Aspects Of Urban Sustainability Research Articles

Global impact of urbanization on ecosystems: A comprehensive bibliometric analysis

This paper demonstrates a comprehensive assessment of bibliometric analysis of published research on the global impact of urbanization on environmental consequences. Scopus database was used to collect data on the global impact of urbanization on ecosystem research from 2000 to 2023 and scrutinizes the progression of publications, keyword analysis, co-citation of authors, citation of documents, co-authorship of authors, and most efficient and influential authors, countries, and institutions. A total of 4322 research papers (journals) were published during the period (2000–2023). This bibliometric study was carried out with the Vos Viewer software. The study's findings demonstrate that the number of publications has continuously increased between 2000 and 2023. In 2020 and 2022, there were 396 and 635 publications, respectively. The top three influential journals in terms of citations are Remote Sensing of Environment (2415 citations), Ecological Economics (1456 citations), and PLoS (1410). From 2000 to 2023, the most often appearing terms were urbanization (3028), urban area (1111), people (853), land use (769), environmental monitoring (594), environmental effect (570), sustainable development (567), and climate change (534). We created a time series with four periods (2000–2005, 2006–2011, 2012–2017, and 2018–2023) based on the periodic changes, which also shows the trend. In more specific terms, this study demonstrates not just a logical structure but also the development of keywords throughout time. The empirical evidence also shows that while this field initially focused on a few themes, it has since broadened to include the many aspects of urban sustainability. This analysis also identifies the most efficient and influential authors, institutions, and nations in terms of total publishing (TP), proportion of cited publications (PCP), total citation (TC), h-index, and g-index. Yang K is the most prominent author, China and the United States are the most efficient nations, and the Chinese Academy of Science is the most powerful organization. The top two nations by co-authorship are China (40 ​695 citations and 1527 publications) and the United States (41 ​119 citations and 833 publications). Additionally, it is noted that while environmental concerns continue to dominate, basic socioeconomic problems like equality, justice, and public participation are underrepresented. Sustainable development indicators, energy, ecologically friendly infrastructure, water, the use of land, and urban planning are prominent subject topics, with the first three exerting a larger influence in shaping the field's growth. This research may be utilized as a resource for people intrigued in learning more about the evaluation of urban sustainability and its advancement.

Beyond food: A stochastic model to estimate the contributions of urban agriculture to sustainability

In the first decades of the 21st century, urban agriculture has gained attention for its role in enhancing food security, particularly in developing nations. Additionally, it is commonly assumed that urban agriculture also has positive implications for other aspects of urban sustainability, such as mitigating runoff and creating job opportunities. However, the extent of these contributions has not been extensively quantified. This study aims to address this gap by presenting a stochastic model that quantifies the contributions of urban agriculture to urban sustainability, using Sant Feliu de Llobregat, a Mediterranean city, as a case study. We assessed eight indicators, including accessibility to green areas, food self-reliance, green surface area per capita, job creation, NO2 sequestration, runoff mitigation, urban heat island effect, and volunteer participation. These indicators were estimated across twelve different simulated scenarios using 1000 Monte Carlo simulations for each scenario, to account for uncertainties. The findings revealed that the contributions of urban agriculture are not straightforward, as they are influenced by factors such as garden typology and location. Although urban agriculture typically originates as a grassroots movement, it often receives administrative support. Therefore, strategic planning can be employed to maximize the contributions of urban agriculture to urban sustainability and minimize trade-offs between social and environmental benefits.

Multifunctional public open spaces for sustainable cities: Concept and application

The idea that multifunctional open spaces support sustainable urban development has been widely accepted in theory and intensively used in practice of urban planning and design. It is based on the assumption that multifunctional spaces bring a wider spectrum of environmental, social and economic benefits to urban areas. And yet, multifunctionality of space is still a vague and diffuse concept that needs further clarifications. Besides that, different academic disciplines understand and use this concept in different ways. This makes the application of the concept difficult to assess and manage in relation to different aspects of urban sustainability. Through the literature review, this paper analyses and compares how the concept of multifunctionality is used in various spatial disciplines (urban planning and design, landscape architecture) in order to better understand and relate its different dimensions, applications and expected benefits for sustainable development. Based on this, a new, relational and multidimensional conceptualisation of the multifunctionality of public open spaces is proposed for analysis and assessment of urban design solutions. It is further applied and discussed in relation to students projects from ?Ecological urban design studio? from the University of Belgrade Faculty of Architecture, as visions for development of multifunctional public open spaces in modernist mass housing area of ?Sava Blocks? in New Belgrade, Serbia.

Land use change modeling and the effect of compact city paradigms: integration of GIS-based cellular automata and weights-of-evidence techniques

In recent decades, attaining urban sustainability is the primary goal for urban planners and decision makers. Among various aspects of urban sustainability, environmental protection such as agricultural and forest conservations is very important in tropical countries like Malaysia. In this regard, compact urban development due to high density, rural development containment is known as the most sustainable urban forms. This paper attempts to propose an integrated modeling approach to predict the future land use changes by considering city compactness paradigms. First, the cellular automata (CA) were applied for calculating land use conversion. Next, weights-of-evidence (WoE) which is based on Bayes theory was utilized to calibrate CA model and to support the transitional rule assessment. Several urban-related parameters as well as compact city indicators were utilized to estimate the future land use maps. The results showed how compact development parameters and site characteristics can be combined using the WoE model to predict the probability of land use changes. The modeling approach supports the essential logic of probabilistic methods and indicates that spatial autocorrelation of various land use types and accessibility is the main drivers of urban land use changes.

Modeli transformacije neiskorišćenih prostornih resursa - istraživacka studija KC Magacin u Beogradu

This paper researches different transformation models of unused spatial resources in order to recognize aspects which could lead towards a sustainable activation of space. The relevance of the research lies in both scientific interpretations, and the clarification of the transformation phenomenon relating to the activation of unused spatial resources, especially in the context of post-socialist Serbia with a focus on its capital. The theoretical framework of the research relates to different aspects of urban sustainability regarding the activation of unused spatial resources, including further clarification of the role of the transformation principles in architectural discourse. The empirical part of the research regards a case study analysis of the precise spatial framework of "Magacin" Cultural Center in Belgrade using a student involved workshop as a research method. The students were expected to explore different possibilities and propose design solutions for the given space applying a transformation method in the context of space activation. The final part of the research includes the synthesis and the result interpretation regarding the research context and the problem setting, but more importantly, it demonstrates the level of interdependency between changes on micro-level (transformation models of unused spatial resources) and the context of macro-level (activating space in terms of sustainable urban development).

Sustainability indices as a tool for urban managers, evidence from four medium-sized Chinese cities

This research in four medium-sized Chinese cities aims at measuring urban sustainability in China and focuses on three issues. First, the situation in these four cities with regard to urban sustainability is evaluated. Secondly, a number of relations between different aspects of urban sustainability is explored. Finally, it is indicated how urban managers can improve with sustainability indices as tools currently ineffective urban management practices. Although all four cities are moving towards sustainable development, the current situation shows still weak sustainability in three, and even non-sustainability in one city. The social and, in particular, the economic dimensions of urban sustainability make significant positive contributions to overall urban sustainability. However, the decline of natural resources and environmental degradation are influencing it negatively. It is therefore suggested that more priority should be assigned to urban environmental protection and management in China. The fundamental reason for environmental degradation is believed to be inefficient urban management. To implement effective urban management in China, there is an urgent need to redefine the role of local government, reform local organizational structure, enhance local participatory institutional capacity, properly distribute the urban welfare, and thus integrate economic, social and environmental objectives local strategic and action plans.