Context Of Sustainable Urban Development Research Articles

Comprehensive Evaluation of the Implementation Effect of Commercial Street Quality Improvement Based on AHP-Entropy Weight Method—Taking Hefei Shuanggang Old Street as an Example

In the global context of sustainable urban development, urban regeneration is an activity to improve the form and function of urban space in built-up areas. Commercial streets are one of the most active factors in urban space and an important factor in promoting urban prosperity and reflecting urban vitality, yet these streets have not kept pace with the public’s quest for quality through theoretical change, and this can even affect public comfort and well-being. In order to effectively undertake urban regeneration and improve the quality of urban streets and residents’ satisfaction, design factors for the quality enhancement of commercial streets are explored in order to rationalise residents’ demand preferences and their priorities, enhance residents’ sense of belonging, and provide suggestions for the optimisation of the design of subsequent urban street regeneration in China. By summarising the literature and the content requirements of the quality enhancement scheme for Shuanggang Old Street in Hefei, this study applied a questionnaire survey and scientifically developed an index system containing five evaluation indicators, including spatial carrying capacity, street attractiveness, travel safety, environmental comfort, and social interaction. A combination of hierarchical analysis and entropy weighting was used to identify the most influential factors on the implementation of the quality improvement of the commercial street and design optimisation suggestions. The evaluation results show that travel safety and social interaction significantly affect the evaluation of the quality improvement of commercial streets, as well as highlighting the needs of residents for street environments and services and the role of local governments.

The Importance of Historical Stages of Construction Within the Context of Sustainable Urban Development of Hadrut City

Preservation of Artsakh's architectural heritage and the issues of use have acquired a special significance today. The historical stages of the construction of the city of Hadrut in Artsakh, and, as a result of their analysis, their impact on the further sustainable development of the city have been revealed. There are 5 main stages: formation, late Middle Ages, from the 19th century to the first half of the 20th century, Soviet and independence periods. Suggestions are given on the territorial development of the city.

Communities Shaping Sustainable Cities

The contribution introduces significance of local communities in global context of sustainable urban development. Since last decades, urban regeneration, redevelopment and improvements of stabilized localities has become the subject of attention, as the limits of land use and urban expansion has been understood and generally accepted. Recently, the role of community and citizens has been emphasized in international strategies, for instance UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (2015) or UNESCO Strategic Objectives of the World Heritage Convention, so called Five C’s (the fifth C representing Community added in 2007). Bottom-up initiatives and community activities have become important in urban revitalization and regeneration. The contribution aims to describe the activities and roles of various stakeholders, based on analysis of application project in Prague, Czech Republic inspired with a project in Basel, Switzerland, and characteristics of the evolution process heading towards community activation, which is important for the integrated planning processes, involving an interdisciplinary team and active public participation.

Vulnerability Assessment to Climate Variability and Climate Change in Tijuana, Mexico

This paper presents research results of a recent project creating an operational approach to assess vulnerability to climate variability and climate change in Tijuana, Mexico. Despite chronic flooding problems throughout the history of the city, local authorities and state authorities have given little attention to vulnerability to climate variability and climate change. This is the first assessment of vulnerability to flooding carried out in Tijuana. Research results show that over 10 percent of the total population in the city (over 153,000 inhabitants) lives in areas with high vulnerability to flooding, and an additional 18 percent (277,000 inhabitants) are in areas with what we classify as medium-high vulnerability. Results by census track identified specific areas and social groups in these categories, as well as the underlying drivers of vulnerability associated with the biophysical conditions of the landscape that have been modified by urban growth and through social processes (namely, deficiencies in local urban planning and its enforcement along with deficient social policies). Information and knowledge of vulnerability is a useful first step in the long process of creating climate adaptation and resilient pathways within the context of sustainable urban development.

Utilisation of underground pedestrian systems for urban sustainability

Underground pedestrian systems (UPS) have emerged as an urban phenomenon in the city centres of mega-cities, providing alternative walkways that are safe, accessible, efficient and pleasant for pedestrians. Despite many successful UPS in operation around the world, the application and performance of UPS are not yet well understood by local authorities. While previous studies debated the impacts on cities and people that the development of UPS would bring, an understanding of how to develop UPS to contribute to sustainable urban development, including economic viability, environmental livability and social equity, should be improved. This paper presents a detailed discussion of potential contributions and challenges in developing UPS within the context of sustainable urban development. It contains a comprehensive analysis of the relationship between UPS and urban development with regard to urban planning concepts such as the compact city, city resilience, sustainable transport and urban renewal, within the context of contemporary challenges such as the need to achieve economic sustainability, managing a non-renewable and vulnerable underground resource, and humanisation and social sustainability. It demonstrates why UPS development presents opportunities for and challenges to achieving economic viability, environmental livability and social equity, how to develop UPS so that they make effective contributions to sustainable urban development, and how the challenge of each issue has been addressed in light of the experiences of cities with UPS developments globally.

Special Issue on Sustainable Materials and Structures

This special issue consists of extended and revised versions of 10 papers selected from those presented at the First International Conference on Performance-Based and Life-Cycle Structural Engineering (PLSE 2012). The conference was co-organized by the Faculty of Construction and Environment (FCE) and the Research Institute for Sustainable Urban Development (RISUD) of Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), and was held on December 5–7, 2012, in Hong Kong. PLSE 2012 was organized as the first conference in a series to provide an international platform for scientific exchange and international cooperation in the areas of performance-based and life-cycle structural engineering for a wide range of structures, such as building, bridges, and offshore platforms. Both performance-based and life-cycle structural engineering are important areas of structural engineering research; they have also gained gradual acceptance in structural engineering practice. In particular, performance-based life-cycle structural engineering, based on a full integration of these two areas, offers an exciting new direction for structural engineering within the context of sustainable urban development. The conference program comprised approximately 230 presentations, including nine keynote lectures and 34 invited lectures. Eleven mini-symposia on specialized topics were also organized as part of the conference. As one of the six journal special issues that have arisen from PLSE 2012, this special issue is focused on the topic of “sustainable materials and structures” and primarily addresses the following topics: long-term or lifecycle performance of concrete materials and structures, longterm performance of structures incorporating fiber-reinforced polymer (FRP) composites, and recycling of materials for structural purposes. As Guest Editors of this special issue, we would like to acknowledge the contributions of many individuals to the successful compilation of this special issue. In particular, we would like to thank all authors for their careful preparation of the papers and the reviewers for their prompt and high quality reviews. Sincere thanks are also due to Professor Antonio Nanni, Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Materials in Civil Engineering, for his kind support during the development of this special issue.

PlanYourPlace – A geospatial infrastructure for sustainable community planning

Technological advances over the past 5 to 10 years have made Geographic Information Systems a powerful and affordable tool for geographic analysis and urban planning. These technological advances have also enabled and shaped new forms of communication and participation, particularly within the domain of social networking via webpages such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Connecting the analytical power of GIS with mapping tools and interaction capabilities of web 2.0 technologies, as well as with environmental, economic, and social models should result in a promising toolbox for urban planning. This article presents a framework that outlines requirements and constraints for a web-accessible planning platform within the context of sustainable urban development of established neighbourhoods in the City of Calgary, Canada. The platform focuses not only on the urban planner as user, but more specifically on the citizen as a contributor to the planning and development process, to further include public opinion in the planning process. The following three aspects for the implementation of the participatory planning platform are