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During the Ming and Qing dynasties, the central government implemented a policy of Bureaucratization of Native Officers, in order to develop and consolidate the integration of frontier with the mainland. Through the gradual construction of cultural and educational facilities, appointed officials were able to achieve the political goal of ideological integration with the Central Plains in the frontier society. Taking the construction of cultural and educational facilities as a starting point, this article attempts to explore the relationship between urban development, power change and cultural identity in Dali City from four aspects: the number of facilities, scale regulation, spatial form and functional structure. Shows that: (1) In basic education facilities, charitable schools replaced village schools, and New-type schools gradually increased and showed decentralised distribution, making Confucianism available to a wider audience. (2) The scale of the main educational facilities had expanded and the regulation has improved, gradually showing a concentrated distribution. And due to the formation of functional zoning, cultural and educational facilities occupy a more central and prominent landscape position in Dali City. (3) Influenced by the Confucian culture of Central Plains, the number of imperial examinations gradually increased, and the social life of Dali City changed. Dali City gradually converged with the Central Plains, and the local people's sense of cultural identity with the Central Plains deepened, strengthening the central government's rule over the border areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Arid regions tend to form compact urban patterns that have significant implications on urban growth and future urban patterns. Spatial simulation and projection using cellular automata (CA)-based models are important for achieving sustainable urban development in arid regions. In response to this need, we developed a new CA model (GSA-CA) using the gravitational search algorithm (GSA) to capture and project urban growth patterns in arid regions. We calibrated the GSA-CA model for the arid city of Urumqi in Northwest China from 2000 to 2010, and validated the model from 2010 to 2020, and then applied to project urban growth in 2040. The results indicated that the optimal performance of the model was achieved when the fraction of the population was 0.5. GSA-CA achieved an overall accuracy of 98.42% and a figure of merit (FOM) of 43.03% for the year 2010, and an overall accuracy of 98.52% with FOM of 37.64% for 2020. The results of the study help to adjust urban planning and development policies. The developed model has the potential to be employed in simulating urban growth and future scenarios in arid regions globally, including Northwest China and Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equitable and effective planning of urban park green spaces (UPGSs) is an important way to promote green and healthy urban development and improve citizens' quality of life. However, under the background of rapid urbanization, linear large cities, with their unique spatial forms and high-density population agglomerations, have brought special challenges for the planning and management of urban public green spaces. This study takes Lanzhou, a typical representative of high-density linear large cities in China, as a case study. Based on the improvement of the traditional Gaussian Two-Step Floating Catchment Area method (G2SFCA), combined with the Gini coefficient and the Lorentz curve, the social equity and spatial equity of UPGS supply-demand in the central urban area of Lanzhou were evaluated at the city and district scales. Meanwhile, the areas with shortage of UPGS supply-demand were accurately identified as the key areas for future optimization. The results show that: (1) There are significant differences in the equity of UPGS supply-demand in the linear large Lanzhou at the social and spatial levels, and most UPGS resources are enjoyed by a few people; (2) The spatial accessibility of UPGSs has an obvious "string of beads" distribution Characteristics, and the areas with high accessibility are mainly concentrated along rivers; (3) The equity of UPGS supply-demand exhibits a spatial gradient effect, which is characterized by a circle distribution. From the inside to the outside, it is as follows: good supply—dense population, good supply—sparse population, supply shortage—dense population, supply shortage—sparse population. Finally, based on the concept of "progressive micro-regeneration" and the Location Allocation model (LA), the optimal sites for new UPGSs were determined, maximizing the equity of UPGS supply-demand. This provides a practical reference for relevant management departments to optimize park layouts in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The construction models of smart cities and low-carbon cities are crucial for advancing global urbanization, enhancing urban governance, and addressing major urban challenges. Despite significant advancements in smart and low-carbon city research, a consensus on their coupling coordination remains elusive. This study employs mixed-method research, combining qualitative and quantitative analyses, to investigate the coupling coordination between urban smart performance (SCP) and low-carbon level (LCL) across 52 typical smart and low-carbon pilot cities in China. Independent evaluation models for SCP and LCL qualitatively assess the current state of smart and low-carbon city construction. Additionally, an Entropy–TOPSIS–Pearson correlation–Coupling coordination degree (ETPC) analysis model quantitatively examines their relationship. The results reveal that smart city initiatives in China significantly outperform low-carbon city development, with notable disparities in SCP and LCL between eastern, non-resource-based, and central cities versus western, resource-dependent, and peripheral cities. A strong positive correlation exists between urban SCP and overall LCL, with significant correlations in management, society, and economy, and moderate to weak correlations in environmental quality and culture. As SCP levels improve, the coupling coordination degree between the urban SCP and LCL systems also increases, driven primarily by economic, management, and societal factors. Conversely, the subsystems of low-carbon culture and environmental quality show poorer integration. Based on these findings, this study proposes an evaluation system for smart and low-carbon coupling coordination development, outlining pathways for future development from the perspective of urban complex systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the acceleration of urbanization, subway construction has become a key part of urban development. However, shield construction often needs to cross existing railway lines, which requires accurate prediction of ground surface settlement of railway operation facilities to ensure railway safety and smooth construction. The existing Internet of Things (IOT) ground surface settlement prediction mainly relies on deep learning algorithms, but these algorithms are often difficult to take into account the extraction of local features and the capture of global features when processing long time sequence data, resulting in the prediction effect is affected when processing long-term dependent ground surface settlement data. In order to solve the above problems, this paper proposes a ground surface settlement prediction method based on T-BiGRU Mask Multi-Head Self-Attention Informer (TM-Informer). First, T-BiGRU is introduced into the model to effectively cover a wide range of time scales and extract the local feature of the settlement sequence data. Second, Mask Multi-Head Self-Attention (MMSA) is used to effectively solve the long-term dependence problem in long time sequence settlement data prediction and enhance the global feature capture ability of the model. In this paper, TM-Informer is compared with Informer, Transformer and LSTM by four evaluation indexes MSE, MAE, RMSE and MAPE. The experimental results show that the MSE, MAE, RMSE and MAPE of TM-Informer are 0.301, 0.432, 0.548 and 2.617, respectively, which are 0.08, 0.04, 0.06 and 0.26 higher than those of Informer, which proves the effectiveness of TM-Informer in railway ground surface settlement monitoring. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT With the rapid urbanization in China, urban land resources gradually become the core of urban development. This study spatially evaluated the urban land resource carrying capacity (LRCC) with a case study of the built‐up area in Wuhan from 2015 to 2020. Following an evaluation index system, five critical LRCC indicators, including population density, GDP per land area, plot ratio, building density, and road network density, were selected by an analytical hierarchical process. The synthesis of indicators, however, is usually challengeable due to homogeneous assumptions of traditional techniques. In this study, we adopted a local technique, geographically weighted principal component analysis, to calculate a comprehensive carrying pressure (CCP) concerning spatially varying contributions of each indicator on their synthesis across different geographic locations. On mapping these spatial outputs of the built‐up area in Wuhan, the highest CCP was found in the central areas, where population size tends to be influential and the dominant variable in 62.69% of subdistricts. Furthermore, increased construction over the 5 years has led to an increased CCP in some of the peripheries of the built‐up area, and 55.22% of subdistricts show rising changes. With the GWPCA technique, this framework works well in evaluating and analyzing urban LRCC from a new local perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractMany coastal small-scale fishing (SSF) communities in low and middle-income countries are experiencing urbanisation due to global development and migration patterns. Scholars have documented how processes related to urbanisation present SSF communities with a unique series of opportunities and challenges. However, it is still poorly understood how SSF communities perceive and pursue resilience while adapting to these changing conditions. To address this gap, we conduct ethnographic research among the members of a fishing cooperative in Cancun, Mexico. We find that four factors related to Cancun’s pattern of development have incentivized local fishers to adopt a trans-sector perspective of livelihood resilience through which they view fishing as a lucrative but fleeting opportunity, with some actively planning a transition to non-fishing livelihoods. These four factors are the depletion of local fisheries, rising land values, the proliferation of non-fishing livelihood opportunities, and regional migration patterns. Whether local fishers ultimately prove resilient to the stresses of urbanisation depends partly upon the degree to which local governance and support systems align with this perspective. By contextualizing these findings within the broader literature on SSFs and urban development, we develop a heuristic to hypothesize to what extent these findings are generalizable beyond the study context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban-Building Energy Modelling (UBEM) tools play a crucial role in analysing and optimizing energy use within cities. Among the available approaches, the bottom-up physics-based one is the most versatile for urban development and management applications. However, their accuracy is often limited by the inability to capture the dynamic impact of occupants' presence and actions (i.e., Occupant Behaviour) on building energy use patterns. While recent research has explored advanced Occupant Behaviour (OB) modelling techniques that incorporate stochasticity and contextual influences, current UBEM practices primarily rely on static occupant profiles, due to limitations in the software itself. This paper addresses this topic by conducting a thorough literature review to examine existing OB modelling techniques, data sources, key features and detailed information that could enhance UBEM simulations. Furthermore, the flexibility of available UBEM tools for integrating advanced OB models will be assessed, along with the identification of areas for improvement. The findings of this review are intended to guide researchers and tool developers towards creating more robust and occupant-centric urban energy simulations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Exploring the impact of urbanization on carbon emissions is crucial for formulating effective emission reduction policies. Using nighttime light data and attribute data from 68 Chinese cities (2002–2021), this paper develops an urban development evaluation system with the entropy method. The Lasso method is employed to select key factors affecting carbon emissions, and hierarchical regression models are utilized to analyze these factors across different city types. The results show the following: (1) The extraction of built-up areas using integrated nighttime light data yields an overall accuracy ranging from 70.90% to 98.87%, reflecting high precision. (2) Expanding cities have predominated over the past two decades, indicating a continued upward trend in urbanization in China. (3) Urban development is influenced by internal characteristics and geographic location: contracting cities are mainly inland heavy industrial centers, while expanding cities are located in economically advanced coastal regions. Additionally, it is also impacted by the growth of surrounding cities, exemplified by the imbalance between central cities and their peripheries within metropolitan areas. (4) The expansion of built-up areas is a significant factor affecting carbon emissions across all city types. For expanding cities, managing population growth and promoting tertiary sector development are recommended, while contracting cities should focus on judicious economic planning and virescence area protection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The surface urban heat island (SUHI) phenomenon has become increasingly severe due to the combined effects of global warming and rapid urban expansion, and the difference between urban and rural thermal environments has increased significantly. This trend has profound impacts on social, economic, and ecological environments. Research related to SUHI has achieved fruitful results; however, quantitative research methods for SUHI have not been unified with standards and systems, which will certainly affect the comparability of the results of SUHI research. Few studies have combined and compared multiple SUHI methods. Therefore, we designed a study of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) urban agglomeration as a test case to quantitatively analyze the differences between SUHI results in different urban and rural contexts based on five different SUHI research methods. It was found that (1) there were significant differences in the SUHI intensity results among the different methods. The maximum difference in the SUHI intensity obtained by different methods can be up to 6 °C. The lowest SUHI intensity was observed during the day in the urban–buffer method, and the lowest SUHI intensity was observed at night in the urban–water method. (2) Different methods affected the distribution of SUHI areas and their evolutionary characteristics. The NHI (no heat island), WCI (weak cold island), and WHI (weak heat island) zones were larger, with proportions exceeding 70%. The expansion range of the heat island zone during the daytime was mainly in the west and north of the YRD urban agglomeration, whereas the expansion of the heat island range at night was mainly concentrated in the center and south. (3) The trend changes observed using different methods were significantly different. When we applied the urban–buffer and municipal–nonmunicipal methods, most cities showed an upward trend. However, when the other methods were applied, most cities exhibited a downward trend. The differences in trend results owing to the choice of different methods were greater with respect to values in the summer months and smaller in the winter months. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transformation of agricultural land into urban areas causes negative impacts on the livelihood of people in rural areas and affects their overall condition. To maintain or increase the opportunities for living and well-being during any disturbance resulting from a development project is called livelihood resilience. This research presents a comprehensive assessment of the effects of urban development-induced displacement and resettlement on the livelihood resilience of rural households. The sustainable livelihood approach (SLA), proposed by the Department for International Development (DFID), has been utilized to achieve these objectives. This research designed a measurement model through a systematic selection of indicators under five livelihood assets. The measurement model was verified by interviewing 348 households and applying a confirmatory factor analysis. Then, through a pairwise comparison of three scenarios of households (already displaced, economically displaced, and to-be-displaced) applying Mann–Whitney U-tests, the study evaluated the livelihood resilience of the households of Atal Nagar-Nava Raipur, Chhattisgarh, India. The findings show variability in physical assets across the scenarios, while there is no significant difference in social assets. The economic assets are significantly different for economically displaced and to-be-displaced households. Moreover, the result also shows that economically displaced households suffer the most, while the already displaced households get accustomed to the situation with time. The research reveals that rather than only providing monetary compensation, intensifying agricultural or farming activities, along with providing various supports for maintaining social and human assets, can better ensure the sustainable development of affected people and the efficacy of urban development projects. Moreover, it highlights the critical role of well-structured resettlement programs in mitigating negative impacts and bolstering livelihood resilience. With a novel methodological approach and the obtained results, this research provides valuable insights for policymakers and urban planners that can help craft urban development strategies that prioritize the welfare of the affected people from rural areas and improve their livelihood resilience. Practical Applications: Urban development, through the transformation of agricultural land, negatively impacts the lives and livelihoods of the people in rural areas. This research endeavors to mitigate the risks by strengthening the livelihood resilience of the households in rural areas impacted by a new city/town development. This research identified four livelihood assets, namely, physical, social, economic, and human, to understand the nature of livelihood resilience. The research reveals that rather than only providing monetary compensation, intensification of agricultural or farming activities, livestock breeding, and accessibility of irrigation facilities are more crucial for people in rural areas. Moreover, the physical infrastructure, although improved after resettlement, may not ensure long-term resilience for displacees and resettlers due to the loss of regular income and employment. In addition, providing necessary information related to displacement and resettlement and various government schemes and assessing and planning by local government, institutions to enhance communication with neighbors and friends are important for making the deprived people resilient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The demolition issue of long-span spatial lattice structures has become increasingly prominent with the rapid urban development and building upgrades. Building deconstruction offers superior economic and environmental benefits compared to traditional demolition and therefore should be further promoted and applied. Dismantling in blocks is an efficient approach for deconstruction of long-span spatial lattice structures, surpassing the practice of dismantling individual components one by one. However, dividing the entire structure into substructures considering the convenience and safety of dismantling operations is the first challenge of dismantling in blocks yet to be overcome. In this study, a block planning method was proposed to aid practitioners in making high-quality block schemes. The topological relation of spatial grids defined by the adjacency matrix is the basis. The comprehensive evaluation index was established reflecting the operability, efficiency, and safety of the block scheme. Taking the combination of spatial grids as the variable and the comprehensive evaluation index combined with constraint functions as the objective, the block planning was formulated as an optimization problem. The genetic algorithm was adopted to solve this problem, and two examples were presented for verification. Results confirmed that the proposed block planning method is effective to generate the high-quality block scheme that meets topology, quantity, and lifting weight requirements and has great synthetical performance. The consideration of structural symmetry can accelerate the optimization process. The zoning planning strategy provides a tool for practitioners to make the block scheme that meets the lifting weight requirements of different zones when the crane's lifting capacity is limited by operating space. The proposed block planning method will enrich the construction management technologies of dismantling projects and help engineers make efficient and wise decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Value capture (VC) is widely cited as a method for local authorities to provide urban public goods to their cities in the face of fiscal stress. Its application in practice however remains limited. In this article, we aim to explain the implementation process of VC as a strategy to fund public transportation infrastructure through case studies in London, New York, and Copenhagen. Adopting a theory of gradual institutional change, we argue that the implementation of VC depends on the capacity to change distributional institutions that are inherently contested. Particularly relevant is the role of the beneficiary, whose support of VC is necessary but not likely. Our results show that a strategic urban development project can act as a driver to overcome this barrier, but that this driver can, simultaneously, also hinder the institutionalization potential of a VC strategy. We therefore suggest that, for VC strategies to become more commonplace, sharing value uplifts among beneficiaries must become more commonplace too. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses the history of baseball integration in Suffolk County, Long Island, New York. While Jackie Robinson's debut with the Brooklyn Dodgers is often seen as the most significant moment in breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball, there were other instances of racial integration in baseball at various professional levels and in different regions. Suffolk County had its own history of baseball integration, with teams like the Brookhaven Town Highway Nine breaking racial norms by including African American players. Ralph "Sammy" Bunn, a star Black pitcher, became the first known African American to play on a white Suffolk County baseball team. His story is seen as a significant moment in the community's baseball history. [Extracted from the article]

Models of human mobility can be broadly applied to find solutions addressing diverse topics such as public health policy, transportation management, emergency management, and urban development. However, many mobility models require individual-level data that is limited in availability and accessibility. Synthetic populations are commonly used as the foundation for mobility models because they provide detailed individual-level data representing the different types and characteristics of people in a study area. Thorough evaluation of synthetic populations is required to detect data biases before the prejudices are transferred to subsequent applications. Although synthetic populations are commonly used for modeling mobility, they are conventionally validated by their sociodemographic characteristics, rather than mobility attributes. Mobility microdata provides an opportunity to independently/externally validate the mobility attributes of synthetic populations. This study demonstrates a spatially-oriented data validation framework and independent data validation to assess the mobility attributes of two synthetic populations at different spatial granularities. Validation using independent data (SafeGraph) and the validation framework replicated the spatial distribution of errors detected using source data (LODES) and total absolute error. Spatial clusters of error exposed the locations of underrepresented and overrepresented communities. This information can guide bias mitigation efforts to generate a more representative synthetic population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, limited surface space and restricted urban expansion have become increasingly prominent. The development of underground spaces has emerged as an effective solution, offering a new dimension for urban growth and sustainability. However, due to the non-renewable and costly nature of underground space (UGS), it should be properly planned before development to avoid waste of resources and economic loss. In this study, the potential of UGS development based on the influence of surface buildings was evaluated by using the high-resolution satellite images of Gaofen-2 (GF-2) in Qingdao, Shandong Province, China. Firstly, the DeepLabv3+ network was lightened to enhance the training efficiency and building extraction accuracy. The building shadows were then extracted by an improved shadow measurement model, and used to estimate the height of extracted buildings based on the imaging mechanism and information of the remote sensing image. Finally, the building height (BH) was converted into the depth of influence on the UGS, and the development potential of the UGS was then estimated. The experimental results show that the UGS within 0–10 m in Qingdao city has been extensively occupied. However, the geological layers between 10–30 m and 30–50 m contain large continuous areas that have not been utilized, indicating the greatest potential for resource development within the city. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aims to define the characteristics of social innovators, measure the impact of social innovation, and investigate its effects on urban transformation in İzmir. The study is based on semi-structured interviews with 14 social innovators and conducted by adopting a conceptual framework. We identify the characteristics of ‘super citizens’ in the literature that can contribute to SI’s empowerment in cities. The first finding shows that these individuals are expected to have 8 characteristics: being an activist, a social entrepreneur, a mediator, having a wide network, organizing goal-oriented works, involving all actors in the process, producing new solutions focused on the subject and finally being able to keep up with the change. The second finding shows that they are the most important actors in sustaining urban development, and their projects have impacts on urban transformation from a city level to an international level. If the interaction mechanism between relevant actors is provided by the local government through the Penta-helix model, super citizens may become one of the primary stakeholders to promote SI and create a more sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion in Ethiopia, particularly informal construction, has led to complex and dynamic changes in livelihoods and wetlands. This study examined the effects of urban expansion on the Cheleleka Wetland and the livelihood of the peripheral community in Hawassa. A mixed research design was used to quantitatively analyze Landsat imagery (1991, 2001, 2011, 2021) and socioeconomic data. Key informant interviews and focus group discussion data were narrated qualitatively. The built-up area substantially increased from 718.11 ha in 1991 to 4820.71 ha in 2021. However, agricultural and wetland areas decreased from 8807.58 ha and 8177.04 ha in 1991 to 6382.44 ha and 7030.26 ha in 2021, respectively. Water and forest areas fluctuated. Built-up areas had a significant advantage over other land use and cover classes, with agricultural, wetland, and forest areas being converted into built-up areas throughout the study period. As a result, the area of Lake Hawassa expanded. Currently, the Cheleleka Wetland has been negatively impaired by overgrazing, cutting of grass, animal dung dumps, eucalyptus plantations, agricultural expansion, and urban expansion. Urban expansion has exacerbated social and economic divisions, resulting in the concentration of poor-quality neighborhoods in the peripheral community. To protect the wetlands, alternative livelihoods and participatory land-use planning are crucial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Unplanned urbanization continues to threaten the sustainability of cities in the global south. This study seeks to assess the urban planning response to the effects of sprawl on the urban form and land use pattern of Kumasi. The study relied on geospatial techniques to determine changes in land use patterns, landforms, and sprawl. A qualitative research approach was used to examine urban planning response to the causes and effects of urban sprawl in Kumasi. The results of this study show that the higher the urbanization rate, the more the built-up area increases, causing a significant loss of natural assets such as farmlands. In terms of shape, the research showed that the Greater Kumasi Metropolis has shifted from the historically monocentric city structure to a polycentric city. The city currently has multiple centers or subcentres for commercial, cultural, and social activities. In spite of all the threats posed by urban sprawl on the metropolis, there no clear policy intervention put in place to address the adverse effects of sprawl in the Greater Kumasi Metropolis. The researchers recommend that city authorities should adopt the compact city approach to control the high rate of sprawl to promote densification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractWith new technologies emerging, productivity is increasing, while environmental issues are being addressed. Studies focus on the benefits of technological progress but pay limited attention to potential risks. This paper uses data from 286 Chinese cities to explore the impact of industrial robots on urban green total factor productivity. We find that industrial robots significantly reduces urban green total factor productivity. Mechanism analysis shows the main effect is driven by manufacturing agglomeration and crowding out environmental investment. Urban green total factor productivity decomposition shows that industrial robots block green technical progress and efficiency. Heterogeneity analysis shows that industrial robots significantly impact urban green total factor productivity in developed, highly market-oriented, and industrialized regions. Our findings contribute to a deeper understanding of the role of industrial robots in urban green development and provide corresponding policy implications for guiding the harmonious development of technology and sustainable urban growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article scrutinizes the often forced collaboration between the arts sector and urban development. Despite prevailing narratives that cast artists’ involvement positively in urban revitalization, this global trend, integral to creative city policies for urban development, conceals complexities. Highlighting how these seemingly cooperative practices are rehearsed in global cities and replicated in peripheral cities such as Brisbane, Australia, this examination has been largely prompted by the 2020 sale of the Metro Arts building in Brisbane. The location of this multi-arts institution was an incredibly valuable asset in a city that aims to promote its creative city credentials. Moreover, despite the substantial public investment in Metro Arts’ building, its sale was misrepresented as a private matter. A close examination of this event reveals the ways property developers can be tremendously influential upon the arts and cultural sector—what, where and how art is commissioned and displayed, and ultimately, what is publicly funded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization in cities brings about both opportunities and challenges for national development. This study focuses on investigating the dynamics of urbanization and its impact on livelihoods using land use/land cover change in Adama City, located in the Oromia Regional State. Various datasets from the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), including Landsat Thematic Mapper (LTM), Landsat Enhanced Thematic Mapper Plus (ETH+), and Operational Land Imager (OLI), were utilized. Geographic Information System (GIS) and remote sensing tools were employed to extract relevant information from these datasets for years from 1986 to 2022. In addition, findings pertain to the impact of urbanization on income diversification and the overall welfare of farm households near Adama City was aligned with the study. The findings reveal that built-up areas and agricultural land exhibit the most significant changes over the examined period. However, these changes occur in opposite directions. The built-up area has experienced a substantial increase of 60% from 1986 to 2022, while agricultural land has decreased by 40% during the same timeframe. The conversion of farmland to built-up areas negatively impacts farm households by reducing farming activities and increasing reliance on non-farm activities, resulting in lower consumption expenditures for rural households near urban areas compared to those farther from the urban center. The result underscores the need for policies that promote appropriate land management and a well-planned urbanization process to ensure sustainable urban development. Furthermore, it is vital to enhance understanding of the spatial and temporal dynamics of urban growth and its impacts on farm households residing near urban areas. By addressing these issues, sustainable food security and poverty reduction objectives can be better achieved in peri-urban areas of the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Logistics resilience is a significant representation of sustainable development ability and a necessary support for high-quality economic development. In order to explore the influencing factors and realization mechanism of the improvement of logistics resilience of the Yangtze River Economic Belt and the high-quality and sustainable development of the economy, this paper comprehensively considers factors of the supply and demand relationship of the logistics market, industrial structure and ecological environment, and evaluates the urban logistics resilience of the Yangtze River Economic Belt by using POI data and statistical data. Combined with the spatial Durbin model, the influencing factors and spatial spillover effects of inter-city logistics resilience were revealed. This study found that the urban logistics resilience in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River has been high. Except Chongqing and Shanghai, the COVID-19 epidemic happened in 2020 led to a significant decrease in logistics resilience. In the meanwhile, every 1% increase in the logistics resilience of the city will promote the logistics resilience of the adjacent cities by 0.145%. Economic condition and urban development potential have positive effects on logistics resilience of the city and its adjacent cities. The economic condition has a direct effect coefficient of 0.166 and an indirect effect coefficient of 0.181, The direct and indirect effects of urban development potential are significantly positive, and the coefficients are 0.001 and 0.006, respectively. The level of information, government support and ability of technological innovation are helpful for the improvement of urban logistics resilience while hindering the enhancement of logistics resilience in adjacent cities. The research area can be extended in the future and more influencing factors can be considered in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

AbstractIn the present study the concentration of selected elements in tissues of domestic rabbits and of wild brown-hares (kidneys, liver, and muscle – m. quadriceps femoris) in Slovakian habitats were determined. After mineralization the elements examined were detected using flame atomic absorption spectrophotometry/graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrophotometry. For rabbits, Fe in the liver was correlated with essential (Mn, Cu) (R2 = 0.94, p < 0.05; R2 = 0.96, p < 0.05 respectively) or toxic (Pb) elements (R2 = −0.93, p < 0.05). For hares, significant correlations were found between Cd and Cu or between Cd and Mn in the kidneys (R2 = −0.96, p < 0.05; R2 = 0.92, p < 0.05 respectively), which is the target organ for Cd. Higher concentrations of the elements were found in hare tissue, and this may be linked to pollution of their wild habitats. The xenobiotic elements as well as the essential elements were accumulated in the kidneys of the hares than rabbits. For liver, differences were less pronounced and significance was only for Fe and Cu. Muscle of hares was more contaminated than of rabbits for both biogenic and toxic elements. These results show that detectable concentrations of inorganic elements. These levels may be linked to contamination of the natural habitats of wild biota due to industry, traffic, agriculture, and urban sprawl. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China has been implementing a policy initiative termed sponge city development (SCD) since 2014 to address complex, interlinked water challenges, particularly flooding and runoff pollution, faced by urban development under climate change. Pilot implementation of the initiative in 30 selected cities provides an opportunity for learning and enhancement relevant to global practice in general and SCD expansion in particular. This article reviews China’s SCD, synthesizing: (1) SCD position in global practices for urban stormwater management; (2) governance and implementation; (3) challenges and issues in planning and management; and 4) potential enhancement with ecosystem service (ES). The article shares that: (1) China’s SCD differs from, while sharing some similarity with, global practices for urban stormwater management, particularly marked by engineering dominated implementation; (2) the policy implementation exhibits sophisticated governance in supporting the initiative; (3) there are challenges and issues concerning particularly planning and management, characterized by a lack of a systematic approach linking physical projects, ecosystem functions, societal impact, and urban development goals; and (4) an ES-based framework can deliver a systematic approach enhancing SCD beyond water resilience toward urban green transition and sustainability. This article contributes to learning about ecosystem-based integrated stormwater management during urbanization and climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanization is universally acknowledged to degrade ecosystem services, posing significant threats to human well-being. However, the effects of urban shrinkage, a global phenomenon and a counterpart to urbanization, on ecosystem services (ESs) remain unclear. This study focuses on China's Rust Belt during the period from 2000 to 2020, constructing a comprehensive analytical framework based on long-term remote sensing data to reveal the temporal and spatial patterns of ESs and their associations with cities experiencing varying degrees of shrinkage. It employs a random forest (RF) model and a Shapley additive explanation (SHAP) model to measure and visualize the significance and thresholds of socioeconomic factors influencing changes in ESs. Our findings highlight the following: (1) Since 2010, the three provinces of Northeast China (TPNC) have begun to shrink comprehensively, with the degree of shrinkage intensifying over time. Resource-based cities have all experienced contraction. (2) Regional urban shrinkage has been found to enhance the overall provision capacity of ESs, with the most significant improvements in cities undergoing continuous shrinkage. (3) The impact of the same socioeconomic drivers varies across cities with different levels of shrinkage; increasing green-space ratios and investing more in public welfare have been identified as effective measures to enhance ESs. (4) Threshold analysis indicates that the stability of the tertiary sector's proportion is critically important for enhancing ESs in cities undergoing intermittent shrinkage. An increase of 10% to 15% in this sector can allow continuously shrinking cities to balance urban development with ecological improvements. This research highlights the positive aspects of urban shrinkage, demonstrating its ability to enhance the provision capacity of ESs. It offers new insights into the protection and management of regional ecosystems and the urban transformation of the three eastern provinces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nighttime light (NTL) remote sensing has emerged as a powerful tool in various fields such as urban expansion, socio-economic estimation, light pollution, and energy domains. However, current annual NTL products suffer from several critical limitations, including poor consistency, severe background noise, and limited comparability. These issues have significantly interfered with the research of long-term NTL trends and diminished the accuracy of related findings. Therefore, this study developed a de-difference smoothing algorithm for producing high-quality annual NTL products based on monthly National Polar-orbiting Partnership Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (NPP-VIIRS) NTL data. It enabled the construction of a continuous global high-quality NTL dataset, named the De-Difference Smoothed Nighttime Light (DDSNL), covering the period from 2012 to 2023. Comparative analyses were conducted to validate the accuracy and availability of the DDSNL product against the benchmark EOG NPP-VIIRS and NPP-VIIRS-like NTL datasets. The results showed that DDSNL products had strong correlation with the NTL distribution of EOG NPP-VIIRS, but little correlation with NPP-VIIRS-like. Notably, DDSNL demonstrated better background noise reduction and higher separability between NTL and non-NTL areas compared to EOG NPP-VIIRS NTL. In contrast to the complete exclusion of background in NPP-VIIRS-Like, the retention of background values in DDSNL leads to more reasonable representation in the urban fringes. In the analysis of NTL changes matching impervious surface changes, the DDSNL product demonstrated the least interference from noise, resulting in the smallest segmentation threshold and the highest matching accuracy. This indirectly demonstrates the spatial and temporal consistency of the annual DDSNL product, ensuring its reliability in change detection-related studies. The annual DDSNL product developed in this research exhibits high fidelity, strong consistency, and improved comparability, and can provide reliable data reference for applications in electrification and urban studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas in sub-Saharan Africa are facing significant developmental challenges due to rapid population growth and urban expansion, this study aims to predict urban growth and assess the SDG 11.3.1 indicator in the Chambishi multi-facility economic zone (CFEMZ) in Zambia through the integration of remote sensing data and spatial cooperative simulation so as to realize sustainable development goals (SDGs). The study utilized DMSP-OLS and VIIRS nighttime light data between 2000 and 2020 to extract the urban built-up area by applying the Pseudo-Invariant Features (PIFs) method to determine thresholds. The land-use and population changes under several development scenarios in 2030 were simulated in the study using the Spatial Cooperative Simulation (SCS) approach. The changes in SDG 11.3.1 indicators were also calculated in the form of a spatialized kilometer grid. The findings show a substantial rise in the built-up area and especially indicate a most notable increase in Chambishi. The primary cause of this growth is the development of industrial parks, which act as the region's principal engine for urban expansion. Under the natural scenario, the land-use distribution in the study area presents an unplanned state that will make it difficult to realize SDGs. The results of the spatialization form of the SDG 11.3.1 indicator demonstrate the areas and problems of imbalance between urban construction and population growth in the CMFEZ. This study demonstrates the importance of remote sensing of nighttime lighting and spatial simulation in urban planning to achieve SDG 11.3.1 for sustainable urbanization in industrial cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion and fossil fuel dependence have led to energy and environmental concerns, highlighting the need for sustainable solutions. Rooftop photovoltaic (RPV) systems offer a viable solution for urban energy transition by utilizing idle rooftop space and meeting decentralized energy needs. However, due to limited information on building function attributes, detailed assessments of RPV potential at the city scale are still complicated. This study introduces a cost-effective framework that combines big Earth data and deep learning to evaluate RPV potential for various investment entities. We introduced a sample construction strategy that considers built environment and location awareness to improve the effectiveness and generalizability of the framework. Applied to Shanghai, our building function recognition model achieved 88.67%, 88.51%, and 67.18% for accuracy, weighted-F1, and kappa, respectively. We identified a potential installed capacity of 42 GW with annual electricity generation of 17 TWh for industrial and commercial, 16 TWh for residential, and 10 TWh for public RPVs. The levelized cost of electricity ranges from 0.32 to 0.41 CNY/kWh, demonstrating that both user-side and plant-side grid parity was achieved. This study supports sustainable development by providing detailed urban energy assessments and guiding local energy planning. The methods and findings may offer insights for similar studies globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban expansion has been rapidly increasing and is projected to be tripled in 2030 in worldwide. The impact of urbanization has adverse effects on the environment and economic development. Residential lands consist of almost one-third of the urban area and heavily affect the city's inhabitants. The capital of Mongolia, Ulaanbaatar, has been significantly expanded, particularly in the urban periphery where poor living conditions and a lack of essential urban services were identified. The paper aims to conduct a suitability analysis of residential areas in Ulaanbaatar city based on three main categories (livability, affordability, and accessibility) of fifteen criteria using the fuzzy logic. Through the study, we have identified some potential suitable residential areas for further development, such as apartment residential area located in the southern part of the city and four low-rise ger areas were distributed along major transport corridors. Moreover, the results indicated that the spatial structure of the whole town might be in transition to a polycentric pattern. However, a concentric ring pattern in the 'city's periphery displayed a concerning uncontrolled ger area expansion, which may increase low living conditions in the area. This study recommends better urban sprawl control policies and more property market investment in the ger area to ensure sustainable development goals in Ulaanbaatar. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article traces the planning history of the first major housing projects built in Soviet Leningrad: the Traktornaya Ulitsa and Serafimov site housing estates. Initiated by municipal authorities in 1924, they were built according to the designs of its own Design Buro and the architects Aleksandr Nikolsky, Aleksandr Gegello, and Grigorii Simonov in 1925–1926. Spearheading the reconstruction of a large industrial suburb, these projects offer an original example of the role of housing in urban development in the Soviet Union and in one of Europe’s largest cities. The planning history of the projects illuminates the way urban development unfolded in the early Soviet context: through practice and negotiation with multiple contexts, both the historic, imperial city and the revolution. The article shows the exemplary quality of these projects and their power and means to reinvent the historic forms and meanings of the city, and reconfigure its spatial hierarchies. It analyses the sources and means at play from revolutionary ideals and avant-garde ideas on form to western models of housing, the surrounding classical city and Byzantine and Russian vernacular architecture. It thus delineates the means through which architecture acts as an instrument of social and cultural change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As cities continue to grow globally, characterizing the built environment is essential to understanding human populations, projecting energy usage, monitoring urban heat island impacts, preventing environmental degradation, and planning for urban development. Buildings are a key component of the built environment and there is currently a lack of data on building height at the global level. Current methodologies for developing building height models that utilize remote sensing are limited in scale due to the high cost of data acquisition. Other approaches that leverage 2D features are restricted based on the volume of ancillary data necessary to infer height. Here, we find, through a series of experiments covering 74.55 million buildings from the United States, France, and Germany, it is possible, with 95% accuracy, to infer building height within 3 m of the true height using footprint morphology data. Our results show that leveraging individual building footprints can lead to accurate building height predictions while not requiring ancillary data, thus making this method applicable wherever building footprints are available. The finding that it is possible to infer building height from footprint data alone provides researchers a new method to leverage in relation to various applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Battambang has been identified as an exemplar for sustainability city development in Cambodia due to its success with the introduction of new programs and planning initiatives, which have led to recognition of its clean and green city status by the Cambodian Government and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Limited research has been done to date to investigate how Battambang has achieved these results, compared with other rapidly urbanising cities of Cambodia and Southeast Asia. Through the lens of urban sustainability transformations, our research identifies the capacity strengths and gaps of Battambang city in preparing for and initiating the city's urban transformation of its waste sector, applying the transformative capacities framework of Wolfram (Cities 51:121-130, 2016). Through qualitative coding of semi-structured interviews and document analysis we found that (a) particular transformative capacities provided building blocks for the development of other capacities, (b) award and recognition processes can play a role in developing transformative capacities, and (c) that the city's culture of innovation and relatively stable population and political-economy contributed to strengthening its capacities. This research contributes knowledge for policy and practice on urban transformative capacity strengthening, as it supports a phased 'building blocks' approach in resource-constrained contexts. Highlights: • 'Inclusive and open governance' and 'transformative leadership' were building block capacities that enabled the initiation of Battambang's transformation processes. • Committed and trusted intermediaries with long-term and place-based expertise played critical roles in the city's development of these early capacities. • Capacities for experimentation and learning, and institutionalisation of a multi-stakeholder approach to governing its waste reform, were the next developed. • Organisation of Wolfram's capacities framework into 'building blocks' more relevant in specific transformation phases – preparation, initiation, navigation and stabilisation – enables tailoring of learning and reflection to the context and phase of the city's transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Preserving the archaeological heritage of North Africa is challenging due to unique anthropic and environmental processes. This study introduces a Bayesian network approach to model and evaluates the impact of regional anthropogenic actions and environmental conditions on the gradual disappearance of endangered archaeological heritage in the Marmarica region (northeastern Libya/northwestern Egypt). The predictive model quantifies the complex relationship among human–environment interactions involved in such processes, specifically addressing the nonlinear vulnerability of archaeological heritage to the convergence of different threats, such as climate change, urban development, or natural erosion. This model also enables us to explore patterns of association between anthropic remains (e.g. settlements, productive places, mobility structures, etc.) and environmental factors (e.g. topography, climate, hydrology, etc.), considering different co-occurring agents in these dynamics. Furthermore, the model can be applied to study such processes in other regions, enabling wider effective risk management and heritage preservation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between green and grey urban infrastructure, local meteorological conditions, and traffic-related air pollution is complex and dynamic. This case study examined the effect of evolving morphologies around a city square park in Dublin and explores the twin impacts of local urban development (grey) and maturing parks (green) on particulate matter (PM) pollution. A fixed air quality monitoring campaign and computational fluid dynamic modelling (ENVI-met) were used to assess current (baseline) and future scenarios. The baseline results presented the distribution of PM in the study area, with bimodal (PM2.5) and unimodal (PM10) diurnal profiles. The optimal vegetation height for air quality within the park also differed by wind direction with 21 m vegetation optimal for parallel winds (10.45% reduction) and 7 m vegetation optimal for perpendicular winds (30.36% reduction). Increased building heights led to higher PM2.5 concentrations on both footpaths ranging from 25.3 to 37.0% under perpendicular winds, whilst increasing the height of leeward buildings increased PM2.5 concentrations by up to 30.9% under parallel winds. The findings from this study provide evidence of the importance of more in-depth analysis of green and grey urban infrastructure in the urban planning decision-making process to avoid deteriorating air quality conditions around city square parks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban cover-collapse sinkholes pose a significant global challenge due to their destructive impacts. Previous studies have identified groundwater fluctuations, subsurface soil conditions, pipeline leakage, precipitation, and subterranean construction activities as key contributors to these phenomena. However, unique geological settings across different urban environments lead to variations in the primary factors influencing sinkhole formation. This study focuses on Shanghai, a city notable for its extensive urbanization and rich historical context, to explore the dynamics of sinkholes within urbanized areas worldwide. We employ spatial analysis and statistical methods to examine data on sinkholes recorded in the past two decades in Shanghai, correlating these events with the city's shallow sand layer, ground elevation, and proximity to surface water. Our goal is to identify the dominant factors governing sinkhole occurrence in Shanghai and to lay the groundwork for their effective scientific management and prevention. Key findings indicate that most sinkholes in the area are associated with a thin shallow sand layer, low to moderate ground elevations, and the absence of nearby rivers. Additionally, many sinkholes correlate with subterranean voids within the confined aquifer beneath the cohesive soil layer. The lack of historical river channels, obscured by urban development, also indirectly contributes to sinkhole formation. We recommend enhancing urban river management and drainage systems to mitigate potential damage from water accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The carbon lock-in phenomenon coincides with urban growth due to the latter’s significant reliance on fossil fuels with high carbon content. The impact of digital economy expansion on carbon lock-in remains uncertain, despite its emergence as a prominent catalyst for global progress. With panel data for 282 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2011 to 2020, this study aims to test whether the digital economy inhibits carbon lock-in by using the system generalized method of moments model and by considering the moderating effects of government technology investments and environmental regulations according to the moderating model. The empirical evidence yields the following conclusions: (1) the digital economy has a significant negative impact on carbon lock-in in China; for every 1 percentage point rise in the digital economy, carbon lock-in decreases by 0.1072%; (2) both government technology investments and environmental regulations positively moderate the dampening effect of the digital economy on carbon lock-in; (3) the dampening effect of the digital economy on carbon lock-in is only significant in places with high economic development, in eastern areas, and in regions with high human capital; (4) each percentage point increase in the digital economy leads to a 0.1839% rise in technical innovation and a 0.0124% growth in digital financial inclusion, indicating that the digital economy has the potential to reduce carbon lock-in via both channels; (5) with each percentage point increase in the digital economy, carbon emissions decrease by 0.1829% and carbon intensity decreases by 0.0973%. The findings provide valuable policy suggestions that may guide China’s digital economy in mitigating the growth of carbon lock-in. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the spatial evolution of a flood-prone, sub-urban coastal area, Municipio X of Rome. The study investigates land use change through a diachronic analysis, providing empirical data to retrace the implication of the factors that shaped the study area and highlighting the connection between environmental vulnerabilities and planning measures. Qualitative and quantitative assessments are provided to understand the political and social factors that contributed to rapid urbanization in the area. This investigation aims to grasp how past developments influence current issues and assist planners and decision-makers in tackling present and future vulnerabilities more effectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs a comparative analysis to investigate the state-led use of industrial heritage in major Chinese mega-events, delving into the three cases of the Guangzhou Asian Games, the Shanghai Expo, and the Beijing Winter Olympics. Examining the evolving practices led by Chinese governments reveals unique pathways for industrial heritage and showcases its diverse roles in economic development and societal transformation. The three cases illustrate the nuanced dynamics between market forces and state interventions, emphasising the importance of strategic planning and long-term considerations in mega-event-induced heritage practices. Mega-events serve as catalysts for urban regeneration, allowing governments to allocate substantial resources to conserve and repurpose industrial heritage. However, the current paper contends that the sustained benefits of industrial heritage hinge on thoughtful planning for long-term economic and social sustainability, emphasising the need to constrain a focus on short-term gains through land revenue. These reflections contribute to a nuanced understanding of the intricate interplay between heritage preservation, economic development, and sustainable urban planning in the context of China's mega-events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigated how cutting‐edge smart city technologies (SCT) contribute to developmental strategies and foster sustainable, efficient, and technologically advanced urban ecosystems. The study is based on multi‐qualitative methods. In the first phase, comprehensive literature was reviewed using the systematic literature review (SLR). Based on the literature recommendations in the second phase, structured interviews were conducted with the professionals based on snowball and purposive sampling techniques. The data were collected from NEOM's working professionals for the interviews. In the third phase, the conclusions of the case studies were also added to generalize the findings comprehensively. The study proclaims that SCT plays a significant role in developing the smart ecosystem in smart cities. The study also investigated the NEOM's potential to elevate urban sustainability. Moreover, the study found that implementing the SCT enhances operational efficiencies, creates new job opportunities, and improves mobility and quality of life. The study also contributed to the equitable theory and presented the shared resources concept. The integration of SCT enhances the quality of life and attracts investment. The study also emphasized the availability of robust data infrastructure and stakeholder engagement to integrate SCT in urban planning and development successfully. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article aims to assess whether deficiencies in urban infrastructure and political cycles significantly impact public resource allocation decisions in urban infrastructure investments in the municipalities of Piauí. To achieve this objective, we used state-level information from 2010 to 2020 to capture three electoral cycles. As a methodological approach, we use behavioral data analysis, as well as linear regression with panel data. The results show the existence of influence of deficiency in urban infrastructure, as well as the electoral cycle in the allocation of infrastructure resources. The results indicate that municipalities with greater deficiencies in urban infrastructure tend to receive more investment in the area than municipalities with higher rates of urban development. The results also indicate that parties that form the government's base tend to receive greater investment in urban infrastructure in pre-election periods compared to parties that do not make up the base, but contrary to what was predicted, the distortion between the allocation of resources between parties that make up and does not make up the government base is significantly smaller in electoral periods. This result contributes to the literature by showing that cycles can be more influenced depending on the coalition of parties that is governing, as well as the deficiency in urban infrastructure present in the municipalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work constitutes the second part of the one carried out in 2021, whose objective was the analysis of the main problems, derived from unplanned urban expansion, that increase the degrees of socio-environmental vulnerability in popular sectors. For this, a matrix was developed considering three dimensions: environmental, spatial-functional, and social. From this matrix, some popular neighborhoods in the city of La Plata were selected, which required more immediate interventions. Within this framework, the objective of this article is to analyze and evaluate the interventions and management instruments carried out in the selected cases, which contributed to promoting comprehensive territorial management. The methodology is based on making the initial analysis matrix more complex, incorporating actions that constitute an alternative to reduce the vulnerability situation of the popular neighborhoods of La Plata. The first results reflect that some of the aforementioned sectors studied have had initiatives to reduce the situation of vulnerability in which they find themselves. However, the general situation in relation to the intervention for improvements in the habitat of the popular sectors, is far from being a comprehensive territorial management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The research of the mechanism of university driving urban development is of great significance for China's urbanization development strategy under the knowledge economy. Based on the "university-town" interactive analysis framework, based on field research and spatial-temporal correlation analysis, it is found that the Italian university network and urban net‐ work have a high degree of overlap in spatial layout, population agglomeration, and industrial economy, which is the result of the continuous interaction and integration of the two in historical development. At the regional level, the expansion of both atenei and sedi universities from central cities to surrounding small and medium-sized cities promotes the optimization of spatial organization at the scale of metropolitan areas, the construction of scientific and technological innovation networks, and the daily commuting exchanges of personnel. At the urban level, universities are shaping the urban spatial structure and promoting urban, and universities play a leading role in the renewal process and promoting social and cultural integration. The experience of Italian universities in driving urban development, such as how to promote the linkage of "campus, park and community" in the process of new urbanization, has a reference value for my country's urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a general expectation that urban populations will be fragmented and the movement of individuals will be restricted leading to low effective population sizes, low genetic diversity, higher inbreeding, and higher differentiation than populations living in more continuous habitat. In this study, we compare the genetic diversity and differentiation of Texas horned lizards that are found in four small towns (Kenedy, Karnes City, Rockdale, and Smithville) in Texas and at Tinker Air Force Base, Oklahoma to populations that occur in 16 natural areas and to an introduced population in South Carolina. We also present more detailed spatial genetic data and home range data for several of the towns. Texas horned lizards (Phrynosoma cornutum) living in small towns have lower genetic diversity, higher differentiation, and smaller effective population sizes than populations located in more natural areas. There was evidence for human‐mediated movement of lizards into town; however, it has not been enough to counteract the effects of drift. Home range size is smaller in town than in more natural areas. Genetic patterns suggest dispersal occurs over short distances and is inhibited across areas with a high percent of impervious surface and major roads. These data suggest that effective planning to maintain suitable habitat and corridors to facilitate movement is critical to maintaining small terrestrial species like the Texas horned lizard and must be integrated into the early stages of urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investigating urban vitality and comprehending the influence mechanisms of the built environment is essential for achieving sustainable urban growth and improving the quality of life for residents. Current research has rarely addressed the nonlinear relationships and synergistic effects between urban vitality and the built environment at the neighborhood scale. This oversight may overlook the influence of key neighborhoods and overestimate or underestimate the influence of different factors on urban vitality. Using Guangzhou's central urban area as a case study, this research develops a comprehensive urban vitality assessment system that includes economic, social, cultural, and ecological dimensions, utilizing multi-source data such as POI, Dazhong Dianping, Baidu heatmap, and NDVI. Additionally, the XGBoost-SHAP model is applied to uncover the nonlinear impacts of different built environment factors on neighborhood vitality. The findings reveal that: (1) urban vitality diminishes progressively from the center to the periphery; (2) proximity to Zhujiang New Town is the most critical factor for neighborhood vitality (with a contribution of 0.039), while functional diversity and public facility accessibility are also significant (with contributions ranging from 0.033 to 0.009); (3) built environment factors exert nonlinear influences on neighborhood vitality, notably with a threshold effect for subway station accessibility (feature value of 0.1); (4) there are notable synergistic effects among different built environment dimensions. For example, neighborhoods close to Zhujiang New Town (feature value below 0.12) with high POI density (feature value above 0.04) experience significant positive synergistic effects. These findings can inform targeted policy recommendations for precise urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Our motivation for undertaking this research was to verify the scope and results of public policies aimed at supporting peripheralised medium-sized cities, and to check how these policies have been perceived by stakeholders within these cities. We selected the Polish-German borderland as a case region for this, primarily due to a particular concentration of cities experiencing the detrimental effects of socio-economic transformation. These are also cities exposed to the consequences of radicalising political discourse. We chose two pairs of cities comparable to centres behind the border: Bautzen and Görlitz (located in East Saxony), as well as Zgorzelec and Jelenia Góra (the western part of Lower Silesia). We assumed peripheralisation, left-behind places and multilevel governance to be the theoretical frameworks to capture the dynamics of processes taking place within such peripheral(ised) medium-sized cities. Our main research objective was to investigate the way the public authorities have been navigating their respective paths within the multi-level urban development / regional policy systems. The main conclusion of the research is the low institutional capacity among the public authorities in the given cities to allow them to be able to reverse negative trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]