Comfortable Urban Environment Research Articles

Level of Population’s Satisfaction with Quality of Life Indicators in Krasnoyarsk

Background. The large city of Krasnoyarsk represents a unique urban environment where various indicators, such as ecology, infrastructure, healthcare, and education services, play an important role in shaping the level of residents’ satisfaction and impacting their quality of life. Purpose: To study the level of the population’s satisfaction with the quality of life indicators in Krasnoyarsk. Material and methods. A sociological survey was conducted using a questionnaire. The authors also applied the random sampling technique. The sample size was 687 respondents. Results. The study identified several key problems: low levels of satisfaction with environmental quality, quality of medical services, and accessibility of healthcare organizations; low income of the population; limited opportunities for recreation and entertainment. Overall, the study highlights the importance of further studying and improving quality of life indicators in Krasnoyarsk to increase residents' satisfaction and create a more comfortable urban environment. Conclusion. Based on the level of the population’s satisfaction, it is possible to consider public opinion in management decision-making and developing social programs for urban infrastructure planning.

СОЗДАНИЕ КОМФОРТНОЙ ДВОРОВОЙ ТЕРРИТОРИИ В РЕГИОНЕ КАК ИСТРУМЕНТ УПРАВЛЕНИЯ ДЕМОГРАФИЧЕСКИМИ ПРОЦЕССАМИ (НА ПРИМЕРЕ ПРИМОРСКОГО КРАЯ ДАЛЬНЕВОСТОЧНОГО ФЕДЕРАЛЬНОГО ОКРУГА)

This article explores the significance of creating comfortable courtyard areas in a region as a tool for demographic management, using the example of Primorsky Krai in the Far Eastern Federal District. The study is based on methods of generalization and critical analysis of scientific publications on the subject, as well as comparison, interpretation, and abstraction. The paper highlights the relevance of the demographic crisis faced by modern Primorsky Krai and identifies the negative consequences of ongoing processes leading to population decline. Views of contemporary authors on the formation of comfortable courtyard areas are summarized, identifying factors and features of such areas and their impact on the quality of life of the population. The author presents an approach to defining a comfortable urban environment (including adjacent areas), based on the consolidation of the state, society, and entrepreneurship, as well as established practices and mechanisms for managing a comfortable urban environment.

METHODS FOR MANAGING VISUAL QUALITIES OF LIGHTING IN PUBLIC SPACES OF THE CITY

Raising of problem. Lighting is an important aspect of creating an attractive and comfortable urban environment. It can enhance the aesthetics of night-time cities by highlighting architectural details, highlighting significant urban locations and creating areas for public interaction. Properly designed lighting affects the health and comfort of citizens. It can improve mood, sleep, reduce fatigue and improve visual function. With the development of new lighting technologies and digital innovations, it becomes possible to introduce modern approaches to urban lighting planning into architectural practice.At the present stage of innovative development of street lighting technologies, the Urban Lighting Masterplan (ULMP) is playing an increasingly important role. These are strategies that regulate and fix the basic requirements for organizing sustainable artificial lighting in urban spaces. Purpose. This study is devoted to the principles of managing the visual qualities of the illuminated architectural environment. For the first time, a framework for the formation of criteria for assessing the visual qualities of the architectural environment is proposed. GIS is considered as a promising tool for managing the visual qualities of lighting, the levels of which are formed in accordance with the functions of visual comfort. The following nine basic functions of visual comfort are defined, each of which is the basis for creating GIS layers: 1. Adaptive; 2. Axiological; 3. Compensatory; 4. Integrating; 5. Aesthetic; 6. Cultural; 7. Social memory function; 8. Epistemological; 9. Ethical. Each subsequent layer adds its own light sources. For each of these nine functions, two lighting properties are proposed: color and light. Each property is described by four characteristics: color − saturation, lightness, color temperature, color tone; light (luminous flux) – brightness, illumination, contrast. Conclusion. An idea of the approaches and structure of the assessment of the visual qualities of illuminated public spaces has been formed. It is hypothesized that the optimal approach to the analysis of existing situations in the lighting of open public spaces and the formation of sets of requirements for improving their visual qualities is the use of GIS. A hypothesis was formed about the structure of the criteria for assessing the visual qualities of lighting, based on the psychophysiological, emotional-aesthetic, and pictorial-artistic levels of perception of the architectural environment.Thus, the approach described in the article allows us to formulate criteria for assessing the visual comfort of artificial lighting of public spaces.

A comprehensive study on wintertime outdoor thermal comfort of blue-green infrastructure in an arid climate: A case of Isfahan, Iran

Nowadays, one of the most critical objectives of cities in the face of population growth, energy consumption, and climate change is to provide a thermally comfortable urban environment through the creation of livable, healthy, and climate-responsive open spaces, among which urban blue-green infrastructures (UBGI) play a decisive role. While many studies have investigated the thermal comfort of UBGI in summer, limited research has been done to explore its synergistic effects during winter. To address this gap, this study aims to investigate the effects of UBGI on wintertime human thermal comfort through micrometeorological measurements and a questionnaire survey (426 participants) in the arid climate of Isfahan, Iran. The results illustrated: 1) Ta and Tmrt significantly impact people's thermal sensation. 2) A quadratic relationship (R2 = 0.99) exists between individuals’ thermal sensation and overall comfort. 3) An optimal integration of UBGI can improve human thermal comfort during winter. 4) UTCI (R2 = 0.90) and mPET (R2 = 0.86) are the most efficient thermal indices in this study and climate, followed by PET (R2 = 0.78). 5) Alliesthesia and incomplete adaptation are discussed in this study. These findings guide urban planners, designers, and environmental practitioners in creating sustainable and thermally comfortable environments.

Социально-экономическая устойчивость муниципалитетов: методика и опыт исследования

Introduction. The issue of socio-economic sustainability of territories has been studied in depth in the scientific literature. This concerns both the concept of socio-economic sustainability itself and its application to the analysis of regional and municipal development. Various aspects of socio-economic sustainability are also addressed in a significant number of territorial ratings currently available on the information market and published by both government agencies and non-governmental structures – analytical centers, rating agencies (RA), and mass media. Most of these information and analytical products relate to the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. A striking example is the rating of regions for the implementation of the federal project “Formation of a Comfortable Urban Environment” from the Ministry of Construction of the Russian Federation. This series also includes the rating of the quality of life in the regions from the Agency for Strategic Initiatives (ASI), the rating of the socio-economic sustainability of regions from the Civil Society Development Fund, the rating of the socio-economic development of regions from RIA Novosti, the rating of the investment attractiveness of regions from RA Expert, and a number of others. A significantly smaller number of such products relate to the municipal level. And this is a big problem of practical and scientific nature, which, in the author's opinion, can be overcome by the developed assessment of the socio-economic sustainability of Russian municipalities.Materials and methods. The presented study used indicators of socio-economic and electoral statistics of municipalities relating to 2022-2023. The main source is Rosstat data. In addition, information contained on the official websites or in the official publications of regional and municipal authorities was used. The work used universal methods of scientific knowledge: analysis, synthesis, generalization.Results. The result of the study was regional ratings of the socio-economic sustainability of municipalities in five subjects of the Russian Federation within the Ural Federal District: Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk regions, Khanty-Mansiysk – Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs.

Social participation vs rating voting as part of decision making to create a comfortable urban environment

Social participation vs rating voting as part of decision making to create a comfortable urban environment

COVID-19 pandemic: the role of risk factors related to urban space (Analytical review)

Comfortable urban environment plays a key role in protecting health of people residing in large urban settlements. At the same time, urban space has some peculiarities including high population and building density, imperfect traffic infrastructure, irrational planning decisions, elevated levels of ambient air pollution, heat islands and lack of urban green spaces. All these features of any urban space are significant health risk factors able to facilitate spread of respiratory diseases. This was the most evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical review examines the results of studies focusing on impacts exerted by these unfavorable urban conditions on COVID-19 infection, incidence, hospitalization and mortality in cities across the globe. Influence of elevated population density on COVID-19 infection is shown to be ambiguous as compared to other risk factors. More reliable data are available on the impact of air pollutants, especially PM, on incidence and mortality rates from the infectious disease in question. Also, the COVID-19 virus and abnormally high temperatures were shown to produce combined effects on mental health during the pandemic. To reduce levels of infection in urban population, a suggestion is to further develop urban infrastructure providing people with retail and other necessary facilities within a walking distance (15 minutes). An important conclusion has been made by experts on elevated risks of infection in dense foot traffic as compared to public buildings. Therefore, it is important to improve communications about the necessity of social distancing. Urban development that aims to reduce infection with respiratory diseases should involve better street aeration. The results of these studies in various cities across the globe gave grounds for making management decisions on providing better mobility in suburban areas in a more comfortable natural environment, developing green areas in cities, and reducing negative effects of the warming climate on heat islands and elevated levels of ambient air pollution. Large open green spaces are the most effective in this respect.

Роль факторов риска городского пространства в пандемии COVID-19 (Аналитический обзор)

Comfortable urban environment plays a key role in protecting health of people residing in large urban settlements. At the same time, urban space has some peculiarities including high population and building density, imperfect traffic infrastructure, irrational planning decisions, elevated levels of ambient air pollution, heat islands and lack of urban green spaces. All these features of any urban space are significant health risk factors able to facilitate spread of respiratory diseases. This was the most evident during the COVID-19 pandemic. The analytical review examines the results of studies focusing on impacts exerted by these unfavorable urban conditions on COVID-19 infection, incidence, hospitalization and mortality in cities across the globe. Influence of elevated population density on COVID-19 infection is shown to be ambiguous as compared to other risk factors. More reliable data are available on the impact of air pollutants, especially PM, on incidence and mortality rates from the infectious disease in question. Also, the COVID-19 virus and abnormally high temperatures were shown to produce combined effects on mental health during the pandemic. To reduce levels of infection in urban population, a suggestion is to further develop urban infrastructure providing people with retail and other necessary facilities within a walking distance (15 minutes). An important conclusion has been made by experts on elevated risks of infection in dense foot traffic as compared to public buildings. Therefore, it is important to improve communications about the necessity of social distancing. Urban development that aims to reduce infection with respiratory diseases should involve better street aeration. The results of these studies in various cities across the globe gave grounds for making management decisions on providing better mobility in suburban areas in a more comfortable natural environment, developing green areas in cities, and reducing negative effects of the warming climate on heat islands and elevated levels of ambient air pollution. Large open green spaces are the most effective in this respect.

RESEARCH OF THE IMPACT OF VERNACULAR AREAS ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN TERRITORIES

The relevance of the research is stipulated by the need to maximise the involvement of residents in the processes of management and development of the city's territories, which will create a comfortable, convenient and modern urban environment with maximum consideration of the interests and needs of users of the city's infrastructure. The research aims to analyse modern approaches to urban planning, taking into account the needs of the population living in the area, as a component of sustainable development of a modern city, using geoinformation technologies and open geospatial data, such as geotags. These issues are discussed in the context of urban amenities and attractiveness from the point of view of an average resident. To meet the basic needs related to improving the level and comfort of living, it is proposed to divide the territory into vernacular areas. This type of territorial division differs significantly from administrative districts. The research was conducted on the example of a city with a population of over a million people - Kharkiv. The principles of vernacular area formation within the existing urban territory are defined, and the origin of this concept is considered in retrospect. The relationship between vernacular areas and the population mentality through habitus is considered.

Classification and architectural planning components of riverine areas in the city structure

The study is devoted to the interaction of riverine areas with the urban structure. The purpose of the study is to provide substantiation for the classification of riverine territories in the city structure and to establish the architectural and planning components of riverine areas. The authors analyze global experience in the organization of riverine territories as part of urban development in the context of modern sustainable development programs. The results suggest that amid the increasing density of cities, changes in production interests, and climate change, there are trends in the regeneration of riverine areas. The study highlights the following trends in urban development: the creation of a system of recreational zones along the banks; creation of a network of city parks with different themes; incorporation of a spatial carcass into the structure; creation of public recreation centers, leisure complexes, and parking ensembles at the intersection of the urban and natural frames; rehabilitation and improvement of industrial areas; relocation of industrial plants situated among residential buildings to industrial areas; optimization of traffic and rational positioning of storage and maintenance facilities; development and organization of water protection zones and coastal protection strips. The conducted analysis of world experience confirms the need to find techniques to rehabilitate territories that are no longer effective while prioritizing the formation of a comfortable urban environment as a factor in raising their environmental and social efficiency.

Exploring the Impact of Urban Morphology on Building Energy Consumption and Outdoor Comfort: A Comparative Study in Hot-Humid Climates

Research simultaneously examining building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort within urban environments remains limited. Few studies have delved into the sensitivity of design parameters based on building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlations between urban morphological design parameters and performance indicators, focusing on building energy consumption and outdoor thermal comfort (UTCI), across different urban block layouts in hot-humid regions, like Guangzhou. By establishing six fundamental morphological models—three individual unit layouts and three group layouts—the research explores both control and descriptive parameters through extensive simulation studies. Scatter plot visualizations provide insights into the impacts of various design parameters on energy consumption and UTCI, facilitating a comprehensive analysis of trends and quantitative relationships. Additionally, the study conducts sensitivity analyses on design parameters under different layout conditions to highlight their influences on target performance indicators. The findings reveal common trends, such as the significant impacts of plan dimensions and the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) on energy efficiency and outdoor comfort, as well as differential patterns, such as the varying sensitivities of the Shape Factor (S/V) and the Sky View Factor (SVF), across individual and collective layouts. Ultimately, this study offers a nuanced understanding of urban block morphology’s role in creating sustainable, comfortable, and energy-efficient urban environments, providing valuable guidelines for urban form design in hot-humid climates.

Некоторые проблемы современной российской урбанизации и роль органов местного самоуправления в их решении

Today, the majority of the world's population is living in cities and other urbanized localities. The Russian state is not an exception, as at the present-day stage 3/4 of the population are urban dwellers. An important role in the state is assigned to the main city, the capital, where the supreme government authorities, financial and other resources are concentrated, with maximum opportunities for the development of high-quality and comfortable urban environment created in the capital and outside of it. Government authorities have the greatest opportunities for the development of the state capital. However, local self-government authorities also play a certain role in the development of the main city of the country. With this in mind, the most Russian cities are municipal structures, where the task of raising their attractiveness, competitiveness, safety and comfort is imposed on local self-government authorities as the first element of public government. The importance of implementation of the above lies in ensuring the equal development of cities all over the territory of Russia.

Measuring soundscape quality of urban environments using physiological indicators: Construction of physiological assessment dimensions and comparison with subjective dimensions

Residents and designers typically pursue healthy urban acoustic environments. The soundscape community has established internationally recommended standards for subjective questionnaires to evaluate soundscape quality; however, much work is still needed to standardise physiological assessments. This study measures the physiological responses and subjective evaluations of participants in 20 common sound sources (scenarios) in urban public open spaces, and discusses the potential dimensions when assessing the quality of urban soundscapes through physiological indicators. Categorical principal components analysis are employed to reduce the dimensionality of the physiological data. The results indicate that physiological Dimension 1 represents the Natural–Artificial dimension, and physiological Dimension 2 potentially represents the Regular–Irregular dimension, providing a rough estimate of regularity or predictability in soundscapes. Subjective data are used as a control for physiological data, subjective Dimension 1 can be summarised as the Calm (Pleasant)–Chaotic (Annoying) dimension, whereas subjective Dimension 2 can be summarised as Familiar (Congruent)–Unfamiliar (Incongruent). Through comparing and discussing the distributions in physiological and subjective models under different sound sources, it is found that both physiologically and subjectively, the foremost dimension (Dimension 1) represents comfort and pleasure, and natural sounds can be distinctly differentiated from noise through this dimension. Although its physiological significance is not clear, the two-dimensional physiological indicator model reveals distinctions between sound sources of various categories. These findings have implications for the planning and design of liveable and comfortable urban environments from the perspective of physiological indicators.

World Experience in Use of Indices to Assess the Urban Environment

In the last decade, the issues of comfortable living in an urban environment have become relevant. Whereupon, public spaces are constantly improved, and human habitation in it is improving. Quality assessing of the created conditions for comfortable living remains a difficult task due to the constantly changing human needs. Many countries including Russia solve this task, offering their own assessment methods. The article presents an analysis of international experience in the application of urban environment assessment indices and various ratings based on the obtained indices. The assessing methods of a comfortable urban environment are presented on the example of European countries and Russia. Since the use of indices for assessment the urban environment in Russia began much later than in other countries, the article presents an analysis of regulations and the essence of the methodology currently used. As a result, the purpose of the study is to analyze and evaluate the international and Russian experience in the use of indices for assessment of comfortable living conditions for people in an urban environment, the possibility of using this experience in Russian practice.

ARTICLE ABOUT THE RELEVANCE OF INVOLVING YOUTH IN THE PROCESS OF URBAN SPACE DEVELOPMENT

The study is aimed at studying the importance of including youth in the formation and development of a comfortable urban environment. The research was carried out using textual content analysis of existing youth participation practices, as well as statistical data and regulatory documents. The concept of youth, its characteristics and life values have been studied. It is concluded that in the Vologda region there are no youth organizations directly involved in the development of urban space

Research on smart city public health detection system and improvement technology based on intelligent multi-objective.

With the increase of urban population density, urban sanitation becomes more severe; urban sanitation has important influence on public health. Therefore, in order to realize the detection of public health in smart cities, the research will use cutting-edge scientific and technological methods to improve urban environmental health, so as to promote the realization of public health achievements. This study introduces public health detection and optimizationtechnologies for smart cities. Firstly, a data detection system for urban public health environment was established using sensors and intelligent multi-objective technology to evaluate the water quality, air quality, and noise level of the city. Then, an intelligent garbage management system based on Tensor-flow was constructed to achieve efficient garbage collection and treatment. Finally, an intelligent traffic management system was developed to monitor and regulate urban traffic flow. The results of the simulation experiment demonstrated that the life data detection system was operationally stable, with a high success rate of 98%. Furthermore, its accuracy in detecting residents' living environment data was above 95%, the maximum relative error was only 0.0465, making it a reliable and efficient tool. The waste recycling system achieved a minimum accuracy of 83.6%, the highest accuracy rate was 95.3%, making it capable of sorting and recycling urban waste effectively. Additionally, the smart traffic management system led to a 20% reduction in traffic congestion rates, 20 tonnes less tailpipe emissions and an improvement in public health and well-being. In summary, the plan proposed in this study aims to create a more comfortable, safe, and healthy urban public health environment, while providing theoretical support for environmental health management in smart cities.

Научно-производственный комплекс наукограда Российской Федерации как отличительный признак территории с высоким научно-техническим потенциалом

Science city is a territory with a high concentration of scientific and technical potential, its characteristic feature is a city– forming scientific and industrial complex, in institutional cooperation with organizations of which local self-governments of science city solve issues of local importance in order to develop innovative infrastructure, create a comfortable urban environment, ensure accessibility of social infrastructure to increase the output of high-tech products, develop human resources the resource of the science city and the involvement of highly qualified specialists by organizations. The article highlights the key features of the scientific and industrial complex as a criterion for assigning the status of “science city of the Russian Federation” to a municipality in accordance with the procedure established by the federal law “On the Status of Science Cities of the Russian Federation”. Based on the analysis of the legislation, it is pointed out the shortcomings of legal regulation and the need to improve it to ensure the development of science cities, including to determine the specifics of the organization and implementation of local self-government in science cities.

COASTAL TERRITORY AND COASTAL ZONE: DEFINITION, CHARACTERISTICS, URBAN DEVELOPMENT

The purpose of this publication is to define the terms «coastal territory» and «coastal zone» from the point of view of their urban planning use, because the current legislative documents, normative sources, scientific articles, which raise the problems of development and preservation of coastal territories, do not give their clear interpretation. As a natural phenomenon, the river and its coastal territory are an interdependent river ecosystem, which is a complex dynamic complex with paradynamic connections, where the exchange of substances, energy, and information takes place. The general boundary and configuration of the coastal territory is determined according to the maximum value of the influence of the river, taking into account its engineering and geological, microclimatic and spatial planning criteria. From the point of view of urban planning, the coastal area is a natural reserve of the urban fabric, which has a favorable potential for the formation of coastal zones in order to create a comfortable and safe urban environment. The coastal zone is a part of the coastal territory and water area with regulated and unregulated economic activity, the functional purpose of which is the organization of a favorable environment for the life of the population in the zone of influence of the reservoir. Almost all coastal areas are favorable for urban development - the difference exists in the degree of complexity and cost of urban development of coastal areas, their transformation into coastal zones. The urban planning assessment of the coastal zone for the organization of a favorable and comfortable environment for people's stay here is a complex of engineering-geological, architectural-compositional, sanitary-ecological and economic assessments. The choice of techniques for the development of the coastal zone should be based on the principles of the formation of an expressive architectural and planning development, improvement of the urban microclimate, the formation of convenient public space and landscaped and recreational areas. It is unacceptable to build up the coastal zone with capital structures of the industrial area, with the exception of water management facilities, and the laying of transit main streets here. The functional purpose of coastal zones may change over time. An assessment of the natural factors of coastal areas in relation to the degree of favorability of urban development of coastal areas and an assessment of coastal landscapes in relation to their functional purpose is given. It is noted that the main defining features of the coastal area, among many factors, are the geomorphological structure and microclimate. The transformation of Kyiv's Dnieper embankment has been traced: starting from the 5th century, after passing through 4 main periods of formation due to the arrangement and beautification of the coastal zone, the Podil embankment today has lost its function as a public space. The transformation of the coastal zone of Kyiv into a center of limited elite housing and a transport corridor is an impoverishment of the life of the city, the loss of an important urban area. The development of coastal areas, as a natural potential in cities, should be carried out within the limits of current legislation and taking into account environmental norms to create a favorable urban environment.

Оценка обеспеченности территории Санкт-Петербурга наземным общественным транспортом с использованием геопространственного подхода

The authors propose a method for evaluating the public transport accessibility of a city, based on the spatial distribution of real estate and commercial property in its territory, it enables making a rating table of routes and stops. The relevance of the study is related to the high social importance of mass transit, since its accessibility creates a more comfortable urban environment and offers new opportunities to the residents. The significant growth of research on this topic is a result of the social need to improve the use of urban space. The rapid development in the field of big data processing makes it much more relevant to the real situation than any previous models. However, researchers often lack up-to-date information on the distribution of the population in a given territory, because the concept of state open spatial data in Russia is currently in its early stages, and city authorities may decide to make it confidential. The proposed quantitative approach to assessing the provision of urban areas with land transportation means is based on using spatial data available in open sources, as well as methods of geospatial analysis and modelling. It is used to study the public transport in St. Petersburg, RF; the technique has enabled identifying the main municipal routes as well as the parts of the city requiring network expansion

Sensitivity of urban morphology and the number of CFD simulated wind directions on pedestrian wind comfort and safety assessments

Pedestrian wind comfort and safety are critical in urban design, especially as cities densify and climate change impacts intensify. While Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations are increasingly used in these assessments, a universally agreed-upon number of wind directions for accurate results has yet to be established. This study addresses this gap by exploring the influence of urban morphology, characterized by different degrees of urbanization and building layouts, on the required number of wind directions for accurate assessments. Extensive CFD simulations were conducted in five geometrically diverse locations: Bryne, Oslo, London, Singapore, and New York. Pedestrian wind comfort maps were generated, and velocity amplification factor (VAF) dynamics were analyzed. The results suggest that urban complexity does not significantly affect the required number of wind directions for reliable assessments. The study provides practical guidance for selecting the number of wind directions based on the study’s focus: a minimum of 8 for basic assessments, 24 for high-accuracy assessments, and at least 36 for safety-focused assessments. This research significantly contributes to urban planning and design, empowering stakeholders with valuable insights for shaping resilient and comfortable urban environments.