Urban Structure Types Research Articles

Monitoring Urban Heat Island Spatial Variability over Urban Structure Types – A Case Study from a Fast-growing City in the Vietnamese Mekong Delta

This study aims to assess the variation in the temperature patterns for different urban structure types (USTs) in Can Tho City, Vietnam. The study involves extracting thermal infrared data from Landsat imagery to determine the Land Surface Temperature (LST). Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI) intensity is then calculated by analyzing the temperature differences between urban and non-urban areas. An overlay method was applied to analyze the variations in SUHI intensity within four distinct USTs categories: residential (R), public and special use (P), industrial (I), and green and open spaces (G), as defined based on 53 USTs derived in original data. The results highlight that the highest SUHI intensity was primarily concentrated in the industrial (I) areas, covering over 50% of the region, while residential (R) and public and special use (P) areas exhibited moderate SUHI intensity. Although the green and open space (G) category had a substantial area of open space, it still experienced a low-intensity SUHI, mainly concentrated in heavily sealed areas. This study provides valuable insights into the presence of SUHI in contemporary, rapidly developing cities. It underscores the significance of understanding and addressing SUHI issues, particularly useful for the real-world planning of urban environments.

Urban structure types and students’ academic performance

ABSTRACT In this study, we propose a novel approach for estimating the relationship between neighborhood characteristics and students’ academic performance. We propose the concept of urban morphology by Urban Structure Types (USTs). USTs are spatial indicators that describe the urban system through its physical, environmental, and functional characteristics. Our academic performance data includes 344,175 students from 256 public schools in the Federal District (FD), Brazil. This is student-level academic achievement data from 2017 to 2020. We performed the UST mapping in the FD by using visual interpretation. We classified 21 different types of UST. We fit mixed-effects regression models with a student-specific random intercept and slope. The model was adjusted for temporal factors, SES factors, and variables representing the characteristics and the location of each school. Our findings suggest associations between several types of USTs surrounding schools and academic performance. Overall, areas characterized as low population density, with high green index, and high standard residences were associated with an increase in student performance. In contrast, areas that include old buildings near streets, with significant traffic density, and areas with significant exposed soil (areas devasted) were associated with a decrease in student performance. The results of our study support the creation of effective educational and urban planning policies for local interventions. These interventions are likely to translate into healthier schools and improvements in children's behavioral development and learning performance.

Assessing Peri-Urbanisation and Urban Transitions between 2010 and 2020 in Ho Chi Minh City using an Urban Structure Type Approach

This paper contributes to the understanding of the recent urban development of Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Previous studies have aimed at quantifying the city’s spatial growth yet have disregarded its inherent morphological and socio-economic heterogeneity. To overcome this knowledge gap, we employ an urban structure type approach for the spatially explicit quantification of urbanisation patterns for the period 2010–⁠2020, categorising 77,000 blocks across the entire administrative area of 2095 km2. The approach allows us to understand the basic underlying processes of urbanisation, both quantitatively and qualitatively, and the main growth corridors along the rural–urban gradient. By contextualizing and combining our findings within current literature and official planning reports, we discern between traditional urban growth and the contemporary new town development patterns, highlighting their driving forces and policy implications. Incremental plot-by-plot development along the northwest development corridor is observed as the principal mode of urban development, whilst bypass urbanisation is seen along both the eastern and southern development corridors. Our block-based results highlight the city’s key growth challenges and provide insights on a scale that is meaningful for official spatial and infrastructure planning, and periodic analysis and monitoring. As far as the authors are aware, this is the first time that an urban structure type approach was applied to understand the rapid urban growth dynamics of an emerging megacity in Southeast Asia.

Morphometric Indicators for the Definition of New Territorial Units in the Periurban Space: Application to the Metropolitan Area of Valencia (Spain)

New territorial units resulting from urban sprawl processes constitute a major challenge for territorial planning. The aim of this paper is to analyze periurban spaces, focusing on the delimitation and characterization of the urban units arising from urban sprawl processes. The delimitation derives from fractal analysis, where urbanized space is used to detect the limits of the units. The characterization starts with the calculation of eight different indicators, using Geographic Information Systems tools. PCA is used to obtain different dimensions of the urban sprawl phenomenon. Finally, a cluster analysis has been applied to establish a typology of territorial units and facilitate the comparative analysis. The methodology is applied to a case study, the metropolitan area of Valencia. Results show six groups of urbanized spaces, which present different types of urban sprawl structures with different necessities. This applied research can be useful for the spatial planning of the periurban spaces, insofar as it allows the identification of supra-municipal or infra-municipal areas, where it will be possible to improve infrastructures, facilities, or green infrastructure, to empower secondary urban nuclei and to create new inter-municipal cooperation and governance formulas. In addition, the results can constitute a non-administrative territorial basis for the calculation of land occupation indicators that are often used as thresholds for the creation of new residential spaces in regulatory planning documents.

Mapping Urban Structure Types Based on Remote Sensing Data—A Universal and Adaptable Framework for Spatial Analyses of Cities

In the face of growing 21st-century urban challenges, this study emphasizes the role of remote sensing data in objectively defining urban structure types (USTs) based on morphology. While numerous UST delineation approaches exist, few are universally applicable due to data constraints or impractical class schemes. This article attempts to tackle this challenge by summarizing important approaches dealing with the computation of USTs and to condense their contributions to the field of research within a single comprehensive framework. Hereby, this framework not only serves as a conjunctive reference for currently existing implementations, but is also independent regarding the input data, spatial scale, or targeted purpose of the mapping. It consists of four major steps: (1) the collection of suitable data sources to describe the building morphology as a key input, (2) the definition of a spatial mapping unit, (3) the parameterization of the mapping units, and (4) the final classification of the mapping units into urban structure types. We outline how these tasks can lead to a UST classification which fits the users’ needs based on their available input data. At the same time, the framework can serve as a protocol for future studies where USTs are mapped, or new approaches are presented. This article closes with an application example for three different cities to underline the flexibility and applicability of the proposed framework while maintaining maximized objectivity and comparability. We recommend this framework as a guideline for the use-specific mapping of USTs and hope to contribute to past and future research on this topic by fostering the implementation of this concept for the spatial analysis and a better understanding of complex urban environments.

Compact and polycentric urban forms as intertwined concepts: Learning from the impacts of Covid–19 retail restrictions on spatial (in)equalities in Brno (Czech Republic)

Abstract Urban structure conceptualisation using compact and polycentric city narratives is often performed separately. However, although both are based on different spatial grammars, they are inextricably linked. The spatially equitable distribution and accessibility of urban functions are often seen as their main contributions. This paper uses the unprecedented circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic to further analyse the relationship between the two narratives, using the radical transformation of a retail network in a post-socialist city (Brno, Czech Republic) as an example. Based on an in-depth analysis of government measures aimed at preventing the spread of the coronavirus and their coverage in the media, operational changes among all stores in the city are quantified. A comparative spatial analysis then shows that, in addition to economic inequalities, spatial injustice was exacerbated by the position of the central government, with varying degrees of intensity depending on the type of urban structure. It is argued that the resilience potential of polycentric and compact structures is very low, especially in the absence of retail planning and reflection upon spatiality in ensuring social equity.

İzmir'de kentleşmenin neden olduğu kent ekosistemi ve yerel iklim değişikliklerinin uzun süreli KIA oluşumu açısından STG yöntemiyle değerlendirilmesi

Even if urbanization offers various opportunities to people living in todays world. It also comes with some side effects such as worsening climate conditions by creating thermal pollution due to certain urban activities, sectoral urban designs and consequent patterns in cities. In local sense, the old climatic conditions beforete the change because of urbanization in rural areas can be called natural when they are compared with new conditions deteriorated by widespread urbanization. Thus, thermal pollution changes city’s local climate over time and negatively affects city’s resilience. Here in this research, it is determined themperature related local climate variation caused by specific city activities in the city of Izmir by analysing time series thermal data distribution over the entire city over a certain period of time and for this analyse even a novel approach is introduced and suggested which is a Simulated Single Image (SSI) method based on Simulated Single Data (SSD) statistical analyze. The method uses not only trend or average values of time series data as being as usual but it uses both and also standart deviation of the data to support a single output from the time series data analyse. Thus, outputs were obtained as single images from the the LANDSAT time series data to represent where generally Urban Hot Spots (UHS) appear and Urban Heat Islands (UHI) develop in the city. Stereo representation of the study region is also used to visually examine the topographical effect on UHI distribution in the city. Izmir which is the third mostly populated city of Turkey located on the Izmir Gulf of Egean Sea is chosen as study area and the study clearly demonstrated that industrial regions and roads with large surfaces, bare lands with sparse bushes, empty or sparse grassy urban lands and more significantly the urban land parts faced to certain directions are the main urban land cover and structure types contributing UHSs to appear and UHI developments in the city.

The thermal performance of urban form – An analysis on urban structure types in Berlin

Increasing urban heat issues induced by climatic changes and growing urban populations exacerbate the need for adaptation. The present study intends to foster the so far quite rarely realized transfer from research to real-world planning. Subject of investigation is the thermal performance and characterization of urban structure types (USTs) in Berlin, Germany. Applying Landsat 8 derived land surface temperatures (LSTs), we first determine differences in the temperature patterns of the regarded USTs. Second, after running correlation analyses with LST and potentially influencing factors (NDVI – normalized difference vegetation index, imperviousness, building ratio, and building height), we fit ordinary least square (OLS) and geographically weighted regression (GWR) models. Finally, we relate the GWR results to the USTs and determine the effect of each variable on the respective LST regime. We find significant differences in the thermal performance of USTs, strong correlations between explaining variables and LST, and a sophisticated picture concerning GWR coefficients at various locations. Quasi-global r2 for the GWR (0.83) improves the OLS model value (0.53) considerably. The spatially explicit GWR method in combination with results aggregated on the planning-relevant UST-level provides crucially important information for climate adaptation and planning while being adaptable and transferable to other urban areas.

Segregation in spatially structured cities

Half of the world population resides in cities and urban segregation is becoming a global issue. One of the best known attempts to understand it is the Schelling model, which considers two types of agents that relocate whenever a transfer rule depending on the neighbor distribution is verified. The main aim of the present study is to broaden our understanding of segregated neighborhoods in the city, i.e. ghettos, extending the Schelling model to consider economic aspects and their spatial distribution. To this end we have considered a monetary gap between the two social groups and five types of urban structures, defined by the house pricing city map. The results show that ghetto sizes tend to follow a power law distribution in all the considered cases. For each city framework the interplay between economical aspects and the geometrical features determine the location where ghettos reach their maximum size. The system first steps shape greatly the city’s final appearance. Moreover, the segregated population ratios depends largely on the monetary gap and not on the city type, implying that ghettos are able to adapt to different urban frameworks.

Impact of complex relief on heat transfer in urban area

The paper presents results of a laboratory modeling of heat transfer processes in the idealized urban landscape conditions. As an experimental model, we used a three-dimensional layout of the central part of Perm city (the area of five square kilometers) at the scale of 1:4000. The estimation of governing parameters was done using eddy transfer coefficients which are common for the atmospheric boundary layer. The process of cooling of the city model surface after prolonged heating by infrared radiation was studied. The key issue is the time dependence of the surface temperature on the type of urban structure. We focused on the influence of building density and artificial relief on the cooling process of the layout surface. Two separate stages of cooling were revealed, namely, relatively short period of a fast cooling and long time relaxation period. On the base of correlation coefficients it was shown that a buildings density has substantial influence on the fast stage and during this stage the correlation coefficient is larger than 0.4. The correlation at the late stage of cooling is weak. The duration of the fast cooling stage shows even stronger correlation (above 0.5) with building density.

Space Syntactic Interpretation on the Gentrification with the Urban Spatial Configuration Focused on Commercial Gentrification Area, Seoul

The purpose of this study is to interpret space syntactically how the characteristics of urban spatial configuration centered in commercial gentrification area in Seoul can have an influence on gentrification. Based on Space Syntax index, commercial gentrification can be classified into planned, mixed, and spontaneous types. The results of analyzing the change in franchise distribution by type of urban spatial structure are as follows: First, the Planned type is easily accessible and recognizable, which makes gentrification emerge with ease even in side streets, and it tends to expand to major streets with high Integration. Second, in the spontaneous type, gentrification is linearly converted in the street with high Integration_R3 due to the limitation of cognition and accessibility of walking. Third, gentrification is highly related to urban spatial structure, and has more connection in the planned type. These factors show that the urban spatial structure has an influence on the occurrence of commercial gentrification, and it is possible to follow the details of the occurrence process in a time-series analysis.

Characterizing Physical and Social Compositions of Cities to Inform Climate Adaptation: Case Studies in Germany

Cities are key to climate change mitigation and adaptation in an increasingly urbanized world. As climate, socio-economic, and physical compositions of cities are constantly changing, these need to be considered in their urban climate adaptation. To identify these changes, urban systems can be characterized by physical, functional, and social indicators. Multi-dimensional approaches are needed to capture changes of city form and function, including patterns of mobility, land use, land cover, economic activities, and human behaviour. In this article, we examine how urban structure types provide one way to differentiate cities in general and to what extent socio-economic criteria have been considered regarding the characterization of urban typologies. In addition, we analyse how urban structure types are used in local adaptation strategies and plans to derive recommendations and concrete targets for climate adaptation. To do this, we examine indicators, background data used, and cartographic information developed for and within such urban adaptation plans, focusing in particular on the German cities of Karlsruhe and Berlin. The comparative analysis provides new insights into how present adaptation plans consider physical and social structures, including issues of human vulnerability within cities. Based on the analysis we make recommendations on how to improve the consideration of both physical and socio-economic aspects of a city to support pathways for adaptation.

ENVIRONMENT-FORMING FUNCTIONS OF GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE OF VITEBSK

To assess the environment-forming functions of green areas ("green infrastructure") in Vitebsk using data on the functional types of urban planning structures, various climatopes were identified. In Vitebsk, 17 types and 47 species of climatopes have been identified. Using Earth remote sensing data, a differentiated assessment of the Land Surface Temperature (LST) and the Normalized Vegetation Index (NDVI) was carried out for various types of urban climatopes. The data obtained demonstrate comparatively low average LST values in aquatic, forest, some park climatopes and vegetation in floodplains. In the built-up part of the city LST has the highest values in production, communal,
 road climatopes and in the central historical part of the city. The correlation coefficient between LST and the degree of greenery, between LST and NDVI in different types of climatopes of Vitebsk is estimated at –0,78 and –0,77, respectively, which confirms the high environmental-forming role of urban vegetation in summer.

Qualifying the urban structure type approach for urban green space analysis – A case study of Dresden, Germany

Urban greenery affects the quality of life of local residents through a wide range of ecosystem services, determined not only by the quantity of green space but also by its type and structure (height and density). To ensure that all residents benefit equally from ecosystem services, planning procedures should aim for an optimal quality and structure of urban green system.Basic indicators are needed to help planners set targets for the development of green space and to analyse the state of urban greenery as a whole as well as in individual districts.Unfortunately, only a few cities regularly produce digital maps of their diverse urban biotope types, which provide detailed information on urban greenery forming the basis for the analytical method of urban vegetation structure types (UVSTs) proposed by Lehmann et al. (2014) derived from the case study Dresden (Germany). While maps of urban structure types (USTs) are available for most German cities, these have insufficient detail to assess the provision of urban greenery.We describe a method by which information from the UVSTs such as vegetation layers, green volumes and proportions of green space can be applied to USTs to estimate the provision and quality of green space per capita in individual urban districts.Taking the city of Dresden (Germany) as a case study, we analysed USTs in regard to their vegetation (proportion and volume), revealing basic problems in relation to the USTs (types of the current “extended block map” EBM). The basis for analysis is the UVST approach, which provides a typology for the investigation of diverse urban ecosystem services and to assess the ecological quality of urban structures.By linking detailed information from UVSTs to less detailed USTs our approach enables the monitoring and assessment of indicators and so can be used to answer, relatively quickly, questions on the fulfilment of green standards (e.g. green space share per inhabitant, green volume per inhabitant). Population data, available for urban blocks, can be linked to planning relevant knowledge on the green system. Furthermore, tables with detailed information on green provision for urban blocks can be a basis for drawing up scenarios on how planning can affect urban greenery.For example, results for Dresden, approved by the local planning authorities, are maps showing potentials and deficits in the provision of urban vegetation for the whole city, from which requirements for action can be derived for individual city districts.

Urban structure and its implication of heat stress by using remote sensing and simulation tool

Increased urbanization has led to more diversified urban structure. To determine the effects of buildings on climate phenomena, it is essential to better characterize urban land use. In this study, the maximum likelihood classification method was used to identify urban structures with the help of local climate zones based on remote sensing. A case study in the Kanto major metropolitan area of Japan is utilized to verify the feasibility of this system, and then, ENVI-met was applied to simulate the microclimate in six idealized models to confirm the urban structure’s heat stress impacts. The results indicated the following: (1) after a series of screening and identification procedures, it was confirmed that the urban structure can be identified with an accuracy of 0.802, meeting precision requirements; (2) based on the land surface temperature of the densely inhabited district and surrounding area with different local climate zone types, the microclimate of the same building types varied spatially; (3) combined with the wet-bulb globe temperature, the simulation results showed that various urban structure types have a substantial impact on heat stress. Finally, this research provides an accurate and efficient method for urban structure identification and determines its effect on heat stress.

Assessment of the Impact of Residential Urban Patterns of Different Hillslopes on Urban Drainage Systems and Ecosystem Services in the Federal District, Brazil

In Brazil, stormwater management systems are usually deficient and very commonly implemented after the urban areas have settled. In Brasilia, the Federal capital of Brazil, this problem is aggravated due to the fact that the rainy and dry seasons are very well defined, thereby increasing the importance of groundwater recharge as an ecosystem service. This research aims to evaluate the impact of urban structure types and topographies in stormwater management and three ecosystem services: groundwater recharge, flooding, and water quality. The urban patterns studied included mixed residential areas with two block positions (orthogonal and parallel to the topography) and a single-family house with low density. The studied landforms include a divergent-convergent surface and a flat hillslope with high slope taxa—strictly convergent and strictly divergent surfaces, respectively. The arrangement of landforms has an impact on runoff generation, with an average of 9% during peak flow, and an infiltration capacity, on average, 3% higher in the divergent-convergent surface. The greatest impact of the topography on stormwater management is considered based on the direct cost of the drainage system, which is 44% higher in the flat hillslope. Low impact development (LIDs) devices helped to improve ecosystem service provisions and even presented efficiency that almost achieved that of the predevelopment conditions in the evaluated scenarios. Seeking the urban patterns that best suit given environmental conditions is one of the approaches studied in this paper.

Towards quantifying forest recreation: Exploring outdoor thermal physiology and human well-being along exemplary pathways in a central European urban forest (Augsburg, SE-Germany)

Contact with nature can help to reduce stress, enhance stress resilience, promote mental and physical health and has a positive impact on people’s mood. Beside urban park and residential green, recreation in urban forests can act as therapeutic means. From a climatological point of view, urban and periurban forests and green spaces provide a number of benefits particularly including air temperature and humidity control as well as air pollution reduction. Due to their compensating thermal effects urban green and urban forests may help to counteract potentially health relevant effects of urban warming. The main objective of our study is to explore the quantification of forest recreation based on measurement campaigns for the combined simultaneous recording of relevant features along routes comprising varying urban structural types (ranging from built up to densely forested areas). Combining data on subjective well-being and objective data on human physiology can help to quantify health effects of varying environments. The study area is the urban forest of Augsburg, in the German Federal State of Bavaria, Southern Germany.Our results substantiate clear cut and statistically significant climatic differences among varying urban environments (i.e. local climate zone categories) and prove the potential positive effects of urban forests/urban green on bioclimatic conditions (e.g. via a reduction in maximum air temperatures during summer). Moreover, the beneficial effects of urban green structures on human physiological parameters (e.g. reductions in heart rate) could be verified.

Лабораторное моделирование в задачах городской климатологии

The paper presents a new approach to the problems of urban climatology, which is based on a laboratory modeling of heat transfer processes in the urban landscape conditions. As an experimental model, we used a three-dimensional layout of the central part of Perm, which takes into account the complex terrain, location and height of buildings on an area of five square kilometers. As an idealized model configuration we considered the nocturnal cooling process of megapolis. The process of cooling of the city model surface after prolonged heating by infrared radiation was studied. The key issue is dependence of the heat transfer on the type of urban structure. The influence of the building density on the cooling process of the layout surface was studied. The comparison was made for two areas with 70 and 90 percent of open area. It was shown that an increase in the number of buildings has influence on the cooling process, which is probably connected with variation of convective circulation and decreasing of the ventilation efficiency. However, stagnant zones with high temperatures in areas of high building density were found for both cases.

Tourism Mobility in Ecotourism Cities: A Case Study of Low Urban Density

Tourism Mobility in Ecotourism Cities: A Case Study of Low Urban Density Dr. Ali Saeed Bokhari Abstract Tourism is one of the main functions of a city due to its important economic and social role. The growth of tourism is the result of increasing prosperity and improved local economies, among other things. The quality and attractiveness of a city‘s transport system often determines its competitiveness and thus its development. On the one hand, intensive tourism is a favorable phenomenon associated with the activation of the local economy; on the other hand, it can interfere with the functioning of the city. A high volume of tourist traffic can also result in the degradation of the tourist values of environmentalism and culture, thereby reducing the attractiveness of the destination to tourists in the long term. Implementing a public transport system policy in a low urban density area to deal with tourist travel can be challenging due to costs. A better understanding of tourist mobility and their preferences becomes increasingly critical for the competitiveness of destinations. For this purpose, the main objective of this research is to explore tourists‘ perceptions of using different transport modes, including cars, public transport, and tourist coaches in an ecotourist city with low urban density. A questionnaire survey was implemented to collect the primary data for this study. Through a modelling exercise, our findings highlight that the scattered nature of this type of urban structure plays a critical role in determining the likely modes of transport for tourists. Full Text: PDF DOI: 10.15640/jthm.v8n2a1

New perspectives in land use mapping based on urban morphology: A case study of the Federal District, Brazil

The Federal Districtof Brazilis characterized by intense and uncontrolled urban expansion and growing economic inequality, that is strongly reflected in absence of appropriated land use planning. The inability to effectively manage land use has resulted in unconstrained appropriations of the territory, mainly in public areas. It is necessary to develop tools to support decision-making in managing the land use and sustainable development of urban areas. This effort must address the complex set of laws related to the environment, urban licensing, and water use granting. Urban morphology is a spatial indicator that specifies the physical characteristics of the urban structure and, more specifically, the organization of urban space. In this context, the Urban Structure Type (UST) is a concept for identifying and understanding the urban space. The UST methodology describes urban spaces and considers their homogeneity regarding the coverage types, types of land use, physical features, functionality and context. This study aims to characterize the urban area of the Federal District, Brazil, using the UST approach. The UST features were mappedusing remote sensing data, orthophotos with 1-metre resolution and vector data (blocks, census tracts, routes and ecological corridors). A classification was performed by visual analysis. We considered three hierarchical levels during the classification stage. The first two levels were classified based only on the uses of the urban structure. In the third level, we considered 25 types of urban structures. The classes that had the most extensive areas were Remaining Spaces (29%), Green Spaces (10%), Agricultural Spaces (9%), Consolidation Areas of type SH1 (7.6%), Community Equipment (6.7%) and Residential Areas of type RH1 (5.9%). The UST mapping distinguished the characteristics of the patterns of the urban occupancy. Mapping of urban structure types provided a new and more accurate vision of cities, since the scale of detail allows the cities to be analysed by different stakeholders, both from the public and private sector. After a revision of several legal definitions and allowing convergence in public sector decision-making process on the territory, the UST was incorporated in the EEZ-DF plan discussions, through a district law nº 1988/2018. Hence, this methodology represents a capacity-building process for the public sector, with enormous implications for land use planning and management.