Sustainable Urban Development Model Research Articles

Blockchain for urban governance: Enhancing trust in smart city systems with advanced techniques

The rapid urbanization and increasing energy demands necessitate innovative solutions for efficient energy governance in smart cities from the social science perspective. This paper introduces a comprehensive framework for Urban Energy Governance (UEG), focusing on the collaboration of three urban systems in energy exchange considering social and environmental impacts. To address the challenges of security, energy forecasting, and nonlinear optimization, we employ advanced techniques, including blockchain technology, Long Short-Term Memory (LSTM) networks for accurate energy forecasting, and a modified Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) algorithm for solving the proposed nonlinear optimization problem. The utilization of blockchain enhances the security and transparency of energy transactions, fostering trust among stakeholders. Additionally, LSTM models leverage historical data to provide precise energy forecasts, optimizing resource utilization. The modified PSO algorithm tailors optimization to the specific nonlinearities of the proposed problem, ensuring efficient and effective decision-making in the context of Urban Energy Governance. Through a multi-faceted approach, our framework contributes to the advancement of smart city systems, providing a secure, forecast-driven, and optimized energy governance model for sustainable urban development.

Towards green evolution in urban Egypt: assessing Al Rehab City through LEED-ND and BREEAM-communities frameworks

AbstractThis article provides a comprehensive analysis of the application of green neighborhood rating systems, specifically Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND) and Building Research Foundation Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)-Communities, in the context of Cairo, Egypt, focusing on Al Rehab City, a prominent urban area in New Cairo. The study begins by providing a background on Al-Rehab City, explaining its strategic planning, urban design, and demographic dynamics. It then delves into the current state of sustainable urban planning in Egypt, highlighting the challenges and opportunities that exist in this rapidly urbanizing context. The core of the article includes a comparative analysis of LEED-ND and BREEAM communities, assessing their adaptability and relevance to the Egyptian urban landscape, especially Al Rehab City. It explores many sustainability issues such as smart location, neighborhood pattern and design, green infrastructure, sustainable transportation, energy efficiency, water conservation, waste management, and community engagement. The discussion extends to examine how each of these aspects of sustainability applies to Al Rehab City, complemented by case studies and examples of current sustainable practices in Cairo. Furthermore, the article identifies specific local challenges in implementing these assessment systems, such as economic constraints, policy constraints, and cultural factors. It also suggests opportunities for improvement, including the potential for public–private partnerships, policy reforms, community engagement, technological innovation, and sustainable urban development modeling. In conclusion, the article provides insight into the future prospects of green urban planning in Cairo. The potential impact of adopting comprehensive assessment systems is discussed, with an emphasis on the role of Al Rehab City as a potential model for sustainable urban development in Egypt and the wider MENA region. The article aims to contribute to the discourse on sustainable urban planning, and provide a roadmap for integrating global sustainability standards into the unique context of Egyptian cities.

Polycentric Urban Spatial Structure Identification Based on Morphological and Functional Dimensions: Evidence from Three Chinese Cities

Regarding whether a polycentric urban spatial structure is a sustainable urban development model, various studies use different employment center identification methods, resulting in inconsistent conclusions. This paper takes Hangzhou, Wuhan, and Nanning, three Chinese cities at different stages of development as cases, and adopts various methods to identify employment centers to compares the polycentric spatial structure differences from morphological and functional dimensions, and puts forward a multi-dimensional perspective for analyzing the characteristics of the polycentric spatial structure. The results show that the polycentric model of GL_SC threshold method has the relatively good explanatory power, which can best represent the characteristics of urban development in China. The explanatory power of the polycentric model of the Wuhan commuter flow method (adjusted R-squared value is 0.37) is slightly weaker than that of the GL_SC threshold method (adjusted R-squared value is 0.40), indicating that the agglomeration development forces are equivalent to the decentralized development forces and it is a balanced polycentric development structure. In Hangzhou and Nanning, the GL_SC threshold method (adjusted R-squared values are 0.28 and 0.36, respectively) is stronger than the commuter flow method (adjusted R-squared values are 0.19 and 0.33, respectively), which reflects the strong characteristics of agglomeration polycentric development. However, from the comparison of the number and distribution of employment center identification, the polycentric development characteristics of Hangzhou are stronger than those of Nanning. The comparison of the identification results of the morphological and functional dimensions shows that the two dimensions as a unified evaluation process can more fully reflect the characteristics of an urban polycentric development structure, thereby providing preliminary research support for the study of the impact of polycentric structure on economic development, air pollution, work and residential commuting, etc.

Enhancing Urban Resilience: Smart City Data Analyses, Forecasts, and Digital Twin Techniques at the Neighborhood Level

Smart cities, leveraging advanced data analytics, predictive models, and digital twin techniques, offer a transformative model for sustainable urban development. Predictive analytics is critical to proactive planning, enabling cities to adapt to evolving challenges. Concurrently, digital twin techniques provide a virtual replica of the urban environment, fostering real-time monitoring, simulation, and analysis of urban systems. This study underscores the significance of real-time monitoring, simulation, and analysis of urban systems to support test scenarios that identify bottlenecks and enhance smart city efficiency. This paper delves into the crucial roles of citizen report analytics, prediction, and digital twin technologies at the neighborhood level. The study integrates extract, transform, load (ETL) processes, artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, and a digital twin methodology to process and interpret urban data streams derived from citizen interactions with the city’s coordinate-based problem mapping platform. Using an interactive GeoDataFrame within the digital twin methodology, dynamic entities facilitate simulations based on various scenarios, allowing users to visualize, analyze, and predict the response of the urban system at the neighborhood level. This approach reveals antecedent and predictive patterns, trends, and correlations at the physical level of each city area, leading to improvements in urban functionality, resilience, and resident quality of life.

Does healthy city construction facilitate green growth in China? Evidence from 279 cities.

In the face of the challenge of balancing urban economic development and environmental protection, the concept of a healthy city has emerged as a promising model for sustainable urban development. This study empirically investigates the impact of healthy city construction on green growth by utilizing a difference-in-difference model estimation on a panel dataset of 279 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2007 to 2019. The findings reveal that healthy city construction significantly contributes to green growth, particularly in pilot cities, and this effect is observed across cities of different sizes and economic bases. Additionally, we identify two channels through which healthy city construction promotes green growth: enhancing innovation capacity and enriching human resources. These findings have implications not only for Chinese cities navigating the path towards green growth but also for other developing nations striving for economic transformation and environmentally sustainable development.

Urban development strategies in the EU: the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions

ABSTRACT The European Union (EU) has been developing a model for urban intervention since the 1980s, which we refer to in this study as the Integrated Sustainable Urban Development Model (ISUDM). A defining element of this model is its integrated nature and understanding of a city as a complex, multidimensional social system. We analysed the EU’s database of urban development initiatives (the Urban Data Platform) and studied the relationship between the procedural and substantive dimensions of the urban development strategies implemented within the framework of EU Cohesion Policy. Our findings indicate those strategies that were supported by multiple EU funds and delivered through decentralised instruments targeting several cities that were the more integrated ones. In contrast, strategies financed by a smaller number of EU funds or a single fund, using more centralised delivery instruments, and targeting only one city, were less integrated.

Sustainable city branding narratives: a critical appraisal of processes and outcomes

PurposeThis study aims to explore whether adopting a sustainability narrative in city branding and urban development strategies results in more inclusive governance arrangements (process) and a more pluralistic approach to generating sustainability value (outcome), in line with the triple bottom line approach advocated by the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The authors argue that a necessary step to enable meaningful sustainable urban development is to rethink the way in which “value” and “value creation” are being interpreted in urban development policies and city branding narratives.Design/methodology/approachMixed-methods case study of New York City’s (NYC) urban development and city branding strategies (2007–2019) combining analysis of academic and grey literature on NYC’s urban development and city branding, value hierarchies in NYC urban development strategic plans and local media reports covering NYC’s development and branding processes.FindingsDespite claiming commitment to urban sustainability, NYC’s urban development and branding narratives reveal a clear dominance of interpreting “value” primarily as “exchange value”, thus prioritising economic growth.Research limitations/implicationsIn the authors’ view, a systemic, systematic and structured approach to generating “sustainability value” is necessary if city branding is to become a governance tool to support sustainable urban development. A “tetravaluation” approach is recommended as a practical, structured framework that can bridge across the ideas of “sustainability value” and “pluralistic governance”, ensuring effective implementation. Further investigation in additional urban contexts is required.Originality/valueThe research contributes to current scholarly debates towards more balanced and pluralistic conceptions of “value” and place branding as a more holistic, participatory and democratic governance model for sustainable urban development.

Data-Driven Smart Eco-Cities of the Future: An Empirically Informed Integrated Model for Strategic Sustainable Urban Development

The eco-city is seenas a major force in the overall transition toward a more sustainable urban development paradigm, acting as a set of exemplary techno-environmental solutions for social transformation. However, the scale and rate of urbanization fundamentally disrupt the challenges that eco-cities must contend with. This is coupled with the increased need to understand, plan, and manage eco-cities in new and innovative ways. On this account, transformative processes and practices within eco-cities are being highly responsive to a form of data-driven urbanism as a more effective way to address and overcome the kinds of challenges that eco-cities are designed to solve. That is, eco-cities are increasingly embracing and leveraging what smart cities have to offer in terms of data-driven technologies and applied solutions in an effort to monitor, evaluate, and improve their performance with respect to sustainability—under what has been termed “data-driven smart eco-cities.” The aim of this paper is to develop an integrated model for strategic sustainable urban development based on empirical research in the form of case studies. This model combines and integrates the leading global paradigms of urbanism—namely eco-cities, data–driven smart cities, and environmentally data-driven smart sustainable cities—in terms of their strategies and solutions. The main contribution of this study lies in providing an innovative way of building future models for sustainable urban development, as well as practical insights into developing strategic planning processes of transformative change toward sustainability based on integrated approaches. The proposed model serves to facilitate progress toward achieving the long-term goals of sustainability for those cities that are badging or regenerating themselves as eco-cities, or manifestly planning to be or become smart eco-cities in the era of big data.

URBAN PLANNING WITH THE GOALS OF SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

The problem of urban planning in the context of globalization and the intensification of urban growth is considered in the context of sustainable development. Under UN-Habitat regulations, urban development must be in line with five principles: compactness, high density, mixed use, variety, limited land-use specialization. Compact urban development is a model for sustainable urban development, based on the synergy of three main dimensions: social, economic and environmental. In contrast to the approach to territorial zoning, the compact city model pays attention not only to the development of mixed land use, but also to social needs in places of employment, leisure, recreation, as well as the need for economic resources. In order to identify strategies for designing a sustainable architectural and planning structure, theoretical approaches to the practice of urban planning are investigated. Implementation of the provisions of UN-Habitat is aimed at reducing energy consumption and harmful emissions, preserving biodiversity, reducing the cost of infrastructure and increasing labor productivity, which helps to achieve a balance of social, economic and environmental goals of sustainable development.

Sustainability, Quality of Life and Challenges in an Emerging City Region of George Town, Malaysia

High urbanization in Asia has given rise to the necessity to revisit its planning strategies towards the notion of livability and sustainability. This has called upon a need to accommodate the living capacity and ability of cities to provide welfare to their populations. Cities become complex and contradictory spaces if problems with accessibility towards basic necessities, inefficient transportation systems, environmental degradation, urban poverty, social exclusion and collapsing community values are not tackled with scrutiny of the standards needed for the urban quality of life (QoL). This paper aims to describe the urbanisation processes that challenge the livability and sustainability of George Town, the world heritage site of Penang, Malaysia. Using questionnaires and in-depth interviews with respondents, data were collected to explore the quality of life indicators and to assess the extent of urban sustainability and the challenges faced by the local communities. With the notion of an emerging mega urban region, the success of George Town in planning and projecting a sustainable urban development model is a step towards eliminating contemporary urban challenges and to promoting its cultural heritage. In this way forward, the role of the local authorities is crucial to propel George Town towards a livable city status that is culturally preserved.

Comparative Study of Urban Area Growth: Determining the Key Criteria of Inner Urban Development

Urban population is steadily growing worldwide, while the number of people in Eastern Europe is decreasing. These two contradictory trends have outlined the proposal for sustainable solutions to solve civil engineering issues that are aimed at implementing the principles of sustainable development and ensuring a better quality of urban life. When considering the problem that is encountered in Eastern European countries, a multi-criteria model for sustainable urban development has been designed and focused on planning and simulating an inner urban living environment. The suggested model has disclosed the social, economic, environmental, and sustainable components of the infrastructure that are necessary for developing inner urban areas. The components have been adapted and presented in three different size territories covering Lithuanian cities and towns. The applied expert evaluation method has assisted in determining the key criteria that should be considered in order to identify the most important inner areas of urban development. It is expected that this study will extend activities that are performed in the field of improvement of sustainability engineering processes and offer guidelines for other researchers investigating the areas of inner urban development.

Can a Sustainable Urban Development Model be Exported?

In the search for more sustainable models for Chinese cities, the concept of “eco-city” has been advanced and widely discussed as capable of providing solutions for environmental, ecological, and socio-economic problems. This article questions the specificities of the concept against lessons drawn from the experiences of eco- and sustainable quarters being implemented in France and other places in Europe. The model for a Chinese eco-city is considered in the light of our study of the Tianjin eco-city, which is a Sino-Singaporean project half-way towards its intended completion in 2020. Our study was conducted on the spot within this eco-city, and it enables us to make a close examination of a number of its specific aspects and to raise questions, in a manner not yet fully researched in this area, as to how widely such an urban model might be diffused. Its implementation of a system of performance indicators, and its introduction of a structure of governance to support environmental protection, represent promising avenues for a paradigm change in Chinese urban planning. On the other hand, the bias in favour of technological solutions and the lack of concern with the residents’ life styles are a matter for debate over the pertinence and sustainability of such a model for urban development.

Bucharest, European (Agri)cultural Capital

One of the most important things in creating a program for participating in the competition for the title of European Capital of Culture is defining a city identity. The proposition is a territorial manifesto for Bucharest, necessary for creating a consistent identity which will be the foundation for a submission for the title of European Cultural Capital. The argument is that of Bucharest which reconnects with the ecological matrix of the territory. Bucharest is located in the middle of a region where agriculture has been playing an extremely important part. What could become the metropolitan area of Bucharest was initially conceived as an agricultural ring – Ilfov Agricultural County. This is of utmost importance considering the recent urban sprawl which is made without any planning on plots from the former agricultural heritage fund. As Bucharest is a city located in what I like to call, the lower Danube valley, and is placed within the rivers crossing this valley from northwest to southeast. Overlooked pattern on top of which a radial concentric scheme was overlapped. Forcing the concentric radial theoretical model to the detriment of geometry, the ‘ground zero’, as Franco Purini names it, the natural setting on which civilization is situated can no longer cope with the current urban growth, both in its positive and negative dimensions. The negative dynamics of the population within the boundaries of Bucharest and the massive growth of pre-urban residents in Ilfov show the identity of Bucharest is in a profound mutation which need not only be accepted but also designed. As the new economy (based on IT industries and various services) and agriculture can create that sustainable urban development model that would ensure a real economic and ecological balance, as proposed by Nicolae Georgescu Roegen. A vision aimed at a spatially and physiologically high spatial performance model could catalyze the already existing ecological matrices. Thus, the city / metropolis / capital would benefit from the full force of the physical + social + economic + cultural territories and reveal a new, positive identity, absolutely necessary for the definition of a European cultural capital project.

Organicity: Utopia, or a new model for sustainable urban development?

Urban design now recognises the need for alternatives to soulless and dispiriting residential developments located far from jobs, schools, shops, leisure and social opportunities. There is a rising awareness, too, that in its quest for short-term returns, conventional speculative property development passes onto communities the long-term risks of biodiversity loss, social fragmentation, environmental degradation, energy and transport costs, and more. Explored here is a prototype for an alternative model to residential development that puts holistic resilience and sustainability first. In these compact “urban cells”, cars have been designed out. Work is local and self-sufficiency in power, water and food is possible. Social cohesion is allowed to emerge. Importantly, the financial instruments needed to seed and grow such communities already exist.

Strategic management in urban environment using SWOT and QSPM model

Sustainable urban development is a new concept of fundamental environmental metropolitan management that not only creates the demand for changing the concepts of economic development, but also affects social development. The current study provides a conceptual model of a sustainable environment pattern In District 22 of Tehran that depends on the relationship between environment and economy, and a network of urban function, which Included transport infrastructure and community centers and economic and regional level in support of the ecological services in Tehran. This landscape often had discrepancies with the development of the city between the layers and the creation of ecological fragile areas. The main objective of the study was to determine the sustainability indicators and create a future development model for District 22 of Tehran. The data was collected by having a review of similar studies and field research on the subject and therefore the effective factors were identified. After accomplished proceedings, the questionnaire was prepared and the results were used in SWOT charts' grading after analyzing at interior and exterior matrix. Ultimately, quantitative strategic planning matrix (QSPM) was performed based on the results and analysis. This process provided a comprehensive model for sustainable urban development as sustainable development urban landscape pattern.

Urban Rail and Sustainable Development Key Lessons from Hong Kong, New York, London and India for Emerging Cities

Abstract This paper discusses the significance of urban rail in sustainable development in the developing and developed world by examining the cases of Hong Kong, New York, London and Indian cities. The paper analyses the project structuring and financing of the urban rail system in these cities and its contribution to shaping sustainable urban growth and sustainable urban development in general. Observations from the case studies underscore the paper's main emphasis which is that both private and public funded urban rail require innovative financing mechanisms (specifically land based) to sustain or revive themselves financially and that urban rail lends itself to such innovation more than urban road projects as well as multiple other co-benefits. The paper reviews metro projects in several Indian cities and explores the applicability of innovative financing mechanisms and the challenges in adopting them in the Indian context to enable a sustainable urban development model for emerging cities.

An unbalanced model for sustainable urban development

The issue of geographical scale in implementing sustainable urban development has not received much attention in sustainability research. Is it possible to locate sustainability efforts to one part of the city and by creating a spatial imbalance expect that these efforts gradually spread to the rest of the city? For this purpose this paper proposes a model of unbalanced sustainable development. The model is based on an old theory in development economics, namely unbalanced growth. The author contends that such a model should be suitable for many cities where the opportunities for more comprehensive city-wide sustainable development strategies are limited.

Revitalização urbana integrada em Montreal: lições da iniciativa de desenvolvimento local

This paper reflects upon an integrated territorial initiative known as RUI (Integrated Urban Revitalization), which has been implemented in a number of Montreal neighbourhoods that have been particularly afflicted by poverty and social exclusion. In these areas, a series of Integrated Urban Revitalization pilot-projects have been implemented with a view to creating new development opportunities. The inter-sectoral RUI approach (health, education, crime prevention, housing, employment, transportation, environment...) advances governance, gives rise to a new generation of networks and partnerships and exposes structures to participative democracy. The RUI initiative also purports to contribute to rebuilding the identity and culture of disadvantaged people, strengthening territorial bonds (the neighbourhood as a place of belonging and social interaction) and reinforcing territorial cohesion. The RUIincorporates a bottom-up logic and constitutes a stimulus to the social economy by reinforcing the networks and institutional capacity of Montreal’s society and economy, but the State cannot afford not to participate in the quest for a fairer and more sustainable urban development model. Some of the lessons from this experience can be usefully transferred and adapted to other territories subject to exclusion and poverty

A Development Density Allocation Model based on Environmental Carrying Capacity

This study developed a development density allocation model for sustainable urban development based on environmental carrying capacity theory and ubiquitous technology. The environmental standard of NO 2 was used as the indicator to calculate the largest development density because it is a crucial air pollutant source in Korea. The process of allocating development densities consisted of 3 steps; trajectory analysis, air pollutants dispersion analysis, and development densities allocation. First, trajectory analysis was applied to pre-development conditions such as emission volume and locations. The additional pollutants emission volume caused by new urban development was inputted to employ the air pollutants dispersion model. Secondly, the air pollutants dispersion model was used to identify concentrations of air pollutants dispersed by the additional pollutants. Comparing air pollutant concentrations with environmental standards, the suitable population density of the development area was calculated. Finally, population density was allocated based on the results of the pollutants dispersion analysis. The results of the development density allocation model can be useful for preparing density and land-use maps in planning processes.

The Urban Creative-Food Economy: Producing Food for the Urban Elite or Social Inclusion Opportunity?

The food industry has always been a major generator of economic activity in the Greater Toronto Area. However, recently the innovative and creative elements of the industry have changed. Since the mid-1990s, the fastest growing segment within the industry has been small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). The specialty, ethnic, and organic SMEs (hereinafter referred to as the ‘creative-food’ industry) appear to be particularly innovative as they respond to consumer demand for local, fresh, ethnic, and fusion cuisine. On the basis of sixty-five interviews with food producers, processors, restaurateurs, food media, non-government organizations, government, and private sector agencies, it is suggested that this creative-food sector is thriving despite existing public policies that bias toward large-scale, industrialized agri-food firms in the region. As such, a disconnect currently exists between, on the one hand, the traditional agrifood paradigm that the government regulatory environment is promoting and, on the other hand, the locally consumer-driven food cluster that is emerging. Public policies of multiculturalism and education have done more to facilitate the unprecedented growth of this creative subcomponent of the food sector than have explicit public food-policy initiatives. However, there is still room for policy initiatives that advance the development of this dynamic sector, especially in the area of supportive infrastructure, access to health-based ethnically appropriate food, food education, and fair labour standards. Contrary to a widely held view, the creative-food industry is not just about promoting exclusive foods for the pleasure of urban elite. Rather, it offers an opportunity for a more socially inclusive and sustainable urban development model. The findings also have implications for multilevel governance in cluster formation and policy, future research on food, as well as for theories on innovation, urban creativity, and governance.