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Schools' priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in access to high-quality schools. The school's priorities are formulated following a Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA) approach with several scenarios including geographic, family, academic, and socioeconomic variables. The matching is simulated using student preferences, multiple assignment algorithms, varying school capacities, and changing priority profiles. The Human Opportunity Index (HOI) logistic regression approach is used to examine how far from, or how close the admission is to being an equitable assignment, i.e., one that gives equal opportunities to children with different backgrounds. The analysis is based on choice admission data from a large specialized (magnet) middle school program in Florida. The results suggest that how the school priority is designed slightly affects the equality of opportunity. The second impact is due to the algorithm used to perform the selection. The availability of places in high-quality schools has a big impact and is tightly correlated with the parents' satisfaction with their most preferred school choices.

Critical infrastructure (CI) services are crucial to the functioning of modern communities, and a single CI failure can cause cascading effects through a network of services, impacting an entire city. Challenges such as climate change and rapid urbanisation are increasing the risk of cascading effects of CI failure, particularly impacting the urban poor in peri-urban and informal settlements. This study uses a systems thinking approach to validate the hypothesis if CI services are susceptible to generating severe cascading effects in informal than formal settlements. Qualitative data was collected on cascading effects via interviews and focus group discussion in a formal and an informal settlement in Medellin, Colombia. The responses were analysed and structured using a service chain framework and a Causal Loop Diagram. Our findings show that cascading effects vary between the formal and informal contexts concerning CI service availability and accessibility and may be attributed to differences in demography, geography, socio-economic development, risk regulations, community coping capacities and other factors associated with urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Schools' priorities in student selection constitute the basis for fairness in school admissions. We study the case where schools are active strategic players that rank their applicants in terms of priorities. A methodological framework is developed to examine the impact of the variation in the admission settings on the equality of opportunity in access to high-quality schools. The school's priorities are formulated following a Multi-Attribute Decision Analysis (MADA) approach with several scenarios including geographic, family, academic, and socioeconomic variables. The matching is simulated using student preferences, multiple assignment algorithms, varying school capacities, and changing priority profiles. The Human Opportunity Index (HOI) logistic regression approach is used to examine how far from, or how close the admission is to being an equitable assignment, i.e., one that gives equal opportunities to children with different backgrounds. The analysis is based on choice admission data from a large specialized (magnet) middle school program in Florida. The results suggest that how the school priority is designed slightly affects the equality of opportunity. The second impact is due to the algorithm used to perform the selection. The availability of places in high-quality schools has a big impact and is tightly correlated with the parents' satisfaction with their most preferred school choices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Noise action planning (NAP) requires collaboration among stakeholders, given the harmful health effects of noise and the subjectivity of how individuals perceive noise. Maptables can be used to mediate in such a collaborative spatial planning process. However, open software applications specifically designed for those devices are still limited or mismatched with user needs. This study presents the co-design and development process of an Open Geo-Spatial Interactive Tool (OGITO-noise) intended for maptables users. We explore to what extent such a tool can be usable and useful in supporting collaborative NAP in practice. Our methods combine agile software development and human-centered design (HCD) in a hybrid fashion, namely remote co-design meetings and face-to-face testing, to develop an open application that our intended users found useful. Those methods were utilized during a pandemic but can also be used when dealing with geographic or resource limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Participatory mapping for landscape planning is gaining in popularity. With a participatory geographic information system, the local spatial knowledge of the affected public can be collected and included in planning decisions. For its proponents, participatory mapping is deemed useful not only for rendering planning more inclusive but also for facilitating consensus in planning. Here, we present a case study of wind energy planning in a region in Switzerland in which we applied a participatory mapping approach that resulted in providing spatial data not for consensus-making but for creating counter-maps. Using a critical cartography approach, we identified from our sample data the distinct wind energy discourses of supporters, opponents, and people who were indifferent; these revealed three different representations of the same place, which leaves little room for reaching a consensus. Drawing on the agonistic planning theory of radical democracy, however, we could demonstrate why this outcome is not necessarily problematic but rather bears potential for more democracy and pluralism in controversial landscape planning. This case study builds the foundation for discussions about how to implement energy transition in the face of the climate crisis and touches on other cutting-edge issues, including the handling of dissensus, conflict, and polarization in planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The consensus nowadays is that there is a need to adapt to increasingly occurring climate impacts by means of adaptation plans. However, only a minority of European cities has an approved climate adaptation plan by now. To support stakeholder dialogue and decision-making processes in climate adaptation planning, a detailed spatial information and evidence base in terms of a climate impact assessment is needed. This article aims to compare the climate impact assessment done in the context of two regional climate change adaptation planning processes in a Dutch and a German region. To do so, a comparison of guidelines and handbooks, methodological approaches, available data, and resulting maps and products is conducted. Similarities and differences between the two approaches with a particular focus on the input and output of such analysis are identified and both processes are assessed using a set of previously defined quality criteria. Both studies apply a similar conceptualisation of climate impacts and focus strongly on issues concerning their visualisation and communication. At the same time, the methods of how climate impacts are calculated and mapped are quite different. The discussion and conclusion section highlights the need to systematically consider climatic and socio-economic changes when carrying out a climate impact assessment, to focus on a strong visualisation of results for different stakeholder groups, and to link the results to planning processes and especially funding opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When evaluating the practices of public participation, one should understand how the participatory process is conceived and implemented. Although many studies have been conducted in this regard, there is hardly a study that used Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as the basis for evaluation. In this study, we examine the participatory process of a public participation practice in Indonesia, called Musrenbang, at the village level, applying an SDGs' based assessment. Using the case of the Deli Serdang district, we investigate the participatory process based on SDG indicators 11.3.2 and 16.7.2, applying a set of criteria suggested by various scholars. The results show a misalignment between the Musrenbang practice and the evaluation criteria due to key problems such as planning schedules that do not meet regulations, lack of knowledge integration and learning processes, as well as power struggles amongst stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial information of land values is fundamental for planners and policy makers. Individual appraisals are costly, explaining the need for predictive modelling. Recent work has investigated using Space Syntax to analyse urban access and explain land values. However, the spatial dependence of urban land markets has not been addressed in such studies. Further, the selection of meaningful variables is commonly conducted under non-spatialized modelling conditions. The objective of this paper is to construct a land value map using a geostatistical approach using Space Syntax and a spatialized variable selection. The methodology is applied in Guatemala City. We used an existing dataset of residential land value appraisals and accessibility metrics. Regression-kriging was used to conduct variable selection and derive a model for spatial prediction. The prediction accuracy is compared with a multivariate regression. The results show that a spatialized variable selection yields a more parsimonious model with higher prediction accuracy. New insights were found on how Space Syntax explains land value variability when also modelling the spatial dependence. Space Syntax can contribute with relevant spatialized information for predictive land value modelling purposes. Finally, the spatial modelling framework facilitates the production of spatial information of land values that is relevant for planning practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of governance rearrangements (reassignment of positions, roles, and responsibility among actors in governance processes) and their implications on flood risk management has gained currency in evaluative environmental governance literature. However, much work has concentrated on building and applying frameworks to evaluate impacts of decentralisation, such that frameworks to evaluate impacts of recentralisation are still lacking. This paper uses the case of Bwaise III informal settlement in Kampala, Uganda, to assess the impacts of local government rearrangements on flood mitigation. We adapted a Water Governance Assessment Framework and conducted 22 in‐depth interviews with stakeholders, searched documentary sources, and carried out transect walks. We generated qualitative data on stakeholder experiences and perceptions regarding governance quality and flood mitigation prereform and postreform. The data were analysed using thematic content analysis to produce a scoreboard measuring changes in governance dimensions against progress in flood mitigation. In a follow‐up survey, 24 structured interviews were conducted to validate the data. Results show that the rearrangements led to time and cost savings, increased revenue, and sped up the implementation of flood management strategies and measures. The findings can be useful to policymakers at the interface of governance and flood management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human exposure to dangerous heat, driven by climatic and demographic changes, is increasing worldwide. Being located in hot regions and showing high rates of urban population growth, African cities appear particularly likely to face significantly increased exposure to dangerous heat in the coming decades. We combined projections of urban population under five socioeconomic scenarios—shared socioeconomic pathways—with projections of apparent temperature under three representative concentration pathways in order to explore future exposure to dangerous heat across 173 large African cities. Employing multiple shared socioeconomic pathway and representative concentration pathway combinations, we demonstrated that the aggregate exposure in African cities will increase by a multiple of 20–52, reaching 86–217 billion person‐days per year by the 2090s, depending on the scenario. The most exposed cities are located in Western and Central Africa, although several Eastern African cities showed an increase of more than 2,000 times the current level by the 2090s, due to the emergence of dangerous heat conditions combined with steady urban population growth. In most cases, we found future exposure to be predominantly driven by changes in population alone or by concurrent changes in climate and population, with the influence of changes in climate alone being minimal. We also demonstrated that shifting from a high to a low urban population growth pathway leads to a slightly greater reduction in aggregate exposure than shifting from a high to a low emissions pathway (51% vs. 48%). This emphasizes the critical role that socioeconomic development plays in shaping heat‐related health challenges in African cities. Plain Language Summary: Very hot and humid weather often leads to numerous health issues, ranging from heat cramps to death. Due to changing climatic conditions and to demographic growth, the number of people exposed to very hot and humid days is increasing worldwide. This is particularly the case across the African continent, where population growth is rapidly increasing and very hot and humid days are becoming more and more frequent, particularly in tropical areas. In this study, we consider more than 150 large African cities across 43 countries and project the number of people that will be exposed to dangerous heat conditions. Our projections suggest that this number will be 20 to 52 times higher at the end of the 21st century than currently. Large cities in Western and Central Africa appear to be particularly at risk, whereas cities in Southern Africa will remain relatively unscathed. We also show that a restrained urban demographic growth could lead to a 50% reduction in the number of people exposed to dangerous heat conditions. Population and urbanization policies should be part of the wide range of urban climate adaptation options in order to minimize future exposure to extreme heat. Key Points: Exposure to dangerous heat in African cities will increase by a multiple of 20–52 to reach 86–217 billion person‐days per year by the 2090sFuture exposure is predominantly driven by changes in urban population alone or by concurrent changes in climate and urban populationShifting from a high to a low urban population growth pathway reduces exposure by as much as a shift from a high to a low emissions pathway [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Paris Agreement aims to limit global mean temperature rise this century to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels. This target has wide-ranging implications for Europe and its cities, which are the source of substantial greenhouse gas emissions. This paper reports the state of local planning for climate change by collecting and analysing information about local climate mitigation and adaptation plans across 885 urban areas of the EU-28. A typology and framework for analysis was developed that classifies local climate plans in terms of their alignment with spatial (local, national and international) and other climate related policies. Out of eight types of local climate plans identified in total we document three types of stand-alone local climate plans classified as type A1 (autonomously produced plans), A2 (plans produced to comply with national regulations) or A3 (plans developed for international climate networks). There is wide variation among countries in the prevalence of local climate plans, with generally more plans developed by central and northern European cities. Approximately 66% of EU cities have a type A1, A2, or A3 mitigation plan, 26% an adaptation plan, and 17% a joint adaptation and mitigation plan, while about 33% lack any form of stand-alone local climate plan (i.e. what we classify as A1, A2, A3 plans). Mitigation plans are more numerous than adaptation plans, but planning for mitigation does not always precede planning for adaptation. Our analysis reveals that city size, national legislation, and international networks can influence the development of local climate plans. We found that size does matter as about 80% of the cities with above 500,000 inhabitants have a comprehensive and stand-alone mitigation and/or an adaptation plan (A1). Cities in four countries with national climate legislation (A2), i.e. Denmark, France, Slovakia and the United Kingdom, are nearly twice as likely to produce local mitigation plans, and five times more likely to produce local adaptation plans, compared to cities in countries without such legislation. A1 and A2 mitigation plans are particularly numerous in Denmark, Poland, Germany, and Finland; while A1 and A2 adaptation plans are prevalent in Denmark, Finland, UK and France. The integration of adaptation and mitigation is country-specific and can mainly be observed in two countries where local climate plans are compulsory, i.e. France and the UK. Finally, local climate plans produced for international climate networks (A3) are mostly found in the many countries where autonomous (type A1) plans are less common. This is the most comprehensive analysis of local climate planning to date. The findings are of international importance as they will inform and support decision-making towards climate planning and policy development at national, EU and global level being based on the most comprehensive and up-to-date knowledge of local climate planning available to date. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The transformation of cities towards healthy urban living environments for all is a challenge that needs to be addressed through collaboration of all relevant sectors in a transdisciplinary research processes. This paper reports on the design and showcase implementation of a methodological approach, named Interactive Spatial Understanding Support System (ISUSS), that is intended to support interactive knowledge co-production and integration among practitioners and researcher in a specific local context. The approach involves the combined use of interactive maps on a MapTable and a rich picture. The goal is to stimulate, articulate and map stakeholders' knowledge on environmental health issues to come to a shared problem understanding. Drawing on the rich seam of data gathered over the reflexive engagement with the participants in Dortmund, Germany, we explored incidences of a transdisciplinary process. Findings suggest that the approach has the potential to encourage communication and social learning geared towards a shared understanding of the holistic problem situation. Whilst locally embedded spatial knowledge was shared using interactive maps on the MapTable, the rich picture elicited issues linked to wider geographical scale as well as non-spatial drivers. The paper concludes discussing research needs to further explore the approach among various other groups, including citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of renewable energy policies is lagging behind in The Netherlands. While several Dutch cities have ambitious goals for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the implementation of renewable energy projects has been rather slow. The main reasons for this are the limited institutional capacities of local decision-makers, low levels of social acceptance of renewable-energy technologies, and limited opportunities for engagement of communities in decision-making processes. In order to address these issues we have developed an interactive planning support tool named COLLAGE for stakeholder participation in local renewable-energy planning. The goal of this paper is to analyze whether the COLLAGE tool helps to increase community engagement in renewable-energy projects and planning by increasing awareness and addressing social learning issues related to renewable-energy options. We tested the tool in a series of workshops with stakeholders and citizens from the city of Enschede, The Netherlands. The workshop results show that the tool helped involve stakeholders and communities in deciding where to locate renewable-energy facilities. It increased community members' awareness of the benefits of and requirements for renewable energy by disclosing the spatial consequences of overall municipal goals. We conclude that the COLLAGE tool can be an important building block towards new local energy governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Low-income residents are among the most vulnerable groups to climate change in urban areas, particularly regarding heat stress. However, their perceptions about heat and the impacts they face go often undocumented, and are seldom considered in decision-making processes delivering adaptation. This paper presents a robust tool to allow the integration of perception, concerns and impacts of different income groups in urban adaptation planning and governance, using the City of New York as a case study. Employing online interviews--a solid method to reach poorer households--and Fuzzy Cognitive Mapping, we compare impacts and adaptation perception to heat and simulate adaptation scenarios. Results reveal that lower income groups are more concerned about impacts of heat waves than middle- and high-income populations. All income groups see citizens more in charge of adaptation, although more people from the lower income groups regard it necessary to do much more to protect themselves, proportionately more people from the higher income groups think they are doing the right amount. The scenario analysis shows that, compared to investments in the water/electricity and health system, improvements in the transit system would yield the largest decrease in negative impacts during heat, benefitting all income groups jointly. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Due to the rapid pace of urbanization, cities in the global South are growing with most of this growth occurring in informal settlements. Urban upgrading aims to improve living conditions in such settlements by improving the infrastructure but might lead to unexpected effects such as income segregation. InformalCity, a spatially explicit agent-based model, simulates the implications of urban upgrading in an artificial city. Our simulation experiments show that maintenance of the upgraded infrastructure, the scope of upgrading efforts, and timing (early vs. late investments) affect infrastructure quality, housing development and income segregation. However, we also find that urban upgrading interventions can have contradictory effects; for example, maintenance increases the quality of infrastructure and income segregation. Thus, policy makers need to establish clear targets for upgrading projects, and empirical evaluation studies should consider studying the impacts of urban upgrading on an entire city's development rather than limiting them to informal settlements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are recognised as key players in global adaptation and mitigation efforts because the majority of people live in cities. However, in Europe, which is highly urbanized and one of the most advanced regions in terms of environmental policies, there is considerable diversity in the regional distribution, ambition and scope of climate change responses. This paper explores potential factors contributing to such diversity in 200 large and medium-sized cities across 11 European countries. We statistically investigate institutional, socio-economic, environmental and vulnerability characteristics of cities as potential drivers of or barriers to the development of urban climate change plans. Our results show that factors such as membership of climate networks, population size, GDP per capita and adaptive capacity act as drivers of mitigation and adaptation plans. By contrast, factors such as the unemployment rate, warmer summers, proximity to the coast and projected exposure to future climate impacts act as barriers. We see that, overall, it is predominantly large and prosperous cities that engage in climate planning, while vulnerable cities and those at risk of severe climate impacts in the future are less active. Our analysis suggests that climate change planning in European cities is not proactive, i.e. not significantly influenced by anticipated future impacts. Instead, we found that the current adaptive capacity of a city significantly relates to climate planning. Along with the need to further explore these relations, we see a need for more economic and institutional support for smaller and less resourceful cities and those at high risk from climate change impacts in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: An agent-based evacuation model was used to simulate evacuation behavior for a Chinese supermarket and an international university in the Netherlands. Data on exit choice and pre-evacuation behavior were collected via questionnaires and literature review. Sensitivity analyses were conducted to test the influence of variation in pre-evacuation time and exit choice on evacuation time. Results for the supermarket are influenced by exit choice because of the long and narrow shape of the building. Simulation results for the university were most dependent on the behavior of the evacuation officers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the role of participatory village maps in strengthening the Musrenbang, an annual multi-stakeholder public consultation forum to discuss development issues and plans in Indonesia. We evaluated the Musrenbang in five villages in Deli Serdang District after conducting participatory mapping workshops to produce village maps to inform the Musrenbang process. Our results show that communication between Musrenbang participants improved because the maps provided a clear definition of the village administrative area, geospatial data as resources for participation, transparency, and a dynamic deliberative process. Collaboration was also evident as the maps enabled participants to exchange knowledge, experience social learning, and have greater influence on the decision-making process. Despite the benefits, some issues impeded the optimal use of the village maps to support the participatory process in the Musrenbang. The maps could not completely overcome the power disparities between Musrenbang participants. Certain actors still dominated the implementation of the Musrenbang, making the deliberative process inaccessible to and less inclusive of some local stakeholders. Several improvements are urgently needed to optimise the use of participatory village maps and enhance Musrenbang implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geospatial data is urgently needed in decision-making processes to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at global, national, regional and local scales. While the advancement of geo-technologies to obtain or produce geospatial data has become faster and more affordable, many countries in the global south still experience a geospatial data scarcity at the rural level due to complex geographical terrains, weak coordination among institutions and a lack of knowledge and technologies to produce visualised geospatial data like maps. We proposed a collaborative spatial learning framework that integrates the spatial knowledge of stakeholders to obtain geospatial data. By conducting participatory mapping workshops in three villages in the Deli Serdang district in Indonesia, we tested the framework in terms of facilitating communication and collaboration of the village stakeholders while also supporting knowledge co-production and social learning among them. Satellite images were used in digital and non-digital mapping workshops to support village stakeholders to produce proper village maps while fulfilling the SDGs' emphasis to make geospatial data available through a participatory approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Spatial knowledge, i.e., knowledge about space and place, is commonly used by stakeholders during the deliberative process of public participation practice. The goal of this article is to examine to what extent spatial knowledge exists and is used in a formal public participation practice, as well as its potential to enhance the public participation practice. We used an annual public participation practice in Indonesia called Musrenbang as the case study. Using a three-dimensional framework, we identified the types, levels, and socio-spatial relationships of spatial knowledge used in the Musrenbang practice. Our study finds that villagers had and used spatial knowledge during Musrenbang. However, the knowledge was not properly used due to three main impediments: The stakeholders were not aware of their spatial knowledge, spatial data was not available, which can help to better utilize knowledge while supporting the participatory process, and power gaps among stakeholders. It can be concluded that the development of suitable methods, which can help stakeholders use their spatial knowledge, is needed to enhance the current Musrenbang practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interactive Planning Support Systems (PSS) implemented on a maptable are deemed suitable to support participatory planning processes. They are supposed to facilitate exchange of knowledge between stakeholders, consensus building among them, and group-learning processes. In this systematic review, based on 16 case studies using interactive PSS, we analyze how these have contributed to the goal of strengthening stakeholder participation. To this end, we first elicit details of the interactive PSS and the related participatory processes. In the second step, we analyze how and what the studies report, as the impacts on participation. Results show that tools and applications have become more sophisticated over time and goals of the studies changed from collaboratively designing interventions to observing and understanding how the application of such tools contributes to improved plan outcomes and group-based learning. All interactive PSS succeeded to facilitate intensive stakeholder collaboration. However, many studies lack a proper framework for investigating its impacts on participation and therefore assess these rather incidentally based on implicit assumptions. Thus, a significant outcome of this review is an evaluation framework, which allows the structural assessment of the impacts of interactive PSS on stakeholder participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Geographic information-based planning support tools implemented in a maptable have the potential to mediate collaborative spatial planning processes. However, available tools for a maptable either lack advanced analytical functions or have usability shortcomings. Given these limitations, this research aims to conceptualize an interactive planning support tool intended to fully exploit maptable capabilities while providing spatial analytical functions to better support planning and decision-making processes with a larger group of participants. To do so, we conducted a literature review of reported maptable-based applications and semi-structured interviews with identified intended user groups of such applications, and derived Agile user stories. We identified a) principal spatial analyses, b) must-have functionalities, c) required support for individual contributions, and d) preferred space-time settings for group work collaboration, and based on that conceptualized an interactive tool for a maptable. By involving the intended users in the conception of the tool we revealed a discrepancy between the understanding of scholars and developers with respect to what users need and what they do. Intended user groups require tailored but straightforward instruments, rather than complicated or time-consuming models. Our research has laid down the foundation for future maptable tool development to support collaborative planning processes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Providing all children equal access to essential services, such as primary education, has been set as a priority in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG)' agenda during the last two decades. Yet the Global Education Monitoring report in 2016 reveals that wide disparities between the rich and the poor persist in access to education of high quality. This study uses the Human Opportunity Index (HOI) to examine the equality of opportunity in access to basic education of high quality. By using enrollment and admission data from a case study in a large school district in the US in 2015/2016, this research evaluates the capacity of the HOI, in order to reveal disparities in access to school opportunities and examines how much of this inequality is explained by families' pre-determined circumstances. The way of analyzing equality is by disaggregating applications' data into circumstance groups, according to gender, geography, race/ethnicity, and other criteria. To capture the contribution of each circumstance to inequality of opportunity, the Shapley decomposition method is used. Findings show that the HOI is capable of systematically monitoring and examining existing admission policies and identifying inequality problems. Furthermore, the analysis of the contribution of each circumstance group can reveal admission criteria that have the potential to harm the educational opportunities for children. This assessment should provide valuable insights into the capability of the indicators to reveal where policy intervention is necessary and supply points of view on how policy can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]