at the core of some states grand strategies towards migration and it also influences in multilateral or unilateral responses. Migration rests at the nexus of three dimensions of security, including geopolitical interests, material production, and internal security. According to some scholars, migration policy is an 'integral instrument' of state grand strategy in that context. Political integration at the EU might be altered with the emergence of existential threats. In other words, some areas of the European cooperation can be transformed when a 'critical juncture' occurs, for instance a migration crisis. In that instance, Member states could see migration as a matter of threat that modifies their national interests and willingness to embrace international cooperation. This research will focus on EU Member states´ perceptions of the 90´s migration crisis and the current one. The goal is to evaluate to what extent the perceptions of threat are one of the main factors for explaining the transition from a cooperation scenario to a no-cooperation one in European asylum and security policies. To analyze threat perception in both migration crisis, some relevant Member states are treated as cases of study and a comparative analysis is carried out based on public opinion polls, public and policy discourse in migration, voting practices and deconstruction of the migration policies themselves both at EU level and a national one.

Keywords: cooperation, migration crisis, national responses, threat perception

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Authors: Qin Zhu

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Under the development concept of Park City, Tianfu Greenway system, as the basic and pre-configuration element of Chengdu Global Park construction, connects urban open space with linear and circular structures and undertakes and exerts the ecological, cultural and recreational functions of the park system. Chengdu greenway construction is in full swing. In the process of greenway planning and construction, the landscape effect of greenway on urban quality improvement is more valued, and the long-term impact of crowd experience on the sustainable development of greenway is often ignored. Therefore, it is very important to test the effectiveness of greenway construction from the perspective of users. Taking Jincheng Greenway in Chengdu as an example, this paper attempts to introduce multi-source data to construct a post-occupancy evaluation model of greenway and adopts behavior mapping method, questionnaire survey method, web text analysis and IPA analysis method to comprehensively evaluate the user 's behavior characteristics and satisfaction. According to the evaluation results, we can grasp the actual behavior rules and comprehensive needs of users so that the experience of building greenways can be fed back in time and provide guidance for the optimization and improvement of built greenways and the planning and construction of future greenways.

Keywords: multi-source data, greenway, IPA analysis, post -occupancy evaluation (POE)

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Authors: Prabhat Kashyap, Krishan Kumar

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Delhi, the capital of India, is one of the most populated and polluted city among the world. In terms of air quality, Delhi’s air is degrading day by day & becomes worst of any major city in the world. The role of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) is not much studied in cities like Delhi as a culprit for degraded air quality. They not only play a critical role in rural areas but also determine the atmospheric chemistry of urban areas as well. Particularly, Isoprene (2-methyl 1,3-butadiene, C5H8) is the single largest emitted compound among other BVOCs globally, that influence the tropospheric ozone chemistry in urban environment as the ozone forming potential of isoprene is very high. It is mainly emitted by vegetation & a small but significant portion is also released by vehicular exhaust of petrol operated vehicles. This study investigates the spatial and temporal variations of quantitative measurements of isoprene emissions along with different traffic tracers in 2 different seasons (post-monsoon & winter) at four different locations of Delhi. For the quantification of anthropogenic and biogenic isoprene, two sites from traffic intersections (Punjabi Bagh & CRRI) and two sites from vegetative locations (JNU & Yamuna Biodiversity Park) were selected in the vicinity of isoprene emitting tree species like Ficus religiosa, Dalbergia sissoo, Eucalyptus species etc. The concentrations of traffic tracers like benzene, toluene were also determined & their robust ratios with isoprene were used to differentiate anthropogenic isoprene with biogenic portion at each site. The ozone forming potential (OFP) of all selected species along with isoprene was also estimated. For collection of intra-day samples (3 times a day) in each season, a pre-conditioned fenceline monitoring (FLM) carbopack X thermal desorption tubes were used and further analysis was done with Gas chromatography attached with mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The results of the study proposed that the ambient air isoprene is always higher in post-monsoon season as compared to winter season at all the sites because of high temperature & intense sunlight. The maximum isoprene emission flux was always observed during afternoon hours in both seasons at all sites. The maximum isoprene concentration was found to be 13.95 ppbv at Biodiversity Park during afternoon time in post monsoon season while the lower concentration was observed as low as 0.07 ppbv at the same location during morning hours in winter season. OFP of isoprene at vegetation sites is very high during post-monsoon because of high concentrations. However, OFP for other traffic tracers were high during winter seasons & at traffic locations. Furthermore, high correlation between isoprene emissions with traffic volume at traffic sites revealed that a noteworthy share of its emission also originates from road traffic.

Keywords: biogenic VOCs, isoprene emission, anthropogenic isoprene, urban vegetation

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Authors: Zayre I. Gonzalez-Acevedo, Marco A. Garcia-Zarate

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Environmental pollution by heavy metals is due to several processes, whether natural as weathering, or anthropogenic, related to human activities. Geysers may content dissolved heavy metals, related with their geothermal origin, and they are widely used by local people and tourists for treatment of dermal diseases and other therapeutic applications. In this study, 20 geysers with temperatures between 32 to 94 °C, located in the vicinity of Queretaro and Guanajuato in Central Mexico, were studied. These geysers were sampled in dry and rainy seasons in order to investigate seasonal changes of trace elements. The samples were analyzed in SWAMP Lab, University of Alberta, Canada for 34 elements. Most of the analyzed trace elements sowed concentrations below guidelines for natural waters. The elements showed seasonal variability with higher concentrations during rainy season. Arsenic varied from 49.29 to 2.16 µg L⁻¹. Arsenic was highly correlated with Fe, Sr, Th and Tl. Barium varied from 93.52 to 1.79 µg L⁻¹. Barium was highly correlated with Co, Cr, Mo, Ni, U, V, and Y. Copper and Zinc were correlated as well. According to the comparison of sites and the correlations between trace elements, their source was identified as natural regional, geothermal or anthropogenic origin. Because of application of geyser's water to balneology and health treatments, and also, because they are located in an urban zone in development, advise on their direct uses, according to their environmental quality is appointed in this research.

Keywords: balneology, direct uses, environmental quality and trace elements

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Authors: Jakub Adamec, Svatava Janouskova, Tomas Hak

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The necessity of sustainable housing is explicitly embedded in ‘The 2030 agenda for sustainable development’, in particular, goal 11 ‘sustainable cities and communities’. Every UN member state is obligated to implement strategies from the agenda, including a strategy for sustainable housing into the practice in the local context. As shown in many countries, the lack of knowledge represses the adaptation process of sustainable strategies by governments. Hence, this study explores the concept of sustainable housing within the Czech Republic. The research elaborates on this term, and its current definition concerning ‘Geneva UN Charter on Sustainable Housing’. To this day, the charter represents the most comprehensive framework for a sustainable housing concept. Researchers conducted a comparative analysis of 38 international and 195 Czech national strategic documents. As a result, the charter‘s and strategic documents‘ goals were interconnected, identifying the most represented targets (e.g. improved environmental and energy performance of dwellings, resilient urban settlements which use renewable energy, and sustainable and integrated transport systems). The research revealed, even though the concept of sustainable housing is still dominated by environmental aspects, that social aspects significantly increased its importance. Additionally, this theoretical framework will serve as a foundation for the sustainable housing index development for the Czech Republic.

Keywords: comparative analysis, Czech national strategy, Geneva un charter, sustainable housing, urban theory

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Authors: Faouzi Ameur, Atef Belhaj Ali

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Located in the South-west of Saudi Arabia, Jeddah is more than a harbor. It is a big city of the Red Sea and the second town of Saudi Arabia, after Riyadh the capital. Jeddah profits from several economic assets due especially to its transit position towards the high sacred places of Islam like Mecca and Medina. During summer, this metropolis is transformed into a political capital and a tourist resort for foreigners and Saudis alike. The city of Jeddah was affected by serious sudden floods; two great ones took place in 2009, and in 2011. The human and material tools were considerable, since these events caused the death to hundreds of people, damaged thousands of buildings built on basins slopes, which, however had the authorizations necessary. To cope with these natural disasters, several urban hydraulic measures were undertaken like building dams and canals to collect surface waters. These urban measures aimed at the protection of inhabitants and belongings against the risks of floods as well as the interception and the drainage of streams. Although these protection measures are important, expensive, and effective, they are no longer enough or effective to cope with the evolution of the natural disasters that the city of Jeddah is constantly exposed to. These protective hydraulic measures did not make it possible to reach risk zero situations. They transferred the damages towards other zones. This paper purports to study the protection network systems in Jeddah and to understand their various impacts during floods on the city and on its inhabitants.

Keywords: Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, urbanization, hydraulic protection

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Authors: ِAbdallah A. A. Shaheen

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Gaza Strip faces economic and political issues such as conflict, siege and urbanization; all these have led to an increase in the air pollution over Gaza Strip. In this study, Particulate matter 10 (PM10) concentration over Gaza Strip has been estimated by Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) and Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) data, based on a multispectral algorithm. Simultaneously, in-situ measurements for the corresponding particulate are acquired for selected time period. Landsat and ground data for eleven years are used to develop the algorithm while four years data (2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014) have been used to validate the results of algorithm. The developed algorithm gives highest regression, R coefficient value i.e. 0.86; RMSE value as 9.71 µg/m³; P values as 0. Average validation of algorithm show that calculated PM10 strongly correlates with measured PM10, indicating high efficiency of algorithm for the mapping of PM10 concentration during the years 2000 to 2014. Overall results show increase in minimum, maximum and average yearly PM10 concentrations, also presents similar trend over urban area. The rate of urbanization has been evaluated by supervised classification of the Landsat image. Urban sprawl from year 2000 to 2014 results in a high concentration of PM10 in the study area.

Keywords: PM10, landsat, atmospheric reflectance, Gaza strip, urbanization

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Authors: Giuseppina Anna Giorgio, Angela Lorusso, Maria Ragosta, Vito Telesca

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Climate change is a major public health threat due to the effects of extreme weather events on human health and on quality of life in general. In this context, mean temperatures are increasing, in particular, extreme temperatures, with heat waves becoming more frequent, more intense, and longer lasting. In many cities, extreme heat waves have drastically increased, giving rise to so-called Urban Heat Island (UHI) phenomenon. In an urban centre, maximum temperatures may be up to 10° C warmer, due to different local atmospheric conditions. UHI occurs in the metropolitan areas as function of the population size and density of a city. It consists of a significant difference in temperature compared to the rural/suburban areas. Increasing industrialization and urbanization have increased this phenomenon and it has recently also been detected in small cities. Weather conditions and land use are one of the key parameters in the formation of UHI. In particular surface urban heat island is directly related to temperatures, to land surface types and surface modifications. The present study concern a UHI analysis of Matera city (Italy) based on the analysis of temperature, change in land use and land cover, using Corine Land Cover maps and satellite Landsat images. Matera, located in Southern Italy, has a typical Mediterranean climate with mild winters and hot and humid summers. Moreover, Matera has been awarded the international title of the 2019 European Capital of Culture. Matera represents a significant example of vernacular architecture. The structure of the city is articulated by a vertical succession of dug layers sometimes excavated or partly excavated and partly built, according to the original shape and height of the calcarenitic slope. In this study, two meteorological stations were selected: MTA (MaTera Alsia, in industrial zone) and MTCP (MaTera Civil Protection, suburban area located in a green zone). In order to evaluate the increase in temperatures (in terms of UHI occurrences) over time, and evaluating the effect of land use on weather conditions, the climate variability of temperatures for both stations was explored. Results show that UHI phenomena is growing in Matera city, with an increase of maximum temperature values at a local scale. Subsequently, spatial analysis was conducted by Landsat satellite images. Four years was selected in the summer period (27/08/2000, 27/07/2006, 11/07/2012, 02/08/2017). In Particular, Landsat 7 ETM+ for 2000, 2006 and 2012 years; Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS for 2017. In order to estimate the LST, Mono Window Algorithm was applied. Therefore, the increase of LST values spatial scale trend has been verified, in according to results obtained at local scale. Finally, the analysis of land use maps over the years by the LST and/or the maximum temperatures measured, show that the development of industrialized area produces a corresponding increase in temperatures and consequently a growth in UHI.

Keywords: climate variability, land surface temperature, LANDSAT images, urban heat island

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Authors: Keunock Lew, Seungryul Ma

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The paper analyzes risk and expected return of lenders who provide mortgage loans to households in the shared mortgage program of Korea. In 2013, the Korean government introduced the mortgage program to help low income householders to convert their renting into purchasing houses. The financial source for the mortgage program is the Urban Housing Fund set up by the Korean government. Through the program, low income households can borrow money from lenders to buy a house at a very low interest rate (e.g. 1 % per year) for a long time. The motivation of adopting this mortgage program by the Korean government is that the cost of renting houses has been rapidly increased especially in large urban areas during the past decade, which became financial difficulties to low income households who do not have their own houses. As the analysis methodology, the paper uses a spread sheet model for projecting cash flows of the mortgage product over the period of loan contract. It also employs Monte Carlo simulation method to analyze the risk and expected yield of the lenders with assumption that the future housing price and market rate of interest follow a stochastic process. The study results will give valuable implications to the Korean government and lenders who want to stabilize the mortgage program and innovate the related loan products.

Keywords: expected return, Monte Carlo simulation, risk, shared mortgage program

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Authors: Marco Ranzato, Maguelone Vignes

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The co-design process recently run by the trans-disciplinary urban laboratory Metrolab Brussels for outlining the architecture of a future integrated health centre in Brussels (Belgium) has highlighted that a buffer place open to the local community is the appropriate cornerstone around which organizing a space where diverse professionals and patients are together. In the context of the migrants 'crisis' in Europe, the growing number of vulnerable people in Brussels and the increasing complexity of the health and welfare systems, the NGO Doctors of the World (DoW) has launched a project funded by The European Regional Development Fund, and aiming to create a new community centre combining social and health services in a poor but changing neighborhood of Brussels. Willing not to make a 'ghetto' of this new integrated service, the NGO looks at hosting different publics in order to make the poorest, marginal and most vulnerable people access to a regular kind of service. As a trans-disciplinary urban research group, Metrolab has been involved in the process of co-designing the architecture of the future centre with a set of various health professionals, social workers, and patients’ representatives. Metrolab drawn on the participants’ practice experiences and knowledge of hosting different kinds of publics and professions in a same structure in order to imagine what rooms should fit into the centre, what atmosphere they should convey, how should they be interrelated and organized, and, concurrently, how the building should fit into the urban frame of its neighborhood. The result is that, in order for an integrated health centre framed in the landscape of a disadvantaged neighborhood to function, it has to work as social community centre offering accessibility and conviviality to diverse social groups. This paper outlines the methodology that Metrolab used to design and conduct, in close collaboration with DoW, a series of 3 workshops. Through sketching and paper modeling, the methodology made participants talk about their experience by projecting them into a situation. It included a combination of individual and collective work in order to sharp participants’ eyes on architectural forms, explicit their thoughts and experience through inter-subjectivity and imagine solutions to the challenges they raised. Such a collaborative method encompasses several challenges about patients’ participation and representation, replicability of the conditions of success and the plurality of the research findings communication formats. This paper underlines how this participatory process has contributed to build knowledge on the few-documented topic of the architecture of community health centres. More importantly, the contribution builds on this participatory process to discuss the importance of adapting the architecture of the new integrated health centre to the changing population of Brussels and to the issues of its specific neighborhood.

Keywords: co-design, health, social innovation, urban lab

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Authors: Emma Van Schie

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The purpose of this study is to use mixed methods research to create typologies of the performance of firms in the cotton-to-clothing value chain in Zimbabwe, and to use these typologies to achieve the objective of adding to the small pool of studies on Sub-Saharan African value chains performing in the context of economic liberalisation and achieving development. The uptake of economic liberalisation measures across Sub-Saharan Africa has led to the restructuring of many value chains. While this action has resulted in some African economies positively reintegrating into global commodity chains, it has also been deeply problematic for the development impacts of the majority of others. Over and above this, these nations have been placed at a disadvantage due to the fact that there is little scholarly and policy research on approaches for managing economic liberalisation and value chain development in the unique African context. As such, the central question facing these less successful cases is how they can integrate into the world economy whilst still fostering their development. This paper draws from quantitative questionnaires and qualitative interviews with 28 stakeholders in the cotton-to-clothing value chain in Zimbabwe. This paper examines the performance of firms in the value chain, and the subsequent local socio-economic development impacts that are affected by the revival of the cotton-to-clothing value chain following its collapse in the wake of Zimbabwe’s uptake of economic liberalisation measures. Firstly, the paper finds the relatively undocumented characteristics and structures of firms in the value chain in the post-economic liberalisation era. As well as this, it finds typologies of the status of firms as either being in operation, closed down, or being placed under judicial management and the common characteristics that these typologies hold. The key findings show how a mixture of macro and local level aspects, such as value chain governance and the management structure of a business, leads to the most successful typology that is able to add value to the chain in the context of economic liberalisation, and thus unlock its socioeconomic development potential. These typologies are used in making industry and policy recommendations on achieving this balance between the macro and the local level, as well as recommendations for further academic research for more typologies and models on the case of cotton value chains in Sub-Saharan Africa. In doing so, this study adds to the small collection of academic evidence and policy recommendations for the challenges that African nations face when trying to incorporate into global commodity chains in attempts to benefit from their associated socioeconomic development opportunities.

Keywords: cotton-to-clothing value chain, economic liberalisation, restructuring value chain, typologies of firms, value chain governance, Zimbabwe

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Authors: Dudam Bharath Kumar, Harsh Kumar, Naveed Ahmed

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Vehicular traffic on the road-side plays a significant role in affecting the noise pollution in most of the cities over the world. To assess the correlation of the road-traffic on noise pollution in the city environment, continuous measurements were carried out in an entire daytime starting from 8:00 AM IST to 6:00 PM IST at a single point for each 5 minutes (8:00-8:05, 9:00-9:05, 10:00-10:05 AM, ...) near the KIIT University campus road. Noise levels were observed using a mobile operated app of android cell phone and a handheld noise meter. Calibration analysis shows high correlation about 0.89 for the study location for the day time period. Results show diurnal variability of atmospheric noise pollution levels go hand-in and with the vehicular number which pass through a point of observation. The range of noise pollution levels in the daytime period is observed as 55 to 75 dB(A). As a day starts, sudden upsurge of noise levels is observed from 65 to 71 dB(A) in the early morning, 64 dB(A) in late morning, regains the same quantity 68-71 dB(A) in the afternoon, and rises 70 dB(A) in the early evening. Vehicular number of the corresponding noise levels exhibits 115-120, 150-160, and 140-160, respectively. However, this preliminary study suggests the importance of vehicular traffic on noise pollution levels in the urban environment and further to study population exposed to noise levels. Innovative approaches help curb the noise pollution through modelling the traffic noise pollution spatially and temporally over the city environments.

Keywords: noise pollution, vehicular traffic, urban environment, noise meter

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Authors: Daming Xu, Yuanyuan Wang

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Abstract: Under the trend of rapid expansion of urbanization, the motorized urban characteristics become more and more obvious, and the walkability of urban space is seriously affected. The construction of walkability of space, as the main mode of travel for the elderly in their daily lives, has become more and more important in the current social context of serious aging. Settlement is the most basic living unit of residents, and daily shopping, medical care, and other daily trips are closely related to the daily life of the elderly. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to explore the impact of built environment on elderly people's daily walking trips at the settlement level for the construction of pedestrian-friendly settlements for the elderly. The study takes three typical settlements in Harbin Daoli District in three different periods as examples and obtains data on elderly people's walking trips and built environment characteristics through field research, questionnaire distribution, and internet data acquisition. Finally, correlation analysis and multinomial logistic regression model were applied to analyze the influence mechanism of built environment on elderly people's walkability based on the control of personal attribute variables in order to provide reference and guidance for the construction of walkability for elderly people in built environment in the future.

Keywords: built environment, elderly, walkability, multinomial logistic regression model

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Authors: Wei-Hwa Chiang, Wei-Ting Hsu, Yuan-Chi Liu, Cheng-Che Tsai

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A sustainable built environment aims for minimizing both regional and global environmental impact while maintaining a healthy living for individuals. Sustainability of performing venues has rarely been discussed when compared with residential, office, and other popular building types. Life-cycle carbon emission due to the high standard requirements in acoustics, stage engineering, HVAC, and building structure need to be carefully examined. This can be complicated by social-economic and cultural concerns in addition to technical excellence. This paper reported case-based study and statistics of performing venues regarding urban connectivity and spatial layouts in enhancing facility usage and promoting cultural vitality. Interviews conducted for a major venue at Taipei indicated high linkage with surrounding leisure activity and the need for quality pedestrian and additional spaces open to the general public. Statistics of venues with various size and function suggested the possibility and strategies limit the size and height of reception and foyer spaces, and to maximize their use when there are no performances. Design strategies are identified to increase visual contact or facility sharing between the artists and the audience or the general public in reducing facility size and promoting potential involvement in cultural activities.

Keywords: sustainability, performing venue, design, operation

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Authors: Chao Fang

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Due to the Confucian emphasis on filial piety and an undeveloped social welfare system in mainland China, adult children are both socially and legally obliged to care for their parents, including financial assistance and physical care as well as emotional and social support. Thus a family-centred care pattern for elderly people has been firmly established in China. However, because of the nationwide ‘One Child Policy’, over one million parents are excluded from such care because of the death of their only child and, therefore, their primary caregiver. Without their child’s support, these parents must manage the day to day challenges of growing old alone, with little support from society. By overturning established expectations of a ‘good’ elderly life, the loss of an only child may be accompanied by social and self-stigmatization, pushing these bereaved parents to the margin of society and threatening their economic, physical, emotional and social well-being. More importantly, since the One Child Policy was implemented from the late 1970s and early 1980s, the first generation of bereaved or ‘Shidu’ parents has reached an age at which those parents need elderly care. However, their predicament has been largely ignored. This paper reports on a qualitative interview study that found elderly care to be the main concern for Shidu parents’ everyday life. The paper identifies and discusses the concerns these bereaved parents raised about the prospect of having nowhere to turn at a time of increased need for financial, physical, social and emotional support in old age. The paper also identifies how Shidu parents have been coming together in grief and negotiate to make their predicament known to the government and wider society and to re-define their elderly life by rebuilding a sense of ‘family’.

Keywords: culture, bereavement, China, elderly care

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Authors: Rajat Kapoor

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Indian Real Estate sector is the second largest employer after agriculture and is slated to grow at 30 percent over the next decade. Indian cities have shown tumultuous growth since last two decades. With the growing need of infrastructure, it has become inevitable for real estate sector to adopt more organized and transparent system of investment. SPVs such as REITs ensure transparency facilitating accessibility to invest in real estate for those who find it difficult to purchase real estate as an investment option with a realistic income expectation from their investment. RIETs or real estate investment trusts is an instrument of pooling funds similar to that of mutual funds. In a simpler term REIT is an Investment Vehicle in the form a trust which holds & manages large commercial rent¬ earning properties on behalf of investors and distributes most of its profit as dividends. REIT enables individual investors to invest their money in commercial real estate assets in a diversified portfolio and on the other hand provides fiscal liquidity to developers as easy exit option and channel funds for new projects. However, the success REIT is very much dependent on the taxation structure making such models attractive and adaptive enough for both developers and investors to opt for such investment option. This paper is intended to capture an overview of REITs with context to Indian real estate scenario.

Keywords: Indian real estate, real estate infrastructure trusts, urban finance, infrastructure investment trusts

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