Environmental Urban Planning Research Articles

INVESTIGATING THE CO-CONNECTION BETWEEN URBAN IMAGES AND THE PREVALENCE OF CRIME INCIDENCE IN CALABAR, CROSS RIVER STATE, NIGEIRA

In recent time, urban crime wave have been on the increases in the metropolis of Calabar and environments. The incidence rate is variegated in time and space. The spatial variation or sporadicity dimension is one source of concern as well as the temporal prevalence considering bogus scope of the two parameters the research team settled for the spatial perspectives which informs the choice of the research title “ coconnection between crime prevalence and urban images in Calabar Cross River State” Accordingly, for meaningful and representative coverage the study area was demarcated in city blocks on the paraphenalia of land use/landscape images. From this, urban crime matrix was developed based on filed data collected from the designated locales. A single hypothesis was formulated for data analysis using the technique of chi-square(x2) statistical analysis. The result showed that there was a significant variation in crime wave prevalence inline with urban environmental images in the result therefore was conformal with the geodemograpghic” model of Oluwole and Ojo (2018) which state that similar people with similar characteristics are likely to occupy similar or the same geographic space or locality. This insight lays a solid foundation and urban environmental planning generally.

The effects of sky view factor on ground surface temperature in cold regions – A case from Xi'an, China

Integrated implementation of spatial and climate information is important for urban thermal environmental optimization. Sky view factor (SVF) is an urban form evaluation index widely used to study the relationship between geometrical parameters and microclimate characteristics. This relationship depends on the climate condition and the time scale of the study. We studied the influence of SVF on microclimate of typical high-rise street canyons of Xi'an in winter and conducted comparative simulations based on different street canyon geometries, which calculated hourly ground surface temperature (GST). We used 2 kinds of method to establish the correlation between SVF and GST - the statistical regression and physical model regression. With the statistical regression, we found a significant negative correlation coefficient of −0.87 between SVF and nighttime GST and a positive correlation coefficient of 0.53 between the SVF and daytime GST. The results based on physical model regression, however, showed that an increase of 0.1 in SVF caused daytime GST drops by 0.06 °C–0.49 °C. Whether separating the change in direct solar radiation levels accompanied by the changes in SVF was the main factor that leads to the difference in determine the relationship between SVF and daytime GST under the two methods. For the environment with large shadow fraction (SF), such as high-rise street canyons, we recommend the physical model regression as the regression mechanism between SVF and GST. Results of this study can be used in environmental urban planning standards.

Socio-Ecological Conflicts in a Global South Metropolis: Opportunities and Threats of a Potential Greenway in the São Paulo Metropolitan Region

Greenways are a measure of environmental remediation within a broad framework aimed at promoting urban greening and adaptation to climate change. The typical characteristics of large urban agglomerations, including land use (such as commercial, industrial, and residential areas) with few public spaces and fragmented landscapes, make it difficult to apply these solutions to the urban fabric, forcing decision-makers and planners to act in informal settlements, highways, and industrial parks. One proposed area is an enclave with unused or underutilized lots, where fragments of the Atlantic Forest, parks, landfills, and rapidly expanding informal settlements can be found. This manuscript examines the socioeconomic and environmental processes that shaped this potential urban greenway between Santo André, Mauá, and Ribeirão Pires, which are part of the São Paulo Metropolitan Region (SPRM), the largest in South America. A survey was conducted based on municipal and regional plans, the environmental and urban laws of Brazil, and the socioeconomic history of this part of the SPRM. In addition, satellite images were used to analyze land use evolution through geotechnologies. Finally, we prepared land use recommendations, considering opportunities and threats, highlighting the possibilities of protection and expansion of the Atlantic Forest. To this end, we examined the literature on environmental urban planning and design, green infrastructure, and other concepts. This study intends to stimulate researchers, planners, and decision-makers regarding the urban greening process in the Global South. According to the recommendations, this stimulus would develop these concepts according to the real situation of the region, which would combine the protection of wild habitats and urban environmental amenities. However, this effort makes no sense if one of the defining Global South characteristics not addressed is social inequality. Therefore, we recommend that an effort be made to develop and incorporate processes from urban greening in slum upgrading.

Retraction Note: Investigation of remote sensing image and big data analytic for urban garden landscape design and environmental planning

Retraction Note: Investigation of remote sensing image and big data analytic for urban garden landscape design and environmental planning

Land Resources Management and Current Situation of Resources and Environment in Urban and Rural Planning and Management

Land Resources Management and Current Situation of Resources and Environment in Urban and Rural Planning and Management

A hybrid integrated deep learning model for predicting various air pollutants

ABSTRACT Air pollution is a significant urban issue, with practical applications for pollution control, urban environmental management planning, and urban construction. However, owing to the complexity and differences in spatiotemporal changes for various types of pollution, it is challenging to establish a framework that can capture the spatiotemporal correlations of different types of air pollution and obtain high prediction accuracy. In this paper, we proposed a deep learning framework suitable for predicting various air pollutants: a graph convolutional temporal sliding long short-term memory (GT-LSTM) model. The hybrid integrated model combines graph convolutional networks and long short-term networks based on a strategy with temporal sliding. Herein, the graph convolution networks gather neighbor information for spatial dependency modeling based on the spatial adjacency matrices of different pollutants and the graph convolution operator with parameter sharing. LSTM networks with a temporal sliding strategy are used to learn dynamic air pollution changes for temporal dependency modeling. The framework was applied to predict the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, O3, CO, SO2, and NO2 in the Bejing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region for the next 24 hours. Experiments demonstrated that the proposed GT-LSTM model could extract high-level spatiotemporal features and achieve higher accuracy and stability than state-of-the-art baselines. Advancement in this methodology can assist in providing decision support capabilities to mitigate air quality issues.

Экосистема жилого квартала: проблемы, перспективы развития

Introduction. The problem of antagonistic contradiction between human life and the environment has been turning global along with the development of urbanization, breakthrough growth of the energy and technological potency of cities, leading to an increase in the consumption of natural resources and an impact on the biosphere. All over the world and in Russia, scientists are searching for environmentally friendly technologies for urban planning, housing and utilities sectors. However, the problem of analyzing and forecasting the state of ecosystems in residential areas and their influence on man and the environment remains unresolved and needs to be solved in many settlements. Materials and methods. The article analyzes the legal and regulatory documentation on design and construction, urban planning solutions for residential areas, architectural and structural solutions for apartment buildings, statistical and analytical reports on housing construction in Russia, presented on the Internet. Results. The proposed subjects for discussion include two concepts of the term “ecosystem”, results of the analysis of indicators of housing construction in Russia, indices of the quality of the urban environment in settlements, and a factor model used to assess the ecosystem of a residential area. A lifecycle model of a residential area, that represents a complex system, composed of capital construction facilities, linear facilities, landscaping and gardening, and waste management, is used as the basis for the generalization of well-known approaches, developed from the standpoint of the system analysis. Properties of interaction between facilities, on the one hand, facilities and the environment, on the other hand, are taken into account. Conclusions. Now residential housing is constructed faster, and urban areas, occupied by residential buildings, grow accordingly in the settlements of the Russian Federation willing to provide their population with high-quality housing. Mass construction of apartment buildings continues to be the main focus of the country’s urban development. Urban planning activities, aimed at the development and maintenance of residential areas, need all the more attention. It is important to use the biosphere approach, supported by the regulatory and technical framework of construction and operation of facilities and the urban planning environment, to solve the problem of nature conservation and human health maintenance.

A new multi-data-driven spatiotemporal PM2.5 forecasting model based on an ensemble graph reinforcement learning convolutional network

Spatiotemporal PM2.5 forecasting technology plays an important role in urban traffic environment management and planning. In order to establish a satisfactory high-precision PM2.5 prediction model, a new multidata-driven spatiotemporal PM2.5 forecasting model is proposed in this paper. The overall modelling framework consists of three main parts. In part I, the graph convolutional network uses an adjacency matrix to effectively aggregate spatiotemporal pollutant data from different nodes and extract the most valuable feature information for target point modeling from the original data. In part II, the extracted feature information is used as the input of the gated recursive unit and the long short-term memory network to construct the prediction model. In part III, the Q-learning algorithm builds the best ensemble PM2.5 forecasting model by analyzing the processing ability and analysis ability of different predictors. Based on the analysis of multiple cases, the following conclusions can be drawn: (1) Graphic convolutional networks can effectively analyze the spatiotemporal correlation of PM2.5 data and achieve better performance than traditional convolutional neural networks. (2) Q-learning can adaptively optimize the ensemble weight coefficient and achieve better results than the traditional optimization algorithm. (3) The proposed GCN-LSTM-GRU-Q model can achieve better results than the 24 benchmark models.

Mapping trade-offs among urban fringe land use functions to accurately support spatial planning

The land use planning and management of urban fringe areas have become major governmental agendas under the background of continuing periurbanization processes. Quantifying land use functions (LUFs) and their interactions as rationales for spatial planning can aid in formulating a more effective and sustainable land use management system. Considering that most of the previous research on LUFs focused on large-scale regions, research on local-scale districts such as urban fringe is still limited. Therefore, the objective of this work is to map the spatial distribution of LUFs and their level of provision around an urban fringe area, so as to identify LUFs synergies and trade-offs in relation to urban expansion and environmental protection planning. To achieve this target, we have proposed an improved LUFs classification system that was suitable for small-scale regions. Fine scale multivariate datasets were used to meet the practical requirements of spatial planning. The urban fringe areas of Binzhou city in China was taken as a case study to quantify and analyze nine kinds of sub-land use functions. The interactions among LUFs and their cold-hot spots were measured through Spearman correlation analysis and bivariate local Moran's I respectively. The results demonstrated a heterogeneous spatial pattern of multiple LUFs and the diverse interactions among them. The social production function presented an obvious regional distribution, the residents’ living functions were greatly affected by the radiation of the urban central areas, and the ecological regulation functions were closely related to the land use types. According to the LUFs clustering results, we proposed two spatial planning-zoning schemes based on the land use function and human utilization intensity. The integrative approach and the proposal of functional zones developed in this paper are applicable to provide a new perspective for spatial planning and peri-urban land use management.

Mapping Flood Risk Uncertainty Zones in Support of Urban Resilience Planning

<p>River flooding and urbanization are processes of different character that take place worldwide. As the latter tends to make the consequences of the former worse, together with the uncertainties related to future climate change and flood-risk modeling, there is a need to both use existing tools and develop new ones that help the management and planning of urban environments. In this article a prototype tool, based on estimated maximum land cover roughness variation, the slope of the ground, and the quality of the used digital elevation models, and that can produce flood ‘uncertainty zones’ of varying width around modeled flood boundaries, is presented. The concept of uncertainty, which urban planners often fail to consider in the spatial planning process, changes from something very difficult into an advantage in this way. Not only may these uncertainties be easier to understand by the urban planners, but the uncertainties may also function as a communication tool between the planners and other stakeholders. Because flood risk is something that urban planners always need to consider, these uncertainty zones can function both as buffer areas against floods, and as blue-green designs of significant importance for a variety of ecosystem services. As the Earth is warming and the world is urbanizing at rates and scales unprecedented in history, we believe that new tools for urban resilience planning are not only urgently needed, but also will have a positive impact on urban planning.</p>

Landscape as a Potential Key Concept in Urban Environmental Planning: The Case of Poland

Rapid urban development increases the consumption of materials, energy, and water, resulting in an overproduction of waste and emissions. These cause many environmental threats, such as ozone layer depletion and rain acidification, leading to climate change. Therefore, the question arises on how to improve the effectiveness of tools that strengthen environmental protection. This discursive article presents an approach stressing the role of landscape in environmental protection in Poland. It indicates that landscape protection is an ecological, not just an aesthetic activity, as it is often considered in Poland. The landscape reflects all changes occurring in individual elements of the environment resulting from urban development. Through landscape transformations, one can track the growth and accumulation of adverse effects in the chain of environmental changes. Knowledge regarding the dynamics and scope of these transformations can improve ecological design and technologies. Therefore, the landscape condition should be treated as an indicator of sustainable development. If so, one could hypothesise that effective landscape protection contributes to minimising environmental and climate changes. The relationships between the landscape and environmental/climate threats discussed in this article prompt combining some tools related to these threats, which may ensure both effective landscape protection and sustainable development, leading to reduced climate change. The possibilities and benefits of integrating these tools are presented here as well. General considerations are supplemented with references to the situation in Poland to support the need for implementing a more policy-oriented and interdisciplinary approach to landscape protection.

Nexus between perceptions of urban environmental planning and solid waste management practices in Debre Markos Town, Amhara Region, Northwest Ethiopia

Lack of integration between urban environmental planning and solid waste management is a challenge for cities in developing countries. The aim of the research was to analyze the nexus between local communities’ perceptions of urban environmental planning and solid waste management practices in Debre Markos Town, Northwest Ethiopia. The study applied a binary logistic regression approach to identify the factors that influence local communities’ perceptions about urban environmental planning and solid waste management practices. Results show that education level, family size, income and availability of safe disposal sites are statistically significant (either at P < 0.01 or P < 0.05) predictors of local communities’ perceptions. The challenges and prospects of urban environmental management were varied and rated from least to very big by respondents. Lack of commitment is reported at 41% as a very big challenge and at 43% as a big challenge of urban environmental management. The paper concludes by proposing proper implementation of the integration of solid waste management and urban environmental planning for sustainable urban development.

Analisis Perubahan Penggunaan Lahan Kota Kupang Nusa Tenggara Timur Tahun 2010-2018

Urban land use is one of the important factors in urban environmental planning and modeling. Recent developments also show that Remote Sensing has been accepted as one of the main tools for information extraction and mapping. Extraction of land use information based on Remote Sensing includes visual interpretation and digital interpretation. This study aims to assess the ability of SAS Planet High Resolution Satellite Imagery in mapping land use, and obtaining information on land use changes in terms of the area and type of land use in the research area in 2010-2018. This research is focused in 3 (three) sub-districts in Kupang City. The reason for choosing the location is because observations show that there are many changes in land use, even areas that should not be used have experienced a touch of development. In addition, there are several educational centers, especially universities located in the area which tend to trigger land use changes. The research method used is survey method and data collection with SAS Planet Satellite Image Interpretation. The method of spatial analysis using GIS is by visual interpretation, digitization and overlay. Visual interpretation, digitization and overlay are used to determine land use changes that occur in the study area. The results in this study indicate that SAS Planet High Resolution Satellite Imagery can be used to identify land use information in Kupang City, because it can display objects more clearly, so that interpretation results can reach 90 percent accuracy and land use change analysis shows that within 8 years (2010-2018) there has been a significant change in land use where the built up land in the form of buildings, settlements and forests/mangroves has increased in area. Along with that, there is a reduction in the area of ​​use of grasslands and shrubs. Conversion of the fields also occurs in a moderate area. there was a significant change in which the highest land change occurred in the use of built-up land (buildings and settlements) and forests/mangroves, each of which experienced an increase of 108.45 ha (3.44 percent), settlements increased by 894.88 ha (27.50 percent) , and forest/mangrove area increased by 167.92 ha (5.16 percent).

N, P, and COD conveyed by urban runoff: a comparative research between a city and a town in the Taihu Basin, China.

Stormwater runoff containing various pollutants exerts adverse effects on receiving water bodies and deteriorates the urban aquatic environment. Although numerous studies have been conducted on runoff pollution, research comparing its characteristics in cities with those in towns is rare in the literature. To close this gap, the present study was conducted. The instantaneous concentrations of ammonia-N, TN, TP, and COD during the rainfall events in the town were higher than those in the city in most conditions. The outfall concentrations increased with the increase of rainfall intensity. EMCs (the average value of EMC) and CV (coefficient of variation) of TN and DTN in the town were higher than those in the city, which may lie in the differences of urban environment planning and management, road cleaning methods, garbage disposal methods, industrial enterprise, etc. On the one hand, EMCs and CV of TP in the city's industrial areas were lowest among three functional areas, while on the other hand, in the town it was in the commercial areas rather than the industrial areas that EMCs and CV were the lowest, which may be caused by the low level of economic development of small towns in China. The concentrations of COD in the town were generally higher than that in the city. Compared with the city, the correlation among COD and various forms of N was stronger in the town, which may illustrate a stronger similarity of pollutant sources in the town. According to the results, road runoff in the town contributed more to urban aquatic pollution; thus, further research should concentrate on this particular type of runoff.

Comparison of Accuracy of Surface Temperature Images from Unmanned Aerial Vehicle and Satellite for Precise Thermal Environment Monitoring of Urban Parks Using In Situ Data

Rapid urbanization has led to several severe environmental problems, including so-called heat island effects, which can be mitigated by creating more urban green spaces. However, the temperature of various surfaces differs and precise measurement and analyses are required to determine the “coolest” of these. Therefore, we evaluated the accuracy of surface temperature data based on thermal infrared (TIR) cameras mounted on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), which have recently been utilized for the spatial analysis of surface temperatures. Accordingly, we investigated land surface temperatures (LSTs) in green spaces, specifically those of different land cover types in an urban park in Korea. We compared and analyzed LST data generated by a thermal infrared (TIR) camera mounted on an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) and LST data from the Landsat 8 satellite for seven specific periods. For comparison and evaluation, we measured in situ LSTs using contact thermometers. The UAV TIR LST showed higher accuracy (R2 0.912, root mean square error (RMSE) 3.502 °C) than Landsat TIR LST accuracy (R2 value lower than 0.3 and RMSE of 7.246 °C) in all periods. The Landsat TIR LST did not show distinct LST characteristics by period and land cover type; however, grassland, the largest land cover type in the study area, showed the highest accuracy. With regard to the accuracy of the UAV TIR LST by season, the accuracy was higher in summer and spring (R2 0.868–0.915, RMSE 2.523–3.499 °C) than in autumn and winter (R2 0.766–0.79, RMSE 3.834–5.398 °C). Some land cover types (concrete bike path, wooden deck) were overestimated, showing relatively high total RMSEs of 4.439 °C and 3.897 °C, respectively, whereas grassland, which has lower LST, was underestimated—showing a total RMSE of 3.316 °C. Our results showed that the UAV TIR LST could be measured with sufficient reliability for each season and land cover type in an urban park with complex land cover types. Accordingly, our results could contribute to decision-making for urban spaces and environmental planning in consideration of the thermal environment.

LIFE AND DEATH OF NEW CITIES

The article discusses the issues of architectural genesis, rapid implementation, the realities of development, life and death of new Soviet cities, as a necessary prerequisite for our attempt to understand and, possibly, resolve some of the key problems of the current trend of degradation of the urban planning environment of the Soviet period. This can give us the clearest understanding of the changes currently taking place in human nature and social order, and will allow us to more deeply analyze urban planning decisions when designing new settlements.

Qualidade ambiental urbana e o adensamento populacional em Macapá-AP, Brasil

Este trabalho objetivou a verificação da qualidade ambiental urbana dos bairros: Alvorada; Boné Azul; Brasil Novo; Central e; Cidade Nova, na Cidade de Macapá-AP, Brasil. Para isto, adaptou-se a metodologia de Nucci (2008), onde foram analisados sete atributos (Pontos potencialmente poluidores; Pontos de enchentes; Densidade demográfica; Verticalidade das edificações; Cobertura vegetal; Espaços públicos de lazer e Infraestrutura urbana), para os quais foram elaboradas cartas temáticas que posteriormente foram sobrepostas gerando a carta de qualidade ambiental urbana de cada bairro. Os bairros que apresentaram os melhores resultados foram pela ordem: Alvorada, Boné Azul e Central, enquanto que os piores são pela ordem: Cidade Nova e Brasil Novo e, portanto, necessitam de maior atenção por parte da administração pública. É importante ressaltar que todos os cinco bairros apresentaram algum tipo de problema em relação aos atributos analisados, sendo necessária a realização e efetivação de um planejamento ambiental urbano para todos os cinco bairros estudados, com vista a melhorar a qualidade ambiental e de vida da população.

Habitar entre arenas de relaves. Incertidumbre sanitaria y sufrimiento ambiental en Chañaral (Chile)

Chanaral is a coastal town located in the Atacama region, whose ecosystem was polluted severely due to the sedimentation of mining tailings. Although this problem has been addressed from the environmental sciences and public health, few studies have sought to address the inhabitants' experiences as a necessary factor to consider in urban-environmental planning. From the perspective of environmental suffering, the study aims to show how, despite the abundance of scientific information on the potential incidence of pollution, the absence of concrete measures to address the problem generates uncertainties, confusion, and resignation among the habitants. Through an analysis of qualitative information and public health reports, the article shows that the contamination of Chanaral is an environmental and biomedical fact and an evident socio-cultural phenomenon in the construction of meanings about the inhabited territory and narratives about everyday toxicity. The study concludes that there is a relationship between the daily suffering and the uncertainties in the face of the potential toxic risk, which translates into environmental suffering as there are no concrete measures that aim to address the problem entirely.

Assessment of social facilitiesʼs urbun development based on the integral rating of districts (case study of 25 districts of Moscow)

Introduction. The article describes the methods and results of the sociological study carried out by the Institute of the Genplan Institute of Moscow in 2019–2020 to measure the satisfaction of the population with the level and quality of social infrastructure development (objects of commerce, public catering, household services, health care, social welfare, education, culture and leisure, sports). The relevance of research is reflected in the increasing importance of the social approach to design, due to the formation of the information society, the importance of analysing consumer behaviour of the population in terms of changes in value orientations and lifestyles, cultural attitudes as a result of economic transformations that have had a significant impact on consumer behaviour. The involvement of residents in the development of prospects for the development of residential areas improves the quality of urban documentation, as it forms targets for its implementation; taking into account requests based on the satisfaction of Moscow’s living conditions and the comfort of the urban environment. Materials and methods. In carrying out the study, methods of field survey (collection of information on territory, population, built environment, state of the property) and systematic, typological, functional and structural analysis were applied. The sociological survey of the population was carried out by means of an online questionnaire, analysis and synthesis of the results and comparison with official statistics. Results. The study was carried out in 25 districts of Moscow (Northern Administrative Okrug, North-Western Administrative Okrug and Zelenogradsky Administrative Okrug): the territorial organization of social infrastructure facilities was analysed, the quality of the living environment within municipalities was assessed. A lack of facilities has been identified. The prospects for the development of social infrastructure have been determined taking into account the views of the inhabitants of the districts. Conclusions. The study provided a unique tool for identifying emerging imbalances in the development of social infrastructure, as well as effective urban planning of a cohesive urban environment, based on both normative calculations and population estimates. In order to objectively assess social development and to compile a ranking of districts according to the level of social infrastructure development, the following have been developed: index of population’s social infrastructure, index of diversity of facilities, integral index of social infrastructure development.

RETRACTED ARTICLE: Investigation of remote sensing image and big data analytic for urban garden landscape design and environmental planning

In the development of recent years, social changes and the improvement of the level of economic development have accelerated my country’s urbanization construction to a large extent, and the scope of influence of urbanization is also continuously expanding. Urban construction in various regions is moving closer to modern development, and the traditional urban spatial structure is gradually being broken. New urban development models are gradually appearing in people’s vision and have brought people a lot of convenience in the long-term development. However, this new development model still has many problems, and urban construction and planning work are not smooth. The rapid development of urban construction has changed people’s original development model. More and more people are living in cities, and the original topography and landform have changed. Due to the needs of urban construction, many natural resources have been destroyed, and ecological environmental problems are constantly emerging. The haze weather, high-temperature weather, sandstorms, etc. that appear in the city have many bad effects on people’s lives. Therefore, it is necessary to analyze the law of urban landscape changes and use big data analysis to find solutions to urban environmental problems. Specific methods improve the quality of urban ecological development. This article uses the method of big data analysis to analyze the image characteristics of remote sensing sensors and provides suggestions for urban landscape planning and environmental protection.