Search

Urban design and planning require collaborative processes that integrate diverse user perspectives. Tactical urbanism involves small, temporary interventions in public spaces to meet daily needs through the collaboration of various stakeholders. This paper aims to foster tactical urbanism in vacant lots, emphasising the significance of incorporating diverse perspectives. The study, based on participatory action research, discusses the individual viewpoints of young city planner candidates assuming diverse roles across three themes: belonging, aesthetics, and usefulness, and to evaluate the results of two-method exercises applied in the Karşıyaka case study in İzmir. Participants, consisting of students from various universities in Türkiye, expressed their individual opinions and collective viewpoints through the techniques of photovoice and six thinking hats, respectively. Comparing two methods for evaluating vacant lots within three themes of tactical urbanism demonstrated that the photovoice technique enabled students to search for meanings of spaces and express their thoughts through photos. Meanwhile, the six thinking hats technique facilitated empathy towards diverse perspectives. The findings underscore the essentiality of adopting a holistic approach to urban design that encompasses aesthetics, functionality, and inclusivity, integrating diverse opinions. Young planner candidates in this study acknowledged the importance of collaboration and diverse perspectives in urban design and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present study explores street sexual harassment in the Riberas del Bravo case, Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Riberas del Bravo is one of the areas with the highest incidence of sexual violence in the Chihuahua State. We worked with seven women who live in the area and travel alone to different places of work, school and recreation. Core densities were used as a cartographic tool to identify the spaces represented by the participants as dangerous and of incidence of sexual street harassment, as well as existing equipment. Based on this, and the construction of theoretical categories of urban sociology, gender studies and territorial perspective, we found that spaces close to the home, semi-walled vacant lots, and convenience stores have the highest incidence of events such as sexual comments and persecution. The frequency ranges from often to very often, with Thursdays and weekends at night being times of higher incidence. The main reaction of the victims is to walk quickly and avoid confrontation. Therefore, harassment reconfigures women's public spatial interaction and generates segregation in scales of differentiation of spatial use. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neighborhoods are one of the key determinants of health disparities among young people in the United States. While neighborhood deprivation can exacerbate health disparities, amenities such as quality parks and greenspace can support adolescent health. Existing conceptual frameworks of greening‐health largely focus on greenspace exposures, rather than greening interventions. In this paper, we develop and propose a Greening Theory of Change that explains how greening initiatives might affect adolescent health in deprived neighborhoods. The theory situates greening activities and possible mechanisms of change in the context of their ability to modify distal social determinants of health factors, stemming from macrostructural and historical processes that lead to resource inequalities, affecting both the social and built environment in which adolescents live and develop. The framework illustrates both short‐ and long‐term health, economic, and security effects of greening. We also describe how the theory informed the development of Project VITAL (Vacant lot Improvement to Transform Adolescent Lives) in Baltimore, MD, which aims to (1) build a citywide sharable database on vacant lot restoration activities, (2) evaluate the impact of greening initiatives on adolescent health outcomes, (3) conduct cost‐effectiveness analyses, and (4) develop best practices for greening programs for improved adolescent health. Highlights: Current greenspace‐health frameworks largely address greenspace instead of greening.Greening activities that engage social determinants of health might reduce adolescent health disparities.Our Greening Theory of Change informed study design for Project VITAL (Vacant lot Improvement to Transform Adolescent Lives). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Reversing physical disinvestment, e.g., by remediating abandoned buildings and vacant lots, is an evidence-based strategy to reduce urban firearm violence. However, adoption of this strategy has been inconsistent across US cities. Our community-academic partnership sought to support adoption in Toledo, OH, USA, by generating locally relevant analyses on physical disinvestment and firearm violence. We used a spatial case–control design with matching. Physical disinvestment measures were derived from a citywide parcel foot audit conducted by the Lucas County Land Bank in summer 2021. Firearm violence outcomes were incident-level shootings data from the Toledo Police Department from October 2021 through February 2023. Shooting locations were matched to controls 1:4 on poverty rate, roadway characteristics, and zoning type. Exposures were calculated by aggregating parcels within 5-min walking buffers of each case and control point. We tested multiple disinvestment measures, including a composite index. Models were logistic regressions that adjusted for the matching variables and for potential spatial autocorrelation. Our sample included N = 281 shooting locations and N = 1124 matched controls. A 1-unit increase in the disinvestment score, equal to approximately 1 additional disrepair condition for the average parcel within the walking buffer, was associated with 1.68 times (95% CI: 1.36, 2.07) higher odds of shooting incidence. Across all other measures, greater disinvestment was associated with higher odds of shooting incidence. Our finding of a strong association between physical disinvestment and firearm violence in Toledo can inform local action. Community-academic partnership could help increase adoption of violence prevention strategies focused on reversing physical disinvestment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background:Ehrlichia canis has been the main hemopathogen affecting domestic dogs in Brazil. Even though tick-infested dogs may lead to household infestation and predispose human exposure and public health concern, no comprehensive study has surveyed humans, dogs, and environmental ticks altogether. Materials and Methods: Accordingly, the present study aimed to assess tick-infested households, identify tick species, perform serological (immunofluorescence assay) and molecular (PCR and q-PCR) detection of Ehrlichia in ticks, in the eighth biggest metropolitan area of Brazil. Results: Between 2007 and 2020, 233/5973 (3.9%) out of all complaints were from tick-infested households of 200 different addresses. Overall, 370/552 (67.0%) ticks were collected and identified as adult and 182/552 (33.0%) as immature forms of Rhipicephalus sanguineus s.l. complex; a single tick from one owner, a female tick of Amblyomma sculptum; and 395 ticks from dogs, 319/395 (80.8%) adult and 72/395 (18.2%) immature forms of Rhipicephalus spp., and 4/395 (1.01%) female Amblyomma aureolatum. Overall, 2/135 (1.5%) owners and 13/136 (9.6%) dogs were seropositive for E. canis. The DNA of Anaplasmataceae family was molecularly detected in 16/50 (32.0%) R. sanguineus s.l. As expected, the number of monthly tick infestation complaints were directly associated, and mean (p = 0.01), maximum (p = 0.011), and minimum (p = 0.008) temperature were statistically significant and had a low positive correlation (0.24, 0.23, and 0.24, respectively). In addition, complaints were highly associated to all socioeconomic variables (p < 0.001), with the exception of the presence of vacant lots. Conclusions: Despite low samplings and human negative results, areas with low-income with adequate temperature and urban agglomerations have been shown to be associated risks for tick infestations, predisposing tick-borne diseases. In conclusion, monitoring should always be conducted in such areas, including One Health approach with serosurvey of owners and dogs, along with identification and molecular screening of ticks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As land use leaves massive tracts of land vacant for recovery, restoration must undergo a substantial shift to incorporate a complexity perspective beyond the traditional community, biodiversity or functional views. With an interaction–function perspective, we may be able to achieve ecosystems with better chances to adapt to current environmental changes and, especially, to climate change. We explore combined approaches that include still unused and underexplored techniques that will soon go mainstream and produce massive amounts of information to address the complexity gap. As we understand how complexity reassembles after the end of agriculture, we will be able to design actions to restore or enhance it at unprecedented spatial scales while increasing its adaptability to environmental changes. Moreno and Bhatnagar argue in favor of using an 'interaction–function' perspective to understand the dynamics of ecosystem recovery after land-use change, especially in the light of climate change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Questions: Numerous studies on community assembly processes have been conducted in natural ecosystems. However, we know little about community assembly processes in human‐dominated urban ecosystems. Here, we asked: (1) how are the composition and functional diversity of native and exotic plant species shaped by local environment and landscape factors across urban vacant lots; and (2) how is microbial (bacterial and fungal) community composition influenced by the local environment, landscape factors, and plant species composition across urban vacant lots? Location: We investigated 69 urban vacant lots in Yokohama, Japan. Methods: By using a variation partitioning approach, we examined the relative importance of local environmental and landscape factors (including land use and spatial structure) in explaining variation in plant species composition and functional diversity of native or exotic species. We also explored the relative importance of local environmental and landscape factors, and plant species composition in explaining variation in microbial community composition. Results: The spatial structure of vacant lots determined the species composition and functional diversity of plant communities, suggesting that plant community assembly is determined by dispersal limitation. However, the functional diversity of the exotic species varied randomly, which reduced the relative importance of the spatial structure of vacant lots. Plant species composition as well as the spatial structure of vacant lots were the important drivers of the composition of soil microbial communities, despite a higher proportion of unexplained variation in their composition. Finally, we found an essential contribution of earthmoving methods in explaining the variations in both plant and microbial community composition. Conclusion: Plant and microbial community composition would be largely determined by dispersal limitation across urban vacant lots. Understanding urban community assembly is critical for predicting plant and microbial communities that play an essential role in regulating urban ecosystem functioning and services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Decades of decline, disinvestment, and racism have left Detroit with an abundance of abandoned buildings, ruins, vacant lots, and illicit trash dumps. Though these structures and materials might have forfeited their previous purposes, they can act as catalysts, substances, and co-creators of artworks. The paper is thus interested in examining the intricate interplay between art, space, and materiality in Detroit further. Drawing from the practices of local artists Olayami Dabls and Scott Hocking, the paper adopts a new materialist framework to investigate the dynamic agency of matter in the artistic process. By considering materials as active participants in the production of art and space, the paper seeks to add to the emerging interest in the emancipation and meaning making of material in art as well as cultural geography's engagements with new materialism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Non‐depreciation gives to land a central role in the credit expansion process of the modern economy and constitutes the foundation of the relationship between finance and real estate. To understand the process by which land becomes an underlying asset in the financial market, this paper's theoretical model formalises a set of propositions derived from asset price theory and real options theory. Theoretically, vacant land speculation results from rational behaviour; thus, land becomes valued as a real investment option. This real option can later operate as an underlying asset for credits and financial options, which explains the financialisation of vacant land. This work evidences the process of formation of landbanks by insurance companies in Santiago, Chile, showing that their acquisitions are, partly, carried out via Lease‐Purchase Contracts. Besides, it is demonstrated that Lease‐Purchase Contracts tend to locate in geographical areas with greater growth rate in land price and deviations in this rate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, smart parking systems (SPS) represent one of the active research areas of intelligent transport systems (ITS). It is an interesting topic and attractive to researchers due to the difficult challenges that are needed to solve it. It enhances city life and plays an important role in reducing gas emissions, air pollution, and traffic congestion while improving the time override for drivers to easily allocate vacant parking lots. In this paper, we discuss and dedicate a review of how computer visionbased approaches can assist in providing wellness solutions for the occupancy of smart parking lots. In addition, we provide an overview of the most common standard datasets and some well-known applications of vacant smart parking lots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban industrial lands left unmonitored resulted in varying degrees of industrial pollution, constantly showing signs of soil fertility depletion, degraded water quality, depreciated surface conditions, limited plant diversity, and compromised ecosystem functionality. This study presents a novel approach that combines the concepts of Brownfield redevelopment and CNN-based land classification to transform industrial wastelands. The study commences by elaborating on the redevelopment of Industrial wastelands by combining features of Brownfield redevelopment and Convolution Neural Networks (CNN) based land classification model. It uses the CNN approach to classify wasteland datasets acquired from Kaggle into three categories: contaminated land, abandoned land, and vacant land. Second, the ResNet architecture within CNN is harnessed for land transformation. The methodology used enhances the process of identification of wastelands and their classification. Finally, it measures the performance of the classification model using CNN by devising a confusion matrix. The CNN-based land classification model of the study is designed to restore urban industrial wastelands and has yielded promising results. The model achieved a classification accuracy of 69% and a precision rate of 51%. Additionally, it demonstrated notable performance in terms of Sensitivity (70%), Specificity (67%), and overall accuracy (59%). These results underscore the potential of this approach in addressing the multifaceted challenges associated with neglected industrial lands by fostering environmental rejuvenation and promoting community well-being. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The large-scale identification of urban vacant land (UVL) and informal green spaces (IGSs) using conventional identification methods is challenged by the high cost of time and resources as well as inconsistent outcomes. Moreover, the spatial–temporal changes of UVL and IGSs have received limited academic attention. We introduce a methodological framework for the large-scale automatic identification of UVL and IGSs in Hangzhou, China, based on semantic segmentation. We construct and release a large-scale dataset for UVL identification, containing five different UVL categories, and one of them is IGS, with 3096 patches for training and 128 patches for evaluation. We then train five different semantic segmentation networks using the dataset and utilise Segformer to predict UVL and IGSs within the whole urban area of Hangzhou. The presented segmentation model has a hierarchically structured Transformer encoder and a multilayer perceptron decoder, which incorporates local and global information to obtain effective feature representations. Extensive experiments have been conducted to evaluate the segmentation performance of the applied Segformer. Experimental results show the good identification performance of Segformer for UVL and IGSs. Results also verify that the proposed identification framework can be effectively used to analyse the spatial–temporal changes of UVL and IGSs in Hangzhou. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Limiting housing and infrastructure in flood-prone places has long been recognized as critical to managing long-term risk. However, due to the difficulty of tracking development at small spatial scales, little empirical research has been conducted to explain differences between communities' floodplain development patterns. We analyzed new construction across 5 million parcels in the state of North Carolina to develop standardized measures of floodplain development and evaluated the relationships between flood risk management effort and development outcomes. Statewide, for every property removed through buyouts from 1996 to 2017, more than 10 new residences were built in floodplains. At the community level, indicators of flood risk management effort (participation in the Community Rating System and use of buyouts) did not consistently align with floodplain development outcomes. Based on a sample of urban and suburban counties, we found more than 75,000 acres of vacant floodplain land currently zoned for development. Although we did not capture the full range of flood risk mitigation practices, results indicate that local development policies often run counter to efforts to limit long-term risk. Land use planning and floodplain management have the potential to play a larger role in flood risk mitigation. Modifying federal programs to more strongly disincentivize floodplain development could enhance local regulation and minimize future flood exposure. Given extensive undeveloped floodplain land and projected climate change, additional effort to manage development is needed to limit increases in flood risk. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities have addressed urban population shrinkage by adopting strategies to re-purpose vacant lots in ways that leave them beautified and groomed. This study investigates leisure behavior resulting in beautified and groomed vacant lots that resist dominant discourses – referred to as green leisure. We applied a mixed-methods research design with property owners who purchased vacant lots through the Chicago Large Lot Program. Our focus group findings (n = 25) indicated that participants framed their activities as resistance tied to (a) vacant lot beautification, (b) providing places to socialize, (c) efficacy, and (d) neighborhood transformation. Using survey data (n = 197), results from a path model show that behavioral investment in greening – as measured by a Cues to Care Action Scale – is influenced by social normative beliefs, collective-efficacy, self-efficacy, and perception of gardening as leisure. Our findings lend support to policies that encourage resident-based private ownership of vacant land to revitalize urban neighborhoods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many cities worldwide have large amounts of industrial vacant land (IVL) due to development and transformation, posing a growing problem. However, the large-scale identification of IVL is hindered by obstacles such as high cost, high variability, and closed-source data. Moreover, it is difficult to distinguish industrial vacant land from operational industrial land based solely upon image features. To address these issues, we propose a method for the large-scale automatic identification of IVL. The framework uses deep learning to train remote-sensing images of potential industrial vacant land to generate a semantic segmentation model and further use population density and surface temperature data to filter model predictions. The feasibility of the proposed methodology was validated through a case study in Tangshan City, Hebei Province, China. The study indicates two major conclusions: (1) The proposed IVL identification framework can efficiently generate industrial vacant land mapping. (2) HRNet exhibits the highest accuracy and strongest robustness after training compared with other semantic segmentation backbone networks, ensuring high-quality performance and stability, as evidenced by a model accuracy of 97.84%. Based on the above advantages, the identification framework provides a reference method for various countries and regions to identify industrial vacant land on a large scale, which is of great significance for advancing the research and transformation of industrial vacant land worldwide. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Youth living in areas with high concentrations of vacant properties may be at particular risk for poor health outcomes given the associations between deteriorated vacant properties, poor mental health, and community violence. Vacant lot greening has emerged as a key strategy to mitigate the harms of deteriorated properties. Youth engagement in greening has documented benefits for youth, yet few organizations responsible for managing vacant properties currently engage youth. Further, few researchers have examined the best practices that organizations can employ to effectively engage youth in greening programs. The purpose of this study was to understand how high functioning vacant land management organizations with robust youth engagement capabilities engage youth in their greening work. Based on in‐depth interviews with staff from vacant land management organizations, we explored three research questions: (1) what are their identified best practices for youth engagement?; (2) what are the major challenges that impede their youth engagement work?; (3) what solutions are these organizations employing to address these challenges? Findings from this study emphasize the important themes of engaging youth in vacant lot greening in areas of planning, leadership, and decision‐making. Youth engagement in vacant lot greening may be a key mechanism for preventing violence through cultivating youth empowerment and development. Highlights: Youth engagement in greening may be a key mechanism for preventing violence.Valuing of youth driven spaces and cultivating youth leadership is supported by empowerment theory.Examples of how organizations engage youth to address concentrated vacancy and neighborhood decline are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article is based mainly on Ottoman archival data of 1845. They are manuscripts, written in Ottoman Turkish. Ottoman government needs cash in the years of 1820s due to wars with Russia and Iran. To achieve this, the state demands extra taxes from all peasants of Anatolia. In this study, the economic situation of 22 small Muslim villages of the district of Kıreli of Konya of Anatolia was examined in outline. Agriculture and livestock were the main means of livelihood for the Muslim peasants. However, with the increase of the population, the economic resources were not enough for the Muslim peasants and the nomads (Yörük) living in this region. Many men had to leave their villages and went to the large cities to earn struggle for life. Ottoman administration founds them there and also taxes the labor. This was a very heavy practice for them. In the region, most villages were abandoned. The peasants had to be content with only rural resources. The vacant agricultural lands were immediately planted by the surrounding peasants. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Different structural and spatial features such as type of housing unit, age of housing unit, size of housing unit, number of rooms, number of bathrooms, construction quality, heating system, parking lot, quality of public services, proximity to centers, distance to health and education facilities, transportation facilities, crime rate, satisfaction with social activities, landscape, environment, pollution and airport noise affect the prices of the housing units. Atakoy is one of the important residential areas of Istanbul with a high quality of life, due to the richness of its green areas and its urban texture, the closeness to centers, high quality of transportation and urban services. The lack of vacant land, the high demand and the high occupancy rate in the region have increased the housing prices considerably, and the importance of the regional housing market. The aim of the study is to determine the characteristics of housing unit that may affect the housing prices in Atakoy. In this context, multiple regression analysis has been made with the data which consist of physical information about 149 housing units for sale in the region and it has been examined which features related to the housing unit how much may affect the housing prices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Brownfield land is vacant or derelict land that was previously used for industrial or commercial purposes. Brownfield land is increasingly being targeted for housing development, however, depending on the previous use and remediation activity, it might pose potential risks to the health of residents on or in the vicinity of redeveloped sites. This systematic review of the literature synthesises the empirical evidence on the associations between brownfield land and health. Methods: We systematically searched EMBASE, MEDLINE, Global Health, Web of Science, Scopus and GreenFile using a study protocol registered on PROSPERO (CRD42022286826). The search strategy combined the keywords "brownfield" and its interchangeable terms such as "previously developed land", and any health outcomes such as "respiratory diseases" and "mortality". Publications identified from the search were screened for eligibility by two authors, and data were extracted from the selected articles. Study quality was assessed based on the Newcastle-Ottawa Scale. Results: Of the 1,987 records retrieved, 6 studies met the inclusion criteria; 3 ecological studies, 2 cross-sectional studies, and 1 longitudinal study. There was considerable heterogeneity in the exposure metrics and health outcomes assessed. All studies found significant positive associations between brownfield land proximity or density with at least one health relevant outcome, including poorer self-reported general health, increased mortality rates, increased birth defects, increased serum metal levels, and accelerated immune ageing. Conclusions: Brownfield land may negatively affect the health of nearby residents. The epidemiological evidence on health effects associated with brownfield land in local communities, however, remains inconclusive and limited. Further studies are required to build the evidence base to inform future housing policies and urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacant and abandoned buildings are common features in many post-industrial US cities, and are consistent predictors of violence. Demolition programs are regularly employed as an urban land use policy to stabilize housing markets and mitigate public health problems including violence. The objective of this research was to examine the effect of vacant building removals on violent and property crimes in Baltimore, MD from 2014 to 2019. We conducted a difference-in-differences analysis using spatio-temporal Bayesian mixed models on six crime types on block faces with and without building removals, before compared with after removal. There were significant reductions in total, violent crimes (with and without assaults), thefts, and burglaries on block faces with building removals relative to their controls. Total crimes decreased 1.4% per mi2 (CrI: 0.5 – 2.3%), which translates to a relative reduction ~ 2.6 total crimes per mi2 per year. The largest relative decreases in crime were found among assaults (4.9%; CrI: 3.4 – 6.3%) and violent crimes (3.0%; CrI: 1.9 – 4.1%). Building removals were associated with relative reductions in crime in Baltimore City. The relative reductions in crime, at building removals compared to at control vacant lots, were found among assaults and violent crimes, the crimes of greatest public health concern. Building removals provide co-benefits to their communities, and may be considered part of a crime reduction strategy compatible with other approaches. A systematic effort to understand the role of care for remaining vacant lots could further inform our findings, and efforts to further decrease violence and improve community health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The original house design was sited against the back of the dune with a full story staircase that leads one from the entrance to the living level of the house that was flush with the top of the dunes (Figure 2). B A b seaside house designed by the modernist architect Norman Jaffe won awards when it was built in the 1970s, but by the time LaGuardia Design Group became involved in 1998, the surrounding dune landscape had been washed away. [Extracted from the article]

The Land use/Land cover (LULC) has a substantial role in planning and monitoring natural resource utilization, in the framework of the ongoing surge in human demands in the current ecosystem. Satellite remote sensing provides modern methods for locating and mapping Land use/Land cover patterns and their spatial changes. This paper discusses the evaluation of the LULC classes characteristic of Keti Bunder during the years 2015 and 2020, by using satellite remote sensing; the paper also uses Geo-informatics to study and investigate the temporal LULC variations that occurred over time. According to the empirical findings, there have been significant spatial changes, with less dry mudflats and unoccupied land overall. In comparison, the findings of the research point to inter-conversion of the area between LULC classes, i.e. mangrove areas, turbid water, wet mudflat, dry mudflat and barren land/vacant land. Overall, these geographical alterations show that the environment has been significantly impacted due to recent extreme weather events in the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Every city keeps growing as a result of population growth and has an impact on space requirements. Same as Banda Aceh City which continues to grow, but its development has stopped due to the 2004 tsunami disaster. Residential areas tend towards the north or the coast, which is tsunami-prone zone. The purpose of this study is to describe the direction and built-up area development of Banda Aceh City after the tsunami from 2005-2011, 2011-2015, and 2015-2020. The data used in this study is spatial data such as maps and satellite images sourced from Banda Aceh planning and development agency. Data analysis uses spatial approach with the overlay method. Development of the built-up area of Banda Aceh city based on the period 2005-2011, 2011-2015, and 2015-2020 shows that the built-up area leads to the northern and southern parts of Banda Aceh City. Development of the northern part of the city, Districts of Jaya Baru, Meuraksa, Kuta Raja, Kuta Alam, and Syiah Kuala was a result of the rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts such as housing, roads, and facilities after tsunami and turned the ponds and vacant land into housing and service trading areas. The northern part of Banda Aceh City was tsunami hazard-prone zone. Meanwhile, development of the southern part of the city, districts of Banda Raya, Lueng Bata, and Ulee Kareng, was influenced by Mohamad Hasan and Ali Hasyimi street which triggered the development of residential areas, office areas, service trading areas, and public facilities. Southern part of the city was not directly affected by the tsunami disaster. In addition, built-up area development has spread to the Aceh Besar regency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Detroit has a long history of pushing out local residents and limiting their land ownership; a history rooted in racism and classism. This has led to large amounts of land in the city not under the control of residents and long-time Detroiters, but under the control of the city itself. Cities with large amounts of vacant and foreclosed land across the country have turned to land banks as the managing tool for this land. The current land system in Detroit relies on the Detroit Land Bank Authority (DLBA) to manage the vacant and foreclosed properties in the city. While DLBA exerts significant power and control over the land in Detroit, it is a largely unregulated and unaccountable public institution. As DLBA continues to benefit from the large amounts of land in the city, to the detriment of long-term residents, it's crucial to understand how this public entity can continue to operate in a harmful way. This Note analyzes the DLBA and their operation within the city of Detroit, while offering a concrete path forward that begins to serve Detroiters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates whether perceptions of neighborhood physical disorder—measured by vacant lots, vacant buildings, and overgrown vegetation—influence perceptions of crime and perceptions of the frequency or magnitude of crime events. We use ordinal logistic regression to analyze individual-level and contextual-level variables derived from a survey of 401 randomly selected residents in seven New Orleans neighborhoods. Findings show that as perceptions of physical disorder increase, so does the likelihood of perceiving violent crime as more of a neighborhood problem than property crime. As residents perceive greater physical disorder, their perception of crime level decreases. Finally, residents who perceive greater physical disorder are more likely to perceive crime levels to be stable to increasing over the previous five years. The category of "physical disorder" is inherently subjective, and future research should distinguish between social disorder and physical disorder in the evaluation of perceptions of crime. Our major contribution is to empirically demonstrate that the influence of physical disorder on crime perceptions depends upon the crime type and temporal scale under investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last two decades, globally coastal areas have urbanized rapidly due to various socioeconomic and demographic driving forces. However, urban expansion in towns and cities of the developing world has been characterized by entangled structures and trends exacerbating numerous negative consequences such as pollution, ecological degradation, loss of agricultural land and green areas, and deprived settlements. Substantially, spatial simulation of urban growth and their consequences on coastal areas particularly in Egypt is still very rare. Geospatial modelling coastal urban growth is crucial and has enormous potential for coastal land use transformation and urban sustainability. The key aim of this study was to analyze spatiotemporal changes (2010–2020) and simulate future dynamics (2030 to 2050) of land use/land cover (LULC) in Alexandria Governorate, Egypt. Artificial Neural Network–Multiple Layer Perceptron (ANN-MLP) and Markov Chain techniques were employed within the GIS platform to assess processes of land transitions and predict urban growth trends, patterns and dimensions. The forecasting process was based on three maps of LULC derived from classified Landsat images of 2000, 2010 and 2020. In addition, topographical, demographic, accessibility, proximity factors were generated and developed in the form of raster spatial parameters of urbanization driving forces. The findings revealed that the observed expansion of the built-up area during one decade (2010–2020) was 12,477.51 ha, with a decline in agricultural area (7440.39 ha) and bare land (4904.91 ha). The projected change was forecasted to be 71,544 ha by 2030 and 81,983 ha in 2040 with a total of 35,998 ha increase in the built-up area and residential expansion by 2050. Despite this expected pattern of rapid changes, urban growth will be shaped by the key drivers of proximity to coastline and agricultural land transformation. The analysis indicates that the vertical urban growth will be most likely dominant along the coastal zone due to the lack of vacant lands, whereas the horizontal urban expansion will primarily take place towards the east-northeastern and south-southeastern directions of the city. The present work provides a holistic framework for establishing initial coastal land use plans not only for planners and urban administrators in Alexandria but also for policymakers and coastal municipalities in developing nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a reflection on the production of solid waste in the urban space of Tefé-AM, specifically in the Nossa Senhora de Fátima neighborhood, through an environmental approach, considering that a large production of waste by residents was diagnosed in the neighborhood, discarded in the inappropriate streets and places, causing socio-environmental impacts. In this way, an action was thought that could contribute to minimize such impacts. A project was designed with the objective of identifying the socio-environmental impacts and proposing to people the desire to participate in building citizenship and understanding the duties that everyone has with a better quality of life. The method used was analytical, within an empirical approach, where an informal conversation with the residents was possible, in addition to interviews with thirty of them, so that we could build the history of the neighborhood and understand their anxieties and desires. The residues were found around the houses, in the vacant lots, on the banks of the Igarapé Xidarini and under the bridges, being the main focus of solid residues found, both in the flood period and in the dry season. This study had the purpose of sensitizing the residents of the Nossa Senhora de Fátima neighborhood to seek values that lead to a harmonious coexistence with the environment and the other species that inhabit the planet, helping them to critically analyze the principles that have led to the inconsequential destruction of the natural resources and various species. It is fundamental that each one of the residents develop their potential and adopt personal postures and constructive social behaviors, collaborating for the construction of a just society and a healthy environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land types visually reflect the comprehensive attributes of land resources, allowing the monitoring of land development dynamics and evaluation of the land use situation. However, existing land type classification systems in urban areas lacked the integrated consideration of human characteristics and natural landscapes. Thus, this study integrated multi-source geospatial data including Weibo check-in, taxi-tracking, building-surveys, and remote sensing images to acquire anthropogenic features including building characteristics and human activities, and natural landscape features including water, vegetation, and urban vacant land. Three-level urban land type classification system was then constructed with two primary categories, six secondary categories, and 17 tertiary categories to reveal integrated characteristics of urban land resources. Based on the extracted urban areas of Shenzhen, urban land types in 2014 were mapped at street block to reveal the distribution and utilization efficiency of land resources in a visual and detailed format, thus guiding land resources optimization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the urgent issue of homelessness among older adults in Canada and its impact on healthcare. A recent report revealed that hospital admissions for homeless individuals lasted longer and cost more than admissions for those who were housed. Homelessness has significant health effects, including shorter lifespans, accelerated aging, and higher rates of comorbidities. The lack of affordable housing and appropriate community supports contribute to the problem. Some hospitals are responding by building supportive housing in partnership with governments and social service organizations. The article emphasizes the need for policy changes and better integration of health and social support interventions to address the homelessness crisis. [Extracted from the article]

House Sparrow (Passer domesticus) populations have been negatively affected in various regions of the world because of the urbanization process, although in Brazil the factors involved are still poorly understood. Through standardized sampling, our study aimed to assess the effects of an urbanization gradient on the abundance of House Sparrows in the city of Campo Grande, in central-western Brazil. We recorded House Sparrow and Saffron Finch (Sicalis flaveola) abundance and the percentage of urbanized area (impervious surface) in 61 hexagons of 16 ha each. We surveyed sparrows by using fixed-radius (50 m), 10-min point counts (4 points/hexagon). We recorded 897 House Sparrows and 408 Saffron Finches in all sampled hexagons, with abundance ranging from 0 to 68 House Sparrows/hexagon (∼1 individual/ha) and from 0 to 22 Saffron Finches/hexagon (0.42 individual/ha). We found a significant relationship between House Sparrow abundance and the proportion of hexagon impervious surface according to a quadratic equation, as well as more birds in areas that exhibit moderate to high urbanization than in low urbanization. Multilevel Structural Equation Models showed that House Sparrows were negatively (but nonsignificantly) affected by buildings and trees >5 m in height, positively affected by buildings <5 m in height (houses), and Saffron Finch abundance had a positive but nonsignificant effect in House Sparrow distribution. Even for a bird considered common and adapted to urban conditions, cities seem to have barriers for the establishment of House Sparrows. Simple urban architectural considerations, such as the establishment of roof openings or the management of town squares and vacant lots that allow the growth of seed grasses, could help these birds to continue using urban landscapes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents research on the distribution of economic benefits from brownfield cleanup and land development. There is growing concern that cleaning up blighted areas, including brownfields, can entrench inequality by disproportionately benefiting some demographic groups more than others. We look for evidence of disproportionate benefits by relating changes in move decisions to land use activity in Chicago using a heterogeneous sorting model. Our research produces two key insights: first, Black and Hispanic households benefit less than White households from brownfield cleanup and vacant land development. Second, owners appear to benefit more than renters from cleanup and development. Overall, these results provide evidence of differences associated with race and housing tenure in who benefits from local land use actions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Question: The harsh geophysical template characterized by the urban environment combined with people's choices has led ecologists to invoke environmental filtering as the main ecological phenomenon explaining urban biodiversity patterns. Yet, dispersal is often overlooked as a driving factor, especially on expanding vacant land. Does overcoming dispersal limitation by seeding native species in urban environments and increasing the functional or phylogenetic diversity of the seeding pool increase native plant species diversity and abundance in urban vacant land? Location: Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Methods: We took an experimental approach to learn how different dimensions of plant biodiversity within a regional species pool augmented via seed additions, can explain variation in community structure over a three-year period. Vacant lots were cleared and manipulated with seeding treatments of high or low phylogenetic and functional diversities from a pool of 28 native species. Establishment success, total native cover and native-species richness were followed and compared to cleared, unseeded control lots as well as unmanipulated lots. Results: Seeding increased native plant abundance and richness over uncleared plots, as well as cleared and unseeded control plots. Phylogenetically diverse seed mixtures had greater establishment success than mixtures composed of closely related species. Diversifying seed mixtures increased the likelihood of including species that are better able to establish on vacant land. However, there were no differences in varying levels of either functional or phylogenetic diversity. Conclusions: Augmenting the regional species pool via diverse seed mixtures can enhance native plant cover and richness under the harsh environmental conditions conferred by land abandonment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this study was twofold: (1) to estimate models of frequency and injury severity in pedestrian crashes at signalized intersections and (2) to examine whether the "safety in numbers" effect applies to pedestrian safety in the United States. Specifically, the analysis used novel and robust measures of pedestrian exposure: pedestrian crossing volumes estimated from 1 year of pedestrian push-button traffic signal data. Multiple negative binomial models--predicting 10-year pedestrian crash counts at 1,606 signals in Utah--were estimated, accounting for different levels of data availability. The models showed similar results, identifying specific characteristics of the signals that saw more pedestrian crashes. These characteristics were higher volumes of pedestrian and motor vehicle traffic, longer average crossing distances, more crosswalks, continental instead of standard markings, no prohibitions of right-turns-on-red, no bike lanes, near-side instead of far-side bus stops, greater shares of commercial or vacant land uses, more employment density, greater intersection density, no schools or places of worship, and greater shares of people with a disability or people of Hispanic or non-White race/ethnicity. To analyze injury severity in pedestrian crashes, an ordered logit model was fitted with 1,483 pedestrian crash observations. The model results indicated that vehicle size, vehicle maneuvering direction, lighting conditions, and involvement of teenage/older driver and DUI/drowsy/distracted driving in crashes were significantly associated with pedestrian crash severity. Notably, the study also found strong support for the "safety in numbers" effect, in which pedestrian-vehicle crash rates decline with an increase in pedestrian volumes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban sustainability and human well-being are increasingly influenced by the design and presence of green urban areas, which have been linked to fostering positive emotions among citizens. In light of this, this study investigates the transformation of small vacant lands (SVL) into resilient urban green spaces. The study explores the potential value of redesigning SVL into resilient spaces through design strategies. By considering the perceptions and preferences of residents, the research addresses the issues related to vacancy, limited spaces, social stress, and the impact of landscape composition and configuration on visitors' positive emotions. The research aims to evaluate the effectiveness of resilience strategies and to identify the key landscape elements that contribute to transforming SVL into valued small green spaces within the urban fabric. Methods include a comprehensive literature review, a survey, an experiment with EMOTIVE, and analysis using the Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA) method. The significance of this study lies in integrating field-based methods with EEG data in small-scale landscape contexts, providing a quantifiable measure of engagement with open spaces. This cross-disciplinary approach enhances the understanding of how minor urban landscape modifications can influence human behavior and well-being, especially when resources are limited. The findings provide insights for policy-driven design practices, stimulating design innovation, and offer urban planners effective strategies to refine park patterns, thereby enhancing human well-being and advancing urban sustainability. • Small vacant land transformation enhances urban green space and resilience. • Cityscapes' redesign impacts residents' emotional, cognitive responses. • Study shows complex sensory experiences in vacant lands. • Dynamic, diverse landscapes crucial for vibrant, inclusive urban environments. • EEG data reveals how urban designs affect cognitive, emotional processing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Vacant land can provide social and ecological benefits to cities as they are informally used by people and spontaneously populated by animals and plant-life. However, planners and policy makers often frame vacant land as 'empty', 'blank' spaces, making it difficult to acknowledge informal and more-than-human shaping of these places. This paper demonstrates how a reconceptualization of vacant land through a relational lens enables the inclusion of informal and more-than-human placemaking in planning policy. Analysing the recent Scottish planning policy debate on vacant land through the analysis of policy documents and key informant interviews, we demonstrate that the inclusion of informal and more-than-human placemaking in the Scottish planning policy is fostered by growing recognition of concepts such as urban biodiversity, but hindered by persistent nature-culture divisions. Waymarkers for future policy making are, firstly, strengthening the presence of informal and more-than-human actors in policy debates by seeking representatives who can speak on their behalf and, secondly, supporting new placemaking traditions specifically for vacant land that are incremental and collaborative. • Concepts such as urban biodiversity support inclusion for more-than-human placemaking. • Persistent nature-culture divisions overlook interdependencies, constraining planning debates. • Inclusive planning for vacant land must counter reductivist placemaking perspectives. • Relational placemaking for vacant land should be regenerative, incremental and collaborative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Editorial Current neighborhood conditions for Black and Indigenous communities in the US reflect policies and practices rooted in a history of structural racism and oppression. Psychosocial stress is a well-described risk factor for the development of asthma and worse asthma morbidity[[2], [7]] but has rarely been targeted at the neighborhood level in intervention studies. [Extracted from the article]

This makes it more difficult for vulnerable residents to obtain housing not only because rent prices have also gone up, but also because subsidy-based programs are incapable of producing the amount of housing units needed to meet the housing deficit. But with the combined impact of the pandemic-induced economic crisis starting in 2020, the inefficiency of housing policies, and the sustained increase in land prices, the housing shortage spiked once again. This eventually helped reduce the quantitative housing shortage - that is, the number of housing units needed for everybody to have adequate housing - from 918,756 units in 1990 to 743,450 in 2000, a decrease from a 53 percent housing deficit to a 37 percent deficit. [Extracted from the article]

Acquisition of land in flood-prone informal settlements is restricted by land-use policies, laws, and regulations in many countries, including Tanzania. Due to rapid urbanisation trends, coupled with growing urban planning deficiencies, many residents, particularly in the low-income group, have resorted to settling in flood-prone informal settlements. This article provides a rhetoric exposé to land governance by exploring the processes that land seekers go through to acquire building land (sites). This includes flood-prone land in informal settlements in Dar es Salaam, despite prohibition by land-use legislation. The study employed a case study design where quantitative and qualitative data were collected, using household questionnaires, key informant interviews, and focus-group discussions. Msasani Bonde la Mpunga, a flood-prone settlement in Dar es Salaam, was selected as a case study area to investigate the processes and actors involved. Results showed that most of the landowners in flood-prone areas of Msasani Bonde la Mpunga acquired land parcels informally after they moved into the city from various parts of the country. Approaches and processes of acquiring land were gone through, using social connections with relatives and friends living in the area, engaging brokers, and obtaining verbal or written selling transfer agreements from ward officials. Some encroached or invaded vacant land. Gradually, building structures emerged, although initially, invaders pretended to put up temporary dwellings. The few who inherited land did not undergo similar processes of acquiring land directly. This article concludes that the processes through which land seekers acquire building land, despite being flood-prone areas, are fuelled by weak governance. Government measures are often top-down and reactive instead of proactive. The article recommends rethinking land-governance efforts that entail bottom-up interventions with substantive involvement in decisionmaking processes. These should involve communities in the co-production of appropriate land-governance regulatory measures in flood-prone informal settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, the issue of improving the ecological state has become relevant in all megacities of the world. As a result of the increasing rate of urbanization in various cities, the number of high-rise residential buildings is increasing and the number of vacant lots is decreasing. This, in turn, affects the visual silhouette of the city and the urban planning solution. Active processes have not bypassed the largest city of the Republic of Baku. In recent years, existing high-rise buildings have been reconstructed and new high-rise buildings have been built. Although the designed buildings have different purposes (administrative, multifunctional, etc.), this series includes mostly residential buildings. Of course, for the correct formation of an urban planning solution, there must be a smooth transition between all designed residential and public buildings. At the same time, buildings with different functions should form the correct urban silhouette, forming a unity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Walking environment influences perceptions of security, safety and attractiveness among pedestrians. • Perceived safety and attractiveness are higher for walking through parks than residential areas. • Pedestrians perceived the walking environment as more attractive, safe, and secure when trees were present. • Women perceive all walking environments as less pleasant than men. Perceptions of the walking environment can encourage or discourage walking for transport. However, the influence of the built environment (BE) on pedestrians' perceptions of the walking environment has not been fully understood. To address this gap, the present research investigates how BE characteristics of a suburban walking environment are associated with the perceptions of attractiveness (i.e., pleasantness, friendliness), safety, and security. Using a cross-sectional design, 995 participants reported their perceptions about the attractiveness, safety, and security of different suburban BE scenarios in Brisbane (Australia). Univariate and bivariate random effect ordered probit models were estimated to identify the associations between BE characteristics and perceived attractiveness, safety, and security whilst controlling for psychosocial factors. Results indicated that perceived attractiveness (i.e., pleasantness and friendliness) was higher for recreational areas than residential land use. Women perceived the walking environment as more pleasant with trees. The perception of safety was higher for recreational and vacant land compared to residential areas. Young pedestrians perceived that the likelihood of being assaulted/robbed/harassed at night was lower if they walked through an area with commercial and mixed land use. Women pedestrians perceived that the corresponding risk at night was higher in recreational areas. Overall, the findings suggest that urban design strategies such as increasing land use diversity and providing adequate trees enhance perceived environmental attractiveness, safety, and security, ultimately resulting in more walking for transport. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]