Modeling Pedestrian Accessibility: Research on Public Space of Industrial Heritage Renovated Districts

Urban renewal is important to regenerate the living city in Abu Dhabi were recently public space along waterfronts is emerging along with cafes, restaurants and hotels to represent as new kind of mitigation between public and semi-public spaces. Waterfront urban assemblages in Abu Dhabi offer a relatively sanitized experience than those associated with conventional public spaces in historic cities. For example Al-Bateen marina and the Al-Maqta Canal are new waterfront developments shaped by concrete breakwaters that re-define the connection of public space to waterfronts. While pedestrian access and walkability in Abu Dhabi are still in their infantile stages, new projects such as the new Al-Maqta Canal Project and Al-Bateen Marina promises to create new venues for pedestrian and outdoor activities. Although these spaces replace earlier waterfront spaces such as old wharfs and fishing hubs had a more traditional attire, these new open spaces display an urban strategy of creating public spaces along waterfronts in oil rich Gulf States. When taken together such waterfront developments address the complex urban whole that reflects the multi-ethnic nature of Gulf state cities. This paper studies the strategies and effects of architectural assemblages along waterfronts in Abu Dhabi and how they shape public space and urban landscape. In addition, we use a 2D-hydrodynamic water surface model to simulate the flow pattern in the new Al-Maqta Canal.KeywordsUrban landscapesShorefront developmentsPublic spaceAbu Dhabi2D-hydrodynamic water surface model

In the present research, a factorial ecological approach using factor analysis was employed to evaluate the dimensionality of the urban social structure of the twin city: Ramallah and Al-Bireh, West Bank, the Palestinian Authority. Through factor analysis, the 41 variables were reduced to four factors with an eigenvalue > 1.0. These factors explain 77.07 percent of the total variables used in the study. Factor I contributes 28.419% of the total variance proportion of input variables, labeled as “family, housing, and public spaces factor”. Factor II accounts for 19.57% of the variance proportion, designated as” housing and urban public spaces”. Factor III is strongly correlated with variables referring to the characteristics of the head of the family, and the availability of public spaces, and thus, is designated as “head of the family and public spaces”. It explains 16.68% of the total variance. Finally, factor IV explains 12.406% of variance proportion, and is strongly associated with variables pertaining to a lack of public social spaces. Consequently, factor IV is termed “lack of public spaces”. The spatial distribution of factor scores related to factors I to IV was mapped using Arc GIS in order to analyze the spatial patterns of the recognized four factors. It is worth noting the factor IV, which refers to the lack of urban social space and, urban public space, which persists in the twin city, and will continue to persist in the future. The lack of urban open space and public social spaces is closely connected to migration, emerged housing pattern, and family status dimensions focused on factors I to III, continuous confiscation of the Palestinian lands, and the construction of Israeli settlements. Currently, the twin city is extremely overcrowded with stone/concrete buildings at the expense of public space which has declined continuously over the last three decades. Nevertheless, the analyzed spatial pattern of factor scores indicated the homogeneous character of the urban society of the twin city. Based on the urban eco-logical models which seek to characterize the Western, non-Western, Israeli, and Arab-oil producing (e.g., Kuwait) urban structures, it is difficult to elaborate a specific Palestinian urban ecological model with reference to the models developed elsewhere.

This study aimed to systematise existing approaches, principles, and trends related to the restoration and renovation of public spaces, while also identifying the actual needs of residents through surveys. Based on the findings, recommendations are proposed for the post-war development of public urban spaces. The primary methods used for data collection included visual analysis, individual surveys, and interviews with residents to determine their genuine needs. The results were structured using general scientific research methods. The survey revealed that 63% of respondents expressed a willingness to participate in the renovation and revival of damaged public urban spaces. 43% believed the restoration process should retain historical elements that existed prior to destruction, supplemented with new components. Among those surveyed, 31% preferred complete restoration to the pre-war state without alterations, while 36% wished to see elements of military memorial themes incorporated into the renewed public spaces. The study outlined key aspects highlighting the significance of public space in the functioning of a modern city and identifies major challenges associated with their post-war formation. Methodological recommendations have been provided to guide the formation, restoration, and renovation of public spaces, taking into account both residents’ interests and current trends. Existing approaches, ideas, and proposals for the renewal and renovation of public urban spaces have been systematised and supplemented with new concepts. Evaluation criteria for public urban spaces have been refined based on indicators such as functionaland spatial organisation, principles of public space formation, development prospects, and public participation. Mechanisms for civic engagement in the restoration and renovation of public spaces have been proposed for all stages – discussion, design, planning, and practical implementation. The findings of this study may be applied by designers and architects in developing projects for the reconstruction of war-damaged public spaces, as well as by local authorities during their implementation.

The increasing numbers of people and buildings that continue to grow and tend to be uncontrolled in the settlement causing some negative impacts one of them is the consistency of land allotment. This has resulted in some impacts such as ineffective utilities and environmental infrastructures, no mitigation system, and the unavailability of space for public spaces and other supporting facilities that supposed to be available within a settlement. Kampung Arab is one of a densely populated settlements located in the middle of business center area of Manado City, occupies the Mahakam riverbank. The limited space available in Kampung Arab has caused the settlements tend to be slummed and doesn’t have public open space as one of the residential support facilities. In addition, this settlement expands riverbanks so the functions of riverbanks become disturbed, and these settlements are often at risk of flooding. The purpose of this research is to analyze the function of Mahakam riverbanks against flood risk and to analyze the possibility of public space and pedestrian ways availability at the location of Mahakam riverbanks around the Kampung Arab settlement. The research method is qualitative descriptive method. Primary data were obtained through field observation, documentation, and interviews. The research is located in Kampung Arab settlement which occupies the banks of Mahakam River. Further analysis is done: 1) analysis of existing settlement of Kampung Arab to the Mahakam River related to: building’s orientation, river border, activity and behavior of society 2] analysis of public open space availability and its former elements, 3] analysis of settlement utility system and at the final stage conducted an analysis related to community activities and behavior. Expected results through this research are: improving function and quality of Mahakam River, restoring the function of riverbanks and public open space availability as social interaction space.

This study, taking Beijing Shougang Park as a case, analyzes the public spaces after industrial heritage renovation and explores the relationship between industrial heritage spaces and residents’ activities based on residents’ spatial behaviours. The study introduces Social Network Analysis (SNA) to construct both a public space network model and a residents’ spatial behaviour network model, integrating them through network metrics. The findings indicate that Shougang Park follows a centralized cluster-based layout, creating diverse spatial experiences through ‘multi-point aggregation, path connectivity, and regional integration’. Residents’ spatial behaviours exhibit a ‘core periphery’ structure, showing clear preferences for industrial heritage elements, natural landscapes, and open plazas, thereby forming a ‘check-in’ style touring pattern along the main axis connecting spatial clusters. Based on these insights, the study proposes targeted spatial optimization strategies. The results demonstrate that SNA can quantify the relationship between industrial heritage spaces and behaviours, revealing a bidirectional mechanism: spatial layout influences residents’ behaviour choices, while residents’ behaviours, in turn, shape new patterns of space use and generate shortcuts. This further indicates that understanding residents’ spatial behaviours can provide practical guidance for the planning and renovation of industrial heritage public spaces.

Public space, including green areas are particularly important for the quality of life in the city. The influence of greenery can be considered in regard to natural, social, and economic assets. Such spaces improve the city climate quality, they can create areas of social activity, and above all they serve as a space for leisure and recreation. The same natural environment brings benefits to the city, referred to as ecosystem services, which can be converted into monetary value. Therefore, protection of existing green spaces and their restoration is an important element of sustainable urban development. At the same time in large cities, in which dominates high-density housing development, the issue of ensuring proper availability of green spaces arises. In the recent years in Poland various activities are being undertaken to improve the value of an index showing the surface of public green spaces per one inhabitant of the city. The surface of green public spaces of recreational function in Kraków is 618,48 ha (based on “The direction of the green areas development and management in Kraków for 2017 - 2030” – project, p. 151), which in per capita corresponds to about 8 m2. In the last years, the city has been undertaking activities aiming at increasing the availability of public green spaces to the residents. For this purpose, the city initiated the realisation of an idea of creating small green spaces, called pocket parks, based on American and European solutions. The paper presents research on pocket parks as a new form of public green spaces in Kraków. The purpose of the research is to indicate rules regarding the method of development of small parks within selected American and Polish realisations, and to indicate optimal solutions for future implementation. The paper presents general principles of the idea of creating pocket parks. Two Kraków realisations of pocket parks are described: park in Zwierzyniec district, at the junction of Bolesław Prus and Julian Fałat Streets, and “Ogród Motyli” park, located at Dekerta Street in XIII Podgórze district. The above realisations are compared to the selected American pocket parks - Paley Park and John F. Collins Park. The analysis provides similarities and differences between the concept of pocket parks in Kraków and in the United States of America. As a result, the paper presents the benefits of creating small public green spaces in the context of the sustainable development of Kraków and the possibilities of applying solutions following the example of American cities.

Visibility, democratic public space and socially inclusive cities

Visibility, democratic public space and socially inclusive cities: The presence and changes of Turkish amenities in Amsterdam

The study analyzed the urban configuration of Pasto from the perspective of mixed land use, mobility and pedestrian accessibility. It was observed that city planning had developed spontaneously, without a clear coherence with the guidelines of the POT 2015-2027, which generated territorial fragmentation and inequality in access to services and facilities. Urban densification led to land uses being defined more by the practices of the inhabitants than by regulations, producing tensions between housing, commerce, services and infrastructure. It was also found that the road network consisted mostly of local and intermediate roads, which limited structural connectivity and the implementation of sustainable mobility. The methodology used, of an empirical-analytical nature, integrated GIS, CAD and cartographic database tools to calculate accessibility and mixed-use indices. Four study areas were identified with densities higher than 175.9 inhabitants/ha, where residential use largely predominated over the others. Despite this, imbalances were found in the distribution of commerce, facilities and public space, reflecting a low functional integration of the land. The results showed that Areas 1 and 3 presented better conditions of connectivity and proximity to services, thus approaching the 15-minute city model. However, the limited network of bicycle paths, unsafe crossings and the lack of continuity in the pedestrian infrastructure restricted equitable access. In conclusion, it was recommended to redistribute facilities, strengthen active mobility and design sectorized strategies that favor a more sustainable, equitable and connected urban development.

The scientific problem of interaction between humans and urban environment is considered in the context of urbanites' perceptions of comfort in local public spaces. The subject and scientific novelty of the study is related to consideration of urban public spaces around schools through a prism of their contribution to social life of users and attendance comfort. The study was conducted by interviewing participants of education schools in order to study their opinions about objective parameters of public spaces and also their satisfaction with various characteristics of public spaces. The respondents' opinions on safety, pedestrian accessibility, environmental impact, conditions for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, social infrastructure and "third" locations were analyzed. The study revealed that public spaces around schools can be characterized as areas with diverse infrastructural and functional content. The diversity of infrastructural facilities allows to meet social and business needs of users. Public spaces around schools are locations of attraction in terms of organizing leisure activities and providing comfortable communication. The most common places for users of school territories are parks, squares, and playgrounds, which are among the most common and accessible options for "third" locations. Road conditions created for pedestrians, as well as safety of movement in public spaces around schools can be evaluated as comfortable for most users. Obtained results make practical contribution to development of methods for measuring the perception of local peculiarities of urban spaces by their users, and can be useful in making and implementing management decisions in the field of urban planning policies.

The development of a town center in an effort to improve the quality of the social environment and community can be seen from the existence of public open space and how much use, because the future availability of public open space will be increasingly difficult to obtain , so it is important to plan the existing public spaces being lost due to lack of use the space for the community and the surrounding environment. This research took a case study in the Malang Merdeka square. Where the condition of Malang Merdeka square current arrangement functioned more as a green open space in the city center of the space to accommodate its use as a public activity. For that we need a physical setting arrangement square that can function either as a green space and can accommodate the public in the city center . This study aims to identify determinants of physical activity in the setting of public open space. The foundation of the theory used in this study is public open space , behavior settings , environment and behavior . The method used in this research is descriptive qualitative . The subjects were the main users - Malang Merdeka square , the data collection method using a place - centered and person- centered mapping mapping . The results showed that the arrangement of the physical setting in a public space , can affect the behavior of the user in the activity in the square - square . Keywords : Behavior, Utilization, Physical Setting, Public open space .

Accessibility is an essential consideration in the design of public spaces, and commonly referred to as 'pedestrian accessibility' when walking is the primary mode of transportation. Computational methods, frequently coupled with Geographic Information systems (GIS), are increasingly available for assessing pedestrian accessibility using digital cartographic data such as road networks and digital terrain models. However, they often implicitly assume a level of mobility that may not be achievable by individuals with mobility impairments, e.g., wheelchair users. Therefore, it remains uncertain whether conventional pedestrian accessibility adequately approximates 'wheelchair accessibility,' and, if not, what computational resources would be required to evaluate it more accurately. We therefore designed a spatial database aimed at customizing mobility networks according to mobility limitations and compared the accessibility of a university campus for people with and without wheelchairs under various assumptions. The results showed there are clusters of locations either completely inaccessible or substantially less accessible for wheelchair users, indicating the presence of particular 'wheelchair coldspots', not only due to steep slopes and stairways but also arising from unforeseen consequences of aesthetic and safety enhancements, such as pebble pavements and raised sidewalks. It was found that a combination of simple spatial queries would help identifying potential locations for mobility aids such as ramps. These findings suggest that accessibility is not an invariant of a public space but experienced differently by different groups. Therefore, more comprehensive needs analysis and spatial database design are necessary to support inclusive design of healthier public spaces.

<div align="center"><table border="1" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><tbody><tr><td valign="top" width="518"><p><strong><em>Abstract:</em></strong><em> Development of the urban population in Indonesia that growing rapidly these days, of course will cause impacts for the city itself, including in terms of environmental degradation. Therefore, society needs of a comfortable and livable city is getting higher, which is known as the concept of livable city. One of the key principles of the concept of livable city is the availability of public space as a place to socialize and interact. Surakarta, within 5 (five) years, being actively promote provision of public green space, as one of the public space, as evidenced by the increase of public green space area 23,16% in 2016. In a study titled Indonesia Most Livable City Index, Surakarta has a livable city index reached 69,38% above the national average. The problem in this research is how the level of conformity of the public space in Surakarta with the concept of livable city? This study aims to determine the level of conformity of the public space in Surakarta with the concept of livable city, which covers several aspects, including: availability, coverage, accessibility, comfort, amenity, and supporting activity. The method in this study using deductive research approach and scoring analysis technique. Based on the analysis, it can be seen that the level of conformity of the public space in Surakarta with the concept of livable city included into the category of medium-level conformity. Nonetheless, it needs improvement in some aspects of public space in Surakarta whose value is still low, in order to realize the public space in Surakarta according to the concept of livable city.</em></p></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="518"><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p></td></tr><tr><td valign="top" width="518"><p><strong><em>Keywords: </em></strong><em>level of conformity, public space, livable city, scoring analysis</em></p></td></tr></tbody></table></div>

This study examines the influences of satisfaction of leisure time and space (i.e., public and private leisure spaces) on overall leisure life satisfaction, after controlling for respondents’demographic, socio-economic, and geographical characteristics. Based on the data from 2019 National Leisure Activity Survey, this study performed a series of analysis, including descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and multiple regression analysis. The results of the analyses indicate that leisure time was more significantly related to respondents’ overall leisure life satisfaction than leisure spaces. Particularly, leisure time satisfaction during weekday largely influenced on the overall leisure life satisfaction compared to leisure time satisfaction during weekend. Regarding public and private leisure spaces, the influences of the two different spaces were inconsistent. While public space was significantly related to the leisure life satisfaction, the influence of the private space was greater than the public space, when applying the mean value of the summed scored of three question items of the private spaces into a regression analysis. The result reveals that leisure life satisfaction is likely to be enhanced by those collaborative efforts from both public and private leisure spaces, although leisure time was the most important consideration for leisure life satisfaction.

The regeneration of idle industrial heritage buildings needs to take into account many factors such as history, science, art, and social aspects. Current research on industrial heritage regeneration has not developed quantitative research in each factor of assessment, and cannot provide clear guidance and program reference for industrial building regeneration weighting ratios. In this study, we put forward a spatial vitality factor range prediction method based on big data analysis for the regeneration of an industrial heritage public space in Luoyang, aiming to establish a model for the regeneration of industrial heritage abandoned industrial buildings and to provide implementation and regeneration planning. The specific evaluation process and regeneration evaluation design scheme based on Luoyang’s industrial heritage were restored. The weights and percentages of the key domain indicators and branch indicators of the idle industrial building regeneration model were predicted, which provided clear guidance and reference for the planning of regeneration of public spaces of industrial heritage. The prediction accuracy of each key assessment factor was maintained above 90%, and the sequential ranking result of the assessment factors was given. The spatial regeneration prediction scheme provided an effective guide and indicator reference for the case design, highlighting the effectiveness of our approach.