Residential Settlement Research Articles

Transformation by Method of Sanation – Unregulated Residential Settlements of Sarajevo

In the second half of the 20th century, the industrialisation and deagrarization of Bosnia and Herzegovina had a strong impact on the dynamics of urban development and economic growth of the post-war Sarajevo, which intensified immigration from its relatively underdeveloped regional environment. This was accompanied by accelerated housing construction, and it encouraged the spatial expansion of the city. Planning guidelines were set by the city administration and were based on the long-term development plans. They identified the disposition of urban functions necessary for housing, work, recreation and traffic, and the policy of building multi-residential buildings was aimed general social interest. At the same time, the planning activities neglected the actual socio-economic status of immigrants who had lesser opportunities for housing through the social distribution system of apartments, began the process of self-organized unregulated settlement construction with single-family houses on the city's slopes. This began an era of two parallel but controversial actions within town space: planned and unregulated housing construction. Spontaneous possession of the city's territory with unregulated construction today is characterised by: complex property-legal relations, high degree of construction, absence of public space, pedestrian communications and service functions, low quality of the infrastructure network, and that settlements are formed on unstable terrains and on active landslides. Since the consequences of the complexity of the situation cannot be addressed through radical urban transformation, we see an alternative in the idea of partial spatial interventions – transformation by method of sanation. Starting with the thesis that construction is always deeply connected to society's understanding of the function of space and the place of man in it, we have opened up a central question, and searching for answers is the basic goal of this paper: Is it possible to solve problems accumulated by decades within Sarajevo's unregulated residential settlements through means of transformation by method of sanation? Or: Can partial spatial interventions improve the overall quality of individual and social life? For the purpose of finding answers, we conducted an analysis of the causes of the formation and genesis of these settlements, as well as a series of problems produced by the accumulation of separate spatial interventions without elementary professional guidance. The results of this analysis showed that the answer to the questions asked can be positive, by establishing a critical relationship with the potential of the space of specific settlement sites, in terms of the degree of functional usability, correlation with utilities and user interactions with the environments they inhabit. We have concluded that it is precisely the potential of individual sites, by logically applying the transformation by method of sanation, will enable dual achievement – the merging the solution within the technical and structural aspect of potential landslides with the articulation of the public on new pedestrian communications. Also, it has been shown that the application of this method enables the typification of technical solutions, functions, contents, activities, urban design, and even the public itself. And this means that the conclusions on the characteristics of individual Sarajevo unregulated residential settlements, endangered by landslides, can offer general guidelines for design concepts, within them, an overall improvement of individual and social life.

A Late Recompense: The Rediscovered Monumental Octagon at Pergamon

Today large parts of the ancient city of Pergamon lie beneath the current city of Bergama. Thriving on top of the ancient remains, the site consists of numerous historical layers ranging from the Roman period up to today. Thanks to its rich history, the city has been inscribed on the World Heritage List of UNESCO in 2014 with the title “Pergamon and its Multi-Layered Cultural Landscape.” In 2013 an octagonal structure was discovered in one of these multi-layered spots where the Roman imperial expansion of the city and the 19thcentury residential settlement meet. Hints in archival documents revealed that this is actually a “rediscovery,” which highlights the importance of archival materials for current research projects in ancient cities like Pergamon that has a fairly long history of research. This article mainly examines the blanks and hints in the research history of the Octagon in three excavation periods. After summarizing the most recent discovery of the ancient structure, it addresses access issues as well as its state of preservation and the research methodology shaped in accordance with current conditions.

Revisiting the ‘southern mood’? Post-crisis Mediterranean urbanities between economic downturns and land-use change

Economic downturns have shaped the intrinsic mechanisms underlying urban expansion worldwide. Despite strength and pervasiveness of recent recessions, empirical results documenting the aggregate effect of economic downturns on urbanization and land-use change in Southern Europe are rather scarce. By considering a sequence of expansion and recession waves in Greece, our study verifies if land-use change differed in entity and spatial direction at two time intervals (2006–2012, 2012–2018) in the Athens’ metropolitan region. Different processes of urban transformation and landscape change were detected analysing Urban Atlas (1:10,000) change maps. The framework proposed in this study integrates a classical approach of landscape ecology grounded on the analysis of land-use metrics with a broader perspective linking regional science to spatial planning. To discriminate morphological from functional urbanization traits typical of expansions and recessions, our study performs a comparative analysis of seven trajectories of land-use change. Results identify a moderate expansion of residential settlements during 2006–2012, and a more evident growth of industrial settlements during 2012–2018. A significant increase in the number and size of forest patches converted to urban use was observed with recession, highlighting the increased vulnerability of relict natural sites with low economic value and high ecological potential. Crisis dynamics have stimulated an intensive use of fringe spaces for small residential settlements. By exalting local-scale specificities toward settlement densification and extensification on both greenfields and brownfields, economic downturns in metropolitan regions made land-use changes largely dependent on the background socioeconomic local context.

Improving indoor thermal environment in a traditional building of Danihe Village, China with additional solar house

A considerable chunk of population in China live in rural areas. To create a suitable living environment in winter, many of them resort to additional solar house to improve the indoor thermal environment. Most of the previous studies focus on how the additional solar house changes the environment, but few try to optimize the size of that house. Therefore, this paper carries out field measurement and numerical simulation to evaluate the indoor thermal environment of a traditional building of Danihe Village, an important residential settlement in Xi’an, northwestern China’s Shaanxi Province, and explores the most suitable size of the additional solar house for improving the indoor thermal environment of the building in winter. The results show that the width of the additional solar house should be controlled within the range of 600–2400 mm, which provides the residents indoor with the best thermal environment. The research results offer a guide for improving indoor thermal environment and reducing indoor energy cost in future.

Terminal Classic residential histories, migration, and foreigners at the Maya site of Ucanal, Petén, Guatemala

Early scholarship on the disruption to political dynasties at the end of the Classic period in the Maya Lowlands argued that political collapse and the new material culture associated with it were due to the invasion of Putun/Chontal peoples from the Gulf Coast. One of the sites thought to have been targeted by such an invasion was Ucanal, Petén, Guatemala. Although no excavations had been undertaken at the site when the Putun invasion hypothesis was formulated, recent archaeological research at Ucanal provides an opportunity to re-visit the question of foreigners. This paper examines residential settlement histories and isotopic values from human teeth at Ucanal to better understand the changes that occurred during the Terminal Classic period. Our research indicates that while the possibility of foreign rule remains, the invasion hypothesis cannot fully capture the complex dynamics, multi-directional movements, and pluralistic influences of this time period. Ucanal was a thriving, heterogenous city with connections to multiple regions and peoples. Individuals born outside the Ucanal region were indeed present at the site, although the ways in which foreign identities were constituted were as much about peoples’ practices and performances of self (and others) as about where they were born.

The Significance of Architectural Styles in Glapsides Residential Settlement

his broad understanding of style as a social and study of distinctiveness has some precedents in sociology, architecture, language, art and many other works which provide a framework that accommodates theories among other semiotic forms. Architectural style is a by-product of the understanding of artifacts that distinguish products or period in to distinct, and consequently, people perceived it as a unique or popular tendency. Glapsides contemporary individual-built area in Famagusta district is characterized by outstanding appearance of architectural styles in a contextual manner within the post-modern cycles. The representation of the diverse architectural styles creates an avenue for reach post-modern settlement that even the environmental values, history and a culture can be read easily. Thus, contemporary residential buildings with stylistic architectural appearances displayed some qualities of classical models as well contained traditional heritage. This research aimed at discussing the significances of architectural styles in contemporary residential buildings of Glapsides in Famagusta district. The paper focused its scopes on single-family residential buildings, with regard to the physical categories of their architectural fashions (façade). It will further explore the general contributions of architectural styles as means of creating contextual continuity, from the neighborhood to the district as a whole. In this research, the significance of architectural style will be evaluated based on their historic references, aesthetics and design characteristics as well as the visual contextual manners in the categories. In order to succeed and achieve this aim, twelve (12) case studies was selected within Glapsides area (region) and it was divided categorically based on their architectural styles. However, based on the selected cases a personal observation, effective site survey studies, and related literatures are the techniques adapted to source supportive data. The paper focused on the physical appearances only, plan scheme and measurement of component will not be discussed.

A Longitudinal Analysis of Naturalization and International Migration in Switzerland, 2011–2017

The notion of residential settlement associated with the acquisition of new citizenship has been recently challenged by a number of studies highlighting its instrumentality as a subsequent mobility factor. The long and diverse history of Switzerland as a country of immigration and the availability of rich data on naturalization and international migration that allow individuals to be followed over time make this country a valuable case for investigating the impact of naturalization on international (return or onward) migration. Using longitudinal data, we follow 88,900 immigrants who entered the country between 1998 and 2000 over a period of 84 months between January 2011 and December 2017, documenting changes in naturalization status and in migratory movements and their direction. Using different implementations of a Cox proportional hazards model, we examine whether and under what conditions the international migration behaviour of naturalized persons differs from that of non-naturalized persons. Our results show that the population accessing naturalization tends to be less mobile, but also that among third-country nationals, naturalization can trigger further international mobility, in particular among those with poor economic performance and with no family ties in Switzerland.

Urban development interventions and living conditions in the informal settlement of Yaounde

Since the mid-2000s, the political capital of Cameroon, Yaounde is undergoing construction with many urban development projects coordinated by the Yaounde City Council carried out in residential areas and informal settlements. These various activities as many other urban development projects have impacts on the living conditions of the inhabitants. This article focuses on the projects specifically carried out in the informal settlements, aims at analyzing the meaning and the scope of those projects in the lives of individuals and communities. Indeed, this work, is interested in the different operations of eviction, opening up and restructuring that took place in the informal settlements as well as their social consequences on the entire population of the city. It describes these different operations as public actions that are not deployed over the entire area occupied by the popular neighborhoods in Yaoundé, but only on certain slums concentrated around the central town. These results and conclusion are developed from data obtained during direct observations in the slums, from archives and from semi-structured interviews with some urban actors who participated in the implementation of urban development programs in the slums of Yaoundé.

Assessment of sanitation service gap in urban slums for tackling COVID-19

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been declared as a global pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO). As the disease is highly infectious, the Global South countries are in a vulnerable situation with high urban population density and lack of Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (WASH) services. The situation for the urban slum dwellers and low-income group clusters are becoming worse. Lack of health and sanitation service availability has already been an issue for them before the beginning of the pandemic. So, it is predictable that adopting this massive global pandemic is a critical challenge for them. This paper assesses the sanitation service gap in urban slums, which has become a severe challenge to tackle due to COVID-19. The study areas of this research are the Ranarmath slum and the Khema slum of Khulna city, Bangladesh. The SERVQUAL model has been used to identify the quality of sanitation service available in these informal residential settlements. The interpretation of questionnaire survey data from the two slums reveals that one slum lacks Assurance and Empathy, where the other slum lacks Tangibility and Responsiveness. However, the Tangibility, Reliability, and Responsiveness condition of both slums are flawed with the lack of latrine functionalities and services from concerned authorities. The incompatibility of the condition has been identified by evaluating the WHO's different sanitation management policy for COVID-19. The research concludes that sanitation services like handwashing facilities and water supply availability in the latrine directly related to COVID-19 prevention are indigent for these slums.

Investigation into the bacterial diversity of sediment samples obtained from Berg River, Western Cape, South Africa.

This study used conventional culturing and 16S rRNA metagenomics analyses to assess the diversity of bacterial communities in sediment samples obtained from the Berg River, Western Cape, South Africa. Samples were collected from six points: a residential and recreational area, an industrial area, an informal residential settlement, a point next to a wastewater treatment plant (WWTP), a pumping station, and a residential and agricultural farming area along the river. High bacterial counts recorded on general selective and differential culture media signify substantial microbial contamination along the sampling sites. The most prevalent bacterial phyla detected (through metagenomics analyses) along the sampling sites were Proteobacteria (61%), Planctomycetes (9.5%), Firmicutes (7.8%), Bacteroidetes (5%), Acidobacteria (4.6%), and Actinobacteria (4.6%). Some members of the identified predominant bacterial phyla, genera, and classes are important public health bacteria that have been implicated in human diseases and outbreaks, while some others are metal or hydrocarbon tolerant, indicating possible significant environmental pollution. Notable human pathogenic genera such as Bacillus, Clostridium, Shigella, Legionella, Mycobacterium, and Pseudomonas were identified in varying percentages at five of the six sampling areas. Fecal contamination was particularly rife at all residential areas, with the informal housing area being the most notably polluted. Diverse functional pathways were predicted for identified bacteria, such as those associated with different chronic and infectious human diseases as well as those related to hydrocarbon and metal remediation. The point next to a WWTP contained vastly diverse groups of bacterial contaminants as well as the most abundant pathway identities and titles.

LUCIS Modeliyle Tekirdağ Şehrinin Yerleşme Uygunluk Analizi

Conducting a conformity analysis helps minimize damages due to natural disasters that may occur in a city and contributes to the growth of the city in harmony with the environment. Moreover, it offers an opportunity to identify the most suitable locations for settlement by making the growth of cities increasingly controlled. In this study, the suitability of the Tekirdağ city in terms of settlement was examined using the land-use conflict ıdentification strategy model. In this context, many subgoals, objectives, and general purposes related to physical and human factors that can affect the settlement areas in the Tekirdağ city are determined, and a conformity analysis is conducted. Combining the obtained outputs according to the assigned weights, the suitability levels of the Tekirdağ city for residential, commercial, and industrial settlement were evaluated. According to the analysis, 24.26% of the work area is of high suitability for residential settlements, 50.19% is of low suitability for commercial units, and 47.36% is of medium suitability for industrial units. When the residential, commercial, and industrial areas were evaluated together, it was revealed that 19.80% of the Tekirdağ city was highly suitable for settlement.

The Web-GIS TRIG Eau Platform to Assess Urban Flood Mitigation by Domestic Rainwater Harvesting Systems in Two Residential Settlements in Italy

Urban flooding has become one of the most frequent natural disasters in recent years, and the low-impact development (LID) approach is currently recognised as an alternative to traditional grey infrastructure to mitigate the negative impact of urbanisation on hydrological processes. The main objective of the present research was to develop a web-GIS platform in order to assess the impact of LID systems on mitigating urban flooding and to support their implementation at the urban catchment scale. The TRIG Eau platform, developed in the framework of the homonymous INTERREG MARITTIMO IT-FR project, is configured as a web-GIS application of the stormwater management model (SWMM). Urban flood conditions were examined for two case studies in Liguria and Tuscany (IT), where DRWH systems are proposed as a mitigation strategy. The presented results and their visualisation showcase the potential of the TRIG Eau platform to better support the implementation of LIDs. Findings from the flood analysis confirm that even for the 10-year return period event, DRWHs are effective in reducing network stress by more than 70% in cases of empty tanks, thus underlining the need for RTC technology to pre-empty the system.

Improvement of organizational and technological design of low-rise residential buildings with consumption of fuel and energy resources

In recent years, there has been an active growth in low-rise housing construction in Russia. This trend is explained by the state policy, which is aimed at developing this sector in order to increase accessibility for the population and provide comfortable housing. In addition, the relevance of low-rise housing construction is evidenced by the need of the population in the natural environment, as well as the possibility of living in separate houses. Along with individual construction, the most popular is low-rise housing development in the form of organized residential settlements (“cottage village”) with a developed communal, transport and social infrastructure. The regulations define the requirements to ensure the efficient and rational use of fuel and energy resources. This confirms the need to increase energy savings also in the sector of low-rise housing construction.
 The article presents the classification of energy consumption by functional purpose in the construction of low-rise residential buildings, identifies the main groups of energy consumers “machines and mechanisms”, “temporary infrastructure of the construction site” for complex low-rise residential buildings and considers an algorithm for calculating the costs of fuel and energy resources for these groups. It is proposed to include forms of documents for calculation, accounting and control of fuel and energy resources in organizational and technological documentation. This approach will allow you to choose energy-efficient construction technologies at the design stage and keep track of energy consumption during the construction of buildings.

Pola dan Struktur Ruang Kelurahan Bulukunyi Sebagai Ibukota Kecamatan Polongbangkeng Selatan Kabupaten Takalar

Kelurahan were a political region as level as village below the district which was governed by a lurah. In the history of its development, Kelurahan Bulukunyi had the status of a village until finally it changed its status became a kelurahan. The aim of this research were to examine the spatial structure and pattern of the Kelurahan Bulukunyi as the capital of the district in order to obtain an overview of the structure and direction of development of the region. The research method used was descriptive qualitative. Technique of data collection was triangulation with analysis of aerial imagery and field surveys. The collected data will be analyzed by descriptive qualitatively including data reduction and categorization, data display, and conclusions. The results showed: 1). Residential settlements and activity centers in Kelurahan Bulukunyi were regularly patterned or parallel to roads with development following the existence of transportation routes; 2). Sufficiently available public facilities include office facilities, health, economy, education, and worship; 4). The land used was still dominated by agricultural land used.

Rapid and large-scale mapping of flood inundation via integrating spaceborne synthetic aperture radar imagery with unsupervised deep learning

Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) has great potential for timely monitoring of flood information as it penetrates the clouds during flood events. Moreover, the proliferation of SAR satellites with high spatial and temporal resolution provides a tremendous opportunity to understand the flood risk and its quick response. However, traditional algorithms to extract flood inundation using SAR often require manual parameter tuning or data annotation, which presents a challenge for the rapid automated mapping of large and complex flooded scenarios. To address this issue, we proposed a segmentation algorithm for automatic flood mapping in near-real-time over vast areas and for all-weather conditions by integrating Sentinel-1 SAR imagery with an unsupervised machine learning approach named Felz-CNN. The algorithm consists of three phases: (i) super-pixel generation; (ii) convolutional neural network-based featurization; (iii) super-pixel aggregation. We evaluated the Felz-CNN algorithm by mapping flood inundation during the Yangtze River flood in 2020, covering a total study area of 1,140,300 km2. When validated on fine-resolution Planet satellite imagery, the algorithm accurately identified flood extent with producer and user accuracy of 93% and 94%, respectively. The results are indicative of the usefulness of our unsupervised approach for the application of flood mapping. Meanwhile, we overlapped the post-disaster inundation map with a 10-m resolution global land cover map (FROM-GLC10) to assess the damages to different land cover types. Of these types, cropland and residential settlements were most severely affected, with inundation areas of 9,430.36 km2 and 1,397.50 km2, respectively, results that are in agreement with statistics from relevant agencies. Compared with traditional supervised classification algorithms that require time-consuming data annotation, our unsupervised algorithm can be deployed directly to high-performance computing platforms such as Google Earth Engine and PIE-Engine to generate a large-spatial map of flood-affected areas within minutes, without time-consuming data downloading and processing. Importantly, this efficiency enables the fast and effective monitoring of flood conditions to aid in disaster governance and mitigation globally.

Linking Urban Sprawl and Surface Urban Heat Island in the Teresina–Timon Conurbation Area in Brazil

Negative consequences of urban growing disparities usually lead to impressive levels of segregation, marginalization, and injustices, particularly in the context of climate change. Understanding the relations between urban expansion and social vulnerability has become extremely necessary for municipality management and sustainable urban development. Although the study of urbanization in Latin America (LA) has been well discussed, little attention has been given to how the population is affected by urban expansion-oriented movement after the 2008 economic crisis. Massive investments in infrastructure displaced the population to peripheral zones without adequate urban planning, which reflected in alteration in land use and land cover (LULC), followed by environmental impacts and public health issues caused by thermal discomfort, notably in semiarid regions. This paper aims to evaluate the effects of urban sprawl on the Teresina–Timon conurbation (TTC) area’s local population, located in Brazil’s northeast. Descriptive metrics (Moran’s I statistic and social vulnerability index) and orbital products derived from remote sensing—LULC and Land surface temperature (LST) maps—were applied. The results indicated that the housing program ‘My House My Life’ (PMCMV) had increased the values of land consumption per capita since 2009 significantly, showing a clear expanding trend. The gradual replacement of green areas by residential settlements resulted in an increased LST. The PMCMV program contributed substantially to a change in land use and land cover, which increased the extent of urbanized areas and changed the local microclimate.

The characters of transportation system in kampung kota

Transportation system is an effort in integrating the network of human and product movement from source to desired destination. The movements are conducted in every part of the world in macro scale (intercontinental) and micro scale (neighbourhood). Kampung Kota (Urban village) is an organic residential settlement at the urban area which still having Indonesia lifestyle uniqueness. Each kampung kota has built unique transportation system related to their kampung accessibility conditions. This qualitative study is using analytic descriptive to explain the facts about the transportation system in kampung Pendrikan Kidul, Semarang with spatial, kampung and transportation theory approach. This study found that micro transportation system in Indonesia’s kampung kota has set unique types and developed through eras.

Shark fisheries during the second millennium BC in Gramalote, north coast of Peru

This paper stresses the importance of shark fisheries at the site of Gramalote, an early Initial Period (1500–1200/1100 cal BC) fishing settlement, which has yielded the largest amount of shark remains ever reported along the coast of Peru. The article discusses fishing techniques utilized to capture such dangerous fish with limited technology. Moreover, it highlights the economic importance of this abundant source of marine food for small-scale residential settlements along the north coast of Peru. Based on current evidence, sharks may have played an important role in the domestic and community-level rituals at Gramalote. Due to the abundance of shark remains, it is suggested that the surplus of its flesh was processed in storage facilities at family level and later was traded with residential settlements for products not available on the coast. Finally, this article suggests that, during the Late Preceramic and Initial Periods, a subsistence pattern may have emerged: while the Central Coast and the Norte Chico regions relied on anchovy as one of the most important fish species for subsistence and other needs, on the north coast of Peru sharks may have played a pivotal role for daily subsistence and economic transactions at the household level.

The outdoor pedestrian thermal comfort and behavior in a traditional residential settlement – A case study of the cave dwellings in cold winter of China

Many Chinese are living in the traditional buildings, especially in rural regions. Cave dwelling settlement is a significant living residential form in China. Because of the special thermal adaptive behavior, residents in such regions will have a different thermal sensation in winter. In order to assess the local’s thermal behavior, we conduct the field measurement, numerical simulation and questionnaire survey in a caving dwelling settlement in winter, and the index-PET (physiological equivalent temperature) is evaluated for assessing the outdoor thermal conditions in the research site. The final results show that the neutral temperature of local traditional dweller is 16.5 °C PET, lower than existing standard, also proves that local residents are more tolerant than the residents in urban regions. At last, we strongly make an appeal to put forward the different assessing standard of thermal comfort in rural and urban zone, even the two different sites are in the same climate zone, thus help to improve energy efficiency in rural regions of China.

Severity of parkinsonism associated with environmental manganese exposure

BackgroundExposure to occupational manganese (Mn) is associated with neurotoxic brain injury, manifesting primarily as parkinsonism. The association between environmental Mn exposure and parkinsonism is unclear. To characterize the association between environmental Mn exposure and parkinsonism, we performed population-based sampling of residents older than 40 in Meyerton, South Africa (N = 621) in residential settlements adjacent to a large Mn smelter and in a comparable non-exposed settlement in Ethembalethu, South Africa (N = 95) in 2016–2020.MethodsA movement disorders specialist examined all participants using the Unified Parkinson Disease Rating Scale motor subsection part 3 (UPDRS3). Participants also completed an accelerometry-based kinematic test and a grooved pegboard test. We compared performance on the UPDRS3, grooved pegboard, and the accelerometry-based kinematic test between the settlements using linear regression, adjusting for covariates. We also measured airborne PM2.5-Mn in the study settlements.ResultsMean PM2.5-Mn concentration at a long-term fixed site in Meyerton was 203 ng/m3 in 2016–2017 – approximately double that measured at two other neighborhoods in Meyerton. The mean Mn concentration in Ethembalethu was ~ 20 times lower than that of the long-term Meyerton site. UPDRS3 scores were 6.6 (CI 5.2, 7.9) points higher in Meyerton than Ethembalethu residents. Mean angular velocity for finger-tapping on the accelerometry-based kinematic test was slower in Meyerton than Ethembalethu residents [dominant hand 74.9 (CI 48.7, 101.2) and non-dominant hand 82.6 (CI 55.2, 110.1) degrees/second slower]. Similarly, Meyerton residents took longer to complete the grooved pegboard, especially for the non-dominant hand (6.9, CI -2.6, 16.3 s longer).ConclusionsEnvironmental airborne Mn exposures at levels substantially lower than current occupational exposure thresholds in the United States may be associated with clinical parkinsonism.