Urban Physical Environment Research Articles

Mediated urbanism

The spatial transformation of cities in recent years, following on from the ever more pervasive digitalisation of urban infrastructures and the proliferation of networked and location-aware portable devices, has become an extremely popular, if not outright fashionable, topic of research across the social sciences and humanities. One indication of the surge in scholarly interest is the increasing number of international conferences dedicated to these subjects, not to mention the special issues in journals that discuss these topics from a variety of angles. More particularly, the urban context has begun to fascinate communication and media researchers even beyond an interest in mobile media (McQuire, 2008). Among other things, scholars in these fields have come to notice that networked digital technologies augment the already overwhelming presence of mass media in the cityscape. This multiplies the moments and situations of urban mass media reception. A related perception concerns how personalised use of smart handheld devices contributes to the simultaneous restructuring and endurance of the physical urban environment as a public stage for people’s self-presentations and interactions (McQuire, 2011; Ridell, 2010). Consequently, researchers concerned with studying mass communication have started to extend their gaze beyond households, the place that originally framed the scholarly

Comprehensive Evaluation Method Study of Urban Pavement Ecological Physical Environment (UPEPE)

The premise that analyzing and studying the factors that affect urban pavement ecological physical environment (UPEPE), UPEPE impact factors are the thermal environment, sound environment, light environment, eco-energy saving design. This paper establishes the evaluation method for UPEPE which is based on fuzzy math. We evaluate the quality of UPEPE comprehensively in this way. Heat, light, sound and other ecological and physical environment effects are very important for creating good quality physical environment in urban pavement. In this paper, according to the impact factors of the UPEPE and using the fuzzy mathematical theory on evaluating the UPEPE comprehensively can reflect the real situation more objectively and accurately. The construction of model is simple and practical. Comprehensive evaluation utilizes the combination of the general public survey and expert evaluation, which benefits to reflect the democratic spirit. It also provides the reference to improve the UPEPE.

안전도시 조성을 위한 범죄의 공간적 분포와 도시의 장소별 발생특성 분석

본 연구는 범죄발생 자료를 이용하여 시계열적으로 공간적 분포특성을 파악하고, 범죄발생 장소의 공간적 환경 특성을 분석함으로써 도시공간의 물리적인 환경 개선을 통한 범죄예방 가능성을 타진해 보는데 목적이 있다. 사례도시의 범죄자료는 지리정보시스템을 이용하여 공간데이터로 변환하여 사용하였다. 범죄발생의 공간분석을 통해 향후 범죄발생 지역의 변화를 확인하고, 환경설계나 도시계획으로 범죄를 예방할 수 있는 방안을 제시하였다. 구체적으로 2008년과 2011년 2개년 동안 범죄발생의 공간적 분포 패턴을 분석해 본 결과 국지적인 핫스팟의 이동이 발견되었다. 또한 상업지역을 중심으로 도로를 따라 선형으로 범죄 다발지역이 형성되고, 블록의 내부보다 도로변의 환경개선과 범죄예방 전략이 중요함을 알 수 있었다. 이외에도 사례지역을 위험지역과 안전지역으로 분류하고, 안전한 도시 만들기를 위해 도시계획 관점에서 접근하는 것도 필요함을 지적하였다. 연구의 결과는 도시의 물리적 환경개선으로 근본적인 범죄예방을 도모하고 그 결과로서 안전도시를 만드는데 기여할 것이다. The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of crime prevention in consideration of urban physical environment by analyzing the spatial distribution characteristics and pattern using actual crime occurrence data of the case city. The crime data was rebuilt by transforming them into geographic information system to analyze the spatial aspect of crime occurrence. The findings are as follows: a change from 2008 to 2011 is indicated with similar trend. But the local movements of crime hot spots are found. Moreover crimes were happening along the roads in linear pattern rather than inside of blocks in commercial area. This indicates the importance of environmental improvement of roads and open spaces. In addition it was found that the crime occurrence in a dangerous district can be reduced and prevented through the physical environment design and urban planning. The findings will contribute to promoting fundamental crime prevention as the physical environmental improvement in a city and to building a safe community as its result.

Assessing spatial pattern of urban thermal environment in Shanghai, China

The aggravating urban thermal environment has considerable adverse effects on urban physical environment, energy consumption, and public health. Due to the complexity of factors contributing to the urban thermal environment, traditional statistical methods are insufficient for acquiring data and analyzing the impacts of human activities on the thermal environment, especially for identifying dominant factors. Based on thermal remote sensing imageries and Geographic Information System analysis, we assessed spatial pattern of urban thermal environment in Shanghai in 2008, and analyzed the factors contributing to the generation of urban heat island (UHI) using principal component analysis (PCA). We found that Shanghai had obvious UHI with uneven spatial pattern in 2008. Further, we identified three most important components leading to the variances of Shanghai’s UHI: the gradient from man-made to natural land cover, landscape configuration, and anthropogenic heat release. A linear model has thus been successfully constructed, implying that PCA is helpful in identifying major contributors to UHI. The findings are of significance for policy implication to urban thermal environment mitigation.

경관시뮬레이션분석기법을 활용한 도심권 문화재의 조망축 확보방안에 관한 연구 -통영시 도심 내 국가지정문화재의 역사문화환경 보존지역을 중심으로-

If cultural Heritageis located in the downtown, conservation areas was developed or is being developed In most cases Therefore, in this case, the relative height of the building during construction than the regulatory limit is reasonable, is emerging need to be objectified. This study was utilizes GIS analysis techniques for 'View Corridor' and building height standards were determined. First, 'View Corridor' set and building height restrictions for the analysis of urban environmental factors were analyzed in. In particular, the topography and urban planning, and existing buildings, including the distribution of the physical urban environment, with detailed analysis on the major historical and cultural assets with a combination of a review of the impact factor for the formation of the urban landscape recognize the scope has been expanded. Second, the key selection criteria for View point largely focused on cultural Heritageand the surrounding communicative point of view and, consequently, connectivity, and symbolism, accessibility, analysis, factors such as Prospect, setting the standards by applying a detailed assessment of each item the main view point were derived. Third, the derived key View point on the terrain and landscape characteristics simulation analysis carried out by considering together the main axis, and this suggests a reasonable height for the proposed standards.

Aspects of urban safety in the public spaces in Belgrade, Serbia: Recommendations of urban-architectural preventive elements

Contemporary urban planning and design is closely associated with the theory of safety. Researching the elements of fear of physical urban environment, the focus is on the prevention, which can reduce or eliminate negative perceptions of the users. Determining the standards for furnishing classified urban public spaces, could contribute to higher quality and use that is more intensive. This paper incorporates the information provided by the relevant institutions and the poll of the citizens in Belgrade, as well as analysis of spatial urban elements, typology of their use and their condition from the aspect of safety. Finally, it provides some recommendations for urban planning measures and architectural design elements. The practical application of the results relates to creation of information base, monitoring of changes, elimination of consequences, promotion of urban planning and architectural design profession, realization and maintenance of public places and creating the legal framework.

Toward a Research and Action Agenda on Urban Planning/Design and Health Equity in Cities in Low and Middle-Income Countries

The importance of reestablishing the link between urban planning and public health has been recognized in recent decades; this paper focuses on the relationship between urban planning/design and health equity, especially in cities in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). The physical urban environment can be shaped through various planning and design processes including urban planning, urban design, landscape architecture, infrastructure design, architecture, and transport planning. The resultant urban environment has important impacts on the health of the people who live and work there. Urban planning and design processes can also affect health equity through shaping the extent to which the physical urban environments of different parts of cities facilitate the availability of adequate housing and basic infrastructure, equitable access to the other benefits of urban life, a safe living environment, a healthy natural environment, food security and healthy nutrition, and an urban environment conducive to outdoor physical activity. A new research and action agenda for the urban environment and health equity in LMICs should consist of four main components. We need to better understand intra-urban health inequities in LMICs; we need to better understand how changes in the built environment in LMICs affect health equity; we need to explore ways of successfully planning, designing, and implementing improved health/health equity; and we need to develop evidence-based recommendations for healthy urban planning/design in LMICs.

Feasibility Analysis on Digital Integration of Urban Local Climates, Energy Consumption, and Reference Recommendations

Abstract To present clearer and more significant boundary conditions for architecture and urban design which takes energy and environment as the key points, and offer valid references for higher energy efficiency during the city development, based on related urban physical environment theories, according to the present situation of local climates and environments of the cities in China, the paper provides classifications of the city underlay surface materials, building properties, natural elements and other environmental influence factors, and analyses various physical and ecological effects derived from the factors. It also points out that the digital integrated map system including urban local climates, energy consumption, and reference recommendations can be founded by blending and utilizing research methods, which comprises theoretical analysis, investigation, experiments, simulation, and GIS technologies.

Physical characteristics of the environment and BMI of young urban children and their mothers.

The study examined whether characteristics of the urban physical environment are associated with child and maternal body mass index (BMI) in a sample of 3 year-old children and their mothers from 18 US cities (N=1997 dyads). BMI was determined based on measured height and weight. Characteristics of the interior and exterior physical environment, assessed and rated by trained interviewers, were related to child BMI at age 3 and to their mother's BMI. Negative aspects of the physical environment were more strongly related to maternal BMI among whites than among African-Americans or Hispanics.

Race, Class, and Schooling: Multicultural Families Doing the Hard Work of Home Literacy in America's Inner City

Drawing on a larger ethnographic study, this article documents (a) how and for what purposes literacy is used in 3 culturally diverse families of low socioeconomic status and (b) what various cultural, socioeconomic, and environmental factors shape the families' literacy practices in their home milieus in an urban context. Data analysis revealed that the families use literacy in both 1st and 2nd languages for a variety of purposes—helping with schoolwork, self-improvement, leisure and everyday living, and advocating for improved school practices. These literacy practices, however, are seriously constrained by various out-of-school factors, such as school–home literacy fracturing, declining neighborhood and school culture, different forms of racism, and family and neighborhood social class statuses. Findings suggest that there is a need to broaden existing efforts to improve minority literacy education within classrooms and schools to address the “limit situations” outside of school that affect students' lives and impede their school achievement. Experts must make a concerted endeavor to improve the urban social and physical environment as well as to implement pedagogical practices that connect students' learning inside school with their lived realities outside school.

Investigating the Physical Determinants of Social Capital and Their Implications for Sustainable Urban Development

The concept of social capital is gaining increasing recognition as a concomitant for social and economic development. Robert Putnam’s (2000) exposition of the crucial correspondence between the decline of social capital on one hand and the economic lives of American people on the other received wide acclaim at home and abroad. Contemporary literature on development studies is equally replete with references to the World Bank’s subscription to the value of social capital as an important factor in fostering sustainable development. The relationship between social capital and environmental action has equally been acknowledged. There is also an increasing realisation that the design and form of cities, neighbourhoods and individual buildings have significant implications on social capital as they can affect the way people interact and bond with each other and the sense of community among individuals (Dannenberg et al, 2003; Lindstrom et al, 2003). The fundamental premise is that some urban designs encourage social ties and informal contact among residents while others violate the evolutionary pattern of civicness within the urban setting. With all these acclaimed contributions of the design of the urban environment, it is imperative that its role in encouraging social and fostering sustainable development is given greater articulation and understanding. Currently, much of the work focuses on what individuals and groups can do, rather than what the physical environment should be, in order to encourage social ties and civicness. Thus, the aim of this paper is to identify and examine the key physical determinants of social capital within an urban development context. The methods used include critical analysis of scholarly work supplemented by results of a survey carried out by the authors in the United Kingdom. The paper argues that social capital is a subject of self-organisation, whose evolution to higher levels can be catalysed by the prevalence of a critical balance in the design of the physical urban environment.

Characterizing Variability of the Urban Physical Environment for a Suite of Cities in Rondônia, Brazil

AbstractUrban environments are characterized by high spectral and spatial heterogeneity and, as a consequence, most urban pixels in moderate-resolution imagery contain multiple land-cover materials. Despite these complexities, virtually all urban land cover can be generalized as a combination of vegetation, impervious surfaces, and soil (V–I–S components), in addition to water. Previous work has demonstrated the potential of multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA) to model the subpixel abundance of V–I–S components. Here, the authors test whether the technique is sufficiently robust to map V–I–S components for a diverse set of cities, selecting 10 urban centers in the state of Rondônia, Brazil, to represent a range of populations, development histories, and economic activities. For each urban sample, a 20 km × 20 km region centered over the built-up area was subset from Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETM+) imagery. MESMA was applied to all subscenes using the same spectral library, model constraints, and selection rules. Accuracy of the modeled V–I–S fractions was assessed using high-resolution images mosaicked from digital aerial videography. Modeled fractions and reference fractions were highly correlated, with R2 values exceeding 0.75 for all materials in multiple cities across a region. Model complexity, or the number of endmembers required to accurately model each pixel, was correlated with the degree of human impact on the landscape. Built-up areas, as delineated by model complexity, exhibited a strong fit to the well-established relationship between the built-up area of a settlement and its population. Finally, this work demonstrates that the V–I–S components as modeled by MESMA can capture both inter- and intraurban variability, suggesting that these data products could contribute to comparative studies of urbanizing areas through time and across regions.

Computing the sense of time in urban physical environment

The research explores the physical attributes of urban form that help influence the sense of time in urban space. Although the relationship between urban form and temporal perception could be intuitively understood, a clearer description of this relationship relies on a certain degree of quantitative measurement that can predict the visual effects of urban form. A geographic information system (GIS)-based visual analysis was designed and applied to the test case. Four distinctively different urban fabrics in the Singapore downtown areas were selected as the urban laboratory for the test, representing four typologies: the main shopping street, the historical district, a pedestrian market street and the central business district area. The results of the field survey were compared with the GIS measure of urban visibility through a correlation analysis. We conclude that the interplay of urban form and pedestrian movements generates the sequential experience that determines the complexity and legibility as expressed in the perceived sense of time. This study also emphasizes the importance of two factors in constructing and facilitating pedestrians' perception of time in the urban environment, firstly dynamic sequential movement and secondly the adequate provision of diverse and dynamic vertical landmarks.

Sub-pixel mapping of urban land cover using multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis: Manaus, Brazil

The spatial and spectral variability of urban environments present fundamental challenges to deriving accurate remote sensing products for urban areas. Multiple endmember spectral mixture analysis (MESMA) is a technique that potentially addresses both challenges. MESMA models spectra as the linear sum of spectrally pure endmembers that vary on a per-pixel basis. Spatial variability is addressed by mapping sub-pixel components of land cover as a combination of endmembers. Spectral variability is addressed by allowing the number and type of endmembers to vary from pixel to pixel. This paper presents an application of MESMA to map the physical components of urban land cover for the city of Manaus, Brazil, using Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper (ETM+) imagery. We present a methodology to build a regionally specific spectral library of urban materials based on generalized categories of urban land-cover components: vegetation, impervious surfaces, soil, and water. Using this library, we applied MESMA to generate a total of 1137 two-, three-, and four-endmember models for each pixel; the model with the lowest root-mean-squared (RMS) error and lowest complexity was selected on a per-pixel basis. Almost 97% of the pixels within the image were modeled within the 2.5% RMS error constraint. The modeled fractions were used to generate continuous maps of the per-pixel abundance of each generalized land-cover component. We provide an example to demonstrate that land-cover components have the potential to characterize trajectories of physical landscape change as urban neighborhoods develop through time. Accuracy of land-cover fractions was assessed using high-resolution, geocoded images mosaicked from digital aerial videography. Modeled vegetation and impervious fractions corresponded well with the reference fractions. Modeled soil fractions did not correspond as closely with the reference fractions, in part due to limitations of the reference data. This work demonstrates the potential of moderate-resolution, multispectral imagery to map and monitor the evolution of the physical urban environment.

Clusters extracted from measured propagation channels in macrocellular environments

The urban physical propagation environment around the mobile station is often described as a multipath environment, where power is received through diffractions over rooftops and building corners, reflections from walls and scattering in general from other surrounding objects. Since there are only finite number of these scatterers, the waves are received in clusters each originating from one of the scattering sources. To study these scatterers, direction-of-arrival data measured along continuous routes in two small macrocellular environments were analyzed. Multipaths received with approximately the same directions and delays were combined as clusters. Therefore each of the clusters corresponds to the signal received from one scatterer. This paper focuses on both the identification of the physical scatterers in the surrounding environment and studying the radio wave propagation in more detail, including the amount of significant scatterers in terms of contributed power, XPR values, and delay and azimuth spreads of the individual clusters. The results show that there are only a few dominant scatterers. They were usually building corners and walls, and building structures over the rooftop level. The delay and azimuth spreads inside the clusters were small, and depolarization was almost negligible. Both propagation over the rooftop level and propagation along the street canyons were significant in the considered environments.

Urban Space and Cyberspace: Urban Environment in the Age of Media and Information Technology

Today, the many innovations and the spread of new media and information technologies are bringing new realities to contemporary society. In Japanese sociology, this social transformation is called johoka, or information–oriented transformation. The present study examines two aspects of today's urban environment, concerning this social transformation. One is the phenomenon of “Disneylandization” of the urban environment and the other is the emergence of “cyberspace” or the “cybercity”. The former is the proliferation of areas and buildings filled with signs and designs that are quoted from other historical or geographical contexts, and arranged under some “theme” or “concept”, such as theme parks. The latter is the emergence of “virtual spaces” and the “virtual city” in computer networks, especially on the Internet. The former is a change in the physical urban environment and the latter is a phenomenon of the non–physical environment, inside computers. However, in spite of this contrast, these phenomena can be considered to result from the same social transformation—that is, the new relationship between space and society. The semantic emptiness, and expectations and desires for a sense of “placeness” in contemporary society are the preconditions of both phenomena. Often these elements are regarded as postmodern phenomena, yet it is of interest to explore Disneylandization and the emergence of the cybercity as the latest versions of the modern urban transformation and the modern urbanism.

Social attractiveness of the urban physical environment: Cities of Siberia

Sociological polls and expert studies were used to differentiate urban land attractiveness in residential and non-residential districts in Siberian cities of Russia. The research indicates that social attractiveness of the urban physical environment does not accurately represent genuine qualities of this environment. Attractiveness reflects the combination of at least three main environmental and social determinants: 1) average level of urban development; 2) range of city environmental qualities, and 3) social composition of city population. There are also significant differences between environmental priorities of the general city population, and the professional values and priorities of experts and city officials traditionally implemented in the process of professional decision-making. A system of indices (the Index of Prestige, the Residents’ Evaluation Index, the Business Attractiveness Index) are proposed for use during the transition from a planned to a market economy, for both long-term planning and urban land appraisal.

Evaluation methods for the design of adaptive water supply systems in urban environments

The issue of sustainable modes of development are not restricted to those concerning environmental protection or pollution control/minimisation. In generic terms, sustainable systems are those which can be adapted to changing circumstances. Given the essential nature of utilities there is a clear need to plan and manage their technologies in a sustainable manner. This paper offers an initial theoretical structure for designing and managing adaptive technological infrastructures for utilities in generic terms and suggests how such a framework may apply to water supply systems. In particular, the development of new water recycling technologies and the emergence of ‘complex system’ modelling techniques provide opportunities for the design of water supply systems which are adaptive to changes in the urban social and physical environment in which they are embedded.

Socio-historical factors in the evolution of Latin American cities (1850-1950)

Theories about the spatial distribution of the population should consider historical factors explaning settlement growth patterns, geographic relationships between economic organizations and structures of domination. Urban concentration has been a region-wide phenomenon for one hundrer years, begining late XIX Century. However, the rol of the cities in the development processes has been more important in those countris where the oligarchy consolidated its domination earlier. Its role stems from the expansion of commercial and financial activities in detriment of artisan industries. In this sense they were parasite cities: the ruling classes were consimers rather than savers, rentists rather than producers. Two types of cities are considered in the paper: bastion cities and central cities. They were developed during the primary export period, from the middle of the las Century until the 1920s. In the bastion city the monetary economy was restricted to the city, economic surplus was spent or reinvented almost entirely in the city while the masses of the population were kept at subsistence levels in the rural areas. The ruling classes justified their domination as something functional to their self-assigned role of spreading the civilization over a "barbaric" national periphery. Thus the bastion city generated an authoritarian political structure. In other countries the central city gave place to a broader social demographic diffusion of modern values and a more dynamic and opener environment emerged. The oligarchies imposed themselves in a less authoritarian manner and did not opposed the growth of middle classes. A greater cultural and social continuity throughout a network of medium size and small cities spread towards the national peripheries. Industrialization policies that followed the crisis of the primary-export model implied subsidies to the major cities and therefore, encouraged the spatial concentration of population. Local life was undermined and the regions lost internal integration as a result of a reorganization of national territories imposed by the emerging industrial city. Industrialization processes implied a tacit social compromise between traditional social structures and the adoption of imported technologies, between the preservation of social thierarchies and pressures towards democratization. The timing of the industrial processes is a key factor in explaining the differences among countries with regard to social urban structures and to urban physical environment as shaped by the social elites, classes and masses. The later the industrial process occured the higher is the population density in the rural areas, the lesses is the initial rate of urbanization and the higher the rate of population growth in the large cities. Urban exploition accompanying the more recent industrialization processes in Latin America is often accompanied by social marginality and a caothic growth of the large cities.

Disease and ethnicity in an urban environment.

ABSTRACT The impact of the cholera epidemic of 1849 in Buffalo was not uniform. Ethnicity, socioeconomic status, neighborhood, and the physical urban environment directly influenced the direction and timing of the spread of the disease. Diffusion was limited by cultural and physical isolation of the different components of the urban population. Immigrants, situated in the least favorable areas of the city, fared the worst.