Urban Redesign Research Articles

Public health effectiveness of cooling centres in adverse hot weather events: a systematic review

Abstract Background The 2022 heatwave in England highlighted the need for effective public health interventions like cooling centres in temperate climates where built-in air conditioning is uncommon. Aim To determine the impacts of cooling centres on heat-related health outcomes for users in temperate climates, assessing their effectiveness and identifying barriers to usage. Methods This systematic review analysed literature sourced from MEDLINE, Embase, Web of Science, CENTRAL, and Google Scholar from January 2010 to February 2023. Criteria for inclusion focused on studies evaluating health outcomes related to cooling centre use. Screening and quality assessments were independently conducted using the Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool. Results The review included six studies: three quantitative, three qualitative. Two were evidence synthesis of prior studies. No studies conclusively measured health and wellbeing outcomes directly after cooling centre use; instead, research emphasised user demographics, barriers, and facilitators. Common barriers included accessibility, operational hours, and public perceptions, which often misalign with user needs. Successful implementations were noted in centres integrated within community facilities like libraries or community centres. One modelling study suggested a number needed to treat to avoid one heat-related death of 1 million. The relevance of this is unclear as it was in a hotter climate with greater prevalence of air conditioning than in England. Conclusions While direct health benefits in cooler climates like England are poorly documented, cooling centres play an essential role in comprehensive heat response strategies. They offer potential social benefits and provide a cost-effective alternative to urban redesign. Future studies should aim to directly measure health outcomes and refine operational strategies to maximise benefits. Key messages • Cooling centres are crucial in comprehensive heat response strategies, yet direct evidence in cooler climates like England remains limited. • Integration with existing community services may significantly enhance cooling centre utilisation and effectiveness.

A Systematic Review of Outdoor Thermal Comfort Studies for the Urban (Re)Design of City Squares

In the upcoming period, city squares’ urban redesign will be crucial in achieving sustainable development goals. This study presents a systematic review of OTC-related studies for the urban design of city squares using the PRISMA 2020 methodology. A review included a total of 173 papers from 2001 to 2023. The results identified five study types—clusters based on four pre-defined criteria: study approach, data collection methods, time duration, and primary objectives. The clusters indicate that more than half of all studies are related to the comparison of thermal comfort and heat mitigation measures. Most of the case studies were located in one of three climate zones: temperate oceanic (Cfb) (58 studies), hot summer Mediterranean (Csa) (40 studies), or humid subtropical (Cfa) (28 studies). The most common geometry of the analyzed urban square is medium-sized, is rectangular, and has dominant axel orientation south–north. Also, based on all five clusters, several research gaps were identified, appropriate for future research: the majority of studies related to the traditionally considered climate areas, no typology of urban square geometry configuration based on OTC assessment, and the lack of a local design model for assessing and improving the thermal comfort of city squares.

Effects of major urban redesign on sedentary behavior, physical activity, active transport and health-related quality of life in adults

BackgroundThe built environment is increasingly recognized as a determinant for health and health behaviors. Existing evidence regarding the relationship between environment and health (behaviors) is varying in significance and magnitude, and more high-quality longitudinal studies are needed. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of a major urban redesign project on physical activity (PA), sedentary behavior (SB), active transport (AT), health-related quality of life (HRQOL), social activities (SA) and meaningfulness, at 29–39 months after opening of the reconstructed area.MethodsPA and AT were measured using accelerometers and GPS loggers. HRQOL and sociodemographic characteristics were assessed using questionnaires. In total, 241 participants provided valid data at baseline and follow-up. We distinguished three groups, based on proximity to the intervention area: maximal exposure group, minimal exposure group and no exposure group.ResultsBoth the maximal and minimal exposure groups showed significantly different trends regarding transport-based PA levels compared to the no exposure group. In the exposure groups SB decreased, while it increased in the no exposure group. Also, transport-based light intensity PA remained stable in the exposure groups, while it significantly decreased in the no exposure group. No intervention effects were found for total daily PA levels. Scores on SA and meaningfulness increased in the maximal exposure group and decreased in the minimal and no exposure group, but changes were not statistically significant.ConclusionThe results of this study emphasize the potential of the built environment in changing SB and highlights the relevance of longer-term follow-up measurements to explore the full potential of urban redesign projects.Trial registrationThis research was retrospectively registered at the Netherlands Trial Register (NL8108).

Urban Redesign of Public Spaces in Residential Neighborhoods to Raise the Efficiency of Coexistence in the Event of Dealing with Epidemics Case Study - City of Aqaba (Jordan)

Urban Redesign of Public Spaces in Residential Neighborhoods to Raise the Efficiency of Coexistence in the Event of Dealing with Epidemics Case Study - City of Aqaba (Jordan)

Making post-war urban neighbourhoods healthier: involving residents’ perspectives in selecting locations for health promoting urban redesign interventions

ABSTRACT Post-war urban neighbourhoods in industrialised countries have been shown to negatively affect the lifestyles of their residents due to their design. This study aims at developing an empirical procedure to select locations to be redesigned and the determinants of health at stake in these locations, with involvement of residents’ perspectives as core issue. We addressed a post-war neighbourhood in the city of Groningen, the Netherlands. We collected data from three perspectives: spatial analyses by urban designers, interviews with experts in local health and social care (n = 11) and online questionnaires filled in by residents (n = 99). These data provided input for the selection of locations to be redesigned by a multidisciplinary team (n = 16). The procedure yielded the following types of locations (and determinants): An area adjacent to a central shopping mall (social interaction, traffic safety, physical activity), a park (experiencing green, physical activity, social safety, social interaction) and a block of low-rise row houses around a public square (social safety, social interaction, traffic safety). We developed an empirical procedure for the selection of locations and determinants to be addressed, with addressing residents’ perspectives. This procedure is potentially applicable to similar neighbourhoods internationally.

The Carmelite Civitas Sancta: Conventual foundations and urban redesign in early 17th-century Rome

The Carmelite Civitas Sancta: Conventual foundations and urban redesign in early 17th-century Rome

The Wasatch Environmental Observatory: A mountain to urban research network in the semi‐arid westernUS

AbstractThe 2085 km2Jordan River Basin, and its seven sub‐catchments draining the Central Wasatch Range immediately east of Salt Lake City, UT, are home to an array of hydrologic, atmospheric, climatic and chemical research infrastructure that collectively forms the Wasatch Environmental Observatory (WEO). WEO is geographically nested within a wildland to urban land‐use gradient and built upon a strong foundation of over a century of discharge and climate records. A 2200 m gradient in elevation results in variable precipitation, temperature and vegetation patterns. Soil and subsurface structure reflect systematic variation in geology from granitic, intrusive to mixed sedimentary clastic across headwater catchments, all draining to the alluvial or colluvial sediments of the former Lake Bonneville. Winter snowfall and spring snowmelt control annual hydroclimate, rapid population growth dominates geographic change in lower elevations and urban gas and particle emissions contribute to episodes of severe air pollution in this closed‐basin. Long‐term hydroclimate observations across this diverse landscape provide the foundation for an expanding network of infrastructure in both montane and urban landscapes. Current infrastructure supports both basic and applied research in atmospheric chemistry, biogeochemistry, climate, ecology, hydrology, meteorology, resource management and urban redesign that is augmented through strong partnerships with cooperating agencies. These features allow WEO to serve as a unique natural laboratory for addressing research questions facing seasonally snow‐covered, semi‐arid regions in a rapidly changing world and an excellent facility for providing student education and research training.

A Tale of Three Misters: The Effect of Water Features on Soundscape Assessments in a Montreal Public Space

The acoustic environments of small, central urban parks are often dominated by traffic sounds. Water sounds can be used to mitigate the negative impacts of unwanted sounds through masking. Studies comparing the effects of different water sounds are typically conducted using recordings in laboratory settings where ecological validity is limited. An urban redesign project in Montreal took the innovative approach of trying three sequential temporary designs of a new public square, each of which included a distinct water feature that produced a lightly-audible mist. Here we report on a field experiment evaluating the effect of the water feature in each of the three designs. Respondents (n = 274) evaluated their experience with the three different designs using questionnaires including soundscape (SSQP) and restorativeness scales, and perceived loudness. The results indicate a significant interaction effect between the water feature and the design of the space, particularly on ratings of chaotic and loud. While two water feature designs had an overall “positive” effect (i.e., less loud and chaotic) on soundscape assessment, the third water feature design produced the opposite effect. These findings hold even after accounting for ambient temperature. This opportunity to test multiple water features in the same space revealed that water features do not automatically improve soundscape assessments. The visual design, function of the space and environmental conditions should be carefully considered and calls for more field studies. We discuss consequences and considerations for the use of water features in public spaces as well as the implications in terms of ecological validity of soundscape studies.

Resident co-created urban redesign to improve health in post-war neighbourhoods: an exploration

Abstract Urban interventions in the built environment can improve the health of residents by impacting daily living patterns and lifestyles. Co-creation of these interventions with residents enhances their effectiveness. This pilot study investigates how the co-creation process can be developed, with elderly as a target group. The setting of the pilot is the area around a shopping centre in a post-war neighbourhood. Residents were recruited via the neighbourhood council and existing networks, via student-recruiters and via door-to-door flyers. They were asked to participate in the evaluation of proposed interventions, which aimed to increase physical activity. Virtual reality (VR) techniques were used as a tool to communicate current and redesigned environments. We organised three meetings for residents, where VR was used to: 1) collect data on current urban issues, 2) evaluate the different redesigns of the project location, and 3) present a final redesign. During meeting 1 and 2, VR was supported by questionnaires to collect data. We recruited 31 residents with an average age of 65, mostly through the neighbourhood council and existing networks. Recruitment with flyers resulted in only 1 participant (<1% response). The data collected from the combination of VR and questionnaires showed that participants were likely to walk more often in the redesigned interventions. Moreover, participants indicated that the differences between current and redesigned environments were very clear (score 4.8 out of 5) and that they could imagine very well what the designs would look like in real-life (score 4.6/5). The VR-experience was scored an 8/10 and 28 participants were willing to participate in future activities. Recruiting residents through existing networks, including the neighbourhood council, was most effective. VR technology is a very useful tool to communicate urban interventions and the residents were very capable of evaluating them while providing valuable input for the redesigns. Key messages Co-creating urban redesigns with residents to improve health is feasible, and virtual reality is of great added value as a co-creation supporting and communication tool. Urban interventions impact daily living patterns and lifestyles of residents and thereby public health.

Post-earthquake reconstruction as an opportunity for a sustainable reorganisation of transport and urban structure

The reconstruction of a damaged historic/modern urban system following a natural catastrophic event, even if sophisticated, complex and expensive can become an opportunity to apply innovative methods of urban regeneration oriented towards environmental sustainability. A research by the University of L'Aquila exploring the consequences of the 2009 earthquake in central Italy, both in analytical and design terms, is focused on this theme, applying innovative principles to the reconstruction project of the city of L'Aquila, capital of the Abruzzo Region (Italy). The study carries out an analysis of the earthquake effects on urban systems and mobility and proposes an operating strategy based on a multidisciplinary approach that integrates urban design and sustainable mobility strategies. In particular, it outlines the components of Strategic Projects that has been developed for the reconnection of the urban fragments created by the dispersion of the city after the earthquake, which has applied the principles of multi-modal sustainable mobility.The results of the study show that the post-quake reconstruction, if properly interpreted, can be a unique opportunity to conceive and construct the conditions to implement a new and more efficient urban sustainable transport model through advanced technologies based on outlining an innovative urban redesign approach.

Opening Gijón to Future: The Limited Revision of the Official Urban Catalogue

<p class="Abstract"><em>Gijón, also known as Xixón, is an important city that rivals Oviedo, the historical capital of the Autonomous Region and Principality of Asturias (Spain), in historical demographic and economic terms. It has traditionally been a port and, more recently, an industrial city, which experienced very rapid population growth and with little planning. After the industrial crisis of the 80s, the city wanted to become a tourist location more than an industrial harbor. Both its privileged location and the historical urban heritage that still remain are corner stones to make this change possible. However, the late and strict legislation (improvised to protect the last remains of a previously uncontrolled development) impeded a necessary urban re-design in order to shelter the new touristic supplies. This paper proposes some urban solutions to selectively modify the catalogue according with the cultural and touristic potentials of the city. These solutions were agreed by the working group set up by Gijón City Council and ERDU (Estudio de Renovación y Desarrollos Urbanos -Urban Renovation and Development Studio).</em></p><em><em><br /></em></em>

KIND STREETS: URBAN RE-DESIGN AND AGEING IN PLACE WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

KIND STREETS: URBAN RE-DESIGN AND AGEING IN PLACE WITH COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT

The significance of creative industry policy narratives for Zurich's transformation toward a post-industrial city

During the past decades, the city of Zurich endeavoured to facilitate both a transition toward a post-industrial economic base and a diversification of its existing service sector. The latter relates to Zurich’s idiosyncrasies that, besides its long industrial tradition, it already disposed of a strong service sector, i.e., the financial services since the 19th century. Since the repeated financial crises in the 1990s and 2000s, however, the city pursued a two-fold strategy. It sought to lessen its over-dependence on dominating private banking, whilst attempting to strengthen this sector’s global competitiveness by attracting talent. This article shows how the creative industries served as a key instrument for both strategies and critically investigates the narrative created to legitimise and underpin a new economic growth agenda with concomitant new urban policies of neo-liberal design. Important socio-spatial consequences of these new urban policies are discussed in the example of the transformation of one of Zurich’s former industrial districts, Escher Wyss, today known as Zurich-West. Empirically, this article draws on a detailed content analysis of policy and marketing documents between 2005 and 2010, which reveal the legitimisation process of the making of the new trend-quarter, Zurich-West. Additional qualitative interviews with the new creatives in this quarter illustrate the catalysing of the urban redesign.

Implementing universal design in a Norwegian context: Balancing core values and practical priorities

How can urban planning processes include perspectives from people with disabilities? This paper discusses the implementation of universal design (UD) and accessibility in a local urban context. Universal design consists of both core values, such as inclusion and equal status, and specific design initiatives, such as design of pavement surfaces and benches. The aim of implementing universal designing strategies is to achieve equal access for all citizens. The paper interprets the urbanist Henri Lefebvre's notion of the right to the city as a right to participate in urban life and thus a dimension of equal citizenship on a very concrete level. The right to participate in urban life is closely linked to access to the built environment. Based on an empirical study of an urban redesign project, I argue that equal access must imply both access to public places and to political processes.

Breaking out: New freedoms in urban (re)design work by adding immersive environments

Nowadays, urban planning and urban design are facing big changes in the use of different digital tools. Reaching out and engaging citizens and other stakeholders in urban design process are significant for good practice. Main problem discussed in this article is the lack of suitable tools/interfaces for instant collaboration between government, profession, and public. Article focuses on immersive environments, as full immersion could offer better notion of different proposals of urban design. As a case study, Immersive Terf is chosen; more exactly, article focuses on new approach and new development of tool Urban Redesign Terf. Deep immersive collaboration on design could free participant’s mind and increase level of freedom in design/planning process. Immersive environments have already been used in building information modeling (BIM) managment, but innovation part, presented here, are technological: significant changes in the software and walk-through big models, which is the base for urban design and urban planning process.

Methodological Proposal for Redesigning Informal Communities - Constructing Resilience in Hydrological Stress Conditions

Abstract The paper presents a methodological proposal in the form of a framework for redesigning informal settlements based on Low-impact Design and Development methodology. It involves the management of rainwater through the implementation of urban infrastructure on local scale in a decentralized and collaborative manner. It served as an object of study the region of Baixada de Jacarepagua, a vector of expansion of the city of Rio de Janeiro. The proposed framework adopts Action-Research methodology. The stages envisaged in the framework are: (i) initial, which involves approaching the community, establishing bonds and setting up a management group, (ii) diagnosis, and (iii) project. The application of the framework is demonstrated by means of a case study of the community, which typifies the slums in areas of marshland and the peripheral urban landscape. It is believed that this framework can guide the urban redesign of other communities within the perspective of sustainable development.

José Octacílio Saboya Ribeiro: o saber urbanístico e as propostas de reestruturação de São Luís do Maranhão durante a Era Vargas

The article aims to analyze the action of the engineer Jose Octacilio Saboya Ribeiro, mayor of Sao Luis of Maranhao between September 1936 and July 1937, in light of new modern specialties based on rationalizing engineering of public and private spaces. From this, the text revolves around the production of engineer – planner, exemplified by Postures Code of 1936 and the message sent to the Town Hall, containing the foundations for urban redesign of the city, in accordance with the modern scope of Vargas’s Era through urban redesigns, with the greater purpose the proposal of modern rationality.

Branding the design city: cultural policy and creative events in Seoul

This article examines cultural policy in the city of Seoul, South Korea. The central case study covers Mayor Oh Se-hoon and his ambitious design-based policy initiatives. Oh sought to ‘upgrade’ Seoul by creating a ‘design city’ and establishing wider international appeal and recognition. His instrumental use of design to achieve this resulted in urban redesign and redevelopment, as well as the introduction of a short-lived annual cultural event, the Seoul Design Olympiad (later the Seoul Design Fair). This article argues that Oh’s policies failed to achieve their desired effect due to miscommunication, political instability and a consistent neglect of the pressing cultural demands of tourists and citizens. Oh’s successor as Mayor of Seoul, Park Wonsoon, has discarded Oh’s design plans and instead aims to use cultural policy to enact tangible change for local citizens. The case of Seoul therefore reveals the possibilities and pitfalls of globally ambitious design-based cultural policy.

Geoengineering cities to stabilise climate

Geoengineering typically refers to planetary-scale or perhaps regional-scale technological responses to the deleterious effects of human-induced climate change. This paper explores the idea that urbanisation could constitute a successful form of distributed, bottom-up geoengineering. Through the redesign of existing urban areas and the creation of more efficient new ones, per capita energy consumption and carbon dioxide generation could potentially be radically reduced. However, implementing these changes requires a combination of new technology and altered behaviour, coordination across sectors and geography, and unusually strong political action. In particular, civil engineers and economists would need to create methods for determining the most cost-effective ways for each city to become more resource efficient. Urban redesign carries a lower risk and offers more ancillary benefits than most other geoengineering schemes. Given the potentially catastrophic consequences of global warming, engineers, planners and politicians need to calculate how quickly and extensively cities can change to become positive forces for repairing the climate.

Creative Destruction

This article argues that in the interwar period, the Turkish government subjected Ottoman cities to various forms of spatial planning aimed at modernizing but also ethnically homogenizing them. It draws on untapped sources to portray how the regime saw this “modernization” as a panacea that would bring the country up to par with European “civilization.” In the ideological universe of the regime, a perfect society could be forged by design and coercion. As a result, the multiethnic cities of Turkey became the object of high-modernist utopias of spatial planning and urban redesign. These policies were also aimed at erasing Ottoman cities’ multiethnic pasts and crafting a “healthy” Turkish population.