Urban Development Issues Research Articles

New Town Development and Sustainable Transition under Urban Entrepreneurialism in China

New towns are a major form of urban growth in China. In recent years, increasing numbers of large new town projects have been planned and built in and around existing cities. These new town projects have frequently been employed by city governments as central elements of pro-growth strategies, based on ideas of urban entrepreneurialism, which seek to promote economic growth, project a dynamic city image, and increase urban competitiveness. This article studies how the pro-growth, urban entrepreneurial approach affects the planning and development of Chinese megacities. A conceptual framework focusing on land-leasing revenue and new town development strategies is employed to explore the linkages between urban growth mechanisms and urban outcomes. Empirical material from four cities in the Pearl River Delta—Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, and Zhuhai—is presented. The analysis indicates that new town developments in these cities have different levels of dependency on spatial expansion and land revenue, and emphasize different issues of sustainable development in their plans. Cities with a lower dependency on physical and economic growth are be more likely to emphasize the quality of the built environment and address issues of sustainable urban development more closely when planning and implementing new town projects.

Reviving the Urban Core: Ludhiana City, Punjab, India

The urban cores are considered as the most crucial clusters of the contemporary urban cities as they are the foremost economic growth poles that cater to the needs of the city population. These clusters are facing urban development issues like congestion, longer travel distances and time, pollution, etc., hence, transforming into a non-livable environment. Smart development has been identified as a world-wide solution to the existing urban development issues which focuses on promoting a sustainable and livable environment with the integration of ICT; acts as an implementation tool. Ludhiana; regarded as the Manchester of India, is the most industrialized city of the northern India. The city has a strong economic base due to the presence of commercial hub and small and large manufacturing industries which have acted as a catalyst for rapid urbanization. The city has witnessed immense population growth over the last 5 decades which has led to issues such as pollution, environment degradation,, emergence of slums and failure of physical and social infrastructure; thus failing to be a livable city. The paper intends to identify the urban development issues in Ludhiana city core and provide appropriate strategies based on the Smart Development principles.

Seagrass habitat in Tarawa Lagoon, Kiribati: Service benefits and links to national priority issues

This paper presents a review around seagrass habitat in Tarawa Lagoon, Kiribati and explores the links between seagrass occurrence and the national priority issues of climate change, urban development, human health, nearshore fisheries, threatened species, ocean policy, research capacity and awareness. The contribution of healthy seagrass habitats to many aspects of these national issues is often overlooked and there is need to establish the knowledge gaps and priority actions that can enable mitigation of issues that impact on valuable seagrass resources and their management. Research data on seagrass habitats in Kiribati, and the wider Pacific Island region, is limited and this hinders informed decisions at local, national and regional levels. We present a comprehensive review on seagrass within a national context to aid prioritisation and uptake of information for resource owners, and wider stakeholders, in Kiribati while acknowledging local expertise. The paper highlights data and knowledge gaps that if addressed, will provide information useful to Kiribati nationals, communities and government stakeholders. Recommendations for actions that fill these gaps and build understanding of seagrass resources in Kiribati are provided.

ACADEMIC ARCHITECTURAL AND CONSTRUCTION SCIENCE OF THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC AND WORK IN THE KYRGYZ REPUBLIC WITH INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS IN THE AREA OF URBAN PLANNING

yrgyz Republic is a full member of the UN, international recommendations on problems and ensuring sustainable urban development are associated with identifying priority areas for development in many areas of the country's activity, and in particular in the adopted “New UN Cities Development Program” - HABITAT - III, 2016. In the field of urban planning, this is, first of all, the organization of work on forecasting, programming and designing cities and metropolitan areas to ensure their sustainable and progressive development, taking into account the country's development prospects; to substantiate the relevance of the topic, issues and research on urban development issues at a higher scientific level.

The impact of anti-corruption measures on land supply and the associated implications: The case of China

The allocation of land resources is a crucial issue in sustainable urban development, but it is subject to the vagaries of public governance. By using the prosecution of corrupt local leaders as the shock event, and exploring the data on sacked officials and land transfers in prefecture-level cities in China from 2006 to 2016, we analyse the changes in the supply of land in response to the ousting of key local officials for corruption. The estimations derived through the identification strategy of the DID framework show that both the volume and value of land sales dropped significantly after the local officials’ ousting, with the value of total land sales reacting to a much greater extent. We also found the reduction of land supply was mainly from commercial and residential land but a greater supply of land for public use following the local leaders’ ousting, accompanied with an increase in the level of marketisation in the supply of land and a reduction in cheap transfers of industrial land. In addition, the heterogeneity of the effect across the rank and type of official was investigated, and the long-term persistence of this effect was confirmed. By showing that anti-corruption measures have a persistent disciplinary effect on officials’ subsequent land supply strategy, this paper underscores that the quality of public governance profoundly influences the functioning of the land market.

“Mobility game”: interactive technology for urban planning education

Modern trends in the development of urban planning education dictate the need to implement new innovative technologies for comprehension of urban processes. The idea «from Smart Cities to Smart Territories» determines the current interest for the introduction of software systems that allow students creating and studying a smart urban environment. The article is devoted to the introduction of interactive technologies to improve the quality of the educational process in the field of urban planning. The relevance of the topic is due to modern trends in the digitalization of the urban environment. The purpose of the study is to determine the role and importance of interactive technologies in the formation of professional competencies of students in the planning and design of a smart city and its transport system. There is the analysis of possibilities of the software complex “Mobility game”. This interactive game allows creating a city and developing its transport infrastructure based on specific quantitative and qualitative parameters of development of the road network, the composition of the transport system and the mobility of the population. The software package takes into account modern trends in the development of smart urban transport, such as changes in the composition of the traffic flow, increasing the number of micro-cars and passenger transport, the rapid development of information technologies for travel support, and allows students visually exploring the interaction and mutual influence of various parameters in practical classes. The application spectrum of this software is broad. In addition to communicating essential relationships between urban development issues and the necessary transport infrastructure in education contexts, local planning situations can also be modelled using defined scenarios. The implementation of interactive technologies is a proven scientific and practice-oriented tool for this purpose.

Energy-Saving Transformation Design of Existing Residential Buildings in Qinba Mountainous Areas

Through investigation, it is found that some existing buildings in Qinba Mountain have high energy consumption and poor indoor thermal comfort. The cost of demolishing and rebuilding is relatively high. Therefore, it is an important issue for the current urban residential development to study suitable local reconstruction strategies. Taking an old community in Hanzhong City of Qinba Mountain as an example, the field test of indoor and outdoor thermal environment in winter and summer was carried out for one house. The current situation of indoor thermal environment in Qinba mountain city buildings in winter and summer was analyzed. The environmental conditions are not ideal. This article uses DesignBuilder software to carry on the comprehensive transformation design to the wall of this existing building, the roof, the outer window and so on, and carries on the simulation analysis to its indoor thermal environment, the result shows that the enclosing structure has a greater influence on the thermal environment of the local building; the transformation model was obtained: 30mm EPS insulation layer was added to the wall, 50mm EPS insulation layer was installed on the roof, and plastic window (6+13A+6) was used as the outer window. After the renovation, the indoor temperature was increased by 11%-21%. This result can provide a certain theoretical reference for the energy-saving reconstruction of the existing residential houses in the Qinba Mountains.

Formation peculiarity of land use within the water-conservation zones, protected shoreline belts and shorelines in cities

Annotation . Ukraine is at the next stage in completing land reform. Despite that, country gained independence, and still there are many unresolved and controversial land, environmental, water, urban development issues requiring additional state intervention. Incompleteness of land reform, in particularly some of the most important issues, one of which is the formation of land use within the water protection zones and coastal protection zones of cities, creates a negative ecological environment. And likewise, social tension in vital activity of population, especially for urban land use. In despite of the legislative ban, the construction within the water protection zones, coastal protection zones of cities continues. In addition, restrictions on the use of land and other natural resources located in this territory are also not formed. That is, their spatial placement has a huge impact not only on environmental, land and water relations, but also on economic, social and legal (rights guarantee). As a result of the study, was used data from the public cadastral map of the State Service of Ukraine for geodesy, cartography and cadastre, and an extract from the planning restrictions scheme of the General Plan of Kyiv. The information base for the study was the legislative and regulatory acts of Ukraine regarding the regulation of land, water and nature management, scientific works of world and domestic scientists, materials of scientific and practical conferences. As a result, the authors established formation features of land use within the water protection zones and coastal protection and coastal stripes of the city of Kiev. The essence of land use within such zones (strips) consist in the fact, that is as an ecosystem, combines several steeds of different purpose and functional use. In addition, urban land use within water protection zones, coastal protection zones and coastal strips, except environmental, legal, social, land relations, includes economic and water relations, which appears to be an important aspects in the effective regulation of such land use. Due to that, the choice was made to study formation features of urban land use within water protection zones and coastal protection and coastal strips. In order to ensure through land management and legal regulation of urban land use within the zones (strips) to increase the efficiency of its capitalization and greening. Keywords: urban land use, water bodies, water protection zones, coastal protection strips, coastal strips, land ownership.

URBAN-RURAL BUS PATH PLANNING BASED ON ANT COLONY OPTIMIZATION ALGORITHM

Abstract. With the advancement of urbanization, urban-rural public transport issues have become one of the most critical issues in urban development. The paper makes a detailed study on the optimization of urban-rural bus routes in Erqi District of Zhengzhou, China. The factors of bus stop selection are analyzed, and the three categories, including traffic road condition factors, economic benefit factors and waiting number factors, are mainly considered. The analytic hierarchy process is used to determine 35 specific objectives of urban-rural bus stop optimization, 20 of which are selected for simulation experiment with large weight. Then the ant colony optimization (ACO) algorithm in path optimization is analyzed, which has the following two advantages. First, the global pheromone update is combined with the local pheromone update to enhance the algorithm's optimization ability and convergence speed. Second, through the method of spatial contraction transformation, the ant constructs a solution to reduce the number of construction steps and speed up the operation. Based on the actual analysis of urban-rural public transportation in the Erqi District of Zhengzhou, a simulation experiment is executed to show that the ACO algorithm is able to find out the optimal path, which is 15.1% shorter than the ant colony system (ACS) algorithm. The ACO algorithm improved path planning has good time effectiveness and path practicability.

Drivers and Benefits of Integrating Climate Adaptation Measures into Urban Development: Experience from Coastal Cities of Indonesia

Integrating climate adaptation measures into urban development has emerged as a holistic approach to minimize climate change impacts and to enhance urban resilience. Although there has been an initial implementation of the integrated strategy at the national level, the progress of its adoption at the local level is relatively less studied. The study aims to examine the integration development of climate adaptation measures into urban development strategies by looking at its drivers and benefits in two coastal cities of Indonesia, i.e., Semarang and Bandar Lampung. Both cities have experienced climate change impacts and the preliminary effort of the integration process. The study was depended on close-ended Likert-scale questions with key actors representing local authorities and relevant stakeholders. Then, a Weighted Average Index was applied to transform their perceptions. The assessment of their knowledge of related issues was conducted. Secondary data was obtained from a desk study. The study found out that the effort of the integration process had influenced stakeholder’s understanding of the issue of climate change and urban development, as well as its relationship. The level of stakeholder’s knowledge related to the issue was very high. The result also revealed that the most influencing driver of the integration process is related to the motivation and initiative of municipal officers. It significantly contributed local governments to adopt its integration strategy. There was a strong consensus regarding the benefits of the integration process. They believed that it could ensure sustainable urban development in the future. This empirical study distinguishes the significance of integration development based on the local perspective for the approach improvement. The results could be applied to encourage other local municipalities in other emerging coastal cities.

МОДЕЛЬ ГРАДОСТРОИТЕЛЬНОЙ ОРГАНИЗАЦИИ ПРИБРЕЖНЫХ РЕКРЕАЦИОННЫХ ЛАНДШАФТОВ ГОРНОГО АЛТАЯ

Introduction: Over the past quarter of a century, the issue of urban development within regional settlement systems has not been a priority for most policy-makers and professionals. Much more attention has been focused on the issues arising from the expansion of major metropolises: Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Kazan, and several others (seven in total). In the meanwhile, the urban development of unique natural landscapes in other regions has been progressing on its own, without major supervision or proper attention from the professional community. For instance, the pristine land along Lake Baikal has undergone urban development without proper planning documentation; vast areas in the Irkutsk Region have been sold off for logging; and the Altai Territory and the Republic of Altai are seeing intensive development of unplanned recreation hubs. Purpose of the study: The study is aimed to create an urban planning model for unique natural landscapes. Methods: We used such methods as multi-factor analysis, photographic footage, opinion poll, and graphical modeling. Results: Out study results in an original model that illustrates the optimal location of new recreation hubs, mindful of preserving the unique environmental qualities of the natural landscape.

Policentryczność regionów miejskich w Polsce = Polycentricity of urban regions in Poland

Studies dealing with the issue of polycentric urban development, both functional and morphological, often promote different approaches to the measurement of polycentricity. Relying on data on commuting patterns and the intra-regional distribution of population in Poland in 2011, we apply two measures of polycentricity to shed more light on the functional and morphological development of urban regions in Poland. We also explore the relationship between the two dimensions of polycentricity, using a functional/morphological primacy index and a general functional polycentricity index. The results reveal regions for which the different measures suggest divergent conclusions, while also implying that the measure used can determine the strength and statistical significance of the relationship between the two dimensions to polycentricity. As, in our view, it is the measure advocated by Burger et al. (2011) that best seems to differentiate between the different forms of urban structure, we use this to summarise patterns of polycentric urban development in Poland. The results illustrate: the statistical significance of the relationship between the two (morphological and functional) dimensions to polycentricity in Poland’s urban regions, and the way in which the level of functional polycentricity is higher than the degree of functional polycentricity.

Spatiotemporal Differences in Determinants of City Shrinkage Based on Semiparametric Geographically Weighted Regression

City shrinkage, as an ongoing worldwide phenomenon, is an issue for urban planning and regional development. City shrinkage is remarkable in Japan, with over 85% of municipalities experiencing population loss from 2005 to 2015. As Japan’s society ages and with its low fertility rate, city shrinkage has had a tremendous negative effect on economic development and urban planning. Understanding the spatial dependence and spatial heterogeneity of city shrinkage and its determinants is essential for ensuring the sustainable development of a city or region. In this study, a semiparametric geographically weighted regression (SGWR) model was adopted to explore the spatiotemporal differences in determinants of city shrinkage. The results reveal that the SGWR model incorporating the global and local variables is more interpretive compared to ordinary least squares and geographically weighted regression models in exploring the correlates of city shrinkage. We found the spatial dependence and heterogeneity of shrinking cities resulted from demographic, economy, and social factors, and revealed low fertility, the ageing population, and enterprise change ratio influenced city shrinkage in different regions at different times in Japan, whereas foreign population ratio, industry structure, and social welfare had global impacts. The findings provide useful information for understanding city shrinkage at global and local scales.

Examining cultural planning in Vienna

Culture and planning have often been connected through issues of culture-led urban development and regeneration or cultural and creative industries. However, cultural provision as a form of social infrastructure has rarely been used to understand the institutionalization of culture within planning practices. I claim that how culture is institutionalized through discursive interactions between different agents reveals the importance of culture for planning practices. I exemplify this notion by analysing the discursive institutionalization of culture within strategic planning in Vienna. The results point to a diametral position of the underlying ideas of culture within planning in Vienna: 1) planning for culture, where culture plays an important role for the social functioning of the city, and 2) planning through culture by using culture as a selling point for the city. The paper analyses cultural planning practices in Vienna since the 2000s, thereby contributing to detailed knowledge on the institutionalization of culture and path-dependent developments of culture within urban planning practices. The paper illustrates the use of culture as a form of social infrastructure for rethinking strategic cultural planning in Vienna.

The Smart City concept: discussion points

Smart City is a new phenomenon of the ХХI-st century that reflects three latest world trends: a) an accelerating pace of urbanization; b) an active process of digitalization of economy and society; c) growing attention to the issues of sustainable urban development. All these trends intersect in the field of urban agglomeration. There are significant disagreement regarding the nature, substance and structure of «Smart City» concept. The difficulty in defining the concept of «Smart City» lies in the multidimensional nature of functions of the city itself that therefore requires a multidisciplinary approach to the analysis. The overview of the available scientific research shows that the concept of «Smart City» comprises four components: quality of life as a main goal; broad public participation in the development, monitoring and implementation of «Smart City» projects, sustainable urban development; widespread use of digital and other technologies in the economic, social and cultural spheres of city life. According to the authors currently there is much evidence to suggest that the modern concept of «Smart City» is being transformed into the concept of «Smart Sustainable City», when the emphasis is not only on information and communication technologies and human capital, but also on the achievement of the substantial development.

Analysis of the Spatial and Temporal Evolution of Land Cover and Heat Island Effects in Six Districts of Chongqing's Main City.

The urban heat island effect has always been one of the hottest issues in urban development. In this study, Landsat images from the summers of 2001, 2004, 2009, 2014 and 2018 were used to identify land cover type in six districts of Chongqing’s main city. Land cover was categorized as water, vegetation or impervious surface with the object-oriented method. Land surface temperature (LST) data was calculated with the atmospheric radiation transfer equation method, and was then divided into different heat island intensity grades. Next, the spatial and temporal changes in land cover type and heat island effect were analyzed in the six districts. Center migration analysis and heat island coefficients were used to quantitatively reflect the spatiotemporal evolution relationship between land cover and heat island effect. All six districts exhibited a trend of expanding impervious surface, with a 419.38% increase from 2001 to 2018, and shrinking vegetation, with a 17.81% decrease from 2001 to 2018. Also from 2001 to 2018, Yuzhong District had the most significant heat island effect, with a heat island coefficient 0.35 higher than the mean value of the whole study area. The impervious surface center migrated in different directions in each district. Both the direction and the corresponding velocity of the impervious surface and heat island centers were tightly correlated, with a correlation coefficient of 0.53. Relative heat island coefficients (the difference from the mean) of water ranged from −2.08 to −1.17 in different districts. That of impervious surface ranged from 1.60 to 1.93, and that of vegetation ranged from −0.22 to 1.09. The internal heterogeneity of land cover and heat island effect in Chongqing’s main city was huge. This study quantitatively analyzed the evolution of the heat island effect in the study area to help provide each district with some targeted suggestions for future urban planning.

Time as infrastructure

Overlapping and interlinked dimensions of time are shaped by and, in turn, structure contemporary urbanization and everyday life. This Special Feature debates the implications of such temporal dynamics for our cities: It explores the making of temporalities, the power relations in and through which this process is embedded, and the inequalities that its effects entail. Beyond definitions that focus on the material characteristics of infrastructures, the Special Feature understands temporalities themselves as infrastructures: structures that underlie and powerfully shape current forms of social organization and interaction. Considering time through this analytic lens promises to elucidate the ways in which political, social and economic conditions shape and exert authority over the everyday urban, as well as the material and social effects of such dominations. The papers assembled in this Special Feature unite scholars from different disciplines, probing this infrastructural lens to understand the structuring effects of urban temporalities in relation to central issues of contemporary urban development, including urban mobility and transnational migration, the politics of financializing urban infrastructure, urban energy transitions and climate risk. Moreover, thinking through the making of temporal infrastructures—that is, disentangling temporal authorities and their underlying power structures—allows thinking through opportunities for action and political change. In sum, these contributions advance three aims: to strengthen and enrich the analytical notion of infrastructure; to facilitate new knowledge about the construction of present, past and future temporalities; and to unveil potential entry points for social interventions that aim to establish empowering approaches towards urban equality and inclusion.

Lokale Anwerbe- und Abwehrpolitiken im Kontext von Migration und Flucht

How well migrants and refugees integrate into their new communities depends to a large extent on a range of circumstances at local level, which, in turn, can vary from case to case. Local integration policies build upon specific local discourses about particular “problems” related to urban development and migration issues. These discourses are not only conditioned by structural and socio-economic circumstances, but also by which policy options appear legitimate against the background of specific spatial imaginaries. Two particularly prominent urban discourses are linked to the diagnoses of shrinking cities and socio-spatial segregation; the latter is almost invariably viewed as a spatial concentration of disadvantaged population groups. In both cases, conventional political answers are centred around initiating (inland) immigration, aimed implicitly at the autochthonous middle classes.On the basis of empirical studies carried out in the shrinking small town of Altena (Westphalia) and the neighbourhood of Altenessen and Karnap in the socially segregated city of Essen, we reconstruct different paths of local integration and migration policy. The article aims to trace back local political decisions on migration-related issues to site-specific predispositions and spatial imaginaries. In Altena, it is expected that a stabilisation of the town’s population will occur as a result of the influx of refugees. It was for this reason that the town reacted to the most recent migration movements with a so-called “recruitment policy”, which manifested itself in the decision to voluntarily accommodate additional refugees (when compared to state-allocated quotas). On the other hand, the area north of Essen is dominated by local political efforts in the form of “exclusion policies”, which aim at defending the neighbourhood against migration, mobilising fears of exacerbating socio-spatial segregation.English title: Local Recruitment and Pushback Policies in the Context of Migration and Refugees.

Strategies for the Sustainable Reindustrialization of Brownfields

The rapid de-industrialization of Western economies has left an enormous impact on the urban landscape in Europe, leaving behind vacant warehouses and production facilities. Industrial sites reuse is a crucial issue for sustainable land and urban development. This work is concerned with the fundamental aspects of industrial heritage and the ways to incorporate brownfields back into the urban fabric as a value-adding element. Adaptive reuse represents the most sustainable form of reuse, as it is based on maximal conservation of built assets, minimizing time, materials, embodied energy waste, and preserving site identity. For industrial areas redevelopment and reuse often site remediation is required. This activity is usually designed, carried out and assessed before and independently from urban design, planning and real estate strategies. This independence leads to higher remediation costs and often implies demolition of built industrial infrastructures, preventing any potential adaptive reuse. The former industrial site of Acciaierie Lucchini in Settimo Torinese, just outside of Turin, offered the chance to test a holistic approach, based on the multidisciplinary integration of knowledge and skills during the whole design process in order to define real policy proposals trying to improve the technical framework for more sustainable reuse procedures. In the 93.000 m2 area, abandoned and left to degenerate since 2000, trading in ferrous materials and then steel manufacturing were carried out for over fifty years, leaving a legacy in the form of heavy metal contaminated backfill material and underneath soil. Isolation from the city centre, poor accessibility for pedestrians and the location within an industrial zone make this site inadequate for any form of residential development. Whereas re-industrialization of this brownfield can bring new value to the site, transforming the abandoned spaces into an innovative industrial hub able to combine logistic, production, leisure and temporary living, experimenting with mixed-use programs the new relation between innovative production and the city.

Night Thermal Unmixing for the Study of Microscale Surface Urban Heat Islands with TRISHNA-Like Data

Urban Heat Islands (UHIs) at the surface and canopy levels are major issues in urban planification and development. For this reason, the comprehension and quantification of the influence that the different land-uses/land-covers have on UHIs is of particular importance. In order to perform a detailed thermal characterisation of the city, measures covering the whole scenario (city and surroundings) and with a recurrent revisit are needed. In addition, a resolution of tens of meters is needed to characterise the urban heterogeneities. Spaceborne remote sensing meets the first and the second requirements but the Land Surface Temperature (LST) resolutions remain too rough compared to the urban object scale. Thermal unmixing techniques have been developed in recent years, allowing LST images during day at the desired scales. However, while LST gives information of surface urban heat islands (SUHIs), canopy UHIs and SUHIs are more correlated during the night, hence the development of thermal unmixing methods for night LSTs is necessary. This article proposes to adapt four empirical unmixing methods of the literature, Disaggregation of radiometric surface Temperature (DisTrad), High-resolution Urban Thermal Sharpener (HUTS), Area-To-Point Regression Kriging (ATPRK), and Adaptive Area-To-Point Regression Kriging (AATPRK), to unmix night LSTs. These methods are based on given relationships between LST and reflective indices, and on invariance hypotheses of these relationships across resolutions. Then, a comparative study of the performances of the different techniques is carried out on TRISHNA synthesized images of Madrid. Since TRISHNA is a mission in preparation, the synthesis of the images has been done according to the planned specification of the satellite and from initial Aircraft Hyperspectral Scanner (AHS) data of the city obtained during the DESIREX 2008 capaign. Thus, the coarse initial resolution is 60 m and the finer post-unmixing one is 20 m. In this article, we show that: (1) AATPRK is the most performant unmixing technique when applied on night LST, with the other three techniques being undesirable for night applications at TRISHNA resolutions. This can be explained by the local application of AATPRK. (2) ATPRK and DisTrad do not improve significantly the LST image resolution. (3) HUTS, which depends on albedo measures, misestimates the LST, leading to the worst temperature unmixing. (4) The two main factors explaining the obtained performances are the local/global application of the method and the reflective indices used in the LST-index relationship.