Urban Concept Research Articles

Urban landscape structure anatomy: Structure patterns and typology identification in the space-time of Setif City, Algeria

The definition of urban form and its elements raises a wide debate in urban morphology. This study presents a proposal to understand the structuring of the urban landscape of Setif City over 170 years (1848-2018) by abstracting its main elements into permanent structure (PSUL). It corresponds to the street network, more static to the change of the town plan, and flexible structure (FSUL), more resilient to change and explains the superimpositions of morphological components (plot, building, and land use). This work aims to identify typological patterns of structures suggested in space-time through the inspection of the growth of the street network and the filling of morphological layers framed by the concept of urbanity. The methodology is based on syntactic (diachronic) morphogenetic analysis, with statistical analyses as unsupervised classification. Results indicate that PSUL presents an accumulation of microincrements produced with a similar degree of coherence in different urban fabrics, which explain the local patterns of street network structuring. The typology of FSUL patterns indicates an unbalanced growth by the arrangement between morphological elements, resulting in a variation in the degree of urbanity.

Urbanization in (post-) New Order Indonesia: connecting unevenness in the city with that in the countryside

ABSTRACT This article explores the relationship between the uneven outcomes of development in Indonesian cities with exclusionary outcomes of capitalist development in rural areas. Combining concepts of planetary urbanization with critical agrarian studies, we show how sociospatial and socionatural differentiations in (post-) New Order Java result in the emergence of the Kaum Miskin Kota, a ‘stagnant relative surplus population’ residing in precarious flood-prone urban spaces. These forms of differentiation are dialectically related to rural enclosures caused by the creation of political forest and political water. Tracing such relations forms a good basis to connect rural- and urban-based social movements.

The State and Prospects of the Study of Urbanization as an International Political Phenomenon

The present study is aimed at studying urbanization as an international political phenomenon in modern world politics.Aim. To define the concept of urbanization and the city in modern political science and to identify the role of urbanization processes in international relations.Tasks. To define the essence of the city as a political concept, to define modern political concepts of cities, to comprehend the prospects of urbanization processes for modern international relations.Methods. In this paper, using the methods of analysis, synthesis and forecasting, the factors contributing to the influence of urbanization on modern international relations are identified.Results. The study showed that urbanization is an integral part of the international political process of the XXI century, the importance of which is increasing every year. Currently, the political, economic, and cultural life of society is concentrated in cities. At the same time, the number of urban residents is steadily increasing, which makes the XXI century the century of large urban settlements. Political practice shows that with increasing trends towards glocalization and regionalization, cities are becoming more and more autonomous players in solving local domestic and foreign policy issues, entering the world arena through special cross-border urban associations.Conclusion. The international legal non-regulation of the autonomy of cities as actors in international relations complicates the modern world political process. Nevertheless, global, and smart cities are becoming the flagships of urbanization and the centers of attraction for international cooperation, including in the field of politics, which makes it necessary to study them as a new international political phenomenon.

Splintering Volumes: Architecture, Engineering, Finance, and Urban Form

ABSTRACT This commentary suggests that Splintering Urbanism provided the tools and metaphors for urbanists to understand how architectural, engineering, and financial knowledge has been brought together to remake urban infrastructure. It uses the concept of volumetric urbanism to illustrate how central cities are segregated, diced, and sliced within their internal structures, and discusses how this perspective opens up the materiality of major urban development projects. The commentary explains how Splintering Urbanism shaped the intellectual terrain for framing how these can be understood as volumetric interventions in the city, retheorizing urban spaces as being stacked and sectioned around reorganized public and private spaces.

Changing the Qualities of Urban Space by Means of Landscape Architecture

The relevance of the subject is dictated by the growing need to satisfy the physical and mental demands of city residents and create locations with high aesthetic and functional qualities. The purpose of the study is to examine the main modern trends in the design of urban landscape objects, formed since the 1990s in terms of their compliance with modern concepts of sustainable development, landscape urbanism, and urban ecology. The study analyses a number of experimental, explorative, and implemented projects of landscape objects, created to determine, emphasise, or create a new identity of local places in the historically formed structure of cities (on the example of the cities of Lviv, Lutsk, Kamianets-Podilskyi). The monographic and analytical methods were used in the study. A graphic method was used to determine the attractiveness of objects. The study establishes the following characteristic feature of historical cities: in old parts of cities, the effective concepts of landscape proposals are based on the expression of local identity. For example, it was found that the square near St. Andrew's Church in Lviv features garden and park art of the Baroque epoch, the public space project at the intersection of St. Prince Roman and I. Franka streets in Lviv conveys a compilation of historical features of different epochs. The second characteristic feature established in this study: in the degraded environment of peripheral neighbourhoods (investigated examples in Lviv and Lutsk), the proposed modern forms and geoplastics work well. It was also confirmed in various examples, such as the reconstruction of Mytna Square in Lviv, and the volunteer movement in Kamianets-Podilskyi, that successful intervention in the transformation of urban public spaces contributes to the growth of the quality of these spaces and the improvement of the city's image. The design concepts of the urban environment with a multi-layered complex structure of both natural and cultural elements are valuable and recommended for implementation. The history of city development during the Soviet period eliminated their specific features. Today, the restoration and creation of landscape objects allows for preserving and emphasising the uniqueness of cities

A Cidade na pandemia da Sars Cov-19: a agonização do Flâneur e a sobrevivência do trapeiro

This text has as its primary purpose the discussion of the situation from the concept of cities in general. It discusses its shift from a place of consumption to a place of resilience, resulting in the flânerie's death. From a Benjaminian look, we seek to build a dialogue between Walter Benjamin's philosophy and geography and literature as a condition in the possibility of this new moment in the urban concept during the COVID-19 pandemic. We sought in Walter Benjamin's thoughts some reflections about the situation from the modern man in Charles Baudelaire's Paris, where the philosopher offers a set of images and diagrams from this contemporary and lyrical poet - fencer, bohemian, flâneur, detective, cheater, player, and prostitute. In this sense, we can then read this general concept of city and its images in this pandemic, in the poetic geography from the urban space. They are the images which form the constellation of the poet's heroic or anti-heroic task which chose the allegory as a single form of treating modernity, in this case highlighting the image of the flâneur and the rogue as the allegorist representing the modernity in the capital of consumption, the Paris from the XIX century. We then pose our look in the flâneur's image and its disappearance in the pandemic moment and the condition of resilience from the urban system and its perturbations. KEYWORDS: City. Modernity. Merchandise. Capitalism.

Вернакулярний ландшафт і його роль у розвитку креативних міських практик

The paper is devoted to the analysis of the vernacular landscape concept defined as one that is culturally conceptualized both within the city and outside it. We identified the key characteristics of the concept, such as: community, border, temporal development (Jackson), repetitive practices of non-professionals, variability and diversity (Certeau). We determined the key methods of cultural research of the vernacular landscape: representational and phenomenological. Representational method deals with the practices that refer to the repetitive habits and customs of the dwellers, everyday practices that are manifested in long-term fields studies and film and video materials stydying. We considered the peculiarities of vernacular landscape formation in the city and creativity as its essential characteristic. Accordingly, creative practices that shape the vernacular landscape of the city have the following defining features: inclusiveness, repeatability and familiarity, non-expertise, non-economic motivation. The nature of creativity itself allows the creative individual to directly influence the common good, changing the landscape of her locus (yard, district, city, etc.). The concept of tactical urbanism is considered as an alternative to the concept of creative economy and one that sees vernacular creative practices as a key engine for the development of creative potential of the city. This updated approach to understanding creativity significantly expands the term of vernacular landscape: both physically (because it expands the geography of creative practices of the city, going beyond certain areas, where the creative class is concentrated, up to the suburbs) and substantively (creative practices are interpreted in many more variable key). Creativity is singled out as one of the most common and revealing types of creative practices that have great potential in the qualitative transformation of the vernacular landscape of the city. Yarnbombing is a clear example of such a tactical intervention in urban space.

Trypillia Mega-Sites: Neither Urban nor Low-Density?

At the end of the fifth millennium bc, some of the largest settlements of the time emerged on the Pontic forest steppe. Some scholars proposed to include these mega-sites into the concept of low-density urbanism. These characterizations were, however, limited by a single-site perspective. Now, with ongoing surveys and radiocarbon-based internal settlement chronologies it was possible for the first time to trace the trajectory of the whole range of Trypillia mega-sites. It was found that they did not follow a low-density trajectory. Instead, they show a high volatility and appear to bounce off the low-density threshold. While the crossing of the 100 ha threshold on the Interaction-Communication Matrix suggests a potential urban status of these sites, no evidence for a functional rural-urban divide was found.

INCORPORATING A DISASTER-RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN CONCEPT, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO CURRICULA

ABSTRACT With the increasing demands for resilient developments, Architecture/Engineering/ Construction (AEC) education shall be at the forefront of preparing future workforces with advanced knowledge about sustainable and resilient designs. Safe-to-Fail is a resilient urban design concept that anticipates failures during infrastructure systems planning, thus reducing the impact of natural disasters. This study aims to: (1) identify the factors influencing AEC students’ perceptions towards learning Safe-to-Fail; and (2) investigate students’ pedagogical preferences to incorporate Safe-to-Fail concepts in AEC curricula. To achieve this, the study implemented an intervention module including a comprehensive Safe-to-Fail lecture followed by an interactive discussion session and a survey to capture students’ experiences, expectations, and perceptions. The findings indicated that AEC students preferred to learn the Safe-to-Fail concept as a portion of an elective course and that the choice of learning such emerging concepts is significantly correlated to the student’s age, duration spent in the program, and prior knowledge of Safe-to-Fail. This study advocates incorporating Safe-to-Fail in AEC curricula, which provides an edge for future careers and contributes to developing resilient built environments.

INCORPORATING A DISASTER-RESILIENT AND SUSTAINABLE INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN CONCEPT, SAFE-TO-FAIL, INTO CURRICULA

ABSTRACT With the increasing demands for resilient developments, Architecture/Engineering/ Construction (AEC) education shall be at the forefront of preparing future workforces with advanced knowledge about sustainable and resilient designs. Safe-to-Fail is a resilient urban design concept that anticipates failures during infrastructure systems planning, thus reducing the impact of natural disasters. This study aims to: (1) identify the factors influencing AEC students’ perceptions towards learning Safe-to-Fail; and (2) investigate students’ pedagogical preferences to incorporate Safe-to-Fail concepts in AEC curricula. To achieve this, the study implemented an intervention module including a comprehensive Safe-to-Fail lecture followed by an interactive discussion session and a survey to capture students’ experiences, expectations, and perceptions. The findings indicated that AEC students preferred to learn the Safe-to-Fail concept as a portion of an elective course and that the choice of learning such emerging concepts is significantly correlated to the student’s age, duration spent in the program, and prior knowledge of Safe-to-Fail. This study advocates incorporating Safe-to-Fail in AEC curricula, which provides an edge for future careers and contributes to developing resilient built environments.

A Framework for Holistic Sustainability Assessment of Urban Logistics Concepts

A Framework for Holistic Sustainability Assessment of Urban Logistics Concepts

Современные городские практики: социально-политические аспекты

Universal category characterizing the processes of the modern city is the concept of «modern urban practices». The object of the study is modern urban practices, which include activities and processes that determine the development of urban space and ecosphere of the city, improvement of the urban environment, realization of the «right to the city». The subject of the study is the political aspects of modern urban practices, which have a number of areas for the urban space development, preservation and improvement of the urban environment, and enhancement of the citizens’ life quality. In particular, it includes the preservation of cultural heritage, revival of small towns, development of the city’s ecosphere and solution of environmental problems, as well as the solution of issues related to the adaptation of migrants and intercultural interaction, etc. The purpose of this study is to conceptualize the understanding of «modern urban practices», to determine the socio-political aspects of modern urban practices formation, the role of political factors in their development. The methodology for analyzing these challenges is based on a systematic approach that makes it possible to identify connections and relationships between the phenomena of urban practices, their functions in the general urban space, and the political status of these social practices. The result of the study is a typology of modern urban practices in terms of their determination by socio-political factors, the detection of their essence and focus. The application of the study results is based on the fact that they complement the modern concepts of urbanism; allow us to consider the heterogeneous phenomena of the city development within the framework of social life, determining the influence of political factors. As a result of the study the following conclusion can be drawn: the definition and analysis of the socio-political aspects of modern urban practices make it possible to identify their social essence, the possibility of implementing specific models for the development of the urban environment, creating conditions for its safety and comfort, and improving the quality of human life.

Construction strategy of water-saving landscape in urban gardens under sponge city background

At present, the core problem of urban landscape urgently to be solved is how to use water reasonably and efficiently. Of urban concept sponge core problems, and analysis on the importance of urban water-saving landscape landscape greening plant species reasonable configuration, application of water reuse technology, combined with ecological water use of engineering design, construction of urban landscape, water saving so as to improve the economic benefit, environmental benefit and social benefit.

Influence of Environmental Factors on Urban and Architectural Design—Example of a Former Paper Mill in Nanterre

Biophilic design is developed in urban planning concepts for cities—in line with sustainable development. A case study of converting a former paper mill in Nanterre into a university campus showed what factors influence the emergence of the biophilic form. The research informs the planning and design mechanisms and directs attention to the process. As a result, the study demonstrates that biophilic elements from the place-based pattern group are directly related to in-depth environmental analysis—similar to elements from the nature-based and element-based pattern groups. Together they result in a biophilic form. The element of creation is also present in the design process but is not the primary determinant of the choice of a design approach. In part, the form is adapted to the area’s environmental characteristics, which result from their interaction with objective determinants. Nevertheless, the implementation is not devoid of compositional, creative, and cultural elements—that is, it assumes the features of biophilic architecture. This fact proves that the environment can influence the creative potential in architecture and urban studies.

Explaining the Concept of Urbanisation based on the Distinction between the City and the Urban

وضعیت شهری در جهان امروز به‌طور بنیادین دگرگون شده و در پسِ آن، فضاهای نوین شهری متأثر از شیوه‌های جدید شهری شدن (اوربانیزاسیون) تبلور یافته‌اند. وقتی سخنی از شهری شدن یا شهرها به میان آید، بر پیش‌فرض‌هایی از چیستی شهرها و ماهیت شهری شدن تأکید می‌شود. بخش عمده‌ای از گفتمان‌های مربوط به شهری شدن با محوریت سیتی بوده‌اند؛ زیرا سیتی را محرک و علیت شهری شدن دانسته‌اند. سخن گفتن در مورد گستره‌هایی با عنوان سیتی بدون فهم اوربان غالباً گمراه‌کننده است؛ زیرا ارتباط و تمایز عمیقی بین این دو مفهوم وجود دارد. اغلب سیتی و اوربان طوری به کار گرفته می‌شوند که گویا در هر دو واژه دقیقاً بر یک مفهوم مشابه بدون تفاوت‌های فضایی‌ـ زمانی تأکید می‌شود. درحالی‌که این دو مفهوم متفاوت از هم هستند؛ زیرا هرکدام با فرایندهای متفاوتی از دگرگونی و بازتولید مقیاس‌های فضایی همخوانی دارد. هدف از این پژوهش،ْ قیاس دو مفهوم سیتی و اوربان مبتنی بر جایگاه هر کدام در شهری شدن است. بر این اساس، سعی شده تا خوانشی متناسب برای فهم این دو پدیده عرضه گردد. در این پژوهش مبتنی بر اصول فکری تحلیل محتوای کیفی، به تبیین چارچوب مفهومی مؤلفه‌های متمایز بین سیتی و اوربان پرداخته شده است. نتیجة پژوهش گویای آن است که شهری شدن در چهار سطح مفهومی تبیین گردیده، به‌طوری‌که در سطح نخست شهرنشینی با محوریت سیتی و اوربان به‌مثابة صفت آن، در سطح دوم با مفهوم شهری شدن و تحول اوربان به اسم، سطح سوم با مفهوم اوربانیزاسیون با محوریت اوربان و تضعیف سیتی، سطح چهارم با مفهوم اوربانیزاسیون و اوربان به‌مثابة اتوپیا یا آرمان بوده است.

Concept Evolution and Multi-Dimensional Measurement Comparison of Urban Energy Performance from the Perspective of System Correlation: Empirical Analysis of 142 Prefecture Level Cities in China.

In order to clarify the evolution characteristics and direction of urban energy performance concepts, reveal the research dimensions, determine the performance results and differences, and clarify the reference benchmark, this study depicts the main systems involved in the process of urban energy utilization, demonstrates their relevance guided by the system view, and proposes the measurement indicators in the economic, environmental, and well-being dimensions. The measurement model of each dimension is constructed using the corresponding models of Data Envelopment Analysis. Taking 142 prefecture level cities in China as examples, the energy performance in different dimensions is measured and compared. The energy performance levels are close in the economic and environmental dimensions. However, the results of the well-being dimension are different from these first two dimensions, and the performance levels among cities differ more. In the economic, environmental, and well-being dimension, 22, 28 and 16 cities have reached the effective frontier, respectively, and the performance benchmark cities of 15, 15 and 5 provinces are non-provincial capital cities, respectively. Based on the above analysis, the “chain” framework evolution direction of concept and measurement is proposed, and this study provides benchmarks and policy suggestions to improve energy performance.

ТРЕНДЫ ЦИВИЛИЗАЦИОННОГО РАЗВИТИЯ: УРБАНИЗАЦИЯ/ ДЕУРБАНИЗАЦИЯ (ЭКОЛОГИЧЕСКИЙ АСПЕКТ)

Objective of the study is to examine the specifics of the processes of urbanization and deurbanization, which reflect the dynamics of relations in the man-nature system.   The methodological basis of the research is the sociocultural approach to urbanization, which provides the basis for understanding the evolution of the urban form of social life and its cultural characteristics; modern concepts of urbanization, which analyze trends in the development of urbanistic civilization and its destructive impact on the natural environment; the provisions of the theory of the noosphere, modeling the conditions for the further development of mankind and revealing the ontological causes of the modern ecological crisis.   Research results. This article analyzes the specificity of the processes of urbanization and deubranization, which reflect the dynamics of relations in the man-nature system during the development of civilization. The model of the relationship between man and nature in the course of the development of urban civilization is determined by the value-worldview attitudes that dominate in different historical periods. The modern urbanization process has a multi-vector nature, and is manifested both in megalopolization and deurbanization, which, due to their specificity, have a destructive effect on the ecology of the urban environment.   Prospects of the study. The problem of urbanization / deurbanization as trends in civilizational development is of scientific and practical interest in connection with the need to address issues of environmental safety of society. In this regard, further research on this topic is associated with the search for ways to minimize the negative impact of urban civilization on the environment.  

COMPETITION, MEANING, AND MONUMENTALIZATION IN GALLIA COMATA

Perhaps the most striking, and archaeologically speaking the most evident, change that occurred in Gallia Comata from the 1st century BCE to the end of the 2nd century CE was the incorporation of massive, monumental, Roman-style architecture. Many of these monuments still stand to this day, providing an obvious, visual argument for the impact that Roman culture had on Gallic society. Overall, the incorporation of Roman architecture and monuments, paid for and dedicated by members of the local elite, seems to indicate a clear cultural shift in Gallic society and the adoption of Roman conceptions of urbanism and the role of the urban aristocracy in providing munera for the populace.
 This paper will examine the remains of monumental structures in the Gallic civitas-capitals, examining the initial stages of monumentalization. While early structures advertised the connection between the community as a whole with the Imperial power structure, the construction of amphitheaters in particular emerged rapidly throughout the Three Gauls and, as this paper will argue, was tied to the glorification and memorialization of the dedicator and his family. The edification of urban space thus became a new ground for the Gallic aristocracy to play out its internal rivalries, rather than a public expression of acceptance or obedience under Rome, and through the use of amphitheaters, urban edification allowed the Gallic aristocracy to retain their ties to the concept of competitive status and martial prowess.

Defensive urbanism and local governance: Perspectives from the Basque Country

In contrast with the perspective of local safety audits for women, which aim to promote the democratic use of public space in the context of inclusive urbanism or pro-social design, defensive urbanism is a term that has been related to situational prevention in order to bar or restrict the use of public space by several stigmatised groups. This trend can be understood in terms of the broken windows theory and zero tolerance approaches in criminology as well as of social exclusion in globalised cities. This paper will tackle the origin and development of the concept of defensive urbanism, as a kind of local governance related to broader trends in securitisation, as well as its visible ramifications in some administrative regulations in some Basque municipalities.

Revealing the structures of internal migration: A distance and a time-space behaviour perspectives

Internal migration is an important process investigated by spatial and regional sciences. When intensive, it can significantly change settlement and regional systems. The paper reveals the structures of internal migration based particularly on distance of movements and partly on their motivations. In order to distinguish between short and long distance migration based on informed decision and not on ad hoc threshold (estimate) we employ (i) the concept of the time geography as behavioural framework, (ii) the concept of daily urban (spatial) systems as spatial framework, and (iii) the concept of (sub)urbanisation as theoretical framework. The results are based on the combination of these three concepts, together with the quantitative analysis of statistically recorded internal migration in the Czech Republic (length of movements and their motivations). The daily urban system of the city of Olomouc (the Czech Republic) is further analysed using the time geographic approach and time use diaries of individuals. The analysis of internal migration in the Czech Republic showed us that short distance migration was defined by 50 km upper distance limit, by other motivations than employment, by intra-regional rather than inter-regional flows, and by the existence of areal overlap of activity time spaces before and after the move was completed. Patterns of time-space behaviour for urban and rural (suburban) population sample in the daily urban system of Olomouc have been generalised and two basic types of time space existence of individuals identified: radial for urban population and circular for rural (suburban) population.