Although the tradition of surveying and analyzing urban land uses for town planning purposes dates back to the 19th century, the evolution of survey methods has not been studied in detail. With the intention of filling this gap, the present article reviews the pertinent Anglo-American literature on survey methods, published from the beginning of the 20th century to date, and highlights the key contributions. Additionally, it proposes a periodization of the methodological evolution in three phases and identifies the main discussions developed on survey methodology, so as to provide a basis for more structured research on the subject matter.
{"title":"Urban Land Use Survey Methods: A Discussion on Their Evolution","authors":"Ioannis A. Pissourios","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030076","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030076","url":null,"abstract":"Although the tradition of surveying and analyzing urban land uses for town planning purposes dates back to the 19th century, the evolution of survey methods has not been studied in detail. With the intention of filling this gap, the present article reviews the pertinent Anglo-American literature on survey methods, published from the beginning of the 20th century to date, and highlights the key contributions. Additionally, it proposes a periodization of the methodological evolution in three phases and identifies the main discussions developed on survey methodology, so as to provide a basis for more structured research on the subject matter.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44433750","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Fourteen Indian cities, including urban and rural locations, were chosen for the present study across India, with unhealthy air quality based on National Air Quality Index (NAQI > 100). However, it was found that NAQI values over the locations are driven by the undifferentiated mass concentration of particulate matter (PM, both PM10 and PM2.5) than other criteria pollutants. The PM2.5 and PM10 concentration during the winter violated the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of India by two to five times at six urban locations, with the mean daily PM2.5 concentration averaged over the month; the the largest being at Patna (353 µg m−3) during the winter and lowest at Bengaluru (27 µg m−3) during the summer. The analysis of chemical species, in general, indicated NO2 (SO2, CO) as having a 25% to 70% (16% to 50%, 16% to 85%) increase in concentration from the summer to winter, which is adequately reflected in higher fuzzy scores during the winter. Thus, to provide a realistic approach to air quality management, the present study focuses on identifying priority-based locations requiring immediate mitigation measures by developing a Prioritized Clean Air Assessment Tool (PCAT). The tool utilizes a fuzzy-based algorithm to incorporate the cumulative effect of all six criteria pollutants, taking into consideration the severity of their expected health implications. Using PCAT, Delhi and Varanasi cities are identified for prioritized mitigation considering the NAAQS of India, unlike all cities (except Bengaluru) during the winter and nine out of fourteen cities during the summer, considering the NAQI. Using more stringent WHO guideline values in PCAT, six cities out of fourteen were identified requiring immediate mitigation during the winter and summer months; locations such as Solapur and Patna are identified to need season-specific mitigation measures during the summer and winter, respectively. The tool is simplistic, user-friendly, and quickly evaluates multiple locations simultaneously to provide priority sites.
{"title":"Identification of Critical Locations for Improvement of Air Quality Developing a Prioritized Clean Air Assessment Tool (PCAT)","authors":"Kanishtha Dubey, S. Verma, S. Santra, Mukul Kumar","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030075","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030075","url":null,"abstract":"Fourteen Indian cities, including urban and rural locations, were chosen for the present study across India, with unhealthy air quality based on National Air Quality Index (NAQI > 100). However, it was found that NAQI values over the locations are driven by the undifferentiated mass concentration of particulate matter (PM, both PM10 and PM2.5) than other criteria pollutants. The PM2.5 and PM10 concentration during the winter violated the National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) of India by two to five times at six urban locations, with the mean daily PM2.5 concentration averaged over the month; the the largest being at Patna (353 µg m−3) during the winter and lowest at Bengaluru (27 µg m−3) during the summer. The analysis of chemical species, in general, indicated NO2 (SO2, CO) as having a 25% to 70% (16% to 50%, 16% to 85%) increase in concentration from the summer to winter, which is adequately reflected in higher fuzzy scores during the winter. Thus, to provide a realistic approach to air quality management, the present study focuses on identifying priority-based locations requiring immediate mitigation measures by developing a Prioritized Clean Air Assessment Tool (PCAT). The tool utilizes a fuzzy-based algorithm to incorporate the cumulative effect of all six criteria pollutants, taking into consideration the severity of their expected health implications. Using PCAT, Delhi and Varanasi cities are identified for prioritized mitigation considering the NAAQS of India, unlike all cities (except Bengaluru) during the winter and nine out of fourteen cities during the summer, considering the NAQI. Using more stringent WHO guideline values in PCAT, six cities out of fourteen were identified requiring immediate mitigation during the winter and summer months; locations such as Solapur and Patna are identified to need season-specific mitigation measures during the summer and winter, respectively. The tool is simplistic, user-friendly, and quickly evaluates multiple locations simultaneously to provide priority sites.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43354646","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
B. Amirgaliyev, Oleksandr Kuchanskyi, Y. Andrashko, D. Yedilkhan
This study considers building a dynamic model of profit maximization for a carsharing system and its verification based on the case of implementing such a system in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan. The region, bounded by the administrative boundaries of Astana, was divided into subregions that covered the region with regular hexagons placed side by side. A dataset was built with information on 1168 trips to Astana from January to March 2023. The Kepler visualization service constructed maps of the beginning and end of the trips to the region and a map of trips binding to the hexagonal grid cells. Each cell of the grid corresponds to a specific subregion, for which the quantitative parameters necessary for solving the profit maximization problem in the carsharing system are calculated. Stations with cars are placed in the cells of the grid, which are available to carsharing service customers. Based on the collected data, dynamic (four periods per day) and static profit maximization models in the carsharing system were built. Modeling was carried out based on the built models in the case of Astana. It was established that using a dynamic profit maximization model in the carsharing system increases profit by 3.7%. The obtained results are important for the development of the infrastructure of the capital of Kazakhstan and for finding a solution to the problems of urban science in this region.
{"title":"A Dynamic Model of Profit Maximization for Carsharing Services: Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan","authors":"B. Amirgaliyev, Oleksandr Kuchanskyi, Y. Andrashko, D. Yedilkhan","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030074","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030074","url":null,"abstract":"This study considers building a dynamic model of profit maximization for a carsharing system and its verification based on the case of implementing such a system in Astana, Republic of Kazakhstan. The region, bounded by the administrative boundaries of Astana, was divided into subregions that covered the region with regular hexagons placed side by side. A dataset was built with information on 1168 trips to Astana from January to March 2023. The Kepler visualization service constructed maps of the beginning and end of the trips to the region and a map of trips binding to the hexagonal grid cells. Each cell of the grid corresponds to a specific subregion, for which the quantitative parameters necessary for solving the profit maximization problem in the carsharing system are calculated. Stations with cars are placed in the cells of the grid, which are available to carsharing service customers. Based on the collected data, dynamic (four periods per day) and static profit maximization models in the carsharing system were built. Modeling was carried out based on the built models in the case of Astana. It was established that using a dynamic profit maximization model in the carsharing system increases profit by 3.7%. The obtained results are important for the development of the infrastructure of the capital of Kazakhstan and for finding a solution to the problems of urban science in this region.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44907390","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The development of socio-economic activities within the 60 m buffer zone has imposed change on the characteristics of rivers in northern Tanzania, subjecting rivers to collateral and irreversible damage due to their prolonged exposure to anthropic activities. Time series satellite images were classified to analyze land use/cover (LULC) changes and anthropic development along the buffer zone from 2000 to 2020. Structured questionnaires were used to identify the encroachment factors and level of compliance with alleged environmental legislation. Furthermore, focus group discussions were used to acquire information on the concurrent barriers to environmental legislation implementation. The land use/cover change along the buffer zone showed that agriculture and artificial areas had a credible increase of about 43% and 30% from 2000 to 2020, respectively. Furthermore, forest and semi-natural areas decreased by 71% from 2000 to 2020, whereas wetlands decreased by about 2% within the same timeframe. On the other hand, artificial and agricultural areas increased by 24.5% and 19.5%, respectively. Forest and semi-natural areas decreased by about 44%, whereas wetlands and water showed a flimsy increase from 2000 to 2020. This trend shows that high land use/cover changes occurred along the riparian buffer zone. The results suggest that urbanization is the main driving force for riparian buffer zone encroachment, threatening ecological well-being and water resource sustainability in urban rivers. The findings of this study are useful for advancing regional and national policies and practices for sustainable water resource management.
{"title":"Socio-Economic Feasibility for Implementation of Environmental Legislation along the Riparian Buffer Zones in Urban Rivers of Northern Tanzania","authors":"Janeth Mwile Mwasenga, I. C. Mjemah","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030073","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030073","url":null,"abstract":"The development of socio-economic activities within the 60 m buffer zone has imposed change on the characteristics of rivers in northern Tanzania, subjecting rivers to collateral and irreversible damage due to their prolonged exposure to anthropic activities. Time series satellite images were classified to analyze land use/cover (LULC) changes and anthropic development along the buffer zone from 2000 to 2020. Structured questionnaires were used to identify the encroachment factors and level of compliance with alleged environmental legislation. Furthermore, focus group discussions were used to acquire information on the concurrent barriers to environmental legislation implementation. The land use/cover change along the buffer zone showed that agriculture and artificial areas had a credible increase of about 43% and 30% from 2000 to 2020, respectively. Furthermore, forest and semi-natural areas decreased by 71% from 2000 to 2020, whereas wetlands decreased by about 2% within the same timeframe. On the other hand, artificial and agricultural areas increased by 24.5% and 19.5%, respectively. Forest and semi-natural areas decreased by about 44%, whereas wetlands and water showed a flimsy increase from 2000 to 2020. This trend shows that high land use/cover changes occurred along the riparian buffer zone. The results suggest that urbanization is the main driving force for riparian buffer zone encroachment, threatening ecological well-being and water resource sustainability in urban rivers. The findings of this study are useful for advancing regional and national policies and practices for sustainable water resource management.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44619221","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The development of renewable-energy-based microgrids is being considered as a potential solution to lessen the unrelenting burden on the centralized utility grid. Furthermore, recent studies reveal that integrated multi-microgrid cluster systems developed in urban communities maximize the effectiveness of microgrids and greatly decrease the utility grid dependence. However, due to the uncertain nature of renewable energy sources and frequent load variations, these systems face issues with unintentional islanding operations. This can create severe damage to the microgrid’s performance in its stable operating condition and lead to undesired transient responses. Hence, islanding must be identified rapidly to take preventive measures to address the issue. This requires the development of a suitable anti-islanding technique that is faster in terms of accuracy and timely detection. With this intention, this paper proposes a decision-tree-based fuzzy logic (DT-FL) controller for the rapid identification of islands in an urban community multi-microgrid cluster. The DT-FL controller’s operation includes two steps. First, the decision tree extracts the electrical parameters at the point of common coupling of the multi-microgrid system. Second, these extracted parameters are utilized for the online tuning of the fuzzy logic controller, for the fast detection of islanding. The multi-microgrid cluster under study, along with the proposed islanding technique, is implemented in the MATLAB-2021a software. The efficacy of the proposed DT-FL controller is validated by comparing its performance with that of the conventional fuzzy logic controller under different test scenarios. From the results, it is observed that the proposed DT-FL controller shows superior performance in terms of the islanding detection time as well as the transient response of the system when compared with the conventional controller.
{"title":"Islanding Detection in Grid-Connected Urban Community Multi-Microgrid Clusters Using Decision-Tree-Based Fuzzy Logic Controller for Improved Transient Response","authors":"Yellapragada Venkata Pavan Kumar, Sivakavi Naga Venkata Bramareswara Rao, R. Kannan","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030072","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030072","url":null,"abstract":"The development of renewable-energy-based microgrids is being considered as a potential solution to lessen the unrelenting burden on the centralized utility grid. Furthermore, recent studies reveal that integrated multi-microgrid cluster systems developed in urban communities maximize the effectiveness of microgrids and greatly decrease the utility grid dependence. However, due to the uncertain nature of renewable energy sources and frequent load variations, these systems face issues with unintentional islanding operations. This can create severe damage to the microgrid’s performance in its stable operating condition and lead to undesired transient responses. Hence, islanding must be identified rapidly to take preventive measures to address the issue. This requires the development of a suitable anti-islanding technique that is faster in terms of accuracy and timely detection. With this intention, this paper proposes a decision-tree-based fuzzy logic (DT-FL) controller for the rapid identification of islands in an urban community multi-microgrid cluster. The DT-FL controller’s operation includes two steps. First, the decision tree extracts the electrical parameters at the point of common coupling of the multi-microgrid system. Second, these extracted parameters are utilized for the online tuning of the fuzzy logic controller, for the fast detection of islanding. The multi-microgrid cluster under study, along with the proposed islanding technique, is implemented in the MATLAB-2021a software. The efficacy of the proposed DT-FL controller is validated by comparing its performance with that of the conventional fuzzy logic controller under different test scenarios. From the results, it is observed that the proposed DT-FL controller shows superior performance in terms of the islanding detection time as well as the transient response of the system when compared with the conventional controller.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44708815","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Shaibur, Ishtiaque Ahmmed, Sabiha Sarwar, R. Karim, M. A. Hossain, M. Islam, Md. Shaheen Shah, A. S. Khan, Farhana Akhtar, Md Galal Uddin, M. Rahman, M. Salam, B. Ambade
The composition of groundwater governs the drinking and irrigation water suitability. A large part of the coastal region of Bangladesh is affected and is responsible for changing the composition of the groundwater. This research attempted to observe the groundwater quality of the Bhola Sadar and Char Fasson upazilas in coastal Bangladesh. Twenty-eight (28) water samples, 27 at depths of 260–430 m (850–1400 ft) and 1 from a crop field, were collected and analyzed. The quality of water samples was determined through the evaluation of odor, color, turbidity, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+), sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and arsenic (As) ions. An Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used for heavy metal analysis. The outcomes were compared with the drinking water quality of Bangladesh and the World Health Organization. The results showed that the average values of nearly all of the parameters were underneath or within the standard level, representing that the groundwater was appropriate for drinking purposes. The water quality parameters were also compared with the irrigation water quality of Bangladesh and the Food and Agriculture Organization. It was found that the collected samples were also suitable for irrigation. To do this, the soluble sodium percentage, sodium adsorption ratio, magnesium adsorption ratio, Kelley’s ratio, and total hardness were calculated. The novelty of this research is that, despite being in a coastal district, the deep aquifer water of Bhola was appropriate for drinking and irrigation purposes.
{"title":"Groundwater Quality of Some Parts of Coastal Bhola District, Bangladesh: Exceptional Evidence","authors":"M. Shaibur, Ishtiaque Ahmmed, Sabiha Sarwar, R. Karim, M. A. Hossain, M. Islam, Md. Shaheen Shah, A. S. Khan, Farhana Akhtar, Md Galal Uddin, M. Rahman, M. Salam, B. Ambade","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030071","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030071","url":null,"abstract":"The composition of groundwater governs the drinking and irrigation water suitability. A large part of the coastal region of Bangladesh is affected and is responsible for changing the composition of the groundwater. This research attempted to observe the groundwater quality of the Bhola Sadar and Char Fasson upazilas in coastal Bangladesh. Twenty-eight (28) water samples, 27 at depths of 260–430 m (850–1400 ft) and 1 from a crop field, were collected and analyzed. The quality of water samples was determined through the evaluation of odor, color, turbidity, electrical conductivity, pH, total dissolved solids, nitrate (NO3−), ammonium (NH4+), sodium (Na), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), magnesium (Mg), iron (Fe), manganese (Mn), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn) and arsenic (As) ions. An Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer was used for heavy metal analysis. The outcomes were compared with the drinking water quality of Bangladesh and the World Health Organization. The results showed that the average values of nearly all of the parameters were underneath or within the standard level, representing that the groundwater was appropriate for drinking purposes. The water quality parameters were also compared with the irrigation water quality of Bangladesh and the Food and Agriculture Organization. It was found that the collected samples were also suitable for irrigation. To do this, the soluble sodium percentage, sodium adsorption ratio, magnesium adsorption ratio, Kelley’s ratio, and total hardness were calculated. The novelty of this research is that, despite being in a coastal district, the deep aquifer water of Bhola was appropriate for drinking and irrigation purposes.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-07-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44602463","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The urban planning process is complex, involving social, economic, environmental, and political systems. Knowledge of how these systems interact is the domain of professional planners. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) present planners with a ripe opportunity to critically assess their approaches and explore how new data collection, analysis, and methods can augment the understanding of places as they seek to anticipate futures with improved quality of life. AI can offer access to more and better information about travel patterns, energy consumption, land utilization, and environmental impacts, while also helping to better integrate these systems, which is what planners do. The adoption process will likely be gradual and involve significant time and resources. This article highlights several topics and issues that should be considered during this process. It is argued that planners will be well-served by approaching AI tools in a strategic manner that involves the topics discussed here.
{"title":"Planning on the Verge of AI, or AI on the Verge of Planning","authors":"Thomas W Sanchez","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030070","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030070","url":null,"abstract":"The urban planning process is complex, involving social, economic, environmental, and political systems. Knowledge of how these systems interact is the domain of professional planners. Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) present planners with a ripe opportunity to critically assess their approaches and explore how new data collection, analysis, and methods can augment the understanding of places as they seek to anticipate futures with improved quality of life. AI can offer access to more and better information about travel patterns, energy consumption, land utilization, and environmental impacts, while also helping to better integrate these systems, which is what planners do. The adoption process will likely be gradual and involve significant time and resources. This article highlights several topics and issues that should be considered during this process. It is argued that planners will be well-served by approaching AI tools in a strategic manner that involves the topics discussed here.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46622544","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Several natural and historical areas around the world are listed as UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites. Hanlar District, located in Bursa, is the fourth biggest city in Turkey, its history includes the Ottoman, Roman, and Byzantine Empires, and it is an area with unique environmental features that represent various historical periods. Scholars at institutions worldwide have already recognized that such an environment has unique characteristics, and so local authorities should preserve the soundscape of the district as the sounds reflect the urban identity of the city. This study aims to evaluate the sounds of this unique district and recommends ways to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the site in terms of its sounds. After collecting more than seven hundred pieces of data on sound pressure levels (SPLs) at twenty-one locations, the SPLs were statistically analyzed (an ANOVA was used for different time intervals, and a t-test was used for different days). Noon and weekend measurements varied among the sites, and these variations were statistically significant. Furthermore, the SPLs were above the WHO’s suggested levels. The study findings show the importance of reducing sounds to create better acoustic environments. The local government should include all stakeholders, including residents, employees, and urban designers, in participatory approaches and action plans to preserve the sounds of cultural heritage sites.
{"title":"Acquiescence of UNESCO Cultural Heritage and Acoustic Environments: Assessment of Hanlar District","authors":"Yalcin Yildirim","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030069","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030069","url":null,"abstract":"Several natural and historical areas around the world are listed as UNESCO Cultural Heritage Sites. Hanlar District, located in Bursa, is the fourth biggest city in Turkey, its history includes the Ottoman, Roman, and Byzantine Empires, and it is an area with unique environmental features that represent various historical periods. Scholars at institutions worldwide have already recognized that such an environment has unique characteristics, and so local authorities should preserve the soundscape of the district as the sounds reflect the urban identity of the city. This study aims to evaluate the sounds of this unique district and recommends ways to preserve the historical and cultural heritage of the site in terms of its sounds. After collecting more than seven hundred pieces of data on sound pressure levels (SPLs) at twenty-one locations, the SPLs were statistically analyzed (an ANOVA was used for different time intervals, and a t-test was used for different days). Noon and weekend measurements varied among the sites, and these variations were statistically significant. Furthermore, the SPLs were above the WHO’s suggested levels. The study findings show the importance of reducing sounds to create better acoustic environments. The local government should include all stakeholders, including residents, employees, and urban designers, in participatory approaches and action plans to preserve the sounds of cultural heritage sites.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46560173","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
V. Veeramsetty, P. Kiran, Munjampally Sushma, S. Salkuti
Weather forecasting is an essential task in any region of the world for proper planning of various sectors that are affected by climate change. In Warangal, most sectors, such as agriculture and electricity, are mainly influenced by climate conditions. In this study, weather (WX) in the Warangal region was forecast in terms of temperature and humidity. A radial basis function neural network was used in this study to forecast humidity and temperature. Humidity and temperature data were collected for the period of January 2021 to December 2021. Based on the simulation results, it is observed that the radial basis function neural network model performs better than other machine learning models when forecasting temperature and humidity.
{"title":"Weather Forecasting Using Radial Basis Function Neural Network in Warangal, India","authors":"V. Veeramsetty, P. Kiran, Munjampally Sushma, S. Salkuti","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7030068","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7030068","url":null,"abstract":"Weather forecasting is an essential task in any region of the world for proper planning of various sectors that are affected by climate change. In Warangal, most sectors, such as agriculture and electricity, are mainly influenced by climate conditions. In this study, weather (WX) in the Warangal region was forecast in terms of temperature and humidity. A radial basis function neural network was used in this study to forecast humidity and temperature. Humidity and temperature data were collected for the period of January 2021 to December 2021. Based on the simulation results, it is observed that the radial basis function neural network model performs better than other machine learning models when forecasting temperature and humidity.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46239475","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Walkability is considered a vital component of the urban configuration; urban spaces should promote pedestrian walking, which is healthier and increases social sustainability by connecting people in urban spaces. This article aims to find the link between the street layout centrality values and the people’s walkability for sustainable tourism in historic areas. Moreover, it attempts to explore the linkage between the urban layout and visiting historical spaces in the urban layout. The approach to the research has two phases; the first is to find people density (the tourist density) in the historical areas, and the second is to measure the centrality values of the urban layout utilizing the spatial design network analysis tool (sDNA). The research found that the street network considerably impacts the final tourist distribution, mainly because of the betweenness centrality; consequently, spaces with low betweenness centrality values are less reachable by the tourists in the historical area, although it has a high closeness centrality. The research concluded that considering the street network is necessary concerning the tourists’ walkability since it affects their density in the urban layout.
{"title":"Exploring the Link between Street Layout Centrality and Walkability for Sustainable Tourism in Historical Urban Areas","authors":"M. Amen, Ahmad Afara, H. A. Nia","doi":"10.3390/urbansci7020067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci7020067","url":null,"abstract":"Walkability is considered a vital component of the urban configuration; urban spaces should promote pedestrian walking, which is healthier and increases social sustainability by connecting people in urban spaces. This article aims to find the link between the street layout centrality values and the people’s walkability for sustainable tourism in historic areas. Moreover, it attempts to explore the linkage between the urban layout and visiting historical spaces in the urban layout. The approach to the research has two phases; the first is to find people density (the tourist density) in the historical areas, and the second is to measure the centrality values of the urban layout utilizing the spatial design network analysis tool (sDNA). The research found that the street network considerably impacts the final tourist distribution, mainly because of the betweenness centrality; consequently, spaces with low betweenness centrality values are less reachable by the tourists in the historical area, although it has a high closeness centrality. The research concluded that considering the street network is necessary concerning the tourists’ walkability since it affects their density in the urban layout.","PeriodicalId":75284,"journal":{"name":"Urban science (Basel, Switzerland)","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-06-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49623278","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}