Journal of Urban Planning and Development

Forum papers are thought-provoking opinion pieces or essays founded in fact, sometimes containing speculation, on a civil engineering topic of general interest and relevance to the readership of the journal. The views expressed in this Forum article do not necessarily reflect the views of ASCE or the Editorial Board of the journal.

Refugee camps have come a long way since first formally established at the end of the 19th century, evolving from temporary, emergency encampments to long-lasting, multifaceted human settlements used as a provisional housing response to urgent situations. This paper takes an approach supported by the analysis of the development of refugee camps over time, adopting a methodology of reviewing the literature on the subject, including institutional materials and academic publications. The objective is to set a structured knowledge obtained through semisystematic analyses that allow the confirmation of the need to adopt a new approach, in which refugee camps should not be assumed as temporary interventions, and as such, more structured interventions should be developed in the means and over time. From the review of the literature and the historical facts gathered, a chronological account is presented that allows an evaluation in which the evolution in the approach to the refugee camps is revealed. The same investigation also compares assumptions obtained from the analyses of similar recent works with the practical reality and the operations effectively carried out in refugee camps. The assessment reveals an evolution in the approach of researching the subject, having started with practical and operational connotations and incorporating normative aspects before progressing to a more analytical style, as identified in recent works. The article exposes the fact that those changes in approach are a reflection of the response to the growing physical and social complexities of the object of study, and it indicates points of intransience and meaning in the contemporary context of humanitarian habitat. The article also highlights the importance of a better understanding of the status quo of refugee settlements as a means to improve their planning and management.

The urban functional zone (UFZ) is a basic unit of urban management and eco-environmental research. The study of the UFZ classification has been given more and more attention. In these studies, points of interest (POIs) are important and outstanding data, and both their semantic information and local spatial relationship information are important for the classification of UFZs. Many studies use the semantic information or local spatial relationship information of POIs for the UFZ classification, but owing to the lack of available models, only a few studies consider both of them. Combining POIs, Place2vec, and Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) models, this paper proposes a new UFZ classification model that combines the semantic information and the local spatial relationship information of POIs. First, the principle and implementation of the model was described. Then the proposed model was applied to classify the UFZs of an experimental area (Chaoyang, a district of Beijing). By analyzing with manual interpretation results, accuracy of the classification results manifested that the model is useful for UFZ classification. By comparing the classification result of the proposed model with those of the Place2vec model and the LDA model, the advantage of this model was shown. Compared with the Place2vec model, this model integrates the semantic information of POIs into the representation of UFZs through the integration of the LDA model, thus improving the classification accuracy of UFZs. Compared with the LDA model, this model integrates the local spatial relationships of POIs into the representation of UFZs through the integration of the Place2vec model, thus improving the classification accuracy of UFZs.

Recently, traffic problems such as congestion and emission have been increasing. Transit travel is considered to be one of the effective ways to relieve these problems. The attractiveness of transit travel can be improved by integrating operational strategies with multitype services. Therefore, a study focusing on tapping the potential of integrated operational strategies, which combine local services, skip-stop services, and short-turning services, considering emissions under heterogeneous demand, was conducted. Two types of integrated service patterns were proposed. Pattern 1 comprised local services, skip-stop services, and short-turning services, all operating simultaneously and independently, while Pattern 2 comprised the combined local services and skip-stop services with a flexible route length. The estimation of heterogeneous travel demand for different services and high-resolution bus emissions based on short trips between stops and at stops was conducted. The optimized models to minimize system costs considering passengers, agencies, and environmental interests were developed to explore the effectiveness of integrated operational strategies for performing the transit service. The real-world cases of Bus Route 4 and Route 543 in Beijing, China, were studied. The performances of the proposed strategies under the two integrated service patterns were compared with the baseline. The results showed that the total costs of two integrated service patterns are reduced significantly, with a maximum reduction of above 30%. Moreover, under the route of limited vehicles and denes travel demand, Pattern 2 implementing skip-stop services in a flexible route length had more advantages over Pattern 1, where all three services existed simultaneously. The finding can be used to design the preferred transit development strategy and improve the service quality.

Abstract

The increased intensity of floods has become an emerging phenomenon in British Columbia, Canada. Flooding causes significant damage to properties and the built environment. The flood damage is magnified by the unthoughtful location choices for settlements and incoherent land use policies. This has severely restricted the capacity to build resilience to adapt to the unpredictable challenges of floods. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the current state of the floodplain maps that entail the spatial distribution of floods and the associated risks to the communities is paramount. Therefore, the British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA) attempted to identify pathways to increase awareness of the current state of the floodplain maps and prepare an updated inventory and its vitality to build resilient communities. The survey results suggested that 38.5% of the communities have created or updated their floodplain maps since 2015, and 62% of the maps meet the British Columbia Flood Hazard Area Land Use Management Guidelines. However, a survey conducted in 2020 suggested an increase in the response rate by 12.8%, which indicates a growing urgency to mitigate flood risks. Due to a lack of expertise and pertinent knowledge, 46% of the communities could not create or update the floodplain maps. In addition, the lack of provincial funding was identified as a key impediment to the floodplain mapping that was experienced by 37.5% of the communities. A schematic perception–action–state–accessibility–usage (PASAU) framework was proposed in this study to confirm the current state of floodplain mapping. The British Columbia, Canada, regions were ranked following a fuzzy rule-based approach to assess the nature and status of preparations for floodplain maps. The result suggests that the Northern Territories, Canada, lie at the low and others are at the medium scale. Communities that scored low were attributed to a lack of funding, in-house expertise, data, and planning endeavors. This study suggested actions for different tiers of the government to make the communities safer and more resilient.

Practical Applications

The frequency and impacts of flooding are increasing in British Columbia, Canada. The location choices for settlements and incoherent land use policies have increased the intensity of its impact. This stems from the need for floodplain maps that show the spatial distribution of floods and associated risks. The BCREA prepared an updated floodplain maps inventory from 2015. A survey found that 38% of the communities have created or updated their floodplain maps since then. The survey revealed an increased response (12.8%) and a growing urgency to mitigate flood risks. A lack of expertise and pertinent in-house expertise, data, and provincial funding were identified as the key impediments to the absence or lack of updates on the floodplain maps. In this study, a schematic PASAU framework was proposed to confirm the current state of floodplain mapping. The British Columbia, Canada, regions were ranked to assess the preparation status for floodplain maps. In the preparation and updating of floodplain maps, the Northern Territories, Canada, lie at the low and others at the medium level, and a few communities scored low. To make the communities safer and more resilient, a few actions on planning, management, and governance were suggested for adoption.

Abstract

Worldwide, most previous studies based on the transit-oriented development (TOD) concept focused heavily on the three Ds (3Ds) application in TOD (e.g., urban density, design, and land use diversity). Along with the 3Ds, three other TOD dimensions of transportation characteristics, such as destination accessibility, local distance to metro station, and travel demand management (TDM), and sociodemographics, which is the seventh dimension, significantly contribute to decision-making in TOD policies. It is hard to infer the actual travel behavior of transit riders when assessing transit nodes on foot from the static land use distribution that is assigned in the master plan. The novelty of this study is that an aggregated TOD index equation is formulated that uses an expert questionnaire, which involves 31 respondents and a spatial multiple criteria analysis (SMCA) tool, to assign weights and ranks to three identified TOD criteria that strongly influence pedestrian accessibility to metro stations. This study has examined all seven dimensions of TOD along with the impact of seasonal variation on short-distance walking to transit stations in the grid-layout planned Indian city of Noida (Uttar Pradesh, India), which used a Global Positioning System (GPS)-based metro station survey questionnaire. The path walkability evaluation of typical pedestrian routes that use GPS devices identifies typical pedestrian barriers in the urban planning of Noida that dissuade pedestrian accessibility for all. Three suitable TOD criteria, such as distance to the metro station, pedestrian destination accessibility, and availability of two-wheeler parking areas near a metro station, have a statistically significant association with walking to transit nodes. The TOD policy for brownfield urban areas should look at improving pedestrian accessibility for all and revise pedestrian guidelines for Indian cities to address inequitable walking environments.

Practical Applications

The integration of urban development with the public transit system offers a promising approach to encourage higher transit ridership and discourage citizens from using their private automobiles, especially for daily short and medium trip lengths. The future growth in the transit system when reshaping urban development around metro stations cannot be achieved until pedestrian-accessible streets and sidewalks are enhanced to easily assess transit stations on foot. A portable GPS tracking device and a smart Android phone could be used along with other state-of-the-art technologies to analyze the travel behavior of transit users and the physical evaluation of the actual walkable routes taken by them to reach their nearest metro station. The free smart mobile apps allow researchers and nonresearchers, especially in developing nations, to conduct field surveys that use smart Android phones with GPS location facilities and cameras to capture live images.

Abstract

Urban coherence is recognized in the literature as an essential property of a sustainable and virtuous urban form. Although remaining rather vague and dispersed, urban coherence seems to be often apprehended through the interweaving and interrelation of scales in a complex system. This exploratory work aims to deepen the notion of urban coherence by studying the street network hierarchy and connectivity in relation to an essential and identifiable property of networks, known as arteriality. It indicates the tendency of the most important streets in the network to form a continuous whole. Arteriality guarantees optimal circulation and legibility within a street network. In the first step, a literature review was conducted to identify indicators of urban coherence related to the street network. Subsequently, an evaluation of urban coherence was proposed based on three aspects: the fractality of the street network and its correspondence with a power law, the connectivity of the primary street network, and the arteriality of the street network. This conceptual framework was then tested on five cities’ street networks belonging to five medium-sized Algerian cities. The results showed that all the cities studied have a certain urban coherence due to a similar internal structuring. However, from a relative point of view, there were notable differences that can be seen when comparing the cities. It also emerged that the indicators chosen to evaluate urban coherence show a certain regularity within the same city, which may confirm their relevance.

Practical Applications

Urban coherence is an important quality for a sustainable and well-designed city; however, it is not a concept very clearly defined in the literature. A simple definition of it can be “how different parts of a city work together in a complex way.” This study tries to better understand how well a city's streets are hierarchically organized by looking at how they connect to each other, especially the most important ones. A particular property of the street networks called arteriality, which means the tendency of the most important streets in the network to form a continuous whole, was developed. The urban coherence was evaluated based on three aspects: the way the streets are hierarchically arranged, how connected they are, and how arterial they are. The study looked at five medium-sized cities in Algeria and found that they all have some level of urban coherence, but there are also notable differences between them. The chosen indicators to measure urban coherence showed a good consistency within each city, which may suggest that they are relevant. This work has important theoretical implications regarding the hierarchical organization required for a functional street network. Also, it can be further used by urban planners to design better street networks for new areas and improve existing ones.

People’s understanding and perceptions of landscapes are closely related to their observational behavior. Therefore, understanding human observation behavior is necessary for landscape planning research. In this study, we used eye-tracking technology to analyze the visual perceptual behavior of our subjects. This study aimed to explore the relationship of different elements of landscape attractiveness in the local environment of Taoping Qiang village in Li County, Sichuan, with the protection and quality improvement of the local landscape. Therefore, we asked 39 subjects to wear an eye-movement instrument (Tobii Glasses Pro2) to randomly view 20 real-life photographs of the field inside ethnic villages using a video, after which they were interviewed with questionnaires and asked to draw areas of interest from the photographs. Comparison of the data indicated that: (1) in the traditional ethnic village environment, the cultural elements of the village, such as doors and windows, architectural structure, and building skins of the watchtowers, religious buildings, and so forth, were more attractive to the subjects; (2) given the impact of different landscape features on the observation patterns of eye movement, there were similarities and differences between the subjects’ hand-drawn data and their eye-movement data in terms of the degree of attention paid to the attractive features of the landscape; and (3) the difference in attention was not only due to the external characteristics of the landscape, but also the inherent culture embedded in the landscape space and the subjective resonance of people’s perceptions. Analysis leads to the suggestion that features of different landscape elements should be considered in the design and upgrading of landscape in ethnic villages. This study is useful for understanding the landscape attractiveness of traditional ethnic villages and is a practical guide for the protection, display, and utilization of the value of landscape in ethnic villages.

Dedicated bus lane (DBL) is one of the effective measures to improve transit system efficiency and further promote transit priority. Then, the performance assessment of DBLs turns out to be an essential task for better reflecting the interests of all stakeholders. To this end, this paper presents a data-driven and multidimensional framework to objectively and accurately assess the detailed performance of DBLs from the perspective of passengers, government, and operators, respectively, in which multiple data sources (i.e., IC card and GPS data) and corresponding mining technologies are adopted to establish a series of criteria, enabling a before-and-after comparison for DBL opening. The proposed model has been applied to evaluate the efficiency of the DBL system in the city of Chongqing, China. The results reveal the benefits of opening DBLs, especially for government interests, in which DBLs use less public resources to expand more public welfare. But its role in strengthening transit system competitiveness is diminished, because the opening of DBLs did not significantly increase speed and volume.

Equity in the distribution of medical facilities is critical to the effectiveness of healthcare investments and the equality of residents’ right to health. In recent years, the Chinese Government has been working to establish a well-organized hierarchical system of medical facilities. However, few studies have focused on the evaluation of multilevel medical facility accessibility and equity, and they are usually based on a single urban road network without considering the distinction between walkways and carriageways. To address these issues, this study analyzed and calculated results on the distribution of multilevel medical facilities in terms of accessibility and equity evaluation based on a Gaussian two-step floating catchment area method, an improved medical facility supply capacity model, and two road networks of walkways and carriageways in the central urban area of Jinan, China. The results showed that the distribution of medical facilities shows the vacuum phenomenon of primary medical facilities and the polarization phenomenon of tertiary medical facilities and that the shortage of accessibility of primary medical facilities is masked when comprehensive accessibility calculations are performed. The results of the Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve showed that the distribution of primary medical facilities is extremely inequitable and that increasing the number of primary medical facilities and their supply capacity remains a priority for China to promote health equity. The results of the aforementioned study suggested strategies for medical facility system improvement and urban road network planning: planning new primary hospitals in densely populated areas, building large general hospitals in the eastern and western edges of the city, building east–west road networks to increase road centerline density, and so on. The improved Gaussian two-step floating catchment area method (Ga2SFCA) helps to construct a spatial accessibility model for multilevel medical facilities, and the adopted methods of accessibility and equity analysis are also useful for siting studies on the layout of other service facilities such as education and elderly care.

As an important intercity commuting approach, the intercity metro line is expected to increase the housing choices of residents in core cities and then change the price difference between property markets in two connected cities. This study has investigated the influence of the Guangzhou–Foshan Metro Line and the related network on local residential property markets. Based on the property transaction records and point of interest (POI) location information, a significant polarization effect is detected in most regions in Guangzhou because of this metro line. However, a diffusion effect is also found only in the regions within 500 m from stations. The distance to stations is proven to be a crucial determinant for the polarization/ diffusion effect in property markets. For cross border regions, the city premium disappears in a sample region through which the Guangzhou–Foshan Line passes. By contrast, a large city premium persists in another sample region through which the line does not run. The intercity metro line only partially narrows the gap of property values in a few regions but enlarges the price difference in most regions between the two cities. City planners should be aware of the polarization effect by the intercity metro line network, especially for the excessive supply in property markets in noncore cities.

Abstract

A dynamic combination of environmental, social, and economic factors shapes and manages the urban landscape. Understanding these factors behind urban growth can help us discern more about its past and future. This study examines the fractal dimension of the built-up area (BUA) boundaries of two municipalities in the emerging South Bengal Region (SBR) urban areas that have developed gradually over the last three decades. Fractalyse software (version 3.0-0.9.1) was used to estimate the fractal dimension using the box-counting method and generalized nonlinear and logarithmic models to link the changing socioeconomic patterns of the study areas over time. The fractal dimension measurement increased significantly between 1991 and 2021, with the overall global structure growing similarly to large metropolises in developed economies in the 20th century. In particular, the models have offered a framework for examining the link between urban form and socioeconomic structure to construct the concept of spatial replacement dynamics in urban landscapes. The results of this study have the potential to aid cities in gaining a deeper understanding of the possibilities and threats they will face in the future and in formulating efficient plans to improve their adaptation and resilience. The findings of this study also imply that urban fringes are conducive to denser expansion and prosperous economic growth. The fractal dimension values decrease as the distance from Kolkata, the core city, increases, while upscaled industrial zones create inhospitable landscapes along the Hooghly River. Therefore, this study suggests several recommendations for sustainable growth and development corresponding to the rapid urbanization of eco-sensitive zones in developing economies. According to this study, the SBR's population is anticipated to expand, suggesting that economic forces would contribute to the region's urbanization, tending toward built environment saturation. While population growth and development are desirable, they may pose social, economic, and environmental challenges in the studied regions if they occur at an insufficient pace.

Practical Applications

Sustainable development and conservation efforts in places of high environmental significance need the findings of this research to be used in contexts comparable to those in South Bengal, India. Applications in Urban Form and Development: Sustainability Planning may benefit from urban form studies because they reveal information about the spatial organization of urban areas in eco-sensitive zones, which is helpful for both ecological planning and the identification of ecologically sensitive areas needing protection and conservation. In the same vein, urban form studies assist in the planning and designing of infrastructure projects, which in turn may help facilitate sustainable infrastructure development by improving our knowledge of natural topography and the reallocation of space in response to an expanding built environment. This safeguards the area's ecology, biodiversity, and ecological equilibrium by ensuring that development interventions have minimal adverse effects. Practical applications of socioeconomic studies knowing how a population's socioeconomic features stack up helps improve livelihoods and increase community involvement in decision-making. Incorporating local knowledge makes it possible to better tailor development projects to the wants, requirements, and cultural norms of the people living in environmentally vulnerable areas. Policymakers may use it, and the general public benefits from more conservation and heightened understanding. Protecting the environment, promoting sustainable livelihoods, engaging people, formulating effective policies, and raising awareness of the need for conservation are all achievable via the application of urban form and socioeconomic research in eco-sensitive zones of South Bengal. These applications aid in the maintenance of biodiversity, the improvement of local quality of life, and the promotion of long-term economic growth in the area.

US Decennial Census data show that the elderly segment of the US population has continued to grow in magnitude and share in the last few decades. Consequently, there has been increased attention on this population segment in transportation planning to ensure their future travel needs are adequately accommodated. Using data collected in two national household travel surveys conducted in 2009 and 2017, this research determines what changes occurred in selected demographic characteristics and selected travel characteristics of the elderly population between the two survey years and their respective implications for planning and to investigates the temporal transferability of linear regression models of trips generated by the elderly. The study findings include the following: (1) the elderly’s share of the US population grew by 22.41% in contrast to the 6.55% growth in the overall population, with the implication that trips generated by the elderly will be an important component of future travel on transport networks and thus must be explicitly considered in demand forecasting; (2) about 87% of trips they made in both survey years were by automobiles. Given the convenience of this mode, its share will continue to remain high; hence, the safety of the elderly as operators or passengers in automobiles will have to be a particularly important element of transportation planning; and (3) the purpose of their trips was found to be primarily shopping and social/recreational purposes with the majority of them made during daytime off-peak hours. Public transit levels of service are high during peak periods and low in the off-peak hours. Hence, transportation planning will have to consider increased specialized transit services that better accommodate the travel needs of the elderly and offer a good alternative to automobiles. The transferability analysis led to the following conclusions: (1) the trip-generation model parameters were not temporally stable; (2) the transferred model had 64.5% of the explanatory power of the local application context model, indicating that its forecasts can be used for planning purposes; and (3) working with a birth cohort enhanced transfer effectiveness—it led to the transferred model having 73.4% of the explanatory power of the local application context model. Thus, working with cohorts can be exploited to improve the accuracy of forecasts required in short- and medium-term planning analysis.

As increasing attention is given to the impact of the built environment on citizens’ well-being and health, the role and performance of urban parks have to be carefully considered. The research presented in this paper focuses on the efficiency of urban parks concerning their visitor flow and explores an aspect that has not been studied so far: the impact of the built environment surrounding urban parks in attracting visitors to parks. To assess the visitor flow, the research took advantage of the large amount of accessible and accurate data connecting users and spaces: points of interest data (POI) data and Weibo check-in data. The research correlated them to investigate how the land uses and their mix in a buffer area of 400 m around each park affect the quantity of visitor flow into the parks of the city of Suzhou, China. The research first quantified the POI mixed degree of land uses and the visitor quantity based on the Hill Number Index and the social media data; then, it analyzed the sensitivity of different types of parks to different types of POI. After clarifying the quadratic function between visitor intensity and the POI mixed degree, the research found: (1) a clear correlation between the visitor intensity and the land-use mix around the parks; and (2) that different kinds of parks are affected by different groups of uses. Specifically, in the case of community parks, the visitor flow is affected by the land use for daily activities, while the visitor flow of comprehensive parks is affected by uses such as offices and services. These findings provide clear indications for improving urban parks and land-use efficiency.

Abstract

Population growth is inevitable in urban areas responsible for climate crises worldwide, and urban development is affected by processes fed by many dynamics. Predicting and planning the growth limits of the city effectively is a critical issue for achieving sustainable urban growth and managing climate risks. The study used the cellular automata-Markov chain method to define development areas regarding natural structure and land use/land cover. It aimed to present a method that can be applied to different urban areas by focusing on effective urban growth management with a climate-sensitive approach. It offered a climate-sensitive approach to determining growth limits according to scenarios. The boundaries of 2030 have been determined for the city of Bursa, which exhibited an increased average summer value of the land surface temperature from 24°C to 45°C between 2012 and 2021, stands out with its natural riches, and shows a rapid urban growth trend. The proposed method modeled the limits of urban growth with a climate-sensitive approach, and the model's suitability was demonstrated by Kappa statistics (K_location = 0.8884). The determined urban boundary will reduce the rate of the urban built-up area from 86% to 70% by 2030.

Practical Applications

While the climate crisis threatens all life, urban activities, urban growth, and sprawl continue to increase rapidly. However, the growth of urban areas within certain limits is a critical need for engineering and urban planning. For decision makers, spatially determining the limits of human intervention in nature is an important guideline. Extreme weather events and disasters such as floods, tsunamis, and changes in water levels brought about by climate change can potentially cause chaotic crises. Loss of life and economic crises may occur in possible processes. Therefore, measures must be taken on behalf of humanity and life to adapt to climate effects and keep the level of impact under control. Spatial models based on a wide range of temporal contexts have a structure that broadens our perspective. The study provides an approach that can be implemented in various fields with models produced based on scenarios.

The identification of commuters’ home and work locations is crucial for urban and transport planning because it enables a better understanding of the urban spatial structure and commuting flow. Various methods have been developed for home and job location identification; however, the accuracy, reliability, and sensitivity of these methods have not been thoroughly examined. This study aimed to compare three commonly used approaches—the staying time method, the trip frequency method, and the hidden Markov chain method (HMM)—in terms of their adaptability and sensitivity to different scales of data, advantages and disadvantages by using smart card data of Beijing in 5 weeks of 2016. Our results showed significant differences among the three methods in identifying actual commuters. The staying time method had the largest error, while HMM was more intelligent in the recognition result due to its combination with historical inbound and outbound passenger flow rules. Although the staying time method was simple and easy to implement, it was unable to fully reflect the data’s characteristics. For larger amounts of sample data, the trip frequency method demonstrated faster processing efficiency; however, missing data had a significant impact on the results. Finally, the machine learning method was able to identify locations more intelligently than the other two approaches, although its algorithm’s time complexity and resource consumption were very high. These findings provided new insights into the application of big data in urban spatial research and offered suggestions for selecting the most appropriate identification method based on data and scenarios.

In the face of climate change and rising mean global temperature, urban planning is required to transform cities into resilient living areas for present and future generations. Within this task, microclimate simulation models are an important tool to assess the impact of nature-based solutions (NBSs), building morphology, design of urban quarters, and other measures on the local microclimate. As simulation tools are open to be applied by different user groups, the utilization of the software is often kept as easy as possible. This seeming simplicity bears the risk for users to fall into traps during the model configuration, interpretation of results, or not making use of the full potential of simulations. While scientific literature mainly describes successful application of case studies, it does not cover potential misapplication and related consequences. The present study contributes to closing this research gap and supports the urban planning community with a selection of pitfalls in the model setup and interpretation of results. Clear examples of wrong configuration of wind direction, inaccurate evaluation of mean radiant temperature (MRT), and improper selection of performance indicators are presented by the means of sensitivity experiments and case studies with the modeling software ENVI-Met. The prevailing study demonstrates why MRT values are not suitable to explain effects of NBS during nighttime and contrasts the effects of façade greening on air temperature (0.85°C) with building surface temperature (6.1°C or even 27.5°C with substrate layer). In addition, it highlights the potentials of the multitude of possible performance indicators of microclimate simulations. The selection of avoidable mistakes in the assessment of the local microclimate supports users of microclimate models to promote effective and impactful climate adaption and mitigation measures in urban planning.

The present research investigates priority areas of interventions for improving accessibility to Metro stations in Delhi based on private vehicle users' perceptions. The focus is on identifying the avenues of infrastructure improvement in parking facilities near Metro stations. A tablet-based face-to-face questionnaire survey was adopted to collect 1,050 responses regarding perceived importance and satisfaction ratings of 17 service quality attributes under study on a 6-point Likert scale. The data were checked, cleaned, and analyzed using revised importance–performance analysis. A fuzzy c-means clustering technique was used to develop the factor structure and management scheme clusters. Finally, priority intervention areas were identified, and resources allocated by relating factor structures and management schemes. The findings indicated that the presence of designated parking facilities, provision of variable message signs (VMSs), parking guidance information, parking charges, and in-vehicle travel time were top priority attributes and warranted immediate improvement. Security, luggage space, extreme weather conditions, and universal design considerations were under low priority. Security at the Metro parking lots had optimum service levels and was expected to be maintained. Travel route information, safety, riding comfort, convenience, egress time, operational and maintenance cost, and illumination were attributes under “possible overkill,” indicating the need to transfer resources to improve other service attributes. The findings of the current work shall be useful to transport planners, traffic engineers, and officials in enhancing accessibility of private vehicle users to Metro stations by providing better Park-and-Ride facilities.

This study uses a multilevel hedonic model to examine information from official sources including the population census, the land-use map, and the field survey to draw conclusions about the 32,108 Tehran residences that make up the statistical sample. These results show that other factors besides proximity to urban facilities are important in determining the value of a home in Tehran, Iran. The results show that proximity to education, culture, entertainment, tourism, administration, and social service centers has a positive effect on housing prices, while proximity to some urban amenities, such as medical centers, commercial strips, and parks, has a negative effect on housing prices. This gap can be explained in part by the externalities of these facilities, including the creation of through traffic, congestion, and reduced security levels, which discourage home buyers from getting too close to these amenities. Furthermore, the study found that the effect of proximity differs from that of service provision at the neighborhood level. For example, while the presence of a medical/health center at neighborhood level was found to be a positive determinant of house prices, its proximity had a negative effect on house prices. In fact, home buyers prefer to purchase properties in neighborhoods that offer such amenities but are less likely to purchase properties in areas adjacent to such amenities. The higher the ratio of nonresidential to residential uses, the higher the price of housing in those areas. In fact, this shows the advantage of neighborhoods with a variety of uses more than single-use neighborhoods. The data also demonstrate that the variances across neighborhoods in Tehran account for a significant amount of the housing price variation, with 11% and 48% of the total variance attributed to local and regional levels of analysis, respectively. This highlights the nested and hierarchical nature of housing price data and the use of multilevel modeling for estimating home prices in Tehran. The results presented in this work may have theoretical and practical uses for scholars, insurance firms, banks, real estate developers, and others in the field of property economics.

Incomplete property rights are a prominent feature of informal housing that differs from formal ones. Without complete property rights, dwellers’ behavior might be constrained by formal institutions; therefore, informal houses tend to be valued lower in the market. However, more empirical evidence is needed to disclose the interaction between property rights status and informal housing prices, because of variations in the formal systems between regions. Looking at a type of informal properties named small property rights housing (SPRH) in China, this study aims to investigate the impact of incomplete property rights on informal housing prices. The findings of the empirical estimation demonstrate that: (1) because of incomplete property rights, the average price of SPRH units could fall by 69.15% compared with the equivalent formal housing units with full property rights; (2) the detrimental effect of building age on the housing price can be depressed by incomplete property rights, because a long duration can give dwellers confidence to hold their informal properties stably in the long term; and (3) although communal facilities, such as lifts can make dwellers’ lives more convenient, the lack of complete property rights lowers the value contribution of communal facilities to the overall price of housing units. This study provides valuable evidence from China to enrich the current literature on the informal housing market in the global south, and the findings could help formal authorities to understand the valuation principle of housing products in the absence of complete property rights.

Housing prices have skyrocketed in China’s major cities, resulting in a lack of housing affordability and intensifying urban inequality. Taking college graduates, migrant workers, and low-income families as the representatives of vulnerable populations in urban housing, this paper analyzes their preferences and barriers toward affordable housing programs in Nanjing, China. We find that China’s affordable housing development and policies still lag far behind the need of vulnerable populations, and there is a mismatch between affordable housing needs and preferences. Rural migrants without local household registration (hukou) who need housing subsidies the most are significantly disadvantaged in current affordable housing policies focusing on local low-income families. Our regression analysis provides insight into the main dissatisfactions and barriers to affordable housing projects and identifies that the policy issues rather than the supply side are the most critical factors. Although migrant workers show a greater preference for affordable housing than other vulnerable populations, they are largely shut out because of exclusionary affordable housing policies. More efforts are needed to improve affordable housing projects, and affordable housing policies should consider the heterogeneous housing preferences of vulnerable populations.

With population aging becoming increasingly prominent, it has been recognized as a critical issue for urban planners whether older adults can access fair, high-quality medical services. Yet, few studies have investigated urban medical accessibility at a departmental level for older adults. Taking Beijing as a case study, this study puts forth a novel framework augmented by multisource data to analyze subdistrict-scale accessibility to urban medical departments, with a particular emphasis on older adults’ common diseases. Online registration data were collected to indicate the supply capacity of medical services, with the influence of department reputation taken into account when determining the facilities’ service range. A hierarchical two-step floating catchment area method was employed to examine accessibility for older adults to the cardiovascular, orthopedic, endocrinology, respiratory, and neurology departments. Subsequently, Gini indices were calculated to evaluate medical accessibility equity across urban spaces. Additionally, multiple linear regression was used to explore the correlations between medical accessibility and potential influencing factors. Results showed that medical accessibility is typically higher in downtown areas and decreases from the urban center to the peripheral areas in Beijing. Cardiovascular, respiratory, and orthopedic patients face relatively greater difficulty in accessing appropriate medical resources. Furthermore, significant inequity in medical accessibility was observed among the subdistricts at different locations, with accessibility inequity in the ecological conservation area being particularly concerning. Additionally, seven factors were found to significantly affect accessibility, including distance to the urban center, density of arterial and collector roads, proportion of residential land use, proportion of public service land use, proportion of transportation land use, and proportion of vehicle ownership. The proposed framework could identify subdistricts with low accessibility for older adult patients to access different medical departments. Therefore, it could potentially support the policy-making process by offering guidelines to adjust the construction plan of the medical system in metropolises and optimize the direction for resource input.

Through a questionnaire survey and semistructured interviews, this paper adopts a structural equation model to analyze the impact of official hospital WeChat accounts on urban residents’ spatial perceptions and interactions with technology in Guangzhou, China. We find that official hospital WeChat accounts have a significant remodeling effect on urban residents’ spatial behaviors and perceptions, mainly affecting the improvement in medical efficiency and the expansion of medical scope and convenience. Such accounts also reduce the psychological distance between urban residents and hospitals. Furthermore, online medical service platforms restructure urban residents’ physical spatial movement, which is characterized by spatiotemporal compression and technical interaction. Spatiotemporal compression is manifested in the reduction in invalid time for residents in urban medical spaces and the expansion of the scope of medical treatment. Technical interaction is reflected in the mutual consultation and promotion between urban residents and technology. This paper aims to improve our understanding of the influence of technology on urban medical space and residents, and provides a reference for the optimization of urban space governance.

The strength of government environmental concern strength (GECS) and the differential supply of construction land (DSCL) can effectively act as important indicators of regional environmental protection dynamics and economic development pressures. Based on the panel data of Chinese 281 cities, from 2007 to 2018, this study first measures the degree of urban environmental protection pressure (UEPP) by using a game combination assignment method. Then, a fixed effects model is used to quantitatively measure the effects of GECS and DSCL on UEPP from the two perspectives of “urban environmental risk (UER) and urban social response (USR).” The UEPP in China tended to decrease during the study period. For about 52.67% of the urban areas studied, both GECS and DSCL could effectively reduce the UEPP. Moreover, the areas where the DSCL increased the UEPP are mainly located at the border between the eastern and the central regions, and in the northeastern region. In addition, the spatial layout of the impact of GECS and DSCL on USR is similar to the spatial layout of the impact of GECS and DSCL on UEPP. According to different impact mechanisms, the study areas are divided into eight groups, and this study finds that government departments should formulate relevant measures and policies according to local conditions, in order to promote sustainable urban development.

Abstract

During the past two decades discussions on urban shrinkage have been increasing in intensity, mainly due to the irresistible trends of migration, economic transformation, and the so-called “siphon effect” of large and mega cities. Yet, very few studies have tried to understand urban shrinkage from the perspective of local microscopic unit evolution. This study develops a novel model for simultaneous simulation of expansion and shrinkage (MSSES) of urban built-up areas. Starting from a microscopic basis, our MSSES can simulate both the processes and the states that lead to spatial expansion or shrinkage. A MaxEnt model is further used to investigate the driving factors of microspatial changes and compute the probabilities of shrinkage (or expansion) of urban built-up areas. Finally, it simulates the explicit layout of the spatial distribution of shrinkage (or expansion) patches with the help of a sorting cellular automata (CA) model. The validity of MSSES is verified using multisourced data from the Wuhan agglomeration, China. We show that (1) MSSES can more accurately simulate urban expansion or shrinkage than the currently widely used neighborhood-based Logistic-CA (NL-CA) and (2) MSSES has advantage in solving the commonly seen problem of “diffusion-coalescence,” especially for the simulation of outlying expansion. Against the context of the Wuhan metropolitan area, we also found that overall the shrinkage trend is slowing down significantly, presenting three types of shrinkage at city-scale: remote shrinkage, peripheral shrinkage, and international shrinkage. Our study has contributions to the body of knowledge as well as practical implications for urban management and improving the sustainable development of urban areas in both China and abroad.

Practical Applications

The city we live in may be experiencing a situation where expansion and shrinkage are happening simultaneously. Hence, the simulation and prediction of temporal and spatial changes in urban expansion and shrinkage hold great importance in formulating urban policies. In this study, we propose a model capable of simultaneously predicting urban growth and shrinkage, and apply this model to the urban morphological changes in the Wuhan metropolitan area from 2000 to 2035. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of this model in predicting the locations of urban expansion and contraction in advance. Furthermore, we discovered that the overall shrinkage trend is projected to significantly decelerate in the future. These findings offer support for intervention in urban planning, guiding the development of urban spaces and advancing the scientific aspects of urban planning.

Recent studies have yielded some interesting insights into the impacts of a property’s walking accessibility on housing affordability and equity from the potential property owner’s perspective, and limited attention was paid from the renter’s perspective. This study investigates the impacts of eight types of property walking accessibility and other variables on the second-hand residential property (SHP) price and residential rental property (RRP) rent. It uses a sample of 6,603 SHPs and 3,566 RRPs that were collected in Shanghai, China, in 2021. A modified floating catchment method is used to quantify walking accessibility to eight destinations. Geographically weighted regression models are estimated to study the similarities and dissimilarities of the impacts of a property’s walking accessibilities, inherent attributes, and transit time to major transportation hubs on the SHP price and RRP rent. In addition, it factors the distinctive regional and political characteristics in China, which include massive internal immigration, rapid urbanization, and household registration and housing price control policies. These results provide a more comprehensive understanding of the spatially varying impacts of property walking accessibility on housing affordability and equity. In addition, these results highlight the intensifying jobs–housing imbalance, ever-increasing commuting time and cost, and decreasing overall quality of life in metropolises, particularly among migrants and future property owners. For property developers and investors, these results demonstrate that improving the property walking accessibility might yield spatially varying returns across regions. From the perspective of planners and policymakers, these results and insights could be used to design policies and strategies, such as cooperative governance and low-income rental housing, along with walking accessibility improvement development to address the urgent need for affordable housing and equity in China.

During the last decades, the association between the quality of the urban living environment and individual subjective well-being (SWB) has received wide attention in many metropolitan areas across the world. However, few studies have focused on the effects of the quality of the urban living environment on SWB from a human perception perspective and concerned the underdeveloped areas such as resource-based cities. Drawing on a large-scale social survey data set collected from the City Health Examination Evaluation (CHEE) in China, this paper employed the Geographical Detector method to reveal the association between the CHEE and individual subjective well-being in four resource-based cities in China (Ganzhou, Huangshi, Jingdezhen, and Luoyang). The results showed that the SWB and CHEE of the respondents in the resource-based cities are generally good, with mean evaluation scores of 4.15 and 4.27, respectively. The factor detector results indicated that the eight subdimensions of the CHEE are all significantly associated with individual SWB in the resource-based cities, with the q-statistic values in the following decreasing order: life amenities > urban management > urban vitality > diversity and inclusiveness > security and resilience > convenient transportation > urban landscape and scenery > ecological livability. Furthermore, individual socioeconomic attributes, such as gender, hukou, house tenure, car ownership, age, household income, and occupation, were also significantly associated with individual SWB. The interaction factor results revealed that there are bilinear enhancing and nonlinear enhancing effects on individual SWB after the interaction between the subdimensions in the CHEE. Regarding city types, the average evaluation scores of the CHEE and SWB in the declining cities, mature cities, and regenerating cities decreases in turn, and the subdimensions of the CHEE had heterogeneous effects on individual SWB across city types. The findings in this study could provide insights into improving individual SWB in China’s resource-based cities by enhancing the quality of the urban living environment.

The combined effect of tourism economic growth has presented an important catalytic and driving role in modern urban development, especially in China’s urban regeneration and industrial restructuring. The Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA) is a new attempt by China’s government to comprehensively promote a new pattern of economic opening for metropolitan areas, and tourism development has assumed the role of a window to showcase the quality of the GBA’s cities to the world. How to promote the coordinated development of tourism and cities is particularly important in shaping new industries and enhancing the quality of urban development in the GBA. This paper constructs an evaluation index system and uses the improved entropy-weighted Topsis model to calculate the Coordinated Level between Tourism and Urban Development (TUDCL) and applies it to analyze the impact of tourism on promoting urban development in the GBA. The study finds that the TUDCL changes steadily from 2000 to 2019 and currently remains at a medium level, with large differences between cities of different levels, and that there is more room to improve the TUDCL of peripheral cities in the GBA such as Huizhou, Jiangmen, and Zhaoqing. When the tourism industry grows to a certain size, it can in turn lead to the synergistic growth of other industries in the city. Different cities need to formulate appropriate optimization policies according to their own industry type, tourism resource endowment, economic openness, and location conditions. This study proposes a scientific and effective evaluation index system to identify the level of coordination between tourism and urban development in the GBA and distils the contribution of different factors and the time sequence of their influence in stages, which is of positive significance in understanding the synergistic relationship between tourism and urban development and provides theoretical reference for planning a quality living circle suitable for living, working, and traveling in the GBA.

Scholars argue that the efficient integration between public transportation systems and potential transit villages is the best strategy to be adopted to achieve sustainable urban development and manage the expansion of cities. Thus, across the world, large funds are invested in developing public transportation systems with metro operations to address sustainable urban development and shift toward transit-oriented development (TOD). Since the discovery of oil and gas in the 1940s, Doha, the capital city of Qatar, has been exposed to accelerating urbanization, which, in turn, led to arguably unsustainable urban development. In response, the Qatari government, aiming to manage the urban expansion of Doha through the pillars of sustainable urban development, has (1) released planning policy documents (QNV2030 and QNDF 2032), (2) amended the national master plan, and (3) launched the construction of Metro Rail project (in 2013). This research study investigates the extent to which the ongoing urban expansion of Doha aligns with the developed framework for sustainable urban development as envisioned by national planning policies through a multiple-layer analysis of maps for five critical nodes: (1) Doha metro transit nodes, (2) megaprojects, (3) malls, (4) stadiums, and (5) green spaces in metropolitan Doha. The findings reveal that (1) transit villages can be created at metro stations located near shopping malls, followed by green spaces and megaprojects; and (2) the proposed set of guidelines favor the development of economic transit nodes that comply with the key characteristic of TOD.

Investments are articulated in the urban space through various partial planning interventions under the influence of neoliberal economic policies. Partial planning applications have become even more widespread with market-based approaches and privatization policies, adopted especially from the 1990s onward. This article aimed to examine the impact of the spatial relationship between plan changes and large investment decisions pertaining to public and private sectors on a multicentered metropolitan area. This study covered six selected districts demonstrating the ranking of districts (including central, subcentral, and periphery) in the Istanbul metropolitan area, which has a multicentered structure and where the neoliberal pressures in Turkey are most apparent. In the article, the spatial relationship between plan change points (PCPs) and large investment points (LIPs) was analyzed using spatial interpolation, network analyses of proximity between plan changes and investments, and the Pearson correlation coefficient analysis. The findings of this study demonstrated that centrality plays an active role in the spread of investments across space, and in the differentiation of the types of investment, under the influence of multicentered settlements. While it appeared that PCPs and LIPs spread across the entire space in central districts and do not accumulate in common locations, they tend to accumulate in common locations in spatial terms in periphery districts. At the district level, investments triggering the obtained plan changes mostly consisted of malls, mixed-use buildings, hospitals and stadiums in central districts, hospitals, transportation facilities (stations), hotels, municipal facilities, squares in subcentral districts, hospitals, transportation facilities, hotels, gated communities, malls, and high-end residences in periphery districts.

Following the continual development of smart cities, there is a growing need for the seamless integration of design and technology to improve urban spaces. In this regard, public space odors are gaining importance as a key factor in urban planning. To investigate the impact of public space odors on urban environments, a study was conducted within the second ring road of Hefei. The study utilized a combination of crowd observation, questionnaires, interviews, and the collection, experimentation, and analysis of public space odors. The investigation aimed to clarify participants' perceptions of urban public space odors and odor environments. The TOPSIS method was used to determine the odor diffusion range and intensity weight for the collected odor source types and distribution intensities. Data visualization was also employed to create odor maps. Using machine scoring, the study quantified qualitative data to illustrate the degree of influence of odor on people's perception of urban behavior from both theoretical and practical perspectives. Additionally, an emotion map was drawn to further understand people's perceptions of odors. By superimposing the analysis, the study identified people's preferences for odors and created an odor map. Finally, the study explored the potential application of olfactory elements in urban design through tour route plans for different target groups, providing innovative ideas for future applications in smart cities, five-sense cities, and the metaverse.

Abstract

The planning and management of urban green infrastructure (UGI) are at the forefront of global biodiversity conservation. Building an environmental consensus rooted in environmental ethics and values is pivotal to the lasting success of UGI projects. Reflecting the specific classification into ecocentrism–anthropocentrism and Kellert’s typologies and the theoretical connections between environmental ethics and ecological civilization, this study upgrades the adapted ecocentric and anthropocentric attitude toward the environment (AEA) scale accordingly to assess environmental attitudes and applies it in a survey of the main stakeholders involved in Zhangjiagang Bay Eco-Park, an ecological restoration project in China included in the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs) Good Practice list. The paper unveils the diverse hidden value patterns of stakeholders and suggests new measures for sustainable UGI management. The authors argue that the AEA scale adapted and tested in this study connects well with the theories of environmental philosophy and is proven with good reliability, strong explanatory power, and potential value for UGI planning and management.

Practical Applications

In the policy-driven fields of urban practice, consensus building is one of the most important but, at the same time, most difficult processes to achieve. Without a good understanding of the diverse environmental perspectives of stakeholders, urban planning projects often die prematurely or gradually fade out due to unsustainable implementation or management in the long run. Drawing from the theoretical progress in environmental ethics, the authors adapted an AEA scale with two-tiered subscales that could indicate the general orientation on the spectrum of anthropocentric to ecocentric attitudes and reveal the specific motivations behind behaviors for better practical policy implications. The results of this case study indicate an overall weak-anthropocentric orientation and, more specifically, show the internal value conflicts of local officials and the significance of naturalistic and moralistic perspectives for the public. This study also pinpoints the value and urgency of ongoing environmental education on important ecological issues to enable the public to genuinely embrace the policy of ecological civilization that is currently imposed from the top down. With its strong power to explain value orientation, this AEA scale could be used to facilitate stakeholder participation from the bottom up and a process of crafting and communicating urban planning and management policies while building consensus.

Abstract

Shared accommodation platforms, such as Airbnb, have changed the way investors appraise urban properties, especially in touristic destinations. In these cities, touristic neighborhoods drive daily facilities to be more attractive, adapting the urban environment to the dynamics of the tourism market. The moment derives from the following: Properties in touristic destinations are preferably designed for shared accommodation instead of housing rental or trading. The knowledge of what drives the shared accommodation demand makes urban planners manage the balance between housing availability (and affordability) and the increasing tourism demand. In developing countries, this phenomenon triggers rational real estate because there is no guideline to detect what property factors increase shared accommodation preference rather than rental or trading properties. Therefore, this study investigated how location and listing attributes affect Airbnb prices in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. We modeled 2,936 listings by using ordinary least squares and quantile regression approaches to assess the price-setting performance across less and more expensive properties. Our results show that properties near SugarLoaf Mountain have higher price settings, followed by other touristic landmarks such as the Corcovado, the Museum of Tomorrow, and the Copacabana Fortress. In contrast, the farther from the airport, the more expensive Airbnb prices are. The higher income per capita also increases Airbnb prices. Surprisingly, properties located in Brazilian slums (favelas) increase rental prices because Airbnb users seek diverse experiences, a phenomenon that derives from the slum tourism paradigm. In the listing attributes, more availability and more reviews decrease Airbnb prices. Because of regulatory differences in Brazil, the minimum stay rule was unimportant, and private accommodation had behaved a different set of rules in less and more expensive properties. The research contributions relate to urban regulation of rental housing in devalued areas; shared accommodation effects on city transformations; and mutual and unique patterns of Airbnb market performance in a Latin-American context.

Practical Applications

This study investigates what city- and property-related factors drive Airbnb pricing in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The main findings suggest that properties closer to tourist landmarks increase Airbnb prices. Surprisingly, properties placed in Brazilian slums (favelas) increase rental prices because Airbnb users seek diverse experiences, paying more for them. This study also showed that the minimum stay of an Airbnb listing is not an important price-increasing attribute in Rio de Janeiro, because Brazilian condominiums are legally pressured to stay by the regulations of Airbnb. Studies about shared accommodation in tourist destinations are scarcer in developing countries; those consequences for local planning remain unclear. Our study brings novelty in exploring a Latin American case study, which sheds light on how shared accommodation is impacting real-estate markets and urban development in these regions. Our study assists real-estate investors to choose and design properties that increase Airbnb listings in touristic destinations. This study also helps urban planners to understand how city dynamics affect Airbnb prices, to eventually avoid the harm that Airbnb does to housing availability and affordability.