Urban Development Planning Research Articles

Construction of Green Ecological Network in Qingdao (Shandong, China) Based on the Combination of Morphological Spatial Pattern Analysis and Biodiversity Conservation Function Assessment

Building urban green ecological network systems and increasing urban and rural landscape connectivity are effective ways to improve urban biodiversity and landscape sustainability. The ecological sources in the main urban area of Qingdao City (Shandong, China) were identified based on morphological spatial pattern analysis (MSPA) combined with a biodiversity conservation function assessment, with the ecological corridors established and the ecological network structure optimized. The results showed that (1) the study area lacked high-quality patches with strong landscape connectivity; (2) the potential green ecological network of the study area was composed of 38 ecological sources, 703 ecological corridors, and 284 ecological nodes, effectively connecting urban and suburban green spaces; (3) after optimization, the green ecological network contained a total of 223 important corridors and 61 key nodes, with significantly increased network connectivity; (4) the optimal ecological corridor width in Qingdao was determined to be 30 m. Our study provided important guidance for the construction of ecological security patterns and scientific evidence to support urban green space planning and sustainable development in Qingdao.

Transfer-Ensemble Learning: A Novel Approach for Mapping Urban Land Use/Cover of the Indian Metropolitans

Land use and land cover (LULC) classification plays a significant role in the analysis of climate change, evidence-based policies, and urban and regional planning. For example, updated and detailed information on land use in urban areas is highly needed to monitor and evaluate urban development plans. Machine learning (ML) algorithms, and particularly ensemble ML models support transferability and efficiency in mapping land uses. Generalization, model consistency, and efficiency are essential requirements for implementing such algorithms. The transfer-ensemble learning approach is increasingly used due to its efficiency. However, it is rarely investigated for mapping complex urban LULC in Global South cities, such as India. The main objective of this study is to assess the performance of machine and ensemble-transfer learning algorithms to map the LULC of two metropolitan cities of India using Landsat 5 TM, 2011, and DMSP-OLS nightlight, 2013. This study used classical ML algorithms, such as Support Vector Machine-Radial Basis Function (SVM-RBF), SVM-Linear, and Random Forest (RF). A total of 480 samples were collected to classify six LULC types. The samples were split into training and validation sets with a 65:35 ratio for the training, parameter tuning, and validation of the ML algorithms. The result shows that RF has the highest accuracy (94.43%) of individual models, as compared to SVM-RBF (85.07%) and SVM-Linear (91.99%). Overall, the ensemble model-4 produces the highest accuracy (94.84%) compared to other ensemble models for the Kolkata metropolitan area. In transfer learning, the pre-trained ensemble model-4 achieved the highest accuracy (80.75%) compared to other pre-trained ensemble models for Delhi. This study provides innovative guidelines for selecting a robust ML algorithm to map urban LULC at the metropolitan scale to support urban sustainability.

ON THE QUESTION OF DEFINING THE CONCEPT OF ‘ARCHITECTURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE CITY’

The article highlights the problem of the absence of a holistic concept that could fully characterise the city. The idea of studying the city as a whole organism is not new. However, urban theories usually reveal one or several aspects, and the rest remain neglected. We used the historical-genetic and systematic methods of research and considered a few city-planning and urbanistic theories in development, showing which aspects of city life they illuminate and which remain undefined. So, we analysed the chronology of stages of the development of urban planning and drew a parallel with the sequence of the emergence of architecture, urban-planning, and urban theories. Theories demonstrating the evolution of theoretical thought from the twentieth century to the present are considered to determine the problems. Therefore, the research begins with the emergence of the concept of ‘garden city’ by E. Howard, includes the study of the formation of the concepts of districts and neighbourhoods, then the change in the concept of urban planning to urbanism, the invention of the concept of the urban environment by Glazychev, and ends with modern research on this issue. The analysis of the existing theories showed that all the proposed ones do not have a comprehensive overview and study one or several aspects without taking into account others. We identified seven core aspects of the architectural landscape of the city: geological-geographical, historical-cultural, semantic, functional, scenario, phenomenological, and social. The concept of architectural landscape combines all the listed above aspects of the study of the city. We are considering that the combination of the main aspects will avoid incompleteness and fragmentation of its understanding and will allow us to see and develop a comprehension of the life of the urban organism. Therefore, this article proposes to introduce a new concept of the architectural landscape of the city that, by forming a holistic view, would help to fill in the blank spots in modern urban theory. Keywords: theory of architecture, urbanism, theory of urban planning, architectural landscape, urban environment.

Intelligent approach to mining cultural tourism potential areas based on YOLOv4: insights from Macau

ABSTRACT Based on historical background and geopolitical factors, Macau is closely related to Portuguese cities; Macau also currently attaches great importance to the creation of a Sino-Portuguese platform and cultural tourism to drive better economic development. This study explores a method for identifying and mining cultural tourism potential areas developed under the YOLOv4 framework and cosine similarity. The main conclusions of this study are as follows: (1) While the YOLOv4 method shows good performance and can effectively identify the architectural texture of Portuguese cities, it may face certain difficulties if applied to newly built urban areas in Macau. (2) Through the cosine similarity method, it is found that the architectural texture slices of the three island cities of Portugal and Macau have certain similarities. The city with the highest level of similarity with Macau is Lisboa, followed by Porto and Evora, while Guimaraes has the lowest level of similarity with Macau. This finding serves as a certain reference for the subsequent construction of the cultural tourism characteristics of the region. (3) Comparing the characteristics of Macau city obtained through the cosine similarity algorithm with the city slices that have a high level of similarity in Portugal, we find the following: “street networks”, “street blocks”, squares, and open space form in the Macau Peninsula, while “street blocks” and “large-scale building complexes” form in the outlying islands. These types of spaces have different scales and can be developed in the future in conjunction with cultural tourism activities on different scales. This study applies machine learning methods to the development of urban cultural tourism potential areas, which provides new perspectives and methods for urban tourism development planning.

Evaluating Non-Stationarity in Precipitation Intensity-Duration-Frequency Curves for the Dallas–Fort Worth Metroplex, Texas, USA

Extreme precipitation has become more frequent and intense with time and space. Infrastructure design tools such as Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curves still rely on historical precipitation and stationary assumptions, risking current and future urban infrastructure. This study developed IDF curves by incorporating non-stationarity trends in precipitation annual maximum series (AMS) for Dallas–Fort Worth, the fourth-largest metropolitan region in the United States. A Pro-NEVA tool was used to develop non-stationary IDF curves, taking historical precipitation AMS for seven stations that showed a non-stationary trend with time as a covariate. Four statistical indices—the Akaike Information Criterion (AIC), Bayesian Information Criterion (BIC), Root Mean Square Error (RMSE), and Nash–Sutcliffe Efficiency (NSE)—were used as the model goodness of fit evaluation. The lower AIC, BIC, and RMSE values and higher NSE values for non-stationary models indicated a better performance compared to the stationary models. Compared to the traditional stationary assumption, the non-stationary IDF curves showed an increase (up to 75%) in the 24 h precipitation intensity for the 100-year return period. Using the climate change adaptive non-stationary IDF tool for the DFW metroplex and similar urban regions could enable decision makers to make climate-informed choices about infrastructure investments, emergency preparedness measures, and long-term urban development and water resource management planning.

Effect of airport pollution on airport cities and air quality of the area (case study: Imam Khomeini international airport)

Airport pollution from increased air traffic affects regional air quality and health negatively. Previous research has mainly focused on modeling pollutant distribution near the airport in a short radius. Also, limited studies have been performed to create a general model of pollutant distribution for the future planning of urban development in a wide radius. In this research, the amount of gaseous pollutants and suspended particulate matter (SPM) produced by Imam Khomeini International Airport (IKIA) was estimated. The modeling of the distribution of pollutants was performed using AERMOD and ISCST3 software in a 50 km radius, taking into account the main meteorological and atmospheric parameters. The pollutants selected in this study were gaseous pollutants, including nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) estimated by the simple approach method (option A) presented by the International Aviation Organization (ICAO), as well as SPM estimated by FOA.3 method provided by the Department of Federal Organization. IKIA produced 596 tons of NOx, 344 tons of CO, 19 tons of SO2 and about 3 tons of SPM from March 2021 to February 2022. Also, the maximum concentrations were in the 1-h time frame, and the results showed that the concentration of NOx, CO, SO2 and SPM was 162, 93.4, 5.14, and 0.77 μg/m3, respectively. The prevailing winds of the airport from the west and northwest caused the maximum impact of pollutants' distribution on the residential and industrial areas located in the east and southeast of the airport. Also, due to the east and southeast winds, most of the development phases of the airport city, which are located in the west and northwest of the airport, were affected by the distribution of pollutants. This research developed a pollutant distribution model to gain insight into mitigating airport pollution's impact on residential, industrial, and airport areas.

Remote Sensing-Based Outdoor Thermal Comfort Assessment in Local Climate Zones in the Rural-Urban Continuum of eThekwini Municipality, South Africa.

Due to the need to continuously monitor and understand the thermal environment and its socioeconomic implications, this study used remotely sensed data to analyze thermal comfort variation in LCZs, including along the rural to urban gradient of the eThekwini Municipality in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa. LCZs were mapped using multi-temporal and multi-spectral Landsat 8 and Landsat 9 data using the approach by World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT), while thermal data were used to retrieve land surface temperatures (LSTs). Data for training classification of LCZs and accuracy assessment were digitized from GoogleEarth guided by knowledge gained and data collected during a field survey in March 2022 as well as pre-existing maps. LCZs were mapped using the random forest classifier in SAGA GIS software while a single channel algorithm based on band 10 was used to compute LST for different scenes. The LSTs were adjusted and further used to derive thermal comfort based on the Universal Thermal Comfort Index (UTCI) categories as an indicator for outdoor thermal comfort on the extremely low- and extremely high-temperature periods in the cool and hot seasons, respectively. LCZs were mapped with high accuracy (overall accuracy of 90.1% and kappa of 0.88) while inter-class separability was high (>1.5) for all LCZ pairs. Built-up LCZs dominate the eastern parts of the municipality, signifying the influence of the sea on development within the area. Average LST was coolest in the dense forest, open low-rise and water LCZs in the cool and hot seasons, respectively. The compact high-rise LCZ was the warmest in both the hot (36 °C) and the cool (23 °C) seasons. The sea sands were among coolest regions in both seasons due to their high water content, attributed to their high water table and close proximity to the ocean. There was no thermal stress during the cool season, while most areas recorded moderate to strong heat stress in the hot season. Some areas in the densely built-up LCZs recorded very strong heat stress in the hot season. The findings suggest that policies and strategies should enhance heat mitigation capacities in strong-heat-stress areas during the hot season. Municipal authorities and citizens must work together to build strategies to minimize temperature extremes and associated socioeconomic pressures. Urban development policies, plans and strategies should consider implications on the thermal environment as well as the value of conservation of LCZs with high-heat mitigation value such as dense forests and expansion of built-up LCZs with low-heat absorption levels such as open low-rise. The study was based mainly on remotely sensed temperatures with some ground data used to validate results, which may limit the assessment. Overall, the study provides insights towards achievement of global sustainable and climate-smart development targets.

Exploring the influence of relative attractiveness in green spaces on urban movements: A potential to kinetic energy framework

Urban green spaces are increasingly recognized for their positive impact on well-being, quality of life, and public health. Researchers have explored how green space characteristics, such as size, theme, and convenience, influence urban movement. However, an important aspect that has received limited attention is the relative attractiveness of green spaces. When residents have access to similar green spaces nearby, their inclination to visit more distant ones decreases. This leads to the central research question: How does the relative attractiveness of urban green spaces affect urban movements? The existing literature lacks a comprehensive theory to address this question. To bridge this gap, this paper introduces the Potential to Kinetic Energy (PKE) framework, inspired by principles from physics. In this framework, potential energy represents the relative attractiveness of green spaces between the travel origin and destination, while kinetic energy signifies the urban movement resulting from the this attractiveness. To demonstrate the PKE framework's applicability, this paper analyzes green space data and smart card subway ridership records from Beijing. The results show that a unit increase in size, cultural, attraction, proximity, and location potential energy is associated with a 0.22%, 0.27%, 0.14%, 0.19%, and 0.02% increase in urban movement. The findings provide compelling evidence for the significant role of relative attractiveness in shaping urban movements and offer valuable insights for urban planning and policy development. The proposal of the PKE framework encourages interdisciplinary discussions among urban planners, environmental scientists, and transportation experts, fostering collaborative efforts to enhance the sustainability of cities.

The Influence of New-Type Urbanization and Environmental Pollution on Public Health: A Spatial Durbin Model Study

The rapid pace of urbanization in recent years, accompanied by the tension between urbanization and environmental pollution as well as public health, has become increasingly prominent, potentially constraining the normal pace of urbanization development, environmental sustainability and public health enhancement. This paper aims to clarify the relationship between new urbanization, environmental pollution and public health from both local and spatial perspectives, using a spatial Durbin model and a mediating effects model based on panel data from 275 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2020 and to test the existence of regional heterogeneity with a sub-sample of three major regions: eastern, central and western China. After incorporating environmental pollution as a variable across the entire scope of China, it was found that the new-type urbanization was related to public health in a ‘positive U-shaped’ form in terms of both local and spatial spillover effects (β2 = 14.5620, β3 = −17.8938, p < 0.05; θ2 = 19.2527, θ3 = −29.0973, p < 0.1) and environmental pollution exerts a negative impact on public health (β1 = 6.3704, θ1 = 2.5731, p < 0.05). A “reverse U-shaped” local effect was observed between new-type urbanization and environmental pollution (β2 = 0.6281, β3 = −0.5315, p < 0.05). Environmental pollution plays a partially mediating role in the impact mechanism of new-type urbanization on public health. There was regional heterogeneity in the relationship between new-type urbanization, environmental pollution and public health. The empirical results for the western regions and the whole of China were generally consistent, but the differences were significant between the eastern and central regions. In the eastern region, new-type urbanization and public health were related in an ‘inverted U-shaped’ form from the perspective of local and spatial spillover effect, and in the central region, there was an ‘inverted U-shaped’ form from the perspective of local effect. There was a threshold effect relationship between new-type urbanization and environmental pollution and between new-type urbanization and public health. At the same time, there was regional heterogeneity in the relationships between the three. Therefore, this paper argues that governments should formulate scientific urban planning and sustainable development policies that take into account the actual situation of each region and aim to promote sustainable urbanization, environmental quality and public health as a whole.

Urban land suitability analysis using geospatial techniques and combined weighting approach in Gabes zone, Southeastern Tunisia

Urban Land Suitability analysis is necessary in any development project in order to ensure rational urban planning and sustainable development. In this study, a novel approach based on GIS and Combined Weighting method were used to construct a reasonable assessment model and calculate the Urban Land Suitability Index (ULSI) of Gabes area (Southeastern Tunisia). Seven conditional factors were selected: flooding susceptibility, Lithology, Topography, Seismotectonic, Water table depth, Swelling soils, Soils Aggressivity and the thematic layers were prepared in ArcMap_GIS. The resultant model following combination of the geo-spatial (GIS) and geostatistical (CRITIC-ANP) modeling show that this region is subdivided into four analyzed zones in terms of geo-hazard susceptibility and foundation excavation: flooding risk area; settlement risk zone; collapse risk area and subsidence risk zone. The ULSI is equal to 3.5. The accuracy degree of the achieved model was validated by ROC-AUC curve, it’s is around 78.4%. The ULS model developed enable assured a the assessed thorough and can well reflect an urban land suitability. The results achieved in this study assured planners, engineers, decision-makers and authorities assured a good risk prediction and management plan, could, thus, be facilitate decision-making and can serve as a guideline for all future urban planning projects in this region.

The Ecological Efficiency of Green Materials in Sustainable Urban Planning—A Model for Its Measurement

Urban green planning is crucial in promoting sustainable urban ecosystems through the mindful use of vegetation, but few approaches are currently able to account for the ecosystem services provided by urban green planning in ex ante planning applications. The present research proposes a methodological approach to sustainable urban planning that accounts for the ecological role of vegetation in urban ecosystems. Indeed, by estimating the functions exerted by different vegetation elements in urban ecosystems through a purposely developed set of equations, the procedure allows for the optimization of the development of urban plans by maximizing the contribution of vegetation to ecosystem dynamics. Specifically, the proposed methodology is articulated in two phases, i.e., the functional role of vegetation is firstly modeled through simple geometric features and specific ecological traits accounting for plant interactions with the environment, and then the selected vegetation traits are used in guiding the choice of the species. The approach has been exemplified through case studies, thereby highlighting its ability to guide planning decisions based on the type, abundance, and spatial organization of vegetation to promote the sustainability of urban development.

Evolution of urban morphological polycentricity and the thermal response in Wuhan from 2000 to 2020

The emergence of urban polycentric development patterns in response to the pressure of rapid urbanization can profoundly affect the urban heat island (UHI) effect. However, little research has been conducted on this issue at a high spatio-temporal resolution level. To investigate the evolution of urban polycentricity and the accompanying changes in the urban thermal environment, data for 2000 to 2020 from Wuhan in China obtained by multiple sensors were used to extract the urban morphological centers each year and generate annual summer mean land surface temperature (LST) with a 30 m resolution. Results show that the number and size of urban morphological centers in Wuhan increased significantly, from five centers covering 29.75 km2 in 2000 to 15 centers covering 171.72 km2 in 2020. The annual average growth rate was rapid (0.152 km2/a) from 2000 to 2012, then slowed down (0.026 km2/a). The location of newly emerged urban centers aligned with Wuhan's urban development planning. Meanwhile, the urban thermal environment also changed considerably. The summer mean LST have risen by around 1 K, whereas the area of high LST centers fluctuated in the recent two decades. The evolution of urban morphological centers and high LST centers was not always synchronized, with changes in the former showed hysteresis behind the latter, and overlapping areas between the two reaching the maximum at an interval of about nine years. These findings will further our understanding of the urban polycentricity, as well as the evolution of the urban thermal environment in this context.

Impact of urbanization on net carbon sink efficiency in economically developed area: A case study of the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration, China

Reducing carbon emissions and improving vegetation carbon sequestration (VCS) have long been recognized as the key ways to address the aim of carbon neutrality, requiring global effort and typical regional experiences. This paper develops an assessment framework for measuring the net carbon sink efficiency (NCSE) based on the concept of net-zero carbon sink to depict both carbon emission and VCS simultaneously. This paper primarily runs a spatial autocorrelation analysis to explore spatial characteristics of urbanization and NCSE of Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration (YRD) in China from 2000 to 2020, followed by employs a spatial econometric model to investigate the spatial spillover effect of urbanization on NCSE. The results show that NCSE in YRD exhibits clear spatial disparities, descending from the southern part dominated by mountainous hills to the flatter northern region. The spatial evolutionary trend of urbanization and NCSE has a significant positive correlation, manifested as H-H and L-L agglomeration, covering most counties in southeast coastal areas and northern plains, respectively. The NCSE can improve even during the continued urbanization in YRD. Specifically, for every 1% increase in urbanization, NCSE will increase by 0.164%, of which 0.118% in direct and 0.046% in indirect growth, respectively. In addition, GDP per capita, industrial structure, technological progress, road area and direct foreign investment are benefit for NCSE. In contrast, population density, environmental regulation, and built-up area tend to decline NCSE. These findings may help to formulate the urban sustainable development planning and differentiated carbon neutrality policies.

Research on the Impact of Smart City Development Taking Amsterdam as an Example

The Smart City is the highest stage of urban information development and an emerging model of sustainable urban development. Currently, the predominant focus of smart city research lies in the domain of construction, while there exists a dearth of discourse and theoretical underpinning pertaining to the sustainable development of smart cities with regards to conceptual standards and practical necessities. This insufficiency in comprehensive discussion and theoretical support may hinder the progress of Smart City research and impede the long-term effectiveness of implementation strategies. In order to address these concerns, this study chooses the most typical Amsterdam Smart City and investigates viable options for sustainable urban growth. A comprehensive definition of a smart city is formulated through a thematic study, this study adopting a prototype theory as the basis. The study also presents reference strategies for establishing a sustainable development model for smart cities in China, utilizing case studies. The findings indicate that the continued development of the Smart City model can contribute to the progress of urban intelligence, information systems, and modernization in the long run. Besides, this paper provides a case study of smart cities for in-depth investigation, with development factors influencing the selection of subsequent urban development plans.

Mindset Changes for Dealing with Complex Climate Impacts - Experiences with a Tool from Courses on Digitalization and Climate-Adapted Urban Development

Economy and society are currently exposed to multi-layered multi-crises. Against the backdrop of the covid pandemic, a growing shortage of skilled workers, increasing armed conflicts or persistent refugee flows, cities and municipalities in particular have to deal with resulting local impacts. Parallel to these highly dynamic crisis events, cities and municipalities continue to be called upon to face the now established challenges of climate change, sustainability and digitalization. More and more, there are organizational and also psychological overloads in coping with everyday tasks as a result of increasing complexities. Because of the excessive demands, there is a retreat to familiar and routine-related everyday work and the neglect of the search for adequate solutions to the increasingly complex problems. Especially in the field of municipal infrastructure, which requires rapid and comprehensive adaptation to the manifold impacts of climate change, this excessive demand increasingly leads to recourse to rather simple solutions, which, however, do not justice to the complexity of the situation. During two certificate courses at Hof University of Applied Sciences (Germany) on the development of climate-adapted urban planning and on successful digitalization in municipal water management, a novel tool for dealing with complex situations was developed to practice on examples. It was observed among the approximately 70 participants in both courses that used this method two to three times already led to a visible change in the perception and assessment of complex situations, without the need for psychologically accompanied training of change behavior.

Typological factors of urban development of inconvenient lands in the structure of Irkutsk riparian zones

The paper considers the main approaches to organization and development of inconvenient lands in a city structure. The aim was to develop an interdisciplinary research model and to design an urban development plan for the territories of floodplains with a high level of flooding. The main objectives of the study consisted in identification of factors for assessing the urban development capacity of territories with various degrees of flooding; determination of principles for increasing the urban development capacity of wetland areas; formation of methods for urban development of inconvenient lands, taking into account landscape planning factors of the floodplain complex organization. The paper considered the main approaches to organizing inconvenient urban areas as a whole. However, most attention was paid to the wetland areas of vast floodplains from the standpoint of geotechnical, biotechnical and urban morphological methods of organizing the territory. The methodology of territory assessment and transformation via methods of geoplastics was developed in the process, and the basic principles of sustainable landscape-planning pattern of the urban fabric under conditions of flooding were formulated. As a result, a model of territory organization was developed based on the methods of urban landscaping and building morphotypes on the example of Irkutsk.

Changing Patterns of Urban Green Spaces in Akure, Nigeria

Greenery and natural landscapes are vital to human well-being, especially in cities. Notably, the majority of people aspire to live in cities in search of opportunities and a better quality of life, which harms urban green spaces, also known as the "lungs of the city." Current debates on urban planning and sustainable development in Nigeria and around the world are fundamentally influenced by the rapid growth of urbanization and the ensuing domination of concrete spaces over natural spaces. This study examined patterns in Akure's urban green areas while taking into account the spatiotemporal pattern of vegetation cover between 1984 and 2022. The collected satellite imagery was analyzed using the ArcGIS application program, and the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) was used to calculate the rate and patterns of urban green space. Over time, changes in the spatial distribution of urban green spaces and the growth of non-green spaces were monitored and estimated. The depletion's implications for planning were addressed. To educate and inform urban residents about the protection, conservation, and preservation of natural landscapes within urban landscapes, it is thought that examining and analyzing the physical planning and environmental consequences of unchecked depletion of urban green spaces will be useful for making sustainable environmental policy decisions in harnessing the resources potentials.

Modelling Urban Green Spaces Depletion in Akure, Nigeria

The fast progress of urbanization and the accompanying dominance of concrete spaces over natural spaces are fundamental to current debates on urban planning and sustainable development in Nigeria and the world at large. It is worth noting that natural landscapes and greenery are critical to man's quality of life; yet, the majority of the population are going to reside in urban areas, to the detriment of urban green spaces, known as the "lungs of the city." A detailed account urban green spaces in Akure. Using Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing techniques needs to be done. This study examines the status of urban green spaces in Akure, Nigeria to determine the rate of depletion and encroachment green spaces. The spatio-temporal analysis of green spaces in Akure was carried out between 1984 and 2022 using Supervised maximum likelihood classification procedure on Landsat 8 OLI/TIRS, Landsat 7 EMT+ and Landsat 4-5 TM Imageries. It took cognizance of attributes of vegetative cover at varying degrees such as Grasses and Shrubs, Light Vegetation, Secondary Vegetation, and Dense Vegetation. The rate of depletion of green areas, change statistic, socio-economic implication as well as planning implications were addressed. It is believed that assessing and analyzing its social, economic, and environmental impacts on urban inhabitants and their livelihoods would serve as a tool to educate and enlighten urban citizens about the need of including green space scheme into urban designs and planning in Akure.

Spatial and Temporal Variations of Carbon Dioxide Fluxes in Urban Ecosystems of Changsha, China

Understanding the spatial and temporal variations of urban carbon dioxide fluxes (FCO2) and their influencing factors is crucial for solving urban climate problems and promoting the development of low-carbon cities. In this study, the carbon dioxide flux (FCO2) in Changsha City, China, was analyzed using the eddy covariance technique and flux footprint model. The results showed that the extent of the flux footprint within the observation site was mostly limited to 500 m. Diurnal variation of FCO2 showed a regular pattern influenced by plant photosynthesis and traffic flow. Meanwhile, photosynthesis was directly regulated by photosynthetically active radiation and indirectly regulated by air temperature and water vapor pressure differences. The average value of FCO2 was lower during the daytime than at night, indicating the high vegetation cover (43.5%) in the study area. In addition, there were spatial characteristics of FCO2 in each wind direction due to different surface land use in the study area. Notably, a decreasing trend in carbon dioxide content was observed after the area covered by vegetation was 1.8 times the area of buildings and major roads combined. These findings guide climate management, urban planning, and sustainable development toward a low-carbon society.

Acts of citizenship in present-day Greece

How do communities (fully fledged, active or imagined) perform citizenship? How do recent policies on urban planning and economic development in the city impact public space as the very site where citizenship is claimed, performed and experienced? What is the relationship between practices of memory (from personal memory, to collective and institutional) and acts of citizenship? How does the memory and the archivization of community life (in other words, the creation of a communal past) help the emergence of new demands for inclusion, rights and agonistic togetherness? Drawing inspiration from the colloquium Being Citizens Together: Rethinking Social Citizenship in Greece that took place on 11 February 2023 at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), we invited the participants of the colloquium to reflect on the notion of social citizenship in Greece. The contributions include an interview with the curators of the event Dimitris Papanikolaou and Theophilos Tramboulis with the Reviews+ co-editor Kristina Gedgaudaitė as well as critical reflections and creative writing interventions by eight of the participants: Christos Chrysanthopoulos, Sofia Dona, Brikena Gishto, Pafsanias Karathanasis, Erofili Kokkali, Iris Lykourioti, Anna Papaeti and Theo Prodromidis.