Urban Community Residents Research Articles

Enhancing Elderly Well-Being: Exploring Interactions between Neighborhood-Built Environment and Outdoor Activities in Old Urban Area

China has the world’s largest and fastest-growing elderly population, primarily living in outdated urban residential communities. These aging populations face challenges in outdoor activities (OA) and quality of life (QoL) due to deteriorating neighborhood-built environments (NBE). While upgrading these environments is essential for urban renewal, the specific NBE factors affecting OA and QoL for the elderly are not well understood, creating a gap in existing research. This study addresses this gap by investigating how NBE elements influence the OA and QoL of elderly residents in these communities. This study investigates these interactions by conducting a comprehensive literature review, followed by a questionnaire survey, with data analyzed using factor analysis, correlation analysis, and regression analysis. The results reveal that supermarkets and subways significantly impact the physical health of older adults. Psychological health is primarily shaped by daily activities, social relationships, and self-care ability, with roads, hospitals, and bus stops further affecting daily activities. Social relationships are largely influenced by social activities, which are impacted by grocery markets, subways, and parks. Additionally, self-care ability is affected by leisure and daily activities, as well as the accessibility of supermarkets, grocery markets, subways, and buses. These findings offer valuable insights for government-led initiatives aimed at implementing age-friendly retrofitting of NBEs, ultimately enhancing the OA and QoL of the elderly population.

Restorative Potential Assessment of Public Open Space in Old Urban Communities in the Context of Aging—A Case Study of Dabeizhuang Community in Maanshan, China

Restorative environments have a positive impact on improving the physical and mental health of the elderly. In China, the proportion of elderly residents in aging urban communities is significantly higher than in newly constructed ones, making it essential to understand the restorative potential of public open spaces (POSs) in these settings to promote the development of aging-in-place models. To investigate this issue, we employed the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) and the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) to construct an evaluation system for the restorative potential of public open spaces. Subsequently, we assessed the restorative effects of POSs in the Dabeizhuang community using 320 residents’ questionnaires and the fuzzy comprehension evaluation method. The results indicate that the dimension of safety is the most critical factor in creating restorative environments. In contrast, the dimension of comfort is the primary reason affecting the current evaluation of the community’s restorative environment. By establishing a restorative environment evaluation system, this research will facilitate the creation of more restorative environments in urban areas, thereby promoting active and healthy aging among elderly residents.

Air quality assessment of a mass deployment of microgrids

Microgrids are emerging to mitigate the degradation in grid resiliency and reliability resulting from an increasing frequency of grid outages. Because microgrids incorporate a local source of power generation, the production of electricity is shifting from a centralized to distributed topology, thereby installing power generation resources and the concomitant emissions into heavily populated urban air sheds and residential communities. In this paper, the air quality and public health impacts of a mass deployment of microgrids in an urban air shed are assessed. Candidates to become microgrids are identified for both the near- and long-term deployment, and two microgrid scenarios are considered, differing by the 24/7 prime source of power: (1) combustion gas turbine (CGT)-based microgrids and (2) zero-emission fuel cell (FC)-based microgrids complemented by solar PV and battery energy storage. Spatially and temporally resolved emissions from the microgrids are input to an air quality model and assessed for health impacts. The results show that (1) a mass deployment of CGT-based or FC-based microgrids in both the near- and long-term has a relatively small impact on air quality, (2) the health impacts are nonetheless significant for CGT-based microgrids due to the large and dense population of the area, and (3) disadvantaged communities are disproportionately impacted with the deployment of CTG-based microgrids. For example, near-term deployment of CGT-based microgrids results in an increase in the incidence of premature mortality(1 to 5 incidences per month) and an increase of $33 to $56 million per month in health costs. Deploying zero-emission FC-based microgrids mitigates the adverse health impact, prevents several incidences of premature mortality, and results in saving of ~$36M per month rather than a cost per month of ~$50M.

ГОРОДСКИЕ СООБЩЕСТВА В 1920-е гг. (НА ПРИМЕРЕ СЛОБОД И ПРИГОРОДОВ г. КРАСНОЯРСКА ЕНИСЕЙСКОЙ ГУБЕРНИИ)

The paper attempts to reconstruct certain aspects of the daily life of residents of urban communities - residents of slobodas and suburbs of Krasnoyarsk in the 1920s – as an insufficiently studied phenomenon of local history. The relevance of the topic is determined by the possibility of identifying the social consequences of compact living of groups with similar sociocultural and status characteristics. In the context of intensified migration processes in modern urban landscapes, places of autonomous residence of such groups are often formed, creating an increased riskiness, which actualizes the need to address the topic, including in the context of historical experience. In the paper, the main research perspective is focused on the analysis of archival sources identified by the author - minutes of meetings of local history circles organized at the State Museum of the Prienisei Region and the Pedagogical Museum of Krasnoyarsk - and the representation of inhabitants of slobodas and suburbs in regional media of the 1920s. Based on a study of the characteristics of the sociocultural appearance of the residents of these territories, interaction with other actors in the urban space, reconstruction of the conditions of everyday life and ways of spending free time, the process of compiling a social characteristic is initiated, the reasons for giving the inhabitants of slobodas and suburbs of Krasnoyarsk similar status characteristics and possible reasons for socio-spatial segregation in the discourse of local society are identified. The results of the study makes it possible to conclude that in the local conditions of a provincial Siberian city in the 1920s the peculiarities of everyday life and work, and the leisure preferences of residents of slobodas and suburbs became one of the reasons for the appearance of “invisible borders” within the urban space. Prospects for further research are related to the possibility of drawing up a holistic picture of the daily life of urban residents of provincial territories in the first years after the restoration of Soviet power and identifying the reasons.

Using the Fuzzy Method and Multi-Criteria Decision Making to Analyze the Impact of Digital Economy on Urban Tourism

Urban tourism promotes the economic growth of a nation around the year through direct and indirect incomes. In recent years, the digital economy has impacted the growth of urban tourism through hassle-free money transactions and expenditures. This article, therefore, introduces a Multi-Criteria Fuzzy-based Decision-Making Method (MCFDMM) for validating the impact of the digital economy impact over tourism. The study introduces a new framework, DLFDSS-RRM, that uses deep learning and fuzzy decision support systems for residence right management, enhancing resource allocation, security, and resident satisfaction in urban residential communities. The criteria such as expenses, positive response, and repeated payments are validated by the tourists across their travel plan. These conditions satisfying the tourist’s expectations are estimated based on their reviews of economic conditions are validated. The validation is performed against the growth of the country from urban tourism. The fuzzy process validates the growth of the country between two successive financial quarters based on the above conditions. In the condition analysis, the fuzzy process identifies the least derivatives contributing to minimal economic growth. This is reversed using the hiking condition that occurs in any quarter and hinders economic growth. Therefore, the process is validated using the metrics growth rate, condition satisfaction, analysis rate, analysis time, and unrelated assessment. The comparative analysis across various models reveals growth rates ranging from 0.263 to 0.4055, condition satisfaction percentages from 53.747 to 74.351, and analysis rates from 0.275 to 0.4662.

Linking community participation and subjective well-being in Chinese residential communities: the mediating role of community identity and the moderating effect of loneliness

This study attempts to draw on self-determination theory and the community psychology perspective to elaborate on the mechanisms underlying the association between community participation and life satisfaction in urban residential communities. The present study examines the mediating role of community identity in the relationship between community participation and life satisfaction. Moreover, the current study investigated the moderating effect of loneliness on the mediation model. A total of 1,205 urban residents, ranging in age from 18 to 65 years, completed the Community Participation Scale, the Community Identity Scale, the University of California, Los Angeles Loneliness Scale, and the Satisfaction with Life Scale for this study. The survey’s results suggest that community participation can be a positive predictor of community identity and life satisfaction. Moreover, the result of the mediation analysis demonstrates that the link between community participation and life satisfaction can be mediated by community identity. Furthermore, the moderated mediation model analysis indicates that loneliness moderated the link between community participation and community identity, as well as the link between community participation and life satisfaction. The mediating effect of community identity on the relationship between community participation and life satisfaction is stronger for residents with high levels of loneliness than for those with low levels of loneliness. These findings provide a comprehensive explanation for how community participation improves subjective well-being among urban residents in the context of a residential community.

Examining the roles of visualizations in people's understanding of uncertain storm surge forecasts, interpretation of risk, and decision-making

Maps and other forms of geovisualizations play a central yet complex role in communicating weather hazard risks and threats to the public. Through designing storm surge risk communication prototypes and testing these visualizations in focus groups with residents of coastal communities in Georgia and South Carolina, this study investigates how different aspects of geospatial visualization influence individuals' understanding and relatability of storm surge information and how different elements of geospatial risk visualization influence people's intent to take protective actions. The focus group discussions revealed common themes and unique perspectives in the interpretation of hurricane storm surge flooding forecasts and illustrated the complexity of communicating risk and uncertainty to diverse populations. This study found a sequential pattern of visual information processing, beginning with understanding the content and its perceived accuracy and uncertainty, followed by personalizing the information and deciding on protective action. Showing storm surge forecast maps at multiple spatial scales was valuable, combined with realistic visualizations in the form of images or 3D animations of flooded buildings. Maps with recognizable places and labels helped study participants locate themselves and assess storm surge risks, although residents of urban, barrier island, and rural coastal communities interpreted the information in their local and personal context. Additional research is needed to understand how people interact with different types of storm surge forecast information and how to improve visual risk communication in ways that enhance people's understanding and responses to storm surge risk in the context of their local environment and prior experiences.

Volunteering in China: How significant is the peer effect?

AbstractThis study theoretically evaluated and empirically tested the peer effect of residents' volunteering behaviour in a Chinese scenario using data from the 2019 China Comprehensive Social Situation Survey (CSS). The study found that residents' volunteering behaviour had significant peer effect, with every unit increase in volunteering activities of other residents in the community enhancing the probability of residents' participation in volunteering by 21.0% to 30.0%. The results were still valid even after using community location, province dummy variables, and instrumental variables to determine reflexivity and correlation. By contrast, urban community residents were more affected by peer effect. Internet access attenuated the peer influence. Interpersonal trust and trust in charitable organizations reinforced the peer effect, whereas trust in dysfunctional government inhibited the peer influence. The study findings provide a theoretical and empirical standard for improving volunteer incentives and mechanisms as well as enhancing policy effectiveness.

Comparing perceptions of barriers to tree planting in domestic and public spaces of low-income neighbourhoods in small to medium-sized South African towns

Neighbourhood greenness is one of the indicators for residential satisfaction in urban areas. However, residents in low-income urban communities often express dissatisfaction with their neighbourhoods because of limited urban green infrastructure (UGI) and trees in comparison to relatively affluent neighbourhoods. Low-income neighbourhoods in South Africa, known as low-cost housing areas (LCHAs) face a myriad of systemic and institutional dynamics that may exacerbate the limitations to successful greening. In this context, this study investigated household perceptions on barriers to new and continued urban tree planting in domestic and public spaces such as parks and streets in low-income neighbourhoods in eight South African towns. Questionnaires were administered to 800 households across 16 old (n = 400) and newer (n = 400) LCHAs. Inadequate space (58 %), insufficient funds (37 %), lack of equipment (35 %), tree damage (34 %), limited knowledge (25 %), and municipal restrictions (12 %) were the most frequently mentioned limitations to tree planting in domestic spaces. By contrast, residents identified municipal incompetence (55 %), inadequate space (40 %); insufficient funds (28 %), tree damage (27 %), risk of crime (21 %), and politics (20 %) as some of the factors hindering institutions from planting trees in public parks and along streets. Understanding these barriers is an important step towards the design of sustainable urban greening initiatives for low-income communities in Global South contexts.

The Impact of the Two Pandemics on Sustainable Urban Housing Development

People had to stay in their homes for long time during the pandemic like SARS or COVID-19. Under this experience, people put forward many opinions and suggestions on the current situation of urban residential architecture design and community planning. The existing deficiencies can be learned form people’s perceptions and the findings is helpful to the sustainable development of cities. Based on the literature survey, the main issues of public dissatisfaction after SARS are summarized and analyzed. An online survey-based households was conducted to explore the updated housing, environmental, and psychological focal points caused by the prolonged COVID-19 pandemic. The main concerns of urban residents on house and community design and planning after the two pandemics are described and reviewed. It is found that there are additional focus on residential buildings and the community environment after the two pandemics. People are still very concerned about elements such as sunlight, natural ventilation, and sewage treatment to prevent the virus transmission. Some deficiency in housing and communities still leave urban residents dissatisfied, and existing urban housing and community designs may still not be ready for the next pandemic. The pandemic has not only renewed awareness of some important basic elements of urban living that cannot be ignored, but has also brought about changes in people’s lives.

Characterization of soundscape assessment in outdoor public spaces of urban high-rise residential communitiesa).

Soundscape perceptual models were developed in various contexts. However, as the outdoor public space in high-rise residential communities differs in terms of space planning and management, the soundscape perceptual characteristics are still unclear. In this study, an on-site survey was conducted to obtain the perceptual dimensions of soundscape in outdoor public spaces in urban high-rise residential communities based on evaluations of residents. Meantime, the soundscape of the space in different community layouts were compared. It was found that: (1) Four dimensions of outdoor soundscape in high-rise communities were extracted, namely Relaxation, Communication, Quietness, and Spatiality. The first three dimensions were positively correlated with overall soundscape satisfaction significantly. (2) Relaxation was mostly correlated with dominance of noise; Communication and Quietness were primarily related to sounds from human beings. (3) Lower traffic noise and higher levels of human sounds were perceived in enclosed communities, resulting in higher Relaxation and lower Quietness scores in outdoor public spaces in enclosed communities than non-enclosed ones. These findings evoke insights into the understanding of soundscape assessment in different contexts, and provide implications for sound environment design in urban high-rise communities.

Review of Research on Urban Social Space and Sustainable Development

Urban social space and sustainable urban development are both prominent areas of research in urban studies. The development of a city is closely tied to the development of its social space. The level of sustainable development in a city can be assessed by examining the evolution of its urban social space. Therefore, the two are highly interconnected in a close relationship. However, the social dimension of sustainable development has always received the least attention compared to the economy and the environment. Therefore, this paper examines urban transformation and urban spatial structure, social composition, the activity space and living space of urban residents, the social integration of urban residents in urban communities, and urban planning. This paper provides a comprehensive literature review of research on urban social space and sustainable development. On the one hand, this literature review thoroughly examines the correlation between urban social space and sustainable urban development. On the other hand, it broadens the perspectives of urban research, highlights the key role of social dimensions in sustainable urban development, and helps to draw the attention of academics to this topic. In addition, this literature review may provide policymakers with more comprehensive information on urban social space and sustainable development.

Settlement location and school size as determinants of subjective well-being and behavioral attitudes among adolescents

BACKGROUND: Empirical data on the effect of infrastructural and geographical factors on the subjective well-being of residents of small urban and rural communities are scarce.
 AIM: To identify indicators of subjective well-being among adolescents, as well as their behavioral attitudes and subjective assessments of the school environment.
 MATERIAL AND METHODS: We analyzed data collected from 1164 respondents residing in 25 rural and urban settlements across Siberia and the European part of Northern Russia between 2016 and 2018. The Cronbachs alpha values for the dependent variables ranged from 0.654 to 0.811. The variables used to differentiate the comparison groups included the school size, the distance of the settlement from the regional centers infrastructure, and its geographic location in relation to the Arctic zone.
 RESULTS: Various characteristics of the school environment demonstrated the effect of differentiating variables. These characteristics included the friendliness within the school environment, the attitudes of teachers, the preparedness for self-defense, and the attitudes towards the use of psychoactive substances and illegal behavior. The attitudes towards the use of psychoactive substances and the readiness for self-defense were particularly sensitive to differentiating variables.
 CONCLUSION: The results of this study can be used to develop solutions that effectively manage the risks associated with the social and personal development of adolescents residing in small urban and rural settlements within sparsely populated regions of the Russian Federation.

Framing responsive architecture with soft robots—the exploratory practice of soft pneumatic robotic architectural system

Inspired by intelligent skin, this research constructs a soft pneumatic robotic architectural system based on the interaction between inflatable material agents and the human body. It aims to provide flexibly changeable scene modes for dynamic inhabiting through responsive spatial performance. From the idea of the Fun Palace and the structure and performance spatial methodology to the proposal of responsive/soft architecture and relevant examples such as Furl and Robot Soft, the literature review provides the foundation and direction for the establishment of research experiments. The research methodology is based on structure and performance, oriented to explore soft material agents, link input information and output modules to realize the manifestation of human-space interaction and spatial performance and assemble the basic configuration of the system. As a result, a synergistic architectural interaction system like a media center that can provide a variety of adaptive space scenes is built, which can realize real-time perception and responsive control of the interactive process, and at the same time provide richness of scene performance beyond established architectural configurations, confirming the possibility of creating a behaviorally responsive architecture by integrating modularly morphing spaces, AI-sensing systems, and interaction technologies. This study explored responsive human settlements by expanding soft pneumatic robots in architecture. It can expand to fields such as machine cognition at the input level, further realize the real-time feedback system at the output level, and can evolve with the information interconnection of urban landscapes and residential communities in terms of spatial interaction. The work gives a convincing vision of architectural intelligence through soft robotics and is expected to continue to develop and bring more inspiring innovations with its integrated methods and connotations.

Factors related to dietary quality among older stroke high-risk population in Tianjin community, China: a multicenter study

BackgroundStroke is a common and frequently-occurring disease in older people. It has the characteristics of high morbidity, high mortality, high recurrence rate and high disability rate. Most stroke risk studies are based on pathophysiology, however psychosocial factors such as diet quality are often understudied. The aim of this study was to assess stroke risk in urban community residents in Tianjin and investigate the factors that affect the dietary quality of older stroke high-risk populations.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional, multicenter study, recruit people aged 60 to 80 in Tianjin. Dietary intake data were obtained through a validated food frequency questionnaire, which were used to calculate Alternate Healthy Eating Index-2010 (AHEI-2010) and to analyze its association with sociodemographic characteristics, stroke risk factors and health marker variables.ResultsA total of 1068 participants from 4 community health service centers in Tianjin were recruited, including 300 low-risk individuals and 768 high-risk individuals. Compared with the low-risk group (62.75 ± 3.59), the AHEI-2010 mean score of the high-risk group (56.83 ± 6.54) was significantly lower. The top three most common risk factors among participants were dyslipidemia (80.3%), hypertension (60.6%), and physical inactivity (58.2%). Multiple logistic regression showed that diet quality was independently and significantly associated with stroke risk (OR = 0.765; 95%CI: 0.690–0.848, p < 0.001).ConclusionThe diet quality of high-risk stroke population in Tianjin is far from ideal. At the same time, public health knowledge needs to be disseminated and educated, especially among those at high risk of cerebrovascular disease, with a focus on improving psychosocial factors such as diet quality.

Virtual flight simulation of delivery drone noise in the urban residential community

Virtual flight simulation of delivery drone noise in the urban residential community

Adaptation Resources and Responses to Wildfire Smoke and Other Forms of Air Pollution in Low-Income Urban Settings: A Mixed-Methods Study.

Little is known about how low-income residents of urban communities engage their knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and resources to mitigate the health impacts of wildfire smoke and other forms of air pollution. We interviewed 40 adults in Los Angeles, California, to explore their threat assessments of days of poor air quality, adaptation resources and behaviors, and the impacts of air pollution and wildfire smoke on physical and mental health. Participants resided in census tracts that were disproportionately burdened by air pollution and socioeconomic vulnerability. All participants reported experiencing days of poor air quality due primarily to wildfire smoke. Sixty percent received advanced warnings of days of poor air quality or routinely monitored air quality via cell phone apps or news broadcasts. Adaptation behaviors included remaining indoors, circulating indoor air, and wearing face masks when outdoors. Most (82.5%) of the participants reported some physical or mental health problem or symptom during days of poor air quality, but several indicated that symptom severity was mitigated by their adaptive behaviors. Although low-income residents perceive themselves to be at risk for the physical and mental health impacts of air pollution, they have also adapted to that risk with limited resources.

How to Systematically Evaluate the Greenspace Exposure of Residential Communities? A 3-D Novel Perspective Using UAV Photogrammetry

The quantity and quality of green space (GS) exposure play an important role in urban residents’ physical and psychological health. However, the current framework for assessing GS quality is primarily based on 2-D remote sensing data and 2.5-D street-view images. Few studies have comprehensively evaluated residential community GSs from an overall 3-D perspective. This study proposes a novel systematic framework for evaluating the quantity and quality of residential GSs based on the generation of a high-resolution 3-D point cloud using Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV)-digital aerial photogrammetry (DAP). Nine indices were proposed: green volume ratio, floor green volume index, green groups diversity index, vegetation diversity index, greenspace fragmentation, average vegetation colour distance, vegetation colour diversity, activity areas ratio, and green cohesion index of activity site. These metrics were calculated using the classified point clouds from four typical Chinese residential communities with different residential greenery types and population densities. The results showed that our method could quantitatively identify the differences in residential GS exposure within urban residential communities. For example, a residential community with a large plant distribution and rich greenery variations had higher greenspace volume ratio and vegetation diversity index values. Our findings suggest that this novel framework, employing cost-effective UAV-DAP, can clearly describe different GS attributes and characteristics, aiding decision-makers and urban planners in comprehensively implementing GS interventions to improve the residents’ quality of life.

Simulation and factor analysis for post-earthquake recovery of densely populated urban residential communities in China

Post-earthquake recovery simulation is crucial for resilient community planning, and different interconnected factors are required to be considered holistically. To identify the key infrastructural characteristics affecting the recovery of densely populated urban residential communities (URCs) in China, a comprehensive methodology for resilience assessment and analysis is established on a systematic integration of multiple analysis tools (e.g. population-based functionality indicators, post-earthquake recovery simulations, and infrastructural dependence analyses). The methodology can consider the dependence among residential buildings, supporting buildings, and utility networks, as well as the relationships between their functionalities and resident outmigration; it also includes infrastructural repair sequences to allow flexible repair plans to be simulated. A case study is employed to conduct a factor analysis to clarify the impacts of three important infrastructural characteristics. Results show that improvements on the seismic performance of residential buildings facilitate recovery more significantly than utility networks, and the use of redundant utility pipelines can hardly impact the recovery of URCs. In long-term community recoveries, utility networks play more important role due to the cascading effects arising from the extension of repair durations. The proposed methodology can promote the understanding of community recovery, and the results demonstrate the effectiveness of identifying key factors.

Mutual Assistance in Aging Issues and Countermeasures in the Central Urban Area of Chongqing

As the aging population intensifies, the service supply of elderly care institutions such as nursing homes and community elderly care service centers is relatively insufficient, failing to adequately address the diverse elderly care needs. The combination of mutual assistance elderly care and the framework of “Family + Community + Institution” enables the elderly to have a better elderly care experience within their familiar environment. This approach better fulfills the demands of home-based elderly care and optimizes the efficient allocation of elderly care resources. It is a new elderly care model widely accepted by urban community residents. A survey of mutual assistance elderly care practices across nine districts of the main city of Chongqing revealed representative models of community mutual assistance elderly care, including community mutual care organizations, “time bank” mutual care models, elderly care service organizations, and elderly community universities. Some practices and innovations in urban mutual assistance elderly care in Chongqing have provided useful exploration for actively addressing the issue of aging. However, there are still issues such as an incomplete urban community mutual assistance elderly care system, poor management and supervision, low social participation, and resource scarcity. Hence, this study seeks to explore the developmental obstacles encountered by mutual assistance and elderly care in Chongqing urban communities. It aims to propose practical and feasible suggestions and plans, ultimately promoting the healthy and sustainable development of the mutual assistance and elderly care model in urban communities in Chongqing.