City Strategies Research Articles

Natural ventilation in a traditional city: an exploratory computational study of Bushehr-Iran

ABSTRACT This exploratory research discusses natural ventilation in a traditional city through employing a computational method. The mechanism of airflow in traditional cities has not yet been sufficiently studied through experimental and computational methods. This paper reports work on simulating natural ventilation in traditional Bushehr City by means of computational models of airflow in the study zone under three design scenarios. Simulations show that the unstructured plan of the city is less likely to improve air circulation and velocity ratios. But the main corridor with a relatively wider width and straight direction is more likely to contribute to urban ventilation. Further use of evidence-based methods to test climate-responsive strategies of traditional cities may be helpful.

A Demonstration of a Simple Methodology of Flood Prediction for a Coastal City Under Threat of Sea Level Rise: The Case of Norfolk, VA, USA

AbstractMany coastal cities around the world are at risk of increased flooding due to sea level rise (SLR), so here a simple flood prediction method is demonstrated for one city at risk, Norfolk, VA, on the U.S. East Coast. The probability of future flooding is estimated by extending observed hourly water level for 1927–2021 into hourly estimates until 2100. Unlike most other flood prediction methods, the approach here does not use any predetermined probability distribution function of extreme events, and instead a random sampling of past data represents tides and storm surges. The probability of flooding for 3 different flood levels and 3 different SLR projections are calculated, and the results are consistent with more sophisticated methods. Under intermediate‐low SLR projection an empirical formula is found to estimate the lower bound of flooding time, showing that water level that exceeds the high tide (Mean Higher High Water, MHHW) occurred ∼0.3% of the time in the 1960s, increased to ∼6% in 2021, and projected to occur 100% of the time by ∼2080. Under intermediate SLR projection, 1000 simulations of the probability of maximum annual water level were conducted, showing that storm surges may reach ∼2 m over MHHW by 2050 and ∼3 m over MHHW by 2100; in comparison, storm surges in Norfolk over the past 90 years reached 1.6 m only once. The method derived here could be adopted to other locations and help planning mitigations and adaptation strategies for cities at risk.

Impact of Urbanization on Land use and Land Cover Changes in Growing Cities of Rwanda

Objectives : This research examined the effect of urbanization on environmental justice in Rwanda from 1999 to 2019. Specifically, the research sought to document changes in land use and land cover in the study region in order to analyze the environmental consequences of urban growth in Rwanda.Methods : Land use/land cover patterns were identified and modelled using remotely sensed data.Results and Discussion : The findings revealed that in the majority of cases, economic development influenced land use change in various aspects, both in terms of area and intensity, which replaced agricultural land with human settlements. For example Nyagatare city, built-up areas have expanded by 15 to 20%, while forests, vegetation, and waterbodies have decreased by 49%. It has been noted that urbanization is out of step with the natural urban environment, resulting in soil erosion, violent winds, flooding, and landslides, all of which are linked to environmental injustice. Also, settlement destruction, flooding, infrastructure damage, loss of natural habitat, and agricultural loss were all linked to urban expansion, particularly uncontrolled settlements in metropolitan contexts, with 64 people killed and 178 injured in just five years.Conclusion : Therefore, this shows that there are consequences of biodiversity losses which affect land use and land cover. To overcome, the research suggests current households located in high-risk zones be moved to the convenient zones and the government policy to focus on family planning, encouraging the flexibility of land use, crop production, and farming systems based on agroecosystem models, and strengthening the greening city strategy by raising public understanding on environmental issues.

A computational approach to analyzing climate strategies of cities pledging net zero

Cities have become primary actors on climate change and are increasingly setting goals aimed at net-zero emissions, which warrants closer examination to understand how they intend to meet these goals. The incomplete and heterogeneous nature of city climate policy documents, however, has made systemic analysis challenging. We analyze 318 climate action documents from cities with net-zero targets using machine learning-based natural language processing (NLP) techniques. We aim to accomplish two goals: (1) determine text patterns that predict ‘ambitious’ net-zero targets; and (2) perform a sectoral analysis to identify patterns and trade-offs in climate action themes. We find that cities with ambitious climate actions tend to emphasize quantitative metrics and specific high-emitting sectors in their plans. Cities predominantly emphasize energy-related actions in their plans, but often at the expense of other sectors, including land-use and climate impacts. The method presented in this paper provides a replicable, scalable approach to analyzing climate action plans and a first step towards facilitating cross-city learning.

Applicable Smart City Strategies for a Smart Sustainable City to Ensure Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Integration: Casablanca Case Study

A Smart city is essentially expected to diminish the utilization of assets and upgrade efficiencies. In practically any region, effectiveness brings about energy saving, diminished energy force, supportable monetary turn of events, upgraded usefulness, a safeguarded climate, and in particular, participation with the environmental change fight. In spite of the fact that financial plan, innovation, and the necessary framework are significant imperatives for helpless urban areas to accomplish shrewd and economical city objectives, the advantages of brilliant urban areas are numerous for helpless urban areas contrasted with creating and created urban areas. Helpless urban areas accomplish worked on living conditions, security, wellbeing, financial turn of events, administration, and personal satisfaction as well as accomplishing supportable energy objectives, and this study tries to distinguish those shrewd sustainable power and energy production systems that are monetarily achievable and in fact relevant in helpless urban communities. Renewable energies are a sustainable, unlimited, and decarbonized solution to address future energy challenges. In this context, Morocco has considerable lead vantage to position itself on this promising market. Furthermore, renewable energies have been highlighted as a key strategic source for the country’s green growth. Morocco has adopted the renewable energy path through a strategy targeted at the development of solar, wind, and hydroelectric power to boost its energy policy by adapting it to the challenges posed by today’s world. Nowadays, Morocco is facing a challenge to reach 52% by 2030 of its total renewable energy capacity, which will exceed 42% by the end of 20221

A Review of Using IoT for Energy Efficient Buildings and Cities: A Built Environment Perspective

Applications of the Internet of Things (IoT) are rapidly utilized in smart buildings and smart cities to reduce energy consumption. This advancement has caused a knowledge gap in applying IoT effectively by experts in the built environment to achieve energy efficiency. The study aims to provide an extensive review of IoT applications for energy savings in buildings and cities. This study contributes to the field of IoT by guiding and supporting built environment experts to utilize IoT technologies. This paper performed a thorough study using a systematic review that covered an overview of IoT concepts, models, applications, trends and challenges that can be encountered in the built environment. The findings indicated limitations in developing IoT strategies in buildings and cities by professionals in this field due to insufficient comprehension of technologies and their applied methods. Additionally, the study found an indefinite implementation and constraints on using IoT when integrated into the built environment. Finally, the study provides critical arguments and the next steps to effectively utilize IoT in terms of energy efficiency.

Smart Cities as Hybrid Spaces of Governance: Beyond the Hard/Soft Dichotomy in Cyber-Urbanization

This paper problematizes the dichotomy of hard (technocratic) and soft (societal) approaches to the smart city. Smart cities are reviewed as hybrid spaces that transcend the sum of the social and the technical. By providing platforms for enabling, monitoring, digitalizing, formalizing, and amassing information about collective and personal experiences and behaviors, smart cities accelerate the customization of existing urban services and establish new spaces of socialization, accumulation and regulation, including in hitherto hard-to-reach realms of everyday and personal life. These experiences signify the emergence of cyber-physical-social spaces, featuring the hybridization of the digital, governance, and sociocultural domains. The production of such hybrid spaces of governance is reviewed through 50 urban-level strategies for smart cities in different countries across the world. The analysis confirms the tendencies towards a hard/soft fusion and the ever-deepening interpenetration of the digital, physical, and social elements in smart cities. This suggests epistemological problems of separating the hard and soft domains. However, this integration still creates political and analytical tensions that are arguably evident in the early stages of the digital transition.

Quantitative analysis of impact factors and scenario prediction of energy related carbon emissions at county level

ABSTRACT The key to coping with climate change is to control carbon emissions from energy consumption. Scientific prediction of energy consumption carbon emissions based on influencing factors is of great significance to the determination of carbon control aim and emission reduction strategies. Given the lack of previous studies on county-level carbon emissions, this paper proposed a systematic approach to study the influencing factors of county-level energy consumption carbon emissions and to predict future emissions. Firstly, the annual energy consumption carbon emissions were calculated based on the method proposed by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Then the expanded Kaya equation and existing research were combined to select influencing factors for the establishment of the optimal Stochastic Impacts by Regression on Population, Affluence, and Technology (STIRPAT) model, which was used to quantitatively analyze the influencing factors of carbon emissions from energy consumption at the county level. Finally, the emission reduction aims and low-carbon strategies were determined based on scenario analysis. The method was applied to Changxing, a typical county with large energy consumption and carbon emissions. Based on 16 years of data, the STIRPAT carbon emission prediction model was established and the forecast results of future emissions under three different scenarios were obtained. The results indicated that population size, industrial structure, and affluence degree were the three most influential factors, and the influence degree of each factor was quantified to support targeted low-carbon strategies for county-level cities.

LoRaWAN AS PART OF A SMART CITY STRATEGY

The LoRaWAN technology is repeatedly mentioned in connection with smart city initiatives, as it moves in the field of connectivity and IoT environment. This paper examines the role of LoRaWAN in smart city strategy and what vulnerabilities are known in the project using LoRaWAN. With help of a concrete use case of the city of Pforzheim (Germany), a SWOT model is set up and tested with experts. From this it can be deduced that the LoRaWAN technology is currently undergoing an interesting development but also has to overcome any hurdles in the urban environment.

Integrated evaluation of resource and environmental carrying capacity during the transformation of resource-exhausted cities based on Euclidean distance and a Gray-TOPSIS model: A case study of Jiaozuo City, China

The development process of resource-based cities has obvious stage characteristics, and its resource and environmental carrying capacity is an important dynamic index to measure sustainable development and a powerful tool for the government decision-making, especially for resource-exhausted cities. Therefore, it is particularly necessary to accurately evaluate the carrying capacity of coal cities and correctly diagnose the obstacle factors. As one of the first resource-exhausted cities in China, Jiaozuo City has undergone different stages of evolution in its resource and environmental carrying capacity in the process of successful transformation. To this end, we constructed a Grey Relational Analysis model of Euclidean Distance based on TOPSIS (ED-GRA-TOPSIS) to evaluate the carrying capacity of the three subsystems of Resources, Environment and Socio-economic (RES) in Jiaozuo City from 2004 to 2019, and a diagnosis model of obstacle degree to calculate and analyze the main controlling factors affecting its sustainable development. The results show that: (1)The comprehensive resource and environmental carrying capacity of Jiaozuo City has experienced three stages of slow improvement (2004–2008), steady development (2009–2012) and rapid promotion (2013–2019). (2)In the early years, relying on resource endowment, the development level of the resource subsystem was obviously higher than that of the other two subsystems, followed by a “W”-shaped fluctuation; The carrying capacity of the environmental and socio-economic subsystems presents an upward trend. (3)Scientific and technological innovation, ecological and environmental protection, public infrastructure investment and green development are the main restrictive factors of Jiaozuo’s economic and social development, which weaken the temporary carrying capacity of its urban development, but in the long run, they are the primary driving force of sustainable development. Specific countermeasures and suggestions were proposed, including restricting the exploitation of resources and strictly controlling the emission of pollution, increasing the construction of urban public infrastructure and improving the level of public services, rationally planning the development direction of the industry and avoiding dependence on coal to another dependent development model. By establishing the ED-GRA-TOPSIS model, the reliability and rationality of the evaluation results are verified, which can provide reference for the formulation of development strategies of resource-based cities.

Networked Urban Governance: A Socio-Structural Analysis of Transport Strategies in London and New York

This paper investigates urban governance empirically by applying social network analysis methods to data gathered through structured interviews in London and New York. We explore how decisions are made in complex institutional environments inhabited by various types of actors. Owing to the time-consuming data collection and treatment processes, the research zooms in on transport. The comparative approach enabled the detection of different structural features in the governance networks shaping transport strategies in both cities. The perceived relative power, influence, dependence and/or affinity between the actors involved is discussed based on network attributes. The evidence suggests that transport governance in London is more centralised (and, arguably, more technocratic and integrated), in the sense that a few prestigious entities are clearly more prominent. In New York the institutional environment is typified by many checks and balances (and, arguably, more democratic and fragmented), where central actors are less obvious.

Human Settlement Resilience Zoning and Optimizing Strategies for River-Network Cities under Flood Risk Management Objectives: Taking Yueyang City as an Example

The dense river network and large population in the southern region of China are vulnerable to flooding stress, which challenges the construction of human settlements. This paper analyzes the causes of flood risk and the dilemma of human settlement improvement in river-network cities, introduces the principle of resilience to human settlements, and conducts a quantitative study on the resilience of human settlements in river-network cities with the goal of flood risk management. Taking Yueyang city, a river-network city in the Yangtze River Basin, as the empirical research object, we conduct a flood resilience zoning of the human settlements based on the flood risk assessment model and use the GIS spatial overlay method to correct the resilience of the current human living space against the territorial spatial planning of Yueyang city. Ultimately, we propose a strategy for optimizing human settlements under flood risk management. The results show that (1) the highest-risk and high-risk areas of Yueyang city were mainly located in Dongting Lake and its interconnected water system, the southwest local area and the southeastern fringe, while the low-risk and lowest-risk areas were mainly located in the northeast local area and the northwestern fringe, with low flood stress risk. (2) The spatial system of human settlement resilience was constructed based on the flood risk assessment level. Among them, the human settlement flood resilience zoning of Yueyang city was divided into five categories from low to high: human settlement control zone, restriction zone, buffer zone, construction zone and expansion zone; the flood resilience zoning of Yueyang city’s current living space was divided into three categories from low to high: structure adjustment zone, flood restriction zone and development stability zone. (3) The specific control implementation and execution of the human settlements in Yueyang city mainly focus on the interrelationship between the risk of flooding in the watershed and the development of human activities through zoning regulation and collaborative management to optimize the human settlements. The study results can provide positive intervention and guidance for constructing urban and rural territorial spatial prevention planning and improving human living quality in river-network cities in China.

DATA MANAGEMENT APPROACHES IN SMART CITIES

Bu çalışmada, ilk olarak T.C. Çevre, Şehircilik ve İklim Değişikliği Bakanlığı’nın hazırladığı “2020-2023 Ulusal Akıllı Şehir Stratejileri ve Eylem Planı” belgesinin içerik analizi yöntemiyle incelenmesi sonucunda veri yönetimi konusunun eksikliği tespit edilmiş ve bundan hareketle ‘kentsel veriler nasıl yönetilebilir’ sorusuna kamu yönetimi bağlamında yanıt aranmıştır. Amaç, kamu yönetimi literatüründe ve bahsi geçen belgede veri yönetimine dönük eksiklikleri ortaya koymak ve buna uygun çözüm önerileri getirmektir. Bu amaçla, akıllı şehir, veri, veri yönetimi kavramlarına ilişkin literatür taranmıştır. Kavramsal çerçeve belirlendikten sonra, akıllı şehir tasarımını belirleyecek belgeler ve akıllı şehirlerde veri yönetimine dönük çalışmalar içerik analiziyle incelenmiştir. Bu incelemeyle, literatürün temel eksikliğinin, sosyo-teknik incelemelerin göz ardı edilmesi ve veri yönetimi yaklaşımlarının kamu yönetimi perspektifinden değerlendirilmemesi olduğu anlaşılmıştır. Bu bulgular ışığında, akıllı şehir tasarım, strateji ve politikalarına veri yönetimi bağlamında çözüm önerileri getirilmiştir.

Design of Internet of Things (IoT) System Based Smart City Model on Raspberry Pi

This research work focuses on the Internet of Things (IoT) idea utilizing an intelligent (or smart or innovative) city model with the support of Raspberry Pi. Using Raspberry Pi, this model examined the strategy and execution of a smart city established on the Internet of Things. This study attempts to create an urban IoT system utilizing Raspberry Pi to help smart cities solve domestic difficulties. The Internet of Things idea assists in analyzing the functions used to define the functions of the Raspberry Pi. The IoT is critical to creating a smart city concept in a developing nation like India. The various low-cost operations help analyze Raspberry Pi functionalities in the smart city model. A better Smart city development strategy has been presented when comparing the existing system, Raspberry Pi-based techniques.

Factors for collaboration amongst smart city stakeholders: A local government perspective

A collaborative ecosystem of diverse stakeholders is seen as critical in smart cities for solving complex public problems and overcoming socio-technical hurdles. However, little is known about the factors that may increase collaboration amongst smart city stakeholders. Through a digital government lens, we first elaborate the nature of multi-stakeholder collaboration in the smart city. Then, we adopt a contingency approach to unpack the factors that affect the intensity of collaboration between the stakeholders in the smart city ecosystem. To characterize the ecosystem, we use the quadruple-helix framework. Through the perspective of the local government, we derive hypotheses on whether certain factors lead to more intensive collaboration, which are tested on a sample of Belgian municipalities. Our findings reveal the importance of smart city strategies for intensifying collaboration between the local government and stakeholders in the ecosystem. Moreover, we also find that for large ecosystems, a smart city manager or department may facilitate collaboration amongst stakeholders. Taken together, our findings indicate that there are certain configurational approaches to increasing collaboration in smart cities, which will depend on the context of a city.

A Lifecycle-Based Smart Sustainable City Strategic Framework for Realizing Smart and Sustainability Initiatives in Riyadh City

Smart cities rely on innovative technologies, guidelines, and mechanisms to advance city dwellers’ quality of life (QoL). Notwithstanding the global attention the smart city concept has received within the last decade, studies establishing pragmatic approaches for implementing smart sustainable city strategies in the Gulf region are rare. This study modelled a practical framework for implementing smart sustainable city strategies and megaprojects in one of the Gulf cities. A qualitative research methodology was used to assess smart city strategies from four cities to identify the optimum implementation strategies. This study design framework adopted a case study methodology, the identification of knowledge gaps, data collection and analysis, and interpretations of key findings. Best practices, paramount/relevant stakeholders, main issues/relevant considerations, 15 key performance indicators (KPI), and outputs/deliverables involved in diverse smart sustainable city strategies and project lifecycle phases were identified. The lifecycle phases adopted in the study were (i) conceptualization, (ii) planning/design, and (iii) installation/closure. A pragmatic understanding of how to effectively appraise, monitor, and implement smart sustainable city strategies and megaprojects is provided for policy/decision-makers and built environment experts in Saudi Arabia and globally. The proposed implementation strategic framework can perform the function of an appraisal tool for assessing each phase of the smart city project’s life cycle progress, informing preventions of delays or implementation challenges. This study’s contribution to research knowledge is the development of a model that reveals and illustrates the connections between different phases of smart sustainable city strategies and projects.

A qualitative study on multisector activities to prevent childhood obesity in the municipality of Seinäjoki, Finland

BackgroundMultisector activities are needed to prevent childhood obesity due to its multifactorial background. The first aim was to identify the activities that had been undertaken for obesity prevention and deduce their main targets. Second, we analyzed the public health policy approaches (upstream, midstream, and downstream) which were followed. Finally, we studied the perception of interviewees regarding their sectors’ roles in implementing the local obesity program.MethodsDeductive content analysis was used to analyze semi-structured interviews with 34 key professionals (from seven administrative sectors) who had participated in multisector health promotion during 2009–2016 and five representatives of other core parties.ResultsSeveral midstream and upstream activities were targeted at making physical activity (PA) and healthy eating (HE) integral parts of children’s lifestyle. One long-term strategy was to create environments for PA accessible to every inhabitant and build and renovate the interiors and yards of schools and day-care centers. The healthiness of meals was increased progressively. In addition to midstream and upstream activities, as a downstream activity, an intervention targeting children at risk of obesity was implemented. The impact of management on the activities was considerable; childhood obesity prevention was included in the city strategy and systematically coordinated at the highest managerial level. Altogether, various sectors operated efficiently to promote obesity-preventing lifestyles; however, not all (important) sectors recognized their role in the multisector process.ConclusionMost of the activities to guide children towards obesity-preventing lifestyles were either at the midstream or upstream level. Among the latter, considerable work is aimed at creating opportunities to practice PA and making it a natural part of the daily life. The aim of familiarizing children with lifestyles that include PA and HE was shared across sectors, including sectors that had not yet acknowledged their role in obesity prevention. Strong support from city management and systematic coordination of the activity are important factors that contribute to the engagement of several administrative sectors in working towards a shared aim, such as the prevention of childhood obesity.

Early Evolution of an Innovation District: Origins and Evolution of MID and RMIT University’s Social Innovation Precinct in Melbourne’s City North

The development of an urban innovation district requires a unique, densely populated site connecting knowledge-intensive institutions with public spaces, large businesses, startups and SMEs, social hubs, and cultural institutions. Based on conceptual frameworks in the field including urban development theory, quintuple helix model, entrepreneurship and open innovation models, this paper uses a case research study approach, the Melbourne Innovation District. The context is Melbourne’s city centre immediately prior to and during Covid-19 recovery. The work analysed the vision and ambitions for the innovation district, the role of technology and enterprise in place-making and the impact of the pandemic in driving social innovation, the acceleration of demand for a ‘wellbeing economy,’ and incentives for collaboration between institutions. This work contributes to existing literature by examining the evolution and progress of Melbourne Innovation District as a case, and the influence of the 22@ district in Barcelona, highlights practical and strategic insights into how the Melbourne Innovation District formed and built capability for collective strategy in a knowledge-intensive urban settings, and the role of innovation ecosystems to develop dynamic, inclusive urban economies in the pandemic recovery era. Through this work we observed the key elements for the success in the early development of an innovation district including: the consideration of the real costs of collaboration; the establishment early on of a common vision and a long-term aspiration; the importance of achieving critical mass; the scattered evidence base; the need for ‘anchoring’ project and backbone organisation; the fragmented governance environment; the need for persistence with an integrated vision, that is connected to the overall city strategy; the identification of practical innovations that feed each other and create momentum.

Creating «Teple misto platform»: how NGOS form Ivano-Frankivsk urban space

Purpose of the article. The article is devoted to the important topic: the impact of NGOs on the creating of urban space. We focused on the case of the Charity Organization Teple Misto Platform (which means “Warm City”) in Ivano-Frankivsk. This city is one of the province Ukrainian one where live about 200 000 people. However, with the help of initiative people who united around NGOs it became a progressive pleasant for investment city with creative projects and remarkable possibilities for the citizens. Methodologically, the study is based on Actor Network Theory the process of forming the urban space was investigate as the result of interaction different actors including NGO. From the point of view that every city has his own logic of development, “Teple Misto Platform” became an important element in the network, which form Ivano-Frankivsk urban space. The actor-network theory urges us to observe the principle of symmetry and consider the influence of different actors equally. Academic originality. The role of the non-government organizations in Ukrainian city has not traced correctly according to the real level of their influence. Many authors mixed the political parties and NGOs ignoring their differences and main points. However last searching (for example, by Zagoriy Foundation) showed the increasing role of NGOs in the Ukrainian society. Conclusions. During the research, we observed how important it is to have a common platform that acts as a ground and support for other, smaller initiatives. It is shown how from the activities of a few activists a force grows that is able to influence the formation of the development strategy of the entire city. This case and experience could be use with other cities from all over the world.

Istanbul as a "City of Design"

Istanbul as a "City of Design"