Urban Concept Research Articles

Urban Public Space in The Context of a New Era, Case of Annaba City-Algeria

Urban public space is an essential element of the urban environment that contributes to the quality of urban life called to create a certain dynamic, places of life, places of meeting, of use, of conviviality, and of social cohesion, providing multiple environmental and health benefits. This urban space can become even more critical in times of crisis such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, where citizens face increased health and economic stress. As part of our study, we conducted questionnaire surveys during the period in which restrictive measures were imposed in response to the pandemic in Annaba city- Algeria, which has many public urban spaces (gardens, green spaces, squares…), these surveys were intended for users on their attendance and their perception of these spaces since the onset of this pandemic COVID-19, and the challenges they see for the future. Therefore, the findings of our study demonstrated the footprint of COVID-19 on urban spaces and their frequentation, as well as preventive measures in order to gain insight into urban planning and conception.

УРБАНІЗАЦІЯ: СУТЬ ТА ВПЛИВ НА ЕКОНОМІЧНЕ УПРАВЛІННЯ ТЕРИТОРІЯМИ

The work is devoted to the essence of the concept of urbanization, the approaches of foreign and domestic scientists to the interpretation of the concept of urbanization taking into account the directions of research, the establishment of urbanization factors of economic growth. The article outlines theoretical approaches to determining the economic nature of this process. Some tendencies of development of urbanization processes in the context of the country and regions are given. Given the historical demographic processes, the territory of Ukraine outlines the formal or quantitative signs of urbanization, which are directly influenced by national and regional economic factors with appropriate economic management. The inconsistency of Ukrainian cities with world standards and norms has been determined, in this connection the main tasks of spatial development have been formulated. In addition, some factors of the urbanization process are outlined, reasonable decisions on their implementation will contribute to the growth of the economy of urban areas. It is noted that in the future the management of economic processes of the state should be aimed at reducing the existing imbalance of urban development of territories for which, among other areas should focus on the revival of small settlements (villages, towns, cities), development of small and medium businesses, diversification of the economy in the direction of less pronounced urban characteristics. At the same time, the author emphasizes that the degree of urbanization in Ukraine significantly exceeds the world figure, but is inferior to the European average of 73.4%. The article notes that industry with its corresponding economic management continues to play a significant role for the East and South of the country, in the Western regions there is a decrease in the share of agricultural production. In this regard, the highest level of urbanization in Ukraine is observed in the capital, as well as in urban areas with a high level of service development (trade, information, socio-cultural, transport, etc.) and in industrialized regions. As a result of the study it was concluded that urbanization processes have a direct impact on socio - economic development, as a consequence, management decisions aimed at economic development of the state and specific areas should be carried out taking into account existing urbanization factors and their trends.

COVID-19 –global transition to a new architecture and urban development paradigm of the environment?

New trends in the social life at crucial points mean applying to the past experience and looking for new development models. COVID-19 has marked a global transition to a new architecture and urban planning paradigm of the environment in accordance with the sanitary, hygienic requirements and rational forms. In accordance with the current challenges it becomes necessary to reevaluate the concepts of urbanism and disurbanism redefining urban planning, existing typology, structural and functional organization as well as to search for new ways of architecture and urban development. Urban structures and sociology are expected to be reconsidered leading to reduced capacity of all public buildings, disappearance of some of them and replacement by recreation zones. Inexhaustible ideas and resources of past design approaches may be featured in the buildings styles. We could predict appearance of significant signs of new ethics in the new aesthetics which will mark the arrival of the third global «superstyle» which features have been already seen in the rigid construction approaches, in the social movements activities. Methods of architecture education are expected to be modified: in particular, the importance of advanced techniques in the educational process will increase and teamwork in the architecture projects will became vital.

Exploration of the “Greater Shanghai Plan”

The "Greater Shanghai Plan" was a package of urban planning for Shanghai put forward by the Shanghai special municipal government in 1929. Its introduction was not only based on the actual needs of its urban development, but also depended on the political conditions at that time. The "Greater Shanghai Plan" aimed at the overall urbanization of Chinese communities in Shanghai, put forward many clear urban development plans, and absorbed and integrated the western urban concept in the struggle and compromise, reflecting the particularity and complexity of the road of urban development in modern China.

A review on smart public transport system based on IOT

Intelligent Transportation Systems (ITS) includes a subsystem called Smart Public Transportation (SPT) (ITS). It has the ability to intelligently manage public transportation systems in order to maintain their operation and to provide customers with information about excursions and system operating conditions (travelers and leaders). Rapid advancements in equipment, programming, and communication technologies have aided the development of Internet-connected gadgets that provide perceptions and data collecting from the current world. This article examines the survey approach for IoT-based smart public transportation and different methods for intelligent transportation systems. The findings of this study show that while IoT has prioritized safety in preventing road accidents, it has yet to be addressed how an intelligent vehicle system can be implemented by integrating bus work schedules, bus presence detection, and passenger disbursement efficiency through a booking seat process to minimize congestion as well as passenger waiting time. This study proposes breakthroughs that combine the Internet concept with the integration of systems of industrial actors required in order to harness the energy of IoT for various conveniences, particularly in the field of public transportation, as well as produce an intelligent transportation system, and is one of the smart urban concept indicators. The purpose of this article is to look at various ITS designs and models, as well as survey them to learn more about their architecture. It will reveal knowledge gaps that may be investigated further. The article includes studies into a variety of frameworks, as well as potential extensions in the area to make it simpler to use.

Філософія міста Жюля Саймона та дослідницької групи PotC

The article deals with the modern concept of the city’s philosophy, created by the American scientist J. Simon and the international research Philosophy of the City Research Group (PotC). Emphasis is placed on the fact that the problem of building an ideal city and the urban theme is one of the leading in the Western philosophical tradition. It acquires special significance in our age of globalization, urbanization and informatization. The article analyzes the philosophical foundations of the urban concept by J. Simon and his colleagues. In particular, the history of the problem of the city in Western philosophy, the ontology and epistemology of the city of A. Varzi and K. Easwaran, the phenomenology of the city of V. Vihanninjoki and W. Howell are analyzed. Based on the published works, it was found that one of the most important prerequisites for the philosophy of the city of PotC and its ideological leader is the organic humanism of the American thinker L. Mumford, which is to consider the city as a "comfortable place to live." At the same time, researchers from the PotC group point out the contradictions of human urban existence related to anonymity, alienation and loneliness in the city. J. Simon turns to phenomenology as a methodological strategy capable of understanding the "spirit of the city", which creates the sustainability of its existence. In doing so, they are based on phenomenological tools and techniques developed by M. Heidegger and M. Merleau-Ponty. J. Simon also refers to the legacy of H. Arendt, in particular her concept of "human condition" to clarify the problems of migration and "desertification" of cities (particularly in the cities of El Paso and Detroit). Emphasis is placed on the productivity of urban research methods proposed by the PotC research group and points to the possibility of their application in the context of decentralization and local government reforms in Ukraine.

Compactness is Not Enough: Development and Trends of a Sustainable Urban Concept

Abstract The changing concept of sustainable development is changing the practice of designing sustainable urban forms. The article presents a variety of concepts of a sustainable urban form and their ambiguous assessment – the model of a compact city, if applied in all cases, can cost the quality of one’s environment and the quality of life. New bottom-up trends are emerging in theory and in practice of the 21st century, which focus on the urban planning process which is more inclusive in terms of society. The article discusses examples of the creation of a sustainable urban narrative for the development of a relationship with the community.

Body Shape Selection of "Bono Kampar" For Urban Concept Student Car Formula to Fulfill Indonesian Energy-Saving Standards (“KMHE”) with Aerodynamic Analysis

The body shape of a vehicle and the structure need to be considered when designing a vehicle. In addition, the shape of the body tends to significantly affect the vehicle's energy use to counter aerodynamic forces due to wind loads. Therefore, this research aims to determine the body length, width, height, wheel base and ground clearance of vehicles in the selection of Bono Kampar for Urban Concept Car Formula to Fulfill Indonesia Energy-Savings Standards (“KMHE”) with Aerodynamics Analysis. The methods used to create four models of vehicle bodies are dynamic simulation on Computational Fluid Dynamic software are coefficient drag, lift and bland force. The result showed that the car body design needs to have the smallest drag coefficient. This is because when vehicles have a large drag coefficient value, it tends to greatly influence its efficiency or performance. Furthermore, this is useful for minimizing fuel usage, and in allowing the vehicle to reduce the friction force caused by air while driving. The Computational Fluid Dynamic (CFD) software is used to obtain drag coefficients, which is used in Solid works Flow Simulation. From aerodynamic simulation results on four alternative car bodies carried out in this study, the smallest Cd (Coefficient Drag) is the second car body model, which has Drag Coefficient (Cd) of 0.21 Pa.

Formation of urban planning thinking as one of the priority areas of activity of the Department of Urban Planning and Urbanism

The article covers the history of the creation and development of the Department of Urban Planning and Urbanism of the Kharkov National University of Civil Engineering and Architecture. There is a retrospective of the long-term work of the department staff timed to celebrate the 90th anniversary of the university. The interpretation of the formation of the urban planning format of thinking, as a powerful lever for the training of architects and urban planners, is demonstrated in different areas of scientific, educational, methodological and professional work of the department.
 The main task of the pedagogical work of the department was the preparation of specialists of a new formation for work in many areas related to urban planning and architectural design, this is the training of specialists of educational qualification levels "Bachelor" and "Master" in specialty 191 "Architecture and Urban Planning".
 Scientific research of the department staff is carried out in the following areas: urban sociology, transport systems, urban ecology, urban systems, streamlining engineering and transport networks of urban systems, urban development management, the introduction of systemic and synergetic approaches in the formation of urban planning systems, rational methods of building and reconstruction of cities and villages in Ukraine.
 Within the framework of the topic of improving the architectural environment and urban planning space of modern cities, studies are being carried out on the formation of the planning structure and spatial composition of Kharkov during the period of industrial and post-industrial development and the analysis of the implementation of urban planning concepts in the microdistrict development of Kharkov.
 The development of urban planning thinking, as the formation of a special structure of professional consciousness, is one of the main tasks of the work of the team of the Department of Urban Planning and Urbanism of KNUSA.

From underdetermined to overdetermined space: public/private interfaces and activities in residential alleys

ABSTRACT The underlying logic of two well-established urban design concepts, active use and active interface, while applicable to streets and activity centres, may have limited bearing on residual urban spaces. As such spaces can be perceived as problematic, they are often replaced with conventional forms rather than valued for their uniqueness. This study examines the relationships between public/private interfaces and activities in residential alleys in Melbourne, Australia. These alleys are undervalued urban features that sum to vast amounts of land in areas deprived of public space. They are reappropriated for social activities and are also used as access for infill developments. The findings show that the conventional infill developments create overdetermined conditions that limit social activities. In contrast, the impermeable and blank interfaces that would be problematic elsewhere enable a wide range of usage. The key quality of these preferred interfaces is underdetermination, where multiple possibilities could emerge and exist simultaneously.

“Urban by nature”: The Sokoto jihadist approach to urban planning

Like other Islamic reform and state-building movements across the pre-colonial Sahel, the Sokoto Jihad of 1804 had started genuine urbanization processes with architectural references to Islamic ideals of inhabited space. But in the early Sokoto Empire, jihadist urban planning met with a Hausa environment already divided into urban centers and rural areas. Existing Hausa towns were often restructured and enlarged, with a shift from the central position of the palaces towards that of the new mosques built under the aegis of the Jihadist leaders. This article hence analyses the construction of Sokoto as a capital city from the “drawing board” as a case study. In addition, it discusses the location and style of Jihadist mosques in Sokoto, Kano and Zaria within a new concept of Muslim urbanity. Although urban planning in Sokoto was not carried out by map sketches, several maps produced in the Sokoto Empire will be used to study the graphical understanding of Sokoto Jihadist urbanity expressed by rectangular walls and a special mosque-palace order with only very simple and puritan décor. But despite the private activities in mosque building among the male Jihadist elite, Sokoto lacked a state-owned and constant central mosque, because donors and their offspring personally had to care for the upkeep of the buildings. And with the second Sokoto Sultan, Muhammad Bello, urbanization activities gradually shifted from the “old” centers to the frontier of the Empire: on the one hand, militarized border towns (Arabic ribāt, pl. arbita) were erected as profane material protection against military enemies in the periphery. Yet on the other hand, they served as a reference in the Jihadist ideology contrasting the Land of Islam with the Land of Unbelief. The ribāt was a planned city attracting mainly slaves longing for freedom and salvation by the Jihadist promise that any inhabitant of the frontier city would eventually be liberated and enter Paradise. But only for a limited time span did they serve as social and ethnic melting pots on the frontier, before many of them were turned into slave plantations. This phase of intense foundation of fortified settlements must also be understood as a process of sedentarization and aging of the first Jihad soldiers. Equipped with land, wives and slaves from the booty, many soldiers and commanders were settled in new towns and established a living there with their families. The article will thus finally analyze the Sokoto utopia of a completely sedentarized and urbanized Muslim state—a policy propagated both against fellow Fulbe pastoralists and mobile Tuareg allies. This study engages with Sokoto Jihadist urbanization in their theories and practices in the first half of the 19th century and unfolds the Jihadist claims to be “urban by nature.”

Plantation urbanism: Legacy, property and policing in Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky is one of many cities throughout the Southern United States that still celebrates the brutal legacy of plantation culture. From an economy dominated by the plantation dynasties of bourbon, horse racing and tobacco, to the centering of bourbon whiskey as a culturally significant economic development engine and tourist attraction, to the city’s flagship event, the Kentucky Derby containing elements of a memorial pageant to antebellum plantation regimes and their culture. This paper documents the legacy and consequences of urban redevelopment by Louisville’s plantation dynasties in the Russell neighborhood and the connections between investment, surveillance and policing in the murder of Breonna Taylor. We will define the concepts of plantation capitalism and plantation urbanism as components of racial capitalism and monopoly capitalism that originated and are kept alive in the Southern US. This paper will explore how the legacy of plantation regimes reproduces a particular social management system that reinvents itself through economic diversification in real estate, planning, policing and surveillance, that we call plantation urbanism. The Russell neighborhood in Louisville is currently experiencing massive investment through public and private funding. We use examples of how private developers launch nonprofits to access philanthropic capital, and state support of private investment to illustrate how plantation dynasties hoard resources and exercise political control over time. This paper will document the historical and material forces of plantation regimes that drive state-led gentrification to create the unhousing of Black residents and the interlocking relationships of institutional actors in that process of government, philanthropy, the nonprofit industrial complex and the police.

Energy management of a fuel cell hybrid ultra-energy efficient vehicle

This paper focuses on energy management in an ultra-energy efficient vehicle powered by a hydrogen fuel cell with rated power of 1 kW. The vehicle is especially developed for the student competition Shell Eco-marathon in the Urban Concept category. In order to minimize the driving energy consumption a simulation model of the vehicle and the electric propulsion is developed. The model is based on vehicle dynamics and real motor efficiency as constant DC/DC, motor controllers and transmission efficiency were considered. Based on that model five propulsion schemes and driving strategies were evaluated. The fuel cell output parameters were experimentally determined. Then, the driving energy demand and hydrogen consumption was estimated for each of the propulsion schemes. Finally, an experimental study on fuel cell output power and hydrogen consumption was conducted for two propulsion schemes in case of hybrid and non-hybrid power source. In the hybrid propulsion scheme, supercapacitors were used as energy storage as they were charged from the fuel cell with constant current of 10 A.

Fast Urban Growth, Human Psycho-Socio-Ecological Needs and ‘Enactivisim’: The Future of Cities

It has been projected that in three decades, two-thirds of the global population will become city dwellers, compared to 50 per cent today. Many urban concepts and planning principles have been generated to tackle the consequential challenges. Furthermore, there has been a noticeable paradigm shift towards psychological sustainability, with some theories indicating a link between the fulfilment of needs and ecological sustainability. Moreover, it has been previously stressed that environments play an important role in fulfilling people’s psychological needs. The current urban sustainable models provide solutions oriented towards physical and environmental aspects. But they lack a systematic understanding of human-environment interactions, therefore, neglect important cognitive and behavioural aspects. We argue that this misalignment between urban contexts and human needs and behaviour could be addressed if architectural and urban design started to be informed by neuroscience. This paper aims to emphasize the foundations of the ‘neuroscience-informed design’ approach.

Designing Shell Eco Marathon Car Bodies with Solid Work

The Shell Eco Marathon is a world-class car competition for students. Through this competition, students compete to create innovation and creativity in the development of vehicle technology. The final result of this competition is the birth of vehicles that are economical, environmentally friendly, including a lightweight and aerodynamic body. This study aims to produce an urban concept car body design for racing purposes, with several provisions that comply with the Shell Eco Marathon competition regulations, have a low drag coefficient and turbulence value. This research includes research and development (R&D), using the ADDIE development model (Analysis, Design, Development, Implementation, and Evaluation). The test object is the 3D urban concept body shape design. The development of the urban concept body design uses the Solid work 2018 software with a flow simulation feature to analyze 3D urban concept body shape designs. The results of this research and development are (1) the design of the car body shape has met the competition regulations, (2) the drag coefficient value can be achieved at 0.1965, and (3) the value of turbulence intensity can be achieved at 0.133%. The results showed that the development of the urban concept body shape design was as planned.

Third Way Interventions in Public Space and Urban Design

As epitomized by the famous rivalry between Jane Jacobs and Robert Moses in the '60s New York, city planning and the understanding of public space has mainly oscillated between two opposing poles: the tidy and organized city planned with a top-down approach by architects using geometry to shape it, on one hand; and the messy and disorganized city, shaped with a bottom-up spirit, lacking planning, and allowing the traces of its inhabitants to take place, on the other. This article makes an analysis of the origin and nature of that opposition, putting in context different endeavors undertaken to tear it down. Going back to its Greek origin in the opposition between technē and mousikē, passing through Kant's concepts of the beautiful and the sublime, Nietzsche's opposition between the Apollonian and the Dionysian and ending up in Wölfflin's fundamental opposition between the Renaissance and the Baroque, it maps out this oscillating trend in history that favors the organized opposite full of rules in some periods, and the romantic one full of freedom in others, to provide a framework to explore endeavors that challenge those extremes in an attempt to take advantage of the benefits of both, as in 18th century picturesque, John Habraken's approach and Stan Allen's concept of infrastructural urbanism. Within this framework, it examines projects where we explore at Pontifical Xavierian University, innovative approaches to urban and public space design that empower inhabitants to shape their own city (bottom-up), whilst maintaining a sense of order and composition through designed structures (top-down) that challenge Leon Battista Alberti's foundational criterion of architectural beauty: you can neither add nor subtract any element without destroying the harmony achieved.

Selection of the Best Option of Brownfield Revitalization Using the Habu Method

The article focuses on the research into the evaluation of the socio-economic efficiency of selected brownfield revitalization projects. Revitalization of brownfields has become the focus of urban planning in recent decades not only in the Czech Republic. The city of Brno has also been involved in the development of these areas for a long time, and the proposal for a new zoning plan, which is currently under discussion, should significantly facilitate the development of such areas. Spatial planning documentation aims at determining the urban concept, the concept of landscape layout and the concept of public infrastructure, it defines the built-up areas, other areas, and corridors and sets the conditions for their use. Regarding the fact that a significant part of these development areas is located in strategically important parts of the city, their use is crucial for their further development. It is therefore appropriate to consider what land-use alternatives are allowed by the zoning plan and how these alternatives can contribute to the effective use of the area in the context of its surroundings and in connection with strategic urban development plans. The main goal of the research is to define a procedure for evaluating individual alternatives of the use of a given area in order to find an optimal solution for both the investor and the city (public). To reach this goal, the HABU method was chosen, which evaluates the development of the area from the point of view of being legally accessible, physically possible, financially feasible and maximally productive, further supplemented by specific elements of cost-benefit analysis (CBA) so as to evaluate the impact of revitalization projects on the broader public space. The output of the research described in this article is a methodical procedure for the evaluation of alternative solutions for the development of brownfields.

Toward an agentic understanding of the urban metabolism: a landscape theory perspective

ABSTRACT An understanding of human and non-human agency is essential to fully capture the nature and configurations of resource circulations and “metabolic” dynamics in cities. Since their inception, urban political ecology and more-than-human ontologies have raised fundamental questions about these entangled agencies, which resonated widely in urban studies and, to some degree, in urban metabolism research. This essay argues that landscape theory provides a rich, yet less explored, reservoir of concepts and methods to investigate the role of agentic capacities in metabolic dynamics and the society-nature relations they reflect. Two landscape approaches describing the landscape as a locus of distributed agency are discussed to illustrate novel modes of agentic inquiry in metabolic studies. Finally, using water ecologies as examples, I ask to what extent a sociology of distribution of resources and agencies can become a new “matter of concern” for urban metabolism research and foster dialectical conceptions of the metabolic paradigm.

Climate urbanism through the lens of informal settlements

ABSTRACT For climate urbanism to be relevant in informal settlements, it’s proponents needs to embrace the messy reality that there are no easily implemented, off-the-shelf adaptation solutions. Existing neoliberal climate adaptation responses, which often entrench inequality, are unlikely to succeed in informal settlements. The current groundswell of demands for social justice provide the needed impetus for exploring and experimenting with what adaptation might look like in informal settlements. This contribution suggests two areas for careful consideration when applying climate urbanism concepts to informal settlement contexts, namely (1) the temporal tension between adapting to climate change risk and simultaneously having to deal with other, perhaps more immediate, risks, and (2) the use of the concept of “transformative adaptation” to guide practice-based collaborative interventions.

Research on the Measurement of New Urbanization Level in Anhui Province from the Green Perspective

With the continuous deepening of the new urbanization process, some contradictions in its development process become increasingly obvious, among which the environmental problems are particularly prominent. People’s demands for green residential towns are further raised, and the concepts of ecological city, green town and sustainable development society are put forward. In this paper, new urbanization and “green” are linked to determine the concept and connotation of green new urbanization. Under the core connotation of the green perspective, the level of new urbanization in Anhui Province is analyzed from four levels of green economy, green environment, green living and green foundation, thus promote the healthy and benign development of new urbanization and provide an opportunity to improve the mechanism of regional ecological coordinated development.