Fuel Consumption and Welfare Ratios in Preindustrial Societies: A Methodological Adjustment

One component of mining production costs are the costs of fuel consumption, so it is a concern because it contributes towards the operating cost in mining activities. Some things that affect the fuel consumption on mechanical devices, including the condition of the equipment, the actual conditions in mine location, and operators treatment of the equipment. Therefore, it needs an evaluation and analysis of the factors that influence need for the fuel consumption. Andesite mining activities in the PT Gunung Sampurna Makmur done by quarry mining methods. Loading equipment is used excavator KOBELCO SK 330 and hauling used Dump Truck MAN CLA 26.280. Loading production is 69,66 BCM/hour and hauling production is 22,80 BCM/hour. As for the actual production transported from the loading point to the hopper in one day as much as 1830,24 BCM/Day. The average fuel consumption of loading equipment is 26,56 liters/hour, while the average fuel consumption of hauling equipment for distance 1.200 m as much as 8,36 Liters/Hour and for distance 1.400 m is 9,53 Liter/Hour. By analyzing the slop road and distance of hauling road, it can be seen diesel fuel needs for Dump Truck MAN CLA 26.280 on transport distance of 1,2 Km with grade 7,25% is 0,13 Liters/Km/%, while at a distance transport 1,4 Km with grade 6,42% is 0,16 Liters/Km/%. Fuel ratio actual value in the field for transport distance of 1,2 Km is 0,65 Liters/BCM, while transport distance of 1,4 Km is 0,79 Liter/BCM.

<div class="htmlview paragraph">A plug-in hybrid vehicle (PHEV) is recently developed technology and it will be put in the market in the near future. In existing hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), it was possible to suppress the petroleum consumption by regenerating the kinetic energy of vehicles during deceleration into electrical energy. A PHEV can use petroleum fuel as with traditional vehicles including HEV, and in addition, use the electrical energy supplied from the commercial power for running energy. That is, the existing HEV technology suppresses petroleum energy consumption. In contrast, the PHEV technology alternates part of vehicle drive petroleum energy with electric energy. Commercial electric generation can use many kinds of energy source other than the fossil oil. PHEV is a promising technology to reduce the well to wheel CO<sub>2</sub> emission and one of the solutions for energy security issue. On the other hand, from the point of view of vehicle emission and fuel consumption performance evaluation, current test protocols cannot produce sufficient response to the peculiarities of PHEV, which use two kinds of energy source, such as petroleum fuel and electrical power and fuel consumption ratio which changes depending on the mileage. New test protocol for PHEV is anticipated. Information of battery durability and reliability are also anticipated. Since electric-motor vehicles (including PHEV) use electrical power to actually drive the vehicle, performance of the battery which stores electrical power has direct affect on emission, fuel consumption performance and electric drive range. In this paper, the measurement methods for fuel consumption for PHEV and the concept of type approval test protocol for PHEV in Japan, which are currently being considered, will be discussed.</div>

Taxis pose a higher threat to global climate change and human health through air emissions. However, the evidence on this topic is scarce, especially, in developing countries. Therefore, this study conducted estimation of fuel consumption (FC) and emission inventories on Tabriz taxi fleet (TTF), Iran. A structured questionnaire to obtain operational data of TTF, municipality organizations, and literature review were used as data sources. Then modeling was used to estimate fuel consumption ratio (FCR), emission factors (EFs), annual FC, and emissions of TTF using uncertainty analysis. Also, the impact of COVID-19 pandemic period was considered on the studied parameters. The results showed that TTF have high FCRs of 18.68 L/100 km (95% CI=17.67–19.69 L/100 km), which are not affected by age or mileage of taxis, significantly. The estimated EFs for TTF are higher than Euro standards, but the differences are not significant. However, it is critical as can be an indication of inefficiency of periodic regulatory technical inspection tests for TTF. COVID-19 pandemic caused significant decrease in annual total FC and emissions (9.03–15.6%), but significant increase in EFs of per-passenger-kilometer traveled (47.9–57.3%). Annual vehicle-kilometer-traveled by TTF and the estimated EFs for gasoline-compressed natural gas bi-fueled TTF are the main influential parameters in the variability of annual FC and emission levels. More studies on sustainable FC and emissions mitigation strategies are needed for TTF.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11356-023-27883-5.

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Currently, 55 % of the world's population resides in urban areas and this number is projected to increase to 70 % by 2050. Urban agglomerations with a population over 10 million, characterized as megacities, are expected to be more than 100 by 2100. Such large concentrations of population could boost creativity and economic progress, but also raises several environmental challenges such as air quality degradation. In this study, we investigate the spatial and temporal variability of urban aerosol state of 81 cities with a population over 5 million, relying on daily satellite-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals, derived at fine spatial resolution (<span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mn mathvariant="normal">0.1</mn><msup><mi/><mo>∘</mo></msup><mo>×</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">0.1</mn><msup><mi/><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="52pt" height="11pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="9ff7f6b7ad74ef28cb0ca0c82ba5867a"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="acp-22-15703-2022-ie00001.svg" width="52pt" height="11pt" src="acp-22-15703-2022-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>), over an 18-year period spanning from 2003 to 2020. According to our results, the lowest long-term mean AOD values worldwide were found in European and American cities (from 0.08 to 0.20). For almost all African and Asian cities, mean AOD ranged from 0.25 up to 0.90, but a considerable dust aerosol contribution (up to 70 %) was found for some of them with associated mean dust optical depth (DOD) values reaching up to 0.4. Mostly Chinese and Indian cities tend to have higher mean AOD values in the areas surrounding their center, while the opposite was found for most of the cities in the rest of the world. High intraannual AOD variability was revealed for the eastern American cities, while lower values were found in Chinese, eastern Indian and the eastern Mediterranean cities. During the study period, statistically significant negative AOD decadal trends were found for East Asian, European and North American cities, with the greatest decrease of <span class="inline-formula">−0.1</span> to <span class="inline-formula">−0.3</span> per decade recorded for the Chinese cities, in which the maximum mean AODs (0.45–0.91) are observed. In most of the US cities, where low mean AOD <span class="inline-formula">&lt;0.17</span> was recorded, considerable declining AOD trends were found (<span class="inline-formula">−30</span> % to <span class="inline-formula">−50 <i>%</i></span> per decade). For the rest of Asian, African and South American cities, statistically significant AOD increase was found, with the greatest values of <span class="inline-formula">+0.07</span> to <span class="inline-formula">+0.16</span> per decade recorded for Indian cities. In Bengaluru (India), it is reported the lowest mean AOD value (0.2) and the maximum AOD increase (<span class="inline-formula">+69 <i>%</i></span>), which may be partially attributed to the population growth over the study period. The agreement of the satellite-derived AOD trends against those obtained from ground-based AERONET measurements was examined. For ground-based stations within the geographical limits of the contiguous urban area of the examined cities, a 0.93 correlation for the long-term means of AOD was found and <span class="inline-formula">∼75 <i>%</i></span> of the derived trends agreed in sign. It was found that the spatial homogeneity within the examined satellite domain and the location of the surface station were key factors that determined their agreement. The present study highlights the vital and essential contribution of spaceborne products to monitor aerosol burden over megacities of the planet towards fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of “sustainable cities and communities”, dealing with urban air quality.

<strong class="journal-contentHeaderColor">Abstract.</strong> Currently, 55 % of the world's population resides in urban areas and this number is projected to increase to 70 % by 2050. Urban agglomerations with a population over 10 million, characterized as megacities, are expected to be more than 100 by 2100. Such large concentrations of population could boost creativity and economic progress, but also raises several environmental challenges such as air quality degradation. In this study, we investigate the spatial and temporal variability of urban aerosol state of 81 cities with a population over 5 million, relying on daily satellite-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals, derived at fine spatial resolution (<span class="inline-formula"><math xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" id="M1" display="inline" overflow="scroll" dspmath="mathml"><mrow><mn mathvariant="normal">0.1</mn><msup><mi/><mo>∘</mo></msup><mo>×</mo><mn mathvariant="normal">0.1</mn><msup><mi/><mo>∘</mo></msup></mrow></math><span><svg:svg xmlns:svg="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="52pt" height="11pt" class="svg-formula" dspmath="mathimg" md5hash="9ff7f6b7ad74ef28cb0ca0c82ba5867a"><svg:image xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink" xlink:href="acp-22-15703-2022-ie00001.svg" width="52pt" height="11pt" src="acp-22-15703-2022-ie00001.png"/></svg:svg></span></span>), over an 18-year period spanning from 2003 to 2020. According to our results, the lowest long-term mean AOD values worldwide were found in European and American cities (from 0.08 to 0.20). For almost all African and Asian cities, mean AOD ranged from 0.25 up to 0.90, but a considerable dust aerosol contribution (up to 70 %) was found for some of them with associated mean dust optical depth (DOD) values reaching up to 0.4. Mostly Chinese and Indian cities tend to have higher mean AOD values in the areas surrounding their center, while the opposite was found for most of the cities in the rest of the world. High intraannual AOD variability was revealed for the eastern American cities, while lower values were found in Chinese, eastern Indian and the eastern Mediterranean cities. During the study period, statistically significant negative AOD decadal trends were found for East Asian, European and North American cities, with the greatest decrease of <span class="inline-formula">−0.1</span> to <span class="inline-formula">−0.3</span> per decade recorded for the Chinese cities, in which the maximum mean AODs (0.45–0.91) are observed. In most of the US cities, where low mean AOD <span class="inline-formula">&lt;0.17</span> was recorded, considerable declining AOD trends were found (<span class="inline-formula">−30</span> % to <span class="inline-formula">−50 <i>%</i></span> per decade). For the rest of Asian, African and South American cities, statistically significant AOD increase was found, with the greatest values of <span class="inline-formula">+0.07</span> to <span class="inline-formula">+0.16</span> per decade recorded for Indian cities. In Bengaluru (India), it is reported the lowest mean AOD value (0.2) and the maximum AOD increase (<span class="inline-formula">+69 <i>%</i></span>), which may be partially attributed to the population growth over the study period. The agreement of the satellite-derived AOD trends against those obtained from ground-based AERONET measurements was examined. For ground-based stations within the geographical limits of the contiguous urban area of the examined cities, a 0.93 correlation for the long-term means of AOD was found and <span class="inline-formula">∼75 <i>%</i></span> of the derived trends agreed in sign. It was found that the spatial homogeneity within the examined satellite domain and the location of the surface station were key factors that determined their agreement. The present study highlights the vital and essential contribution of spaceborne products to monitor aerosol burden over megacities of the planet towards fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of “sustainable cities and communities”, dealing with urban air quality.

According to Larkham (2002), urban morphology is an important assessment method in determining the transformation processes of urban contexture, making sense of the historical roots of spatial and functional structure and bringing them to the present day. The purpose of this study is to explore various urban forms in European and Asian cities from its morphological aspects, and construe the distinction between them. To be able construe them based on their city representatives from each continent (Europe and Asia), this study begins with a discussion toward the city of Rome and London as the representative of European city, and city of Singapore and Tokyo as the representative of Asian city. Exploratory approach is used for descriptive case study to deliberate decision in figure out the comparison between two urban form in European and Asian cities based on its morphological aspects. The result of this study shows that history, road patterns, and city’s architecture strongly influence the morphological changes of the cities that discussed in this paper. Lastly, this paper also discuss the main comparation between european and asian cities based on the morphological characteristic. Keyword : European and asian cities, urban form, urban morphology

The purpose of this study is to determine the navigation efficiency for transiting from various ports in Asia and Rotterdam in Europe via the Northern Sea Route. Navigation efficiency was derived from fuel consumption ratios. Preliminary research results showed that fuel consumption and the amount of carbon dioxide emissions was reduced by transiting from various ports through the European Sea Route, and the navigation efficiencies of the various ports ranked in the following descending order: Yokohama - Busan - Shanghai - Kaohsiung - Hong Kong - Singapore. The higher the ratio was, the lower the navigation efficiency of using the Northern Sea Route, i.e. more fuel was consumed and travel costs were higher. In contrast, the lower the ratio was, the higher the navigation efficiency, i.e. less fuel was consumed and travel costs were lower. Recommendations were discussed in the study.

Currently, 55 % of the world’s population resides in urban areas and this number is projected to increase to 70 % by 2050. Urban agglomerations with population over 10 million, characterized as Megacities, are expected to be more than 100 by 2100. Such large concentrations of population could boost creativity and economic progress but also raises several environmental challenges such as air quality degradation. In this study we investigate the spatial and temporal variability of urban aerosol state of 81 cities with population over 5 million, relying on daily satellite-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals, derived at fine spatial resolution (0.1°x0.1°), over an 18-year period spanning from 2003 to 2020. According to our results, the lowest long-term mean AOD values worldwide were found in European and American cities (from 0.08 to 0.20). For almost all African and Asian cities, mean AOD ranged from 0.25 up to 0.90, but a considerable dust aerosol contribution (up to 70 %) was found for some of them with associated mean Dust Optical Depth (DOD) values reaching up to 0.4. Mostly Chinese and Indian cities tend to have higher mean AOD values in the areas surrounding their centre, while the opposite was found for most of the cities in the rest of the world. High intra-annual AOD variability was revealed for the eastern American cities, while lower values were found in Chinese, eastern Indian and the eastern Mediterranean cities. During the study period, statistically significant negative AOD decadal trends were found for East Asian, European and North American cities with the greatest decrease of -0.1 to -0.3 per decade recorded for the Chinese cities, in which the maximum mean AODs (0.45–0.91) are observed. In most of the US cities, where low mean AOD <0.17 was recorded, considerable declining AOD trends were found (-30 to -50 % per decade). For the rest Asian, African and South American cities statistically significant AOD increase was found, with the greatest values of +0.07 to +0.16 per decade recorded for Indian cities. In Bengaluru (India), it is reported the lowest mean AOD value (0.2) and the maximum AOD increase (+69 %), which may be partially attributed to the population growth over the study period. The agreement of the satellite derived AOD trends against those obtained from ground-based AERONET measurements was examined. For ground-based stations within the geographical limits of the contiguous urban area of the examined cities, a 0.93 correlation for the long-term means of AOD was found and ~75 % of the derived trends agreed in sign. It was found that the spatial homogeneity within the examined satellite domain and the location of the surface station were key factors that determined their agreement. The present study highlights the vital and essential contribution of spaceborne products to monitor aerosol burden over megacities of the planet towards fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal “Sustainable cities and communities”, dealing with urban air quality.

Abstract. Currently, 55 % of the world's population resides in urban areas and this number is projected to increase to 70 % by 2050. Urban agglomerations with a population over 10 million, characterized as megacities, are expected to be more than 100 by 2100. Such large concentrations of population could boost creativity and economic progress, but also raises several environmental challenges such as air quality degradation. In this study, we investigate the spatial and temporal variability of urban aerosol state of 81 cities with a population over 5 million, relying on daily satellite-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals, derived at fine spatial resolution (0.1∘×0.1∘), over an 18-year period spanning from 2003 to 2020. According to our results, the lowest long-term mean AOD values worldwide were found in European and American cities (from 0.08 to 0.20). For almost all African and Asian cities, mean AOD ranged from 0.25 up to 0.90, but a considerable dust aerosol contribution (up to 70 %) was found for some of them with associated mean dust optical depth (DOD) values reaching up to 0.4. Mostly Chinese and Indian cities tend to have higher mean AOD values in the areas surrounding their center, while the opposite was found for most of the cities in the rest of the world. High intraannual AOD variability was revealed for the eastern American cities, while lower values were found in Chinese, eastern Indian and the eastern Mediterranean cities. During the study period, statistically significant negative AOD decadal trends were found for East Asian, European and North American cities, with the greatest decrease of −0.1 to −0.3 per decade recorded for the Chinese cities, in which the maximum mean AODs (0.45–0.91) are observed. In most of the US cities, where low mean AOD &lt;0.17 was recorded, considerable declining AOD trends were found (−30 % to −50 % per decade). For the rest of Asian, African and South American cities, statistically significant AOD increase was found, with the greatest values of +0.07 to +0.16 per decade recorded for Indian cities. In Bengaluru (India), it is reported the lowest mean AOD value (0.2) and the maximum AOD increase (+69 %), which may be partially attributed to the population growth over the study period. The agreement of the satellite-derived AOD trends against those obtained from ground-based AERONET measurements was examined. For ground-based stations within the geographical limits of the contiguous urban area of the examined cities, a 0.93 correlation for the long-term means of AOD was found and ∼75 % of the derived trends agreed in sign. It was found that the spatial homogeneity within the examined satellite domain and the location of the surface station were key factors that determined their agreement. The present study highlights the vital and essential contribution of spaceborne products to monitor aerosol burden over megacities of the planet towards fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal of “sustainable cities and communities”, dealing with urban air quality.

Currently, 55 % of the world’s population resides in urban areas and this number is projected to increase to 70 % by 2050. Urban agglomerations with population over 10 million, characterized as Megacities, are expected to be more than 100 by 2100. Such large concentrations of population could boost creativity and economic progress but also raises several environmental challenges such as air quality degradation. In this study we investigate the spatial and temporal variability of urban aerosol state of 81 cities with population over 5 million, relying on daily satellite-based aerosol optical depth (AOD) retrievals, derived at fine spatial resolution (0.1°x0.1°), over an 18-year period spanning from 2003 to 2020. According to our results, the lowest long-term mean AOD values worldwide were found in European and American cities (from 0.08 to 0.20). For almost all African and Asian cities, mean AOD ranged from 0.25 up to 0.90, but a considerable dust aerosol contribution (up to 70 %) was found for some of them with associated mean Dust Optical Depth (DOD) values reaching up to 0.4. Mostly Chinese and Indian cities tend to have higher mean AOD values in the areas surrounding their centre, while the opposite was found for most of the cities in the rest of the world. High intra-annual AOD variability was revealed for the eastern American cities, while lower values were found in Chinese, eastern Indian and the eastern Mediterranean cities. During the study period, statistically significant negative AOD decadal trends were found for East Asian, European and North American cities with the greatest decrease of -0.1 to -0.3 per decade recorded for the Chinese cities, in which the maximum mean AODs (0.45–0.91) are observed. In most of the US cities, where low mean AOD <0.17 was recorded, considerable declining AOD trends were found (-30 to -50 % per decade). For the rest Asian, African and South American cities statistically significant AOD increase was found, with the greatest values of +0.07 to +0.16 per decade recorded for Indian cities. In Bengaluru (India), it is reported the lowest mean AOD value (0.2) and the maximum AOD increase (+69 %), which may be partially attributed to the population growth over the study period. The agreement of the satellite derived AOD trends against those obtained from ground-based AERONET measurements was examined. For ground-based stations within the geographical limits of the contiguous urban area of the examined cities, a 0.93 correlation for the long-term means of AOD was found and ~75 % of the derived trends agreed in sign. It was found that the spatial homogeneity within the examined satellite domain and the location of the surface station were key factors that determined their agreement. The present study highlights the vital and essential contribution of spaceborne products to monitor aerosol burden over megacities of the planet towards fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal “Sustainable cities and communities”, dealing with urban air quality.

To analyze the impact of different proportions of connected automated vehicles (CAVs) on fuel consumption and traffic emissions, this paper studies fuel consumption and traffic emissions of mixed traffic flow with CAVs at different traffic scenarios. Firstly, the car-following modes and proportional relationship of vehicles in the mixed traffic flow are analyzed. On this basis, different car-following models are applied to capture the corresponding car-following modes. Then, Virginia Tech microscopic (VT-micro) model is adopted to calculate the instantaneous fuel consumption and traffic emissions. Finally, based on three typical traffic scenarios, a basic segment with bottleneck zone, ramp of the freeway, and signalized intersection, a simulation platform is built based on Python and SUMO to obtain vehicle trajectory data, and the fuel consumption and traffic emissions in different scenarios are obtained. The results show that (1) In different traffic scenarios, the application of CAVs can reduce fuel consumption and traffic emissions. The higher the penetration rate, the more significant the reduction in fuel consumption and traffic emissions. (2) In the three typical traffic scenarios, the advantages of CAVs are more evident in the signalized intersection. When the penetration rate of CAVs is 100%, the fuel consumption and traffic emissions reduction ratio is as high as 32%. It is noteworthy that the application of CAVs in urban transportation will significantly reduce fuel consumption and traffic emissions.

Asia has urbanized and growing urban population demands for better urban mobility services. There are concerted efforts by authorities to improve public transport in Asian cities. However, the mode share of public transport is still low in many cities and use of personal vehicles is dominant. This is leading to an increase in congestion, consumption of fossil fuels, road accidents, emissions, and air pollution. The quality and reliability of public transport services play an important role in attracting more commuters. Stakeholders’ participation is an important aspect of urban transport planning according to their needs. The paper presents the findings of a survey of public transport users in five Asian cities. The user satisfaction surveys along key public transport routes indicate mixed results. While the users are satisfied with services in Bandung, Thimphu and Tehran, majority of survey respondents in Dhaka and Ho Chi Minh city are not satisfied with the public transport services. The results provide useful insights for transport planners and public transport regulators and operators to improve accessibility, safety, quality and reliability of public transport systems. The improvement of services would help to attract more commuters to the system and increase the mode share of public transport thereby enhancing the overall sustainability of public transport systems.

Urban landscapes exhibit significant regional differences shaped by geography, history, and culture, yet how these variations influence human perception remains underexplored. This study investigates the impact of street scene characteristics on human perceptions in East Asian and European cities by analyzing the large-scale MIT Place Pulse 2.0 dataset. We employ DeepLab v3+ and Mask R-CNN to extract multidimensional physical and visual features and utilize logistic regression to model their association with six subjective perceptions. The findings reveal significant cultural differences: streets in East Asian cities are characterized by higher compactness and brightness, whereas European city streets exhibit greater levels of greening and openness. While perceptions of aesthetics and liveliness show cross-cultural consistency, the mechanisms influencing safety and wealth perceptions diverge significantly; for instance, East Asian cities associate safety with road openness, while European cities favor greater enclosure. The study provides practical insights for creating urban environments that resonate with local cultural identities, enhancing well-being and supporting sustainable urban development.

Introduction:Early Modern Islamic Cities Babak Rahimi (bio) and Kaya Şahin (bio) Conceptions of the city, and of the complex socio-cultural practices embodied in cities, have been at the forefront of historical inquiry. The debate has been marked by diverse claims about the nature of cities, including the notion that "the city" is an incoherent concept that has been universalized based on urban patterns in the global North.1 The concept of the "Western city" can be traced back to Max Weber's nineteenth-century notion of the medieval European city as a self-governing ideal type, with an independent collective identity. Early modern studies have traditionally emphasized the significance of cities during the heyday of European dynastic states and empires. Cities played significant roles in the midst of the new commercial and political networks that spanned the globe, and within the socio-spatial complexes that emerged across the Atlantic and beyond.2 The city thus occupies a central place in studies of how western European societies produced new and unique urban experiences in connection with complex regional and global processes. Pioneering works such as Jan de Vries's European Urbanization, 1500–1800 and Paul M. Hohenberg and Lynn Hollen Lees's The Making of Urban Europe, 1000–1950, place early modern cities within broader economic networks and demographic transformations. Others, such as Calabi and Turk Christiansen or Christopher R. Friedrichs, focus on the cultural and religious aspects of city life against the backdrop of the increasing power of centralized states. These scholars argue that European cities produced cultural practices that reflected growing changes in the social experience of urban life. As Nina Levine maintains in her study of late sixteenth-century London, cultural practices such as theater performance opened up new social spaces of self-understanding and belonging, spaces wherein denizens engaged in new [End Page 1] forms of sociability on a plural level within the growing metropolis.3 Likewise, the changing media landscape in major European cities, such as Cologne and Hamburg, led to the incorporation of print technology in everyday life, and to what Daniel Bellingradt calls the "multifaceted modes of communication."4 Perhaps the most significant result of these intertwined processes was the emergence of distinct publics and public spaces in the midst of early modern European urban life. These publics and public spaces were the result of complex interactions between political authorities and communities in the context of the emergent market economies and empire- and state-building projects. They were enhanced through expanding networks of knowledge, as well as the increasingly global movement of ideas, people, and goods. They fostered new emotive practices, and helped create civic and cultural identities.5 Cities played a critical role as prominent loci for the new forms of political and social interaction. However, these findings about European cities have been utilized typically to promote the uniqueness of the European experience, and the specific characteristics of European cities have been deployed as normative criteria while evaluating urban cultures in other parts of the world. This approach continues to dominate views of non-European cities, as in, for example, publications as recent as The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History (2013). European cities are described, pace Weber, with reference to self-governance and civic and communal institutions, while Islamic and Asian cities are presented as having very little, if any, autonomy vis-à-vis the central administration of state or empire. Indeed, early modern urban expansion in the Middle East and Asia is connected to the rise of major empires, which is in turn contrasted with the self-driven expansion of many European cities. Similarly, commercial activity is said to have been fostered in Europe through the initiative of urban communities, while it was controlled by the central states in Asia and the Middle East, in the absence of separate fiscal administrative structures at the city level. This approach extends into the characterization of cities established by the Spanish in the New World, whereby these colonial centers are described as instruments of political and economic coercion serving the interests of the Spanish crown. Moreover, non-European cities are singled out with reference to a limited number of public spaces; the...

Transformation toward an eco-city: lessons from three Asian cities