Types Of Urban Environment Research Articles

Drone fleet noise impact calculation - a methodology

The introduction of drones into an already dense urban infrastructure is expected to have an important impact on the population. The goal of the SESAR MUSE project, " Measuring U-Space Social and Environmental Impact ", is to develop a set of key performance indicators, methods and tools for the comprehensive and rigorous assessment of the impact of UAM operations on the liveability and quality of life in European cities. One focus domain is drone-generated noise. In the frame of this project, a number of ONERA tools is chained in order to create noise maps, from scratch, for realistic drone fleet scenarios. Hence, in this paper a methodology is presented where a flight mechanics tool, noise source models, an en-route tool and an open-source urban noise propagation tool are chained, allowing complete freedom with regard to choice and number of drones, concept of operations and type of urban environment.

Urban Building Energy Modeling to Support Climate-Sensitive Planning in the Suburban Areas of Santiago de Chile

Greenhouse gas emissions depend on natural and anthropic phenomena; however, to reduce emissions, we can only intervene in terms of anthropic causes. Human activity is very different in various countries and cities. This is mainly due to differences in the type of urban environment, climatic conditions, socioeconomic context, government stability, and other aspects. Urban building energy modeling (UBEM), with a GIS-based approach, allows the evaluation of all the specific characteristics of buildings, population, and urban context that can describe energy use and its spatial distribution within a city. In this paper, a UBEM is developed using the characteristics and consumption of eight typical buildings (archetypes) in the climate zone of Santiago de Chile. The archetype-based UBEM is then applied to the commune of Renca, a critical suburb of Santiago, with the use of QGIS to analyze the energy demand for space heating and the potential for energy saving after four retrofitting interventions. Knowing the costs of the retrofitting interventions and the energy price, the simple payback time was evaluated with the reduction in GHG emissions. Starting from the actual building stock, the results show that the most effective retrofitting intervention for the commune of Renca is the thermal insulation of walls and roofs; due to the type of dwellings, this particular intervention could be more convenient if associated with the installation of solar technologies. This methodology can be replicated with the data used by urban planners and public administrations available for many Chilean cities and in other countries.

The urban roots of populism: Mapping and explaining populist strongholds within major Italian cities (2013–2022)

The impact of local contexts on populist voting patterns is receiving more attention, after being initially underestimated in the research literature. Populist support tends to be concentrated in areas ‘left behind’ or ‘that don’t matter’, but we still lack an accurate understanding of (1) the locations of these places within major cities and (2) what characteristics of urban contexts prompt the populist vote. We aim to bridge this gap by analysing precinct-level electoral results of populist parties within six major Italian cities over the 2013–2022 decade. Through novel maps of the within-city populist vote, we identify four types of urban environments: populist strongholds, emerging populist, sporadically populist and never-populist areas. We then investigate how two types of intra-urban factors – compositional and contextual – relate to the formation of populist strongholds and support for populist parties with distinct ideological profiles. The findings improve our comprehension of the urban ‘places of populism’ and highlight the need for the ‘left behind’ thesis to focus more fully on within-city patterns and divides.

A THEMATIC REVIEW ON RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN RECOVERY PERCEPTION TOWARDS PLACE ATTACHMENT IN URBAN ENVIRONMENT

Place attachment is often seen as a resource for coping with health recovery, especially in the post-pandemic period. The purpose of this review was to systematically review the variables, research frameworks, and interactions related to place attachment and recovery perceptions. This paper reviewed 53 papers from 2020 to 2023 on place attachment and recovery perception using ATLAS.ti. Existing research confirms that there are differences in the degree of attachment and recovery in different types of urban environments. This paper encourages the integration of information between different disciplines, such as urban planning specialists, environmental psychologists, and public health experts, to further improve the urban environment.

The short term adaptation of the autonomic nervous systems (ANS) by type of urban environment and ethnicity

BackgroundPrevious studies examined the effects of urban environments on the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS). These studies measured the effects of environments on Heart Rate Variability (HRV) averaging different time intervals to one value. Yet, the dynamics of change, reflecting the functions and their derivatives that describe the adaptation to the new environments remain unknown. In addition, ethnic differences in the ANS adaptation were not investigated.Method: Forty-eight Arab and 24 Jewish women ages 20–35 years, all healthy, non-smokers were recruited by a snowball sample. Both groups were of a similar socioeconomic status and BMI distributions. Using a portable monitor, the HRV response was continuously analyzed for 35 min of sedentary sitting in each of the three environments: a park, a city center and a residential area. LF/HF polynomial function was adapted to describe the dynamic change in each environment for each ethnic group. ResultsGreen area exposure was associated with 90% immediate change while in built-up areas, the change in HRV is about 40% adaptive (changing gradually). The adaptive process of HRV may stabilize after 15 min in the city center yet not even after 35 min in the residential environment. The total change (immediate + adaptive) reached 24% in city centers and 10% in residential areas. Changes in HRV rates in the park and the city center environments were higher among Arab women as compared to Jewish women but similar between the two groups in the residential area. The distributions of LF/HF in each time cohort were normal, meaning that shifting the focus to analyze functions of change in HRV, opens the possibility to employ analytic methods that assume the normal distribution. ConclusionsChanging the focus from average levels of HRV to functions of change and their derivatives brings new insight into the understanding of the ANS response to environmental challenges. ANS short term adaptation to different environments is gradual and spans differently both in magnitude of response and latencies between different environments. Importantly, in green areas, the response is immediate unlike the adaptation to urban environments that is significantly more gradual. The ethnic differences in ANS adaptation is also noteworthy. In addition, adaptation proceeesses are normaly distributed in each time cohort suggesting a possible novel ANS index.

Road infrastructures, spatial surroundings, and the demand and route choices for cycling: Evidence from a GPS-based mode detection study from Oslo, Norway

To achieve a higher cycling uptake, it is essential for planners to know what kind of cycling infrastructure to plan and where, that is, through which types of urban environments. In this paper, we provide a deeper understanding of cycling demand and cycling route choices and infer insights into cyclists’ latent preferences and dispreferences concerning both infrastructure attributes and the spatial characteristics of route surroundings. Hereto, this study has collected, map-matched, geovisualized, and examined a unique GPS-based database with over 25,915 cycling trips in Oslo, Norway. Our findings reveal that cyclists substantially deviate from shortest paths, covering 59% more distance on average. Higher cycling frequencies, both in absolute terms and relative to shortest-path-expected-values, can be found on route sections that have some form of cycling infrastructure, especially those having segregated bicycle highways and bike roads. We also find higher demand and route choices for flatter and water-facing routes, as well as routes less disrupted by crossings and away from highway environments. In contrast, routes surrounded by green space or high population density, despite having high demand in absolute terms, are cycled less than expected based on shortest paths. The paper concludes by reflecting on the significance, limitations, and implications of our findings and novel methodological approaches for the bicycle route choice theory and practice moving forward.

Ethnic Differences in Environmental Restoration: Arab and Jewish Women in Israel.

Throughout the last few decades, plenty of attention has been paid to restorative environments that positively affect human psychological health. These studies show that restorative environments affect human beings emotionally, physiologically, and cognitively. Some studies focus on the cognitive effects of exposure to restorative environments. A widely used index that measures the cognitive response is the Perceived Restoration Potential Scale (PRS). Most studies employing the PRS have examined differences in human cognitive response between types of urban environments mainly urban versus green ones. We use Hartig’s questionnaire to expose differences between types of urban environments and ethnic groups. Variances between Arab and Jewish women were calculated in four environments: home; park; residential and central city environments. The effect of intervening variables such as exposure to thermal, noise, social and CO loads and social discomfort were tested. We find that dissimilar to urban typical built-up environments, green areas are highly restorative. Furthermore, differences in the restorativeness of different urban environments are low though significant. These differences depend on their function, aesthetic qualities, and amount of greenery. Ethno-national differences appear to affect the experience of restoration. While both ethnic related groups experienced a tremendous sense of restoration in parks, Jewish women enjoyed slightly higher levels of restoration mainly at home and in residential environments compared to Arab women who experienced higher sense of restorativness in central city environments. Jewish women experienced higher sense of being away and fascination. From the intervening variables, social discomfort explained 68 percent of the experience of restoration, noise explained 49 percent, thermal load explained 43 percent and ethnicity 14 percent of the variance in PRS.

FORMATION OF THE HUMAN AND STREET ANIMALS INTERACTION ENVIRONMENT

The paper is devoted to the problem of arrangement of the city's ecosystem by the architectural and design tools. The contradictions and conditions of joint habitation of people and street animals (cats) in the urban environment are revealed. The initial potential capacity of different types of urban environment (beaches, a traditional Odessa courtyard, public parks and squares, modern multi-storey buildings) in the formation of a harmonized, conflict-free interaction between people and animals have been investigated. The sketches of the search for the artistic appearance of cat settlements (students’ works) are presented.

Abundance and spatial distribution of stray dogs in different types of urban environment (by the example of Yakutsk)

Abundance and spatial distribution of stray dogs in different types of urban environment (by the example of Yakutsk)

The Effects of Urban Natural Environments on Preference and Self-Reported Psychological Restoration of the Elderly.

The world is facing the challenge of aging populations. Urban natural environments, including green spaces and blue spaces, have been demonstrated to have great benefits to the mental restoration of the elderly. However, the study of the specific characteristics of urban environments that are popular and the most restorative for the elderly is still lacking. Photo elicitation as visual stimuli was utilized to explore the differences in preference and psychological restoration of the elderly through the perception of the eight perceived sensory dimensions (PSDs) in different types of urban environments. The results showed that: (1) The respondents had different perceptions of the eight PSDs in the different urban natural environments. Blue space and partly-closed green space were more preferred by the elderly, and also had more psychological restorative effects on the elderly. (2) There was no significant correlation between the number of highly perceived PSDs and preference, as well as between the number of highly perceived PSDs and psychological restoration. However, there was a significant correlation between preference and psychological restoration. (3) Partly-closed green space with more Serene and Refuge qualities, and blue space with more Serene, Refuge and Prospect properties were optimal characteristics for psychological restoration of the elderly. In addition, open green space with more Prospect, Serene and Social qualities, and closed green space with more Space, Refuge and less Nature properties could also increase psychological restoration of older adults. These findings can provide useful guidelines for restorative environmental design for the elderly in the future.

Stabilita kriminality v místech: Případová studie českého města

Research into the concentration of crime at places is a long-standing research area in environmental criminology. Studies demonstrate the practical potential of geo-localised data for criminological and security research. Knowledge about crime concentration at places makes it possible to focus repressive and preventive activities in localities where the most effective results can be achieved. In Czech criminology, limited use has as yet been made of geolocalised crime data or knowledge about the concentration of crime at places. Consequently, this article presents a case study of the concentration of crime at places within a Czech city. One-half of crime is concentrated at 8% of street segments in case study of Czech city. The article builds on the knowledge about the spatial stability of crime and provides a model of urban crime that is applicable to Czech cities. This model is based on data from a case study and considers crime rates and crime concentration patterns in different types of urban environment. Our findings are presented in relation to the results of international studies to propose directions for further crime research.

Characteristics, evolution, and regional differences of biomass burning particles in the Sichuan Basin, China

The Sichuan Basin has experienced serious air pollution from fine particulate matter (PM2.5) in the past few years with biomass burning has been identified as a major source of PM2.5 in this region. We used single particle aerosol mass spectrometer to investigate the characteristics of biomass burning particles in three interacting cities representing different types of urban environment in the Sichuan Basin. A total of 739,794, 279,610, and 380,636 biomass burning particles were detected at Ya'an, Guang'an, and Chengdu, which represented 42%, 69%, and 61%, respectively, of the total number of particles. We analyzed the chemical composition, transportation, and evolution of biomass burning particles. The contribution of K-elemental carbon and K-secondary inorganic particles was highest in Ya'an (36%) and Guang'an (47%), respectively, reflecting the important role of fresh biomass burning particles and long-distance transport in these two cities. Air masses originating from different directions corresponded to different levels of PM2.5 and the contributions of polluted clusters increased significantly on polluted days. Fresh and secondary inorganic biomass burning particles increased pollution at Ya'an and Guang'an, respectively, but dominated different stages of pollution in Chengdu. K-nitrate particles were formed by photochemical reactions, whereas K-sulfate particles were formed by both photochemical and liquid-phase reactions. Investigation of the degree of particle aging showed that there were more fresh particles at Ya'an and more aged particles at Guang'an. These results are useful in helping our understanding of the characteristics of biomass burning particles and evaluating their role in PM2.5 pollution in the Sichuan Basin.

Design and construction of deep excavations in Shanghai, China

With rapid infrastructure construction and urban redevelopment, there has been an increasing demand for utilisation of underground spaces, which gives rise to a large number of excavation projects. In the past decade, a series of new trends have emerged on excavation engineering in Shanghai, China. As available ground resources in congested urban areas are scarce, excavations become much larger and deeper than before. More excavations have to be carried out in close proximity to existing buildings, tunnels, utilities and other structures. Any severe damages to the nearby utilities probably lead to economic losses and complicated conflicts among owners, tenants, utility customers and the public. As a consequence, it is of great concern not only to ensure the safety of the excavation itself but also to mitigate adverse excavation-induced influences on the adjacent environment. This paper presents recent developments in practical design and construction techniques of controlling excavation-induced deformations in Shanghai. Commonly used techniques including the top-down construction method, ground improvement, the zoned excavation method and the underpinning technique are described and discussed. Relevant instrumented case histories on excavations in different types of urban environment are reported as well.

THE SUSTAINABLE TRANSPORTATION PLANNING IN RUSSIAN CITIES: PESPECTIVES FOR STREET CLASSIFICATION AND URBAN STREET DESIGN

The article provides the results of the analysis of normative, scientific Russian and International literature on the issues of the features of the formation and functioning sustainable street network, also the classification of urban streets is presented. The generalized street classification is formed on the basis of the analysis results, and the approach to street design as multimodal communications and public spaces is presented. On the example of international practice, the features of sustainable street network formation in accordance with principles of green urban mobility in different types of urban environment are studied. The mixed-use development pattern of the city center is chosen as an experimental research site, because the solution of the issues in the city center is one of the most complex task for transportation planning. As a result of approbation of urban street classification and street design approach on the example of Irkutsk city center, the following street types are proposed: urban avenue, multimodal streets and preferential streets. The results of the research present a good example of the street redesign solutions for the transport management and future green transportation system development.

Acute effects of visits to urban green environments on cardiovascular physiology in women: A field experiment

BackgroundEpidemiological studies have reported positive associations between the amount of green space in the living environment and mental and cardiovascular human health. In a search for effect mechanisms, field studies have found short-term visits to green environments to be associated with psychological stress relief. Less evidence is available on the effect of visits on cardiovascular physiology. ObjectivesTo evaluate whether visits to urban green environments, in comparison to visits to a built-up environment, lead to beneficial short-term changes in indicators of cardiovascular health. MethodsThirty-six adult female volunteers visited three different types of urban environments: an urban forest, an urban park, and a built-up city centre, in Helsinki, Finland. The visits consisted of 15min of sedentary viewing, and 30min of walking. During the visits, blood pressure and heart rate were measured, and electrocardiogram recorded for the determination of indicators of heart rate variability. In addition, levels of respirable ambient particles and environmental noise were monitored. ResultsVisits to the green environments were associated with lower blood pressure (viewing period only), lower heart rate, and higher indices of heart rate variability [standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals (SDNN), high frequency power] than visits to the city centre. In the green environments, heart rate decreased and SDNN increased during the visit. Associations between environment and indicators of cardiovascular health weakened slightly after inclusion of particulate air pollution and noise in the models. ConclusionsVisits to urban green environments are associated with beneficial short-term changes in cardiovascular risk factors. This can be explained by psychological stress relief with contribution from reduced air pollution and noise exposure during the visits. Future research should evaluate the amount of exposure to green environments needed for longer-term benefits for cardiovascular health.

Older People's Experiences of Mobility and Mood in an Urban Environment: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Electroencephalography (EEG) and Interviews.

There are concerns about mental wellbeing in later life in older people as the global population becomes older and more urbanised. Mobility in the built environment has a role to play in improving quality of life and wellbeing, as it facilitates independence and social interaction. Recent studies using neuroimaging methods in environmental psychology research have shown that different types of urban environments may be associated with distinctive patterns of brain activity, suggesting that we interact differently with varying environments. This paper reports on research that explores older people’s responses to urban places and their mobility in and around the built environment. The project aim was to understand how older people experience different urban environments using a mixed methods approach including electroencephalography (EEG), self-reported measures, and interview results. We found that older participants experience changing levels of “excitement”, “engagement” and “frustration” (as interpreted by proprietary EEG software) whilst walking between a busy built urban environment and an urban green space environment. These changes were further reflected in the qualitative themes that emerged from transcribed interviews undertaken one week post-walk. There has been no research to date that has directly assessed neural responses to an urban environment combined with qualitative interview analysis. A synergy of methods offers a deeper understanding of the changing moods of older people across time whilst walking in city settings.

Characterization of Background Aerosol Properties during a Wintertime Smog Episode

The aim of this paper is to study the wintertime physical properties of atmospheric aerosol particles on the basis of data observed at the K-puszta regional background station in Hungary. In Hungary wintertime smog episodes are linked to strong stable air (high pressure blocking events) with thermal inversion. These atmospheric conditions are frequently formed during winter months (November–February) due to the special geographical location of the country. The formation of smog events is highly probable in cases of thermal inversion periods sustaining for at least 4 days. We discuss in the paper the role of high-pressure blocking events in aerosol properties in terms of PM10 concentrations, aerosol size distributions, new particle formation and optical properties. We found that high-pressure blocking events have significant impacts on the size distribution and particle formation processes. At K-puszta the aerosol is in highly aged state with size distribution dominated by the accumulation mode. This is further supported by the optical properties, e.g., by high scattering Angstrom exponent and by relatively weak absorption. The most significant effect of extreme episodes is manifested in the changes in PM10 concentrations and, consequently, in aerosol optical properties. The PM10 concentrations, scattering coefficients and absorption coefficients considerably increase to extreme values that are characteristic of a heavily polluted atmosphere rather than rural air. Our results indicate that in winter, the air quality at Kpuszta is often influenced by regional air pollution as shown by spatial distribution of PM10 concentration. It is found that PM10 had almost the same concentration in regional background air and in different types of urban environments. The special meteorological conditions and the role of regional-scale transport can explain why local abatements in cities cannot lead to significant improvement of the air quality during smog events.

Human exposure to environmental health concern by types of urban environment: The case of Tel Aviv

This study classifies urban environments into types characterized by different exposure to environmental risk factors measured by general sense of discomfort and Heart Rate Variability (HRV). We hypothesize that a set of environmental factors (micro-climatic, CO, noise and individual heart rate) that were measured simultaneously in random locations can provide a better understanding of the distribution of human exposure to environmental loads throughout the urban space than results calculated based on measurements from close fixed stations. We measured micro-climatic and thermal load, CO and noise, individual Heart Rate, Subjective Social Load and Sense of Discomfort (SD) were tested by questionnaire survey.The results demonstrate significant differences in exposure to environmental factors among 8 types of urban environments. It appears that noise and social load are the more significant environmental factors to enhance health risks and general sense of discomfort.

What Has Glasgow to Do with Nairobi? The Churches and Rapid Urban Growth in Twentieth-Century Nairobi: A Comparison with Nineteenth-Century Glasgow

This is a study of the rapid urban growth of twentieth-century Nairobi and its influence on patterns of church attendance and Christian practice. The experience of Glasgow in the nineteenth century is used as a historical comparator to highlight and evaluate particular trends in Nairobi's more recent experience. Although the rapid urbanisation of the two cities was separated by over a century and occurred in very different national and historical contexts, both shared similar pathologies of environmental problems, urban deprivation and poverty. Simple correlations between types of urban environment and certain patterns of Christian practice are not easily drawn in the two cities, but such complexity is common to the two cities. This study suggests that the process of rapid urbanisation did shape religious practice in Nairobi, if not always in predictable or negative ways. It brought openness to new ideas and flexibility to modes of Christian expression, as was also observed in Glasgow a century before. The responses of churches to the very major challenges caused by large-scale movements of population and consequent social dislocation also betray similarities across geographical and historical contexts. Despite claims as to the secularising influence of the city, Christian practice may prove to have been at its most robust and authentically African in a city like Nairobi.

Assessment of heavy metals contamination in deposited street dusts in different urbanized areas in the city of Ma’an, Jordan

190 Street dust samples were collected from nine different localities including high traffic (desert highway), moderate traffic (city center), light traffic (minor streets), residential streets, school gardens, hospital and health centers, industrial sites, parks and background sites (control) of Ma’an area. The concentrations of Fe, Zn, Ni, Pb, Mn, Cu and Cd were analyzed by flame atomic absorption spectrophotometer to assess and to compare road dust contamination levels of metals among the different types of urban environment. The results showed that dust samples from the urban and industrial site contained significant levels of the metals studied compared to the values obtained from the background site. The variation in concentration of the heavy metals determined from different locations was in the decreasing order as: industrial > high traffic > parks > moderate traffic > hospital and health centers > school gardens > light traffic > background sites. The mean concentrations of the metals were in the order of C Fe > C Zn > C Ni > C Pb > C Mn > C Cu > C Cd where C is the concentration of these metals in solution. Enrichment factor calculations indicated that Cd, Pb, Zn and Ni were highly enriched. Fossil fuel combustion, wear of brake lining materials, traffic emissions and several industrial processes are considered the main sources of these metals. Assessment of the contamination level in dust sample was estimated based on the geoaccumulation index (I geo), the pollution index, and integrated pollution index (IPI). The values of IPI are in the following order: Pb > Zn > Cu > Ni > Cd > Mn. All the indices for the metals under consideration were either low or corresponded to middle level of contamination. The use of factor analysis showed that anthropogenic activities seem to be the responsible source of contamination for metals in dust samples.