Components Of Built Environment Research Articles

Environmental Quality, Extreme Heat, and Healthcare Expenditures

Although the effects of the environment on human health are well-established, the literature on the relationship between the quality of the environment and expenditures on healthcare is relatively sparse and disjointed. In this study, the Environmental Quality Index developed by the Environmental Protection Agency and heatwave days were compared against per capita Medicare spending at the county level. A general additive model with a Markov Random Field smoothing term was used for the analysis to ensure that spatial dependence did not undermine model results. The Environmental Quality Index was found to hold a statistically significant (p < 0.05), multifaceted nonlinear association with spending, as was the average seasonal maximum heat index. The same was not true of heatwave days, however. In a secondary analysis on the individual domains of the index, the social and built environment components were significantly related to spending, but the air, water, and land domains were not. These results provide initial support for the simultaneous benefits of healthcare financing systems to mitigate some dimensions of poor environmental quality and consistently high air temperatures.

A Quantitative Analysis of the Complex Response Relationship between Urban Green Infrastructure (UGI) Structure/Spatial Pattern and Urban Thermal Environment in Shanghai

The urban heat island (UHI) effect has evolved into one of the key environmental problems affecting the urban ecological environment and sustainable development. Based on 52 Urban Thermal Heat spots (UTHSs) with significant differences between land use structure and urban green infrastructure (UGI) spatial layout within the influence range of UHI in Shanghai, Landsat-8/9 satellite images were used to construct a high-dimensional dataset reflecting the impact of built environment components on urban thermal environment. Descriptive statistical analysis was used to analyze the spatial difference qualitatively. Using the stepwise regression (SWR) model and partial least square regression (PLSR) model, the complex response relationship between UGI’s structure/spatial pattern differentiation and urban thermal environment in three spatial stratification ranges of UTHSs was quantitatively analyzed. Overall, the statistical explanatory power of the PLSR model is much better than the stepwise regression model. The PLSR model points out that moderately increasing the average building height, class area (CA), percentage of landscape (PLAND), landscape shape index (LSI), and largest patch index (LPI) play a positive role in inhibiting the growth of land surface temperature (LST), and the cooling effect of index weights decreases in order. However, the interaction effects of the box-cox transformed indices with underlines, e.g., CA × Cohesion × AI × LPI and PLAND × CA × Cohesion × AI × LPI, exert relatively small weight on the cooling effect. According to the results, suggestions such as optimization of the UGI structure and urban construction layout were proposed, which can effectively mitigate the UHI effect.

A positive neighborhood walkability is associated with a higher magnitude of leisure walking in adults upon COVID-19 restrictions: a longitudinal cohort study

BackgroundPrevious cross-sectional and longitudinal observational studies revealed positive relationships between contextual built environment components and walking behavior. Due to severe restrictions during COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, physical activity was primarily performed within the immediate living area. Using this unique opportunity, we evaluated whether built environment components were associated with the magnitude of change in walking activity in adults during COVID-19 restrictions.MethodsData on self-reported demographic characteristics and walking behaviour were extracted from the prospective longitudinal Lifelines Cohort Study in the Netherlands of participants ≥ 18 years. For our analyses, we made use of the data acquired between 2014–2017 (n = 100,285). A fifth of the participants completed the questionnaires during COVID-19 restrictive policies in July 2021 (n = 20,806). Seven spatial components were calculated for a 500m and 1650m Euclidean buffer per postal code area in GIS: population density, retail and service destination density, land use mix, street connectivity, green space density, sidewalk density, and public transport stops. Additionally, the walkability index (WI) of these seven components was calculated. Using multivariable linear regression analyses, we analyzed the association between the WI (and separate components) and the change in leisure walking minutes/week. Included demographic variables were age, gender, BMI, education, net income, occupation status, household composition and the season in which the questionnaire was filled in.ResultsThe average leisure walking time strongly increased by 127 min/week upon COVID-19 restrictions. All seven spatial components of the WI were significantly associated with an increase in leisure walking time; a 10% higher score in the individual spatial component was associated with 5 to 8 more minutes of leisure walking/week. Green space density at the 500m Euclidean buffer and side-walk density at the 1650m Euclidean buffer were associated with the highest increase in leisure walking time/week. Subgroup analysis revealed that the built environment showed its strongest impact on leisure walking time in participants not engaging in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic, compared to participants who already engaged in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic.ConclusionsThese results provide strong evidence that the built environment, corrected for individual-level characteristics, directly links to changes observed in leisure walking time during COVID-19 restrictions. Since this relation was strongest in those who did not engage in leisure walking before the COVID-19 pandemic, our results encourage new perspectives in health promotion and urban planning.

Does built environment matter in a medium-sized African city? Empirical evidence from the interaction between land use and travel behavior

A bulk of the empirical studies on land use and travel behavior seem to focus on Western, European, and Asian cities. The experience of cities in Africa has been grossly understudied and left unaccounted for in global literature. A substantial number of these studies concluded that variables in the built environment are important determinants of travel behavior. It is the view of this paper that some African cities, like the Benin metropolitan region, may deviate from the hypothesis of land use-travel behavior interaction in several other studies, which seems to imply that built environment components are among the key factors impacting travel behavior. This paper is aimed at examining how the built environment and socioeconomic and demographic attributes affect travel behavior in a medium-sized African city, using the Benin metropolitan region as an example. Using remotely sensed datasets and metropolitan-wide survey data of 1,735 valid responses, a nested logit choice model was estimated. The result revealed that built environment indicators have a weak association with travel behavior and that individual characteristics like socioeconomics and demographics prove to be strong variables that influence people’s travel behavior in the study area. The study provides support for the association between built environment indicators, individual indicators, and travel behavior. It suggested that, unlike the cities of most advanced nations, the Benin metropolitan region somewhat deviated in the manifestation of travel behavior. It was recommended that more studies be conducted in African cities. Such research could disclose additional important details regarding African behavior and how it influences their decision-making.

Assessment of Influence Mechanisms of Built Environment on Street Vitality Using Multisource Spatial Data: A Case Study in Qingdao, China

Street vitality is a significant indicator of a city’s capacity for sustainable development. Significant progress has been made on the basis of measurements of a single indicator of street vitality, but few studies have used multisource data to measure street vitality in a comprehensive way. In this study, in order to explore the multidimensional vitality characteristics of streets, streets were taken as the analysis unit, and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to an Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) evaluation model with combined weights was used to identify the spatial pattern of streets vitality from social, economic, and cultural dimensions using multisource spatial data such as Baidu heat map, Meituan store rating, and cultural facilities points of interest in the main urban area of Qingdao City, China. Using a Multiscale Geographically Weighted Regression (MGWR) model, the spatial correlations and differences between street built environment components and multidimensional street vitality were examined, to reveal the influence mechanism of street vitality creation in each street. The study found that the comprehensive vitality of the streets in the main urban area of Qingdao City exhibits the spatial differentiation features of “weak east–west, strong central, multicenter, cluster type”. Furthermore, although commercial and public services are essential for enhancing street vitality and attracting crowds, a very high degree of functional mix has not resulted in a high degree of street vitality. Lastly, high spatial heterogeneity between built environment factors and street vitality necessitates considering the functional positioning and development basis of the street, tailoring to local conditions and policies, considering the street’s vitality development status and development needs, complementing strengths, promoting coordinated development, and releasing and enhancing the street’s vitality. Therefore, it is essential to explore street vitality and its influencing mechanisms to improve people’s quality of life and promote sustainable urban development.

Revealing virtual visiting preference: Differentiating virtual and physical space with massive TikTok records in Beijing

With the growing penetration of information and communication technologies, social media platforms have become one of the most frequently used virtual spaces in daily life, producing spatiality with new logic and structure. However, few studies have examined the difference of visiting preferences in virtual space due to the lack of proper benchmarks constructed from physical space. The quantity of geo-tagged views, likes, comments, shares embedded in TikTok filming locations was used to measuring virtual and physical visiting activities (VVAs, PVAs), providing a perfect opportunity to clarify the virtual visiting differences. Built environment components are regarded as the objects of reference and their relationships with VVAs and PVAs were examined separately, and virtual visiting preferences were revealed as the following three main points: 1. VVAs are less associated with the built environment, due to people's indirect perception of physical elements. 2. Components that people are more familiar with in physical space and could shape impressive public city images, such as landmarks and urban nodes, are dramatically enhanced in virtual space. 3. Components that could be easily perceived in physical space but hard to present through visual medium, such as functional diversity, are far less critical in virtual space.

Towards Resilience: Energy Efficiency in Urban Communities - Case study of New Borg El Arab City in Alexandria, Egypt

Energy demands is one of the most important challenges for the future of urban communities and its built environment. Hence, the resilience of energy in urban communities is one of the effective concepts used to face the energy crisis fact due to the intensive consumption of energy. In this context, the paper is concerned with reviewing the previous literature for urban energy. resilience principles and energy-built environment frameworks by specialized international organizations and also studying the experiences of two top ranked international resilient cities. This paper proposes an energy resilient built environment conceptual framework in order to better recognize and examine the complicated problems of resilient and energy efficient urban communities. An analytical approach was applied for the current situation of New Borg El Arab City in Alexandria, Egypt using the proposed framework for measuring the resiliency level in the built environment, then applying an AHP method for determining the priorities of its built environment components, which need to be developed in order to achieve a resilient city. Thus, the overall goal is to provide a model to city planners and decision-makers that could enable them to plan for adaptable urban communities to be more resilient towards energy vulnerability.

A method for assessing the vitality potential of urban areas. The case study of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari, Italy

Vitality and Urbanity emerge as key goals of strategies for urban sustainable development as necessary prerequisites for varied and prosperous cities. Vitality and urbanity are characteristics that emerge from the diversity of urban public spaces activities and have an impact on a people's sense of place. The proposed research examines the built environment components that impact urbanity and vitality and develops an analytic method for quantifying the potential of urban form to promote urbanity and vitality. The research investigates four aspects: (i) the conceptualization of urbanity and vitality; (ii) the identification of factors affecting urbanity and vitality; (iii) the definition of indicators and protocols; (iv) the application of the proposed analytic method for measuring the vitality potential of the Metropolitan City of Cagliari (MCC), in Sardinia, Italy. This study underlines the relevance of combining space syntax and spatial analysis techniques in order to address four issues concerning sustainable urban development: quantitative description of urban-friendly conditions, identification of spatial manifestations of social and economic processes, understanding of criticalities, and formulation of policies and strategies for reinforcing vibrant urban spaces. Thus, the proposed analytic method contributes to the application of the Geodesign paradigm to the urban realm by supporting the understanding of the conditions affecting the vitality and urbanity of the built environment.

Developing Vulnerability Index to Quantify Urban Heat Islands Effects Coupled with Air Pollution: A Case Study of Camden, NJ

Extreme heat events at urban centers in combination with air pollution pose a serious risk to human health. Among these are financially distressed cities and neighborhoods that are facing enormous challenges without the scientific and technical capacity for planning and mitigation. The city of Camden is one of those economically distressed areas with a predominantly minority population, a high unemployment rate, high poverty rates, and poor air quality (PM2.5 and ozone), and it remains vulnerable to heat events. This paper focuses on studying a coupled effect of Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) and Ozone-PM2.5 pollution at the neighborhood-scale in the city of Camden, using fine scale remotely sensed land-surface temperature and air quality data from the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) Modelling System in the Geographic Information Systems (GIS) platform. To assess the impact of urban microclimate on the city of Camden, NJ, residents’ health, we identified several environmental and social parameters as the root causes of vulnerability imposed by extreme-heat and poor air quality. Vulnerability in terms of environment and social wellbeing was spatially quantified as two conceptual vulnerability-index models (i.e., environmental vulnerability index (EVI) and a social vulnerability index (SVI)) using multiple linear regression algorithm. Factors such as remotely sensed earth surface properties, built-environment components, air quality, and socio-economic data were incorporated in a holistic geographic approach to quantify the combined effect. Surface temperature gradient and Proportional Vegetation (Pv) generated from 30 m resolution Landsat 8 were sampled along with other variables in the city of Camden, NJ. Models incorporating Pv suggest better fit than models with normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI). Water fraction (33.5%, 32.4%), percentage imperviousness (32.5%, 32%), Pv (20.5%, 19.6%), and digital elevation model (DEM) (9%, 8%) have the highest contributions in both models. Two output maps identified the vulnerable neighborhoods in the city through comprehensive GIS analysis: Lanning Square, Bergen Square, Central Waterfront, Gateway, Liberty Park, and Parkside. This can provide useful information for planners and health officials in targeting areas for future interventions and mitigations.

Spatial analysis of urban material stock with clustering algorithms: A Northern European case study

AbstractA large share of construction material stock (MS) accumulates in urban built environments. To attain a more sustainable use of resources, knowledge about the spatial distribution of urban MS is needed. In this article, an innovative spatial analysis approach to urban MS is proposed. Within this scope, MS indicators are defined at neighborhood level and clustered with k‐mean algorithms. The MS is estimated bottom‐up with (a) material‐intensity coefficients and (b) spatial data for three built environment components: buildings, road transportation, and pipes, using seven material categories. The city of Gothenburg, Sweden is used as a case study. Moreover, being the first case study in Northern Europe, the results are explored through various aspects (material composition, age distribution, material density), and, finally, contrasted on a per capita basis with other studies worldwide.The stock is estimated at circa 84 million metric tons. Buildings account for 73% of the stock, road transport 26%, and pipes 1%. Mineral‐binding materials take the largest share of the stock, followed by aggregates, brick, asphalt, steel, and wood. Per capita, the MS is estimated at 153 metric tons; 62 metric tons are residential, which, in an international context, is a medium estimate. Denser neighborhoods with a mix of nonresidential and residential buildings have a lower proportion of MS in roads and pipes than low‐density single‐family residential neighborhoods. Furthermore, single‐family residential neighborhoods cluster in mixed‐age classes and show the largest content of wood. Multifamily buildings cluster in three distinct age classes, and each represent a specific material composition of brick, mineral binding, and steel. Future work should focus on megacities and contrasting multiple urban areas and, methodologically, should concentrate on algorithms, MS indicators, and spatial divisions of urban stock.

DESIGNING TOWARDS A FIRE-RESISTANT NEIGHBORHOOD IN SURABAYA, INDONESIA

The way the built environment is shaped greatly affects its performance in providing a container of activities for its users. Being the second largest city in Indonesia after Jakarta, Surabaya has very high population and building density. Though the city is not prone to any natural disasters, the current population and building density make it prone to man-made disasters such as flooding and urban fires. This study was built on the idea that good environmental design can lower urban fire vulnerability. Built environment components were identified using Lynch’s urban design criteria while Cai and Wang provided basic guidance to the redesign of the built environment with their Safety-based Urban Design idea. The outcome of this endeavor was an environmental design approach that applied psychological safety, behavioral safety, defense for safety and safety against disaster values into the built environment’s paths, edges, nodes, districts and landmarks. This paper concludes that good environmental design can improve resilience by intervening in all stages of a disaster or an emergency situation. It can support mitigation efforts thus increasing disaster preparedness. Environmental design can also make a difference in responding to an emergency situation. The most likely approach to improving resilience in urban areas is to acknowledge both anthropogenic and bio-physic aspects that make up the environment. Urban fire awareness must be raised as the physical environment is shaped one component at a time.

Health on the Banks of the Rio Grande

At the New Mexico Center for Environmental Health Sciences (NMCEHS), community concerns and relationships are as much at the center’s foundation as the latest research techniques. According to center director Scott Burchiel, the unique populations of New Mexico—including a high number of Hispanics and Native American tribes, pueblos, and sovereign nations—steer the center’s course. “One of the things we have tried to do is to determine what these populations’ concerns are for environmental health, because we want our center to be focused on environmental public health, and we want to work on basic research projects that address issues that people in this region are particularly interested in,” he says. Based in Albuquerque as a partnership of The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center and the Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute (LRRI), the NIEHS-funded center comprises major research cores in environmental cancer and oxidative stress, cardiovascular toxicology, environmental lung disease, and population health and epidemiology. The center also includes world-class facility cores (particularly for inhalation toxicology), a pilot project program to provide funding for small innovative research studies, and an unusually strong community outreach and education program (COEP). Community input is essential, as is trust. “We have investigators who may have certain interests for certain kinds of projects and want to work with communities,” says Burchiel. “But when we go to the community, we find out that [the community has] a different agenda, different interests. We’ve been learning how to work with communities since we’ve had this environmental health center.” It’s a process that involves a lot of development of community relationships and trust relationships. Burchiel says that investigating environmental health problems such as asthma requires a broad definition of environment. He says, “In our center, we define the environment quite broadly. It includes nutritional, social, behavioral, economic, and built environment components. . . . We have not only environmental epidemiologists [but] also social epidemiologists who help us look at social factors in assessing economic and poverty factors.”