World Urbanization Research Articles

Exploring Methods for Developing Local Climate Zones to Support Climate Research

Meteorological and climate prediction models at the urban scale increasingly require more accurate and high-resolution data. The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) system is an initiative to standardize a classification scheme of the urban landscape, based mainly on the properties of surface structure (e.g., building, tree height, density) and surface cover (pervious vs. impervious). This approach is especially useful for studying the influence of urban morphology and fabric on the surface urban heat island (SUHI) effect and to evaluate how changes in land use and structures affect thermal regulation in the city. This article will demonstrate three different methodologies of creating LCZs: first, the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT); second, using Copernicus Urban Atlas (UA) data via a geographic information system (GIS) client directly; and third via Google Earth Engine (GEE) using Oslo, Norway as the case study. The WUDAPT and GEE methods incorporate a machine learning (random forest) procedure using Landsat 8 imagery, and offer the most precision while requiring the most time and familiarity with GIS usage and satellite imagery processing. The WUDAPT method is performed principally using multiple GIS clients and image processing tools. The GEE method is somewhat quicker to perform, with work performed entirely on Google’s sites. The UA or GIS method is performed solely via a GIS client and is a conversion of pre-existing vector data to LCZ classes via scripting. This is the quickest method of the three; however, the reclassification of the vector data determines the accuracy of the LCZs produced. Finally, as an illustration of a practical use of LCZs and to further compare the results of the three methods, we map the distribution of the temperature according to the LCZs of each method, correlating to the land surface temperature (LST) from a Landsat 8 image pertaining to a heat wave episode that occurred in Oslo in 2018. These results show, in addition to a clear LCZ-LST correspondence, that the three methods produce accurate and similar results and are all viable options.

Инновационные идеи в теории философии социально-техногенного развития мира и смены эволюции жизни (к 85-летию профессора Э.С. Демиденко)

The article highlights the main milestones of Eduard Semenovich Demidenko’s scientific biography, who is the founder and pioneer in the field of research and development of the philosophy theory of the world socio-technogenic develop-ment and the change in the life evolution in domestic science, who has been the head of the author’s Bryansk Interdisciplinary Scientific and Philosophical School at BSTU since 2002. Professor E.S. Demidenko’s ideas are connected with the need to comprehend the destructive impact of the processes of the world urbanization and technospherization on the biospheric life and man’s transformation.
 The article reviews E.S. Demidenko’s main achievements in the field of the world process of urbanization as the final stage of the technospherization process of the planet Earth; in the field of technogenic social progress; socio-technogenic development of the earthly life and the world; change in the life evolution on the Earth with the transition from the biospheric-biological to the socio-techno-biological system of life, namely post-biospheric; man’s global socio- and eco-technological transformation; methodological plan of the theory which is a systematic scientific socio-natural approach and a philosophical multidisciplinary approach to global phenomena, allowing sciences to explore universal and other significant problems of our time. Strategic promising areas of research are formulated, developed by the scientific and philosophical school with the support of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Ecological Academy and the country’s leading universities. The article concludes that the productive use of E.S. Demidenko’s concepts demands gathering all mankind’s healthy forces and developing a comprehensive strategy for the socio-biospheric development of Russia and the world.

Advanced Technologies in Smart Cities

World urbanization is an important process: it is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized [...]

Universally Accessible Public Spaces for All

At the occasion of the 10th session of the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi (2020), the World Blind Union (WBU) and City Space Architecture committed to develop and publish a special issue of The Journal of Public Space with a specific focus on universally accessible public spaces. This voluntary commitment was included in the Forum’s outcome declaration, the Abu Dhabi Declared Actions (2021), intended to support accelerating the implementation of the New Urban Agenda (NUA) and urban dimension of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) during the Decade of Action. In particular this Special Issue is contributing to Goal 17 - Strengthen the means of implementation and revitalize the global partnership for sustainable development, and its outcomes are focusing on Goal 11 - Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.Today, more than half of the world’s population live in cities, 15 per cent of them being persons with disabilities. By 2050, 70 per cent of the world’s population will live in urban communities including over two billion persons with disabilities and older persons requiring inclusive and accessible infrastructure and services to live independently and participate on an equal basis in all aspects of society. Local and regional governments, and other key urban stakeholders, face immense pressure to adapt strategies, policies, and urban planning and design practices to fully respond to the rights and needs of all persons with disabilities and intersecting social groups.
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Improving the local climate zone classification with building height, imperviousness, and machine learning for urban models

The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification is already widely used in urban heat island and other climate studies. The current classification method does not incorporate crucial urban auxiliary GIS data on building height and imperviousness that could significantly improve urban-type LCZ classification utility as well as accuracy. This study utilized a hybrid GIS- and remote sensing imagery-based framework to systematically compare and evaluate different machine and deep learning methods. The Convolution Neural Network (CNN) classifier outperforms in terms of accuracy, but it requires multi-pixel input, which reduces the output’s spatial resolution and creates a tradeoff between accuracy and spatial resolution. The Random Forest (RF) classifier performs best among the single-pixel classifiers. This study also shows that incorporating building height dataset improves the accuracy of the high- and mid-rise classes in the RF classifiers, whereas an imperviousness dataset improves the low-rise classes. The single-pass forward permutation test reveals that both auxiliary datasets dominate the classification accuracy in the RF classifier, while near-infrared and thermal infrared are the dominating features in the CNN classifier. These findings show that the conventional LCZ classification framework used in the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT) can be improved by adopting building height and imperviousness information. This framework can be easily applied to different cities to generate LCZ maps for urban models.

Trend of Sound Absorption Research: A Bibliometric Analysis

Abstract The growing world population and urbanization have worsened noise pollution, driving the development of sound absorption (SA) research across the globe. This study aims to analyse the SA global research trends and discover the opportunities for future development or collaboration using systematic bibliometric analysis. A total of 2970 articles since 1913 were systematically retrieved. Results reveal that the most productive journal had taken 10.3 % of the total publications. A high correlation r = 0.87 was found between the number of co-authorship and the h-index of a scholar. China has the highest number of publications 55.3 % and most research focused on porous materials. Present findings could be helpful to further develop SA from a global level perspective.

The future is urban: integrated planning policies can enable healthy and sustainable cities

The future is urban: integrated planning policies can enable healthy and sustainable cities

Determining the Influence of Long Term Urban Growth on Surface Urban Heat Islands Using Local Climate Zones and Intensity Analysis Techniques

Urban growth, typified by conversion from natural to built-up impervious surfaces, is known to cause warming and associated adverse impacts. Local climate zones present a standardized technique for evaluating the implications of urban land use and surface changes on temperatures of the overlying atmosphere. In this study, long term changes in local climate zones of the Bulawayo metropolitan city were used to assess the influence of the city’s growth on its thermal characteristics. The zones were mapped using the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tool (WUDAPT) procedure while Landsat data were used to determine temporal changes. Data were divided into 1990 to 2005 and 2005 to 2020 temporal splits and intensity analysis used to characterize transformation patterns at each interval. Results indicated that growth of the built local climate zones (LCZ) in Bulawayo was faster in the 1990 to 2005 interval than the 2005 to 2020. Transition level intensity analysis showed that growth of built local climate zones was more prevalent in areas with water, low plants and dense forest LCZ in both intervals. There was a westward growth of light weight low rise built LCZ category than eastern direction, which could be attributed to high land value in the latter. Low plants land cover type experienced a large expansion of light weight low rise buildings than the compact low rise, water, and open low-rise areas. The reduction of dense forest was mainly linked to active expansion of low plants in the 2005 to 2020 interval, symbolizing increased deforestation and vegetation clearance. In Bulawayo’s growth, areas where built-up LCZs invade vegetation and wetlands have increased anthropogenic warming (i.e., Surface Urban Heat Island intensities) in the city. This study demonstrates the value of LCZs in among others creating a global urban land use land cover database and assessing the influence of urban growth pattern on urban thermal characteristics.

Research on Social Protection Mechanism of China’s New Urbanization Development

New urbanization is different from urbanization in the traditional sense of “concentration”, “decentralization” and “over Urbanization”. It is a historical reflection on the development theory of world urbanization. It emphasizes people-oriented, new industrialization as the driving force, overall consideration as the principle, harmonious society as the direction, and comprehensive, coordinated, harmonious and sustainable development as the characteristics, Promote urban modernization, urban clustering, urban ecology and rural urbanization, comprehensively improve the quality and level of urbanization, and take the path of scientific development, intensive and efficient, perfect functions, environment-friendly, social harmony, distinctive personality, integration of urban and rural areas, and coordinated development of large, medium and small cities and towns. To solve various economic and social problems after entering rapid urbanization, we must be “problem-oriented”, accurately grasp the current situation of China’s urbanization development from a global perspective and a multidisciplinary theoretical perspective, fully learn from some successful practices of inclusive development in the process of urbanization development and urban transformation at home and abroad, summarize and sort out experiences and lessons, and choose a new urbanization path suitable for China's national conditions, Build China’s new urbanization inclusive development strategy to provide theoretical basis, practical model and decision-making reference for the party and the state.

Updating global urbanization projections under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways

Urbanization level is an important indicator of socioeconomic development, and projecting its dynamics is fundamental for studies related to global socioeconomic and climate change. This paper aims to update the projections of global urbanization from 2015 to 2100 under the Shared Socioeconomic Pathways by using the logistic fitting model and iteratively identifying reference countries. Based on historical urbanization level database from the World Urbanization Prospects, projected urbanization levels and uncertainties are provided for 204 countries and areas every five years. The 2010–2100 year-by-year projected urbanization levels and uncertainties based on the annual historical data from the World Bank (WB) for 188 of countries and areas are also provided. The projections based on the two datasets were compared and the latter were validated using the historical values of the WB for the years 2010–2018. The updated dataset of urbanization level is relevant for understanding future socioeconomic development, its implications for climate change and policy planning.

Градостроительная политика Испании в Новом Свете на примере Мехико, колониального мегаполиса страны

This article analyzes the history of the Mexico City, the capital of the vice-kingdom of New Spain since its foundation until the end of the colonial period. The author focuses on the main principles of urban pol-icy in the colonies, city plans, development and transformation of the city throughout the colonial history. Conquering the local population and moving across the territory of Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors not only conquered existing settlements, but also founded their own fortresses and outposts, attaching exceptional importance to the con-struction of cities on the territory of colonial possessions. New Spanish cities in America were used by the conquistadors as strongholds for fur-ther colonization and economic development of subordinate territories. The appearance of Spanish cities, their fortifications, Catholic churches were supposed to inspire the Indians with reverence and fear of the con-querors. The urbanization of the New World proceeded as an important link in the process of conquest and development of new territories by the Spanish conquistadors. The future metropolis of New Spain, Mexi-co City, was located on the site of the main Aztec city of Tenochtitlan. The idea to found a city on the site of the Indian Tenochtitlan belonged to E. Cortes. The plan of the city of Mexico belonged to the famous Spanish architect Garcia Bravo. By the beginning of the XIX century. Mexico City grew, expanded, the city had 335 streets, 146 lanes, 12 blocks, 90 large and small squares. The rapid development of the city of Mexico City was interrupted by the events of the War of Independ-ence, the destruction of which had to be liquidated in the first quarter of the 19th century.

Impact of global and local urbanization and social trends on the future of Kazakhstan

The article examines global and local trends in the urbanization process in Kazakhstan and the world and their impact on the future of the country. In 2007, a turning point in the urbanization of the entire world came — the milestone of 50 % was overcome, and by 2050 66 % is expected. It describes forecasts for an increase in women’s economic influence at the expense of third world countries, influence on the development of scientific and technological progress through the activities of special scientific zones or cities with a high density of technical companies, as well as the change of the global consumer base from Europe and America to the countries of Asia and Tropical Africa, the beginning of economic growth on the African continent. At the end of the XXI century, the three largest cities in the world will be in Tropical Africa — Lagos, Kinshasa, Dar es Salaam. It provides statistics on the development of urbanization in Kazakhstan, approaching the indicators of population ageing, the dangers of too rapid growth of megacities without adequate medical and educational provision. The article concerns state measures to prevent the formation of “marginal rings”, due to the growth of protest potential in the event of a social crisis, as well as the desire to reduce the outflow of population from rural areas. It reveals the prospects for the formation of agglomerations in Kazakhstan and the similarity of local trends in Kazakhstan and Russia in terms of population reduction in small and medium-sized cities and the growth in the number of large cities and megacities. Analysis of the studied material is provided.

Global debris flow susceptibility based on a comparative analysis of a single global model versus a continent-by-continent approach

Debris flows, and landslides in general, are worldwide catastrophic phenomena. As world population and urbanization grow in magnitude and geographic coverage, the need exists to extend focus, research, and modeling to a continental and global scale. Although debris flow behavior and parameters are local phenomena, sound generalizations can be applied to debris flow susceptibility analyses at larger geographic extents based on these criteria. The focus of this research is to develop a global debris flow susceptibility map by modeling at both a continental scale for all continents and by a single global model and determine whether a global model adequately represents each continent. Probability Density, Conditional Probability, Certainty Factor, Frequency Ratio, and Maximum Entropy statistical models were developed and evaluated for best model performance using fourteen environmental factors generally accepted as the most appropriate debris flow predisposing factors. Global models and models for each continent were then developed and evaluated against verification data. The comparative analysis demonstrates that a single global model performs comparably or better than individual continental models for a majority of the continents, resulting in a debris flow susceptibility map of the world useful for in-depth research, international planning, and future debris flow susceptibility modeling and determining societal impacts.

Determination of Groundwater Sensitivity Potential Using Geography Information System (GIS) Based DRASTIC Model: A Case Erzin Plain (South of Turkey)

Today, due to the rapidly increasing world population and urbanization, the amount of water is increasing exponentially in areas such as drinking, irrigation, energy, industry, etc. There is a great increase in the use of water in agriculture, especially due to the food needs of human beings. For this reason, human beings need water; They obtain water almost everywhere from above ground (springs, dams, ponds) and underground (drilling wells) water sources. Usage of groundwater is quite common in the plains, where surface water resources are insufficient. This situation; While increasing the use of pesticides and fertilizers for agricultural purposes due to irrigation, it also creates the risk of contamination of groundwater. In this study; contamination potential of groundwater in Erzin Plain was determined using Geography Information System (GIS)-based DRASTIC model. Seasonal and annual field sensitivity levels were determined by integrating current land use into this model. Accordingly, in the dry seasons of August-2006, November-2006, while the Mediterranean coast has high EC values in the vicinity of the Mediterranean coast, the area around the resort sites and the settlement area, the mountainous areas, the north of the plain and the west of Gokdere have low EC values. It has the lowest EC values by decreasing towards the north and northeast and other parts of the plain. In the study area; Although NO3 concentration varies seasonally, it is especially high in citrus growing segments with high permeability. On this change; Factors such as rainfall recharge, evaporation effect in the dry period, irrigation water recharge with the effect of land use, and the depth of groundwater depending on topography played an important role.

State and Trends of Development of Territorial Differentiation of Modern Labour Force

Introduction. The current stage of social development is characterized by large-scale changes in the social composition of the economically active population. The transformation of its territorial differentiation has become one of the development vectors, and it is expressed in a new quantitative and qualitative ratio of the urban and rural labour force, structural features of territorial employment, general characteristics of regional labour markets, increasing income inequality, etc. The study of these social phenomena is a necessary condition for elabouration of the concept of sustainable and stable development of both different regions and the world community as a whole.Methodology and sources. The methodological basis of the study was the classification of the territorial division of the population used by the International Labour Organization. There were analyzed and compiled the official statistics presented in the organization's reports. Descriptive statistics methods were applied. Regression analysis was used to establish a statistically significant relationship between the annual GDP growth rate per employee and the share of people employed in the service sector.Results and discussion. The global change in the state and trends of the development of territorial differentiation of the economically active population in the 20th century determined the need to correctly correlate the laws of world urbanization with its regional characteristics when analyzing the process itself and its results in countries of various types. This process has led to changes in the industrial, professional, property and gender parameters of the urban and rural labour market.Conclusion. An analysis of regional differences in the modern labour market revealed such trends as the growth of the urban economically active population, the predominance of the urban labour force over the rural, the predominant employment of the urban population in the service-producing sector of the economy, income inequality and access to work in urban and rural areas, differences in property status, gender inequality of the urban and rural labour forces, etc. Taking into account these characteristics should be a prerequisite for the development of the concept of sustainable and stable development of both individual regions and the world community as a whole.

Detect Megaregional Communities Using Network Science Analytics

Urban science research and the research on megaregions share a common interest in the system of cities and its implications for world urbanization and sustainability. The two lines of inquiry currently remain largely separate efforts. This study aims to bridge urban science and megaregion research by applying network science’s community detection algorithm to explore the spatial pattern of megaregions in the contiguous United States. A network file was constructed consisting of county centroids as nodes, the direct links between each pair of counties as edges, and inter-county commuting flows as the weight to capture spatial interactions. Analyses were carried out at two levels, one at the national level using Gephi and the other for the State of Texas involving NetworkX, an open-source Python programming package to implement a weighted community detection algorithm. Results show the detected communities largely conforming to the qualitative knowledge on megaregions. Despite a number of limitations, the study indicates the great potential of applying network science analytics to improve understanding of the spatial process of megaregions.

Local climate zones and its potential for building urban resilience: a case study of Lahore, Pakistan

PurposeUrban built-up has been increasing exponentially in the world. Urban population growth and migration are depleting the land resources and creating thermal discomfort. Cities all around the world are facing urban heat island effects and increased temperatures. This study aims to map land cover and formulate local climate zones for enhancing urban resilience against disaster and climate risks.Design/methodology/approachThis study uses exploratory research to identify local climate zones for Lahore, Pakistan. Landsat 8 imagery was used to develop a land use land cover map. For mapping local climate zones, the standard World Urban and Access Portal Tool procedure was used.FindingsResults have revealed that Lahore has grown exponentially. Compact low rise and open low rise were the two most common local climate zones prevalent in the city. In contrast, the outer regions of the city consisted of LCZ D (low plants) and LCZ F (bare soil).Practical implicationsThis study highlights the need to consider local climate zones in future development plans and policies for ensuring sustainable, resilient and climate-friendly cities.Originality/valueLocal climate zone studies are missing in Pakistan. This study has empirically analyzed the ground situation of local climate zones for Lahore metropolitan city. This study will provide baseline support for future studies on urban heat island and climate change adaptation planning.

Ecosystems Services and Green Infrastructure for Respiratory Health Protection: A Data Science Approach for Paraná, Brazil

Urban ecosystem services have become a main issue in contemporary urban sustainable development, whose efforts are challenged by the phenomena of world urbanization and climate change. This article presents a study about the ecosystem services of green infrastructure towards better respiratory health in a socioeconomic scenario typical of the Global South countries. The study involved a data science approach comprising basic and multivariate statistical analysis, as well as data mining, for the municipalities of the state of Paraná, in Brazil’s South region. It is a cross-sectional study in which multiple data sets are combined and analyzed to uncover relationships or patterns. Data were extracted from national public domain databases. We found that, on average, the municipalities with more area of biodiversity per inhabitant have lower rates of hospitalizations resulting from respiratory diseases (CID-10 X). The biodiversity index correlates inversely with the rates of hospitalizations. The data analysis also demonstrated the importance of socioeconomic issues in the environmental-respiratory health phenomena. The data mining analysis revealed interesting associative rules consistent with the learning from the basic statistics and multivariate analysis. Our findings suggest that green infrastructure provides ecosystem services towards better respiratory health, but these are entwined with socioeconomics issues. These results can support public policies towards environmental and health sustainable management.

Modeling Large‐Scale Heatwave by Incorporating Enhanced Urban Representation

AbstractThis study evaluates the impact of land surface models (LSMs) and urban heterogeneity [using local climate zones (LCZs)] on air temperature simulated by the Weather Research and Forecasting model (WRF) during a regional extreme event. We simulated the 2017 heatwave over Europe considering four scenarios, using WRF coupled with two LSMs (i.e., Noah and Noah‐MP) with default land use/land cover (LULC) and with LCZs from the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT). The results showed that implementing the LCZs significantly improves the WRF simulations of the daily temperature regardless of the LSMs. Implementing the LCZs altered the surface energy balance partitioning in the simulations (i.e., the sensible heat flux was reduced and latent heat flux was increased) primarily due to a higher vegetation feedback in the LCZs. The changes in the surface flux translated into an increase in the simulated 2‐m relative humidity and 10‐m wind speed as well as changed air temperature within cities section and generated a temperature gradient that affected the temperatures beyond the urban regions. Despite these changes, the factor separation analysis indicated that the impact of LSM selection was more significant than the inclusion of LCZs. Interestingly, the lowest bias in temperature simulations was achieved when WRF was coupled with the Noah as the LSM and used WUDAPT as the LULC/urban representation.

Methodological features of the world urbanization processes study

The purpose of this article is to reveal the methodological features of the urbanization research and analyze global urbanization processes. Urbanization is a complex human-geographical process that develops and manifests itself in two dimensions: spatial and social. Therefore, urbanization processes are a prerequisite for global transformations in both spatial and socio-geographical dimensions. Basic material. Urbanization is a specific socio-geographical process, characterized by significant dynamism and global manifestation. The biggest problem of modern urbanization is reorientation of its spread and development vectors: while in the XIX-XX centuries urbanization was a phenomenon typical for mostly developed and highly developed countries, the challenge for society in the XXI century is the intensive urbanization development in the low-income countries, the so-called “third” countries. A scientist can apply a wide range of philosophical, general and specific scientific methods to study global urbanization processes, assessing the intensity level of the urbanization process, using the parameters and a set of indicators that characterize the state of spatial transformation under anthropogenic impact, economic and social development. Many countries around the world use primary criteria to determine urban (urbanized) areas - administrative (25.3%), demographic (15.9%), and urban (3.4%) ones. The analysis of indicators characterizing the peculiarities of developing modern urbanization processes demonstrates a significant differentiation of the manifestation. A distinctive feature is the increasing level of urbanization in poor countries in Africa and Latin America. Establishing the interdependence between the level of economic development of the country (GDP per capita) and the number of urban population prove unconditional direct but conditional reverse relationship. Conclusions and further research. The approbation analysis of the urbanization process at the global and regional dimensions, the study of the ratio of urban population share and GDP of the world countries demonstrates the ability of the selected approaches and research methods. It also determines application of the original (author’s) research methods to monitor and predict further urbanization development at different hierarchical levels.