City Model Research Articles

El Centenario de la Batalla de Boyacá en Bogotá. Mujeres, ritos y espacio urbano

This article examines the commemoration of the Battle of Boyacá in August 1919 in Bogotá. While there have been few studies of this event in Colombian historiography, recent works in urban history have primarily focused on the transformation of physical space, neglecting other important aspects. In this study, we take a different approach, examining the role played by a group of women in shaping the type of celebration held and the creation of a specific city model based on their experiences. To do this, we employed a spatial analysis of the commemoration and a search and interpretation of historical documents that were subjected to new questions. Ultimately, our findings demonstrate the importance of considering the interrelation between urban history and women’s history in understanding previously underestimated urban processes.

Extraction of the essential elements for urban systems modelling – A word-to-vector approach

Due to its ever-evolving nature, urbanisation continues to escalate in complexity, further exacerbating the urban sustainability challenges. This necessitates the need for evidence-based policymaking enabled by modelling approaches, to facilitate informed decisions, and propel and gravitate towards urban sustainability. The major constraint is that of identifying the essential characteristics for consideration when modelling cities as complex systems, in a structured manner that integrates these characteristics, cognisant of their relative importance. The distinctive urban systems, corresponding system characteristics and interdependencies impacting the modelling of cities as complex systems, can be identified from peer-reviewed literature. The limiting constraint is, although there is widely available information on cities in research databases, the ability to use this literature for a quantitative model has not been proven, presenting a research gap. This approach results in significant complexities. In order to resolve these complexities, this study seeks a systems-based approach including a 2-tier structured protocol, leveraging qualitative-to-quantitative techniques to automatically extract the key systems which impact the development of city models. Through a systematic literature review, data on 13 key systems is qualitatively extracted from research databases such as Scopus and ScienceDirect, for the duration 2014 – 2024. Through word2vector analysis, machine learning techniques are utilised to perform the quantitative mapping of each urban system into corresponding system characteristics, and quantitatively illustrate them based on relative importance. The results illustrate that this proposed method is significant to characterize the essential systems that constitute a city as a complex system, based on machine learning and text analytics.

Model predictive control based optimal operation of smart city

Rapid urbanization has resulted in a significant proportion of the world’s population residing in urban areas. Cities are undergoing a transition towards the designation of smart cities, which aims to facilitate the efficient management of electrical and heating energy systems derived from renewable energy sources (RES). This paper presents a smart city model that incorporates RES, battery, grid and a combined cooling heat and power (CCHP) system. The smart city model deals with cooling, heating, and electric energy and applies a simple model predictive control (MPC) based approach for optimal operation. MPC method can be operated for future fluctuations by optimizing at the control horizon (NC) while including the prediction horizon (NP) in the optimization interval. The NP and NC parameters have a significant impact on the results, and their selection is an important consideration. This study uses MATLAB simulation to validate the effectiveness of MPC-based operations with a simplified forecasting model in a smart city utilizing RES and CCHP systems. The proposed method is easy to implement and shows sufficient performance while avoiding model complexity. In addition, the impact of NC and NP parameters on performance is investigated. The results show that the proposed method performs better when NP is about 12 h.

The social implications of the vital city model: measuring the impact of urban vitality on neighbourhood sustainability

ABSTRACT Previous studies have identified vital urban spaces through the concentration of people, the diversity of land uses and buildings, accessibility, and the existence of a compact urban fabric. However, the relationship between urban vitality and social sustainability has not been studied in these terms. This paper seeks to analyse the social implications of the vital city model for residents in the context of a Latin American city: Santiago de Chile. To do so, we use the JANE index to measure the formal conditions of the built environment for urban vitality, and the Longitudinal Social Study of Chile to measure urban social sustainability. We first use a PCA technique to reveal six core components of urban social sustainability: Sense of belonging, Safety, Sociability, Well-being, Satisfaction with housing, and Conservation of the neighbourhood. We then test the associations between the strength of these six core components and the conditions for urban vitality by means of a multiple linear regression model. Significant associations between urban vitality conditions and urban social sustainability suggest that socially sustainable neighbourhoods are found in sectors with the presence of old buildings, accessibility to public transportation, and far from mega infrastructures.

Application of Sponge City Ecological Landscape Design in Residential District

In response to the escalating challenges posed by rapid urbanization, this article conducts a comprehensive exploration of innovative models for urban water management. Through a comparative analysis, we delve into the principles, methodologies, and potential outcomes of three prominent models: the Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS), Water-Sensitive City Model (WSUD), and Depression-Infiltration Canal System Model. Each model offers a unique perspective on addressing urban water challenges, emphasizing sustainability, adaptability, and environmental protection. The SUDS model emphasizes replicating natural ecological drainage systems to mitigate urban waterlogging, enhance water quality, and promote sustainable water management practices. Incorporating green infrastructure, natural ecological restoration, and community participation, the WSUD model integrates various aspects of water management to achieve effective utilization and recycling of water resources while enhancing urban resilience. This paper is helpful to promote a more sustainable and flexible future.

Multi-frequency smartphone positioning performance evaluation: insights into A-GNSS PPP-B2b services and beyond

In August 2023, Xiaomi unveiled the Redmi K60 Ultra, the first multi-frequency smartphone integrated with BeiDou-3 Navigation Satellite System Precise Point Positioning (PPP-B2b) services and employing PPP technology as the primary positioning method. The positioning enhancement service is provided by the Assisted Global Navigation Satellite System (A-GNSS) location platform developed by the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. The signaling interaction between the server and the users strictly adheres to the Third Generation of Mobile Communications Technology Partnership Project Long-Term Evolution Positioning Protocol and the Open Mobile Alliance Secure User Plane Location framework. To comprehensively evaluate the Redmi K60 Ultra’s capabilities, this study designed six distinct experimental scenarios and conducted comprehensive research on multi-frequency and multi-GNSS observation noise, Time to First Fix (TTFF), as well as the performance of both GNSS-based and network-based positioning. Experimental results indicate that the GNSS chipset within the Redmi K60 Ultra has achieved a leading position in the consumer market concerning supported satellite constellations, frequencies, and observation accuracy, and is comparable to some low-cost GNSS receivers. A-GNSS positioning can reduce the TTFF from 30 to under 5 s, representing an improvement of over 85% in the cold start speed compared to a standalone GNSS mode. The positioning results show that the A-GNSS PPP-B2b service can achieve positioning performance with RMS errors of less than 1.5 m, 2.5 m, and 4 m in open-sky, realistic, and challenging urban environments. Compared to GNSS-based positioning, cellular network-based Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) positioning achieves an accuracy ranging from tens to hundreds of meters in various experimental scenarios and currently functions primarily as coarse location determination. Additionally, this study explores the potential of the Three-Dimensional Mapping-Aided (3DMA) GNSS algorithm in detecting Non-Line-of-Sight signals and enhancing positioning performance. The results indicate that 3DMA PPP, as compared to conventional PPP, can significantly accelerate PPP convergence and improve positioning accuracy by over 30%. Consequently, 3D city models can be utilized as future assistance data for the A-GNSS location platform.

Extension of HBIM to 3D city modeling: Application for the port city of Massawa, Eritrea

Despite the significance of 3D city models, the associated costs and reliance on modern data acquisition tools hindered progress. This research aims to bridge these gaps by devising a method to create 3D city models with limited resources, sidestepping the need for cutting-edge tools. The method proposed relies on available resources to generate building footprint data and primarily generates elevation data using images. Based on Historic Building information model principles, a 3D city model of the port city of Massawa, Eritrea, comprising four classes of models was developed. In its current state, the model can be used for several applications such as visualization, conservation, urban assessments, and as a spatial data source to develop a city digital twin. Despite limitations in acquiring appropriate resources and the need for significant user interaction, the approach holds promise for initiating urban heritage conservation, particularly in inaccessible and resource-deficient sites in developing countries.

A framework for fully automated reconstruction of semantic building model at urban-scale using textured LoD2 data

The CityGML Level of Detail 3 (LoD3), a widely adopted standard for three-dimensional (3D) city modeling, has been accessible for an extended period. However, its comprehensive implementation remains limited due to challenges such as insufficient automation and inconsistent data quality. This research introduces an innovative and fully automated framework aimed at urban-scale semantic building model reconstruction. The proposed framework addresses three critical challenges: (1) proposing facade layout graph model to formalize the geometry and topological relationships of semantic entities on building facades, thereby promoting the deduction of structural completeness and the reconstruction of semantic facade models; (2) establishing a mapping relationship between texture images, semantic entities, and building shells guided by the facade layout graph to ensure consistent correlations among the geometry, semantics, and topology of building models; (3) developing an efficient representation methodology for semantic building models utilizing a parameter set derived from the facade layout graph. The proposed framework has been successfully validated by reconstructing 8,681 buildings from three different locations in Berlin. The results demonstrate an outstanding reconstruction accuracy of 91%, with a time efficiency of only 3.42 s per building. Visual analysis further confirms that the framework effectively fulfills the application prerequisites of 3D GIS. The code of the proposed framework is available in the repository: https://github.com/wangyuefeng2017/LoD3Framework-.

The Guidance of Public Value in China’s Historic Environment: Research on Regeneration Strategies Using Taiyuan’s Bell Tower Street as an Example

When profit-driven renewal is difficult to implement, many historic districts in China become “frozen” under protection. In the recent social context of “building cities for the people”, public value-oriented renewal of urban historic areas has become crucial in city transformation. This study investigates strategies for historic district regeneration in China by integrating spatial form, urban governance, and public value. We propose a novel framework to analyze the regeneration of historic districts, using Taiyuan’s Bell Tower Street as a case study. The framework distinguishes between two dimensions: spatial and economic–social. In the spatial dimension, we focus on the transformation of spatial form to regenerate public value, emphasizing the attribute of “publicness” as central to urban regeneration efforts. This involves a tiered approach to excavating and upgrading historic districts at macro, meso, and micro levels. The economic–social dimension explores urban governance to enhance public value through collaboration between government, market, and societal actors. This study employs a mixed-methods approach, including document reviews, interviews, field observations, and statistical data analysis. The analysis highlights that a public value-oriented approach to heritage regeneration can balance historical preservation with contemporary urban needs, offering a sustainable model for other cities.

Dynamics of urban sprawl: Deciphering the role of land prices and transportation costs in government-led urbanization

While the relationship among land price, transportation cost, and urban sprawl under the condition of local governments monopolizing land supply has been rarely discussed in the literature, this paper addresses this gap by hypothesizing based on the monocentric city model. The hypothesis suggests that due to increasing land prices and decreasing transportation costs, urban fringes are more likely to be developed, leading residents to move away from the city center and altering the demographic pattern of urban sprawl. An empirical analysis is conducted using panel data from 104 cities in China, including remote sensing data of urban land construction areas. The results show that high land prices and low transportation costs drive urban sprawl, with varying impacts across cities. The coupling coordination analysis indicates increasing influence of urban sprawl on land prices and transportation costs. These findings suggest the government should address the effects of unplanned urban expansion on these factors. The findings suggest that the government should pay more attention to the effects of unplanned urban expansion on land prices and transportation costs. Understanding the role of local governments in urban planning is crucial for comprehending China's urbanization strategy and its implications on social exclusion, gentrification, high housing prices, and other urban issues.

The role of e-procurement in promoting government transparency: Lessons from Surabaya

Background: This study examines accountability and transparency in the public procurement process, focusing on Surabaya, the first city to implement e-procurement reform. E-procurement leverages the latest information technology to improve procurement efficiency and transparency. Methods: A descriptive qualitative approach was used, using purposive sampling to gather in-depth insights from critical informants who thoroughly understood the research focus. Data were collected from various entities, including the Surabaya City Electronic Procurement Service (LPSE), the City Procurement Unit (ULP), and related public works and private auction companies. Findings: The implementation of e-procurement in Surabaya has succeeded in building an accountable and transparent system. This system has improved the procurement committee’s ability to justify and report the entire procurement process vertically to higher authorities and horizontally to the public. Despite this progress, some suppliers still engage in fraudulent practices, highlighting the need for continued vigilance and commitment. Conclusions: Although e-procurement has significantly improved accountability and transparency in the procurement process in Surabaya, the committee and suppliers need to uphold strong ethical standards to prevent fraud. The e-procurement system alone is not enough. This system must be supported by solid law enforcement and a commitment to integrity to fully realize its potential in creating a fair procurement environment. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study comprehensively evaluates e-procurement implementation in Surabaya, revealing improvements in accountability and transparency and remaining challenges. The findings offer an applicable model for other cities in Indonesia and developing countries to optimize public e-procurement systems.

The role of heritage and citizenship in the configuration of a sustainable city model supported by the new urban agendas. From the international scale to a regional model, the case of Andalusia

In the current situation marked by a necessary ecosocial transition, the new urban agendas have been acquiring a leading role, establishing strategies for the transformation of cities based on the principles of sustainability, where the cultural approach takes on a relevant role. The aim of this article is to analyze, the framework agendas drawn up at different levels of government, from the perspective of heritage and culture. To this end, the documents that make up the International, European, Spanish and Andalusian urban agendas are analyzed by means of a bibliographical review, considering heritage and citizenship as key components in the urban configuration. As a result of the multilevel analysis, a series of key factors are identified as a reference framework for the implementation of new urban agendas in cities from a heritage and citizenship approach.

Post-COVID-19 Era, 15th Minutes City New Urban Model Changing Housing Design and Models

This research centered on the transition from sustainability to the post-COVID-19 era, significantly altered and transformed cities, city plans, and housing models holistically approach. Although the academic world concentrating on sustainable urban and housing design since the 1990s, the pandemic has emerged as a critical paradigm shift in context since 2019. During the COVID-19 period the Paris city 15 minutes concept, first introduced by Paris Mayor A. Hidalgo initially sparked controversy as temporary now considered permanent in Paris recently, Oxford. In the post-pandemic era, sustainability has become significant on the global agenda, shaping cities, city models, and residences through profound and radical changes. Some efforts are supported by Climate-change conferences in the world and subsequently some determinations like the Paris Agreement and UN declarations that guide more livable environments and houses. Due to COVID-19 the newly emerged conditions and compulsory changes that have taken place in the cities the social isolation, distance living, and remote working led to radical changes in the living style, environment, city plans, housing models, and typologies holistically. Although many publications have been published in the last few years about the pandemic and the Paris City 15 minutes concept, they only address the city and urban scale solutions. There is no research with a holistic approach that relates the subject from the urban scale to the architectural scale, housing, and blocks. Within the 15-minute concept, searched, developed, innovative, and sustainable urban and housing-oriented suggestions for cities in the future are presented at the end of the research. In conclusion, it is revealed that the issue of sustainability has gained importance with an increasing momentum in the world agenda, witnessed the radical changes in cities and residences, in the post-COVID-19 period in the last 2-3 years.

Knowledge mapping of creative cities research: A visual analysis using VOSviewer and CiteSpace

Creative cities as a study discipline have garnered extensive attention and research in theory and practice as a practical approach to urban revitalization and sustainable development. This study conducted a systematic review of academic research on creative cities. Utilizing the visual analysis tools Citespace and VOSviewer, a comprehensive analysis was performed on 570 relevant articles from the Web of Science database. This study analyzed the most influential publications, authors, journals, institutions, and countries within the sample. The investigation spans various disciplinary domains, including geography, environment, culture, and others. Additionally, an exploration of the structure and characteristics of co-cited references was undertaken to enhance our understanding of the theoretical foundations of creative cities research further. Among these, the focal points of the study encompass urban development, urban policies, and the challenges faced. Finally, through co-occurrence analysis of keywords and examining the evolutionary process, the study forecasted that future trends will focus on the practical application of cities to enhance the urban image and improve urban governance from multi-dimensional perspectives such as creativity-related cultural places, public art, and so forth, exploring novel models of creative cities from case to universal. The results of this study can support scholars in grasping the development trends and exploring focal points.

AI Based Urban Resilience Planning: Opportunities and Challenges

Urban areas across the globe are confronting escalating flood risks, a crisis exacerbated by the effects of climate change, which necessitates precise hyper-localized risk assessments. This research introduces the application of the AI for resilient cities model for flood risk assessment, focusing specifically on the vulnerable area of Penthakata, located in the coastal city of Puri, Odisha. The hyper-local evaluation of associated flood risks is carried out, particularly at the building level. Leveraging cutting-edge geospatial technology, deep learning methodologies, and multi-parameter analysis, this study offers valuable insights into the flood vulnerabilities in the region. Additionally, the research emphasizes the integration of technology with community volunteers and local knowledge, highlighting the essential role of grassroots-level efforts in effective disaster management. The model is one of its kind combining advanced AI technology with community engagement, the study contributes to a holistic and localized approach to strengthen adaptive capacity in the face of increasing flood risks. The findings offer a compelling case for the adoption of hyperlocal risk assessments for urban and rural areas to be better informed of flood risks, prepared for potential disasters, and implement more effective mitigative measures. Ultimately, it aims to safeguard the lives and livelihoods of vulnerable communities of various regions, offering a model for spatial environmental and community resilience.

Optimizing Resource Allocation for Regional Employment Governance:A Dynamic Fuzzy-Set QCA Analysis of Low-Carbon Pilot Cities in China

<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:10.5pt"><span style="line-height:115%"><span style="font-family:等线"><a name="_Hlk171796579"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">This study employs a dynamic fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) approach, utilizing panel data from 121 low-carbon pilot cities in China from 2007 to 2019. Grounded in complex systems theory and the triple bottom line framework (Economy-Society-Environment), the research aims to optimize resource allocation to enhance regional employment governance performance. The key findings include that the initial implementation of low-carbon policies resulted in a short-term decline in employment levels, with minimal long-term impact on overall employment figures but a significant effect on high-level urban wages. Significant disparities in employment levels were observed among pilot cities, driven by regional population sizes and economic development levels. Four development models for low-carbon cities were identified: human resources-driven, energy transition-driven, industrial cluster-driven, and comprehensive factor-driven models. These models provide strategic pathways for promoting low-carbon urban development and enhancing employment. The findings offer valuable insights into governance strategies for China’s low-carbon pilot cities, facilitating the context-specific promotion of sustainable urban development and improved employment opportunities.</span></a></span></span></span></p>

Planning and Development of Smart Cities Based on the Concept of Sustainable Development

Based on the idea of sustainable development, this paper explores the planning and development of smart cities. Cities face many issues as global urbanization picks up speed, including environmental pollution, resource depletion, traffic congestion, and social inequality. To address these challenges, the notion of sustainable development has become a guiding principle for many city policymakers, aiming to meet contemporary needs while safeguarding future development. Smart cities utilize advanced information and communication technology to enhance urban operational efficiency, improve resource management, and enhance residents' quality of life, thereby providing a more sustainable development model for cities. This paper focuses on the key areas of smart city planning, including energy utilization and environmental protection, smart transportation and urban mobility, smart city planning and land use, social equity, and community engagement. Using Shenzhen as a case study, the practical application of the notion of sustainable development in smart city construction is elucidated, providing valuable insights and practical references for future smart cities.

Large-Scale Solar Potential Analysis in a 3D CAD Framework as a Use Case of Urban Digital Twins

Solar radiation impacts diverse aspects of city life, such as harvesting energy with PV panels, passive heating of buildings in winter, cooling the loads of air-conditioning systems in summer, and the urban microclimate. Urban digital twins and 3D city models can support solar studies in the process of urban planning and provide valuable insights for data-driven decision support. This study examines the calculation of solar incident radiation at the city scale in Sofia using remote sensing data for the large shading context in a mountainous region and 3D building data. It aims to explore the methods of geometry optimisation, limitations, and performance issues of a 3D computer-aided design (CAD) tool dedicated to small-scale solar analysis and employed at the city scale. Two cases were considered at the city and district scales, respectively. The total face count of meshes for the simulations constituted approximately 2,000,000 faces. A total of 64,379 roofs for the whole city and 4796 buildings for one district were selected. All calculations were performed in one batch and visualised in a 3D web platform. The use of a 3D CAD environment establishes a seamless process of updating 3D models and simulations, while preprocessing in Geographic Information System (GIS) ensures working with large-scale datasets. The proposed method showed a moderate computation time for both cases and could be extended to include reflected radiation and dense photogrammetric meshes in the future.

Greenness transformation, environmental awareness, and green product policy in spatial markets

AbstractThis paper examines the transformation towards greenness, focusing on consumer environmental awareness within a circular city model characterized by elastic demand. Our findings reveal that the equilibrium investment in environmentally friendly initiatives falls short of the socially optimal level for a given market structure. The degree of excess or insufficient market entry is influenced by the level of environmental awareness. Further, we delve into the role of environmental delegation, demonstrating that heightened environmental awareness can mitigate underinvestment in the environment and reduce inefficiency in market entry. From a policy perspective, we expand our analysis to include the “Green Product Policy.” This extension aims to explore the impact of such a policy on environmental awareness and assess the applicability of the “excess entry theorem” in this context.

A practical vehicle routing problem in small and medium cities for fuel consumption minimization

Today, reducing fossil fuel consumption in the transport sector is one of the important requirements to preserve the ecological environment. In this paper, we investigated a logistics problem in small and medium cities. We proposes the time-dependent vehicle routing problem model in small and medium cities considering heterogeneous fleets, time windows, multi-trip, time dependency, and road network. We conducted a numerical analysis on fuel consumption minimizing path selection between two customer nodes and found that the path selection is independent of the payload in most cases. The model is formulated as a mathematical integer linear programming model, and small problems are solved using a commercial optimization solver. For large-scale instances, we proposed a heuristic algorithm based on the variable neighborhood search and evaluated its performance. The proposed algorithm can decrease fuel consumption by 25 % compared to manual routing and scheduling. Furthermore, for provide useful managerial insights, sensitivity analyses were performed considering different vehicle capacities.