Urban Science Research Articles

L'Homme comme un “être d'habitude.” Essai d'anthropologie et d'épistémologie pour les Sciences du Design

April 01 2023 L'Homme comme un “être d'habitude.” Essai d'anthropologie et d'épistémologie pour les Sciences du Design L'Homme comme un “être d'habitude.” Essai d'anthropologie et d'épistémologie pour les Sciences du Design [Man as a “Being of Habit”: Anthropology and Epistemology Essay for the Design Sciences] by Rabah Bousbaci (Quebec: Presses de l'Université Laval, 2020), 412 pages, paperback, $74.00 Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson, Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson is an associate professor in the Communication and Culture Department at Audencia Nantes. Her works rely on inter and transdisciplinarity between Design Sciences and information and Communication Sciences. Her research deals with social innovation by design, media and new media, and the uses of digital interfaces and connected objects, which she analyzes in a critical perspective, from semiotics and communication anthropology. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Thomas Watkin Thomas Watkin Thomas Watkin is an associate professor in urban design and sociology at University of Nîmes, France. His research in urban and social innovation through design articulates the social sciences and environmental and urban sciences. His fieldwork in territorial transformations, housing, and work practices questions the transcultural construction of knowledge in his research employing mixed methods, ethnography, and participatory design. Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Scholar Author and Article Information Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson is an associate professor in the Communication and Culture Department at Audencia Nantes. Her works rely on inter and transdisciplinarity between Design Sciences and information and Communication Sciences. Her research deals with social innovation by design, media and new media, and the uses of digital interfaces and connected objects, which she analyzes in a critical perspective, from semiotics and communication anthropology. Thomas Watkin Thomas Watkin is an associate professor in urban design and sociology at University of Nîmes, France. His research in urban and social innovation through design articulates the social sciences and environmental and urban sciences. His fieldwork in territorial transformations, housing, and work practices questions the transcultural construction of knowledge in his research employing mixed methods, ethnography, and participatory design. Online Issn: 1531-4790 Print Issn: 0747-9360 © 2023 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2023Massachusetts Institute of Technology Design Issues (2023) 39 (2): 87–89. https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_r_00720 Cite Icon Cite Permissions Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn MailTo Views Icon Views Article contents Figures & tables Video Audio Supplementary Data Peer Review Search Site Citation Marie-Julie Catoir-Brisson, Thomas Watkin; L'Homme comme un “être d'habitude.” Essai d'anthropologie et d'épistémologie pour les Sciences du Design. Design Issues 2023; 39 (2): 87–89. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/desi_r_00720 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentAll JournalsDesign Issues Search Advanced Search This content is only available as a PDF. © 2023 Massachusetts Institute of Technology2023Massachusetts Institute of Technology Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

Preface

International Conference on Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation (GSDEO 2021) The international conference on “Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation” (GSDEO) 2021 was successfully held on a virtual platform of Zoom on March 26th and 27th, 2021. The conference was jointly organized by the Indian Society of Remote Sensing (ISRS), Kolkata chapter, and the Department of Geography, School of Basic and Applied Sciences, Adamas University. Due to the non-predictable behaviour of the COVID-19 second wave, which imposed restrictions on organizing offline events, the GSDEO (2021) organizing committee decided to organize the conference online, instead of postponing the event.Remotely sensed data and geographic information systems have been increasingly used together for a vast range of applications, which include land use/land cover mapping, water resource management, weather forecasting, environmental monitoring, agriculture, disaster management, etc. Currently, intensive research is being carried out using remotely sensed data on the geoinformatics platform. New developments have led to dynamic advances in recent years. The objective of the international conference on Geospatial Science for Digital Earth Observation (GSDEO 2021) was to bring the scientists, academicians, and researchers, in the field of geo-environmental sciences on a common platform to exchange ideas and their recent findings related to the latest advances and applications of geospatial science. The call for papers received an enthusiastic response from the academic community, and over 100+ participants from 50+ colleges, universities, and institutions participated in the conference. In total 50+ research papers had been presented through the virtual Zoom conference platform in GSDEO 2021.The conference witnessed the presentation of research papers from diverse applied fields of geospatial sciences, which include the application of geoinformatics in geomorphology, hydrology, urban science, land use planning, climate, and environmental studies. There were four sessions namely, TS 1: Geomorphology and Hydrology, TS 2: Urban Science, TS 3: Social Sustainability and Land Use Planning, and TS 4: Climate and Environment. Each session was further subdivided, into two parts, namely Technical Session 1-A and 1-B. Each sub-session had been designed with one keynote speech and 5 oral presentations. Oral sessions were organized in two parts and offered through live and pre-recorded components based on the preference of the presenters. The presentation session was followed by a live Q&A session. The session chairs moderated the discussions. Similarly, poster sessions were organized in three parts and offered e-poster, live, and pre-recorded components. The best presenter of each sub-session received the best paper award.Dr. Prithvish Nag, Ex-Director of NATMO & Ex Surveyor General of India delivered the inaugural speech, and Dr. P. Chakrabarti, Former Chief Scientist of the DST&B, Govt. of West Bengal delivered a special lecture after the inaugural session. Eight eminent keynote speakers, Prof. S.P. Agarwal from the Indian Institute of Remote Sensing, Prof. Ashis Kumar Paul from Vidyasagar University, Prof. Soumya Kanti Ghosh from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, Prof. L. N. Satpati from the University of Calcutta, Prof. R.B. Singh from the University of Delhi, Dr. A.K. Raha, IFS (Retd), Prof. Gerald Mills from the University College Dublin and Prof. Sugata Hazra from Jadavpur University enriched the knowledge of participants in the field of geoinformatics by their informative lectures. The presentations and discussions widely covered the various spectrums of geoinformatics and its application in monitoring natural resources like vegetation mapping, agricultural resource monitoring, forest health assessment, water, and ocean resource management, disaster management, land resource management, water and climate studies, drought vulnerability assessment, groundwater quality monitoring, accretion mapping and the use of geospatial science in studying morphological, hydrological, and other biophysical characteristics of a region etc. Application of geoinformatics in predicting urban expansion, urban climate, disaster management, healthcare accessibility, anthropogenic resource monitoring, spatial-interaction mapping, and, sustainable regional planning were well-discussed topics of the conference.List of Committees, photos are available in the pdf.

Coupling and interaction between science and technology finance and green development: Based on coupling coordination degree model and panel vector autoregression model

Exploring the coupling and coordination between science and technology finance and green development is a critical action that needs to be addressed in achieving high-quality development in China. Based on the coupling coordination degree model and panel vector autoregression (PVAR) model, this paper uses the relevant data of 274 cities in China from 2003 to 2020 to study the relationship between science and technology finance and green development. The results show that: 1) The relationship between science and technology finance and green development has changed from low coupling coordination to medium coupling coordination in the sample period. 2) The Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Pearl River Delta regions are at a relatively high level of coupling and coordination as a whole, while other regions are at a relatively low level of coupling and coordination. 3) Through the analysis of the spatial characteristics of the coupling coordination degree, it is found that the coupling coordination degree of China’s urban science and technology finance and green development is generally positive spatial autocorrelation. Spatial correlations continue to strengthen over time. 4) By establishing a PVAR model, we examined the interaction between science and technology finance, green development, and their coupling coordination. Science and technology finance, green development and their coupling coordination degree are themselves affected. We have comprehensively and objectively grasped the matching status of China’s urban science and technology finance and green development, providing a reference for promoting the adaptation of science and technology finance to green development.

Towards a New Urban Health Science

The intensity and range of health challenges that people in cities are facing has increased in recent years. This is due in part to a failure to adequately adapt and respond to emergent and expanding global systemic risks, but also to a still-limited understanding of the profound impacts of complexity on urban health. While complexity science is increasingly embraced by the health and urban sciences, it has yet to be functionally incorporated into urban health research, policy, and practice. Accelerating urbanization in a context of escalating environmental constraints will require deeper engagement with complexity, yet also, paradoxically, much swifter, more effective, and more risk-averse decision-making. Meeting these demands will require adopting a science, policy and practice style which is integrative, inclusive, collaborative, systemic, fast, and frugal. We propose transformational shifts in scientific methodology, epistemological and ontological stances, types of rationality, and governance to shift researchers, policymakers, practitioners, and citizens towards a new, complexity-informed science of urban health.

Repurposing a Geothermal Exploration Well as a Deep Borehole Heat Exchanger: Understanding Long-Term Effects of Lithological Layering, Flow Direction, and Circulation Flow Rate

In the drive to achieve net-zero carbon emissions, decarbonisation of heating is essential. This can be facilitated by geothermal energy, but drilling geothermal wells is associated with high risks and costs. The use of preexisting wells (e.g., exhausted hydrocarbon wells or failed geothermal exploration boreholes) offsets this cost while potentially turning liabilities into assets. The Newcastle Science Central Deep Geothermal Borehole (NSCDGB) is a geothermal exploration well that was drilled to target the Carboniferous Fell Sandstone Formation at 1418.5 to 1795 m depth. However, low hydraulic conductivities prevented the development as a conventional “wet” geothermal abstraction well; therefore, new alternative methods of development are being explored. This work investigates the repurposing of the NSCDGB as a deep borehole heat exchanger (DBHE), focusing on the sustainable operation of the system in the long term by employing a constant heat load designed to contribute to local buildings or a heat network. Numerical modelling was undertaken by using OpenGeoSys software to analyse the thermal and hydraulic performance of the system. Both homogeneous and heterogeneous models were developed to compare the influence of lithological layering in contrast to a homogeneous (nonstratified) subsurface geological model. Results from homogeneous simulations modelling the DBHE to a depth of 922 m show that a 50-kW heat load can be supported for a lifetime of 25 years. This corresponds to a 65-kW building load when coupled to a heat pump with a coefficient of performance of 4.33. Thus, the DBHE could meet up to 72% of the heat demand of the adjacent urban sciences building. Rather than being a purely hypothetical case study, this work considers a real existing borehole, adjacent to a building cluster which could make use of the geothermal heat. Heterogeneity, which has been considered for the first time at the NSCDGB site, exhibits a minor impact in comparison to homogeneous simulation results. Flow direction and mass flow rate also exhibited small effects on the system performance, whereas if the exploration well could be repurposed to increased depths, the heat load could be increased. This is the first study of a coaxial DBHE at the NSCDGB site considering long-term effects of mass flow rate, heterogeneity, and flow direction. The study evaluates the feasibility of repurposing an exploratory geothermal well in the UK as a DBHE that can be used as a low-carbon heat source for space heating, thus converting liabilities into potential “green energy” assets.

Enabling urban systems transformations: co-developing national and local strategies

Transformative urban development is urgent to achieve future sustainable development and wellbeing. Transformation can benefit from shared and cumulative learning on strategies to guide urban development across local to national scales, while also reflecting the complex emergent nature of urban systems, and the need for context-specific and place-based solutions. The article addresses this challenge, drawing on extensive transdisciplinary engagement and National Strategy co-development processes for Australia. This includes generation of two frameworks as boundary objects to assist such transdisciplinary strategy development. An ‘enabling urban systems transformation’ framework comprises four generic overarching transformation enablers and a set of necessary underpinning urban capacities. This also built cumulatively on other sustainability and urban transformation studies. A complementary ‘knowledge for urban systems transformation’ framework comprises key knowledge themes that can support an integrated systems approach to mission-focused urban transformations, such as decarbonising cities. The article provides insights on the transdisciplinary processes, urban systems frameworks, and scoping of key strategies that may help those developing transformation strategies from local to national scales.Science highlights• Transdisciplinary national urban strategy development is used to distil generic frameworks and strategy scopes with potential international application.• The frameworks also build on other published framings to support convergent, cumulative and transdisciplinary urban science.• The ‘enabling transformations’ and ‘urban knowledge’ frameworks include the perspective of those developing sustainable urban systems strategies.• The enabling framework also informs ‘National Urban Policy’ and ‘Knowledge and Innovation Hub’ strategies, and prevailing power imbalances.• The knowledge framework can help frame urban challenges, missions and knowledge programs.Policy and practice recommendations• An urban ‘transformation imperative’ and ‘strategic response’ can be co-developed from local to national scales.• Local initiative is crucial to drive urban strategies, but sustained national leadership with coherent policy across sectors and scales is also key.• Diversity in engagement participation and processes generates whole-of-urban-systems and local-to-national perspectives.• Urban solutions are context-specific but generic frameworks can help collaborative issue framing and responses.• Collaborative issue framing informed by generic frameworks can bring broader perspectives to context-specific and contested policy and practice issues.

Trustworthy agent-based simulation: the case for domain-specific modelling languages

Simulation is a key tool for researching complex system behaviour. Agent-based simulation has been applied across domains, such as biology, health, economics and urban sciences. However, engineering robust, efficient, maintainable, and reliable agent-based simulations is challenging. We present a vision for engineering agent simulations comprising a family of domain-specific modelling languages (DSMLs) that integrates core software engineering, validation and simulation experimentation. We relate the vision to examples of principled simulation, to show how the DSMLs would improve robustness, efficiency, and maintainability of simulations. Focusing on how to demonstrate the fitness for purpose of a simulator, the envisaged approach supports bi-directional transparency and traceability between the original domain understanding to the implementation, interpretation of results and evaluation of hypotheses.

Sustainable brownfield redevelopment and planning: Bibliometric and visual analysis

Environmental and urban sciences have shown that brownfield problems significantly impact human behavior and the environment. Understanding the sustainable planning and redevelopment of brownfields can help governments and financial partners consider sustainable urban policies a key priority. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of research publications on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields through the Scopus database since 1990. The redevelopment of brownfields has an essential role in urban sustainability, so research trends on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields in previous literature are revealed. To our knowledge, the bibliometric analysis of the term sustainable redevelopment of brownfields is not yet an accentuated field of research. To do this, this study aims to fill this gap by offering a broad overview of the bibliometric analysis of the literature relating to this term. Brownfield and contaminated land are used as keywords in the article titles taken from the Scopus database on September 07, 2021. A total of 7197 scientific articles (Scopus) were reviewed to show how the research on “brownfields or contaminated land” has emerged and developed. Social media analysis (VOSviewer) was used for data visualization, and Harzing's Publish or Perish used for metrics and citation analysis.The results showed an increase in the growth rate of the literature on sustainable brownfield redevelopment since 1990, particularly from 2011 to 2020. Research related to the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields has involved various authors and is published in various languages. There are 160 authors from 126 countries and 160 institutions. China is the largest contributor to this study, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom. The Chemosphere Journal has published the most articles on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields. Although our results also indicate that studies on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields are mainly carried out in the field of environmental sciences. Some avenues for future research have been analyzed in three directions so that sustainable development can easily be integrated into a brownfield redevelopment project.

Future Options Redundancy Planning: Designing Multiple Pathways to Resilience in Urban and Landscape Systems Facing Complex Change

Urban systems include complex interactions and interdependencies with adjoining landscapes and regions. The pressures of change are complex, constant, and increasing. Declining biodiversity, ecosystem function, social institutions, and climate change underwrite serious sustainability challenges across urban, peri-urban, and ‘natural’ landscapes. Urban and other human ‘development’ often results in environmental damage that drives the need for ecological regeneration and restoration. Integration of interdisciplinary urban sciences and landscape sciences can guide the design of regenerative pathways and nature-positive sustainability. Social perceptions, however, tend to promote a cast-back view that favors the old ‘locked-in’ policy that attempts to restore ‘what was’ the former environment or ecosystem. Often, however, these are no longer suitable to the circumstances and future pressures of change. If urban design and planning disciplines are to help society anticipate change, we need to move from primarily deterministic approaches to those that probabilistically explore trajectories to future landscapes. Urban science and landscape design can now provide future regenerative capacity for resilient and continuous adaptation. Ongoing sustainability requires urban and landscape designs that provide ongoing anticipatory, restorative, nature-positive capacity in the context of future change and pressures. Complexity, connectivity, and redundancy are important system attributes of social-ecological systems creating adaptive capabilities. A diversity of plausible future social-ecological system responses provide several response options and redundancy, with multiple pathways to alternative sustainable futures, enhancing our adaptive capacity. A diversity of feasible responses increases the likelihood of sustaining ecological processes under changing conditions. We propose Future Options Redundancy (FOR) plans as a useful tool for nature-positive design. FOR plans are a variety of possible pathways and alternative futures defined using the characteristics of a social-ecological landscape context. Foresight design capabilities recognize in advance, the accumulating circumstances, along with policy and design opportunities for social-ecological system transformation options in urban-landscape spaces, that are nature-positive—the mark of a sustainable regenerative society.

Acknowledgment to the Reviewers of Urban Science in 2022

High-quality academic publishing is built on rigorous peer review [...]

Систематизация научных взглядов в Китае на изучение урбанизации

China’s scientific views of the urbanization process, taking into account the specifics of its course and state regulation are analyzed at the article. It was revealed that urbanization in China is fundamentally different in approaches to the classical understanding of the process and spatial development in comparison with developed countries. The main factors of differences are the intensive industrialization, regional differences of the country and the special role of the state in solving the problem of urbanization. Features of the dynamics of urbanization in China led to the allocation of four stages, characterized by a change in the priorities of scientific views on its study: the initial period of urbanization research in China (1978–1983); the period of development of domestic theories, models and leading factors of urbanization based on classical theories of urbanization (1984–1997); the period of promotion of research by the state (1998–2004); the heyday of urban science research in China (2005 to present). This article focuses on the study by Chinese scientists of theoretical approaches, basic concepts and models of urbanization (small cities, endogenous urbanization, local urbanization of settlements, top-down and bottom-up urbanization models, pluralistic urbanization).

Climate gentrification: A conceptual framework and empirical evidence in the City of Gold Coast, Australia

The rising sea level induced by global climate change has increasingly threatened coastal cities. Human relocation and resettlement in the wake of sea level rise are subject to elevation, proximity to coasts, and the resilience of communities, possibly leading to the change of socioeconomic profiles of neighbourhoods and the emergence of a new urban phenomenon termed climate gentrification . This study aims to propose a tri-disciplinary conceptual framework integrating social, environmental, and urban sciences to explore the potential existence of climate gentrification. Through an empirical study in a coastal city of Gold Coast, Australia, we first identify suburbs that are undergoing gentrification based on demographic and socioeconomic indicators. We then statistically test whether the level of gentrification is associated with the built environment and natural environment factors, in particular, the level of risk to sea level rise. The empirical findings show that the multi-dimensional determinants of social, built and natural environment features collectively affect the potential formation and spatial evolution of climate gentrification in this rapidly evolving coastal city through its push and pull effects. Our study contributes to ongoing literature by conceptualising as well as operationalising a multi-dimensional framework to study the emerging climate gentrification phenomenon. • Climate gentrification is conceptualised to emerge in coastal cities in the era of climate change. • A tri-disciplinary framework is constructed to explore the mechanisms driving climate gentrification. • Social, built and natural environments collectively affect the emergence of climate gentrification. • Gentrification exists in the City of Gold Coast, Australia, which can be potentially attributable to climate change. • Sea level rise may lead to spatial inequality in residential relocation and climate gentrification.

Heritage sites, climate change, and urban science

We describe a new research perspective on the relationship between climate change and heritage sites around the world. Existing efforts focus mainly on either the climate-related damages to cultural heritage resources, or the role of local and indigenous communities in using and preserving heritage sites. We argue that heritage sites also provide an empirical record of past successes and failures in the ways that cities and settlements have responded to environmental shocks and stresses. The scientific analysis of the relevant archaeological remains can generate hypotheses on the range of factors that facilitated or hindered resilience and influenced successful and unsuccessful urban adaptations. This knowledge, in turn, may help illuminate the drivers of urban adaptations to climate change today. The consideration of heritage sites as sources of insights for urban science and urban climate science adds a new dimension to the nexus between climate change research and heritage sites; it does not substitute for existing approaches.

Atatürk, Strategic Planning and Urban Science

Strateji kavramı felsefi olarak yöneldiği hedefine, planlama kavramı ile birleştiğinde ulaşmakta olup kullanımı dünyada 1960’larda başlayan ancak içerik ve kapsam açısından 1980’lerin sosyal, ekonomik ve politik değişim ve dönüşüm yapısından etkilenerek gelişen ve yaygınlaşan bir kavramdır. Ülkemizde 21. yüzyılda tüm kamu kurum ve kuruluşlarında uygulanması için yasallaştırılan stratejik planlama yaklaşımı esasen Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ün yaşam biçimidir. Yaptığı tüm eylemlerde, aldığı kararlarda ve söylemlerinde planlamanın önemini ve gerekliliğini vurgulayan Atatürk, yıllar öncesinden stratejik planlama yaklaşımıyla dünyaya ışık tutmuştur. Cumhuriyetin ilk yıllarında Atatürk’ün ekonomi, kültürel yaşam ve çevre için öngördüğü ilkeler ve kararlar bugün tüm dünya ülkelerinin uygulamaya çalıştığı stratejik planlama yaklaşımıyla örtüşmektedir. Atatürk’ü öğrenmek, örnek almak ve rol model seçmek bizi kandırılmaktan, başarısızlıktan ve geri kalmışlıktan kurtaracak tek yoldur. O’nun her cümlesi sonsuz derinliğe ve anlama sahip olup uğraş alanına göre yorumlanarak bir amaç olarak benimsenmelidir. Bu doğrultuda Sayın Prof. Dr. Ruşen Keleş’in 1983 yılında “Atatürk, Çağdaş Ankara ve Kentbilim” çalışmasından yola çıkarak “Atatürk, Stratejik Planlama ve Kentbilim” başlıklı bu çalışma hazırlanmıştır. Bu çalışmada Mustafa Kemal Atatürk’ün stratejik dehasından yararlanarak mekânsal, kentsel, çevresel ve yönetimsel yapıda yaşadığımız sorunların kaynağının ve çözüm yollarının saptanması amaçlanmaktadır.

Metahouse: Noise‐Insulating Chamber Based on Periodic Structures

AbstractNoise pollution remains a challenging problem requiring the development of novel systems for noise insulation. Extensive work in the field of acoustic metamaterials has led to various ventilated structures which, however, are usually demonstrated for rather narrow regions of the audible spectrum. In this work, the idea of metamaterial‐based systems is further extended, developing the concept of a metahouse chamber representing a ventilated structure for multiple band noise insulation. Broad stop‐bands originate from strong coupling between pairs of Helmholtz resonators constituting the structure. The averaged transmission −18.6 dB are demonstrated numerically and experimentally within the spectral range from 1500 to 16 500 Hz. The sparseness of the structure together with the possibility to use optically transparent materials suggest that the chamber may be also characterized by partial optical transparency depending on the mutual position of structural elements. The obtained results are promising for development of novel noise‐insulating structures advancing urban science.

Bridging landscape ecology and urban science to respond to the rising threat of mosquito-borne diseases.

The prevalence of diseases borne by mosquitoes, particularly in the genus Aedes, is rising worldwide. This has been attributed, in part, to the dramatic rates of contemporary urbanization. While Aedes-borne disease risk varies within and between cities, few investigations use urban science-based approaches to examine how city structure and function contribute to vector or pathogen introduction and maintenance. Here, we integrate theories from complex adaptive systems, landscape ecology and urban geography to develop an urban systems framework for understanding Aedes-borne diseases. The framework establishes that cities comprise hierarchically structured patches of different land uses and characteristics. Properties of the patches (that is, composition) determine localized disease risk, while configuration and connectivity drive emergent patterns of pathogen spread. Complexity is added by incorporating individual and collective human social structures, considering how feedbacks among social actors and with the landscape drive risk and transmission. We discuss how these concepts apply to case studies of Aedes-borne disease from around the world. Ultimately, the framework strengthens existing theoretical and mixed qualitative-quantitative approaches, and advances considerations of how interventions including urban planning (for example, piped water provisioning) and emerging vector control strategies (for example, Wolbachia-infected mosquitoes) can be implemented to prevent and control the rising threat of Aedes-borne diseases.

The multi-scale structural complexity of urban morphology in China

The city is a living organism, of which the emergence and development is one of the most representative complex phenomena in the social system. By the traditional method of urban science, it has been assumed that the city grows uniformly in a way. Accordingly, its morphology can be described by the traditional Euclidean geometry. Recent studies have proposed that the complex spatial phenomena related to the existing urban system are more suitable to be explained by fractal geometry. Urban morphology is an approximate fractal structure rather than a regular one, because its morphology is affected by many factors, such as topography, history, economic and political environment. In this article, we measured the degree of urban morphology deviating from the fractal by the multi-scale structural complexity method. By this method, it can find the difference in whole complexity among different cities as well as comparison in the local complexity of a city among different spatial scales. It was found that the multi-scale structural complexity is not only related to the vitality of the urban socio-economic development but also affected by the typical statistical indicators (such as the urban infrastructure). Interestingly, by constructing the mutual information network among cities, we found that there is a strong correlation between the whole complexity of typical cities, such as Chongqing and Xi′an, and Beijing and Macao, that is to say, the construction or development of these cities may follow the same set of patterns. Moreover, there are also similarities (i.e., strong correlations) between the socioeconomic forms of the years, such as 2009 and 2013, which are either all stable or all depressed. Our research provides a new perspective for depicting the complexity of the urban system from different spatial scales.

Machine learning for spatial analyses in urban areas: a scoping review

• Scoping review of 162 papers across all urban fields • Social justice, circular economy, climate and the Global South are understudied • Vast heterogeneity in data sources and machine learning methods used • A lack of reporting parameter selection hinders reproducibility of studies The challenges for sustainable cities to protect the environment, ensure economic growth, and maintain social justice have been widely recognized. Along with the digitization, availability of large datasets, Machine Learning (ML) and Artificial Intelligence (AI) are promising to revolutionize the way we analyze and plan urban areas, opening new opportunities for the sustainable city agenda. Especially urban spatial planning problems can benefit from ML approaches, leading to an increasing number of ML publications across different domains. What is missing is an overview of the most prominent domains in spatial urban ML along with a mapping of specific applied approaches. This paper aims to address this gap and guide researchers in the field of urban science and spatial data analysis to the most used methods and unexplored research gaps. We present a scoping review of ML studies that used geospatial data to analyze urban areas. Our review focuses on revealing the most prominent topics, data sources, ML methods and approaches to parameter selection. Furthermore, we determine the most prominent patterns and challenges in the use of ML. Through our analysis, we identify knowledge gaps in ML methods for spatial data science and data specifications to guide future research.

The Threshold Effect of Knowledge Diversity on Urban Green Innovation Efficiency Using the Yangtze River Delta Region as an Example.

Green innovation in the Yangtze River Delta is closely related to higher-quality integrated development, and knowledge diversity is crucial to the realization of regional green technology innovation and development. This study measured the green innovation efficiency of cities in the Yangtze River Delta region from 2010 to 2018 utilizing the Super-SBM model based on undesired outputs. In addition, this study used patent data to investigate regional knowledge deversity, including related variety, and unrelated variety, and to examine the spatio-temporal characteristics of green innovation efficiency and the threshold effect of knowledge diversity. The results demonstrated that related variety was positively correlated with the efficiency of urban green innovation, which was in line with extant studies. Unrelated variety was accompanied by an increase in urban science and technology investment and expansion of urban scale, and the negative effect of knowledge unrelated variety was significantly weakened. This study deepened the understanding of the mechanism of action of diversity, which is conducive to the sustainable development goals as regards the formulation of policies related to green innovation and the development of various types of cities.

Exploring the potential for development of urban horticulture in the 1960 s housing estates. A case study of Lublin, Poland

This manuscript presents how the urban horticulture (UH) supports sustainable.modernization of the 1960's multi-family modernist housing estates, still numerous all.over the world. The aim of the research was to indicate optimal areas for sites to introduce the.selected forms of UH within the Słowacki Estate in Lublin (Estate). The intermediate.goals were to identify the physical and social conditions that support the development.UH to the Estate and to provide an inventory of the most preferred UH forms that can.be introduced in the Estate. The residents’ interest in UH was determined using an in-depth questionnaire.interview. Next, the natural environment quality and UH suitability of the estate’s green.areas were examined. Then, an focus interview was conducted with the estate management to establish their standpoint on developing UH to the estate.The presented case study on the housing estate in Lublin (Poland) demonstrated genuine recognition for UH forms among the residents. It also showed that food security, which is basically the foundation of UH, was not essential for the estate residents, unlike its secondary aspects – recreation, social integration, and the aesthetic value of flower cultivation. The preferred UH forms include: window sill and balcony cultivations, private gardens at ground-floor apartments, rooftop farms (in cooperation with city authorities), community gardens in the form of flowerbeds set up in disused sandboxes and small flower allotment gardens. The novelty of this research is, on the one hand, its practical dimension, i.e., focusing on the problem of introduction (or development) of UH forms in the specific "urban organism" – an existing housing estate with its coherent urban layout, local community and own authorities. The following publication has also a methodological dimension,i.e., it proposes a method of investigating the potential of a housing estate to introduce/develop UH. It is also valuable due to its interdisciplinary dimension, combining sociological, agrienvironmental,and urban sciences in a new way. The results will support the development of the housing environment sustainability in estates, especially with, elderly residents. Presented case study will be an inspiration for introducing UH in 1960's modernist housing estates in other countries.