Residential Building Density Research Articles

Analisis Kualitas Permukiman Berbantuan Google Earth di Desa Sungai Kedukan, Kabupaten Banyuasin, Sumatra Selatan

The river basin settlement in Sungai Kedukan Village is a settlement located along the river and has an area of approximately 300,000 m2 with RT boundaries covering 8 RTs along the Nibung River, Sungai Kedukan Village with a background of the problem of residential building density where the condition of the buildings is very close together because of the large number of residents living in the settlement, irregular building layout, and lack of facilities and infrastructure. The purpose of the study was to determine the quality of settlements assisted by Google Earth in Sungai Kedukan Village, (DAS), Rambutan District, Banyuasin, South Sumatra. This study uses a quantitative approach with a survey method that has a population and sample using purposive sampling with data processing using the Google Earth application and to conduct analysis, namely by entering formulas from building density parameters, building layout, road width, and access road conditions, as well as by collecting questionnaires to determine the quality of the residential environment. This study shows that the quality of settlements and residential environments in river basin areas produces the same results and is included in various categories, namely poor and moderate.

The Impact of the Urban Built Environment on the Play Behavior of Children with ASD

Anxiety caused by the lack of social skills is the biggest problem faced by children with ASD. Playing can improve children's social skills and relieve anxiety. This study aimed to explore the influence of urban built environments on ASD children's play behavior. The participants in this study were 57 parents of children with ASD. An anonymous questionnaire was used to collect and analyze data. At the same time, retrospective semi-structured interviews with 31 parents of ASD children were performed to validate the data analysis results. The results showed that lower residential building density, higher residential greening and higher destination accessibility have positive effects on ASD children's play behavior. Excellent transportation facilities and high NDVI vegetation coverage have positive effects on the play behavior of children with ASD. More recreational facilities and recreational playability have positive impacts on the play behavior of children with ASD. The population density and number of children in the destination, as well as public facilities, influence the play behavior of children with ASD. The research results can promote the integration of this group into urban life and further promote social equity. At the same time, with the social needs of autistic children as an intermediary, it is expected to further explore new directions for sustainable urban development. Finally, combined with the research results, parents of ASD children are given proposals for how to increase the likelihood of children's play behavior by choosing appropriate urban built environments.

Study on Layout Model of Cold Residential Area Based on Computer Microclimate Optimization

With the acceleration of the current urbanization process, as well as the in-depth promotion and implementation of the urban residential reconstruction project, the residential building density is gradually increasing, which makes people’s living environment gradually affected by the residential layout mode. The reasonable planning of the layout mode of residential area through computer technology is helpful to make the layout of residential area have more comfortable living environment suitable for living. Based on this, this paper first analyzes the component elements of microclimate, then studies the environmental impact factors of cold residential area, and finally gives the optimization strategy of cold residential area layout mode based on computer microclimate optimization.

Objective environmental exposures correlate differently with recreational and transportation walking: A cross-sectional national study in the Netherlands

Background Walking is a good and simple way to increase people's energy expenditure, but there is limited evidence whether the neighborhood environment correlates differently with recreational and transportation walking. AimTo investigate how recreational walking and transportation walking are associated with the natural and built environmental characteristics of the living environment in the Netherlands, and examine the differences in their associations between weekdays and weekends. Method and data We extracted the total duration of daily walking (in minutes per person) for recreation and transportation of adults aged 18 years and above from the Dutch National Travel Survey 2015–2017 (N = 65,785) and analyzed it as an outcome variable. Objective measures of the natural (i.e., normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), blue space and meteorological conditions) and built environment (i.e., crossing density, land-use mix, and residential building density) around respondents' home addresses were determined for buffers with 300, 600, and 1000 m radii using a geographic information system. To assess associations between recreational and transportation walking and the environmental exposures separately, we fitted Tobit regression models to the walking data, adjusted for multiple confounders. ResultsOn weekdays, people living in areas with less NDVI, higher land-use mix, and higher crossing density were more likely to engage in transportation walking. Recreational walking was negatively associated with NDVI, blue space, crossing density, precipitation and daily average temperature. At weekends, land-use mix supports both recreational and transportation walking. A negative association appeared for NDVI and transportation walking. Daily average rainfall and temperature were inversely correlated with recreational walking. Sensitivity tests indicated that some associations depend on the buffer size. ConclusionsOur findings suggest that the built and natural environments are differently associated with people's recreational and transportation walking. We also found differences in the walking-environment associations between weekdays and weekends. Place-based policies to design walking-friendly neighborhoods may have different implications for different types of walking.

An efficient method of evaluating large scale urban residential skylight environment and an empirical study of Beijing main area

A good skylight environment in urban residential areas is an important component of a healthy city, and has always been highly valued. With the rapid development of new-type urbanization, the density of buildings continues to increase, and megacities have entered the stage of stock transformation. An effective method for evaluating the skylight environment of large-scale urban residential areas is urgently needed. However, there is still a lack of empirical research methods and cases of large-scale residential skylight environment. In this regard, this article takes the megacity Beijing as the research object, and proposes an efficient analysis method of residential skylight environment that integrates multiple real-world data at city scale. In terms of data, it collects and integrates 3D data of urban-scale building space and residential boundary data; in terms of algorithm, Sky View Factor (SVF) is used as the evaluation index of residential skylight environment, and an efficient analysis method of urban-scale skylight environment based on cloud parallel simulation is realized. Through analysis, it is found that: (1) the average SVF value of Beijing residential area is 61%, which means that its skylight quality is in general level; (2) the skylight environment of Beijing residential area is distributed in a circle, and there are 4 types of skylight environment quality residential areas; (3) The skylight environment of Beijing residential area is relatively weakly related to the distance from the residential area to the city center and the average height of the residential buildings, and is closely related to the plot volume ratio, the residential building density and the shading from surrounding buildings. The highlight of this study lies in the empirical research on the skylight environment of mega-city residential areas that incorporates multiple real data for the first time, which can promote the study of skylight environment on a city scale and provide a reference for the updating of Beijing’s residential daylight environment.

The impact of cool and green roofs on summertime temperatures in the cities of Jerusalem and Tel Aviv

Experiments were conducted to assess the potential impact of cool and/or green roofs to mitigate summertime conditions in two cities of Israel, Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which differ in elevation, humidity, and housing density. Tel Aviv is located along the coastal plain and characterized by low- and medium-density housing in a humid climate. Jerusalem is in the central mountains (elevation >750 m), and characterized by medium- and high-density housing in a dry climate. The fraction of potential roofs available for reflective cooling and the fraction of green versus impervious surface areas were estimated from “Google Earth.” Both were utilized as input into the Urban Canopy Model (UCM) within the Weather Research and Forecasting model, along with the residential building density. Increasing the albedo (cool roofs) had a larger impact on roof surface radiometric temperatures than covering the roof with irrigated soil and vegetation. Cool roof surface temperature differences were about 20 °C, compared to between 10 and 15 °C for wet soils with vegetation. The impact of varying albedo on 2-m. surface temperatures was about 0.4 °C, and the impact of varying soil moisture 0.1 °C. Increasing the leaf area index from 1.5 to 4.5 had a comparatively small impact on 2 m temperatures. Imposed anthropomorphic heating added about 0.2 °C to 2-m surface temperatures, which was less than values found in other studies conducted with more sophisticated building energy models. The surface temperature and heat index within Tel Aviv were more sensitive to mitigation efforts than those in Jerusalem, but both cities could benefit from mitigation efforts.

Environmental Characteristics of Slum Settlements in Batang Arau Village of Padang City

In order to comprehend the problems of slums comprehensively, knowledge of the environmental characteristics of slums is needed based on the classification of aspects of facilities, infrastructure, social, economic, and disaster (hazard). This study aims to understand the characteristics of the environment in the form of infrastructure, social, economic, and slum disasters in the Batang Arau Village, Padang City. Primary data were obtained through field observations and interviews with 80 informants, while secondary data obtained from related documents and regulations. The physical condition of the area is that the regularity of residential buildings is only 102 units of households with the level of regularity of buildings, only 0.26%. The level of residential building density of 522.36 units / Ha, with the feasibility of residential buildings, is only 0.76%. Accessibility following technical requirements is only 0.40%. The condition of the drainage network that meets the minimum quality standard is 0.19%. The number of houses served with water facilities for basic needs of 0.58% with the fulfillment of 0.47%. The percentage of family latrines according to technical requirements of 0.41%, and the amount of domestic household waste that is transported at least twice a week is 49%. Socially, the number of people by sex is almost the same, with the distribution of the productive age of the population of 69.32% of the total population, the level of education varies but in general is high school education, and the most dominant ethnic group in this area is the Minangkabau. From an economic aspect, people's income varies, with work predominantly being fishermen and trade/services. This area is located on a hillside, making it prone to landslides, and due to dense houses, this area is also prone to fires.

Leisure-time physical activity, objective urban neighborhood built environment, and overweight and obesity of Chinese school-age children

The prevalence of overweight and obesity in Chinese children and adolescents has a significant increase. This study aims to investigate the associations between objective urban neighborhood built environment, leisure-time physical activity, and overweight and obesity of Chinese school-age children between 6 and 13 years old. This study conducted surveys at thirty-two public elementary schools, evenly chosen from four strata of residential building density and located in 16 urban districts of Shanghai, China. A total of 719 completed surveys were collected between May 2015 and April 2016. There were 447 records geocoded to their home address. Objective neighborhood built environmental attributes were measured in 200-m and 400-m buffers of respondent's home using application programming interfaces provided by a Chinese web mapping services company. We found that active school commuters were more physically active than passive commuters. Distance from home to school and counts of restaurants in 400-meter buffer of a respondent's home were positively associated with school-age children's duration of leisure-time physical activity in a week. School-age children's BMI was negatively associated with their duration of leisure-time physical activity. This is one of first studies that quantified the association between objectively measured neighborhood built environmental attributes and children's leisure-time physical activity in China.

Does Active Commuting to School Improve Chinese School-Age Children’s Health-Related Quality of Life

Background Active commuting to school of Chinese children has been decreasing thanks to China’s rapid urbanization which has led to the transformation of life style that increases risk for physical inactivity, overweight, and obesity. Physical activity level has been consistently found a positive impact on health-related quality of life (HR-QOL) of adults. Previous studies have found health benefits of physical activity and active commuting to school on improving depressive symptoms for children. Yet, limited studies have investigated the association between physical activity or active commuting to school and HR-QOL of children. This paper aims to fill the gap by investigating 696 Chinese school-age children from 32 elementary schools in Shanghai, China. Methods We sampled 32 public elementary schools that were evenly chosen from four strata of residential building density, located in 16 districts of Shanghai, China. Trained college student research assistants went to the each sampled school in the afternoon of non-raining school days when school was over to conduct surveys between May 2015 and April 2016. A modified Chinese version of the Children's Leisure Activities Study Survey (CLASS-C) by parents, which was validated in China, was used to record children’s physical activities including travel modes to school, and frequency and duration of leisure-time physical activities, as well as individual and household characteristics. School-age children’s health related quality of life was measured using the Chinese translated Child Health Utility instrument (CHU9D-CHN) which consists of 9 items each with a 5-level response category, an easy and quick survey for children to complete. The UK adult general population standard gamble scoring algorithm was used to compute CHU9D-CHN unity score. Multivariate linear regression models were developed to investigate the associations of active commuting to school and HR-QOL of Chinese school-age children. Results There were 899 CLASS-C parent surveys and 810 CHU9D-CHN children surveys collected, and 696 records aged between 6 and 13 years old with completed CLASS-C parent surveys and CHU9D-CHN children surveys. Among those completed records, 53.2% were girls, 36.1% walked to school, 5.6% biked to school, and only 8.3% met the health recommendation of 60 min/day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity for children. Controlling for children’s age, sex, and time spending at school, and household monthly income level, both walking and cycling to school were significantly positively associated with children’s HR-QOL. Conclusions Active commuting to school is correlated with better HR-QOL of Chinese school-age children.

A raster approach to population estimation using high-altitude aerial and space photographs

In an effort to automate the time-consuming procedure of the dwelling unit count method of population estimation using aerial photographs, a raster approach was adopted to extract residential building density data on a grid cell by grid cell basis from high-altitude aerial and space photographs. The maximum possible occurrence of dwelling units in each grid cell was determined with reference to the dwelling unit sizes and existing housing data from the census. The actual percentage of occurrence of residential buildings in each grid cell was then estimated from the photographs and translated into a population estimate. This approach was applied to the Providence area, Rhode Island, using both black-and-white National High Altitude Photography (NHAP) at 1:80,000 scale and Large Format Camera (LFC) photography enlarged to 1: 50,000 scale. It was found that the number of dwelling units so obtained from NHAP had to be corrected with the application of a double logarithmic model and that tone was the sole element used in dwelling unit estimation in the case of LFC photography. At census tract level, population estimates exhibited mean relative errors between +2.50 and +6.94% in NHAP and between −8.24 and −13.64% in LFC photography, depending on whether regional or overall household size values respectively were employed in computing the population size from the number of dwelling units. The raster approach permitted the application of a microcomputer-based GIS package to model and update the population estimation from high altitude aerial and space photographs.