Small-medium Cities Research Articles

Analysis of open spaces in flood-prone areas in small-medium cities: a Case study of Palangkaraya City

City open space is an open space within a city, commonly used for parks, green spaces, and other open areas. The landscape of the city’s open space can range from playing fields to highly maintained environments to relatively natural landscapes. In Palangkaraya city, there are many vacant open spaces located in flood-prone areas near a river stream. It has a significant function for the city environment, however, most of them are occupied illegally for settlements. Palangkaraya city is a small-medium city located in Central Kalimantan Province, Indonesia. The city is surrounded by forest 285,349.28 hectares while the size of the city itself is 168,000 hectares with a population of 376,647 people. According to Burgess, a small-medium city is a city with a population of more than 100,000 people but a little bit less than the minimum number of the population categorized as a medium city which is 500,000 people. The use of the vacant open spaces in flood-prone areas in such a small-medium city like Palangkaraya city is mainly for environmental function. This research will measure scientifically the use of the vacant open spaces in flood-prone areas for environmental function, hence city policy on the development of city open spaces can be formulated to increase benefits from the existence of city open spaces within a small-medium city.

Double Burden of Malnutrition: Examining the Growth Profile and Coexistence of Undernutrition, Overweight, and Obesity among School-Aged Children and Adolescents in Urban and Rural Counties in Henan Province, China.

Objective To examine the gender, age, and region of residence in the anthropometric and nutritional profiles of children and adolescents aged 6–18 in Henan Province, China's third most populous province. Design This cross-sectional study of the China National Nutrition and Health survey (2010–2013) used a multistage cluster sampling technique. The sample included Chinese schoolchildren and adolescents aged 6 to 18 years (1,660 boys and 1,561 girls). Multiple logistic regression models were used to estimate the associations between sociodemographic correlates and overweight or obesity and stunting. Setting. Nine districts/counties in Henan Province. Participants. 3,221 subjects completed the questionnaire. Sociodemographic information was obtained. Body weight and height were measured. Results There were statistically significant regional differences in average height and weight for boys in all age groups. Girls followed the same trends except for height when 15–18 years old. The urban-rural residence differences were found in relation to prevalence of stunting and weight status. Subjects in poor rural areas (15.43%) and ordinary rural areas (15.34%) had higher rates of stunting compared to their urban counterparts. Prevalence of overweight or obesity was highest in big city areas (15.71%) and lowest in ordinary rural areas (6.37%). Being a boy (OR = 1.69, 95% CI = 1.314–2.143), living in a big city (OR = 2.10, 95% CI = 1.431–3.073), or in a small-medium city (OR = 2.28, CI = 1.606–3.247), or being in a younger age group was associated with being overweight or obese. In addition, being a boy, living in a big city, or in a small-medium city, or being younger in age meant they were less likely to be stunted. Conclusions A substantial dual burden of malnutrition among children and adolescents in Henan Province was revealed. The urban-rural differences in nutritional status were found. Stunting was more prevalent in rural areas than in urban. In contrast, while the rising problem of childhood and adolescent obesity still exists in the big city, we also found a great spike in obesity in small-medium cities. Evidence also indicated that boys were more likely to be overweight or obese. Our findings suggest that nutrition education, as well as environmental and policy interventions, is needed to target specific geographic regions.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments of mangrove wetlands in Shantou, South China

In order to clarify the distribution, sources, and ecological risk of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments of mangrove wetland located in Shantou, twenty eight surface sediments were collected. The concentration of PAHs ranged from 79.74 to 853.17ngg−1 dry weight. The concentration of PAHs of sediment in the high tides was higher than that in the low tides and higher in mangrove-planting area than that in non-mangrove growth zone. The spatial distribution of PAHs in the sediment of mangrove wetland was mainly influenced by input sources and tidal currents. The result of the principal component analysis-multiple linear regression model indicated that the major source of PAHs in the studied area was coal burning. However, the adverse effect of PAHs was weak to biota. Undeniably, a lot more systematic explorations are demanded in future to investigate the PAHs contamination in the mangrove wetlands in small–medium cities with the development of coastal zone economy.

지방중소도시 도시규모별 주거실태 비교 연구

지방중소도시 도시규모별 주거실태 비교 연구

Primary Investigation of Small-medium cities' Property Management Charging Difficulty

Primary Investigation of Small-medium cities' Property Management Charging Difficulty

Dietary Patterns and Association with Obesity of Children Aged 6⁻17 Years in Medium and Small Cities in China: Findings from the CNHS 2010⁻2012.

Childhood obesity is associated with both near- and longer-term health implications. Few studies have been conducted to explore the associations between dietary patterns and obesity among Chinese children and adolescents. The present study was designed to identify dietary patterns and their relationships with childhood obesity in medium and small cities. This is a cross-sectional study of children participants aged 6–17 years old in the 2010–2012 China Nutrition and Health Survey (CNHS). Socio-demographics, life-style, physical activity, anthropometric variables, and hundred-item food frequency questionnaires (FFQs) were collected. Household income was classified as low, middle, and high. Traffic tools, from non-advanced to advanced, included walking, biking, bus, and car. Dietary patterns were identified using factor analysis of data from FFQs. Two dietary patterns were identified: a Westernized pattern (i.e., high cakes, snacks, sugary beverages, aquatic products, red meat, fruits, and nuts) and a Traditional Chinese pattern (i.e., high cereals, tubers, legumes, fried cereal food, and vegetables). The Westernized pattern was positively correlated with energy intake, household income, traffic tools, and negative correlated with age and housework time. The Traditional Chinese pattern was positively correlated with age, energy intake, and housework time, and negatively correlated with household income and traffic tools. After adjusting for confounding factors, the Westernized pattern was found to be associated with BMI increment, yielding β coefficients (95% confidence interval, 95% CI) of 0.57 (0.40, 0.85) for the fourth quartile. In addition, the Westernized pattern was also found to be significantly associated with an increased risk of obesity, yielding an odds ratio (OR, 95% CI) of 1.49 (1.21, 1.84) from fully-adjusted confounders. Promoting healthier eating patterns could help to prevent obesity in Chinese children. The findings of this study could be used to guide the development of evidence-based preventive nutrition interventions to curb childhood obesity epidemic in small–medium cities in China.

Study on breakfast consumption of children aged from 6-17 in China in 2010-2012

Objective: To investigate breakfast status and influencing factors among children aged 6-17 in China in 2010-2012. Methods: Data were collected from China National Nutrition and Health Surveillance in 2010-2012. By using multi-stage stratified sampling and population proportional stratified random sampling method, the research objects were 29 393 children, who aged 6 to 17 y from 150 sites in 31 provinces in mainland China. The information of breakfast frequency and the numbers of breakfast dinning out (in restaurant and at schools) in the past week with seven days were collected by questionnaire; and compared by different ages, genders and areas. Results: During the past week, 91.1% (26 776/29 393) of the children aged 6 to 17 y had their breakfast daily, and 94.6% (13 457/14 221) of children aged 6 to 11 y was higher than 87.8% (13 319/15 172) of children aged 12 to 17 y, the highest proportion of the children never eat breakfast (0 time in the past week) found in poor rural areas was 3.6% (189/5 261), the ratio of big cities, small-medium cities and normal rural areas was 1.1% (77/7 104), 0.6% (51/8 361), and 0.6% (54/8 667), respectively (P<0.001). The rate of boys and girls ate their breakfast daily in the past week were 91.3% (13 481/14 761), and 90.9% (13 295/14 632), respectively (P>0.05). Totally 42.2% (12 398/29 393) of children ate breakfast outside-home (the restaurant and the school) in the past week, the percentage of children aged 12 to 17 y and poor rural areas was higher, 50.9% (7 722/15 172), and 52.4% (2 756/5 261), respectively (P<0.001). 42.1% (6 208/14 761) boys and 42.3% (6 190/14 632) girls ate their breakfast outside-home (P>0.05). The place of most school-age children eat outside-home was school, the ratio was 32.2% (9 477/29 393). Conclusion: It was common for school-aged children in China to skip breakfast during their daily lives, especially in poor rural areas and older children, lots of school-aged children ate breakfast outside-home, and most of them ate breakfast in school.

Agent-based simulation of real-estate transactions

The prices of real-estate market influence the welfare of citizens and the business of real-estate investors. A well-known open challenge is to understand the repercussions of different combinations of individual buying/selling strategies on this market. The current approach is aimed at simulating these repercussions. For this purpose, a novel agent-based simulation tool includes common known strategies. This tool simulates the real-estate transactions from these strategies, showing the evolution of average prices and the results of each strategy (i.e. their success ratio, average price of their transactions and average waiting time). The underlying framework is extensible so that users can easily define and simulate new strategies. The experimentation of this work includes micro-validation of each kind of strategy. It also assesses this tool using a Spanish real-estate website (Idealista.com). The calibration of the tool was performed with the data of a small-medium city (Huesca), and the validation was performed for a different city (Teruel) to avoid overfitting. The results advocate that the current simulator might be an appropriate first step towards the simulation and analysis of the combination of certain buying and selling behaviors in the real-estate market.

A Study on the Improvement of Emergency Safety System as Social Protection System - Focusing on Alone Elderly and Severely Person with Disabilities -

본 연구는 사회적 취약계층인 독거노인·중증장애인에 대한 사회적 보호체계로서의 응급안전시스템에 대한 개선방안을 도출하기 위한 연구이다. 이를 위하여 독거노인·중증장애인 응급안전시스템을 시범사업으로 운영 하고 있는 전국 17개시도 중 대도시(서울시 종로구), 중소도시(경기도 용인시), 농촌(경남 거창군) 3개 지역을 임의로 선정하여 조사를 수행하였다. 조사방법은 시·군·구 담당 공무원과 센터 운영자를 중심으로 이루어진 구조화된 질문지를 토대로 한 인터뷰 방식으로 이루어졌다. 인터뷰에 대한 내용분석 결과, 독거노인·중증장애인의 안전을 위한 응급안전시스템에 대한 필요성은 전반적으로 인지하고 있었으며, 응급안전시스템 사업을 진행하는 과정에서 복지사각지대 대상자 발굴을 위한 홍보의 문제, 응급장비의 잦은 오작동으로 인한 당사자들의 불편함의 문제, 당사자 및 응급기관 담당자들의 안전에 대한 인식부족 문제, 24시간 모니터링 서비스를 위한인력수급의 문제 등이 확인되었다. 이에 응급안전시스템의 효과적인 운영을 위한 개선방안으로 제도적으로는 취약계층 위기관리 대응에 관한 법률개정의 필요성을 제시하였으며, 이러한 법률을 토대로 안전장비 오작동 문제해결을 위한 응급장비에 대한 전면적인 점검, 24시간 모니터링을 위한 인력충원, 지역사회 기관과의 연계를 위한 MOU 체결구축을 통하여 촘촘한 복지 실현을 위해 원스톱 서비스가 이루어지도록 안전시스템 구축의 필요성을 제언하였다.The purpose of this study is to explore the improvement method of the emergency safety system as a social protection scheme for the elderly living alone with severe disabilities. The study was conducted by randomly choosing three regions in the metropolitan area (Jongno-gu, Seoul), the small-medium city (Yongin-si, Gyeonggi-do) and the rural area (Geochang-gun, Gyeongsangnam-do) among 17 cities and counties nationwide. The study method is based on the interview form of the structured questionnaires with city officials, county officials, and center operators. According to the results of the interview analysis, it was recognized that there was a need for an emergency safety system for the elderly living alone with severe disabilities. In spite of this necessity, there were problems about publicity for the discovery of victims of the blind spot in welfare, about inconvenience due to frequent malfunctions of the emergency equipment, about insufficient awareness of the security of the emergency officials and about supply and demand of manpower for 24-hour monitoring service. In order to improve the effective operation of the emergency safety system, it was the most urgent issue to formulate the legislation for responding to the crisis management of the vulnerable. A suggestion of this study is to build a safety system in which one-stop service is provided for the realization of compact welfare through the establishment of a MOU for linkage with community organizations, the full inspection of emergency equipment to solve safety equipment malfunction problems and the manpower supplement for 24-hour monitoring.

What comes first, residential or commercial development? Measuring the causal links for a Canadian city over a century

Does new residential development cause new commercial development, or does the inverse hold true? Are residential and commercial developments dependent on each other? This paper investigates the causal links between residential and commercial development for a given city. Using information on assessment roles, a backward construction of the city of Montmagny, a small-medium city located in the province of Quebec (Canada), is conducted to build time-series data of construction of new buildings and the Granger causality test is performed for the city. The results for the period ranging from 1900–2014 underline the important role played by residential constructions in the expansion of the city under study.

Urbanization and administrative restructuring: A case study on the Wuhan urban agglomeration

Urbanization in China has been closely associated with urban sprawl, rural migration and the role of government has been more direct and powerful in setting it in motion. In 2014, the New Urbanization Planning in China has been released in which the development of urban agglomeration and small-medium cities has been highlighted. In this context, we decompose urbanization into population-oriented and land-centered archetypes and devise spatial models in multiple strategies embedded with different spatial relations to unfold the underlying driving forces using Wuhan agglomeration as the case. In addition to the identification of major driving forces which are gross domestic product (GDP), income, fixed asset investment and the transportation construction, the major contributions of our study lie in the gauge on administrative influence, to be more specific, the status of urban district, city-level county and county, through incorporating different spatial weight matrix in different scenarios in spatial modeling. It found out that 1) both non-agricultural population and urban land exhibit significant spatial autocorrelation and the superiority in the city center is evident; 2) socio-economic development and transportation construction significantly influence urbanization whereas the personal income and fixed asset investment accounting for a large proportion being the most powerful factors; 3) different administrative status at the county level is an unneglectable factor and urban area has higher probability to expand when urban district is adjacent to county-level city; 4) the magnitude of this administrative status influence generally grows to a certain level and then reaches to a plateau. These findings provide theoretical basis for understanding the administrative dimension in new urbanization and have important policy implications on administrative adjustment and urban agglomeration.

Common features and different trajectories of land cover changes in six Western Mediterranean urban regions

Land use and land cover change (LULCC) dynamics have been particularly strong in the Mediterranean region, due to its historical development and to agro-pedoclimatic conditions favorable to human settlement. This area has undergone in the 1950s and the 1980s intense urbanization processes that has followed different trajectories. Urban expansion commonly occurs at the expense of agricultural land, leading to the fragmentation of natural areas and conflicts over access to land resources. These dynamics mainly concern the fringe between urban and agricultural land, e.g. the peri-urban areas usually included within functional urban regions. Here, to identify common features of LULCC in Western Mediterranean urban regions, we investigated two main features: direct changes due to urbanization and indirect changes affecting non-artificial land uses. We compared LULCC dynamics in 6 case studies from the north and south of the Western Mediterranean region: the urban regions of Montpellier and Avignon (France), Pisa (Italy), Madrid (Spain), Meknes (Morocco), and Constantine (Algeria), using a 30-year multitemporal spatial analysis (1980–2010). Two series of Landsat TM images were acquired for each case study and land cover data were analyzed both for dynamics and for land patterns, using landscape and class metrics. We found no significant north-south differences in LULCC dynamics between the investigated Western Mediterranean urban regions. Differences are more pronounced between small–medium cities and large metropolitan areas in type of urban diffusion, which is more sprawled in small–medium cities and more compact in large metropolitan areas. Rather, differences occur in LULCC not directly affected by urbanization, since in Northern Mediterranean urban regions afforestation and abandonment of agricultural areas are prevalent and closer to the urban areas, whereas transformation of natural areas into agricultural ones occurs mainly in Southern Mediterranean urban regions at a similar distance from urban areas than it happens for afforested or abandoned areas. In attempting for the first time to assess LULCC in these Mediterranean urban regions, we provide a preliminary comprehensive analysis that can contribute to the active LULCC research in the Mediterranean basin and that can be easily applied to other Mediterranean urban regions.

Korean adolescents’ longitudinal change of intrinsic motivation in learning English and mathematics during secondary school years: Focusing on gender difference and school characteristics

The purpose of the study was to investigate adolescents' longitudinal development of intrinsic motivation in learning English and mathematics, focusing on gender differences and school characteristics. We used the five-year panel data of the Korea Education Longitudinal Study (KELS) from middle school 7th grade to high school 11th grade. English intrinsic motivation decreased during the middle school years but increased during high school years whereas math intrinsic motivation continually decreased across the whole of the years. Gender differences by subject existed in intrinsic motivations: girls' higher intrinsic motivation in English and boys' higher intrinsic motivation in math; boys' faster decrease in intrinsic motivations during middle school years; boys' slower increase in English intrinsic motivation during high school years. School characteristics only had an effect on intrinsic motivations for high school students: higher math intrinsic motivation of high schools in small-medium cities; higher intrinsic motivations of students on elite academic tracks.

The Study of Bus Transit Network Design Methods for Different Sized Cities

With the rapid development of the national economy, the construction of China’s urban transportation is in the stage of rapid development. Both big cities and small-medium cities increasingly appear all kinds of issues such as traffic congestion. Priority to the development of public transport is the most effective way to solve the problem of urban traffic congestion, and urban bus transit network design is the first step in the planning of the public transport system, plays a vital role in the transportation system planning. Bus transit network generally consisted of rail transit, bus rapid transit and conventional bus in big cities, while it composed of conventional bus in small-medium cities. Therefore, this paper made research on the applicability of bus transit network design methods for different sized cities, analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of different methods, and explored a more excellent method for bus transit network design.

A 3-year prospective study of the epidemiology of acute respiratory viral infections in hospitalized children in Shenzhen, China.

BackgroundThe epidemiology of local viral etiologies is essential for the management of viral respiratory tract infections. Limited data are available in China to describe the epidemiology of viral respiratory infections, especially in small–medium cities and rural areas.ObjectivesTo determine the viral etiology and seasonality of acute respiratory infections in hospitalized children, a 3-year study was conducted in Shenzhen, China.MethodsNasopharyngeal aspirates from eligible children were collected. Influenza and other respiratory viruses were tested by molecular assays simultaneously. Data were analyzed to describe the frequency and seasonality.ResultsOf the 2025 children enrolled in the study, 971 (48·0%) were positive for at least one viral pathogen, in which 890 (91·7%) were <4 years of age. The three most prevalent viruses were influenza A (IAV; 35·8%), respiratory syncytial virus (RSV; 30·5%) and human rhinovirus (HRV; 21·5%). Co-infections were found in 302 cases (31·1%), and dual viral infection was dominant. RSV, HRV and IAV were the most frequent viral agents involved in co-infection. On the whole, the obvious seasonal peaks mainly from March to May were observed with peak strength varying from 1 year to another.ConclusionsThis study provides a basic profile of the epidemiology of acute respiratory viral infection in hospitalized children in Shenzhen. The spectrum of viruses in the study site is similar to that in other places, but the seasonality is closely related to geographic position, different from that in big cities in northern China and neighboring Hong Kong.

Expansion and growth in Chinese cities, 1978–2010

It has long been recognized that compact versus more sprawling urban forms can have very different environmental impacts. As the Chinese population continues to rapidly urbanize, the size, shape, and configuration of cities in China will undoubtedly change to accommodate expansion of housing, industry, and commerce, causing direct and indirect environmental impacts at multiple scales. It is therefore imperative to understand how urban areas are evolving as socio-economic reforms in China are implemented across different regions. This paper compares trends in 142 Chinese cities (including 17 agglomerations) to understand urban expansion and population growth following reforms, 1978–2010. The results show that cities tripled in size, while doubling in population over the same period. In coastal areas targeted by early policies, urban land increased 4–5 times since 1978, for all city sizes. Large agglomerations are the primary consumers of land in coastal and western regions, each adding an average of 450 km2 during the study period, while small-medium cities consumed an average 20 km2. Although populations in these agglomerations increased an average 1.3 million, 2000–2010, cities within 100 km of each agglomeration grew >1.8 million collectively. Proximity to large agglomerations contributed to the growth of small-medium cities, especially in western regions.

Vehicle negotiation model and bifurcation dynamic characteristics research

There are three kinds of conflicts in a traffic flow at the traffic circle because of track changing. We establish the driver model by regarding each vehicle as an intelligent agent which constitutes the multi-agent system by integrating the cellular automation model at the traffic circle. Besides, we put forward the problem how to eliminate the conflicts between the vehicle agents by priority strategy and dynamic negotiation mechanism. Take the traffic flow at the classic traffic circle of the suburban area of a small-medium city as the sample data to simulate and verify the accuracy of the model, and study the influences of some factors on the flow of motor vehicle, such as the proportion of different driver type and track changing probability, etc. The experimental result shows that the model constructed is consistent with the actual situation. Meanwhile, it is found that the driver characteristics have obvious influences on the flow, and the track changing probability follows, which does not have obvious influences on the fluctuation in the flow.

Estimation of Reference Values for PFOS and PFOA in Human Biomonitoring and Relevance of Exposure among Family Members in China

The reference values of serum perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS) and perfluorooctanoate (PFOA) concentrations were evaluated based on the human blood samples collected from Kashi, Xinjiang. And human serum samples of family members from Liaoning were evaluated for levels of PFOS and PFOA with the purpose to compare exposure pathways for family members. Among the 110 blood specimens from Kashi, the detection frequency of PFOS and PFOA was 93% and 6%, respectively. Reference values of serum PFOS, evaluated as the 90th percentiles of the concentrations, were determined to be 6.44 ug/L. Significant positive correlations were observed for serum levels of PFOS and PFOA among family members in Liaoning. Specially, stronger correlation between mother and offspring was observed than that between father and offspring. And stronger correlation of serum PFOS and PFOA levels was observed among fam- ily members in rural areas than those in big and small-medium cities. Difference in the association of serum PFOS and PFOA level among family members suggested that exposure in the outdoor and working environment of different oc- cupations should be evaluated. Present study provides reference values for exposure assessment in China and potential pathways of human exposure to PFOS and PFOA.

Toward an urban transport sustainability index: an European comparison

IntroductionThe aim of paper is to cluster policies of sustainable mobility in order to define an essential set of specific Transport Performance Indicators (TPI). TPIs are standardized measures suitable for analysis in order to appraise the feasibility of a transport policy or an infrastructural project. Data collection of TPIs is a crucial phase, but data detection and monitoring are not standardized at the city level. Thus, there is no a standard for data collection and storing, this aspect makes much difficult to compare different city contexts. This issue is critical and bounds the analysis of built scenarios. A standardized set of transport performance indicators becomes, hence, essential for monitoring the implemented policies.Methodology and resultsThe paper answers to some of these questions, providing a specific set of sustainable and transport performance indicators to evaluate effects of policy measures. Furthermore, it shows a comparative analysis of different European cities in terms of development, sustainability and infrastructures, by using transport performance indicators. A Normalized Transport Sustainability Index has been built using identified TPIs, in order to measure and hence to compare the whole sustainability of adopted policies in different urban areas. The same NTSI allows to appraise the expected results and thus to tune the policy measures.ConclusionWe can affirm that an high value of sustainability is associated, in general, to small-medium cities in term both population and urban area; nevertheless, for large cities, the adoption of policy measures, from a side, to control the urban sprawl, from the other side, to manage the urban transport demand with an adequate public transport development allows to achieve a more sustainable mobility.