Urban Studies Research Articles

Neural Cellular Automata-based Land Use Changes Simulation

Abstract. Simulating land use and land cover changes (LUCC) is important for urban planning and environmental studies. In this study, we introduce a neural cellular automata (NCA) model that integrates biological principles and convolutional neural networks (CNNs) for land use simulation. We conduct experiments in the city of Wuhan, China. The NCA model achieved the highest performance with an OA of 0.858, F1 score of 0.753, Kappa coefficient of 0.799, and FOM of 0.427. Comparisons of land use data of Wuhan city from 2000 and 2010 with the simulated optimal results indicate that forest areas closer to urban centers are more susceptible to modernization processes, showing the advantage of NCA in accurately simulating land use changes in the central urban area.

Dynamics of Per-Urban Land Alteration in and Around Siliguri City, India: A Geo-Spatial Study

Urban studies in more detailed form have emphasized zonal development and spatio-temporal transformation of cities. With the progress of time, the city expands outward, which gives birth to new urban areas. While areas within the administrative boundary of a city often goes through the process of planning, those, outside the administrative jurisdiction of the city often lack proper management and organization of land. This often results in haphazard urban growth and proliferation of semi-formal settlements within the peri-urban setting of developing nations. The present study was conducted for exploring the dynamics of peripheral urban land alterations in and around Siliguri city. For in-depth research, three buffer zones were delineated and supervised classification-based satellite images were incorporated to visualize the usage and coverage of land (LULC) based transformations of over the years. In addition, NDVI and LST were used to trace the changes in vegetation quality and surface temperature at the buffer zone level. The findings show a deterioration in vegetation health and an increase in surface temperature of the land in newly developed built-up and desolate regions. All three buffer zones showed a negative association the temperature of the land surface and the health of the vegetation. Furthermore, spatial extent of built-up land determined by remote sensing data was compared to population growth rates to calculate the Land Conversion Rate-Population Growth Rate (LCRPGR). The study emphasizes that peri-urbanization has accelerated the spread of built-up areas across the three zones, reflecting population constraints on land and yielding an overall LCRPGR value of 3.22. Importantly, the study demonstrated how the change-induced evidence of peri-urban dynamics has led to land transformation in the study area. Importantly, the study highlights how evidence of peri-urban dynamics reveals land changes in the studied area. It demonstrates how the rapid rise of people and development, along with limited available land space, drives the rapid alteration of peri-urban areas inside urban cityscape.

Pemikiran Sartono Kartodirdjo Tentang Sejarah Perkotaan

This article explores Sartono Kartodirdjo's views regarding urban studies in Indonesia, especially his opinions regarding cities. This paper was written using library research methods. The library material used as a reference for this writing is various literature by Sartono Kartodirdjo which reflects his thoughts, especially those that discuss urban areas. Sartono showed sufficient enthusiasm in seeing the city as a historical study unit, positioning the city as a center of modernization. The main instruments of modernization in urban areas are means of communication, education, and newspapers or mass media. Modernization in urban areas has brought Indonesia towards the door of independence due to the emergence of a new awareness among the educated elite in urban areas. In this way, cities contribute and play an important role in Indonesian history, at least from Sartono Kartodirdjo's academic perspective.

Improving Urban Mapping Accuracy: Investigating the Role of Data Acquisition Methods and SfM Processing Modes in UAS-Based Survey Through Explainable AI Metrics

In this study, we investigated the accuracy of surface models and orthophoto mosaics generated from images acquired using different data acquisition methods at different processing levels in two urban study areas with different characteristics. Experimental investigations employed single- and double-grid flight directions with nadir and tilted (60°) camera angles, alongside the Perimeter 3D method. Three processing levels (low, medium, and high) were applied using SfM software, resulting in 42 models. Ground truth data from RTK GNSS points and aerial LiDAR surveys were used to assess horizontal and vertical accuracies. For the horizontal accuracy test, neither the oblique camera angle nor the double grid resulted in an improvement in accuracy. In contrast, when examining the vertical accuracy, it was concluded that for several processing levels, the tilted camera angle yielded better results, and in these cases, the double grid also improved accuracy. Feature importance analysis revealed that, among the four variables, the data acquisition method was the most important factor affecting accuracy in two out of three cases.

African Urban Studies: Contributions and Challenges

Scholarship on African cities represents a growing yet still scarce subfield in urban studies, especially considering the scale and variety of African urbanisation patterns. The purpose of this Virtual Special Issue is to review the scholarship published on urban Africa in Urban Studies over the past five decades. In this Editorial, we reflect on the contributions of African urban scholarship and present a selection of articles to highlight the ways in which it has shaped key fields of urban studies. We also note the challenges that underpin ongoing lacunae in urban knowledge production and suggest directions for future work. This discussion provides a lens on our understandings of the urban condition in Africa and the general trajectory of urban scholarship.

Infrastructural politics: A conceptual mapping and critical review

The notion of infrastructural politics has been increasingly used in urban studies as it helps to explore urbanisation processes, the urban condition and urban life. Given its relevance, this article maps out and critically reviews the main analytical strands that inform its meanings, namely, conventional and popular infrastructural politics. These strands reveal the current tendency to demarcate infrastructural politics as two separate, antagonistic domains that associate the notion with particular hegemonic and subaltern actors, practices and processes. The article problematises this tendency and proposes a broader understanding of infrastructural politics as an ordinary and contentious political arena where diverse actors develop politico-infrastructural repertoires that co-exist in multifaceted, conflictive ways rather than as separate domains. Drawing on political ethnographic understandings of politics, infrastructural politics is conceived as a point of convergence where conventional and popular infrastructural politics meet and mesh. This suggests the possibility of cross-fertilising conversations between infrastructure studies and political ethnography that can refine our understanding of infrastructural politics, first, by promoting a more nuanced examination of the overlaps and interdependencies between hegemonic and subaltern politico-infrastructural actors and practices, and second, by addressing the critical role of infrastructures in enabling and materialising such overlaps and interdependencies.

Day-to-Night Street View Image Generation for 24-Hour Urban Scene Auditing Using Generative AI.

A smarter city should be a safer city. Nighttime safety in metropolitan areas has long been a global concern, particularly for large cities with diverse demographics and intricate urban forms, whose citizens are often threatened by higher street-level crime rates. However, due to the lack of night-time urban appearance data, prior studies based on street view imagery (SVI) rarely addressed the perceived night-time safety issue, which can generate important implications for crime prevention. This study hypothesizes that night-time SVI can be effectively generated from widely existing daytime SVIs using generative AI (GenAI). To test the hypothesis, this study first collects pairwise day-and-night SVIs across four cities diverged in urban landscapes to construct a comprehensive day-and-night SVI dataset. It then trains and validates a day-to-night (D2N) model with fine-tuned brightness adjustment, effectively transforming daytime SVIs to nighttime ones for distinct urban forms tailored for urban scene perception studies. Our findings indicate that: (1) the performance of D2N transformation varies significantly by urban-scape variations related to urban density; (2) the proportion of building and sky views are important determinants of transformation accuracy; (3) within prevailed models, CycleGAN maintains the consistency of D2N scene conversion, but requires abundant data. Pix2Pix achieves considerable accuracy when pairwise day-and-night-night SVIs are available and are sensitive to data quality. StableDiffusion yields high-quality images with expensive training costs. Therefore, CycleGAN is most effective in balancing the accuracy, data requirement, and cost. This study contributes to urban scene studies by constructing a first-of-its-kind D2N dataset consisting of pairwise day-and-night SVIs across various urban forms. The D2N generator will provide a cornerstone for future urban studies that heavily utilize SVIs to audit urban environments.

Enhancing accuracy of surface wind sensors in wind tunnel Testing: A Physics-Guided neural network calibration approach

Irwin’s surface wind sensor is widely used in wind tunnel testing for urban and environmental aerodynamics studies. However, the conventional physics-based calibration of this sensor could result in reduced measurement accuracy in regions with low flow velocities and high turbulence intensity. To address this issue, this study proposes a novel physics-guided neural network (PGNN) calibration approach, which couples a physics-based calibration model, derived from extended Taylor series expansions of measured wind speed, with an adaptive, data-driven general regression neural network. Sensors are calibrated within the turbulent boundary layer of an empty flat plate, considering both mean and standard deviation of wind velocity measured by high-accuracy thermal anemometry. The accuracy of calibrated sensors is then assessed using a 1:400 benchmark urban model. Experimental results show significant improvement in measurement accuracy, reducing mean absolute percentage error for wind speed standard deviation from 92.3 % with the current model to 9.8 % using PGNN.

Rethinking South Africa’s household energy poverty through the lens of off-grid energy transition

ABSTRACT South Africa’s has been battling with energy crisis for many years, and with the ongoing power cuts, the nation has been plunged into darkness experienced almost every day in major cities such as Johannesburg. This paper conceptualises and positions the role of electrical and mechanical energy in food processing and preparation within South Africa’s low-income households. The study aims to understand how households’ choices and decisions made around food access, preparation and storage are affected by energy infrastructure. Urban studies on informality show that energy is a key input in food processing, preparation, and storage. This study focused on the intersection of infrastructure systems and sought to understand the energy needs and livelihoods strategies of South Africa’s low-income households. A secondary focus of this study was on indigent energy policies that supports the provision and access of energy services to indigent households in South Africa. The study adopted a case study approach, low-income households’ energy needs in Alexandra township, Johannesburg. This study utilised in-depth interviews and policy document reviews. Data was analysed using correlation and cross-tabulation methods. Findings reveal that measures adopted by the city authorities in the provisioning and access to infrastructure are largely fragmented and uncoordinated.

Assessing citizen satisfaction indicators for urban public services to enhance quality of life in Sharm el-Sheikh

The quality of urban life is a crucial area of urban studies, encompassing social, environmental, and economic aspects. Sharm el-Sheikh, a popular tourist destination in Egypt, faces challenges in balancing tourism development with citizen satisfaction with public services. This study aimed to assess citizen satisfaction with key urban services in Sharm el-Sheikh and identify areas for improvement. A survey was conducted by the South Sinai Urban Observatory, employing stratified sampling to ensure a representative sample across demographics. The survey utilized a combination of closed-ended questions with a five-point Likert scale and an open-ended question for additional feedback.The analysis revealed that citizens expressed satisfaction with road and traffic services, government office services, the City Council, and security services. However, dissatisfaction was also identified in areas such as educational services, access to qualified doctors, the sanitation system, the availability of safe drinking water, and cultural services.Based on these findings, the study recommends that decision-makers in Sharm el-Sheikh prioritize addressing these areas of lower satisfaction. Regularly conducting citizen satisfaction surveys and fostering trust between citizens and the government are crucial for ongoing improvement in urban and tourism services, ultimately enhancing the city's overall quality of life.

A review of the formation, mitigation strategies from 50 years of global urban heat island studies

A review of the formation, mitigation strategies from 50 years of global urban heat island studies

As human societies urbanize, so does ecology; taxonomic, geographic, and other research trends in urban vertebrate ecology.

The threat to biodiversity posed by urban expansion is well researched and supported. Since the late 1990s, the field of urban ecology has been expanding along with the developed landscapes it studies. Past reviews have shown unequal publication rates in urban ecology literature for taxonomic groups and research locations. Herein, we explore differences in the publication rate of urban studies by vertebrate groups, but also expand on previous investigations by broadening the scope of the literature searched, exploring trends in subtopics within the urban wildlife literature, identifying geographic patterns of such publications, and comparing the rate at which non-native and threatened and endangered species are studied in urban settings. We used linear and segmented regression to assess publication rates and Fisher's exact tests for comparisons between groups. All vertebrate groups show an increasing proportion of urban studies through time, with urban avian studies accelerating most sharply and herpetofauna appearing to be understudied. Non-native mammals are more studied than non-native birds, and threatened and endangered herpetofauna and mammals are more likely to be studied than threatened and endangered birds in urban areas. The plurality of urban wildlife studies are found in North America, while there is a dearth of studies from Africa, Asia, and South America. Our results can help inform decisions of urban ecologists on how to better fill in knowledge gaps and bring a greater degree of equity into the field.

Spatial synergistic effect of urban green space ecosystem on air pollution and heat island effect

It is crucial for urban greening studies to comprehend the spatial synergy effect of the urban green space ecosystem on air pollution and the heat island effect. However, there are limited studies that have considered the impact of green space ecosystems on different air pollutants and urban heat island effects across different seasons from an urban space perspective. Therefore, this study took an urban space perspective and established a high-precision spatial grid with a resolution of 500 m. The spatial econometric regression and bivariate local Moran's I test were employed to analyze the impacts of urban green space ecosystems on air pollutants (including summer ozone (O3) concentration, winter fine particulate matter (PM2.5) concentration and winter inhalable particulate matter (PM10) concentration) and heat islands in summer and winter.The results showed that the spatial regression coefficients between green space and heat islands, PM2.5 concentration and PM10 concentration are significantly negative, −0.00049***, −0.00329***, and −0.00365*, respectively. The urban green space ecosystems are observed to effectively mitigate the heat island effect and help to reduce PM2.5 and PM10 pollution in winter. There are 88 high-high clustering in the spatial interactions between green space and ozone concentration in summer, that is, the grids with high O3 concentration surrounded by the high green space grids. It implies that urban green space ecosystems can significantly increase O3 pollution in summer. This study reveals that low BVOCs tree species should be widely planted in urban green spaces, while large-scale green space parks should be established in the urban region to continuously increase the proportion of green space. This study would contribute to improving the awareness of the government and relevant employees on scientific urban greening methods.

Awareness and utilization of mother and child protection (MCP) card among mothers attending immunization OPD: An urban health centre-based cross-sectional study.

The MCP card is used as a tool for pregnant women, young mothers and family members to learn about various types of services which they should assess and utilize. The study was undertaken to see the awareness about MCP card and its components among beneficiaries in urban slum area. This is a cross-sectional observational study done in urban slum immunization OPD with a sample size of 226. Convenient sampling method was used to select the samples. Mothers consenting and willing to participate in the study were enrolled. Observed that the MCP card was issued to majority participants at the time of baby immunization (44.15%), followed by at time of delivery (31.4%) and least number received it at the time of pregnancy registration (24.34%). It is also observed that only 53.54%(121) women had read the card while the remaining didn't. Majority thought the primary use of MCP card was vaccination record (91.5%), followed by information tool (52.%). It is observed that knowledge regarding pregnancy care and its related complications leads to better utilization of ANC services. As observed in the present study a sizeable proportion of populations doesn't even read the card, and among those who read it the level of knowledge isn't satisfactory, many use the card as a vaccination record but still the awareness about various vaccines among the beneficiaries remains low.

A Quantitative and Qualitative Experimental Framework for the Evaluation of Urban Soundscapes: Application to the City of Sidi Bou Saïd

A Quantitative and Qualitative Experimental Framework for the Evaluation of Urban Soundscapes: Application to the City of Sidi Bou Saïd

Latent tuberculosis infection care cascade among the household contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis patients – Findings from an urban feasibility study

IntroductionLatent Tuberculosis infection (LTBI) care cascade involves identification of high-risk individuals, testing, identification of LTBI, initiation of Tuberculosis Preventive therapy (TPT) and documentation of outcomes. There is a dearth of such evidence in Indian setting which needs to be further explored. Hence, this feasibility study with public private engagement was conducted with the primary objective of estimating the prevalence of LTBI among household contacts (HHCs) of pulmonary tuberculosis patients using Interferon gamma release assay (IGRA). Secondary objective was to determine the treatment outcomes among the patients of LTBI initiated on TPT. MethodsThis longitudinal community-based study was conducted in wards 47–51 at urban field practice area of our Tertiary Teaching Institute at Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The household contacts of pulmonary tuberculosis patients diagnosed from January–June 2022 and those who satisfied the study criteria were recruited. Those who gave consent for IGRA testing and TPT initiation were followed up for a period of 6 months to assess the treatment outcomes. Data was analyzed using R software. ResultsOf the 64 HHCs screened, 29 were the contacts of microbiologically positive and 35 were the contacts of clinically diagnosed index Tb patients including 4 under five children. Prevalence of LTBI using IGRA was 74.5%. The Contact Investigation Coverage in the urban setting was 77.1% with TPT completion of 72.4% and TPT Coverage of 55.7%. The median time for screening the HHCs since the diagnosis of index case was 14 days while screening to diagnosis was 2.5 days and that of TPT initiation from diagnosis was 22 days. ConclusionMore than half of those who were tested using IGRA were positive for LTBI. Th public private coordination helped in narrowing the time interval from diagnosis of index tb case to contact tracing and improving the TPT adherence among the HHCs. However, intensive efforts are required to narrow the screening gap of HHCs and TPT initiation. Also, reasons for loss to follow up and missed doses needs to be qualitatively explored.

Raccoons and opossums respond similarly to high and low development in the East Texas Pineywoods

Over the last half-century, cities across the southeastern United States have experienced consistent human population growth, which has increased the rate of urban sprawl and subsequent habitat fragmentation with resource subsidies from development. The northern raccoon (Procyon lotor) and Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) are mesopredators commonly associated with and benefiting from urbanized areas. We conducted a small-scale study of raccoons and opossums within the Nacogdoches, Texas, in January 2014. We captured and marked individual raccoons and opossums and used occupancy and spatial-capture-recapture models to examine habitat use, detection, and population density in high- and low-density urban study areas. We predicted to find high densities of each mesopredator, relative to other studies in larger metropolitan areas. We also expected to find a response to landscape features in the high-development study area to be closely associated with anthropogenic features and proximity to water, but less pronounced in the low-development study area. Contrary to our predictions, the detectability of each species in the high-development study area had a positive association with areas further from buildings, and raccoon habitat use had a positive association farther from natural water. Similarly, in the low-development study area, we found raccoon detectability had a positive association with areas farther from the urban edge and opossums had a positive association with areas with smaller forest patches (i.e., edge habitat). We were able to estimate 13.66 raccoons/km2 (95% CI 7.10–26.30) in the high-development study area and 12.55 opossums/km2 (95% CI 04.36–36.15) in the low-development study area. Our results indicate high densities of each species, and the first urban density of Virginia opossum using spatial-capture-recapture methods which further supports that these mesopredators are adapted to and benefit from urban-derived resources in urban areas. This study highlights the adaptability of these small mesopredators and the need for managers to consider adaptive strategies across different urban intensities as the ecology of these species may differ as compared to larger cities.

Electronic sun journal as an evaluation tool for measuring sunflecks while walking through urban forests

Fluctuations in direct sunlight intensities (or sunflecks) are experienced in urban forest parklands. A novel application of an electronic sun journal (ESJ) was developed providing accessible, objective detection and analysis of sunflecks sampled at 50 Hz while walking through urban parkland forests in Toowoomba (27.57°S 151.95°E), Australia. A total of 654 sunflecks were detected during 12 walks. Sunfleck durations (SFD) ranged from 0.02 s to 102.5 s, with a median of 0.10 s and interquartile range of 0.04-0.28 s. The sunfleck intervals (SFI) ranged from 0.02 s to 115 s, with a median of 0.16 s and interquartile range of 0.06-0.62 s. Of the 10,983 sunfleck clusters, approximately 90% included two or four sunflecks per second, with the highest frequency cluster reaching eight. The distribution of the sunfleck clusters changed with different sun angles and azimuth as the sunlight passed through different parts of urban parklands. The developed method with the ESJ may be employed in the evaluation of sunfleck durations, intervals and clusters at eye level in other urban forest environments, adding to the developing interest as greenspaces play an increasing role in urban studies.

Impact of urbanization on urban heat island intensity-a case study of Larkana City, Sindh, Pakistan

Impact of urbanization on urban heat island intensity-a case study of Larkana City, Sindh, Pakistan

Consular accounts of the city of Albi in the 14th–15th c.

The article studies the consular accounts of the southern French city of Albi in the 14th–15th c. Until now, this source has not been considered in the Russian-language historical literature, however, in terms of its volume (several hundred handwritten pages) and the completeness of the contained information, it can rightfully be considered as one of the most significant for historical research concerning Southern France of the period under review. The aim of the study was to reveal the informative potential of the studied documents for urban and medieval studies. When studying the material, the comparative method, as well as the method of content analysis were used. The results establish that the information of consular accounts can be used in the study of various spheres of life of a medieval city — economic, social, political, military. The novelty of the research lies in the fact that it is built on the material of a little-studied source, which is revealed from various sides.