Urban Space Management Research Articles

Visual communication and the management of passenger conduct: A visual analysis of transit etiquette posters by Japanese railway companies

The visual communication of behavioural expectations plays an important role in the management of contemporary urban spaces. This is evident in mass transit settings where posters and signage promoting good mobility practices are a common sight. Despite the prevalence of such semiotic interventions in passenger conduct in public transport environments globally (see Bissell’s Transit Life: How Commuting Is Transforming Our Cities, 2018; Moore’s ‘Preventing anti-social behaviour on public transport: An alternative route?’, 2010; and Ureta’s ‘Waiting for the barbarians: Disciplinary devices on Metro de Santiago, 2012), their visual structure has only received limited scholarly attention. This article seeks to address this oversight through a visual analysis of ‘manner posters’ issued by Japanese railway providers. Using a two-pronged content analysis approach, the author examines the design strategies employed to problematise passenger misconduct and solicit desirable mobility practices while simultaneously protecting customer sensibilities. Focusing on character figuration, image–viewer relations and the portrayal of misconduct, the article argues that manner posters inscribe behavioural expectations into the physical transport environment by modelling their narrative visual content after actual commuter experiences and using salience-increasing design techniques to highlight etiquette transgressions. As an in-depth visual analysis of transit manner posters, the article thus advances our understanding of the strategic use of visual communication for the management of everyday behaviour and the production and maintenance of public order in contemporary cities.

Towards Sustainable Management of Urban Ecological Space: A Zoning Approach Hybridized by Ecosystem Service Value and Ecological Risk Assessment

Massive growth is posing threat to the ecological security and sustainability of cities. Ecosystem service value (ESV) and ecological risk index (ERI) assessment can be conducted to enhance urban ecosystem management through the enhanced recognition of these values and risks in decision-making. This paper aimed to measure spatiotemporal ESV and ERI for Shizuishan City located in central China, and, based on this, how to zone urban ecological space using land cover data (for the years 2010, 2015, and 2020). The management options of different zones were suggested to mitigate and manage any potential negative impacts on urban ecological security. Results show that: (1) The spatial distribution characteristic of ESV is “high in the south and low in the north”. The total ESV exhibited an upward tendency from 2010 to 2020. (2) The high-ERI areas were distributed in the peripheral region, while the low-ERI areas were concentrated in the central region. The ERI of water was in decline continuously, whereas the ERI of wetland maintained a high level. (3) The zoning approach integrating ESV and ERI assessment can truly reflect the status of the environment and better clarify the direction of ecological development for different areas. Among four different ecological zones, the high-ESV and low-ERI areas (I) have abundant ecological resources, and they are set as “Priority Development Areas”. The low-ESV and low-ERI areas (II) are set as “Ecological Improvement Areas” because the area of ecological lands are confined. The low-ESV and high-ERI areas (III) have a fragile ecological environment, and they are set as “Exploitation-Prohibited Areas”. The high-ESV and high-ERI areas (IV) are mainly distributed near water and wetland, and they are set as “Research-focused Areas”.

Edge-based passive crowd monitoring through WiFi Beacons

Tracking people’s flows has become crucial, not only for safety and security, but also for numerous practical business applications and better management of urban spaces, facilities and services. In this paper, we proposed methodologies that, exploiting IoT technology deployed at the edge of the network, allow for the analysis of people’s movement in urban environments, both outdoors and indoors. In particular, leveraging the use of WiFi probe packets sent by smart devices carried by people on the move, we first describe an implementation of our methodology using off-the-shelf hardware to count people boarding public transportation vehicles. We then present an alternate implementation using commercial WiFi scanners connected to the edge and leveraging suitably deployed virtual network functions to process the data collected by a OneM2M IoT platform, proposing also a mobility tracking procedure that can be applied to anonymized data provided by commercial WiFi scanners. Our experimental results show that the proposed approaches to people counting and mobility detection can achieve a good level of accuracy, while overall carrying a low price tag.

Review: Modern Architecture, Empire, and Race in Fascist Italy

Review: <i>Modern Architecture, Empire, and Race in Fascist Italy</i>

UAV Mapping and 3D Modeling as a Tool for Promotion and Management of the Urban Space

In the past few decades, the management of urban spaces with appropriate tools has been in constant discussion due to the plethora of new technologies that have emerged for participatory planning, drone mapping, photogrammetry and 3D modeling. In a multitude of situations, considerable progress has been made regarding the strategic impact of the successful use of technology for the development of urban spaces. The current era provides us with important digital tools and the opportunity to test new perspectives in the sustainable development of cities. This paper aims to explore the contribution of UAVs to the spatial mapping process of urban space, with the goal of collecting quantifiable and qualitative information to use for 3D modeling that can enable a more comprehensive understanding of the urban environment, thus facilitating urban regeneration processes. Three-dimensional models of high accuracy are not mandatory for this research. The location of the selected research area is particularly interesting due to its boundaries, urban voids and public space that can evolve through public participation. The results can be used for crowdsourcing in participatory decision-making processes and for exploring the consequences that these have on the built environment, and they can be used as a new means of involvement of citizens in local decision-making processes.

The Comparative Study on the Management Mode of the Street Vending in Hong Kong and Singapore

Street vending, one of the crucial livelihoods of poorer sections, persists in all cities; meanwhile, it brings increased social costs, like traffic congestion and public health, which becomes one of the main challenges of urban public space management. Adopted by the desk-and-computer research method, this paper would analyze the management measures of hawkers in Hong Kong and Singapore from a comparative perspective. It, therefore, suggests that city administrations need to safeguard the rights of hawkers and adopt a more people-oriented management style, so as to pursue a more inclusive urban ecology.

Self-Management of Housing and Urban Commons: New Belgrade and Reflections on Commons Today

The concepts of collective management of housing and urban spaces are being revisited within the contemporary discussions about community-driven approaches and practices and, in particular, related to the revitalization of residential neighbourhoods. This research identifies the concepts of self-management and social ownership of housing in the post-World War II period in Yugoslavia as an important legacy of Yugoslav urban planning and housing policies. Although they were subsequently neglected, these concepts can contribute to contemporary global discussions about housing affordability and the role of community in ensuring spatial and social equality. New Belgrade mass housing blocks—the main site for testing the new dwelling concepts, in terms of both policies and modernist design—are the object of this research. The article is mainly a theoretical analysis of the issues of common interest and engagement, common good, and common spaces which played a decisive role in its design. The study applies interpretative and correlational research methods in re-theorizing these concepts and their underlying narratives. It traces how the perspectives on the collective practices and spaces evolved over time, revealing a correlation between changed social practices and the spatial deterioration of the New Belgrade mass housing blocks. The study highlights the importance of both collective practices and common spaces for addressing housing issues, emphasizing their instrumentality, and potentiality for rearticulating the dialogue between public and private, engaging citizens in interactive and inclusive decision-making and co-creation of the urban reality.

Factors influencing usage of urban blue spaces: A systems-based approach to identify leverage points

Urban blue spaces may have salutogenic health benefits. It is crucial to understand the factors that influence the use of urban blue spaces so that urban populations can benefit equitably. A system map of factors influencing usage was developed by qualitatively analysing 203 intercept interviews conducted with people actively using the towpath along the canal in North Glasgow, Scotland. Network analysis was used to analyse the system map's structure identifying Exercise & Health and Urban Nature as key leverage points and Cleanliness & Maintenance as the key area for improvement. Findings could be used to inform the management, governance and revitalisation of urban blue spaces with the ultimate aim of maximising their potential to be equitable, sustainable and salutogenic.

More than ponds amid skyscrapers: Urban fisheries as multiscalar human–natural systems

Abstract Although social-ecological fisheries research is growing, comparatively little attention is paid to fisheries in urban environments. We aim to address this imbalance, because as cities expand worldwide, we expect urban fisheries to become more widespread and important in providing food/nutrition security, recreation, community well-being, and other benefits to fisheries stakeholders and urban dwellers across spatiotemporal scales. This paper contains a first analysis of the economic and sociocultural provisions, trade-offs, and dilemmas associated with urban fisheries to yield insights for sustainable management and planning of urban blue space. To address these objectives, we use the metacoupling framework, a method for assessing human–nature interactions within and across adjacent and distant fisheries systems. We use examples from multiple countries and data from the United States to illustrate how urban fisheries encompass flows of people, money, and information across multiple spatiotemporal scales and provide nutritional, recreational, social, and cultural benefits to fisheries stakeholders. Throughout the world, urban fisheries are influenced by wide-ranging human needs (e.g. food provisioning, recreation, aquatic resource education) that generate social-ecological effects within and beyond cities. Our analysis yields insights for developing holistic, metacoupling-informed management approaches that address the diverse social-ecological objectives and trade-offs involved in sustainable development of urban fisheries.

Barriers to the Application of Spatial Information Systems in the SmartCity Dynamic Management

The article concerns using of SIS (Spatial Information System) technology in dynamic Smart City management. SIS technology tools have become an integral part of urban space management. The mentioned technology is used by more and more smaller cities. Although SIS is becoming more and more popular, the application of different types of tools using it still encounters different types of barriers. Meanwhile, the dynamic management of Smart City is becoming more and more complex, it requires new tools. SIS technology can provide such utilities. However, their implementation is slowed down by various barriers.The aim of the study was to identify barriers that slow down the implementation of SIS technology tools. For this purpose, a five-level model of SIS technology application development was worked out. The model shows the direction of development of SIS technology application, and thanks to it, it was indicated what barriers may appear when moving to the next levels. In order to identify them, a two-stage empirical study was carried out in Polish cities with a population of about 100,000. Their aim was first to check, whether the examined cities use SIS technology tools. This was confirmed by the survey conducted by means of electronic observation. Afterwards, studies were conducted in 13 medium-sized cities in Poland. Based on the results, the model of development of SIS technology application was positively verified by assigning an appropriate level of development to each of the examined cities. Barriers were then identified and included: mental, financial, organizational and legal, information, technological and mental barriers.

Assessment of coordinative relationship between comprehensive ecosystem service and urbanization: A case study of Yangtze River Delta urban Agglomerations, China

Understanding the coordinative relationship between urbanization and ecosystem services (ESs) has a great significance in sustainable development in urban agglomeration. In this paper, InVEST model was firstly used to assess the spatio-temporal evaluation of four types of ESs (water yield, carbon storage, soil retention and nitrogen export) in the Yangtze River Delta Urban Agglomerations (YRDUA) of China from 2000 to 2020. Then comprehensive evaluation index system of urbanization was established from the multi-dimensions of economy, population and land to analyze the urbanization level during the study period. Finally, a comprehensive ecosystem service (CES) index was developed to explore the coordinative relationship between ESs and urbanization by using coupling coordinating degree model (CCDM). The results revealed that: 1) Urbanization has led to greatly land use/ land cover change, which caused the degradation of carbon storage and water purification, and the improvement of water yield and soil retention. The higher water yield and nitrogen export mainly clustered around urban areas, while higher carbon storage and soil retention were distributed in forest-rich cities in the Zhejiang and the southern of Anhui. There were positive correlations between different ESs. And the CES of cities in the YRDUA had deteriorated during the study period. 2) The urbanization levels of almost all cities showed an overall upward trend, with Shanghai the highest urbanization, followed by Nanjing and Hangzhou, and rapid urban expansion mainly occurred in developed urban areas. 3) The coordinative relationship between CES and urbanization in the YRDUA was always in mild incoordination, showing an obvious spatial distribution pattern of “higher in the south, but lower in the north”. The coordinative relationship between CES and urbanization in most cities in the north of YRDUA has not achieved coordination development, with the state of moderate or mild incoordination, while the cities in the south has attained coordination development, with the state of primary or even superior coordination. Therefore, our study suggested that differentiated urban space management and control policies should be made for the YRDUA to improve the overall coordinative relationship between CES and urbanization.

Characterisation of the soundscape of parks and green areas through the triangulation of methodologies proposed by ISO/TS 12913-2

The management of urban spaces and environmental health has been growing in recent years, and the sound aspects were highlighted during the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Locations that generally showed noises from vehicle traffic presented a diversity of sounds, generally not perceived in everyday situations before the pandemic. Awareness of the sound impacts generated before the pandemic has provided a broad discussion between the scientific community and managers regarding developing tools to improve urban planning and environmental health in cities. This study aims to characterise the soundscape of two parks in Curitiba by triangulating evaluation methodologies proposed in the ISO/TS 12913-2 (2018). Such triangulation included the descriptive analysis of objective and subjective sound data, analysis and elaboration of sound and perception maps, providing a systemic overview of the sonic environment of the investigated parks.

The importance of wild bee communities as urban pollinators and the influence of honeybee hive density

While urban beekeeping is on the rise, data on the role of wild bee communities as crop pollinators in cities is still scarce. We analysed wild bee visitation rates on apple, plum, cherry, pear, blackberry, raspberry, and strawberry in a Bavarian city with a very high honeybee density of c. 19 hives/km2. During 137.5 hours of observation time, we observed 52 wild bee species on the studied crop plants. During more than 50 h of observation time on fruit trees in flower, we found that wild bees provided 41% of the total bee visits, honeybees the remaining 59%. Honeybee hive density had a significantly negative effect on wild bee abundance. Bumblebees appeared more tolerant to poor weather conditions than all other bee groups. Wild bee species richness on apple flowers was not significantly impacted by flower diversity in the surroundings of the trees. Together, our results suggest that species-rich wild bee communities in urban areas are important for pollination success in common fruit crops, especially under unstable spring weather conditions. Bee-friendly management of urban spaces should be prioritised to support wild bee communities as well as the increasing number of honeybees in cities.

Virtual Reality as a Tool for Public Consultations in Spatial Planning and Management

Planning and management of urban space that involves the local community the process is key to optimal management of the surroundings, in line with social needs. Social isolation imposed because of the COVID-19 pandemic considerably reduces the possibility of conducting public consultations. This study hypothesized that such consultations can be carried out using new visualisation technologies in the virtual reality (VR) area. Owing to the development of new technologies, innovative services can be created which make it easier for recipients to absorb new content. To this end, the ArchitektVR application was developed, which uses enhanced reality for public consultations concerning planned land development. 3D visualisation with VR enables the presentation of various aspects of area development in a clear form, understandable to an average user with no specialist qualifications. It facilitates the presentation and creation of multiple variants/scenarios for the future shape of the area. The research assumptions were tested for a disused area of a water body. According to preliminary tests, the use of virtual reality could provide a new form of communication between decision-makers and citizens. Effective and easy-to-understand visualisations might provide encouragement to participate in local matters and enable citizens to make better decisions. 3D visualisation enabled concerned individuals to assess the potential development of a selected area fragment without an in-person visit, either in the field or to an office. This is of particular importance in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic and sanitary restrictions.

Urban blue spaces and human health: A systematic review and meta-analysis of quantitative studies

Blue spaces, defined as all forms of natural and manmade surface water, are an integral part of cities. This is the first quantitative synthesis of the health impacts of urban blue spaces. Research exploring the health benefits of blue spaces in urban contexts is emergent and, thus, a systematic review and meta-analysis of the evidence is deemed timely. We searched seven databases from inception to August 2019. From 4493 screened citations, 25 eligible studies were identified. Fourteen of these were included in a quantitative synthesis. We found a beneficial association between urban blue space and obesity (β = -0.34, 95% CI [-0.19, -0.09], p < 0.001), all-cause mortality (HR = 0.99, 95% CI [0.97, 1.00], p = 0.038), general health (Cohen's d = -0.09, 95% CI [-0.10, -0.08], p < 0.001) and self-reported mental health and wellbeing (Cohen's d = -0.25, 95% CI [-0.44, -0.07], p < 0.001). Effect sizes were small but statistically significant and the overall quality of evidence was good. Evidence for all other health outcomes was incommensurable, and so we provide a narrative description of study results for those outcomes. Although evidence is growing within the field of urban blue space and health, the body of evidence remains small and heterogeneous. More research is required to further understand and harness the benefits of urban blue spaces for public health and guide urban blue space management and development.

RETRACTED: Blue Green infrastructure as a tool for sustainable urban development

Abstract The exponential growth of urban areas is putting a strain on urban land and water resources, besides has serious implications on the urban environment. Blue-Green infrastructure (BGI) is an emerging solution for sustainable urban planning and efficient management of urban spaces. This article highlights the benefits offered by BGI and the available BGI technologies based on available scientific works. The relationship between environmental well-being, human health, and BGI has been examined from several recent literature reviews. The performance of various available BGI techniques and the models available have also been rigorously reviewed by consulting publications, peer-reviewed journal papers, documents, and books published by various sources. A major gap in performance evaluation of different BGI technologies has been attempted to be bridged by discussing in detail the available modelling tools. This review article discusses different BGI programs, strategies, benefits, and the drivers associated with the successful implementation. It will enable urban planners to select the best available BGI technologies based on goal-oriented applications, especially for land and water management. It would also serve to establish and popularize BGI techniques and designs among researchers, planners, and policy makers for application in their respective countries.

Exploring investment paradigm in urban office space management: perspectives from coworking space investors in Nigeria

PurposeCoworking space had been a trajectory in the commercial space operation and management globally. Commercial coworking/tenancy space is confronted with an unexpected shift. This paper aims to examine the peculiarity and investment characteristics of flexible office space and the post-COVID implications on coworking office space practice and investment. This is with a view toward providing investors with an understanding of the dynamics underpinning flexible office space investment in the Nigerian emerging property market.Design/methodology/approachThis study adopted a qualitative research approach. Open-ended interview questions were used to solicit information from nine coworking space operators in the urban property market of Ibadan, Nigeria. The structured interview data were analyzed using Atlas.ti – a computer-aided qualitative data analysis software.FindingsThe findings show that the factors influencing demand for flexible office space in the study area include flexibility, affordability, cost-effectiveness, entrepreneurship motivations and opportunity for risk sharing. The results also revealed that coworkers are predominantly mobile individuals who require a workstation away from their homes or a traditional office setup. Management challenges include deficient infrastructure, low level of awareness, stealing and high cost of operations. The impact of COVID-19 includes a drop in patronage, rent refunds, changes in working pattern and job loss, restriction to online and remote operation, the extra cost of putting prevention measures in place, changes in tenancy contract and drops in return on investment.Practical implicationsThis study has implications for investors in commercial space occupation and leases in comparable developing economies.Originality/valueThe novelty of this paper lies in its relevance with the emergent behavioral changes, orchestrated from the novel COVID-19, which compels reevaluation of workplace practices and investment for economic improvement, especially as it relates to commercial real estate investment.

Urban open space management in the Nordic countries. Identification of current challenges based on managers' perceptions

This paper reports on how Nordic practise relates to, and perceives contemporary challenges to urban open space management. The study used a case study approach, via interviews. The studied Nordic cities experience the effects of densification in inner city areas. This is often resulting in higher pressure on existing urban open spaces, but also generating new spaces which tend to be small and fragmented, not meeting the many wishes and demands asked for by the diverse user groups. While budgets are sufficiently allocated in new development projects, it is a challenge to withstand the maintenance budgets, forcing managers to prioritise. Due to primary political interest in inner city areas, there is a risk of managers not prioritising the more peripheral areas, from where resources are often transferred to the newly developed areas. This creates a new type of urban nature, primarily in the urban peripheral areas, with increased amounts of biodiversity and higher amounts of multi-functionality, compared to the smaller and more intensively programmed inner-city areas. Urban open space managers are relying on the existing municipal planning tools, and to varying degrees act strategically in terms of developing own sector oriented plans and strategies.

Autonomous Vehicle Use and Urban Space Transformation: A Scenario Building and Analysing Method

The use of autonomous vehicles (AVs) has the potential to transform users’ behaviour and urban space management. Quantitative and qualitative analyses of impacts require a scenario building method. We considered the fleet size, modal share, car ownership, parking preferences, and urban space repurposing during the elaboration of a novel method. Existing scenarios and results of a questionnaire survey have been used as sources. The method was applied to build scenarios in a case study in Budapest, Hungary. The results were used to calculate the impacts on urban space management, including environmental savings. The key findings are: scenarios with significant shared AV use show that parking demand may be minimised (almost 83%) and urban space repurposing has the highest potential; furthermore, AV use and sharing acceptability may decrease the fleet size and alter the type of shared mode to multiple occupancies. The developed scenario building method serves as a base for future studies. The produced scenarios allow the researchers to focus on the analysis of the impacts caused.

Autonomous vehicles and urban space management

Discussions on how urban space would be transformed by the use of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are scarce. This study identifies the impacts caused by the shared use of AVs on urban parking and urban space management. An estimation method was formulated considering the reduction in parking demand, the possible alteration in vehicle ownership, and the reallocation of urban space. A case study was performed in a 673,220 m2 area through scenarios created by using real data of parking spaces and the results of previous studies. Results showed that parking spaces can be saved with the use of shared AVs, which would allow the reallocation of urban space to new uses (for example, implementation of around 12,000 bike-sharing docking spots, 10 km bike lanes, 7 km additional traffic lane or 140 ‘parklets’). The results contribute to revealing the positive impacts of AVs.