Urban Outskirts Research Articles

Through Violence to Eternal Kingdom: Revolutionary Avengers, Suburban Violence, and the Crisis of Imperial Governance in post-1905 Russian Poland

Abstract This article studies the case of a notorious criminal group, the Revolutionary Avengers (Rewolucjoniści Mściciele), to explore the “theatre of violence” in fin-de-siècle Russian Poland. First, it considers the reactions to the group’s activities and how they exposed the absence of state monopoly on violence, as well as the imperial bureaucracy’s slipping control over the means of communication following the October Manifesto and the abolition of censorship. Second, the group’s story is analyzed as representative of the post-revolutionary emergence of large numbers of men accustomed to, fluent in, and profoundly changed by violence, yet excluded from party structures. The article argues that the small-scale, anti-elite and anti-governmental violence perpetrated by the Avengers was a form of self-assertion, an attempt to live with dignity after the revolutionary promise had failed. Third, the article spatializes the Avengers’ activities within the industrial suburbs of Russian Poland. Although the urban outskirts were not the only places where the group operated, they were fundamental to their actions: it is where many Avengers came from, where they hid and recruited, as well as where their communities were based. Using Walter Benjamin’s theory of violence, the article suggests that many of the Avengers’ acts were “lawmaking” in nature, effectively delineating suburban “spaces of the poor.”

Academic Essay On Equitable Access To Mental Health Services In Brazil

Equitable access to mental health services in Brazil faces complex and interconnected challenges. Among the main issues are regional inequalities, socioeconomic barriers, and the stigma associated with mental disorders. Regional inequality results in significant differences in the quality and availability of mental health services between urban and rural areas. While large cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro have advanced infrastructure and qualified professionals, rural areas and urban outskirts suffer from a lack of resources and professionals, limiting access to necessary care. Socioeconomic barriers also play a crucial role. Low-income populations face additional difficulties, such as lack of transportation and inadequate health insurance, which restrict access to mental health services. The lack of information and the stigmatization of mental disorders worsen the situation, discouraging individuals from seeking treatment due to fear of discrimination and prejudice. To address these challenges, it is essential to adopt integrated strategies. Expanding mental health infrastructure in underserved areas and creating integrated care networks are fundamental. Public policies should reduce socioeconomic inequalities by providing financial support and improving transportation. Awareness campaigns about mental health can overcome informational barriers and stigma. Continuous training of health professionals and community participation are also crucial to ensure inclusive and locally adapted care. With a coordinated effort, it is possible to promote more just and comprehensive access to mental health services in Brazil.

Urbanization intensifies the imbalance between human development and biodiversity conservation: Insights from the coupling analysis of human activities and habitat quality

AbstractIntensified human activities have been seriously threatening the structure and ecological processes of ecosystems, resulting in habitat degradation. Therefore, coordinating the coupling between human activities and habitat quality (HQ) is crucial for high‐quality sustainable regional development and human well‐being. This study evaluated the human activities and HQ in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) urban agglomeration in China from 2000 to 2020 using the human footprint index (HFI) and the integrated valuation of ecosystem services and tradeoffs model. Then, we employed bivariate spatial autocorrelation and a coupling coordination degree (CCD) model to explore the synergistic relationship between human activities and HQ. The results show that spatial changes in HQ were predominantly driven by human activities. The gradual outward urban expansion resulted in significant HQ degradation. Slight HQ improvement by ecological restoration in urban outskirts cannot offset HQ losses caused by urbanization. During the study period, high‐HQ low‐HFI clusters decreased by 1.02%, while low‐HQ high‐HFI clusters increased by 4.67%, the two main clustering types in the PRD. Despite the CCD between HFI and HQ increased after 2010, the continuous changes of CCD characteristics from the HFI significantly lagged type to the HQ lagged. HFI showed an inverted U‐shaped relationship with CCD. The CCD peaks during 2000–2020 corresponded to HFI decreasing from 0.711 to 0.566. This indicates that the risk of decoupling between human activities and HQ gradually increased. Furthermore, CCD levels and characteristics in different bivariate clusters exhibited varying changes over time. These results reveal that the spatiotemporal dislocation between urbanization and ecological restoration induced the spatial nonstationarity of the coupling relationship between human activities and HQ. Urbanization exacerbates the imbalance between human development and biodiversity conservation. Therefore, we suggest reasonably delimiting urban boundaries, controlling the scale of urban sprawl, and strengthening biodiversity protection in areas undergoing rapid urbanization. In addition, we advocate for the division of ecological barrier zones, urban development buffer zones, and urban built‐up areas, each with tailored management and protection measures. Our findings can provide an important reference for the ecological restoration of urban agglomerations.

Deprivation and Its Association with Child Health and Nutrition in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area of Uganda.

African cities are experiencing increasing living standard disparities with limited evidence of intra-urban health disparities. Using data from the 2006-2016 Uganda Demographic and Health Surveys, we employed the UN-Habitat definition to examine slum-like household conditions in the Greater Kampala Metropolitan Area (GKMA). Subsequently, we developed a slum-like severity index and assessed its association with under-5 common morbidities and healthcare access. We also assessed the characteristics of people in slum-like household conditions. We identified five slum-like conditions: substandard housingconditions, limited water access, overcrowding, unclean cooking fuel, and limited toilet access. By 2016, 67% of GKMA households were classified as slum-like conditions, including 31% in severe conditions. Limited toilet access, overcrowding, and limited water access were the main forms of deprivation.Living in slum-like household conditions correlated with lower education levels, youth status, unprofessional jobs, and marriage. Compared to neighboring Kampala city urban outskirts, Kampala city households had lower slum-like prevalence. Children in GKMA living in slum-like household conditions were morelikely to experience diarrhea (moderate: OR = 1.21[95% CI: 1.05-1.39], severe: OR = 1.47 [95% CI: 1.27-1.7]); fever (moderate: OR = 2.67 [95% CI: 1.23-5.8], severe: OR = 3.09 [95% CI: 1.63-5.85]); anemia (moderate: OR = 1.18 [95% CI: 0.88-1.58], severe: OR = 1.44 [95% CI: 1.11-1.86]); and stunting (moderate: OR = 1.23 [95% CI: 1.23-1.25], severe: OR = 1.40 [95% CI: 1.41-1.47]) compared to those living in less slum-like conditions. However, seeking treatment for fever was less likely in slum-like household conditions, and the association of slum-like household conditions with diarrhea was insignificant. These findings underscore the precarious urban living conditions and the need for targeted health interventions addressing the social determinants of health in urban settings.

Stereotypical ideas in the perception of spatial marginality of urban outskirts

According to the territorial-regional development policy of Russia, a rigid structuring of the country's space is applied through the prism of a hierarchical management system. As a result, the structure of the space of the entire country was fixed through a system of boundaries, the markers of which highlight management objects at the national level, subject of the Russian Federation, territory, region, district. This article will present the main stereotypes that influence the creation of the perception of new territories in the nature of marginality. As is known, the formation of marginal communities can be traced throughout the history of civilizations. It is important to separate geographical marginality from spatial marginality. In geography, there is the concept of “marginal territories”, which can be considered those located on the remote periphery of the region or in isolated places. Such a phenomenon as spatial marginality is characterized precisely by the prevailing stereotypes in society about a specific area. Urban spatial perception critically influences human behavior and emotional responses, emphasizing the need to align urban spaces with human needs to improve the quality of urban life. However, the classification of urban architecture based on functionality is subject to biases stemming from discrepancies between objective representation and subjective perception. These biases can lead to city planning and designs that fail to adequately meet the needs and preferences of city residents, negatively impacting their quality of life and the overall functionality of the city. In this study, we apply machine learning to uncover these biases in urban spatial perception research using a three-step methodology: objective mapping, subjective perception analysis, and perceptual bias assessment. Our results show that machine learning can reveal hidden patterns in this area of research with significant implications for urban planning and design. Of particular note, the study found significant discrepancies in the distribution centroids between commercial buildings and residential or public buildings. This result sheds light on the spatial organization characteristics of urban architectural functions, serving as a valuable guide for urban planning and development. Moreover, it reveals the advantages and disadvantages of different data sources and methods for interpreting urban spatial perception, paving the way to a more complete understanding of the subject. These results highlight the importance of integrating both objective mapping and subjective perspectives when classifying the functionality of urban architecture.

Tracing urban transformations: Ni Weihua’s playful intervention in China’s evolving sociospatial landscape

This article delves into the multifaceted public art project entitled Tracing, orchestrated by Shanghai artist Ni Weihua, within the context of China’s sweeping socioeconomic transformation, as reflected in the geographical, spatial, and visual transformations of urban peripheries. Beginning in 2018 when Ni initiated it by meticulously tracing around the pictorial vestiges adorning dilapidated walls in Shanghai’s urban outskirts using black acrylic paint, Tracing has evolved into a collaborative endeavor spanning the globe. This article explores the origins and development of Tracing, situating it within Ni’s body of work, which responds to the ever-changing spatial and visual landscapes of China’s urbanization. Blurring the boundaries of graffiti, drawing, performance art, conceptual art, documentary photography, and media art, Tracing serves as both documentation and embodiment of the ongoing struggle between state-led spatial production and grassroots initiatives in the face of urban regeneration and urban-rural integration efforts. This article contends that Tracing, through its artistic, playful, and liberating approach to spatial intervention and image creation, empowers Ni and other participants to engage with marginalized spaces, amplify the voices of disadvantaged communities, and complicate prevailing narratives of urban development in China and beyond. In doing so, it contributes to a bottom-up mode of visual knowledge production about urbanism and expands the role of art as a medium for public participation, collective expression, and community building.

Complicating ‘Suburbanization’ and Spatial Assimilation: The Complex Residential Patterns of Southeast Asian Americans in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Area from 1990 to 2010

Although spatial assimilation has often been defined as the process whereby a group attains residential propinquity with majority members of a host society, we argue that for certain immigrant groups, substantial suburbanization does not necessarily lead to racial integration. Our analysis using data from the U.S. Census Bureau reveals that between 1990 and 2010, Southeast Asian former refugees in the Minneapolis-St. Paul Metropolitan Statistical Area experienced substantial suburbanization, which is expected given their improved socioeconomic status. However, Southeast Asians’ suburbanization has not led to residential propinquity with non-Hispanic Whites. Despite a small decline in Southeast Asians’ overall segregation at the metropolitan area level during the previous two decades, their segregation levels, as measured by the dissimilarity index, remained unchanged or increased in the central city and the suburbs. Furthermore, our findings reveal different ethnic concentration and segregation patterns among four Southeast Asian subgroups, complicating the meaning of ‘suburbanization’ as simply a process in which people move from the inner city to its less urban outskirts. The finding that substantial suburbanization coexists with high levels of segregation and ethnic concentration raises questions about the assumptions of both the spatial assimilation and place stratification models of immigrant residential processes and outcomes.

Ironies of accomplishment: negative aspiration, economic resentment and the myth of the middle class on Nairobi’s new urban outskirts

AbstractExploring the ‘hollow’ character of middle-class status in contemporary Kenya, this article shows how upwardly mobile young Kenyans struggle to cope with the expectations for distribution that their displays of achievement create. Focusing on the urbanizing peripheries of Nairobi, it shows how accusations of envy (wivu) made about poorer friends and relatives reflect their anxieties about failing to act as the providers they are expected to be. Anticipation of the disappointment and resentment of their would-be dependants encourages them to withdraw from friendships and kinship relations in their home neighbourhoods, and seek instead an impersonal life in new urban enclaves closer to Nairobi. The avoidance of obligation is justified through discourses of individual effort and achievement, while poorer peers and relations are criticized for looking to rely on others. The article shows how such tensions over obligation and desires for withdrawal illuminate the fragility of Kenya’s emerging middle class and the ‘ironies of accomplishment’ – that their very precarity denies these Kenyans the respect and status they desire in their neighbourhood homes.

National Artistic Traditions in the Formation of a Model of Architectural Development of City Limits

The study considers the planning of Russian estates from both architectural and social perspectives, as well as their influence on the modern construction of urban outskirts, which is necessary for the development of city limits. The article examines the planning and organization of sociocultural space as exemplified by the Russian estate at the turn of the 18th and 19th centuries. By analyzing the architectural complexes of the Russian estate and developing surroundings in this period, the authors propose a model for organizing the socio-cultural space of city limits. The article dwells on the historical architectural ensembles of Arkhangelskoye and Abramtsevo, as well as various types of Russian estates, whose territories are being developed as city outskirts. The study considers modern opinions and assessments of planning territories bordering historical architectural monuments through various research methods. The obtained results allow the authors to develop a model of a socially sustainable architectural ensemble, including its socio-cultural, artistic, and educational functions.

Trajectories of Latent Vulnerability and Distress: Identifying Social and Spatial Fringes of the Swedish Population

It can be argued that a society is never better than how Individuals on its social and spatial fringes are faring. This motivates the purpose of this paper, which is to study how vulnerable groups can be identified, defined and explored in a spatial perspective using latent class analysis (LCA) on the whole Swedish population. We use space to refine meanings of vulnerability in individuals and groups, by contextualizing their vulnerability. This knowledge is fundamental for creating equal living conditions and for promoting the social cohesion needed for socially sustainable societies. Thus, equality and spatial integration are basic ideas in welfare policy but in recent years, the idea of integration has met various challenges with new population groups, rural–urban polarization, and disadvantaged housing areas. Using register data, we here identified life course trajectories associated with vulnerability, applying LCA to the total Swedish population aged 25 to 59 years. We identified latent classes of life courses, and detected and explored some classes with more vulnerability than others. The spatial patterns of vulnerable individuals were analysed using individualized neighbourhoods including the proportion of closest neighbours belonging to a latent class. A second LCA of vulnerable individuals refined the findings into different types of distress; extra distressed life courses were found in the metropolitan areas in Million program areas in urban outskirts, and other distressed life courses were more often found in unattractive (low housing price) rural areas, rural fringes.

Role of local climate zones and urban ventilation in canopy urban heat island–heatwave interaction in Nanjing megacity, China

Different local climate zones (LCZs) and wind speeds (WSs) increase the uncertainties related to canopy urban heat island (CUHI), heat waves (HWs), and their interactions. Taking the megacity of Nanjing in China as an example, this paper quantifies and elucidates the spatiotemporal variations of the CUHI intensity (CUHII) and its association with HWs, as well as their potential drivers. Results show a significant diurnal variation in CUHII, showing a valley at daytime and a peak at nighttime. The CUHII is significantly stronger in the HW periods than in the non-heat-wave (NHWs) periods, especially at daytime, which is a positive feedback to HW intensity. The interannual variability of CUHII was mainly dominated by anthropogenic heat emissions and air pollutions. While the spatial patterns of mean CUHII and HWs were shaped by LCZs and urban ventilation. Over LCZs with high densities of buildings in the city center, the CUHII is higher and HW events are more frequent under medium-low WS than high WS. In contrast, over LCZs with an open distribution of buildings on the urban outskirts, under high WS condition, CUHII becomes higher and HW events become more frequent relative to low WS, due to the high wind-driven heat advection.

Ville en danger, société en rupture : l’impasse des mobilités

Yesterday’s crisis in the centers was succeeded by today’s crisis in the peri-urban areas. Thus, the city loses its identity within a context where downtown areas contrast with the urban outskirts. This also takes place against the backdrop of disrupted mobilities through the way decarbonization – a necessary act – is implemented. The author advocates for multimodality and a geo-societal equity generated by a global – and not fragmented – policy, serving fellow citizens and users through a mesh plan. Otherwise, deadlocked mobility will contribute to the negation of the city and participate in its endangerment.

An Innovative Approach to Creation of New Types of Urban Passenger Transport

Currently, the population is increasingly concentrated in large cities and metropolitan areas, urban outskirts are being actively built up. According to sociologists, more than 80 % of the population will live in cities by 2025. Megacities are characterised by social tension associated with the transport and environmental situation, which is aggravated due to population growth, an increase in its density and an increase in the number of cars per capita.The «city–transport» system has feedback features. When the city will exhaust the capacity of the created transport system regarding rapid and convenient movement of passengers, it will be necessary to change the characteristics of urban transport vehicles up to creation of fundamentally new ones based on modern energy sources.Transport is a service industry and must meet the requirements of those who use it. For urban passenger transportation, the core thing is the quality of service.At all times, people had a desire to move around, using a variety of animals for this depending on the region of residence. Wealthy people had special carts, carriages, and animals in their property. Ordinary people travelled on foot, but with the growth of settlements and cities, they began to experience great difficulties in moving over long distances. The idea of creating public transport, i.e., available for use by any inhabitant for a moderate fee was formulated by the famous natural philosopher, mathematician, physicist, writer Blaise Pascal in 1661.This idea saw serious development later due to the intensive growth of cities and due to developments of scientists in the field of exact sciences.This review article has used research method which is the analysis of the history of emergence and development of each mode of transport in world and domestic practices, that has made it possible to trace evolution of urban transport up to the present day. The objective of this article is to present further evolution of the city’s transport service, which requires an innovative approach to creation of new modes of transport.The author’s research has been reflected in the relevant articles, as well as in the chapters on «Urban transport» of several textbooks.The article discusses an innovative approach to modernisation of existing urban vehicles and creation of new ones that will ensure environmental friendliness, accident-free operation, reduce the occupancy of the city, create comfortable conditions for transportation of passengers, etc. This provides for the widespread use of digital technologies, as well as of non-traditional transport systems.The prospective introduction of fundamentally new vehicles is considered and analysed using the examples of the experience of cities and megacities in Russia and abroad.

Comparing satellite image and GIS data classified local climate zones to assess urban heat island: A case study of Guangzhou

Cities are frontlines to tackle climate change challenges including the urban heat island (UHI) effect. The classification and mapping of local climate zones (LCZs) can effectively and consistently describe the urban surface structure across urban regions. This study pays attention to two mainstream methods in classifying LCZs, namely, by using geographic information system (GIS) data such as building footprints or remote sensing (RS) satellite images. Little has been done to compare the divergence and coherence of the abovementioned two methods in modeling UHI. Thus, by comparing pairwise LCZ classes of different urban form characteristics in Guangzhou, this study investigated how GIS- and RS-based approaches complement or conflict with each other in explaining the variance of UHI measured by land surface temperature (LST). First, while both GIS-based (R2 0.724) and RS-based (R2 0.729) approaches can effectively explain heat risks measured by LST, the RS-based method slightly outperforms the GIS counterpart. Second, the sizes of LCZs classified by two methods in urban core districts tend to converge but diverge in urban outskirts with disparities in low-rise urban forms. Both approaches found that LCZs with higher heights are all cooler among compact forms. LCZ E is always related to the highest average LST, and LCZ 7, 8, and 10 contribute significantly to heat islands from both GIS and RS results. This study has developed a comparable framework that is evident based for city planners, architects, and urban policy makers to evaluate which approaches can more accurately reveal relations between UHI and urban geometry with land cover.

Restructuring Urban Outskirts Industrial Areas from the Industrial Clustering Perspective: A Case Study in Shunde, China

Large numbers of industrial zones have emerged in the urban outskirts of developing countries. Generally, these zones become economically efficient and environmentally unfriendly due to a lack of regulation and poor planning. Therefore, a restructuring of underperforming industrial areas is urgently needed. However, most restructuring processes lead to economic and social issues, such as deindustrialization and unemployment. Therefore, this study proposed a restructuring framework specific to the industrial areas in the urban outskirts and tested it in a case study in Shunde, China. In the framework, securing the existing industrial cluster is given sufficient attention, and the retained firms are relocated to dedicated resettlement sites before the demolition begins. As a result, the industrial clusters were successfully maintained after the restructuring. Moreover, the introduction of vertical factories allows for additional land supply and improves the environment to a great extent. Consequently, one world-class high-tech firm was added to the restructured areas. The restructuring framework and the case study should shed light on other restructuring projects occurring in developing countries.

지방 도시 일반철도 역사 활용방안에 관한 연구 - 광주광역시 효천역, 서광주역을 중심으로 -

In South Korea, the railway facilities were once a symbol of modernization and a driving force behind urban growth, however, they encounter a period of decline as the occurrence of the overall changes in the transportation system. In particular, the number of passengers who use the rapid transit railway stations other than KTX stops has been significantly lowered, thus the plans to utilize those stations were sought continuously. Under the circumstance, the plan for utilizing the idle spaces of those stations as public rental housing for young people has recently been announced in the metropolitan area, but it is still a challenge to generalize the plan to local cities. In that regard, this study examined the rapid transit railway stations in Gwangju, thereby suggesting measures to utilize idle spaces around the stations. This study can be a reference when utilizing the stations of the urban outskirts, which are difficult to develop as a tourism resource because they are not combined with urban railways among the rapid transit railway stations of local cities with a small number of passengers and have no sufficient value as modern cultural heritage. In other words, it would be possible to utilize those railway stations by analyzing the characteristics of the wide-area and local-area for the places of the relevant station and inserting a strategic program suitable for the idle spaces of the station.

Social housing and accessibility in Brazil's unequal cities

Ensuring equal access to opportunities while assessing the housing needs of low-income populations has been a significant challenge in many global south countries. Social housing programs have been recurrently criticized for reinforcing inequalities by ignoring the poor conditions of urban access. This study evaluates the urban access of a national social housing program, My House My Life (Minha Casa Minha Vida, MCMV), in Brazil, one of the most unequal countries in the world. This program is renowned for building many of its housing projects in urban outskirts. We use job accessibility metrics to identify differences and similarities in MCMV housing production in six large Brazilian cities through a comparative lens. We find that although MCMV beneficiaries have less access to job opportunities than average-income citizens, the program may improve their conditions compared to individuals with similar income levels within central cities. We hope that future studies may expand this work to include the surrounding metropolitan areas, which were not considered due to data restrictions. We also expect to encourage other efforts in the investigation of social housing impacts through spatial data science, especially in evaluating accessibility in large-scale social housing programs.

THE IMPLEMENTATION OF PRANATAL EDUCATION IN MAGEDONG-GEDONGAN CEREMONY AT HINDU COMMUNITIES IN URBAN OUTSKIRTS

This article is the result of research that aims to conduct a study of the implementation of the magedong-gedongan ceremony in Hindu communities living in urban outskirts areas focused in Batubulan Village as a form of implementation of prenatal education. The design of this research is descriptive interpretive to interpret the implementation of the magedong-gedongan ceremony associated with the concept of prenatal education. Most of the data taken in this study were in the field, which were then analyzed using interpretive descriptive analysis techniques. This study found that the implementation of the magedong-gedongan ceremony is an obligation that must be carried out as an effort to purify babies who are still in the womb. Although it is an obligation, not all Hindus do it for certain reasons. The implementation of the magedong-gedongan ceremony of the purification process is also a process of prenatal education given to babies who are still in the womb with the hope that after birth they can grow and develop into children who are physically and mentally healthy. Aspects of prenatal education given to the baby who is still in the womb in the form of positive values ​​emitted by the implementation of the magedong-gedongan ceremony which is believed to be accepted by the baby in the womb in forming multiple intelligences.

One-year surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater from vulnerable urban communities in metropolitan São Paulo, Brazil.

The current COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the vulnerability of communities living in the urban outskirts and informal settlements. The lack of reliable COVID-19 case data highlights the importance and application of wastewater-based epidemiology. This study aimed to monitor the COVID-19 trends in four vulnerable urban communities (slums and low-income neighborhoods) in metropolitan São Paulo by assessing the SARS-CoV-2 RNA viral load in wastewater. We analyzed 160 samples from May 2020 to June 2021 with weekly or fortnightly samplings. The samples were ultracentrifuged with glycine elution and quantified by N1/N2 SARS-CoV-2 RT-qPCR. The results of positivity were 100% (Paraisópolis, Heliópolis and Cidade Tiradentes) and 76.9% (Vila Brasilândia). The new case numbers of COVID-19, counted from the onset of symptoms, positively correlated with SARS-CoV-2 N1 viral loads from the two largest communities (p<0.001). SARS-CoV-2 infectivity was tested in Vero E6 cells after concentration with the two techniques, ultrafiltration (Centricon® Plus-70 10 kDa) and sucrose cushion ultracentrifugation, but none of the evaluated samples presented positive results. Next-generation sequencing (NGS) analysis from samples collected in March and August 2021 revealed the presence of the clade 20 J (lineage P.1) belonging to the most prevalent circulating variant in the country. Our results showed that wastewater surveillance data can be used as complementary indicators to monitor the dynamics and temporal trends of COVID-19. The infectivity test results strengthened the evidence of low risk of infection associated with SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater.

Vegetation Dynamics Due to Urbanization in the Coastal Cities along the Maritime Silk Road

Substantial research indicates the effects of urbanization on vegetation cover; however, a view of this scenario from a regional scale is absent. Nowadays, coastal cities have become the new engine for the development of countries in coastal areas. To capture the effects of rapid urbanization on vegetation dynamics, 35 coastal cities along the Maritime Silk Road (MSR) were selected to study the related research using quantitative tools. We calculated spatiotemporal trends of vegetation dynamics along an urban development intensity (UDI) gradient using the MODIS-enhanced vegetation index (EVI) during the period of 2000–2015. We found a significant reduction (p &lt; 0.05) in the EVI in the core area against that in the rural area (ΔEVI) of 14 cities and an insignificant change in vegetation in the peri-urban areas or urban outskirts. EVI decreased significantly along the UDI gradients in 12 coastal cities with a linear pattern and in seven coastal cities with a concave pattern; only Bangkok exhibited a convex pattern. The nonlinear pattern between the EVI and UDI reflected the fact that vegetation dynamics were affected by complicated factors, including climate change and human interventions, over a long period of time. In conclusion, our work provided a scientific reference for the sustainable development of coastal cities along the MSR; further work is necessary to explore the mechanic details of the positive and negative influences of urban factors and related policies on vegetation conditions.