Journal of Urban Management最新文献

Urban morphogenesis in informal settlements results from occupation, transformation, and morphological extension processes that cause territorial fragmentation, producing inequality and spatial segregation, which are the main characteristics of Latin American informal urbanism. However, there is scarce research on analysing the processes that cause fragmentation. The research develops a morphological analysis that aims to improve the processes of urban assemblage by identifying the dynamics of territorialisation and deterritorialisation promoted by political and social factors, capable of producing spatial discontinuity in the informal morphogenic evolution. As a method, a diachronic analysis is developed by mapping the morphological evolution of the processes of occupation, transformation and extension of networks between 2002 and 2021 on three models of informal settlements in Lima, Mexico City, Medellin and Santiago de Chile for a comparison of cases. As a result, corrective mechanisms called “interface devices” (ID) are obtained, which include the improvement of land management policies and the implementation of gradual interventions according to informal evolution, decreasing urban fragmentation in different phases of territorial evolution and the possibility of being applied in international contexts of the global south.

Countries in developed and developing worlds have faced growing challenges to solve affordable housing shortages for lower-income households, prompting the adoption of various types of mandates to compel local implementation of affordable housing policy. A large volume of literature has focused on whether and how such top-down mandate indeed improves local supply of affordable housing. Insufficient understanding has been provided regarding the multi-faceted nature of local strategic responses to a top-down housing mandate. This research addresses this intellectual gap with an empirical study of local strategic behavior in response to the affordable housing mandate that was announced by the central government during the Twelfth Five-Year Plan (2011–2015). Through systematic content analysis of local news reports on affordable housing from 41 Chinese cities from various provinces, we describe the multiple-dimensional characteristics of local policy actions as cities were compelled to complied with the mandate. We further employ a fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis method to investigate how top-down political pressure combines with local policy interpretation, resource mobilization capacity, and local public pressure lead to more diverse policy actions in affordable housing. This research enriches the understanding of how city governments respond to top-down housing mandate, as well as offers valuable policy implications for affordable housing policy.

Physical inactivity poses a significant public health challenge. Numerous studies have argued that urban parks can promote physical activity (PA). However, evidence of physical activity observed over long periods of time in parks is still very lacking. Our serial cross-sectional study within urban parks in Shanghai investigated seasonal and daily variations in PA. Employing a geographically and temporally weighted regression (GTWR) model, we established spatiotemporal relationships between urban park characteristics and PA levels. We found that (1) Highest PA levels occur in winter, while the lowest levels are observed in summer, with a V-shaped daily pattern. (2) Robust and significant associations between specific park characteristics and PA levels, while other characteristics exhibited varying associations in different temporal and spatial contexts. These insights offer valuable guidance for urban planners and park designers aiming to create more active and sustainable urban environments.

Cities, towns, and rural areas form a complex spatial system influenced by governance, economic factors, and the perceptions of their residents. This paper introduces the concepts of 'cityphilia' and 'cityphobia' as metaphors for the spatial attraction and repulsion forces that shape local quality of life. It aims to create and validate an operational framework for understanding citizens' appreciation and attachment to their living environment, often referred to as 'city love.' This framework considers two key components, 'body' and 'soul,' encompassing both physical and social aspects. Building upon Charles Tiebout's work on the competitive attractiveness of cities and aligning with contemporary research on the geography of happiness, a conceptual model is developed and applied to identify and assess the components of city love using various indicators. These indicators encompass local attractiveness, local public expenditures, and inter-urban interdependencies. The model is empirically tested in the context of Flanders, Belgium, a region comprising 300 distinct municipalities, both urban and rural. A Beta regression model is employed, which incorporates spatial dependencies to examine multi-scalar effects on residential satisfaction. The results affirm the soundness of the 'city love' framework and emphasize the significance of central place systems in providing tangible and intangible well-being services to citizens within a hierarchical spatial structure. These findings carry notable implications for urban policy and management, shedding light on how local attractiveness and interdependence shape the well-being of residents in diverse urban and rural settings.

Numerous studies have presented compelling findings regarding the favorable influence exerted by the construction of metro systems on the development of land use along the routes. However, the effects of metro network structure on land use change, especially the long-term dynamic effects, remain uncertain. To address this gap, this research utilizes land use coverage data and metro network data from Wuhan, China, spanning the period from 2014 to 2019. A complex network model is employed to analyze changes in the metro network structure, and the GTWR model is employed to investigate the impact of the of metro network structure on land use change. The results indicate that metro construction effectively stimulates land use change along the routes, predominantly leading to the conversion of non-construction land into construction land. Global accessibility, degree centrality, betweenness centrality, and eigenvector centrality, within the metro network structure attributes demonstrate significant positive effects on land use change, and these effects exhibit considerable spatiotemporal non-stationarity. Additionally, built environment factors surrounding metro stations, such as population density, plot ratio, street intersection density, and the quantity of bus stops, also exhibit notably spatiotemporal effects on land use change. These findings indicate that government agencies and urban planners should concentrate on optimizing the distribution of the urban metro network to improve its overall structural efficiency. When planning the construction of the metro network, careful attention should be paid to the built environment near the stations to effectively facilitate land use development in the vicinity.

The creation of a dense, convenient, and diverse built environment is a strategic approach for fostering urban development. However, few studies have considered the relationship between a compact built environment and livability. This study seeks to answer the following question: What type of built environment is conducive to long-term residency? Using the Guangzhou urban district in China as a case study, we develop a livability-oriented assessment system for the built environment and integrate it into the hedonic price model. We employ spatial regression methods to analyze the impact of the built environment on housing prices, and findings suggest that (1) livability-oriented built environments are characterized by spaciousness, convenience, and diversity. Environments with a low building density, high building heights, a large plot area, and diverse land use are highly favorable for livability. (2) The built environment is intricate, and different factors can affect livability in diverse areas within an urban space. The impact of POI (Point of Interest) density and road density on livability varies by location. (3) The principles of small-scale blocks, high-density road networks, and compact urban planning are not universally applicable to the construction of livable cities. (4) The spatial heterogeneity of the built environment in the Guangzhou urban district is pronounced. This study addresses the assessment standards dominated by new urbanism. Under a livability-oriented approach, urban planners and managers should not indiscriminately pursue the construction of high-density and compact cities.

In urban areas, variations in the functional usage of buildings or their clusters directly influence the 2D/3D morphology of buildings which can lead to changes in the ventilation potential (VP) at different heights, but there is a lack of refined quantitative relationship analysis between 3D building form parameters (BFPs) and VP at different heights within a certain urban area. The objective of our study is to obtain simulated wind field data from different heights, considering distances from roads, and transverse and longitudinal sections. We employ partial correlation analysis, simple correlation analysis, and Geographic detectors to uncover the extent and mechanisms of the influence of BFPs on the ventilation effectiveness of neighborhoods in a major urban center in China, specifically Nanjing. The findings demonstrate that, at all heights, there is an inverse relationship between wind speed and building density (BD), with the location of higher wind speed generally aligning with the intersection points. The correlation coefficients between BD and simulated wind speed are 0.040 (1.5 ​m), −0.475 (10 ​m), and −0.314 (30 ​m), while the correlation coefficients between building height (BH) and simulated wind speed are 0.237. However, no significant correlation is observed between floor area ratio (FAR) and simulated wind speed. Geographic detector analysis reveals differences in the correlation between BFPs and simulated wind speed at different heights within various building functional areas. Our study provides some practical information for urban planners and designers to carry out wind sensitivity and adaptation planning and urban design.

A global phenomenon identified 200 years ago as Urban Heat Island (UHI) effect gained popularity as the sheer contributor to the precipitous temperature gradient between rural and urban interface, instigating excess heat gain and associated ill effects on the urban dwellers. UHI is a function of many interrelated geographical, ecological, and economic parameters that require differential treatment in determining the antecedent impacts. This transdisciplinary review assessed the passive strategies (vegetation, cool roofs, cool pavements, and green roofs) from 83 studies that employed a numerical simulation approach to combat UHI. On average, vegetation and cool/green roofs can reduce ambient temperature by 3–5 ​°C, while cool pavements help to reduce surface temperature by 5 ​°C. All passive strategies also reveal it can reduce buildings' energy demand by 4–10%. However, the current methodological framework for evaluating UHI is quite fragmented, using multiple software and estimates only Surface Urban Heat Island (SUHI), ignoring Canopy Urban Heat Island (CUHI), Boundary Urban Heat Island (BUHI), and the nexus of ‘UHI-Climatology,’ which is linked to regional and global climate change, failing to model UHI and its complex connection to climate change accurately. The review found that the efficacy of passive strategies is a function of factors ranging from location, cloud cover, and soil type to simulation accuracy; hence, while these passive strategies alleviate outdoor temperature in one place, they can cause counterproductive impacts in another region. Therefore, as a postlude, the paper explores an alternative methodological framework for evaluating the nexus of UHI-Climatology using digital twin technology, thus espousing better mitigation strategies.

Infectious diseases depend on intensified social intercourse within large cities, resulting in a super-linear allometric scaling law with city size. But how this scaling relationship changes throughout an evolving pandemic is seldom studied and remains unclear. Here, we investigate allometric scaling laws between cases/deaths and city size and their temporal evolution using daily COVID-19 cases/deaths of cities in the United Kingdom from March 2020 to May 2022. Results indicate that cases exhibit a super-linear scaling pattern with city size, revealing higher morbidity in large cities. Temporally, scaling exponents stabilized at around 1.25 after a rapid increase from less than one and then decreased to one. Scaling exponents of COVID-19 deaths exhibited a comparable trend to cases but with a lag in time and a weaker super-linear relationship. Scaling exponents increased first, then stabilized, and then decreased during each wave. Temporal variations of scaling exponents reveal the spatial diffusion of infectious diseases from large to small cities, whose mechanism needs further exploration.