Modern Urban Infrastructure Research Articles

Integrating technological and strategic analysis: Evaluating the key determinants of transportation sustainability in taipei Mass Rapid Transit using the Rough-Fermatean DEMATEL approach

Mass Rapid Transit (MRT) systems are essential in densely populated cities, providing efficient, reliable transportation that alleviates congestion, reduces pollution, and promotes sustainable development. By accommodating large passenger volumes, MRTs enhance urban mobility, economic vitality, and quality of life, making them a vital component of modern urban infrastructure. Identifying key economic, social, environmental, and institutional determinants is crucial for advancing sustainable transportation systems. Integrating technological and strategic perspectives, this paper employs the innovative Rough-Fermatean Fuzzy Decision-Making Trial and Evaluation Laboratory (RFF-DEMATEL) approach to delve into the critical determinants of transportation sustainability in the Taipei Mass Rapid Transit (TMRT). The study acknowledges the interconnections among these factors, leading to a more genuine and precise evaluation, distinct from conventional methods that presuppose factor independence. Research outcomes indicate that “operations and performance” stand out as the paramount factors, underscoring the importance of operational strategies and economic allocation. “Digital technology economy” and “sustainable supply chain management” are also emphasized, pinpointing the necessity to harmonize public welfare with financial sustainability while cultivating enduring partnerships. The proposed approach's thorough categorization offers specific managerial suggestions, assisting TMRT in realizing its sustainability aspirations and aligning with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This investigation accentuates the significance of recognizing factor interdependence and adeptly managing uncertainties, bolstering the research's credibility and applicative worth.

Effects of operational parameters on bacterial communities in Hong Kong and global wastewater treatment plants.

Wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) are an indispensable component of modern cities, as they can remove pollutants in wastewater to prevent anthropogenic activities. Activated sludge (AS) is a fundamental wastewater treatment process and it harbors a highly complex microbial community that forms the main components and contains functional groups. Unveiling "who is there" is a long-term goal of the research on AS microbiology. High-throughput sequencing provides insights into the inventory diversity of microbial communities to an unprecedented level of detail. At present, the analysis of communities in WWTPs usually comes from a specific WWTP and lacks comparisons and verification among different WWTPs. The wide-scale and long-term sampling project and research in this study could help us evaluate the AS community more accurately to find the similarities and different results for different WWTPs in Hong Kong and other regions of the world.

Energy-Efficient Dynamic MAC Protocol for M2M Communication

In the Internet of Things, which is vital for smart city applications, a vast network of battery-operated Machine Type Communication Devices (MTCDs) requires Machine Type Communication. These MTCDs connect directly to a network with a base station, facilitating a wide range of smart city functionalities. The development of energy-efficient communication protocols is essential to support the deployment of energy-constrained battery-operated devices. These protocols aim to minimize energy consumption, thereby enhancing network lifetime. Additionally, they must address scalability, reduce collisions and delays, and ensure a high Quality of Service (QoS) to effectively manage the vast number of devices involved. Clustering is a viable strategy to enhance scalability and energy efficiency in network communications. However, within this framework, particularly in the proposed Power Efficient Dynamic MAC protocol for M2M Communication (PMAC), there's still a need for energy-efficient communication between the Machine Type Communication Devices (MTCDs). This requirement is crucial to optimize the overall performance and sustainability of the network. In this paper, we analyses the Energy Efficient CSMA/CA (E-CSMA/CA) protocol, specifically developed for facilitating communication between Machine Type Communication Devices (MTCDs) in short-range communications. This analysis is set within the context of smart city applications, with a particular focus on smart metering. This approach underscores the importance of efficient, reliable communication protocols in modern urban infrastructure, especially for applications like smart metering that are integral to the smart city ecosystem.

Comprehensive systematic review of information fusion methods in smart cities and urban environments

Smart cities result from integrating advanced technologies and intelligent sensors into modern urban infrastructure. The Internet of Things (IoT) and data integration are pivotal in creating interconnected and intelligent urban spaces. In this literature review, we explore the different methods of information fusion used in smart cities, along with their advantages and challenges. However, there are notable challenges in managing diverse data sources, handling large data volumes, and meeting the near-real-time demands of various smart city applications.The review aims to examine smart city applications in detail, incorporating quality evaluation and information fusion techniques and identifying critical issues while outlining promising research directions. In order to accomplish our goal, we conducted a comprehensive search of literature and applied selective criteria. We identified 59 recent studies addressing machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) techniques in smart city applications. These studies were obtained from various databases such as ScienceDirect (SD), Scopus, Web of Science (WoS), and IEEE Xplore. The main objective of this study is to provide more detailed insights into smart cities by supplementing existing research. The word cloud visualisation of machine learning/deep learning and information fusion in smart cities papers shows a diverse landscape, covering both technical aspects of artificial intelligence and practical applications in urban settings. Apart from technical exploration, the study also delves into the ethical and privacy implications arising in smart cities. Moreover, it thoroughly examines the challenges that must be addressed to realise this urban revolution's potential fully.

Energy balance of a wheeled vehicle with an electromechanical transmission

For modern urban infrastructure, the use of trackless electric vehicles for transporting goods and passengers is relevant. The environmental aspect also plays an important role - the absence of exhaust gas emissions and the redistribution of environmental load between the regions of operation and production and disposal of vehicles and electrical energy. However, in many cases, laying wire lines is difficult, and in large cities, due to large traffic flows, the maneuverability of machines connected to the overhead wire is significantly limited. To ensure the energy autonomy of a transport vehicle for at least a working day, the installation of heavy and expensive batteries that take up large volumes is required. The purpose of the study is to reduce the capacity requirement of the on-board power supply by using the principle of palliative charging. The article discusses the concepts that provide such an approach. The main task is to build an energy balance for a vehicle with an electromechanical transmission used for passenger transportation in an urban environment. The assumptions necessary for constructing the methodology are given. When compiling the driving cycle, the requirements of the standard for organizing transportation by electric vehicles are used.

Modernization of the Urban Infrastructure of Ekaterinburg – Sverdlovsk in 1923–1930

Introduction. The article examines the process of formation and modernization of the urban infrastructure of Ekaterinburg – Sverdlovsk during the period of the New Economic Policy (NEP). The main mechanisms for the development of the urban economy are shown in conditions of regenerative growth of economics and a rapid increase of city’s population. The transformation of Ekaterinburg into Sverdlovsk, the administrative and political center of the Ural region, opened up opportunities to concentrate in it the local community resources and attract government funding. Using of limited market mechanisms of the NEP allowed the Sverdlovsk City Council to develop large infrastructure projects in conditions of moderate co-financing from the state. Results. Despite the large number of publications on local history, a comprehensive study of the processes of modernization of the urban infrastructure of Sverdlovsk during the NEP period was not carried out. The work analyzes the modernization of the most important sectors of urban infrastructure: electricity, transport, construction, water supply and sewerage. The abolition of command management mechanisms and the permission of private initiative in trade and small industry caused rapid growth in the city’s economy and its population. Sverdlovsk’s status as an administrative and political center of the Ural region strengthened the financial well-being of the city. The Sverdlovsk City Council received large loans from the state-controlled banking system for the development of capital construction and the development of urban infrastructure. By the end of the 1920s in Sverdlovsk, the main elements of modern urban infrastructure were created, water supply, sewerage, bus transit was built, and the construction of a tram system began. In order of regulation of economic activity and city’s property management on market conditions, a communal enterprise was created under the Sverdlovsk City Council – called Komkhoz. Conclusion. Modernization of the urban infrastructure of Sverdlovsk in 1923–1930 occurred mainly through the efforts of the local community. With the active attraction of local equity capital and loans from state-sanctioned banks, during the NEP period the city began the successful formation of a modern urban infrastructure. The course towards the development of forced industrialization of the USSR through accelerated growth of the public sector of the economy led to the gradual curtailment of private initiative on the ground in 1929–1930.

Seismic analysis of RC building frames with vertical mass and stiffness irregularities using adaptive pushover analysis

Irregular multistory buildings constitute a large part of modern urban infrastructure due to architectural aesthetics and functional requirements. In contrast, their behavior during recent major earthquakes indicated that severe structural damage was observed due to non-uniform distributions of mass, stiffness and strength either in plan or in elevation. Notably, abrupt changes in these quantities between adjacent stories are always associated with changes in the structural system along the height of the building. The present study investigates the inelastic response of RC buildings with mass and stiffness irregularities subjected to earthquake action. Thus, the displacement-based adaptive pushover method is used. This latter is motivated by the application of a lateral displacement pattern obtained by combining different mode shapes and updated incrementally at each analysis step. For this purpose, a ten-story regular frame structure is chosen and modified by incorporating vertical irregularities in various forms in order to estimate and quantify essential parameters' responses. The results obtained are discussed under the following headings: base shear forces, roof displacement, inter-story drift and story-shear distribution. With respect to the vertical mass and stiffness irregularities, it was noticed that the seismic response is more significantly influenced by stiffness irregularities compared to mass irregularities, which were found to have a slight impact on the seismic behavior of the building. It is also established that the simple procedure allows the evaluation of design forces and displacements in a more rational manner, in accordance with the current state of knowledge and modern trends in building codes. The results conclude, however, that the irregular structure cannot meet the seismic design requirements and must be constructed to minimize seismic effects.

Interaction ritual chains and religious economy: explorations on ritual in Shenzhen

ABSTRACT This paper explores the theory of ‘interaction ritual chains’ proposed by the sociologist Randall Collins in understanding popular religion in China today. It contributes to ongoing conceptual debates over approaching Chinese religions and draws conclusions for general socio-economic theory. We concentrate on the specific phenomenon of the resurgence of ancestor worship and lineage rituals which we have explored in fieldwork done in Shenzhen metropolis. We study two empirical cases, the re-emergence of ritual spaces that project the ritual infrastructure of the traditional village onto the modern urban infrastructure, and the role of the internet in mediating ritual activities between the local and the global.

Modeling the stability of horizontal generations worked in parallel to the front of a uniform slope

Improvement of modern urban infrastructure, expansion of transport networks, creation of innovative engineering communications – as well as other circumstances stimulate the development of underground construction, both in our country and abroad. Like any underground structure, it should have the ability not to collapse when exposed to external loads. For the successful operation of such structures throughout their entire service life, it is necessary to constantly assess the influence degree of all factors’ totality, one way or another, affect its strength. The task, the purpose of which is to conduct the experimental studies on models made of equivalent materials to assess the geometric parameters’ influence of the “slope – underground working space” system on the stability of the latter, has been set. Geometric parameters mean the shape of the underground working space cross-section and its position in the soil massif: the shape of the underground working space cross-section is round and semi-elliptical; the underground working spaces’ bottom is at the level of the slope bottom, the underground working space position is determined by the shortest distance from the transition point of the bottom to the slope to the vertical axis of the cross-section symmetry. The criterion for long-term stability is a criterion, the qualitative feature of which is the absence of inelastic (plastic) deformation zones on the development contours, and the quantitative indicator is the value of the reduced pressure of connectivity σcon. As a result of model experiments, safe distances d were determined, on which underground working spaces should be located in the near-slope area so that the stability of the “slope - underground working space” system is ensured. It turned out that these distances for underground working spaces of both circular and semi-elliptical cross-section are practically the same, that is, the underground working spaces of such a cross-section, all other sections being equal, were equally stable. Practical coincidence of the model experiments’ results and numerical finite element analysis, calculations, allows us to speak about the experimental data reliability.

Innovation design analysis of the optimal aerodynamic adaptive smart structures for disk-body solar Hybrid Electric aircraft and airship concepts

The innovation integrated design analysis of the concept of finding any optimal aerodynamic structure with adaptive intelligent systems as a means of changing facility of the geometric shape of the surface by integrating the disc wing-body of a solar Hybrid Electrical aircraft (HEA) and an airship to reduce weight, power and fuel sources is very relevant today and focused on the international research EC programs of future green ecology air transportation. The universal digital method for optimizing the CAD aircraft design is presented which is focused on achieving the goal of minimum weight-drag-frontal stability of the layout from the virtual center of mass allows us to get the layout of the aircraft from the conditions of reducing the time of full flight operation of E-Mobility and low cost for priority with realize a short take-off and landing (STOL) with high angle of the flight path and compact infrastructural restrictions in the terminal slot configurations of modern urban airport infrastructure and achieving zero toxic & noise regulation by IATA/ICAO. The joint results of EC international R&D collaboration to accelerate the synergy effect of new aircraft concepts.

A survey of methods supporting cyber situational awareness in the context of smart cities

A modern urban infrastructure no longer operates in isolation, but instead, leverages the latest technologies to collect, process, and distribute aggregated knowledge in order to improve the quality of the provided services and promote the efficiency of resource consumption. This technological development, however, manifests in the form of new vulnerabilities and a plethora of attack vectors. In the same context, the ambiguity of ever-evolving cyber threats and their debilitating consequences introduce new barriers for decision-makers. Therefore, cyber situational awareness of smart cities emerges as a mission-critical task that requires support methods for effective and timely decision-making. In this article, we investigate the threat landscape of smart cities, survey and reveal the progress in data-driven methods for situational awareness and evaluate their effectiveness when addressing various cyber threats. We draw several potential research directions that aim at advancing cyber situational awareness in the context of smart cities.

Coastal Landscape Planning and Design: A Low-Impact Development–Based Study

Shan, P., 2020. Coastal landscape planning and design: A low-impact development–based study. In: Gong, D.; Zhang, M., and Liu, R. (eds.), Advances in Coastal Research: Engineering, Industry, Economy, and Sustainable Development. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 106, pp. 359–362. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208.Qingdao is a coastal city, which has hundreds of years of modern urban infrastructure history. In recent years, Qingdao has become the main gateway of China's foreign trade and an important starting point of the Maritime Silk Road. Therefore, the city scale and area of Qingdao are expanding rapidly. With the expansion of the city scale, the coastal landscape belt of Qingdao city has also expanded. However, in the process of landscape belt construction, Qingdao is faced with many core issues of urban planning and design, including construction land planning, construction and maintenance funding, environmental protection, etc. Through a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis, this paper analyzes the above problems and puts forward solutions. In the early stage of landscape belt planning, enterprises can be invited to participate in the planning and design by introducing financial leverage of financial funds reasonably, which will improve the economic benefits of the coastal landscape belt. Through the comprehensive utilization of the planning system in the coastal landscape belt, these problems can be solved. In the construction of Qingdao coastal landscape belt, full use should be made of the original sewage facilities, including inheritance and sustainable use of the Qingdao low-impact development construction concept.

Smart city technologies as an innovative factor in the development of the sustainable cities

The article deals with the problem of sustainability of modern cities in the context of the implementation of the concept of a “smart city”, the combination of the technologies of which acts as an innovative factor in the development of modern urban infrastructure. The characteristics of the main elements of the “smart city”, digital technologies used in its creation are given. The methodology and results of a comparative analysis of the urban digital infrastructure of the world’s megacities in the context of COVID-19 are presented. The assessment of the global and Russian market of smart city technologies is given, trends and prospects of digital development of a modern city are identified as the most important factor in ensuring its sustainability. Recommendations are formulated for the development of solutions in the field of digitalization of urban space, taking into account the opinions of scientists and specialists in the field of management, socio-economic and humanitarian sciences. It is noted that efficiency and safety should become a priority in the implementation of smart city projects.

Searching with georadar ancient T’hó, a Mayan city underneath the modern Merida, Yucatan

ABSTRACT T’hó –a Mayan city cited in historical documents – has been discovered and is now a topic in current archaeological discussions and research topics due to a joint UNAM and UADY research project. This project encompassed several steps, including the recording of material recovered from the city’s subsoil while monitoring urban infrastructure programs, as well as the study of historical documents and maps and finally verifying hypothesis by using georadar. After surveying almost 17 km of paved streets in downtown Merida, we realized that it was possible to recognize three main deposit layers underlying the area. The uppermost layer showed modern fillings and urban infrastructure, the intermediate layer had pre-Hispanic cultural remains, and the deepest one included limestone bedrock. This study constitutes the first attempt to create a map of the remains underlying downtown Merida City in order to know and preserve its archaeological patrimony.

The sedimentary record of the Alkinoos Harbour of ancient Corcyra (Corfu Island, Greece) – geoarchaeological evidence for rapid coastal changes induced by co-seismic uplift, tsunami inundation and human interventions

Ancient Corcyra (modern Kerkyra or Corfu) was an important harbour city and commercial centre since the Archaic period, also due to its geostrategic position on the trade routes between Greece and Italy or Sicily. Corcyra kept its status as one of the prevailing naval powers in the Mediterranean by means of a large naval fleet, needing appropriated harbour basins to be stored and repaired. At least two harbours are documented by historical records and associated archaeological remains, namely the Alkinoos and the Hyllaikos Harbours, both located on either side of a narrow isthmus to the north of the Analipsis Peninsula, where the ancient polis developed. Today, the ancient harbour basins are silted and overbuilt by modern urban infrastructure, concealing their overall extent and topography. The present study aims to reconstruct the complex palaeogeographies of the ancient Alkinoos harbour of Corcyra based on a multi-methodological palaeoenvironmental and geoarchaeological approach. The methods used include sedimentary, geochemical, microfaunal and geophysical investigations that were complemented by archaeological data and results from previous geoarchaeological research. Spatially, the study focusses on the area of the so-called Desylla site west of known Alkinoos Harbour sediments in the midst of the modern city of Corfu. These results were complemented by findings from two geomorphological key sites as well as archaeoseismological traces from the western part of the Analipsis Peninsula. At the Desylla site, we found sedimentary evidence of an Archaic pre-harbour, partly open to the Gulf of Corfu, which was the predecessor of a protected Classical harbour basin. This basin, in use between at least the 4th to 3rd cent. BC and the 1st cent. AD, was delimited to the west by a wall. It represents the central part of the Classical Alkinoos Harbour which was sedimentologically traced, for the first time, from the De- sylla site in the west to the Kokotou site in the east, where monumental shipsheds were unearthed during earlier archaeological excavations. Probably, the harbour zone extended even further to the east, where contemporaneous harbour deposits were found associated with the prominent quay wall at the Pierri and Arion sites. Our results show, that, apart from man-made interventions, Corcyra's palaeogeographical evolution is strongly linked to multiple impacts of extreme wave events in the form of tsunami inundation. At least four events (I–IV) are recorded in the natural geoarchives of the Analipsis Peninsula and its surroundings as well as the northern harbour zone of ancient Corcyra. In particular, these events happened between 5600 and 5200 cal BC (event I), after 3900 cal BC (event II), between the 4 th and 3 rd cent. BC (event III) and between the 3 rd and 6 th cent. AD, most likely at 365 AD (event IV). Ages of all events correlate well with ages of tsunami traces found on Sicily, the Greek mainland and other Ionian Islands. Tsunami events I and II led to massive environmental changes around the Analipsis Peninsula, while event III was associated to strong co-seismic uplift, leading to the abandonment of the harbour site at Pierri. Decreasing water depths by siltation of the Kokotou and Desylla sites, however, were redressed by dredging, giving rise to an extensive Roman re-use of the western part of the Alkinoos Harbour zone. Yet, both harbour sites were hit again by event IV filling the harbour basins by a thick sequence of event deposits.

The Modern Gaze of Foreign Architects Travelling to Interwar Greece: Urban Planning, Archaeology, Aegean Culture, and Tourism

This paper reflects on the embrace of the Ancient world in modernity and the journey to Greece as a vehicle for their reciprocal reshaping. In the interwar period, new visual narratives emerged in Western accounts, proposing alternative contexts for Greek cultural heritage and associating regional culture with the emergence of modernism. The article investigates the mobility of modern travellers in Greece as an essential factor for the new contextualization of the country’s dominant cultural paradigm -Antiquity- as well as for the emergence of parallel narrations of the Mediterranean genius loci that examine the spatial imprint of heritage and tourism on the Greek urban, archaeological and natural environment. Western intellectuals, engineers, architects and urban planners, supported by a highly mobile network of editors, travel agencies, tourist cruises, architectural or archaeological conferences and congresses, contributed to the promotion of modern architecture and urban infrastructure in Greece. Their yet to become tourist gaze embraced the Aegean tradition, the Greek landscape and the ancient ruins as equal collocutors, initiating at the same time Greece itself into modernity. This paper traces the encounters between foreign travellers and the divergent manifestations of the country’s cultural identity in the pages of printed articles, books, travel accounts, photographic material and films. Following these documentations, the paper argues that tourism mobility gave rise to an alternative, southern modernism, whose emergence and development deviates significantly from mainstream narratives propounded by the continental historiography of modernity. Vice versa, the modern mobility networks of the South promoted the development of urban infrastructure and welfare facilities in Greece, as well as the establishment of early tourism policies, thus articulating the new national narrative of interwar Greece, based equally on classical heritage, regional culture and modern progress. The present paper is part of the research program Voyage to Greece: Mobility and modern architecture in the interwar period, where E. Athanassiou, V. Dima, V.; Karali, K. contribute as post-doctoral researchers, with P. Tournikiotis, Professor NTUA as scientific supervisor. The research is co-financed by the Greek State and the European Union.

Pojava i razvoj pametnih gradova u kontekstu kriminološke i kriminalnopolitičke vizure

The term smart city was first used in the 1990s within the framework of applying innovative technologies as part of modern urban infrastructure. Nowadays, the concept smart city pertains to the application of intelligent, interconnected and instrumentalized information-communication systems in the field of urban planning. European are insufficiently sustainable, inclusive or productive for the needs of modern times. Smart of the present and the future need to address serious social, economic and environmental issues related to social life and housing, infrastructure, organization of public transport, utility services, etc. The policy of developing smart cities should be aimed at precluding difficulties rather than finding ways to cope with the complexities of urban living. In Europe, the major challenges encountered in urban areas are: the aging of the European population, the integration of migrants, social exclusion, (un)sustainability of the natural environment, unemployment, delinquency, and underdeveloped local economy. Human or social ecology describes diverse social relations among people who share the same habitat or local territory, whereby these relations are clearly correlated with the nature of the immediate environment. It is an interdisciplinary study of the social structure in relation to the local environment. In the late 1990s, sociologists introduced ecology into their studies on social development and evolution of human institutions. Thus, they contributed to incorporating this concept in the field of social sciences. In their studies on environmental criminology, the representatives of the Chicago school of criminology argued that the delinquency and crime rate of both juveniles and adults is closely correlated with idleness of adolescents and younger adults, child mortality, tuberculosis, mental disorders and other factors. Considering the fact that the development of smart cities does not exclude the occurrence of delinquency and crime, it is necessary to consider the concept of crime prevention which would be primarily aimed at precluding criminal behavior within the community and increasing public security.

Numerical and physical modeling of the stability of the workings developing the slope

Enhancement of modern urban infrastructure, expansion of transport networks, creation of innovative engineering communications as well as plenty more factors stimulate the development of underground construction both in our country and throughout the world. Like any structure, an underground construction must be capable to perceive external loads without collapsing. For the successful operation of such structures throughout all term of their service, it is necessary to evaluate regularly the impact degree of all factors that one way or the other affect the construction durability. It was therefore decided to study by means of a model experiment, how the geometric parameters of the slope and underground workings’ system affect the stability of the latter. We’ll assume the cross-sectional shape of the workings and their position relative to the basis of a model from homogeneous ground massif as the geometric parameters. In this paper we examine the stability of the models of horizontal underground workings with round and semi-elliptical shape worked in an isotropic soil slope, at various distances from the point of transition of the sole into a slope. As a measure of long-term stability we chose the criterion (Bogomolov A.N., Bogomolova O.A., 2010) where a qualitative feature is the absence of zones of inelastic (plastic) deformations on the contours of the workings as well as zones manifesting the processes of loosening or breed fragmentation. The value of the reduced pressure of coherency σc is used as a quantitative indicator. The paper presents the results of numerical processing of model experiments studying the fracture processes both of the ground slope weakened by the workings and the workings themselves. In the course of the model experiments, we defined the distances L, measured from the base of the slope to the center of the workings with circular and semi-elliptical cross-sectional shape, under which the contour of the workings was stable. It is established that the stability of the round and semi-elliptical shaped workings can be provided practically at the same values of L on condition that the physical and mechanical properties of the equivalent material of the model, its geometric parameters and the transverse dimensions of the imitation workings are practically identical. The coincidence of the results of model experiments and calculations performed with the help of a computer program makes it possible to speak about their reliability.

Geoarchaeological investigations of a prominent quay wall in ancient Corcyra – Implications for harbour development, palaeoenvironmental changes and tectonic geomorphology of Corfu Island (Ionian Islands, Greece)

In antiquity, the harbour-city of Corcyra (modern: Corfu) was a prevailing naval power in the Mediterranean and had several harbours to host a considerable fleet. Today, these harbours are totally or partly silted and concealed under modern urban infrastructure. Comprehensive geoarchaeological studies were conducted on the northeastern fringe of the Analipsis Peninsula where excavations have revealed the archaeological remains of a massive quay wall (Pierri and Arion sites). These remains are located east of known ancient harbour structures that belong to the Alkinoos Harbour. Our study aimed to reconstruct the palaeoenvironmental setting of the harbour facilities at the Pierri site, including the analysis of the local sedimentary record in order to detect and differentiate natural and man-made triggers that caused environmental shifts. At the Pierri site, we found geoarchaeological evidence for an ancient harbour basin related to the prominent quay wall. Associated harbour sediments indicate a protected harbour which was developed from an open shallow marine environment, most probably by the construction of breakwaters. Harbour deposits were dated using radiocarbon analyses and diagnostic ceramic fragments to the 4th to 3rd cent. BC. This is in good agreement with the age of the harbour installations as such archaeologically assigned to the Classical and Hellenistic period. The Pierri site was possibly in function as a harbour facility even before the 4th cent. BC. In any case, it was strongly hit by an earthquake and associated tsunami event during Classical to Hellenistic times. By this event, the harbour was uplifted and covered by event deposits so that it was not usable any more. It was subsequently buried by anthropogenic and colluvial sediments. Overall, the Pierri coastal archive allowed to identify three distinct tsunami landfall events, namely before 2483–2400 cal BC (event I), after 2483–2400 cal BC and before 370–214 cal BC (event II), and during Classical to Hellenistic times, most probably between the 4th and 3rd cent. BC (event III). Another tsunami event (event IV) potentially hit the site when it was dry land. Ages of tsunami events I–II and candidate tsunami IV are consistent with tsunamis known from the coasts of western Greece and southern Italy and where thus classified as supra-regional tele-events. Event III was identified as associated to a local earthquake and tsunami by which Corfu Island was uplifted and, at the same time, tilted with a vertical offset of 1.74 m from W to E.

Foresight of modern urban infrastructure

The article is devoted to ways of interaction between authorities and residents of the megalopolis based on the penetration of intelligent systems and technologies in the sector of the city, aimed at improving the life’s quality in the “smart city.” The results of studies that allow us to offer include interactive services that enable residents of the metropolis to organize cooperation with the city administration; in the technology foresight study prospects of urban infrastructure development are given. An attempt was made to present the conceptual foundations of strategic foresight. Materials of article are of practical value and can be used by preparation of actions for increase in information availability to residents of the megalopolis of quality and variety of the rendered services.