Journal of Urban Planning and Development

Cities are connected by their functions and so are the spaces within cities. With the emergence of multisource data containing abundant urban residents’ mobile information and the introduction of complex network methods to urban space research, a large amount of research has focused on exploring spatial structures from spatial interaction networks. Previous studies have limitations of lacking an understanding of the urban spatial structure from a systematic perspective and have not addressed the application value of research results from the perspective of urban planning. To address this research gaps, this paper proposed an analytical framework for a multiscale urban spatial characteristics analysis that is sufficiently intuitive for understanding both the spatial structure and organization relationship from a complex network perspective based on urban resident mobility data. This framework includes the full cycle workflow from data preprocessing, the construction of people flow network, method choice, and application. Unlike other works that focus on the community identified, this analytical framework considered the spatial characteristic within the communities and the relationship between communities and then compared the research results and planned urban structure. The goal of this research was to propose an analytical framework that can be applied for the identification of urban spatial structure, division of spatial management units, assessment of the implementation effects of spatial planning, and the configuration and optimization of auxiliary public service facilities. Two weeks of mobile phone signaling data that cover the Wuhu city center area were used in the empirical analysis. The results showed that (1) there is significant spatial heterogeneity between the compactness and intensity of the people flow network, (2) the community that was identified from the people flow network is more dispersed and microscopic in space compared with the communities from master plan; and finally, (3) at the community scale, there are fewer communities in the urban north area than in other areas and the interaction between communities in the urban north area is much looser and weaker in intensity. These findings may help in understanding the organizational relationship of urban groups from a systematic perspective and provide useful information to the division of planning groups and show the effects of assessment planning implementation to the planer.

Public transportation plays an important role in urban sustainability. To increase public transit usage, it is essential to understand the underlying reasons that discourage people from using transit through the perspectives of different users. Drawing on the 2017 US National Household Travel Survey, this study aims to explore gender-sensitive factors in transit usage by sociodemographics and trip attributes for both men and women through a combination of descriptive analyses and econometric methods. Results show that, statistically speaking, significant factors for both women’s and men’s transit usage are similar, including being in a household with children, at an older age, with a high household income, car access, low-density residence, no heavy rail, travel for the purpose of maintenance or recreation, frequent daily trips, and short trip distance. The Chow test follows to further reveal that compared with trips made by men, trips by women are less likely to use transit when the women are 40 years old or more, with a high household income (>$100,000), with low residence density (i.e., <10,000 persons/mi²), or when recreation is the purpose of the trip. This research may assist policymakers, administrators, and responsible agencies to make better sustainable transport policies by refining gender-specific transit services in attracting both men and women to use public transit.

This study presents a method for delineating a megacity region with functional linkages in a continuous urbanized area. We examine commuting from cellphone network data and delimitate the Shanghai megacity region from 16 cities in the Yangtze River Delta, China. First, we identify places of residence and work based on certain durations of stay in one location from cellphone network data and obtain commuting data in 1 km² grids. Second, the core area of the megacity region can be defined as a continuous high-density area by applying incoming employment density as a functional linkage. We use local spatial autocorrelation to define the hotspots of continuous high-density areas and identify a Shanghai-centered continuous high-value area. Third, we choose an algorithm that gradually increases the density threshold based on the results of local spatial autocorrelation to eliminate areas with weak functional connectivity, and delineate the boundary of the core area of the Shanghai megacity region. Results show that the core area exceeds the boundary of Shanghai Municipality and comprises the main urbanized areas of Shanghai and Suzhou. This study provides an effective method for delineating megacity regions by using functional linkages from cellphone network data and for accurately delimitating the boundary of megacity regions.

City size plays an important role in the context of growing urbanization in developing countries, such as India. In the backdrop of this fact certain questions are pertinent: whether economic activities are concentrated in a few large cities; which economic factors determine the size of large cities; whether it is possible to trace different groups among the large cities, and whether the relationship pertaining to city size, migration, and poverty is discernible are some of the research issues which are analyzed in this paper by considering 47 million-plus cities in India. The estimated Pareto distribution suggests that within the group of large million-plus cities, production is not so diversified, though the extreme form of concentration such as primacy or rank size rule does not hold either. In fact, three broad groups are evident, as brought out by the results of the cluster analysis. Both OLS and Tobit regression results indicate that the wage rate, amount of municipal solid waste generation, and the number of salaried employed persons are positively associated with city population while the number of registered motor vehicles has a negative effect on it. However, the infrastructure index calculated through factor analysis does not show any significant effect on the city size. Based on the results of factor analysis, increased migration and reduced poverty are seen to be associated with city size. Finally, we bring out the important policy suggestions for sustainable urban development.

This study combines the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program's Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) nighttime light data with the Suomi National Polar-Orbiting Partnership satellite visible infrared imaging radiometer suite (NPP/VIIRS) nighttime light data, to research 21 urban agglomerations in China from 1995 to 2015. The expansion is described by analyzing the changes in the area, expansion intensity, and relative development speed of different urban agglomerations. First, nighttime light image from different sensors are mutually corrected according to eight partitions. Then, the built-up areas are extracted. Lastly, the brightness is calculated to analyze the distribution and characteristics of urban agglomeration. This paper reveals the following results: (1) Urban expansion in the northern and western regions is lagging that of the eastern and southern regions. The eastern region shows the most obvious change for all regions; (2) The Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei have changed the most. Central Guizhou, Chengyu, and Poyang Lake Ring are growing the fastest. Jinzhong, Harbin-Daqing-Changchun, and the Pearl River Delta have the slowest growth intensity; (3) The internal characteristics of urban agglomerations are measured by internal development differences and relative development rates. Moreover, they can be divided into “single-core,” “dual-core,” “group,” or “striped” development modes.

Continuous expansion results in urban problems such as congestion, pollution, and crime that seriously threaten the sustainable development of Chinese cities. How to promote the development of efficient and livable cities in China is of great significance in easing the pressure of urban development and promoting healthy urban development. Based on Didi's “urban development index,” this study explores the spatial distribution and spatial driving factors of urban livability in China through Theil index decomposition, standard deviation ellipse analysis, global and local spatial autocorrelation analysis, and multiscale geographically weighted regression with lagged dependent variables (MGWRL) model analysis. The results reveal the following three points. First, China's urban livability presents a spatial pattern of “east-west-middle” decreasing, with large spatial distribution differences and significant spatial dependence. Second, the effects of urban livability influencing factors have spatial scale differences. The impact of global variables such as human capital, fixed assets investment, medical level, and greening degree on urban livability is consistent at the global level. Local variables such as finance, urbanization, advanced industrial structure, and foreign trade only have consistent impacts on urban livability in local regions, and the scope of these regions varies with different variables. Third, it is further found that the effects of some local variables on urban livability have spatial heterogeneity. The effects of finance on urban livability shows a decreasing trend from east to west and from north to south in space; the effects of advanced industrial structure on urban livability are spatially characterized by outward radiation attenuation along the Yellow River and the middle reaches of the Yangtze River; only less than one-third of the local regression coefficients of variables such as spatial lag, urbanization, and foreign trade passed the significance test. Relevant government departments should pay full attention to the spatial pattern and spatial dependence of urban livability in China, and make overall planning and improvement strategies; attention should be paid to the spatial scale difference and the spatial heterogeneity of influencing factors in policy formulation, and the differentiated development policy of livable cities should be put forward according to local conditions.

This paper aims to evaluate the accessibility of multimode transport facilities to suburban tourist attractions, under the background of detailed needs of tour transportation planning and urban development. Accessible, convenient, and sustainable tour transportation network is the prerequisite for tourists entering tourist attractions and completing activities. Based on multisource data and the GIS network analysis method, an accessibility model of suburban tourist attractions at community scale was constructed combining population with average shortest travel distances (ASTD) or the average minimum travel time (AMTT) by auto, public transport, and bike. Taking Beijing as an empirical analysis, the main conclusions are as follows. (1) The spatial distribution of suburban tourist attractions is fan-shaped with tourism resources mainly gathering on the north, west, and south of Beijing. (2) The ASTDs of tourist attractions and communities are 73.11 and 69.40 km, respectively. The average nonlinearity coefficient of ASTD of tourist attractions is divided into three categories including high, medium and low convenience, accounting for 0%, 78.57%, and 21.43%, respectively. (3) The accessibility of suburban tourist attractions has obvious spatial difference under multimode traffic network, showing an attenuation phenomenon of diffusion from the city center to suburbs. A total of 98.21% of them can be reached within 2 h by auto, while that number drops to 37.50% by public transport, and 32.14% by bike. The proposed model applicable for the accessibility of suburban tourist attractions provides reference for in-depth description and optimization of the actual traffic accessibility, as well as tourism transportation planning within the city region.

The increasing interest in fine-grained blocks requires a deeper understanding of the impact of block size on urban vitality. To date, limited empirical tests of the underlying relationships at the city level have been conducted using the ordinary linear-squares method, assuming a linear relationship. However, urban vitality is a complex system, thus making the use of linear regressions unfeasible because the assumption of homogeneity of variance would be violated. Therefore, the constraint line method was introduced to deepen the understanding of the relationship between block size and urban vitality. This paper employed a kernel density estimation of small catering businesses, point of interest density, social media check-in density, and comment density as proxies of urban vitality. Wuhan is the largest megacity in Central China and has been selected for this case study. When the block size increased to almost 0.08 km², the maximum kernel density estimation value decreased sharply from above 2.70 to 1.60; when the block size exceeded 0.30 km², vitality values tended to decrease very slowly. The maximum urban vitality measured by the other three indicators dropped an order of magnitude when the block size increased to 0.06 km², then gradually slowed down, and tended toward a plateau when the block size increased beyond 0.20. Therefore, the dynamic process can be divided into three phrases with multiple critical thresholds of block size. These are approximately 0.06, 0.08, and 0.20 km² ranked from the best to worst. The study indicates that block size has a nonlinear and threshold effect on urban vitality by constraining the maximum urban vitality. In general, the positive effect of small block size over urban vitality was confirmed, and additionally, urban planners should propose urban planning schemes with smaller residential blocks below 0.06 km².

Established theories have identified multiple sociopsychological variables that contribute to improving behavior predictions. Researchers have tested their application in explaining travel behavior. This study uses descriptive analysis of data collected on 27 variables of travel behavior. Of these, 21 were relatively new variables, including 16 sociopsychological and five qualitative instrumental variables. Six currently popular demographic and quantitative instrumental variables were also included. It uses interview-based survey data on work trips by users of two private and two public transport modes in Delhi, India. Responses from a total of 406 participants were used. A total of 13 variables show promise in explaining mode-choice behavior. These include four qualitative instrumental variables: “time,” “cost,” “comfort,” and “safety”; six sociopsychological variables: “habit,” “intention,” “perceived behavior control,” “positive symbolism,” “negative symbolism,” and “awareness norm”; and three sociodemographic variables: “education,” “household income,” and “household vehicle ownership.” This makes a case for urban planners as well as transport planners and researchers to consider nontraditional variables for improving the accuracy of travel mode-choice models.

This work develops a mathematical model for designing bikeway networks that integrate into public bus transport services in urban areas using concepts from network multiobjective optimization and mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). The proposed model maximizes 14 objectives and 14 constraints by referring in a generalized way to lane comfort, safety, path objectivity, network connectivity, intermodality with bus service, and monetary budgets. In the context of a developing country, we believe that this model can address the transit network design problem (TNDP) as an innovative proposal for integration between alternative modes of transport and buses. A case study in Sao Jose dos Campos city, Sao Paulo state, Brazil, is conducted, and exact solutions are obtained with partially connected networks (first approach) and fully connected networks (second approach). A scenario analysis enables verification of the integrated transportation system performance and, for the case study, prioritizes the least expensive bikeway type. Therefore, the results from the proposed model can contribute to urban planning in testing alternative scenarios for bike–bus networks.

This article sets out our research on the issue of dispersed urbanization (urban dust) and methods of reducing and controlling the phenomenon of land take. The case study of the Umbria region in Italy is used to outline some simulated scenarios of regional territorial physiognomy where a more targeted method of planning and designing settlements had been chosen to favor their aggregation and protect the vast landscape heritage of the region instead of the weak urban development policies that led to the current dispersion. The uchronia produced is useful in understanding the consequences caused by over half a century of poor territorial control. It also serves as a starting point for the development of retrofit policies for the current settlement model. By applying simulated solutions, the “urban dust” effect, today distinguishable throughout the region and in large parts of the country, would have been close to zero. The same urbanized surfaces present today would have been aggregated into larger, more compact areas within the main historical agglomerations. In addition to the application of volume and surface aggregation models, it would surely have been necessary to resort to more efficient “plans” and “projects” guaranteeing better functional quality of urban systems, the protection of natural and rural landscapes from the siege of urbanization and the reduction of the current high, infrastructural density. The positive effects of urban compactness are low infrastructure rates in territories, greater efficiency of transport and public services and the significant reduction in ecosystemic fragmentation of habitats.

This study identifies indicators of urban sustainability and smart cities and then integrates them into a unified concept. Its aim is to reduce the gap in the literature between sustainable cities and smart cities with respect to urban development guidelines. Moreover, development directions for smart, sustainable, and inclusive urban environmental planning and design strategies are evaluated. To achieve these goals, a static evaluation system was developed and big data technique was used to construct a dynamic model. This model identifies factors that affect sustainable and smart cities and simulates changes in urban built environments under dynamic conditions, such as changes in regional development policies or space structures. Our proposed model is applied to examine the effects of both economic development and environmental issues on urban built environments. Moreover, changes in urban land intensification use mean that this model can be used to identify a set of management strategies that can meet planning targets and yield a sustainable urban built environment. Our proposed model is illustrated through case studies that demonstrate both the state of the art and the state of current practice to planners and decision makers. Our study revealed that the dependency weights of 10 indicators (listed in descending order) were “public transportation availability” (weights being 0.310), “prevalence of technology” (0.175), “greenhouse gas emission” (0.103), “domestic water use” (0.092), “living environment quality” (0.082), “decision making” (0.060), “innovation and internationalization” (0.050), “human resource quality” (0.048), “air pollution and noise” (0.048), and “government transparency” (0.032). Taipei City scored a total of 96 points on its performance as a smart sustainable city, which was weighted as 10.3919 and Singapore scored 105 points, which was weighted as 10.7528 according to the evaluation model, respectively.

Rapid urbanization combined with limited attention to walk-facilities has resulted in a substantial increase in overall pedestrian injuries and deaths in India. Developing policies based on user perception to improve existing pedestrian infrastructure is key to promoting safe and walkable pedestrian movement in urban areas. This paper demonstrates a pedestrian satisfaction-based methodology to prioritize an essential set of attributes influencing safety and walkability at sidewalks and crosswalks. Initially, an exhaustive set of 15 sidewalk- and 11 crosswalk-related attributes influencing safety and walkability were identified from a literature review. Subsequently, pedestrian perceptions of associated importance and satisfaction toward the identified attributes were collected using a five-point Likert scale. Face-to-face interviews were conducted at selected pedestrian crash-prone locations in Hyderabad, India. The data was analyzed using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS), a widely used multi-attribute decision-making (MADM) method to rank the attributes based on user priority. Importance–satisfaction analysis (ISA) was then used to group the attributes in a set of quadrants based on associated standardized satisfaction and importance, respectively. The relative strength and weakness of different sidewalk and crosswalk attributes were measured and compared simultaneously using TOPSIS and ISA. Both TOPSIS and ISA were simultaneously used to estimate and compare various sidewalk and crosswalk attribute relative strengths and weaknesses. Results indicated that physical separation from traffic, sidewalk amenities, sidewalk width, sidewalk continuity, and sidewalk cleanliness were the most important sidewalk attributes, but were rated as less than satisfactory, requiring immediate intervention. The crosswalk-specific priority attributes requiring urgent attention were vehicle stop-line behavior, conflicts with turning traffic, zebra crossing, pedestrian holding space. These research findings are expected to be critical inputs for rational decision-making regarding pedestrian infrastructure improvement in developing countries in general and Indian cities in particular.

Urban landscapes are important factors that affect housing prices, and significant differences between landscape preferences of various homebuyers may be observed because of the different reasons for purchasing a house (consumption or investment). However, the hedonic price model widely applied in most existing studies only captures the average effects of landscapes as a whole sample, and may ignore the heterogeneity of landscape preferences. To fill this gap, this study constructed hedonic price models and quantile regression models with the housing data in Guangzhou, China from 2013 to 2016 and analyzed the landscape preferences of buyers with different purchase motivations. Empirical results showed that the landscape preferences of buyers were different in housing submarkets. The implicit value of landscapes was greater in consumption demand than in investment demand, whereas investment buyers were more vulnerable to the disamenity effect of unattractive landscapes. In addition, the quantile effect of landscapes was identified, in which the buyers of high-priced housing will pay more for high-quality landscapes. This study revealed the diversified housing demands and landscape preferences of homebuyers, which is important for urban planning and project development.

Urbanization and the ecological resource environment are mutually influential and interdependent, and their coordinated development is the key to the sustainable development of urbanization. Based on a coupling degree model, decision tree, and grey correlation model, the spatial and temporal evolution of the coupling and coordination relationship between urbanization and the ecological resource environment in Southwest China from 2000 to 2018 and its main influencing factors are studied in depth. The thresholds are extracted by the Classification and Regression Tree (CART) to avoid low-coupling coordination. The study finds that (1) the coupling coordination between urbanization and the ecological resource environment in this region shows stagewise development with regional differences. By 2018, except Xizang, all other provinces had entered a high coordination period. (2) The general trend is that urbanization development is on the rise, and the ecological resource environment is fluctuating. The influence of the ecological resource environment subsystem on coordinated development is greater than the influence of the urbanization subsystem. (3) The green coverage of built-up areas is the most important attribute affecting coordinated development. Urbanization still has room for development. The main issues that need to be addressed are population urbanization and social urbanization. Based on the research results, policy recommendations are made to provide a scientific basis for sustainable development and a reference for the formulation of regional new-type urbanization policies.

Unplanned urban areas are flawed by the lack of the supplemental services; for example, infrastructure, educational buildings, worship places, administrative authorities, and appropriate road networks. Thus, the goal of this paper is to propose a new method for the spatial analysis and redesigning of a defined urban space (US) rendering it to be smarter and sustainable. Starting from these assumptions, the paper attempts to develop a methodology for procedural modeling for building the regeneration process starting from the planning to the design of the United States under study with the aid of the City Geography Markup Language (CityGML) application. The proposed solution was shown to be capable of meeting the increased population needs better than the traditional replanning methods. In this instance, a software interface incorporating InfraWorks and ArcGIS software programs was utilized to regenerate a new smart urban area with the involvement of all respective urban features within the CityGML model replacing that of the conventional unplanned area. Moreover, a unified geodatabase was adopted to enhance the design flexibility by integrating data from diverse sources, in addition to attaining higher accuracy. To verify the effectiveness of the proposed solution, a detailed case study has been applied on the Amarwi area, which is located at the Alexandria governorate in Egypt in the Montzah District, validating the replanning competency and outperformance.

This study contributes to research and practice by demonstrating the use of a composite measure, a bikeability index, to facilitate the use of and improve the performance of direct demand models for bicycle traffic, especially when only limited observation is available. The city of Austin was selected as a case study to develop the model using bicycle volume from 44 intersections. Existing knowledge and data were leveraged to develop the bikeability index that encompasses multiple built environment features (bicycle route length, comfort, connectivity, destination density, and transit coverage) to quantify the bike-friendliness of the network. In addition to the index, the demand model contained five demographic and land use variables. Some of the variables provided unique insights into bike travel behavior within the city, such as the significant and positive influence of the presence of bike signals and bike-accessible bridges. Along with the improved scalability and transferability of the modeling approach, the results and discussion are expected to facilitate and/or guide informed strategies and educational programs to increase nonmotorized activity in Austin as well as other regions.

This paper studies the following influencing factors of microclimate environments: (1) outdoor wind environments and thermal environments of residential communities; (2) outdoor sunlight environments of residential communities; (3) architectural spatial layouts of residential communities; (4) street and open spatial layout. The wind environment, thermal environment, and sunlight environment of residential communities with different spatial layout forms are simulated using the Phoenics and Ecotect software platforms. This paper studies the interactive relationship between spatial layouts and microclimate environments of typical residential communities in China and explores the optimization of microclimate environments in residential communities through rational spatial layouts in order to reduce the energy consumption and carbon emissions of residential communities.

Outdoor music festivals and construction sites are relying on temporary power installations for electricity supply. Diesel generators are still the dominant source for these applications. Cost and diesel consumption data are gathered from different field applications, to simulate different configurations of diesel generators in parallel, based on heuristic modeling and linear programming. The model is tested on 27 historical energy demand profiles from 10 different outdoor music festivals which took place in the Netherlands between 2015 and 2018 to calculate the expected potential cost and carbon dioxide (CO₂) savings. Better sizing of single generators can reduce the CO₂ emissions by 17% and costs by 20% on average. The application of multiple generators in parallel can enhance these savings to 32% and 23%, respectively, thereby increasing the savings on both CO₂ emissions and costs. The application of batteries in a diesel-hybrid configuration was not part of the optimization model, but a case study showed that the application of batteries in a diesel-hybrid configuration can lead to a CO₂ reduction of 35.3%.

China's urban land price has experienced a long-term increase that has been accompanied by urbanization. This paper will analyze the divergence of urban function between cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt from 2009 to 2016 and will explore the effect of this on the urban land price. The results show that there is a significant divergence in urban function between cities, Shanghai, China, leads all the cities, and the central cities have a significantly higher urban function than the other cities. From the demand perspective, residential and commercial land prices are significantly influenced by gross domestic product (GDP) per capita, and the latter is determined by the size of the population. From the supply perspective, the residential land price is determined by government and transport functions and other functions are open, with the sum of coefficients even larger than that of the demand side. The commercial land price is driven significantly by urban government and transport functions in fixed effect regression (FE) and two stage least square regression (2SLS). The estimation of generalized method of moments (GMM) shows that the producer servicing function has a significant influence on the commercial land price and the effect of government function is not significant. The public service function does not have any positive influence on both types of land prices. Land prices were not proved to be significantly influenced by land supply and the coefficients in the GMM were statistically significant. This could provide a basis for local governments to formulate city-specific land policies.

Transit fares affect not only whether people are not overburdened with their expenditure on transit services but also whether people can get reasonable benefits from transit services for what they pay. Prevalence of various simplified fare systems and highly differentiated service quality point to a plausible prima facie concern that transit riders suffer from transit fare and benefit mismatch (TFBM), evoking justice concerns and potential impacts on transit usage. This article enriches our understanding of justice implications of transit fares by proposing new metrics and testing them empirically in Hong Kong, where transit dependence is high, that is, a considerable proportion of transit traffic is captive. By considering travel distance and time savings as primary benefits, two indexes are proposed to quantify TFBM. The distributional effects of TFBM on different neighborhood segments are compared and the relationships between spatial or socioeconomic vulnerability, TFBM, and transit usage are explored. Our findings suggest that the transit use ratio of neighborhoods in the peripheral areas of the city is significantly influenced by TFBM, while socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods are less sensitive to TFBM. Owing to the lack of available alternatives of motorized mode choice, socioeconomically vulnerable neighborhoods face a higher risk of being impaired by TFBM.

Urban parks have an important impact on the health of urban residents. Normally, the first step is to identify whether the accessibility of urban parks is equitable; however, multiple models that were applied in previous studies have shown different accuracies. In this study, the area within the fifth ring road of Beijing municipality is selected as the location to conduct the accessibility-based equity assessment of urban parks. The urban park accessibility (UPA) of each residential community will be calculated using the Gaussian two-step floating catchment area (G2SFCA) method. Then, random forest regression and partial dependence plots will be carried out to analyze the relationship between UPA and socioeconomic indicators. To identify where the UPA is inequitable, spatial distribution characteristics between the UPA and socioeconomic indicators will be analyzed based on the bivariate treatment of local indicators of spatial association (LISA). The results indicate the close relationships between UPA and four indicators (towns or subdistricts location = LT, bachelor’s degree (or above) = BD, mean house price = HP, and population density = PD). Beijing urban park unfairness exists in low BD with low UPA or low HP with low UPA streets in the southwestern and east areas of Beijing. In addition, unfairness exists in high PD with low UPA streets in the north second to third ring road areas. Therefore, these areas should be prioritized for urban park development. The methods used in this study could be extended to study the relationship between various service facilities accessibility and influencing factors, and the results could guide intervention programs to help reduce urban park inequity.

In recent years, microtransformation has gradually become a renewal method adapted for the development of Chinese cities and has been promoted by many city managers. This research regards microtransformation as a brand and explores the perceptions of Guangzhou residents by focusing on brand equity-related theories and research. The research results show that the brand equity of microtransformation is generally high, but the residents’ perception of brand awareness is low. The choices and support of residents, the esthetic sensory experience, the Guangzhou characteristics of microtransformation, and the way microtransformation is understood are important factors that affect the success of Guangzhou’s microtransformation. Therefore, combining the needs of residents with Guangzhou’s historical and cultural status, clarifying the division of labor and responsibilities of related institutions, and expanding the audience’s perception of channels play an important role in the future development of the branding of Guangzhou’s microtransformation.

Urban Green Spaces (UGS) can be a source of ecosystem service provision that exerts a positive impact on the wellbeing of users. The present study assessed the willingness to pay (WTP) for the UGS of Maria Luisa Park, located in the city of Seville (Spain). Compared with previous case studies, this UGS is characterized by the importance of the tourist attractions inside the park and its significant heritage value for the city. WTP is a concept derived from welfare economics that is used in the economic valuation of environmental goods. The results showed that respondents had a mean WTP in the range of €1.92 (double-bounded dichotomous-choice method) to €2.08 per visit (open-ended question on the maximum WTP). Within the socioeconomic factors considered, the results showed that average income and residence location constituted significant variables in the explanation of respondents' WTP. In addition, the level of environmental awareness positively affected the elicited WTP. Finally, frequency of visit and its duration also represented significant determinants of respondents' choices, thus affecting WTP elicitation. The results contribute to the existing literature by identifying significant socioeconomic and perception factors that affect the WTP of UGS users. These findings will be valuable for urban-planning decision makers regarding the potential establishment of an entrance fee to cover the increasing conservation and maintenance costs of UGS.

Since the beginning of the 21st century, the phenomenon of urban shrinkage, accompanied by symptoms of a structural crisis in urban areas, has spread on a global scale. The recent 2008 global economic crisis has been proven to have accelerated urban shrinkage in many previously prosperous cities. The city of Dongguan, which is known as the World’s Factory, suffered a manufacturing downturn and labor outflow induced by the crisis; however, it exhibited high resilience as it displayed a quick recovery in the postcrisis period. The notion of regional resilience and its potential applications can explain why urban and regional economies resist and adjust to internal and external challenges in a long-term development process. Based on the adaptive cycle analytical framework, this study focused on specific policies and plans initiated by the Dongguan municipality when it faced the financial crisis and its implementation effects. It contributes to current knowledge by elaborating on how the local state reacted to and coped with crisis-induced shrinkage and by providing a valuable case for exploring the dynamic evolution of shrinkage and resurgence in the context of globalization. Three main resilient strategies are identified: (1) moving toward a more diversified industrial structure; (2) highlighting endogenous momentums in economic transition; and (3) advancing the equalization of social welfare for local residences. Moreover, it provides implications for the urban planning community on how to respond to uncertainty and vulnerability from the perspective of regional resilience.

Indian cities are facing increases in their population, a crisis with space, and urbanization, which is leading to severe transport sector emissions, congestion, and unsustainable growth in car ownership. One solution is to adopt car-sharing, which is a good example of a circular economy (CE) and promotes sustainable mobility development. There are many car-sharing models; however, minimal knowledge is available regarding their suitability for Indian cities. This study will attempt to bridge the knowledge gap by developing a framework to compare car-sharing models. Further, an appropriate car-sharing model will be identified for Mumbai, India. This framework will be based on a scenario-based comparative analysis and will employ experts’ judgment that is based on a multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach. The aggregated results from the experts’ input indicate that a carpool would be the preferred car-sharing model for urban and suburban scenarios. Accessibility and transport cost are the most critical indicators for urban and suburban regions, respectively. A detailed discussion on each criterion and indicator will be provided to develop suitable recommendations for future policymaking and asset utilization. A rigorous sensitivity analysis that used 25 different weight-based scenarios will be conducted to assess the robustness and internally validate the results. The sensitivity analysis suggested that focusing on individual indicators was not enough to influence the overall results; however, technical and environmental and health criteria were identified as the most sensitive in this study.

The rapid development of high-speed rail (HSR) has accelerated urbanization of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). However, the impacts of HSR opening, opening time of HSR, and heterogeneity effects of HSR stations’ characteristics on urban land use have not been well studied. Based on the land-use remote sensing data of YRD for 1990–2015, this study analyzes the causal effect of HSR opening on land-use change by applying the difference-in-differences model (DID). We find that the HSR opening has a significantly positive effect on the expansion of urban space and other construction land but accelerates the loss of agricultural land. Furthermore, the impact of HSR on urban land use is cumulative, and the opening time of HSR affects the speed of urban land use change. The longer the HSR opening time, the faster the change in urban land use. Moreover, the issue of the heterogeneity effects of HSR station characteristics on urban spatial expansion is also an important one. The results show that existing stations have a greater impact on urban spatial expansion.

The interactive relationship between urbanization and rural development is complex and exhibits spatial and temporal variation; in addition, this relationship is controversial and lacks extensive studies, especially in China. This study aims to investigate the bidirectional relationship between urbanization and rural sustainable development in Chinese cities since 2000 from a systematic perspective. Based on panel data for 298 cities from 2000–2013, panel cointegration and Granger causality tests will be applied to analyze the interaction relationship between different dimensions of urbanization [population urbanization (PU), economic urbanization (EU), and land urbanization (LU)] and different dimensions of rural sustainable development [rural production (RP), rural living (RL), and rural ecology (RE)] at national and regional levels. The empirical results suggest that most dimensions of urbanization and rural sustainable development in Chinese cities have had a positive bidirectional relationship since 2000. At the regional level, the effects of urbanization on rural sustainable development were larger in the central region than in the eastern and western regions, and the effects of rural sustainable development on urbanization were the opposite. These findings emphasize that although urbanization and rural development have been beneficial for each other in China since 2000, the positive effects of urbanization on rural sustainable development were greater for RP than for RL and RE, which requires new types of urbanization and rural revitalization strategies in the future.

The commonly used traditional hedonic price model is likely to be biased in exploring residents' willingness to pay for school quality because of unobservable characteristics. To circumvent this issue, using city-level and district-level key primary school attendance zones data and average home value data of communities in Beijing in December 2016, we employ paired difference regression using a boundary fixed effect approach to explore the capitalization of school quality, with 750 m as the threshold distance within community pairs and 500 and 1,000 m for robustness checks. The results indicate that housing prices respond significantly to both city-level and district-level school qualities in Beijing, with premiums of 17.2% and 8.37%, respectively. However, we find no premium for housing rent. Homeowners show concern over good school quality and are willing to pay more for higher school quality, while renters will not pay for it. This study further suggests that the traditional hedonic price model has overestimated the capitalization of school quality in housing. The estimation results from the boundary fixed effect approach are more robust and reliable. Based on these findings, urban policy recommendations and action plans are proposed.

Urban spaces are important components within cities that improve urban competitiveness in the context of intercity competition. The notion of urban space in today's increasingly globalizing world has been transformed in response to new physical–spatial needs and circumstances. This study aims to identify important factors in changing urban spaces within cities for globalization and urban competitiveness. After reviewing the relevant literature, a number of cases of urban developments in four global cities (Istanbul, Turkey, Shanghai, China, Singapore, and Tokyo – will be examined to identify important factors of transformation within cities for globalization and urban competitiveness. The findings illustrate nine underlying urban space transformation factors that embrace 37 key strategies. These factors include the realization of environmental and social sustainability; emphasis on the arts, culture, and local assets; international collaborations in the design of spaces and delivery of services; application of modern technologies (construction, information, and communication); privatization of property markets; the notion of a cosmopolitan public sphere; planning for leisure activities and urban tourism; experience economy and encouraging consumerism; and service-based economy and knowledge-based industries. The interaction between these factors and the preconditions of each city, such as a city's competitiveness ability and contextual issues, create the lens through which urban space transformation could be understood. This study could provide insights for policy makers and professionals to apply and implement urban space transformation strategies for globalization and urban competitiveness.

Outdoor spaces are important to sustainable cities as they accommodate different types of activities and contribute to the livability of the urban areas. The enjoyment of outdoor spaces requires a comfortable thermal environment, especially in hot arid regions. Recent studies have investigated the effects of buildings, trees, water, and landscape design on improving thermal comfort; however, only a few studies have investigated the impact of solar-scape elements. The objective of this study was to investigate the effect of solar pavilions on improving thermal comfort in a residential area in New Borg Al-Arab, Egypt, and to identify the optimum distribution method for increasing the usability and function of outdoor spaces during the summer. This study was undertaken on a summer’s day in the peak period using ENVI-met software. Five scenarios employing different solar pavilion distribution methods were applied and simulated in the case study area. Physiological equivalent temperature values were calculated for each scenario. The results demonstrated that the individual distribution of solar pavilions was the best at improving thermal comfort. A design methodology for urban designers is suggested to improve outdoor thermal comfort and satisfy users' demand for energy in existing and new communities.

China’s residential social space has changed significantly following economic reform in 1978. Enterprise communities (ECs) are walled-off residential spaces that were built and managed mostly by the state or collectively owned enterprises to house workers during the 1950s to 1970s. Many ECs are still used in urban China, but they are primary sites for urban poverty. This paper used point of interest (POI) data, field surveys, and spatial analysis to analyze the distribution of ECs in Xi’an, China, and assess the policy implications. Results indicated that the ECs were mainly located in the inner city and were characterized by small-scale agglomeration or cluster distribution along the former major transport routes. The ECs are sites of urban poverty because of industrial transition. Their large renewal potential as construction land should be fully recognized. This study will help to better understand and optimize urban internal space and may apply to countries or regions with similar housing types and urban space. Exploring the relevant issues of postsocialist ECs through POI data can enrich and strengthen scientific research in urban residential areas.

In the last two decades the cruise industry has been increasing exponentially. It comprises 1.6% of total tourists in the world. In fact, tourism in the Mediterranean represents 12% of the overall cruise market, in which segment Italy is the top destination. So far, there have been a range of professionals who have discussed costs and benefits in three main areas: economic, environmental, and sociocultural effects. However, there is not much knowledge of the effects on city planning after the arrival of this type of tourism in port cities. Using a case of study in Olbia, a port of call on the island of Sardinia (Italy), this article shows the relation between cruise activity and urban regeneration process. The methodology used was a qualitative and descriptive–quantitative analysis of the cruise tourism transit cities through bibliographic reviews and fieldwork carried out in the Mediterranean destination.