Contemporary Urban Context Research Articles

Water and Carbon Neutral Buildings: systemic approaches and hybrid strategies

Abstract In order to achieve a real green transition in the design, construction and use of the built environment, especially in contemporary urban contexts, it is necessary to assess the water saving benefits combined with binding energy efficiency and climate neutrality targets in a holistic manner. This approach cannot focus on stand-alone requirements. Special emphasis is placed on technological solutions that transform energy and water consumption from negative to positive at all stages of the life cycle, including construction and operation. The aim is not just to reduce expenditure, but to increase the effectiveness of the savings through an effective and cyclical approach over the long term. This paper presents the results of a research project that develops a set of integrated indicators in accordance with the Itaca Protocol standard, UNI/PdR Practice 13.0:2019, with the introduction of elements from the Level(s). The environmental indicator system is designed to simultaneously assess the requirements of water-neutral and carbon-neutral construction, in line with EU recommendations C/2021/2279 and C/2021/9332. The hybrid water-energy strategies used in the application of this system are evaluated in terms of their potential to achieve the aforementioned goals. This approach, illustrated by best practice examples, aims to provide a holistic assessment of the environmental performance of integrated buildings in contemporary urban contexts, taking into account both water efficiency and carbon reduction. The objective is to guide the technological design and construction of sustainable buildings, promoting a synergetic approach to water and carbon footprint management, starting from the case study of a building in Palermo.

Harmonizing Urban Futures: Integrating Smart and Sustainable City Principles

In an era marked by rapid urbanization and evolving urban challenges, understanding the intricate relationship between sustainable and smart city principles is paramount for shaping resilient and future- ready cities. This study delves into the integration of sustainable and smart city principles, aiming to illuminate their interconnectedness in contemporary urban contexts. By analyzing the latest academic understanding of this integration, the research contributes to the development of comprehensive frameworks guiding urban development strategies. Through bibliometric analysis using VOSviewer, key factors such as air quality, intelligent transportation systems, internet connectivity, urban growth, solar energy, and learning processes emerge as central to understanding the interplay between smart and sustainable cities. This analysis informs efforts towards integrated urban development and resilience. The study hypothesizes that smart city principles build upon sustainable city foundations, as evidenced by interrelated indicators across urban domains. Recognizing the significance of this integration, urban planners and policymakers can craft strategies that prioritize sustainability, innovation, and inclusivity, thus shaping resilient and future-ready cities. By elucidating the symbiotic relationship between smart and sustainable city concepts, this research offers insights crucial for addressing contemporary urban challenges and fostering sustainable urban development globally.

Adoption Dynamics of Digital Payments: An Urban Case Study on E-Money Using the Technology Acceptance Model

The utilization of e-money in Indonesia has surged, propelled by the expansion of digital payment platforms. Despite their growing prevalence, the dynamics of e-money acceptance within urban environments remain underexplored. This study innovatively extends the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by incorporating Perceived Security as a new variable, alongside traditional factors such as Perceived Usefulness, Perceived Ease of Use, Attitude Toward Using, Behavioral Intention to Use, and Facilitating Condition. The research focuses on Padang City, a representative urban landscape, where data was collected from 201 valid respondents through online platforms. Data analysis was conducted using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The integration of Perceived Security is a novel aspect of this study, reflecting its crucial role in the contemporary urban context of e-money utilization. Results reveal significant relationships among the studied variables, although the impacts of Facilitating Condition on Perceived Ease of Use and Perceived Usefulness on Behavioral Intention to Use were not supported. The findings underscore that positive attitude toward e-money significantly boost behavioral intentions to use it, primarily influenced by security perceptions and ease of use. These insights have substantial implications for policymakers and businesses focused on enhancing e-money adoption in urban settings. The study highlights the necessity of addressing user perceptions, particularly security, to foster broader acceptance. The limited influence of Facilitating Conditions suggests that improvements in infrastructure must be coupled with efforts to enhance user trust and ease of interaction with e-money platforms. This research contributes to the field by providing a deeper understanding of the factors driving e-money acceptance in urban areas, guiding targeted strategies for digital financial inclusion.

From decay analysis to conservation plan of post-Vatican II religious architecture: Research on the Church of the Holy Family by Paolo Portoghesi in Italy

After the Second Vatican Council (1962–1965) religious architecture represented a pivotal era of transformation within the Catholic Church. This liturgical reform aimed to deepen the engagement of worshippers in the liturgy, fostering a more direct connection between the congregation and the celebrant. Architects responded by radically reimagining the design and aesthetics of sacred spaces and embracing innovative materials and construction techniques such as reinforced concrete. This shift enabled the creation of bold, symbolic structures characterized by simple geometric forms, fluid spaces, and enhanced transparency, utilizing natural light to evoke sacred atmospheres. An outstanding example of this architectural paradigm is the Church of the Holy Family in Salerno, Italy, designed by Paolo Portoghesi and Vittorio Gigliotti, starting in 1968. Built entirely in reinforced concrete, this church embodies the fusion of technical innovation with spiritual exploration, typifying ecclesiastical postmodernism. Despite their architectural significance, many postconciliar churches face challenges today, including insufficient conservation efforts and inadequate community recognition. This research focuses on the Church of the Holy Family in Salerno, investigating its evolution, technological advancements, and conservation needs. A comprehensive Conservation Plan is proposed to safeguard this architectural heritage, integrating analyses of degradation and restoration interventions. By addressing these aspects, this study aims to ensure the preservation of this postconciliar religious architecture within contemporary urban and social contexts.

Paradoxical postsecularity in the making: a methodological experiment in the study of China’s temple-centered urban redevelopment

The incorporation of Buddhist temples into urban redevelopment within China’s market transition became notable after the 2000s. Domestic and international real estate developers collaborated with local governments and state-owned enterprises in the construction of commercial complexes by converting under-used spaces around renowned Buddhist temples. Among these scattered projects of temple-centered redevelopment across Mainland China, this article identifies one during which the Hong Kong-based developer, Swire Properties (Taikoo in Cantonese), built an open, low-density shopping center in Chengdu around the Daci temple in 2014. Named as the “Taikoo Li,” the project attests to unique logics of planning and operation, while evoking discursive, cultural, and material practices, religious as well as non-religious, in people’s everyday life. Drawing upon an extensive ethnographic study in Chengdu, Sichuan, this article enters a dialogue with postsecularist debates dominated by Euro-American instances, and proposes micro-sociological reinventions of “postsecularity” by adopting a position of “methodological ludism” as opposed to conventional theist, atheist and agnostic positions. Our analytical and methodological inquiries aim to fully showcase the paradoxical nature of “postsecularity,” especially within a contemporary urban context, in which the paradoxes are sustained in the self-conflicting narratives of the researched as well as the reflexivity of the researchers.

Urban Comparison of Former “Fotokemika” Factory Complexes in Zagreb and Samobor

The urban fabric of cities is in constant flux. This paper is focused on two areas of former “Fotokemika” industrial complexes for production of photographic materials, located in Zagreb and Samobor. Complexes are analyzed based on previous studies, archive material and field research. The results compare their urban transformations in contemporary urban context with new uses. The aim is to detect urban, micro-urban and architectural characteristics in order to understand how they change through time within each city by comparing the initial contexts in the first half of the 20th century and contemporary situations followed in the period between 2020 and 2024.

Visibility, Precarity and Public Spaces: Reading Matthew Arnold’s “West London” in an Indian Classroom

This essay is an account of my experience of teaching Matthew Arnold's "West London" in an Indian classroom through the conceptual prism of vulnerability. The essay argues that the configuration of public space in Arnold's poem in terms of differential class relations in Victorian society offers a literary mode of visualizing vulnerablity and prompts an ethical recognition of the humanness of marginalized characters. It further demonstrates how the peadgogic exercise of 'reading' such poetry in the contemporary urban Indian context can alert students to the politics of occupying and negotiating public spaces in terms of (the lack of) class position and privilege across diverse cultural and historical contexts.

Hadrian’s Wall as Artscape

ABSTRACT This paper draws upon the concept of “artscape”, a term adopted in studies of contemporary urban and borderland contexts. Nine artworks sited along Hadrian's Wall form the case studies. These interventions aim to challenge the traditional concept of Hadrian's Wall as a fixed and well-defined ancient monument set within an unchanging landscape. Many of the projects reflect, directly or indirectly, upon the ethics of contemporary bordering practices. The artworks may have succeeded, at least to a degree, in challenging people's understandings of the current significance of the Wall by encouraging local people and visitors to contemplate the constraining characteristics of modern borders and frontiers. However, the communication of Hadrian's Wall as “open to all” elides ethical issues and the paper explores the extent to which these artworks may have encouraged or provoked public responses.

Hest, hjort, ku eller geit! Hvilke typer lær ble brukt til sko i Borgund på Sunnmøre i sen vikingtid og tidlig middelalder?

Leather types and tanning technique used on shoes during the late Viking Age / early Medieval Periods in Norway, are addressed with 139 shoes from the deserted town Borgund in Sunnmøre, western Norway, as a case. Shoe-leather is species identified through hair follicle pattern interpretation and ZooMS analysis. Tanning technique is assessed visually. The study shows that the Borgund-shoes were made of leather from domesticated animals, predominantly from cow (Bos taurus), but also horse (Equus caballus), goat- (Capra circus) and tentatively sheep (Ovis aries) was used. Furthermore, raw tanned leather was used for both soles and shoe uppers in Borgund. Borgund’s strong preference for leather made of cattle has parallels in both Danish and English contemporary urban contexts, whereas horse leather is not previously identified as shoe-leather in contemporary Norse-sphere urban contexts. For future research an atlas of Viking Age / Medieval hair follicle patterns based on archaeological leather finds is presented.

Towards applying smart mobility solutions in Egypt: An integrative framework and a case study application

The presented study proposes a framework for applying smart mobility in contemporary urban contexts. It starts with a literature investigation and analysis; subsequently, it synthesizes the main key findings into a framework for applying smart mobility comprising five main dimensions, seven patterns, and 34 attributes. Then it applied a survey to investigate the applicability of 34 smart mobility attributes in two selected districts in Greater Cairo Region. Results of the presented work highlight the degree of existence of smart mobility attributes in the selected districts, through site visits and community survey. Also, the five smart mobility dimensions are shown to be important regarding experts’ ratings which ranged from 3.5 to 4.7. In addition to smart mobility objectives which ratings ranged from 3.5 to 4.6. Finally, the study compared experts’ and users’ ratings for travel efficiency attributes. Moreover, it points out the potential of smart mobility applications in the Egyptian context.

The typology of courtyard space in Najdi Architecture, Saudi Arabia: a response to human needs, culture, and the environment

ABSTRACT This study seeks to identify the significant characteristics of the traditional Najdi courtyard in Saudi Arabia in order to comprehend the typology and applicability of courtyard patterns in Najdi dense urban neighborhoods. The study includes a literature review that investigates the socio-cultural influences on courtyard typology and the typological implications of courtyard residences at both the building and urban scales. The study also includes a case study of six Najdi courtyard residences in three settlements in the central region that analyzes the patterns, characteristics, and spatial qualities of these courtyards. The ethnographic approach is used to observe and document a culture, society, or other phenomenon related to the study objectives through participant observation and interviews, as well as making use of the Space Syntax “justified access graphs” method to understand and examine the organization and spatial order of the traditional dwelling. The study indicates that the courtyard acts as a holistic space and place within the home; however, the features of individual courtyards may vary based on geographical and environmental setting. The conclusion of the research is that courtyard typologies have the capacity to satisfy the enduring cultural, social, and climatic demands of residents and hence might be implemented in contemporary urban contexts. The findings of this research suggest that courtyard typology has the potential to create an environment of comfort, privacy, and special efficiency for modern urban households.

The relevance of the African regional human rights system in the urban age

AbstractIn an attempt to reassert the relevance of international human rights law in contemporary urban contexts, this article considers the extent to which the provisions of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights lend themselves to fruitful application in African cities, appropriation by African cities and the development of rights to African cities. The article ultimately argues that, despite the rural inclinations of its drafting context, certain textual shortcomings and the existence of major political hurdles to its effective implementation, the African Charter, as interpreted and applied by the African Commission and African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, is well-placed for the regional human rights system’s adaptation to the urban age.

Cultivating commoner subjectivities and transforming agency in commoned urban gardens

Commoning as a mechanism for transforming agency and subjectivities is relevant in a contemporary urban context structured by neoliberal capitalist relations that work to alienate people, suppress agency and enclose spaces. Despite wide agreement that commoning practices mediate subject formation and agential change, little has been written on the epistemological and ontological grounds for understanding how commoning practices achieve this. Grounded in the social realist theory put forward by Archer (2000), which suggests understanding transformations linked to agency and subjectivity as outcomes of the dialectical relation between agency and structure, mediated by practice in space and over time, this paper analyses the burgeoning practice of urban gardening in common in the City of Stockholm, Sweden, with respect to its potential to transform agency and subjectivity. I find that (i) conditioned by structural context, gardeners assume a variety of (contradictory) subjectivities (the commoner, the white encloser, the unpaid public manager and hobby gardener), and (ii) that through the collective nature of the gardens, roles are created and a corporate agency emerges, which (iii) allows some gardeners to become social actors whereby they can live out their personal identities and change the structural context for others.

Evergreen Snake and Gamiž

Slavic folklore contains a variety of beliefs concerning magical animals and other imaginary and liminal beings, their characteristics and properties. This heritage was adopted and used in the past by various children’s authors who integrated these folklore motifs into their own work. Some recent authors, on the other hand, show a marked tendency to implement animals of their own invention in order to convey an ecological message, often employing a quasi-encyclopaedic approach (e. g. Uroš Petrović and Zoran Penevski). Others create imaginary animals in order to explore moral dilemmas and psychological depths in a form appropriate for children (e. g. Mina Todorović). When folklore heritage makes a reappearance, it sometimes takes on a comical function in a contemporary urban context (e. g. Ivana Nešić). In this paper we provide an overview and an analysis of fantastic animals and their heterogeneous origins and functions in contemporary Serbian fantasy written for children, presenting a condensed outline of the most recent developments. Our aim is to combine a traditional analysis of the literary fantastic and folklore elements with ecocriticism.

Transforming Spaces into Places: Placemaking of Tudikhel

In the process of planning and developing public spaces in cities, place-making is a people-centered approach. This approach considers the perspectives of the people who live in a given location in order to learn about their needs and goals for that location or particular space. In this research, both qualitative and quantitative methods are used to find out the perception of people towards Tudikhel. Data collected from questinnare survey of the people under various categories around Tudikhel involves qualitative aspects of the research. Under quantitative approach, the key variables of the study are correlated with each other to find the strength of relationship between the variables. Finally, suitable conclusions are reached regarding strategies including elements and activities of placemaking at Tudikhel. Hence this study emphasizes in restoring of Tudikhel back to ‘place’ in the contemporary urban context using the activities and elements of placemaking, to ensure the sustainability of Tudikhel as a national public space of Nepal.

Reinterpreting activity space in tourism by mapping tourist-resident interactions in populated cities

ABSTRACT This study draws upon the concept of ‘activity space’ rooted in human geography and applies it in a contemporary urban context – Macao. Noting the growing trend of urbanisation and the blurring boundary of tourist-resident spaces, this research systematically analyses the mapping and structure of tourist and resident activity spaces, and interprets the tourist-resident interactions through their spatial–temporal behaviours. Global Positioning System data were consolidated to present the results in a visual way. This study contributes to the pool of knowledge by reinforcing the concept of activity space in tourism research. The practical insights can benefit destination planning where tourists and residents co-share spaces in a harmonious setting.

Petite term traffic flow prediction using deep learning for augmented flow of vehicles

An Intelligent Transport System (ITS) model that is contingent on the compulsion and expertise of the Traffic Prediction System in the contemporary urban context is proposed in this paper. Deep Learning (DL) is computationally becoming comfortable to train and set as many hyperparameters automatically as possible. The researchers and practitioners crave to set as many hyperparameters inevitably as possible in the DL. To be a great enabler, ITS has to find suitable solutions to issues like—alert on live time traffic information to interested parties along with facility to retrieve on demand the long-term statistical data, reduce the middling waiting time for commuters, offer protected, consistent, value-added services, control with vitality the signal timing based on the traffic flow etc., All these limitations call for instant attention. Among all the listed issues the problems like the sharp nonlinearities due to changeovers amid free flow, breakdown, retrieval and congestion. The contributions in this paper are as follows: (i) Adopt an ascendable approach to kindle the scarce information formed; (ii) Exploit the attention mechanism to exterminate the disadvantages of Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) methods for traffic prediction; (iii) Suggest a new fusion smoothing model; (iv) Investigating, developing, and utilizing the Bayesian contextual bandits; (v) Recommend a Linear model based on LSTM, in combo with Bayesian contextual bandits. The travel speed prediction is done by LSTM. The results authenticate that the proposed model can adeptly achieve the goal of developing a system. The proposed model is definitely the best solution to overcome the issues.

Food, Gentrification and Located Life Plans

Even though the phenomenon of gentrification is ever-growing in contemporary urban contexts, especially in high income countries, it has been mostly overlooked by normative political theorists and philosophers. In this paper we examine the normative dimensions of gentrification through the lens of food. By drawing on Huber and Wolkenstein’s (Huber and Wolkenstein, Politics, Philosophy & Economics 17:378–397, 2018) work, we use food as an example to illustrate the multiple ways in which life plans can be located and to argue that both existing residents and newcomers have an interest in occupancy rights. More specifically, while newcomers have an interest in moving freely to new neighbourhoods in order to purse their preferred life plans, they also have an interest in being able to continue to pursue those life plans once they have acquired them, and this requires occupancy rights and the implementation of measures aimed at regulating and slowing down gentrification. Moreover, when residents belong to already disadvantaged groups, more significant anti-gentrification measures can be implemented in order to prevent injustices from being compounded.

An analysis of the bicycle network in Banjaluka: Physical vs. Digital infrastructure

This article focuses on the relationship between the physical structures which enable cycling in a city, and the modern digital services supporting this type of transport. The contemporary urban context is conditioned not only by global technological trends, but also by the growing environmental awareness. The case of Banjaluka provides the background for the analysis of this ongoing urban process, emphasizing the importance of cycling, as well as the efficiency and functionality of its networks. After presenting the general condition and physical features of the cycling infrastructure in Banjaluka, the article analyzes both the potential of digital upgrading through the use of bicycle applications and the possible benefits of a dockless cycling system. As a result, suggestions and recommendations for the overall improvement of the cycling network are provided, on the level of both the physical and digital infrastructure. By introducing these emerging global concepts to the local level, the article also contributes to the popularization of cycling as a sustainable mode of transport.

Modernist Art in Ethiopia

Modernist Art in Ethiopia