Sustainable Urban Governance Research Articles

Spatiotemporal clustering analysis of shared electric vehicles based on trajectory data for sustainable urban governance

Shared electric vehicles (SEVs) have emerged as a promising mode of transportation with the growth of EVs and the sharing economy. However, current challenges, such as suboptimal station planning and inflexible operation schedules, are limiting the user experience and the growth of the industry. Therefore, our study adopts the affinity propagation (AP) clustering algorithm to divide the stations into two categories: the residential station and the business office station. We then apply the Spatial-Temporal Density-Based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (ST-DBSCAN) algorithm to analyze the spatiotemporal distribution characteristics of SEVs from three aspects: hotspot area, travel volume and travel speed, based on trajectory data from the two types of stations. Results suggest that the distribution hotspot and travel volume of SEV at residential and business office stations is similar during the morning peak, concentrated in office, residential and transportation hub areas, whereas it is obviously different during the evening peak. Unlike the commuting demand of users in residential stations, users in business office stations prefer to use SEVs to travel to leisure and entertainment areas. Furthermore, we found that the driving speed of SEVs is primarily determined by actual road conditions and not significantly affected by station type. These findings provide valuable insights for SEV operators to optimize station layouts and spatial planning of vehicles during peak periods.

Information extraction system for urban planning and governance using LiDAR based 3D repository

ABSTRACT In rapidly expanding cities, an accurate land-cover information system can assist in making decisions for sustainable urban planning and governance. Point cloud procured using Airborne LiDAR Scanning (ALS) can be harnessed by creating an adaptable urban semantic information layout with querying capability. We propose a novel methodology that isolates spatial objects and integrates them with attribute information to enable object-based spatio-semantic queries. Experiments were carried out to demonstrate proposed methodology based on queries of different complexities. Results indicate that proposed approach is scalable, flexible, and hence opens a wide application perspective in urban planning, and sustainable smart city development.

Digital Twin Simulation Tools, Spatial Cognition Algorithms, and Multi-Sensor Fusion Technology in Sustainable Urban Governance Networks

Relevant research has investigated how predictive modeling algorithms, deep-learning-based sensing technologies, and big urban data configure immersive hyperconnected virtual spaces in digital twin cities: digital twin modeling tools, monitoring and sensing technologies, and Internet-of-Things-based decision support systems articulate big-data-driven urban geopolitics. This systematic review aims to inspect the recently published literature on digital twin simulation tools, spatial cognition algorithms, and multi-sensor fusion technology in sustainable urban governance networks. We integrate research developing on how blockchain-based digital twins, smart infrastructure sensors, and real-time Internet of Things data assist urban computing technologies. The research problems are whether: data-driven smart sustainable urbanism requires visual recognition tools, monitoring and sensing technologies, and simulation-based digital twins; deep-learning-based sensing technologies, spatial cognition algorithms, and environment perception mechanisms configure digital twin cities; and digital twin simulation modeling, deep-learning-based sensing technologies, and urban data fusion optimize Internet-of-Things-based smart city environments. Our analyses particularly prove that virtual navigation tools, geospatial mapping technologies, and Internet of Things connected sensors enable smart urban governance. Digital twin simulation, data visualization tools, and ambient sound recognition software configure sustainable urban governance networks. Virtual simulation algorithms, deep learning neural network architectures, and cyber-physical cognitive systems articulate networked smart cities. Throughout January and March 2023, a quantitative literature review was carried out across the ProQuest, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, with search terms comprising “sustainable urban governance networks” + “digital twin simulation tools”, “spatial cognition algorithms”, and “multi-sensor fusion technology”. A Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) flow diagram was generated using a Shiny App. AXIS (Appraisal tool for Cross-Sectional Studies), Dedoose, MMAT (Mixed Methods Appraisal Tool), and the Systematic Review Data Repository (SRDR) were used to assess the quality of the identified scholarly sources. Dimensions and VOSviewer were employed for bibliometric mapping through spatial and data layout algorithms. The findings gathered from our analyses clarify that Internet-of-Things-based smart city environments integrate 3D virtual simulation technology, intelligent sensing devices, and digital twin modeling.

Self-adaptive hybrid urban morphologies community (HUMC): Its shared environment and soft intervention for sustainable urban governance

Cities have entered a transitional stage from incremental development to intension existent development. Beyond demolition and reconstruction, revitalising existing functioning neighbourhoods to make them more liveable and resilient while balancing their inter-relationships is an important topic in sustainable urban planning and governance. This paper puts forward a conceptual model for a “hybrid urban morphologies community” (HUMC) and explores its collective environmental performances. Taking the Hubei HUMC as a case study site, the paper examines its diverse temporal-spatial environmental performances by adopting on-site observation and measurement, focusing on local micro-scale climate, thermal comfort, and pedestrian ventilation capacity. Results reveal that none of the eight examined morphological patterns in Hubei HUMC consistently exhibited satisfactory environmental performance across all time periods in a typical summer day. Each morphological pattern presented varied merits and drawbacks during specific time periods. These morphological patterns together create an environmental complementary and form a synergetic socio-ecological system under the shared environment mechanism, which enables residents to have continuous outdoor habitation. Correlation and regression analyses illustrated that SVF, TSF, GCR, and GSA were the most critical of the “adaptable” urban morphological indicators (UMIs) that influenced urban outdoor environmental performances. Ultimately, soft intervention is advocated through temporarily rather than permanently adjusting these “adaptable” UMIs to ameliorate spaces with unsatisfactory environmental performances during the specific time periods. The proposed HUMC provides a reference model for urban management zoning and establishment of resilient self-adaptive urban communities.

Leveraging environmental stewardship mapping and assessment research as a relational process for ecology with cities

Increasingly, scholars, policy makers, and others have put forth that governance and management of urban environments requires a consideration of cities as social-ecological systems, necessitating involvement from a broad range of actors. Yet the research on environmental governance and development of tools to support it is often completed for rather than with those responsible for carrying out the work. We examined a university-led research effort on urban environmental stewardship in Los Angeles (LA), USA. A university urban research center conducted an environmental Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project (STEW-MAP) in Los Angeles County, which draws upon network analysis and GIS to better understand sustainability relationships, opportunities, and gaps. STEW-MAP is intended to be both a research study examining stewardship organizations across sectors, scales, jurisdictions and geographic space, as well as an application providing tools to facilitate collaborative environmental stewardship. We sought to contribute to a better understanding of how the process of STEW-MAP can leverage sustainability for a more relational ecology with cities approach. To evaluate the process of the LA STEW-MAP, we conducted our conceptual analysis of this stewardship tool by examining co-production of knowledge and co-production of place, drawing particularly from workshops with community partners that took place in 2017 and 2018. This article will show that the LA STEW-MAP process can be improved to better operationalize a relational ecology with cities approach. This research contributes to the urban sustainability governance literature by focusing on how the process of the LA STEW-MAP can be a relational model and advance an ecology with cities' approach that captures and leverages multi-scalar interactions.

Performance measurement in urban development: unfolding a case of sustainability KPIs reporting

PurposeThis study aims to explore the potential dynamics between performance measurement at the organisational level and emerging urban development projects at the macro-institutional field level of sustainability governance and accountability.Design/methodology/approachUsing a theoretical triangulation between three theories, namely contingency theory, institutional theory and social cognitive theory, this study investigates not only the macro-micro dynamics, but also the (recursive) micro-macro dynamics between performance measurement and urban development. Using an Egyptian public sector urban development organisation and its sustainable energy project as an empirical example, interviews, documents and observations were collected.FindingsThe dynamics emerged between field urban development projects and the (unintended) organisational implementation of the performance measurement system, the sustainability key performance indicators (KPIs) reporting system. Contributing to previous literature, these dynamics have been institutionalised through (three) interrelated levels: the (macro-field) urban development contingencies and pressures for sustainability KPIs reporting, the (organisational) institutionalisation of the urban development performance measurement system and then the (micro-organisational) cognitive role of sustainability KPIs reports in (re)making political urban development decisions.Research limitations/implicationsThis study faced some limitations that paved the way for future research axes. For political and security reasons, difficulties were encountered in conducting interviews with government actors in the sustainable energy project under study. Also, due to the practical separation of the environmental sustainability system from the sustainability KPIs reporting system in this case study, environmental sustainability is outside the scope.Practical implicationsSustainability reports may influence public sector decision-making processes in a specific urban development context. These KPIs reports may also increase public sector management opportunities for urban auditing, transparency, accountability and sustainability governance. These KPIs may also guide public sector management to lower prices in poor villages to increase smart energy consumption and improve community health.Social implicationsSustainability reports may increase decision-makers' understanding of consumer behaviours and societal changes. This may help in making appropriate political decisions to improve their welfare and regular smart energy consumption. Not only urban citizens, but this social advantage may also extend to urban development employees through employees' promotion, training and access to government-funded academic and professional scholarships.Originality/valueThis study is an attempt to develop current public sector performance measurement analyses in the emerging urban development field using a triadic analytical approach. This study also fed the literature with an extended case study that clarified the (multi-level) and (two-way) dynamics between performance measurement and urban development.

Beyond high-tech versus low-tech: A tentative framework for sustainable urban data governance

Technological imaginaries have been increasingly shaping the future perceptions of cities. From artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology to three-dimensional printing, high-tech artifacts are very often the premises of such imaginaries. However, technology does not only refer to artifacts. Technology also encompasses the processes around the artifacts: how the artifacts are designed, manufactured, used, maintained, and disposed. From this perspective, high-tech visions often disregard problems that pertain to resource extraction, labor exploitation, energy use, and material flows. On the contrary, low-tech and localized alternatives incite lower impact and higher resilience visions. However, they fail to offer solutions of the desired scale and intensity. To address this tension, we provide an alternative vision for mid-tech: a balance between the opposite extreme qualities of low-tech and high-tech. Through a case of open-source prosthetics, we illustrate how to synergistically combine the efficiency and versatility of high-tech solutions with the potential for autonomy and resilience that low-tech offers. Then we discuss a mid-tech approach for distributed ledger technology from a city as a license lens. We provide connections with existing or conceptual applications to show how distributed ledger technology could support more socially and ecologically responsible data practices for city governance.

Environmental collaborative governance of urban agglomeration in China: influencing factors and drivers.

This study attempts to examine how urban agglomerations establish sustainable environmental collaborative governance. To achieve this goal, the qualitative comparative analysis method is used to explore the conditions and models for urban agglomerations to establish environmental collaborative governance, with 12 urban agglomerations approved by the Chinese authorities as examples. Based on the collaborative governance framework, this paper proposes six starting conditions that affect the establishment of urban agglomeration collaboration: vertical intervention, horizontal cooperation, leadership attention, governance capacity, initial pollution, and economic governance. The interaction of these conditions was tested in the practice of environmental cooperation in urban agglomerations. The results show that horizontal cooperation, leadership attention, and economic governance are necessary conditions for the establishment of urban agglomeration cooperation. The authority-driven mode, capability-driven mode, and pressure-driven mode can promote cooperation. Vertical intervention, governance capacity, and initial pollution constitute the external and internal driving forces of urban agglomeration cooperation. These findings supplement the literature on urban agglomeration collaboration and provide policy makers with insight into sustainable urban agglomeration collaborative environmental governance.

Adaptive water governance research in social sciences journals: a bibliometric analysis

Abstract Adaptive water governance plays an increasingly important role in sustainable urban development and water governance response to global climate change. To comprehensively understand the research situation and development trend of adaptive water management, this study conducts a systematic literature review of articles published in International Social Sciences Citation Index (SSCI) journals based on bibliometric analysis. The results show that adaptive water governance as an emerging topic of water governance has an overall growth trend in published articles. The articles on adaptive water governance mainly concentrated on the disciplines of environmental science and environmental studies. Developed countries are a hub for water governance research, and China has the sixth largest number of articles from around the world. The adaptive water governance research has formed a preliminary global collaborative network, but the authors' collaboration needs to be strengthened. The most popular topics of adaptive water governance include South Africa, adaptive management, groundwater, principal component analysis, scenario planning, the analytic hierarchy process, resources, basins, computer experiments, and technology development. This finding suggests that adaptive water governance is a critical driver for sustainable urban development and represents a critical direction in the future research of water governance.

The Role of Cultural Heritage in Promoting Urban Sustainability: A Brief Review

Cities are hubs of social and cultural activity, and culture is key to what makes cities creative, and sustainable. The Post-2015 Development Agenda has prioritized culture and how it may help people and communities create the future they desire. The study aims to determine the link between cultural heritage and urban sustainability and how multidisciplinary education can help organize urban issues. The article is of relevance to the emerging multicultural urban society with wide socio-economic disparities straining the global urban resilience and posing a challenge for future policy implementation. A systematic literature review was conducted using the Dimension database, and the results were analyzed using VOS viewer. The study also employed the PRISMA quantitative approach for selection criteria. This paper has identified understudied themes including community heritage, sustainable urban governance, and behavioral and multidisciplinary approaches. It is strongly felt that undertaking this study will not only add to the literature in cultural heritage study but also help further multidisciplinary and knowledge-based inquiry, which is currently evolving in the academic domain. Therefore, urban academics have a duty to resolve the issue confronting global urban sustainability and cultural disputes. Future research is required to simplify the current complex issue to make it more relevant and inclusive.

Gearing Urban Metabolism toward the Carbon Neutrality Target: A Case Study of Hebei Province, China

Urban metabolism has emerged over the past decades as an important new paradigm of regional and urban sustainability governance towards a Chinese national scheme of ‘carbon neutrality’ by 2060. Hebei province in China faces twin pressures related to its supply of water and energy resources, which has brought humans and nature into conflict. Overcoming this tension in the human-land relationship in Hebei and determining a suitable development path for the future has become a core issue for the achievement of coordinated development within the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei region. This paper constructs a system to simulate the metabolism of water, energy, and human relationships, and uses this model to carry out simulations for Hebei province. The model establishes five scenarios: a natural development scenario, economic growth scenario, water conservation development scenario, energy conservation development scenario, and low carbon scenario. The simulation results show that, without intervention, the natural development scenario results in greater pressure on supply gaps and a greater demand for water and energy, with more production of industrial waste gas and domestic wastewater discharges. The economic growth, water conservation development, and energy conservation development scenarios focus on single economic, water conservation, and energy conservation measures by looking at core economic, water, and energy elements within the metabolic system; however, solving issues with individual elements merely leads to other, remaining problems. Under the low carbon scenario, issues with multiple elements in Hebei’s metabolic system are considered more comprehensively, so the simulation results are better than those in the other scenarios, and it better fits the future orientation of sustainable development of Hebei province.

Urban Shrinkage and Depopulation Dynamics for Sustainable Urban Governance

This analysis has the objective of addressing the shrinkage of the Municipality of Guadalajara in the state of Jalisco, México treated here as the counterpart of suburban expansion, which has been caused mainly by the depopulation the city and determines a tendency that defines the dynamics of the great contemporary metropolis in terms of urban sustainable governance. The methodology used consisted of tours to neighborhoods and communities, the observation of structure and the opinion of qualified informants, in addition to the review of documents of municipal government institutions and publications in the local press. The analysis concludes that the great challenges of the policy based on sustainable urban governance of territorial distribution of the population to reverse the depopulation and shrinkage of the municipality of Guadalajara are to achieve a balance of the same within the territory in accordance with a sustainable territorial order, and take advantage of the competitive advantages that the city offers, framed so much in the local economy as a state.

The Sense and Non-Sense of PEDs—Feeding Back Practical Experiences of Positive Energy District Demonstrators into the European PED Framework Definition Development Process

This article discusses early developments of the Positive Energy District (PED) concept, both in terms of its definition and of its implementation in real world demonstrators. Based on the specific challenges for creating an operational definition for the European +CityxChange project, the feasibility of creating a PED was practically explored by identifying 4 possible subtypes that respond to varying constraints regarding the energy balance of the PED. This article provides the context and describes these 4 ambitions levels: PEDautonomous, PEDdynamic, PEDvirtual, and PrePED; and the 3 boundary modes: geographical, functional, and virtual. The work thus expands on the first general PED definitions as they were put forward in the SET-plan and by the European Commission, while allowing a better response to the specific boundary conditions of PEDs’ physical context. As such, it provides an operational, city-focused, bottom-up PED definition. The present study analyses how these efforts connect to current work being performed on the development of a European PED Framework Definition. In the latter, new elements such as context factors are introduced in order to account for the varying boundary conditions that PEDs must address, and in particular the difficulties of realising PEDs in existing and densely built-up urban areas. Hereby it can be argued that the approach with 4 subtypes is a bottom-up method of addressing the same challenges as a context factor based approach operating in a top-down manner, this time starting from the regional or national renewable energy potentials. Both approaches indeed strive towards an optimum setup of PEDs both within their geographical boundaries and in their interactions with the surrounding energy infrastructures and cities. These efforts are instrumental in helping to prevent that a PED is being regarded as a goal in se, functionally disconnected from its surroundings. There are strong arguments in favour of handling PEDs as building blocks for the broader realisation of carbon neutral cities and regions, thus contributing to the systemic change that is needed to futureproof the built environment as a whole. Without applying this integrating perspective, PEDs risk creating a sub-optimal lock-in within their sites and thus remain one-off experiments, lacking connection to the wider urban sustainability strategies that are needed to properly address today’s energy and climate emergencies. This holds even more when considering the quality-related requirements that come with sustainable urban design and governance. Therefore, this study further explores how PEDs can fully support such a deep urban sustainability transition, and what could consequently be the next steps towards successful and upscaled PED deployment.

Decision support for sustainable urban mobility: A case study of the Rhine-Ruhr area

• A framework for integrated innovation policy of sustainable urban mobility is set. • A multi-actor and multi-level approach is considered. • Transformation process is step-wise guided. • An interactive scenario-simulation tool for the decision makers is developed. • Mobility demand and supply must be balanced to transform sustainable urban future. Sustainable urban governance considers the simultaneous reduction of traffic-related pollution, social equity for mobility access, healthy market competition among the service providers, and convenient use of multi-modal transportation enabled by digital technologies. However, the rise of more complex urban systems challenges decision-making processes to design and implement environmentally sustainable, economically viable, and socially acceptable urban mobility systems. The paper sets an innovative and collaborative decision-making framework for integrated sustainable urban policy design. Firstly, schematic integration of urban flows from disintegrated operation systems toward fully integrated, inclusive, and sustainable urban systems is conceptualized. Based on this concept a multi-level decision-making process within urban mobility policies is designed relying on a Multi-Criteria Decision Aid (MCDA) for resource allocation decisions at the micro, meso, and macro levels. Thereby, a range of urban futures is adequately addressed, be it smart, sustainable city concepts, peri-urbanization, and business as usual scenarios. The integrated model for a pilot case of the metropolitan region of Rhine-Ruhr is tested in this paper. If Sustainable City scenario is the desired one, push and pull measures should be equally weighted. Based on MCDA sensitivity analysis, policy recommendations and a practical hands-on tool for urban planning are derived.

Smart City Analytics, Digital Twin Simulation and Visualization Modeling Technologies, and Cognitive Data Mining Algorithms in Sustainable Urban Governance Networks

Smart City Analytics, Digital Twin Simulation and Visualization Modeling Technologies, and Cognitive Data Mining Algorithms in Sustainable Urban Governance Networks

Cities through the lens of Stakeholder Theory: A literature review

This paper mapped and explored the intellectual structure and the mainstream research on stakeholder theory in the urban context and urban management through co-citation analysis, bibliographic coupling, and social network analysis. We found two main intellectual structures: “Urban Strategy” and “Urban Marketing”; which emphasize issues related to environmental management, environmental performance, and collaborative urban governance. “Urban Strategy” is focused on meeting urban stakeholders' expectations through value creation. While “Urban Marketing” manages urban image attractiveness. We also identified three mainstream research themes: “Sustainable Urban Strategy” that arises from “Urban Strategy” and emphasizes sustainability; “Urban Marketing” also doubles as a mainstream research theme with the same features; and “Power of Networks” reveals how sustainable urban governance relates to relational capital, social capital, and partnerships in an urban context. The interface of the intellectual structure and mainstream research with stakeholder theory is discussed using constructs such as value creation and salience. We conclude with implications for policy-makers, local communities, scholars, and urban planners.

Urban Sustainability and Resilience Governance: Review from The Perspective of Climate Change Adaptation And Disaster Risk Reduction

The imperative of ‘making cities resilient and sustainable’ necessitates cities to develop adaptation concepts and practices in response to the uncertainty, rapid change, and complexity of urban areas. A new concept of governance that can answer the challenges of contemporary urban development and ensure long-term sustainable development is required. This study aimed to identify the general framework of adaptive urban governance by review, elaboration, and analysis of documents, in this case, scientific articles that discuss urban governance specifically related to climate change adaptation (CCA) and disaster risk reduction (DRR). The results of this study include an overview of governance approaches appearing in the literature on CCA and DRR, which was parsed down to the adaptive and anticipatory approaches. Adaptive governance requires the principle of flexibility applied in the management cycle in policy formulation, while anticipatory governance requires the principle of proactivity with the application of future foresight in policy formulation. The dimension of governance consists of process/mechanism (risk management) and capacity (technical, institutional, financial, and human capacity). Some challenges in building good governance based on an adaptive approach are encouraging community involvement, increasing local government capacities, and building integration between actors, networks, and collaborations. Abstrak. Dalam menjadikan suatu kota tangguh dan berkelanjutan, kota diharuskan untuk mengembangkan konsep dan praktik adaptasi dalam menanggapi ketidakpastian, perubahan yang cepat, dan kompleksitas kawasan perkotaan. Diperlukan konsep tata kelola baru yang dapat menjawab tantangan pembangunan perkotaan kontemporer dan memastikan pembangunan berkelanjutan jangka panjang. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengidentifikasi kerangka umum tata kelola kota adaptif dengan metode review, elaborasi, dan analisis dokumen, dalam hal ini artikel ilmiah yang membahas tentang tata kelola kota secara khusus terkait dengan adaptasi perubahan iklim (CCA) dan pengurangan risiko bencana (PRB). Hasil penelitian ini meliputi gambaran pendekatan tata kelola yang muncul dalam literatur CCA dan PRB, yang diuraikan menjadi pendekatan adaptif dan antisipatif. Tata kelola adaptif membutuhkan prinsip fleksibilitas yang diterapkan dalam siklus pengelolaan dalam perumusan kebijakan, sedangkan tata kelola antisipatif membutuhkan prinsip proaktif dengan penerapan pandangan jauh ke depan dalam perumusan kebijakan. Dimensi tata kelola terdiri dari proses / mekanisme (manajemen risiko) dan kapasitas (teknis, kelembagaan, keuangan, dan kapasitas manusia). Beberapa tantangan dalam membangun tata kelola pemerintahan yang baik berdasarkan pendekatan adaptif adalah mendorong keterlibatan masyarakat, meningkatkan kapasitas pemerintah daerah, dan membangun integrasi antar aktor, jaringan, dan kolaborasi. Kata kunci: pendekatan tata kelola; tata kelola kota; pembangunan berkelanjutan; ketahanan; kerangka konseptual.

Politics of urban renewal: An anatomy of the conflicting discourses on the renovation of China's urban village

This paper attempts to analyse the politics of urban renewal through the anatomy of the conflicting discourses on the changes in China's urban villages. Specifically, this paper investigates the case of Liede Village, Guangzhou, a typical urban village in China, and its innovative reconstruction model. Based on the methods of participatory observation, in-depth interviews, and textual analysis, this paper finds that the official media conducted a top-down construction of Liede Village's reconstruction as a mainstream social and economic activity from which a modernised model for Chinese urban renewal has been strongly established; the villagers also respond to the strong construction of the official media coverage by conducting bottom-up protests that aim to safeguard their rights through alternative discourse constructions. In this sense, this study found that urban renewal is not only physical or socially related but politically related. There are significant differences in the discourse construction methods and operational logic of different power subjects. To resolve these conflicts, the discourse knowledge systems within urban villages should be reformed so that the Chinese government can more effectively govern these complex social spaces. This paper provides an alternative understanding of China's urban renewal from the perspective of discourse politics, which enriches existing studies on urban sustainability, social justice and urban governance for the wider human geographers, urban scholars and sociologists, especially the wider discussions on urban renewal in other countries.

Urban ecosystems and ecosystem services in megacity Dhaka: mapping and inventory analysis

Urban ecosystems and ecosystem services have received little research attention in South Asian countries where rapid urban development is currently problematic. We developed a typology of urban ecosystems and an inventory of current ecosystem services for Dhaka – the capital of Bangladesh. Our observations, surveys, analyses, and evaluation revealed a diversity of urban ecosystems including khal (canal), pond, wetland, cultivated land, park/rooftop garden, playground/field, open space/vacant plot, roadside trees, and graveyards. Important provisioning services included fruits, vegetables, fish, fodder, timber, fuelwood, and medicinal/ornamental plants. Regulating services included carbon sequestration and particulate matter removal by park and roadside trees, drainage service by khals and wetlands, and noise abatement by parks. Opportunities for recreation, fishing and sports, walk/exercise, inspirations for art and culture and religious values presented cultural services. Habitat services such as refugia for resident and migratory birds featured in parks, lakes, wetlands and trees on roadsides, playgrounds/fields, and graveyards. Evaluation of the states and values of urban ecosystems and ecosystem services are prerequisites to improving the wellbeing of urban communities particularly in Dhaka but more generally for other major cities in South Asia. Our findings will assist policy makers in sustainable urban ecosystem governance with possible implications for region-wide cooperation.

Evidence-informed urban health and sustainability governance in two Chinese cities.

Sustainable development is best supported by intersectoral policies informed by a range of evidence and knowledge types (e.g. scientific and lay). Given China’s rapid urbanisation, scale and global importance in climate mitigation, this study investigates how evidence is perceived and used to inform urban health and sustainability policies at central and local levels. Well-informed senior professionals in government/scientific agencies (12 in Beijing and 11 in Ningbo) were interviewed. A thematic analysis is presented using deductive and inductive coding. Government agency participants described formal remits and processes determining the scope and use of evidence by different tiers of government. Academic evidence was influential when commissioned by government departments. Public opinion and economic priorities were two factors that also influenced the use or weight of evidence in policymaking. This study shows that scientific evidence produced or commissioned by government was routinely used to inform urban health and sustainability policy. Extensive and routine data collection is regularly used to inform cyclical policy processes, which improves adaptive capacity. This study contributes to knowledge on the ‘cultures of evidence use’. Environmental governance can be further improved through increased data-sharing and use of diverse knowledge types.