Urban Spots Research Articles

Optimizing safe evacuation using pathfinder: emergency strategies in high-rise and super high-rise complex buildings in the new administrative capital

ABSTRACT Recently, the Egyptian government has sought to create new urban spots. The New Administrative Capital was one of those new urban extensions. Architects and urban designers tended to vertical expansion in planning this city as a result of the high cost of the land. Accordingly, high-rise and super-high-rise buildings have been relied upon in the architectural design of the buildings. This study aims to evaluate the achievement of safe occupants’ evacuation in case of fire for two high-rise and one super high-rise complex buildings based on a set of variables. Staircase design, the use of elevators, and the provision of refuge areas were evaluated, through simulating seven scenarios using Pathfinder software. The simulation results comprised an assessment of average stairs traffic jams, the occupant load density on emergency stairs, and the required safe evacuation time (RSET) for each scenario. It was concluded from the study that staircase design has a significant impact on (RSET) time. As well as, evacuation using elevators or relaying on refuge areas as auxiliary means with the emergency stairs may be safer for these types of buildings. Finally, the study provided technical requirements for using refuge areas and elevators in emergency evacuation in high-rise and super high-rise buildings.

Fractal and geography: Fractal scanning in three different urban areas of Elazığ

The study of systems' ability to self-organize, internal structural balance, and space partitioning is the focus of a larger body of theories produced by mathematicians in the second half of the twenty-first century, which includes fractal theory and analysis. These theories focus on how the distribution of forms and urban functions within an urban agglomeration, the sequencing of the settlement system, the choice of a specific style of localization, or the evolution of urban sprawl is influenced by a region with inhomogeneous characteristics. The study's objective is to quantify how urban macro-forms reflect urban space. It is aimed to use fractal analysis, one of the methods that examine the structure of urban areas, as a measurement technique and to increase the recognition of this method in the community. When performing fractal analysis, the study area is generally evaluated holistically. Determining the place of the parts that make up this whole within the analysis is another aim of the study. The most basic method used in the study is the Fractal Analysis method. In order to make a relevant evaluation, Fractalyse 3.0 program was used. Two bases were created for the urban spots to be used in the program. While one of these bases is the parcels of Elazığ city center, the other one is buildings. In order to measure the parts of the whole mentioned as one of the aims of the study, three different regions of the city were identified and fractal analyzes were carried out separately for those regions. The study field covers all the central 42 neighborhoods where Elazığ city develops. According to the results obtained from the analysis, the Fractal dimension value of the city was 1.62. This value is a very interesting result as it is considered a transition criterion for cities to be fringed and compact. Accordingly, Elazığ city is a fringed city in the process of becoming compact. In the analysis of three different sections containing the parts that make up the whole, the fractal value of Doğukent neighborhood, located in the easternmost part of Elazığ city, was calculated as 1.70. This area, which has a compact structure, presents a positive response against the urban sprawl. The sample taken from the central part of the city, called the Center, showed a high value of 1.89 in fractal dimension. The fractal dimension value of the sample selected from the south of the city showed a high fringed result of 1.32.

Urban form features determine spatio-temporal variation of ambient temperature: A comparative study of three European cities

Driven by ongoing urbanization and accelerated global warming, urban heat stress develops into a major threat for a large part of the world population. While the literature is clear about the relevance of urban form in modifying urban heat, the spatially explicit context of heat modifications by the built environment is insufficiently explored across cities.Here we develop a consistent methodology based on a machine learning model to determine the predictive features of urban form that shape urban ambient temperature (AT) under different urban and climate conditions. For this, we combine urban climate data at 100 m resolution from the UrbClim model with urban form features computed from different open datasets. We exemplify our innovation by evaluating summer daytime and nighttime temperature variation within three European cities that are representative of distinct geographies and climates: Berlin, Zürich, and Sevilla. Mean AT at dense urban spots was higher by 3 °C (on average) during summer compared to sub-urban sites across all cities. We find that urban form features explain around 2/3 of within-city temperature variations. Vegetation cover and water bodies are most significant in explaining spatial temperature patterns during the daytime, while the impervious land cover is most critical at nighttime. Cooling effect of water areas can accumulate to −1.5 °C, while heating effects of roads can induce +0.5 °C during daytime. The magnitude of effects varies across cities, primarily based on the climate type, altitude, and dominant land-cover. However, further testing should be conducted to develop a better understanding of impact variations. The findings of this research will provide urban planners and policymakers with crucial insights towards heat mitigation and sustainable urban developments through region-tailored modifications and replacement of land-cover.

Practical factors affecting the application of interactive environmental panorama art in diverse urban exploration: A case study of San Francisco

When touring multicultural cities, planning everything out in advance can enrich the visiting experience. Advances in the internet and computer graphics technology have resulted in the trend of using virtual tourism for trip planning. However, the mere presentation of virtual street views of a geographical location does not highlight its cultural elements and characteristics. The lack of imaginative space and extensive guidance result in the lack of aesthetic artistic visual stimulation and interest. Accordingly, this study developed a novel experience model and an experimental platform where images with panoramic oil painting art styles were used to provide participants with interactive tours that presented different cultural characteristics and elements. This platform enabled the re-creation of crucial scenic urban spots in spherical, panoramic, and three-dimensional spaces, which allowed the participants to explore and experience these spots, aroused their interest, and stimulated their senses. Moreover, timelines were used and the beauty of visual art was highlighted to achieve efficient virtual tourism. A total of 100 students were invited to experience the designed virtual tourism system and fill out questionnaires. After the participants operated the system, statistical analyses were conducted to determine the categories of and the factors that influenced participant assessment. The categories of participant assessment were assessment based on design elements, subjective assessment based on feelings, assessment based on multicultural exploration, and assessment based on system improvement expectations. Moreover, the eight factors influencing participant assessment were immersive presence, ease of use, connectivity of diverse cultures, content appealing, visual pleasure, interesting graphic design, adaptive UI, and UI affordance. A modular design model was used to perform project analyses, design relevant items, and assess the participants’ experiences when visiting multicultural scenic spots. On the basis of the aforementioned steps, conclusions were drawn, and system design recommendations are proposed for platforms offering multicultural experiences.

Multiparametric Identification of Favorable Regions for Wind or Solar Generation in the State of Pernambuco

The capacity for renewable energy generation, particularly solar and wind, tends to grow over the years. However, locating regions favorable to the development of solar and wind generation is not trivial and is subject to errors due to the social, environmental, economic, political and administrative aspects of the regions. Therefore, this article proposes an algorithm based on digital image processing, capable of performing a variable weight multi-parameter evaluation and quantifying how favorable a given territorial region is for the implantation of wind or solar plants. Maps of the region under analysis are taken as input information. The region taken as a case study is the Brazilian state of Pernambuco, due to the access to data related to the evaluated characteristics: solar radiation, solar insolation, precipitation, air humidity, temperature, electrogeography, demographic density, environmental protection areas, slope, hydrography, wind speed, urban spot and the presence of aerodromes. It was possible to list for each type generation (wind or solar, exclusively), the 15 most favorable regions for the implementation plants. Furthermore, the proposed technique presents a practical indifference to the territorial extension of the evaluated region, which can comprehend a micro-region or an entire continent, requiring only that sufficiently detailed maps of the evaluated characteristics be provided.

ISpray

Despite regulations and policies to improve city-level air quality in the long run, there lack precise control measures to protect critical urban spots from heavy air pollution. In this work, we propose iSpray, the first-of-its-kind data analytics engine for fine-grained PM2.5 and PM10 control at key urban areas via cost-effective water spraying. iSpray combines domain knowledge with machine learning to profile and model how water spraying affects PM25 and PM10 concentrations in time and space. It also utilizes predictions of pollution propagation paths to schedule a minimal number of sprayers to keep the pollution concentrations at key spots under control. In-field evaluations show that compared with scheduling based on real-time pollution concentrations, iSpray reduces the total sprayer switch-on time by 32%, equivalent to 1, 782 m3 water and 18, 262 kWh electricity in our deployment, while decreasing the days of poor air quality at key spots by up to 16%.

Crowd Sensing and Living Lab Outdoor Experimentation Made Easy

Outdoor `living lab' experimentation using pervasive computing provides new opportunities: higher realism, external validity and large-scale socio-spatio-temporal observations. However, experimentation `in the wild' is highly complex and costly. Noise, biases, privacy concerns to comply with standards of ethical review boards, remote moderation, control of experimental conditions and equipment perplex the collection of high-quality data for causal inference. This article introduces Smart Agora, a novel open-source software platform for rigorous systematic outdoor experimentation. Without writing a single line of code, highly complex experimental scenarios are visually designed and automatically deployed to smart phones. Novel geolocated survey and sensor data are collected subject of participants verifying desired experimental conditions, for instance. their presence at certain urban spots. This new approach drastically improves the quality and purposefulness of crowd sensing, tailored to conditions that confirm/reject hypotheses. The features that support this innovative functionality and the broad spectrum of its applicability are demonstrated.

Understanding the Pattern of Human Mobility Based on Busy Urban Spots

Understanding the Pattern of Human Mobility Based on Busy Urban Spots

Itemizes East Java Heritage Tourism Nexus: In Consort of “Pentahelix” Method via Didactic Vicissitudes Adherence

As 21st century and/ or urban spots skyrocketing nonstop, particularly at East Java, a bunch of anti-outmoded places’ quantity exceeds both heritage and monumental tourism sites. Attempting archaic didactic principles in familiarizing pupils with heritage tourism equals nothing, nor is (using) printed book; a fine-tech focal notion shall be done. This research heads renewal worth noting idea, it’s antihelix; the method coalesces Academician, Business, Community, Government, and Media abbr. ABCGM, thus, foregoing fifth stakeholders can emerge a distinct tactic of transferring heritage tourism science to students. It can by locating learners’ interests via sophisticated 5.0 features e.g. Virtual Reality/ VR, Augmented Reality/ AR, 3D Demo, etc. To do so, pupils’ endeavour forecast is aimed at history-savvy, minifying heritage unawareness, and nurturing annals of historic sites. A resilient historic site encompasses Edu-tourism importance, with a view from within. This research has ≤ 38 respondents (from 29 regencies and 8 cities in East Java province) whose essence about monumental tourism preservation weightiness.

Spatiotemporal changes in land cover land use in protected areas of Serra da Mantiqueira, Southeastern Brazil

An assessment of the dynamics of land cover and use in and around a Protected Area (PA) located in the Área de Preservação Ambiental da Serra da Mantiqueira (APASM; Mantiqueira Mountain Range Environmental Protection Area) and Parque Nacional do Itatiaia (PNI; Itatiaia National Park) has been developed. This PA is part of the Brazilian Mata Atlântica (MA; Atlantic Forest) biome, which is of great importance in providing water resources and in biodiversity maintenance since it is one of the largest and most populated urban centers in Brazil. In two contiguous drainage basins, with an area of 24,757.65 hectares (ha), proposals have been sought that lead to monitoring of forests pressured by anthropic actions that have as an inductor vehicle the roads built around the PA. Results obtained by Remote Sensing (RS) data show that pasture areas have grown 43% between 1985 and 2005 and forest areas have declined 20% in the same period. However, between 2005 and 2017, there was a 22% decline in pasture area and rehabilitation in forest areas by 26%. Urban spots have steadily grown by nearly 120% between 1985 and 2017. In a Geographic Information System (GIS) environment and using multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) with a weighted sum to environmental attributes of roads and urban spots, it has also been verified that 85% of the study area is under high or very high pressure, which can jeopardize the maintenance of biodiversity and water resources in the region due to population increase induced by secondary roads and their paving, which moves towards the PNI limits.

Detection of urban spot in the plain of Mina (Western Algeria)

Detection of urban spot in the plain of Mina (Western Algeria)

A MACROFORM ANALYSIS TO DESCRIBE THE CITY MORPHOLOGICAL COMPACTNESS FACING THE URBAN SPRAWL PHENOMENON - CASE OF BEJAIA CITY -

Describing the morphological reality of urban areas is essential for any the city’s sustainability project. Through a comparative analysis based on a series of indices and their confrontation according to the multivariate principal component analysis, we have tried to evaluate from the view point of urban sprawl, the morphological compactness of the Algerian coastal Bejaia town. The latter is known to be characterised by physical and natural constraints which influence spatial growth and the process of urban development. The main objective of this article is to establish the macroforms classification that constitute Bejaia city. The configuration analysis’s results of its urban spots have shown an excessive spread of the agglomeration on the Bejaoui coast, which negatively impacts the city’s sustainability.

Optimization of urban scenic spot planning based on ecological chain and reversed-planning theory—Using Yunlong Lake in Xuzhou city as an example

Modernized urban organization relies more on the foundation of ecological infrastructure (EI) with the planning objectives based more on synthetical benefits of economy, society and ecological environment. The effect of multiple factors ought to be taken into consideration in the urban scenic spot planning and and the process of formulating the related plan faces a challenge of how to organically bound environmental factors to tour function of urban scenic spot. This thesis, taking YunLong Lake, a scenic spot in XuZhou, JiangSu province as an example, studies how to ameliorate the planning of urban scenic spot combined with the ecological chain and reversed-planning theory. The result shows that utilizing the theory flexibly when analyzing the urban scenic spot planning design can ensure the existing ecological connection between each system and maintain the ecological stability of urban scenic spot. Thus, with the basis of ecological chain and reversed-planning theory, this paper puts forward a new planning concept and work flow, in order to provide new ideas for modernized urban scenic spot planning.

What does Black Lisbon Look Like?

The aim of this paper is to explore urban racialization as a process that emerges in specific places of the city. Using the publicly accessible Google Maps and Google Street View imagery of Lisbon Metropolitan Area, I conduct a fine-grained analysis of the urban and architectural forms through which race materialises in a central historical square, in a few peripheral social housing areas and in some informal urban gardens. Inscribed in the wider Black European framework, Black Lisbon is here intended as a provocation more than a label, and the concept of blackness is adopted as a visible tracker of micro-scale mechanisms of racialization as well as resistance to them. Considering the complex spatial dynamic that results and that encompasses different forms of omissions, displacements, replacements and place-makings, I argue that certain buildings, settings, bodies presence, urban spots and gardens arise as critical elements of the (still disregarded) compilation of non-white European architectures.

Urbanização desordenada e degradação ambiental associados a escorregamentos: uma abordagem metodológica para análise temporal de ocupações subnormais

The evolutionary dynamics of urban centers is conditioned by several economic and socio-environmental factors. When these factors interrelate unevenly, which is often motivated by interference from competent public agencies, give rise to urban and social problems such as irregular occupations, generating high environmental risks. The objective of this study was to identify the environmental risks levels that affect a set of slopes of the municipality of Olinda / PE, through a methodological approach centered on temporal analyzes of land occupation. The research was developed with vectorization of images and orthophotocards from 1974 to 2018 and qualitative analysis of risk levels through a cause and consequence matrix. Vectorization demonstrated critical results of plant suppression and urban spot growth, with about -63.59% and + 890%, respectively. The resulting matrix showed a high negative balance for environmental risk levels. Thus, the study demonstrates that the anthropogenic interference that shaped the region conditions a series of social and environmental impacts and that the planning and diagnosis of risk levels is an essential planning tool for intervention in these locations.

Las pinturas de cine de Edward Hopper

Edward Hopper —muy conocido por sus composiciones artísticas que evocan típicas escenas de películas y que han inspirado a muchos cineastas— frecuentaba el cine muy a menudo y empleaba los exteriores e interiores del cine como tema principal de algunas de sus obras. A continuación, se analizarán tres obras icónicas sobre cines de Edward Hopper: The Sheridan Theatre (1937), The Circle Theatre (1936), and New York Movie (1939), cuyo contexto histórico aún no se ha examinado en detalle. Sus composiciones son muy sofisticadas e ilustrativas al mostrar la historia del cine y de la historia estadounidense de la década de 1930. Hopper llama la atención sobre los problemas urbanos contemporáneos sobre la inquietud por las estrategias de abaratamiento en el negocio de exhibición de películas. También muestra las experiencias cambiantes del cine en la década de 1930 y deconstruye el glamour del trabajo del acomodador y expone la alienación de su trabajo.

Gestionando el buen vivir en un entorno local. Estrategia transdisciplinaria y colaboración en red en la periferia de Xalapa, México

This paper contributes to the intercultural dialogue about the possibilities of constructing alternative worlds, starting from the notion of “good living” (buen vivir) and its resignification through local actions in the city of Xalapa (Veracruz, Mexico). The open character of the concept, coined by the native peoples of the Andean area as an alternative to development, is retaken here as a pertinent horizon in the field of defense and co-management of diverse spaces of life, such as rural areas adjacent to big cities. The work highlights the leading role of organized civil society and informal neighborhood networks in co-managing the good living on a local scale and recognizes the role of the university in the construction of dialogic and transdisciplinary strategies towards a more sustainable and fair life. In this context, we share experiences and learnings of the project named “Knowledge for Dialogue for Good Living”, considered as a strategy for local resistance threatened by the effects of urban spot growth in the rural periphery of the city. The author explores the process of "overflowing" of collaborative actions in everyday times and spaces and the necessary involvement of the facilitator in the transformation processes that she promotes.

Investigando o perfil e elementos motivacionais de plantadores de árvores em suas práticas de protagonismo ambiental

O presente artigo origina-se de pesquisa que teve por objetivo investigar práticas de protagonismo ambiental relacionadas à arborização. Dessa forma, procurou-se investigar as motivações envolvidas em práticas de arborização promovidas por atores sociais em diferentes espaços. Foram utilizadas a etnografia de rede social e histórias orais, sendo os critérios de análise emersos desse processo. Os atores sociais foram identificados por meio de reportagens da grande mídia, em uma comunidade no Facebook, denominada “Plantadores de Árvores”, e também por meio de indicações, sendo selecionados para entrevistas plantadores residentes em pequena, média e grande mancha urbana. Há indícios, de acordo com os principais resultados, que haja relação entre a motivação central dos plantadores e sua causa de plantar com a temática do pertencimento e que o entendimento das relações entre saberes e fazeres parece ser importante neste processo. Tais apontamentos sinalizam que a pluralidade de saberes, fazeres, culturas e ópticas estão presentes, abrindo espaço para discussão sobre uma racionalidade ambiental envolvida.

Urban Acupuncture in Large Cities: Filtering Framework to Select Sensitive Urban Spots in Riyadh for Effective Urban Renewal

New revitalization and regeneration strategies are currently taking place as a scheme for reassessing urban spaces. This paper, as a result, navigates the theory of Urban Acupuncture (UA) as a quick and effective tool that can be adopted in large cities. Using Riyadh city as a case study, it discusses how this tool can be used to achieve maximum results with minimal effort in the most critical places. Riyadh city is the capital of Saudi Arabia and is considered one of the fastest-growing metropolitan cities in the Arab world. Through time, it has transformed into a city with leftover open spaces and an ever-increasing population. The study commences by exploring the term UA and its principles and similarly presents some of its successful international examples. It thereafter delves into the past and current situation in the city to show some of the challenges it faces. The study aims to develop a filtering framework for selecting a suitable sensitive spot that can be used to apply the concept of UA. A conclusion is made that as a small-scale space approach and a progressive concentrated urban renewal strategy.

Urban growth dynamics based on surface Albedo changes in Petrolina, Brazil

Cities keep growing, and in most of the cases this expansion process is hard to model and describe for planning actions. Quantitative methods are increasingly used to help planning, monitoring, and regulating urban land-use processes. Remote sensing images series are making possible different types of spatial-temporal analysis of the Earth surface. Surface albedo is a remote sensing product acquired in a long series of satellite images such as Landsat (more than 40 years of observation). Those analyses allow measuring waterproofed areas for urban drainage studies, as well as monitoring urban spreading patterns, growth vectors, and issues related to comfort and environmental quality, as well as about land use and land-use planning (directives for master plans) among others. This article shows the direct applicability of surface albedo changes as an indicator of urban land-cover changes. The current study analyzed the urban area of Petrolina County (PE) in the following periods: 2001 and 2006, 2006 and 2011, and 2011 and 2017. Such analysis uses the surface albedo variation along the time and results showed a strong correlation between increased surface albedo and urban expansion. Besides, it enabled to observe the relation between the high urban growth in the 2011-2017 period and the urban spot expansion by 14% (approximately 590 thousand square meters of territorial extension). The Urban development stood out in the Northern and Southwestern regions of Petrolina County.