Sustainable Urban Spaces Research Articles

Urban Densification and Recreational Quality of Public Urban Green Spaces—A Viennese Case Study

Public urban green spaces play an important role in urban sustainability. These places should provide high-quality recreation experiences for the urban residents. However, they are often overused. The Wienerberg area in the south of Vienna, Austria, was transformed from a waste disposal site into a natural recreation area. During the past years, intensive settlement densification processes have taken place, resulting in a doubling of the local population living within a few minutes walking distance. An on-site survey among green space visitors (N = 231) revealed that the majority of them considered the area to be overcrowded on Sundays/holidays and reported a perceived increase in visitor numbers during the past years. Visitors with more past experience, as well as those who have perceived an increase in visitor numbers during recent years, reported higher crowding perceptions. A significant proportion of them try to avoid these crowds, relying on behavioral coping strategies, such as inter-area displacement. While urban regeneration has provided an attractive recreation area, urban densification around the green space appears to have reduced its recreational quality. Monitoring recreation quality indicators, such as crowding perceptions, seems to be useful for sustainable urban green space management and city planning.

Crossing Disciplines To Address Urban Sustainability

This paper presents findings from the evaluation of Bridging the Gaps: Sustainable Urban Spaces (BTG), a novel interdisciplinary sustainability research funding program at University College London (UCL), funded by the United Kingdom Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC). All of the EPSRC's Bridging the Gaps programs aim to initiate and support interdisciplinary collaboration within a university. The program at UCL was designed to create research partnerships that focus on problems in the area of sustainable urban spaces, an area that features complex problems that often overlap different academic disciplines. The program initially focused on building relationships within the three UCL faculties: The Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment, The Faculty of Engineering Sciences, and The Faculty of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, but subsequently brought in participants from other faculties. Bridging the Gaps has brought together researchers working on different elements of a problem, allowing each of them to contribute approaches from their own discipline. This paper presents feedback from participants in the program. Respondents discuss their experience in cross disciplinary working and its importance for their work. We address the question of whether the benefits are outweighed by the complexities of crossing disciplines, and we investigate the role that programs like BTG can play in making the process easier. We also discuss the challenge of creating the conditions for interdisciplinary work and ways in which we can use our experience to minimize the barriers of crossing disciplines in the future.

Critical success factors in planning and management of urban green spaces in Europe

This paper offers a statistical analysis of the importance of urban green areas as critical constituents of sustainability policy of cities. Special attention is given to the background conditions and factors that are responsible for effective urban green space planning. Based on a systematic extensive database on relevant attributes of urban green in 23 European cities, our study aims to assess performance indicators for the effective provision and maintenance of green spaces in these cities. By using multivariate statistical analyses, we provide an operational framework for quantitative comparative study of such green spaces. Based on this comparative analysis, we derive transferable policy lessons on sustainable urban green spaces, in particular regarding the need for effective institutional support systems and the need for tailor-made flanking financial mechanisms for green space policy.

Sustainable Urban and Space Planning Strategy

This paper concludes and analyses the main contents of sustainable urban space researches, including various viewpoints and spatial conceptions. Key issues and trends of sustainable urban space planning are analyzed from the aspects of space, material, society and culture. This study will further clarify the characteristic development elements involved in urban planning guidelines, promote planning of an ecological and socially sustainable new urban, and enhance the completive edges of the urban in global urban hierarchies.

A natureza pode modelar a cidade?

As the environmental question becomes a priority in regional and urban planning, a need to integrate development proposals surges, with instruments for territorial ordering, considering the determinants and sustainability of the natural resources. The Brazilian law, based on the Federal Constitution of 1988, defines territorial ordering as a key point in the development policy, emphasizing environmental preservation. Throughout the last decade, in the Santa Catarina State the programs “Ecologic-Economic Zoning” and “Coast Management” were developed, both programs incorporating this integrated vision of physical and territorial development ordering. With these programs have surged a proposal for occupation and organization for urban and regional spaces for two different and yet important landscapes present in the State: the valleys and the coast. Based on the gradual utilization of urban densities which should be adequate to the vulnerability of the natural resources, new model for the urban spaces and volumes has been proposed. In the present work we discuss the manner how environmental aspects considered in planning actions can shape the city. We propose as well that the territorial planning, once regarding the determinants imposed by the natural environment, can allow a more balanced occupation, interposing sustainable urban spaces with areas of diverse levels of conservation, agriculture areas and specific areas, such as theme parks, ecological parks, coast tourism, etc.

Sustainable management and urban space quality in the Mediterranean

PurposeThis paper aims to present some challenging issues concerning urban space management in the Mediterranean region, with a special focus to sustainability.Design/methodology/approachIt is structured around the outcomes of the SB05MED International Conference titled “Sustainable Construction: Action for Sustainability in the Mediterranean Region,” held in Athens in June 2005, which is the main subject of this special issue. It will present the main outcomes related to existing approaches of environmental quality in buildings as well as methodologies, policies and standards for environmental quality in buildings and cities. Furthermore, it will present future trends and explore the current situation of projects, systems and operations, as well as performance assessment tools and financial instruments and mechanisms towards sustainable construction in the Mediterranean region. Each major scientific topic is presented and analysed. Finally, a synthesis of outcomes is presented.FindingsThe paper demonstrates the links between developments in the field of sustainable building in the Mediterranean region and relates them with future developments and perspectives at a macro‐regional level.Originality/valueThis overview paper can be used as the starting point of future research as well as a reference paper.

Maurizio Binazzi

Public toilets and bathrooms may act as a contact hub point where community transmission of SARS-CoV-2 occurs between users. The mechanism of spread would arise through three mechanisms: inhalation of faecal and/or urinary aerosol from an individual shedding SARS-CoV-2; airborne transmission of respiratory aerosols between users face-to-face or during short periods after use; or from fomite transmission via frequent touch sites such as door handles, sink taps, lota or toilet roll dispenser. In this respect toilets could present a risk comparable with other high throughput enclosed spaces such as public transport and food retail outlets. They are often compact, inadequately ventilated, heavily used and subject to maintenance and cleaning issues. Factors such as these would compound the risks generated by toilet users incubating or symptomatic with SARS-CoV-2. Furthermore, toilets are important public infrastructure since they are vital for the maintenance of accessible, sustainable and comfortable urban spaces. Given the lack of studies on transmission through use of public toilets, comprehensive risk assessment relies upon the compilation of evidence gathered from parallel studies, including work performed in hospitals and prior work on related viruses. This narrative review examines the evidence suggestive of transmission risk through use of public toilets and concludes that such a risk cannot be lightly disregarded. A range of mitigating actions are suggested for both users of public toilets and those that are responsible for their design, maintenance and management.