Cities最新文献

As food is a daily necessity for people, research on urban food systems, targeting urban food-related social issues and highlighting the importance of urban food policies, has increased. Past research has focused on food policies that target various food-related problems in urban areas, such as affordable food, food access equality and other food security related issues. However, geographical studies on urban food production and consumption patterns are limited, particularly in compact and vertically growing cities to support smart governance. Understanding the complex dynamics of cities' urban food subsystems, including agriculture, food manufacturing, food wholesaling, food retailing, food storage and food freight, is crucial to understand and address multivariate food-related issues. This paper examines the location of each function relating to its floor space use and visualises the 3D foodscapes through the spatial and temporal analysis of urban food systems. The research identified the eight food functions in Sydney and visualised the temporal colocation relationships among them over 10 years. The outcome can further contribute to urban food planning by considering their relationship with the socio-economic context, and mapping Sydney's urban food system in 3D.

Urban green spaces are integral elements of urban landscapes, conferring a multitude of advantages that enrich urban living. Nevertheless, the rapid urbanization of cities often ignores green spaces. To ensure that physical planning creates effective and accessible green spaces, this study explores the use, perception, and socio-economic dynamics of urban green spaces in Nairobi. Through a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods, including surveys, interviews, and GIS analysis, the study reveals insights into how urban green spaces contribute to environmental sustainability, physical and mental well-being, and social cohesion. Additionally, the findings of the economic assessment of the use of urban green spaces underscores the cost efficiencies and willingness of users to invest in their enhancements, thereby emphasizing the economic significance of green spaces. These results underline the importance of equitable access, effective management, and inclusive design in maximizing the benefits of urban green spaces for urban residents. This research further contributes to a broader understanding of urban green space planning and management, providing insights applicable to diverse urban contexts globally.

As circular economy policies are adopted to tackle unsustainable built environment patterns related to carbon emissions and inefficient use of resources, scholars warn about the inadequacy of such policies to support sustainable urban development. Siloed circular economy policies in the built environment have focused on applying circular strategies to construction practices. However, cities as complex adaptive systems require systemic interventions including ecologically regenerative and adaptation actions to bring about a more circular built environment and, ultimately, a circular city. This article analyses policy coherence –or the (mis)alignment and possible synergies– of circular built environment in Greater London. Resorting to a circular city policy coherence framework, through document analysis of planning and circular economy policies and semi-structured interviews, both the state of circular built environment policy is assessed and policy recommendations are provided. Circular built environment policies in Greater London have increased in their overall coherence by means of the application of circular economy principles in construction practices, but less so in bringing about a circular city. The findings contained herein may inform policy making in Greater London and other cities of the world to help improve their circular city policy responses to the complex societal challenges imposed by the ongoing socio-ecological crisis.

Green and walkable neighborhoods have been highlighted as critical factors that promote daily physical activity and reduce sedentary behavior, particularly in the context of the increasing prevalence of noncommunicable diseases such as obesity. Numerous studies have revealed a potential association between neighborhood walking environments and green spaces and the likelihood of residents being overweight or obese, yet they seldom consider the confounding effect of residential self-selection. The complex interactions and influence paths remain unclear and need further examination. Based on 2021 survey data in Guangzhou, this study employs a structural equation modeling (SEM) approach to examine the associations between neighborhood walkability, green space accessibility, and residents' body mass index (BMI), considering the influencing mechanism of residential self-selection. The results show that residents' preference for walking and green space affects their housing choices in terms of neighborhood walking environments and nearby green spaces, thereby influencing their walking and green space use behaviors, as well as the incidence of obesity. This verifies the existence of residential self-selection and its non-negligible effect. Both neighborhood walkability and green space accessibility promote residents' walking and green space use behavior, but they do not have a direct effect on residents' BMI. Furthermore, perceived and objective walkability and green space accessibility play distinct roles. Sedentary behavior emerges as a key mediating factor in the impact of neighborhood walkability on residents' BMI. High perceived walkability significantly reduces the daily sedentary time of residents, thereby indirectly inhibiting the risk of being overweight or obese. This conclusion provides a scientific basis for building a green, low-carbon, healthy, and sustainable neighborhood life circle, guiding and promoting residents to form healthier daily activities and habits.

Neighborhoods play a central role in the integration and urbanization process of the migrant population. Rural migrant women in China, influenced by their dual identity of gender and registration status, exhibit unique characteristics and risks in terms of their mental health status and its relationship to the neighborhood environment. However, existing research on rural migrant women is limited, particularly in revealing the impact of the neighborhood environment on their mental health. Drawing on a recent survey conducted in Nanjing, China, this paper uses a structural equation model (SEM) to examine the determinants of mental health among rural migrant women from the perspective of neighborhood effects. The findings suggest that the impact of different factors within the neighborhood environment on the mental health of rural migrant women varies. The built environment has a more significant influence on mental health compared to the social environment. The social environment acts as a mediator and moderator between the built environment and mental health. Distinct differences exist between the pathways by which neighborhood environment affects the mental health of rural migrant women at different socioeconomic levels. Improving mental health and advancing sustainable development goals requires enhancing community environments and addressing the inner needs of rural migrant women.

Despite a growing body of literature on housing and its immediate effects on various life outcomes, little is known whether poor housing conditions in adolescence are related to housing outcomes in adulthood. This study examined the association between poor housing conditions in adolescence and housing hardship in adulthood, as well as the potential mechanisms underlying this association. We utilized data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health to investigate whether poor housing conditions in adulthood are longitudinally associated with housing hardship in adulthood. Moreover, we conducted formal mediation analyses, considering financial, educational, health, and behavioral factors to elucidate the mechanisms involved. Poor housing conditions in adolescence were positively associated with housing hardship in adulthood. Although the association appeared more pronounced for women than for men, this gender difference was not statistically significant. Educational attainment was the most significant mediator for both men and women. Financial, health, and behavioral factors played minimal or no mediating roles. The findings of this study suggest that improving housing conditions during adolescence and addressing the educational implications of poor housing conditions emerge as potential strategies for interventions aimed at promoting housing stability in later life.

Urban food affordability is pivotal to achieving the second of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)—Zero Hunger. This paper introduces fresh evidence and innovative practices from the Global South, focusing on retailer-side strategies to address urban food affordability issues. Specifically, it investigates the impact of China's policy on subsidizing and facilitating the establishment and operation of Affordable Food Shops (AFS). By analyzing policy documents and surveying food retailers in Nanjing, this study employs Propensity Score Matching (PSM) to quantitatively assess the AFS program's effect on other retailers' nearby food prices. The findings reveal a mixed and limited impact of AFS on food prices: of 15 analyzed affordable products, only six, mainly cheaper and non-perishable vegetables, showed price reductions ranging from 3.4 % to 7.0 %. These price reductions accounted for merely 0.96 % of the residents' total food expenditure, indicating the limited effect of AFS on overall food affordability. This study underscores the necessity of a comprehensive policy approach that effectively addresses income and retail aspects to enhance food affordability among low-income populations. It also suggests refining retail-side measures to better target food affordability improvements, mainly through more focused subsidies and innovative distribution models.

Recent advances in data science and urban environmental health research utilise large-scale databases (100s–1000s of cities) to explore the complex interplay of urban characteristics such as city form and size, climate, mobility, exposure, and environmental health impacts. Cities are still hotspots of air pollution and noise, suffer urban heat island effects and lack of green space, which leads to disease and mortality burdens preventable with better knowledge. Better understanding through harmonising and analysing data in large numbers of cities is essential to identifying the most effective means of disease prevention and understanding context dependencies important for policy.

Over the past decade, large-scale affordable communities have proliferated in the suburban areas of major Chinese cities. Most of the housing in these communities consists of affordable housing provided by the government and constructed by developers, targeted at middle to low-income individuals through restricted-price sales and rentals. With more than a decade of occupancy, it is crucial to examine the development status of these communities. This study employs regular collection of heat map data to observe the population density trends in communities from 2020 to 2024. By analyzing population density and its derived variables, the study examines changes in daytime and nighttime populations during weekdays, as well as the differences between the Spring Festival period and regular population data. Combining urban context, we use both quantitative and qualitative methods to analyze population quantity and structure trends and further explore the development disparities among cities. The study reveals a widespread increase in population across 35 communities in five cities from 2020 to 2021, peaking in 2021 and 2022, with differentiation among cities after 2023. Before 2022, there was a pattern in the development of community population quantity and structure: communities with faster population growth exhibited a simultaneous increase in commuter proportions. The impetus for community population changes is largely attributed to the varying attractiveness of cities to the floating population, with the five cities demonstrating distinct patterns. The method used in this study to collect population data, as opposed to traditional questionnaire surveys, presents advantages in terms of real-time, efficiency, convenience, and high sensitivity. This approach can offer feasible insights for establishing a real-time monitoring system for the development of large-scale affordable communities in China in the future.