City Perspective Research Articles

Integration of BIM and GIS for the Digitization of the Built Environment

The integration of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is a growing reality in the building production sector. Through this integration, it is possible to improve the efficiency of management, maintenance, use and planning of conservation operations, providing an integrated and dynamic vision of the built environment. Simultaneous exchange of BIM-GIS elements in a shared environment facilitates information access and optimizes processes like requalification, activity planning, safety and sustainable urban design. Two alternative strategies are proposed for the multidisciplinary approach, using advanced technologies to acquire, process and manage detailed and georeferenced data. The first one is an open-source environment to guarantee flexibility, customization and accessibility. The second option, in a closed-source environment, provides advanced functionalities and dedicated support. Both require careful planning, detailed analysis and collaboration between the disciplines of architecture, engineering and geoinformatics. The study transcends theoretical analysis by exploring practical implications for real-world systems integration, examining their advantages, limitations and potential synergies in terms of flexibility, security and sustainability. This will enable a more efficient and comprehensive management of the architectural heritage and the built environment, contributing to its preservation and enhancement in the context of the digital transition in a future perspective of smart cities.

Analysis of Spatiotemporal Changes and Multi-scale Socio-economic Driving Factors of PM2.5 and Ozone in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and Its Surroundings

Based on PM2.5 and O3 remote sensing concentration data in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei and its surrounding areas from 2015 to 2020, we used trend analysis, geographic detectors, and a geographically and temporally weighted regression model to explore the spatiotemporal characteristics and key driving socio-economic factors of multi-scale PM2.5 and O3 concentrations. The results indicated that： ① The changing slope of PM2.5 concentration ranged from -12.93 to 0.43 μg·（m3·a）-1, and the changing slope of O3 concentration ranged from 0.70 to 14.90 μg·（m3·a）-1. The decreasing slope of PM2.5 concentration was the largest in winter, and the increasing slope of O3 concentration was the largest in summer. ② The concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 were spatially correlated, and the H-H concentrations of PM2.5 were located in the southern Hebei Province and the northern Henan Province. The spatial clustering pattern of O3 changed greatly. ③ From the perspective of urban agglomeration, the GDP, population density, and civilian car ownership had a strong explanatory power for PM2.5, while GDP, urbanization rate, and civilian car ownership had a strong explanatory power for O3. The dominant interaction factors of 2016 and 2020 were the population density∩the proportion of the secondary industry and urbanization rate∩road network density, respectively. ④ From the perspective of single city, population density, industrial nitrogen oxide emissions, and electricity consumption had mainly positive effects on PM2.5 and O3 pollution and became the socio-economic driving factors that need to be focused on to control PM2.5 and O3 co-pollution.

Exploring the short-term effects of extreme temperatures on tuberculosis incidence in Shantou, China: a Coastal City perspective.

Coastal cities, due to their proximity to coastlines and unique climatic conditions, face growing challenges from extreme temperature events associated with climate change. Research on the impact of extreme temperatures on tuberculosis (TB) in these cities is limited, and findings from different regions lack consensus. This study focuses on Shantou, a coastal city in China, to investigate the influence of extreme temperatures on TB within this distinctive geographical context. Distributed Lag Non-Linear Models (DLNM) were employed to evaluate the effect of extreme temperatures on TB incidence risk in Shantou, a coastal city in China, spanning from 2014 to 2021. Daily TB case data were provided by the Shantou Tuberculosis Prevention and Control Institute. Daily meteorological information was sourced from the Reliable Prognosis website, while daily air pollutant data were obtained from the China Air Quality Online Monitoring and Analysis Platform. The study revealed a significant association between extreme temperatures and TB incidence, with the impact peaking at a lag of 27 days after exposure. Notably, extreme cold temperatures led to a temporary decrease in TB incidence with a lag of 1-2 days. Subgroup analysis indicated that males had a notably higher risk of TB under extreme temperature conditions compared to females. Additionally, individuals aged 65 years and above showed a significant cumulative effect in such conditions. This research enhances our comprehension of the effects of extreme temperatures on TB in coastal cities and carries substantial public health implications for TB prevention in China.

Air Pollution and Urban Economic Growth: A Study Based on Dynamic Models

<p class="Paragraph"><span lang="EN-US">With China's economic growth, the issue of air pollution has become increasingly prominent. As the core of political and economic development, 184 major cities in China face severe air pollution and significant environmental pressures due to high population density. Consequently, China has established key urban environmental monitoring stations in these cities to monitor pollution emissions in real time. This paper utilizes panel data from 184 Chinese cities spanning 2012-2022 and employs dynamic GMM models, fixed effects models, and mediation effect models to empirically examine the impact of air pollution on urban environmental pollution and its mediation mechanisms. From the perspective of cities with different income levels, a dynamic GMM model is established to determine the correlation between air pollution and various factors influencing urban economic growth. The study finds that air pollution significantly reduces economic growth in Chinese cities at the 1 per cent level, with each unit increase in air pollution reducing economic growth in Chinese cities by 0.84 units. Urbanization and human capital are identified as two crucial channels through which air pollution affects the economic development of Chinese cities. The negative impact of air pollution on economic growth is more pronounced in larger cities compared to smaller ones, and the adverse effects of haze pollution become increasingly significant over time. Therefore, policymakers should take the cultivation and application of new quality productivity as a key strategy to enhance the quality of economic development, and realise a win-win situation between economic growth and environmental protection through scientific and technological innovation and industrial restructuring. This will not only help alleviate the air pollution problem, but also inject new momentum into the high-quality development of China’s economy.</span></p>

Editorial: Towards 2030: a sustainable cities perspective on achieving sustainable development goal 13 – climate action

Editorial: Towards 2030: a sustainable cities perspective on achieving sustainable development goal 13 – climate action

Towards coordination of spatial relations: Understanding Chinese mega-regionalization from a secondary city perspective

Mega-regional planning in China is expected to tackle intra-regional unevenness, namely the development gap between regional core cities and the surrounding secondary cities. However, mega-regionalization processes seem to further increase the centrality of cores and push secondary cities towards greater polarization and peripheralization, as they lose socioeconomic vitality, industrial capacity, and political voice. To reflect on why mega-regions are not fulfilling their role of rebalancing regional urban systems, we conceptualize mega-regionalization as a mechanism to coordinate spatial relations within a territory and build a novel framework to analyze the relations between core and secondary cities. First, we show that visions of mega-regional planning regarding core-secondary relations pursue goals of morphological polycentricity, flow multi-directionality, and functional complementarity. Then, we use thematic analysis to evaluate the policy orientations of mega-regional planning to achieve these goals and extract three policy themes governing core-secondary spatial relations - coexistence, connectivity, and cooperation. These can systematically redefine mega-regional planning mechanisms by giving a central role to the spatial relations between core and secondary cities. Emphasizing spatial relations to conceptualize mega-regional governance allows a novel reflection on the challenges of unevenness grounded in the perspective of secondary cities. This deepens our understanding of governance mismatches that keep ideal visions and policy orientations misaligned when seen from secondary cities. Place, priority, and actor mismatches limit the potential of mega-regionalization to respond to their challenges. This research provides a relational understanding of mega-regions, calling for more attention to secondary cities, and the development of more balanced and sustainable mega-regions.

Patronage loss and bicycles: Factors influencing mode transition from a strategic digital city perspective

Patronage loss and bicycles: Factors influencing mode transition from a strategic digital city perspective

Evaluation of the Spatial Pattern of Fitness and Leisure Venues at the City Scale

Reasonable layout of fitness and leisure places is an important part of the implementation of the national fitness strategy. The analysis of the spatial pattern and influence mechanism of fitness and leisure places from the perspective of city has certain guiding significance for optimizing urban planning and construction and rationally allocating sports resources. This paper uses kernel density, buffer zone, inverse distance interpolation, Kriging interpolation, geographical detector and other geographical spatial analysis methods to analyze the spatial distribution pattern and distribution causes of five types of fitness and leisure places in counties (cities, districts) under the jurisdiction of Jinhua City. It is found that the overall spatial distribution characteristics of fitness and leisure places in Jinhua City are ' core-periphery ', and different forms of fitness and leisure places show different distribution characteristics. The spatial pattern of fitness and leisure places in Jinhua City has the characteristics of relying on traffic arteries and high-density population areas, and has a positive correlation with the spatial layout of housing prices. Jinhua fitness and leisure places generally have good traffic accessibility.

Does a compact city really reduce consumption-based carbon emissions? The case of South Korea

Evidence to prove that compact cities, the core of smart growth strategies, are the vision for carbon-neutral cities has been insufficiently explored because analyses have not distinguished between production- and consumption-based carbon emissions. Empirically analyzing the relationship with compact cities by estimating the final demand and investigating carbon emissions generated from the consumption of goods is essential. This study estimated consumption-based carbon emissions in South Korea using nighttime satellite imagery. Subsequently, using spatial analysis, K-means clustering analysis, and a regression model, we comprehensively confirmed whether a compact city to reduce consumption-based carbon emissions should be pursued. The results showed that (1) based on the clustering analysis, consumption-based carbon emissions were the lowest in clusters with the most desirable development form from a compact city perspective; and (2) the OLS regression analysis showed that the higher the complex land use (diversity), population density (density), congestion frequency intensity (transit access), green area ratio (environment), and agricultural area ratio (environment), the lower the consumption-based carbon emissions. However, the results confirmed that the greater the Vehicle Kilometers Traveled (street accessibility) and the poorer the accessibility of high-speed rail, the higher the consumption-based carbon emissions. Therefore, we recommend pursuing a compact city to reduce consumption-based carbon emissions.

Questioning pandemic recovery: A regional second city perspective

The Covid-19 pandemic unsettled many assumptions about cities and urban life. Even discounting media fears about urban ‘collapse’, the pandemic and its aftermath have led to real uncertainties about the trajectory of urban development. While the struggles of ‘superstar’ cities in the Global North have attracted significant attention, here we shift focus onto the experiences of regional second cities in an attempt to capture a different perspective. In doing so, we avoid both the sensationalism of ‘doom loop’ projections that herald the end of major cities and the uncritical embrace of new ‘opportunities’ for peripheral cities in the wake of pandemic turmoil. Instead, we offer a more critical view that acknowledges some new possibilities while highlighting both their constrained parameters and the related threat of regional gentrification. As cities around the country begin to recover from the turmoil of pandemic disruption, we accordingly question the applicability and consequences of some of the more prominent recovery strategies beyond the context of major cities and suggest careful consideration of alternative development paths for regional second cities. To illustrate the regional second city experience, we explore recent outcomes in Tacoma, Washington, where the city’s post-pandemic development strategy embraces a reliance on luxury residential growth and associated consumer amenities, defined in relation to the dominant neighbouring city of Seattle. Cautioning over working-class displacement, regional gentrification and other vulnerabilities associated with this version of recovery, we conclude by looking at emerging housing activism in Tacoma for insights into how the present moment might generate new political organising for more equitable urban development.

인천 마을공동체 사례를 통해 보는 생활도시의 마을자치

This article discusses the case of Incheon communities from the perspective of life city that distinguishes between the community of trust and the administration of confidence, and reveals the importance of practical community’s autonomy. In particular, I focus on the case of Yeongsung Community in Bupyeong-gu, which is self-reliant and actively participates in the residents’ autonomy. As a rusult, I propose four directions for supporting community’s autonomy in life city. (1) The formation of a community of trust should be prioritized over administrative performance and efficiency. (2) It is better to support regular or temporary large-scale community funds rather than one-time project expenses in the form of a public project. (3) A key task for administrative or support centers is to build the capacity of community’s self-governance through training and networking. (4) Institutional residents’ autonomy should be replaced by a voluntary association based on trust.

Effective or useless? Assessing the impact of park entrance addition policy on green space services from the 15-min city perspective

This study investigates an innovative approach to enhance urban green space access by adding new park entrances rather than expanding the green space itself, aiming for sustainable urban development. Taking Shenzhen as a case study, we first developed a universal framework to identify potential locations for new entrances and used network analysis in ArcGIS to quantify green service improvements. Then, under the 15-min city concept, the impact on green accessibility and equity was assessed using the two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method and Gini coefficient analysis. Results indicate that (1) new entrances enabled 21.10% of residents to access parks with an average reduced travel distance of 214.71 m, and increased the population within a 15-min walk to parks by 7.34%. (2) This strategy proved cost-effective, serving 27.66% of residents at 1/38 the cost of creating new green spaces. (3) Furthermore, the accessible green area within a 15-min walking or cycling increased by 0.18 km2 and 1.42 km2, respectively, without affecting green equity. Our findings support the policy of adding park entrances as a feasible and efficient urban strategy, supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 11, and the policy can be implemented across almost cities.

Advocating integration of human responses in the flood resilience framework for inland cities of northern China

ABSTRACT Frequent urban flooding poses a predominant challenge to resilience managers and the public in inland cities. Nevertheless, various facets of the formation, development, and response to inland flooding in developing countries are still less understood. Using the statistics data of typical flood events in China, this paper examines the causes of devastation in inland areas of the north combined with a comprehensive risk assessment methodology and explores a nuanced understanding of resilience. The conclusions reveal that the inland cities of northern China are facing an imminent threat from escalating flood hazards. 11% of the flood-influenced population and 17% of the disaster-caused economic losses are concentrated in the region. Increased extreme precipitation, heightened exposure and vulnerability, and a sluggish human response to crises are main factors contributing to these complex disasters. The study also proposes a transformative flood resilience framework for inland flooding from three dimensions, emphasizing the integration of human responses. The three aspects of the framework are summarized based on the driving factors mentioned earlier and a simplified multidimensional perspective of resilient cities, reflecting the adaptive and evolutionary features of resilience. Hence, incorporating the resilience strategies to urban flood risk management is a relatively practical approach to urban flood risk management in inland regions.

Izazovi prilagodbe na posljedice klimatskih promjena – urbano-lokalna perspektiva iz četiri hrvatska grada

Due to its characteristics, climate change represents a complex problem for humanity and an unprecedented environmental issue. It is estimated that cities are responsible for 70% of global CO2 emissions related to energy production and around 65% of total energy demand. For this very reason, cities as well as regional and local communities have a special role to play in adapting to climate change. The concept of adaptation to climate change implies a change in behavior, actions and decision-making in a way that helps them better adapt their biological, social and infrastructural responses to climate change. At the same time, adaptation depends on the events that have already occurred or will occur. Understanding the current applications of adaptation solutions depends on the multiple interrelated ways in which people experience, deal with or have certain knowledge and/or beliefs about climate change. The aim of this paper is to investigate how adaptation challenges and potentials in the fight against climate change are recognized and evaluated from the perspective of cities and regional administrations. For this purpose, a qualitative research was conducted with experts on the fight against climate change in four Croatian cities: Pula, Slavonski Brod, Zadar and Zagreb (N=45). Multilevel open coding was used in the analysis, which enabled the inductive conceptualization of basic categories, on the basis of which a thematic analysis was conducted, which made it possible to structure the obtained results into a complete narrative about the adaptation of local communities to climate change.

A participatory foresight approach to envisioning post-pandemic urban development pathways in Tokyo

Ensuring sustainable urban futures demands varied approaches, particularly with the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, which presents a unique situation and experience for reimagining urban futures. A considerable number of scientific inquiries have adopted participatory foresight approaches to imagining sustainable urban development pathways. However, not many have used a similar approach to envision urban development pathways in a post-COVID-19 era. Based on available evidence on the impacts of COVID-19 on urban forms and lifestyles and citizens’ experiences during the pandemic, such a study is imperative to better understand how people from different demographic groups envision an ideal post-pandemic city. Using the Greater Tokyo Area as a case study, we adopted the Q methodology to determine post-pandemic urban development pathways from the subjective viewpoints of diverse stakeholders. We identified four development pathways for an ideal post-pandemic city. The first pathway is a resilient city with good neighborhood accessibility and sustainable urban regeneration. The second and third pathways, shared by younger people, focus on pro-environmental climate change mitigation (city compactness, shared mobility) and pro-urban resilience, respectively. The final pathway imagines a post-pandemic city that is accessible, safe, and smart. We found that different age groups perceive their ideal cities differently, especially when emphasizing the nexus between pandemics and cities. The study illustrates the need to adopt more participatory approaches in designing future urban development pathways since varied perspectives of an ideal city exist among different age demographics. These approaches promote equitable, inclusive, and transparent urban planning, advancing community support for policymaking and implementation.

Protection and Planning Control of the Main Body of Indastrial Heritage from the Perspective of Famous Historic and Cultural Cities (I):Protection of Fuzhou Industrial Heritage Areas

Protection and Planning Control of the Main Body of Indastrial Heritage from the Perspective of Famous Historic and Cultural Cities (I):Protection of Fuzhou Industrial Heritage Areas

Protection and Planning Control of the Main Body of Industrial Heritagefrom the Perspective of Famous Historic and Cultural Cities (II): Protection of Fuzhou Industrial Building Heritage

Protection and Planning Control of the Main Body of Industrial Heritagefrom the Perspective of Famous Historic and Cultural Cities (II): Protection of Fuzhou Industrial Building Heritage

Influence mechanism of industrial agglomeration on carbon emission intensity-a perspective on borrowing performance.

Under the background of urban connectivity, whether there are similarities and differences in the impacts of local industrial agglomeration and inter-city industrial agglomeration borrowing performance on carbon emission intensity(CI), and how cities can fully utilize the external force-borrowing performance to reduce local CI, these issues are of great significance for the cost saving and efficiency enhancement in the process of carbon emission (CE) reduction. Based on panel data of 280 prefecture-level cities in China from 2003 to 2020, the panel dual fixed-effect model, instrumental variable method, and adjustment effect model were used to analyze the impacts of the manufacturing agglomeration (MA), producer service agglomeration (PA), and the collaborative agglomeration (CA) on the CI from the perspective of individual cities and the urban system. The results showed that the influence of MA on CI presents a significant inverted U-shaped relationship, PA significantly reduces CI, and the CA of the two industries increases CI. Further analysis showed that the borrowing MA performance improves CI, especially in newer industrial-based cities, non-resource-based cities, and medium and big cities; the borrowing PA performance reduces CI, especially in old industrial-based cities, non-resource-based cities, and large cities; and the borrowing CA performance has no significant effect on CI. In addition, the development of the Internet strengthens the influence of borrowing performance in MA and PA on CI.

How Does Market-Oriented Environmental Regulation Affect Carbon Emission Performance? A Quasinatural Experiment Based on the Pilot Policy of Energy-Use Rights Trading

In order to evaluate the effect of market-oriented environmental management measures on regional carbon emission intensity in the pilot areas better, this paper adopts a quasinatural experiment of energy-use rights trading (EURT) policy by using the difference-in-difference method from the perspective of cities in China from 2006 to 2019. The results show that the policy of EURT can significantly reduce regional carbon emission intensity, which varies in different regions and different scales of cities. The main goal of implementing the policy is to reduce regional carbon emission intensity by improving the energy consumption structure and promoting the improvement of industrial structure and green innovation. In addition, the spatial impact of the EURT pilot project is demonstrated by its ability to not only reduce local carbon emission intensity but also decrease carbon intensity in and around the designated areas.

The impact of import expansion on energy efficiency: Perspective of cities' geographical characteristics

Energy is an indispensable propeller for economic growth. Improving energy efficiency not only mitigates energy scarcity, but also represents an imperative option for reducing ecological and environmental strain, addressing the challenges of contemporary global warming. With China's increasing participation in global value chains through imports, the question arises: can import trade contribute to advancing energy efficiency? This matter holds great significance in resolving present-day energy challenges and fostering sustainable economic progress. We employ super-SBM model to measure the energy efficiency of cities; based on the data collected from prefecture-level cities from 2000 to 2016, Our findings indicate that: (1) Import trade significantly enhances cities' energy efficiency. (2) Geographical and climatic conditions significantly impact the energy effect of import trade; the enhancement effect is more significant in eastern and northeastern regions, low-relief areas, low-temperature and low-humidity cities. (3) Import trade not only improves local energy efficiency, but also promotes energy efficiency improvement in neighbouring cities, this spatial spillover effect holds significantly under various spatial matrices. We must fully utilize the promotional impact of import trade to enhance the energy efficiency of cities, and maintain our commitment to executing an active import promotion strategy. Considering the impact of topography, climate, and other geographical factors, we must emphasize the role of geographical conditions in optimizing energy and environment. Furthermore, we should encourage inter-regional economic and trade exchanges and establish a joint governance mechanism for cross-regional collaboration.