Modern Neighborhoods Research Articles

Research on the Collaborative Regeneration of Cohousing Under Spatial Densification Mode

Urban renewal is a necessary process for the transformation from incremental space to stock space, and old communities, as an important part of the urban space system, play a non-negligible role in the reconstruction of community spatial order. From the perspective of community remodeling, From the perspective of community remodeling, this paper summarizes the latest research progress through the analysis tool CiteSpace, explores and researches the design of old residential areas in Hangzhou based on the urban air index oriented residential renewal design based on the planning concepts of "co-living community", "urban spatial morphology" and "community microclimate system". On the basis of combining 3D wind field simulation and fluid mechanics software calculation, this paper explores the collaborative regeneration path of old residential areas under spatial densification mode, this paper studies how to combine scientific planning with resident sharing in a new mode, and on this basis, through the self-regulation function of the environment, let the residential area spontaneously form a complete shared living system, and carry out detailed exploration in the protection and reconstruction of the living environment of the old community, and how to promote the spiritual development of modern neighborhoods through transformation. In order to improve the quality of life of urban residents in Hangzhou, the renewal and regeneration design of old residential areas and the transformation and upgrading of future communities have brought new thinking.

Historic redlining, modern neighborhood structures, and mortality in children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer.

11037 Background: Historic redlining, referring to the Home Owners Loan Corporation (HOLC) program’s racially biased risk monitoring maps in the 1930’s, has indelible impacts on modern day neighborhood characteristics and health outcomes. The impact of redlining, a form of structural racism, on children, adolescents, and young adults with cancer (CAYACs) is unknown. This retrospective cohort study evaluates the association between redlining and mortality in CAYACs. Methods: Using the California Cancer Registry, we identified cases <25 years old diagnosed with first primary malignant cancer between 2000-2019. Using merged HOLC maps and U.S. Census data we determined case redlining status (A “Best”, B “Still Desirable”, C “Declining”, D “Hazardous”, and N “Not graded”) by residence at diagnosis. We defined residents of D neighborhoods redlined-exposed and residents of A or B neighborhoods unexposed or referent. Kaplan Meier methods and multivariable Cox proportional hazard models were applied to calculate overall survival. Additional models accounted for census tract-level neighborhood SES (nSES, a composite measure incorporating seven SES domains), neighborhood racial and ethnic composition (or typology) and racialized economic segregation (via index of concentration at the extremes). Results: In total 8,210 cases were HOLC-graded, the median age was 16 years, 46% were female, and 48% had solid tumors. Overall survival at 5 years was inferior for D cases vs. A or B cases (OS 80.2%, 95% CI: 78.5-81.7 vs. OS 88.2, 95% CI: 84.0-91.3). Adjusting for individual clinical characteristics (age, sex, year of diagnosis, and cancer stage), D cases experienced greater mortality (HR 1.32, 95% CI: 1.12-1.55) compared to A or B cases. Additional adjustment for insurance and nSES attenuated the relationship (HR 1.17, 95%CI: 1.00-1.36 and HR 1.07, 95% CI: 0.92-1.24 respectively). Similar patterns were observed in models adjusting for racialized economic segregation (HR 1.07, 95% CI: 0.92-1.24) and typology (HR 1.10, 95% CI: 0.94-1.28) in place of nSES. Conclusions: In this population-based study, redlined-exposed CAYACs experienced greater mortality compared to unexposed CAYACs. Adjusting for insurance and contemporary nSES attenuated the association between redlining and mortality. Findings suggest current neighborhood attributes may be downstream manifestations of structural racism with survival implications for CAYACs.

The impact of historical redlining on neurosurgeon distribution and reimbursement in modern neighborhoods.

This study examines the lasting impact of historical redlining on contemporary neurosurgical care access, highlighting the need for equitable healthcare in historically marginalized communities. To investigate how redlining affects neurosurgeon distribution and reimbursement in U.S. neighborhoods, analyzing implications for healthcare access. An observational study was conducted using data from the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) National File, Home Owner's Loan Corporation (HOLC) neighborhood grades, and demographic data to evaluate neurosurgical representation across 91 U.S. cities, categorized by HOLC Grades (A, B, C, D) and gentrification status. Of the 257 neighborhoods, Grade A, B, C, and D neighborhoods comprised 5.40%, 18.80%, 45.8%, and 30.0% of the sample, respectively. Grade A, B, and C neighborhoods had more White and Asian residents and less Black residents compared to Grade D neighborhoods (p < 0.001). HOLC Grade A (OR = 4.37, 95%CI: 2.08, 9.16, p < 0.001), B (OR = 1.99, 95%CI: 1.18, 3.38, p = 0.011), and C (OR = 2.37, 95%CI: 1.57, 3.59, p < 0.001) neighborhoods were associated with a higher representation of neurosurgeons compared to Grade D neighborhoods. Reimbursement disparities were also apparent: neurosurgeons practicing in HOLC Grade D neighborhoods received significantly lower reimbursements than those in Grade A neighborhoods ($109,163.77 vs. $142,999.88, p < 0.001), Grade B neighborhoods ($109,163.77 vs. $131,459.02, p < 0.001), and Grade C neighborhoods ($109,163.77 vs. $129,070.733, p < 0.001). Historical redlining continues to shape access to highly specialized healthcare such as neurosurgery. Efforts to address these disparities must consider historical context and strive to achieve more equitable access to specialized care.

Urban morphology clustering analysis to identify heat-prone neighbourhoods in cities

Exposure to heat is a major health concern to urban populations. Cities aim to reduce outdoor thermal stress by adapting the built environment, but the spatial heterogeneity within cities makes it difficult to establish universal mitigation strategies. We present a methodology that identifies the hottest neighbourhoods in a city and links them to underlying patterns in urban form and function, to derive heat mitigation measures for individual neighbourhoods according to their characteristics, mitigation potential, and average surface temperature. The method applies k-means clustering and is applicable to any city using available datasets on surface cover and building morphology, as well as globally available satellite measurements of surface temperatures. Here, we present a heat-mitigation analysis for the city of Zurich. The clustering differentiates seven neighbourhood types, including two types of residential areas, modern neighbourhoods with high-rise buildings, historical districts, and industrial zones. The hottest temperatures are in neighbourhoods with extensive impervious ground cover such as railway tracks and airport parking. Surface temperatures strongly correlate with impervious surface cover and vegetation cover for all neighbourhoods, with building cover only for non-industrial built neighbourhoods, and with sky-view factor for all neighbourhoods except those with large vegetation cover. Historical, modern, and industrial neighbourhoods are particular heat-prone, and increasing vegetation for evaporative cooling is a suggested mitigation strategy for all. Modern and industrial areas could benefit from shading through increase of tree cover, while historical centres may adapt vertical greening as suitable heat mitigation strategy.

Rethinking Urban Sustainability in the GCC: Translating Plans into Practices

This study uses morphological mapping to trace sustainable urban forms over six decades in sixty-five neighborhoods in seven Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) cities. The study examines the evolution of three dimensions—compactness, connectivity, and diversity. The aims are (1) to assess the extent to which sustainable forms have been implemented in neighborhood development and (2) to identify model neighborhoods that can guide sustainable neighborhood development. Findings indicate that pre-suburban developments are generally more sustainable than contemporary neighborhoods, although some modern neighborhoods incorporate sustainable elements. Effectively implementing policies requires striking a balance between physical ideals and consideration of social aspects.

The Effect of Spatial Organization on the Sustainability of the Neighborhood Unit in the Residential Environment

Contemporary residential neighborhoods suffer from weak sustainability of urban residential environments as a result of the adoption of inefficient spatial organization at the neighborhood unit level. This resulted negative characteristics which affected the achievement of sustainable development plans for the residential environment that constitute the majority of the urban fabric of cities.&#x0D; The physical affordances ,within the vocabulary of recent times,overcame the spiritual ones and affected the residential environment. Accordingly,the concept of space changed in contemporary residential areas through the dominance of the physical aspect (mass) on the symbolic aspect (space).The modern technology occupied an important level being one of the basic features of the era. Therefore, achieving sustainability at the urban level of the residential environment requires an efficient spatial organization which ensures the linking of urban space with the surroundings, and the new services together with the basic ones that need maintenance and rehabilitation.&#x0D; The weak sustainability of the built residential environment constitutes the main research problem. This problem results from the inefficiency of space organization at the neighborhood unit level. The research aims to establish spatial organized mechanisms at the neighborhood unit level that would achieve sustainability through the investment of sustainable factors of traditional residential environment in the planning and design of modern neighborhood,as well as the adoption of human design strategies to raise the efficiency of spatial organization.The research stems for a hypothesis that states (the efficient spatial organization at the neighborhood unit level produces a sustainable urban environment at the level of larger residential neighborhood).

A spatiotemporal reconstruction of the 1630 plague epidemic in Milan

In 1630, a devastating plague epidemic struck Milan, one of the most important Italian cities of that time, deeply affecting its demography and economy for decades. The lack of digitized historical data strongly limits our comprehension of that important event. In this work, we digitized and analyzed the Milan death registers of 1630. The study revealed that the epidemic evolved differently among the areas of the city. Indeed, we were able to group the parishes of the city (comparable with modern neighborhoods) in two groups based on their epidemiological curves. These different epidemiological progressions could reflect socio-economical and/or demographic features specific of the neighborhoods, opening questions about the relationship between these features and the evolution of epidemics in the pre-modern period. The study of historical records, like the one presented here, can help us to better understand European history and pre-modern epidemics.

Thermo-Economic Analysis of Near-Surface Geothermal Energy Considering Heat and Cold Supply within a Low-Temperature District Heating Network

This study evaluates low-temperature district heating (LTDH) networks with different geothermal heat sources under thermo-economic criteria. In particular, the heat and cold supply of modern neighbourhoods are taken into account in a dynamic simulation model built on the modelling language Modelica. Both horizontal and vertical ground heat exchangers (GHE) were investigated in respect to the load profiles of the consumers, depending on dimension as well as location. The selected base case represents a LTDH network near Stuttgart (Germany). The corresponding results of an annual simulation show that a horizontal GHE is suitable for pure heat supply and can reduce costs by up to 12% compared to a vertical system. This economic advantage remains when the cooling demand is considered. Subsequently, a variation of the system location was carried out. It is shown that horizontal GHEs operate more economically in northern regions, whereas vertical ones are more advantageous in regions with increased cooling demand. For both cases, possible savings of between 3.0% and 4.2% resulted from the simulations. The heating-to-cooling demand ratio was used as a first decision criteria to weigh-up between the two systems. Vertical GHEs were more economical than horizontal systems as soon as the ratio dropped below 1.5.

Compassion, Love, and Happiness: Positive Emotions and Early Modern Communities

Compassion, Love, and Happiness:Positive Emotions and Early Modern Communities Linda Pollock (bio) Barclay, Katie, Caritas: Neighbourly Love and the Early Modern Self, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2021; hardback; pp. 240; R.R.P. £72.00; ISBN 9780198868132. Fox, Cora, Bradley J. Irish, and Cassie M. Miura, eds, Positive Emotions in Early Modern Literature and Culture, Manchester, Manchester University Press, 2021; hardcover; pp. 240; R.R.P. £85.00; ISBN 9781526137135. Steenbergh, Kristine, and Katherine Ibbett, eds, Compassion in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Feeling and Practice, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2021; hardback; pp. 290; R.R.P. £80.00; ISBN 9781108495394. Wood, Andy, Faith, Hope, and Charity: English Neighbourhoods, 1500–1640, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2020; paperback; pp. xvi, 306; R.R.P. £64.99; ISBN 9781108814454. Up until recently, much of the work in the history of emotions in early modern Europe has focused on those strong passions that rend individuals, families, and communities asunder: anger, jealousy, envy, and grief, for instance.1 But the tide is turning away from negativity, suppression, and destruction and towards those passions crucial to the creation and preservation of communities. The four books under review all grant passions and affections a constructive role in individual lives and social relations, delineating how emotion was woven into the fabric of early modern society. In Faith, Hope, and Charity: English Neighbourhoods, 1500–1640, Andy Wood examines the building and experience of neighbourhood for all ranks of English society for the period 1500 to 1640 through the trifecta [End Page 131] lens of faith, hope, and charity. Katie Barclay explores in Caritas: Neighbourly Love and the Early Modern Self the meaning of community for ordinary people in eighteenth-century Scotland through the belief and enactment of caritas. The essays in Positive Emotions in Early Modern Literature and Culture, edited by Cora Fox, Bradley Irish, and Cassie Miura, augment the 'happiness turn' and seek to redress the imbalance in current scholarship by bringing to light the existence of positive feelings in daily life, the active pursuit of pleasure, and how literary structures elicit and encourage affective attachments. The contributors to Compassion in Early Modern Literature and Culture: Feeling and Practice, edited by Kristine Steenbergh and Katherine Ibbett, concentrate on compassion but take a broad-brush approach to the concept, as well as moving beyond England. The essays delve into interrelated concepts along with compassion's multiple forms and complexities, in the hope that such entanglements will be productive and lead to new understandings. Andy Wood's meticulously researched and deeply felt book investigates how early modern English people, rich, middling, and poor, did their best to make their communities operate. The three biblical tenets of faith (in God, neighbours, and friends to provide pleasure and support), hope (for a future with economic security and political empowerment), and charity (which both rendered help to those in need and granted a right to assert claims to aid) structured and guided the workings of early modern neighbourhoods, rural and urban. By examining the idea and definition of neighbourhood, the obligation to live in harmony and help others, the nature of disputes and reconciliation, as well as who was included and excluded, he shows that notwithstanding problems, challenges, inconsistencies, and changes, neighbourliness endured as an ideal and practice. Barclay's Caritas, based on around two thousand court cases, supplemented with personal correspondence, and replete with moving stories of those of lowly social status, places love at the centre of eighteenth-century Scottish society. She considers the centrality of marriage to the foundation of a loving community, how young people were socialized into upholding caritas, and how caritas promoted harmony and underpinned hospitality, as well as investigating the costs involved in this model for those who would not or could not conform. Deploying practice theory—the concept that emotions are engrained in body and mind through repeated practice—she lays out how caritas restrained violence, promoted peacekeeping, shaped social interaction, and offered a model for ethical relations. The interdisciplinary Positive Emotions in Early Modern Literature and Culture brings together the insights of affect theory and historical studies of emotion in order to reconsider which emotions mattered to early modern culture, and their...

UNDERSTANDING THE FEVZI ÇAKMAK NEIGHBORHOOD: THROUGH ITS PAST, PRESENT AND PLANNED TOMORROW

Mahalle is a place name derived from the Arabic roots halel and hulul, meaning “to land, to settle down” (Turkish Dictionary, 1998). In addition to the residential structures within a neighborhood, it has a mosque, primary school, fountain, baths, a grocery store, bakery, parks, etc. It is the smallest settlement in a city. On the other hand, socially a neighborhood refers to a community that is placed somewhere and has organizational relationships. The neighborhood phenomenon is one of the most important legacies that continue from the Ottoman Empire to the Republic. During the Republican period, many new neighborhoods have also been established, often formed by adhering to a plan. In this study, the formation of Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood, one of the neighborhoods designed according to the Kayseri ARU-Oelsner (1945) zoning plan, and the change that the neighborhood has undergone from the past to the present will be examined. According to the data obtained, the aim of the Kayseri ARU-Oelsner zoning plan is to contribute to the Urban Transformation Project of Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood, which will be planned by the local government in the future. Literature and field studies, document analysis and oral history studies will be used as methods in the study. In this context, maps belonging to the neighborhood, zoning plans, Kayseri Metropolitan Municipality and Kocasinan Municipality archive records and old photographs will be provided. The Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood, which was built in the 1960s, has a grid plan type and is one of the modern neighborhoods that have contributed to the development of the city in an east direction. A city analysis will be carried out in historical continuity from the establishment of Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood to the present day. It is believed that detecting interventions in significant areas of change/transformation of the neighborhood will make significant contributions to the future urban transformation project. Accordingly, it is proposed that the analysis to be conducted in the neighborhood be evaluated within a theoretical framework which is known in Urban Planning as “we-zoning and Hoyt classification”. Accordingly, the areas identified in the neighborhood in the present study will be evaluated within the scope of “protection”, “correction” (improvement) and “renewal” strategies. It is expected that this work, carried out in the Kayseri Fevzi Çakmak neighborhood, will contribute to urban planning and transformation projects and architectural discussions throughout the country.

Impacts of urban morphological characteristics on nocturnal outdoor lighting environment in cities: An empirical investigation in Shenzhen

Lighting is a vital environmental element that affects people's outdoor activities and the creation of liveable neighbourhoods in cities. The use of appropriate lighting at night in public spaces can benefit people's social well-being. This research examined the effects of urban morphological characteristics on outdoor night-time lighting behaviours by analysing 11 urban neighbourhoods that reflect the variety of the prevailing urban morphological patterns in the city centres of Shenzhen. A set of urban morphological descriptors were analysed and two lighting parameters were evaluated by on-site measurement. The results revealed that the low-density high-rise modern neighbourhoods presented very high outdoor illuminance levels, but extremely low occupant use at night, and consequently, remain significant potential of light pollution and energy waste. By contrast, urban villages with high-density mid-rise patterns possess limited outdoor lighting facilities but exhibited very high nocturnal neighbourhood vitality. This type of neighbourhood presents a “demand-oriented and energy-saving” lighting behaviour during the night-time through the use of light spill from the nearby indoor light sources. Multivariable linear regression indicated that morphological characteristics significantly contribute to the illumination distribution within urban spaces. Together, building coverage ratio, floor area ratio, tree coverage ratio and ground surface albedo explain 88% of the variability of night-time site illuminance uniformity. With adding the dimension of urban morphology, this research tries to extend the scope of urban nocturnal lighting studies and provides insights into the setting of more specific criteria for urban design, so as to contribute to healthy city initiatives.

STRUCTURE AND DYNAMICS OF THE RHYME FIELD “CITY”

The article is devoted to the study of the structure of the rhyme field CITY. Its microfields are outlined and their lexical composition is analyzed. It was revealed that the microfields are clearly formed via “urban space” (“structure of space”, “urbanonyms”), “buildings and institutions”, “objects and materials”, “transport”. “Structure of space” contains words: avenue, alley, boulevard, street, square, park, suburb, avenue, market, garden, square etc. Rhymes with the component “street” predominate, the combination of this rhyme with verbs is typical. There is a strong associative connection, on the one hand, between the word square and, on the other hand, rain and rinse; it is a kind of landscape sketch, visual and sound image of the city. Among the components of rhyme – urbanonyms, we single out the names of material monuments of history, temples, places of worship, streets, squares, historic sites, modern neighborhoods and massifs. “Buildings and institutions” is a fairly wide group of nouns: academy, pharmacy, bar, library, railway station, garage, hotel, kindergarten, factory, coffee shop, casino, cafe, cafeteria, cinema, club, bookstore, office, shop, hospital, pawnshop, museum, pub, post office, railway station, restaurant, sex shop, cathedral, supermarket, theater, prison, philharmonic, skyscraper etc. Rhyme with a component “factory” marks Soviet era. Popular urban rhymes are combinations with the word “station”, in particular the cliché further (adj.) – at the station. In the microfield “Urban objects and materials” the most attractive for rhyme comprehension is the word “light”. Often used in the rhyme position, the word “pavement” creates a sound image of a hollow road. Of all the names of modes of transport, the word “tram” is the most popular. This rhyming component, associated with the unchanging attribute of life in the city, has not lost its poetic relevance over the centuries. It is concluded that the processes of urbanization actualize the “urban” rhyme both for the creators themselves and for researchers of the language of modern poetry.

Assessment of Compliance with Regulatory Requirements of Life Support Facilities of Modern Neighborhoods

It is proposed to evaluate the level of comfort of the urban environment on the basis of a methodology for quantifying the feasibility of city functions: livelihoods, providing entertainment and recreation, creating conditions for power, charity, gaining knowledge, realizing creative needs, strengthening connections with nature. It is proposed to introduce a system of quality indicators of planning and design solutions for the territories of urban housing estates as indicators that quantitatively reflect the level of implementation of city functions and their components. The study developed an algorithm for calculating indicators characterizing the correspondence of city functions to the standard values of parameters adopted for assessing the quality of the state of its elements. The numerical implementation of the indicator calculation algorithm is performed for the city’s Life Support function, which plays a key role in dramatically improving the comfort of the urban environment. For a more complete analysis of the effectiveness of urban decisions aimed at increasing human potential and satisfying the rational needs of a person, as well as for the comprehensive consideration of comfort characteristics, it seems possible to carry out a scientific substantiation of an extended list of indicators for the implementation of city functions and the accessibility of socially significant everyday objects.

Composition patterns of ornamental flora in the Czech Republic

Ornamental plants are an important component of urban floras and a significant source of alien plant invasions to the surrounding landscapes. We studied ornamental flora across 174 settlements in the Czech Republic, Central Europe. The aims of the study were to (i) identify clusters of sites that are defined as distinctive groups of ornamental taxa reflecting environmental or socioeconomic factors and (ii) apply the classification approach which is traditionally used for spontaneous vegetation in order to evaluate the potential of different settlement types to act as source sites of invasive species. The inventories were classified in a similar manner that is generally applied to spontaneous vegetation using the COCKTAIL method. Diagnostic taxa were classified in a repeatable manner into 17 species groups, forming five distinctive clusters with ~70% of sites attributed to one cluster. The species pools of the clusters differed in their representation of species with native or alien status and different life forms. The following clusters were distinguished, based on the prevailing type of settlement: (1) old villas neighbourhoods of towns, (2) upland settlements, (3) modern neighbourhoods, (4) old rustic settlements and (5) modern rustic settlements. Similar to spontaneous vegetation, the classification of ornamental flora reflects both basic natural gradients (i.e. altitude) and man-made factors (i.e. the preferences for certain plants and associated management practices). Alien taxa associated with modern neighbourhoods are characterised by a relatively higher invasion potential than those from, for example, old rustic settlements. This is especially true for woody species which can spread in ruderal habitats as a result of urban sprawl. Our results showed that the classification method, commonly used to analyse vegetation data, can also be applied to ornamental flora.

MAHALLE KÜLTÜRÜNÜN KENTLİLİK BİLİNCİ ÜZERİNE ETKİSİ: KARAMAN ÖRNEĞİ

The purpose of this study, In order to awareness of creating urban in individuals living in cities, it is necessary to establish the neighborhood culture. For this purpose, the effects of neighborhood culture on the awareness of creating urban are investigated. At the same time, the difference between the modern neighborhood and traditional neighborhoods in terms of the formation of neighborhood culture is analyzed in the study. The study was carried out with the survey method, which is one of the quantitative research techniques, on individuals living in 5 different districts of Karaman province. As a result of analyzing the data collected from 146 inhabitants by easy sampling method by survey technique; It is determined that there is a positive (48%) moderate relationship between neighborhood culture and awareness. Results showed that there was a moderate and positive relationship (%48) between neighborhood culture and urban awareness. Variables of neighborhood culture explained 14 % variance from total variance of variables of urban awareness. In this study, urban awareness and neighborhood culture among neighborhoods were evaluated according to demographic information. The hypotheses of the study were evaluated using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analysis, MANOVA and Canonical Correlation methods.

Understanding people’s needs for a vivid public realm as a key towards enhancing modern neighbourhoods’ liveability. Nasr City in Cairo as a case study

Traditional cities emerged and grew according to the residents’ needs; thus they were a reflection of the community’s culture and traditions. But lately cities have witnessed numerous changes and challenges. Nasr City in Cairo was planned as a suburb in the late sixties to tackle the housing shortage in Cairo. Nasr city’s master plan aimed at accommodating modern planning concepts where it featured an abundance of open public spaces when compared to other districts of Cairo. However, these spaces are empty of people most of the time, which detracts from the character and the experiential qualities of the area. This paper aims to explore the way in which the residents of Nasr city envision ‘their’ public spaces, comprehending the reasons why their usage of such spaces is currently hindered and discovering their recommendations for enhancing public spaces in their neighbourhoods in a way that would encourage them to visit them regularly. In addition, this paper assesses Nasr city’s public spaces, in an attempt to bridge the gap between the offered built environment and people’s needs. This assessment shall be achieved through the use of questionnaires, observations of people’s reactions towards offered public spaces, urban surveys of the provided public spaces and interviews with officials. Based on these studies the paper proposes recommendations incorporating people’s needs for a vivid public realm, in order to help planners and officials to understand the malfunctions inherent in modern city planning and management models that have hindered planned public spaces from conveying and fulfilling their role as centres of social interaction.

Overestimation of historical earthquake magnitudes in the Near East due to common site effects

Throughout historical times, human habitation in the Near East was limited by its arid climate to sites with strategic advantages. These sites underwent millennia of recurring destruction and rebuilding, resulting in the accumulation of artificial mounds, known as ‘Tells’, consisting of multiple archeological debris strata of ruined cities, which could pile up to a height of a few tens of meters. Intensity-based magnitude evaluation of Near East historical earthquakes often utilizes reported damage from cities built on earlier archeological mounds. Moreover, old residential quarters of many modern Near Eastern cities are founded on such mounds.In this study we measured the subsurface shear-wave velocity (Vs) profile on top of a typical mound structure as well as the Vs profile of the bedrock on which the mound was accumulated. The results suggest that the mound structure is likely to amplify seismic ground motions.These results imply that intensity-based magnitude evaluation of Near East historical earthquakes that are based on reported damage from cities built on archeological mounds, might be biased and could lead to over-estimations of past earthquake magnitudes. Furthermore, many old residential quarters of modern Near Eastern cities are commonly founded on such mounds and might be exposed to a higher seismic hazard than nearby modern neighborhoods, thus requiring special attention in seismic hazard mitigation programs and seismic design.

Neighbourhood Patterns in Istanbul: From Historical Form to Manhattanization

During the last century, the transformation of Istanbul’s urban structure from monocentric to multi-centric and its rapid population growth resulted in neighborhood patterns which are spread across a large spectrum according to their location and their cultural, socio-economic and historical backgrounds. In urban settings, the potential environment is reinterpreted by its users, and is realized through the application of the space and time-specific societal norms within the context of technological advances. The present study investigates the selected neighborhood patterns from historical to westernized, modern, post-modern (gated) and Manhattanized forms. According to the results of the study, although some of the historical, westernized and modern neighborhoods have been preserved to a large extent, the haphazard development of high-rise residential buildings has caused traffic congestion, pollution, an increased income gap and changes in land values, and has thus produced functional transformations in their immediate surroundings. In addition, this unnecessary increase in housing density is not only harmful for the city’s famous silhouette but also for its traditional neighborhood relationships. In order to allow a physically, economically and socially more balanced development of the city, it is necessary to control its growth and follow a system of planned development which is not solely for the benefit of real estate investors. It is hoped that the results of the study will be useful for the urban and regional planners, policy makers and investors.

The Social Urban Block: A Proposed Typo-Morphological Element to Measure the Social Interactive Spaces between Blocks in the Case of an Arabian City, Benghazi, Libya

Social interaction and spaces between urban blocks is a topic that has dominated recent discussions concerning urban social and cultural studies. In this paper, I argue that the study of the different types of urban block arrangements should also adopt social interaction spaces that will encourage local communities’ social bonds. I propose the use of the social block in addition to the physical block to better understand the social dimension in a spatial context, which enhances the understanding of neighbourhoods’ urban issues. I analyse the proposed social block by adopting a metric scale that was developed from Ghel’s (1987) empirical criteria from his approach to understand life between buildings as measures to realise the social process. Through a case study of the Ottoman, Italian, and Modern neighbourhoods in Benghazi, Libya, I illustrate the necessity of the complementary nature between the physical block and the social block in understanding the social life among street neighbours.

The impact of courtyard compact urban fabric on its shading: case study of Mosul city, Iraq

The courtyard pattern provides a comfortable environment in hot regions through supporting natural ventilation and protecting buildings from solar radiation. But, its performance depends on its urban fabric compactness as it affects surfaces’ heat gain resulted from the solar radiation. The impact of urban compactness on urban shading is tested by simulating traditional compact and modern less compact neighborhoods in Mosul. Results from two sunlight simulation systems, Autodesk 3DS Max 2014 and LightUp Analytics, demonstrated that courtyard neighborhoods are nearly three times more compact than the modern neighborhoods. This leads to having five times larger shaded area, which helps to offer a more thermally comfortable environment.