Vulnerability Of Urban Environment Research Articles

Screening of urban environmental vulnerability indicators based on coefficient of variation and anti-image correlation matrix method

A scientific evaluation indicator system is critical for assessing and predicting urban environmental vulnerability. This study establishes an indicator system of urban environmental vulnerability based on ecological sensitivity, resilience, and pressure and proposes a comprehensive screening method using the coefficient of variation and anti-image correlation matrix to improve the evaluation result of urban environmental vulnerability. The indicator screening method improves the reliability of the evaluation results. The proposed method is compared with Pearson correlation analysis to demonstrate the advantages of our method for calculating the information interpretation intensity and the cumulative contribution rate. The calculated results are compared with the threshold values to verify the suitability of the constructed index system. The results show that the information interpretation intensity of the selected indicators system is 1.061, and the cumulative information contribution rate is 89.78%. The selected indicators system accurately reflects urban environmental vulnerability.

Urban environmental vulnerability in Rome: a spatial composite indicator

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In recent decades, in order to respond to the growing need for systematic information on complex realities, there have been increasing attempts to create synthetic and complex indicators, in many areas of knowledge, capable to integrate a large amount of information. The aim of this paper is summed the environmental dimension in a synthetic index able to inform on the urban risk in one of the largest cities in Europe, Rome, Italy. METHODS: Rome is characterized by a complex landscape with various anthropogenic and natural source of pollutions. To analyses different landscape components and tries to make a synthesis 1km2 grid cells were fixed as the reference unit for all spatial predictor indicators. Variables include several aims: Anthropic Industrial pressure; Airport; Land cover data; Road data defined as road density and traffic intensity and noise; Green area, ndvi and lai; hydrogeologic risk; environmental pollution; temperature; socioeconomic status. The Geographically Weighted Principal Component Analysis (GWPCA) method was used to construct a composite indicator by integrating all the dimensions. RESULTS: The first four components are used to explain the most variation in the data structure. The total percentage of variance (PTV) explained ranges from 78% to 85% with an average value of 82%. The overall value of the urban vulnerability composite indicator evidence the spatial variability of the landscape. Sign with high level the major urbanization areas and the main industrial sites of the city, detects also a gradient between the most populated areas and the green areas. CONCLUSIONS: A spatial principal component analysis will be performed to integrate several indicators. Synthesis has the advantage of avoiding the presentation and interpretation of a large number of elementary indicators in order to perform simpler and faster analyses, especially in comparative terms. KEYWORDS: Geographically Weighted Principal Component Analysis, composite indicator

Mapping geological risk in urban areas

The geological risk of economic losses was qualitatively assessed for the Moscow megacity proceeding from the combined consideration of geohazards operating in this territory and the vulnerability of urban environment. The map of geoecological conditions was built on the basis of assessing karst, suffosion, waterlogging, and landslide hazards in Moscow, and the schematic map of geological risk (scale 1: 50000) was compiled for the Moscow territory, representing risk as an integral parameter of probable damage caused by the considered geohazards and the anthropogenic load on the urban territory. The mapping procedure included four steps: grading and mapping exogenous geohazards, grading and mapping the vulnerability of urban environment (which is understood here as the city territory with the surface infrastructure) to these geohazards, distinguishing risk categories by the analysis of geohazard impact on urban environment, and compiling the resultant risk map by superposition of the integral map of exogenous geohazards and the vulnerability map. This qualitative approach provides reliable and sufficient data permitting urban planners to optimize investments in Moscow city development.

Uma revisão crítica sobre cidades e mudança climática: vinho velho em garrafa nova ou um novo paradigma de ação para a governança local?

A mudança climática e o aquecimento global passaram, em curto espaço de tempo, para o centro do debate público como o maior desafio do século XXI. Este artigo busca apresentar uma revisão crítica sobre a temática das cidades e a mudança climática baseando-se numa análise da literatura internacional e nacional disponível. Ressalta-se que os impactos da mudança climática são esperados em áreas urbanas afetando vários setores do cotidiano das cidades. A evidência empírica mostra que governos locais são fundamentais para implementar políticas públicas relativas à mudança climática. De forma geral, a resposta dada por esses governos concentra-se em ações de mitigação e adaptação. Buscou-se, neste sentido, compreender os processos de urbanização e industrialização como forma de entender a condição e as origens da vulnerabilidade socioambiental urbana no Brasil, bem como alertar para os enormes déficits socioeconômicos e ambientais das cidades brasileiras que tornam políticas públicas e respostas mais urgentes e complicadas. Assim, não se trata de vinho velho em garrafa nova, mas sim da oportunidade não só de corrigir erros do passado, como também transformar as cidades brasileiras para o futuro de forma mais sustentável e justa. Para isso torna-se necessário um maior envolvimento dos estudos em administração pública e gestão local nessa discussão.

An integrated earthquake vulnerability assessment framework for urban areas

In this paper, an integrated urban earthquake vulnerability assessment framework, which considers vulnerability of urban environment in a holistic manner and performs the vulnerability assessment for the neighborhood scale, is proposed. The main motivation behind this approach is the inability to implement existing vulnerability assessment methodologies for countries like Turkey, where the required data are usually missing or inadequate for the decision-makers in prioritization their limited resources for risk reduction in the administrative units from which they are responsible for. The methodology integrates socio-economical, structural, coastal, ground condition, vulnerabilities (fragilities), as well as accessibility to critical services. The proposed methodology is implemented for Eskisehir, which is one of the metropolitans of Turkey. In the implementation of the proposed framework, geographic information system (GIS) is used. While the overall vulnerabilities obtained for neighborhoods are mapped in GIS, the overall vulnerabilities obtained for buildings are visualized in 3D city model. The main reason behind using different mapping and visualization tools for vulnerabilities is to provide better ways for communicating with decision-makers. The implementation of the proposed vulnerability assessment methodology indicates that an urban area may have different vulnerability patterns in terms of structural, socio-economical, and accessibility to critical services. When such patterns are investigated, effective vulnerability reduction policies can be designed by the decision-makers. The proposed methodology well serves for this purpose.

Environmental Vulnerability in Public Perceptions and Attitudes: The Case of Israel's Urban Centers

Objective. This article investigates how urban environmental vulnerability to hazards reflects in the perceptions and attitudes of the public in three major cities in Israel: Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, and Haifa. Our central argument is that the differences between the residents’ perceptions and attitudes toward environmental issues are related mostly to the actual hazard levels of their communities, whereas individual differences in socioeconomic characteristics are of lesser importance in this regard. Methods. The research was based on survey data of representative samples of the adult residents in the three cities. The differences in attitudes and perceptions among the three samples were statistically assessed by means of analysis of variance. Results. We found relatively strong and consistent relationships between actual environmental vulnerability to hazards in the three cities and their residents’ attitudes toward environmental issues. The relationships with socioeconomic characteristics, such as education and income, were considerably weaker and less consistent. Conclusions. The results of this research indicate that environmental concern is not exclusive to groups and individuals characterized by postmaterialist values. Rather, the urban public in general is responsive to the environmental vulnerability of its community. This conclusion supports the argument that attitudes toward the environment are mainly affected by instrumental considerations of objective environmental problems rather than by subjective values.