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This paper studies the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, which is a hot topic in the field of environmental economics. This topic is within the scope of the Frontiers in Environmental Science and is particularly in line with the theme of Environmental Economics and Management section in the journal. Firstly, this paper constructs the Digital Economy Development Index and its variable indicators to measure the development of the digital economy. Secondly, this paper uses urban panel data to reveal the impact of digital economy development on carbon emissions, and further adopts IV method to deal with endogeneity issues. Thirdly, this paper performs the heterogeneity analyses depending on the characteristics of the city. The results can provide a basis for formulating differentiated policies. Fourthly, this paper further explores the mechanism by which the digital economy affects carbon peaking. The results show that the digital economy may influence carbon peaking through upgrading of the industrial structure, technical innovation, and energy consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Carbon emission issues are becoming increasingly severe, and the carbon emissions in shrinking cities, primarily characterized by population loss, are often overlooked and insufficiently studied. This paper focuses on the carbon emissions from county-level administrative units in China's three northeastern provinces from 2001 to 2017. The study scientifically identified shrinking cities and measured the differences in carbon emission characteristics between growing and shrinking cities using the Theil index. Ultimately, the paper constructs a panel spatial econometric model to analyze the factors influencing them and explore their spatial effects. (1) The total carbon emissions in the Three Northeastern Provinces exhibited an inverted U-shaped trend, increasing from 734.21 million tons in 2001 to 1731.73 million tons in 2017, with the Mann–Kendall trend test showing a significant increase; spatially, this manifests as a significant positive spatial autocorrelation. (2) The region has 138 shrinking cities, accounting for over 50%; regarding carbon emission characteristics, the Theil index has consistently remained above 0.18, indicating significant differences between the carbon emissions of growing and shrinking cities. (3) The panel spatial econometric model results show that the influencing factors of carbon emissions in shrinking cities have unique directions, intensities, and spatial effects. In shrinking cities, aside from localized GDP effects and per-capita GDP acting as a suppressant, the population size has a pronounced inhibitory effect on local and surrounding carbon emissions. The analysis reveals significant differences in the carbon emission patterns and mechanisms between growing and shrinking cities; based on these results, the paper proposes differentiated carbon control strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents the results of the study of the morphological composition of municipal solid waste (MSW) from the landfill of Atyrau city, and the waste's energy characteristics and presence of microorganisms, including bacteria, fungi and viruses. This study was carried out under a government order to determine the feasibility of recycling accumulated and incoming waste into electricity and its hazard to the environment and the workers involved in handling it. At the moment, there is no MSW recycling in Kazakhstan, which has led to the accumulation of more than 125 million tons of waste with an annual increase of 5 million tons. The research included four major cities (Almaty, Shymkent, Atyrau and Astana), which were selected not only on the basis of population, but also because the cities were located in different climatic zones. Samples were collected at the city landfills: 10 samples with an average distance of 100 m from each other were collected to provide a maximum coverage of both recently received waste and long-time stored waste. The research showed that neither climatic conditions nor the population size had a significant impact on MSW density, the values of which ranged from 120.1 kg/m3 to 145.4 kg/m3, as this indicator directly depends on the quality of life. The mass of the combustible fraction ranged from 39.41% to 54.62% and was mainly represented by plastic, textile and paper waste. The average value for the four cities was 50.30%. The higher calorific value fell in the range of 24.22–30.49 MJ/kg, with an average value of 26.71 MJ/kg. Microbiological studies showed little difference in average composition regardless of climatic conditions. Thus, no sharp differences in MSW composition, its energy characteristics and microbiological composition were found. The results of this study may be useful for optimising MSW recycling and disposal processes, as well as for developing measures to reduce their negative impact on the environment and human health. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

At a time when the world is critical of the Brazilian government and the loss of Amazonian rainforest, Brian J. Godfrey casts his 40-year gaze on Rio de Janeiro. Geographer Godfrey deftly uses various scales of analysis - global, hemispheric, national, regional, metropolitan, and neighborhood - to point out how memory can be used to reinvent places both in Rio and elsewhere. Godfrey's real nugget is chapter 3's examination of Little Africa in Rio. [Extracted from the article]

Special Feature that lists the names of people involved in the review of technical papers for the IEEE Transactions on Industry Applications and Industry Applications Magazine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: MR-MI is the first national Moroccan ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) registry. Its objectives are to assess patient management modalities and highlight the clinical and therapeutic characteristics of this pathology in all cardiology centres on a national scale. Methods: Adult patients presenting with STEMI within 5 days of symptoms onset were enrolled over a period of 18 weeks from April to August 2018. 57 cardiology centres distributed in 22 cities in Morocco participated in the study, including 5 university hospitals, representing 70% of Moroccan centres managing STEMI patients. A case report form was sent to the investigators in both electronic and paper forms. Sociodemographic, clinical, management, revascularization, and follow-up data were collected. Results: A total of 809 patients were recruited. The population was mostly male (74.8%) with an average age of 62.6 ± 11.6 years. The most common risk factors were smoking (38.3%) arterial hypertension (30.7%), and diabetes (28%). 30% of patients were admitted within the first 6 h of symptoms onset and early revascularization was performed on 49.6%. Mortality rate was 5.2% in-hospital and 3.2% at the one-month follow-up. Conclusion: MR-MI is the first Moroccan STEMI registry on a national scale. Relevant management delays are much longer than other countries, and less than 50% of the patients that present on time benefit from early revascularization. Efforts remain to be done on the optimal diagnosis and treatment of STEMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Artl@s Bulletin is the property of Purdue University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

China plans to arrive at its peak in the emissions of carbon dioxide and reach carbon neutrality by 2030 and 2060, respectively. What role does internet technology, as a key twenty-first-century technology, play in China's achievement of its two carbon goals? Based on datasets about Chinese prefecture-level cities collected mainly from statistical reports released by the China Internet Network Information Center (CINIC), China City Statistical Yearbook, and China Energy Statistical Yearbook in 2006–2019, this paper empirically examines how the development of the internet influencing energy efficiency. This paper uses the policy of "network power nation" strategy and "internet plus" (NPNIP) as a policy impact to construct a continuous difference-in-difference (DID) model for an empirical investigation, and use a mediating effect analysis to test the transmission mechanism involved in industrial structure upgrading, technological innovation, and economic agglomeration. Empirical findings show that energy efficiency is improved by the development of internet. But this result has significant regional heterogeneity. Internet development can significantly reduce energy intensity in the eastern region and mature resource-based cities, but not the central and western regions and other resource-based cities. The mediating effect results show that the internet improves energy efficiency in three ways: upgrading industrial structure, stimulating technological innovation, and economic agglomeration. The empirical findings in this paper lead to many policy recommendation, including strengthening the formation of new infrastructure, deepening the organic integration of the internet across industries, and exploring the legal regulations on internet technology in specific application areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The pursuit of happiness as an issue in planning for towns in trans-Appalachian America was a prime requisite. It is the intent of this paper to illustrate that, while many of the towns were paper towns that were never actualised, they acted as a catalyst for immigrants seeking to escape the oppression of Europe. Visualised as a new Eden, and promising land ownership with liberty, they were an opiate so strong that even with numerous instances of fraud and deceit the settlers came. Their belief that they had indeed arrived at Eden was so strong that it transcended any and all difficulties. This belief has influenced the planning and development of towns in America up to and including modern times. As long as people believe that their living situation is what is meant for them, their pursuit of happiness is satisfied. They have found their Eden. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of ongoing global urbanization, the disparity in urban development, marked by the dual phenomena of urban sprawl and urban shrinkage at the regional level, has become increasingly evident. In this vein, two land-related governance strategies—smart growth (SG) and smart shrinkage (SS)—emerge as potential remedies to these challenges, targeting urban expansion and shrinkage, respectively. This study bridges the gap in the fragmented discourse surrounding SG and SS by conducting a comprehensive comparative review on the respective literatures. Utilizing the Scopus database, our research employs trend analysis, text and topic mining, time node analysis, and regional analysis, augmented by qualitative reviews of seminal papers. The findings reveal a notable shift in research focus, with interest in SS surging around 2010 (the number of SS-related papers published after 2010 accounts for 92.3% of the total number of the entire study period) as attention to SG waned, suggesting an impending paradigm shift in urban sustainability. The analysis indicates that SS research lacks the disciplinary diversity, thematic breadth, and empirical depth of SG studies, underscoring a need for a more robust theoretical foundation to support urban sustainability. Furthermore, while both SG and SS derive from environmental science foundations, SG predominantly addresses the physical and landscape attributes of urban areas, whereas SS focuses more on socio-economic dimensions. Our findings point to an intrinsic link between SG and SS, which could lay the groundwork for their integration into a unified theoretical framework to better advance urban sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of the paper is to define activities performed by car (vehicle) drivers while waiting at traffic lights in city areas and how frequent they are. Some of these activities could be a factor leading to possible traffic accident. The research is based on the sample of 17,088 surveyed vehicles. Data were collected on 67 streets in 5 cities in the Czech Republic (Praha, Brno, Pardubice, Olomouc, Frýdek-Místek) from IV/2022 to VI/2023. The way of survey is manual data collection. There are defined and assessed 7 groups of activities - following traffic situation; cellular phone; (vehicle) control elements; talking to other people in a vehicle; paper documents; drinking+eating+smoking; and dressing-up. The modified SWOT analysis is applied in process of definition of these groups of activities. All these activity groups and their impacts on vehicle driving are discussed in the paper. The data collected are assessed in transport technology as well as statistics points of view. Means of descriptive statistics and χ² Goodness-of-Fit test are applied. Data are compared by city as well as by direction of drive (towards/outwards or around the city centre). The relation to the distance from the city centre is assessed in the case of Prague. Differences by drivers leaving residential areas and shopping centres are discussed, as well as the impact of tram transport. The main result is that ca. 65% of drivers still follow traffic while waiting at traffic lights. Talking to others in vehicle is recorded by 14% of drivers. Vehicle control elements are manipulated by 4%. The remaining 17% of drivers perform other (and may be riskier) activities - cellular phone 8%; drinking+eating+smoking 6%; dressing-up 2%; and paper documents 1%. From a transport technology point of view, this structure should be considered as representative. Relationships to some of the facts mentioned were recorded, but they are seen to be not so significant. The increased frequency of 'drinking+eating+smoking' and 'dressing-up' activities by leaving shopping centres can be pointed out as an example. The paper is extended by comparison between stated (in on-line survey) and revealed (on-site) preferences, with the result that people are open to allow also activities which can be problem in the point of safety (e.g. cellular phone). The paper is concluded with suggestions. First is statement, that the ergonomics of vehicles that reduce the demands on attention by performing such activities is helpful. The second suggestion is to mark specific parking places for short stops in city areas. Both suggestions are based on the fact, that ca. 21% of drivers perform activities reducing attention, and it is illusory that these activities should be totally replaced by their prohibition. It is necessary to give them the opportunity to manage these activities more safely than by waiting at traffic lights. The paper presents results of activities of students at internships between the Palacký University Olomouc and the University of Pardubice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to explore the relationship between the Air Quality Index (AQI), COVID-19 incidence rates, and population density within Malaysia's ten most populous cities from January 2018 to December 2021. Data were sourced from the Department of Statistics Malaysia, the World Air Quality Index Project, and Our World in Statistics. The methodology integrated population-based city classification and AQI assessment, cluster analysis through SPSS, and Generalized Additive Mixed Model (GAMM) analysis using R Studio despite encountering a data gap in AQI for five months in 2019. Cities were organized into three clusters based on their AQI: Cluster One included Ipoh, Penang, Kuala Lumpur, and Melaka, Cluster Two comprised Kuantan, Seremban, Johor Bahru, and Kota Bharu, Cluster Three featured Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. GAMM analysis revealed prediction accuracies for AQI variations of 58%, 60%, and 41% for the respective clusters, indicating a notable impact of population density on air quality. AQI variations remained unaffected by COVID-19, with a forecasted improvement in air quality across all clusters. The paper presents novel insights into the negligible impact of COVID-19 on AQI variations and underscores the predictive power of population dynamics on urban air quality, offering valuable perspectives for environmental and urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to explore whether and how urban road transport (URT) development affects haze pollution. One of the innovations of this paper is that URT development is measured by road accessibility with novel digital elevation model datasets, which have been used by few scholars. The endogenous problem caused by revere causality issue in the relationship between URT development and haze pollution is also considered. Based on the panel data of prefecture-level cities of Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region in China from 2011 to 2018, this paper uses long-lagged values of URT development as the instrumental variable, employing the two-stage least squares (2SLS) method. The study shows that URT development leads to an increase of haze pollution. Moreover, mechanism tests based on moderating and mediating models support the finding that decreasing haze pollution resulted from better connection effects, while rising agglomeration effects tend to bring about increasing haze pollution, and the latter effect is larger in magnitude than the former. Current URT development may have long-term negative consequences for livability of YRD cities, and urban decision makers should reconsider the effectiveness of the current road transport investment and construction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, elevated urban linkages (EULs) have emerged as crucial components of urban development, cutting through the cities' urban fabric to accommodate the rapid expansion of urban cores and to facilitate traffic flow. However, these massive infrastructures have inadvertently given rise to urban lost spaces—vacant, inefficient areas within the urban fabric. Recognizing these lost spaces as untapped public assets, the paper explores sustainable development strategies to reclaim them into the urban fabric, transforming them into vibrant, multi-functional public spaces. The paper aims to achieve a set of urban design guidelines for rehabilitation design interventions which will be deduced into a comprehensive framework. This framework encompasses criteria for selecting appropriate approaches and types of rehabilitation design interventions, as well as design principles ensuring the desirability of the reclaimed space. The paper applies this framework to assess the El Sawy Cultural Wheel in Egypt, revealing it as a successful example of a reclaimed space. While positive aspects of rehabilitation design interventions are evident in terms of the approach and type of intervention in this case study, there are identified areas with shortcomings in fully implementing the design principles, if enhanced, could elevate the overall quality of the reclaimed space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Historical research is challenging when studying informal spaces like urban slums, where extant scholarship is limited, government data are sparse or absent, and populations change rapidly due to eviction, environmental shocks, and the everyday churn of migration. Moreover, written materials and political ephemera generated within slums are rarely preserved in accessible state archives, limiting the usefulness of conventional archival research. In such contexts, the discovery of informal archives—unmapped, non-systematized collections of materials kept by individuals and groups in the spaces under study—can contribute to the reconstruction of local histories. This article draws on 20 months of fieldwork in India’s urban slums to offer insights on the collection and use of informal archival materials. These materials afford an intimate look at how the urban poor organize and make claims on the state. Their analysis, however, involves inferential challenges. Researchers must consider how processes of production, preservation, and provision shape the content of gathered historical materials and thus the inferences that can be drawn from them. Beyond urban slums, informal archives are likely to be useful sources of historical data for a range of studies in comparative politics, especially those that focus on informal institutions and local quotidian politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: The contribution of the ANPCONT Congress to research in Public Sector Accounting (PSA) was investigated. This paper presents the characteristics of the studies discussed in PSA's thematic fields of study, the process by which these studies are converted into publications, and the characteristics of the papers published. Method: The ProKnow-C method was used to analyze the bibliographic material, specifically the stages concerning the bibliographic portfolio selection and systemic analysis. Six analytical lenses were applied in the systemic analysis: topic, paradigm, theory, method, field, and conversion rates. Results: The studies on PSA obtained a lower conversion rate than the general rate identified in previous studies. A more significant number of studies presented in a given edition did not necessarily result in more studies converted into publications. The New Public Management paradigm, the quantitative approach, and the documentary design were the most predominant among studies; economic theories were also widely adopted; cities were the preferred unit of analysis; and topics such as efficiency and fiscal management predominated. Contributions: The low rate at which such studies are published in scientific journals and the characteristics of those converted into publications encourage a reflection among researchers, field coordinators, and the organizers of scientific events. Addressing post-NPM paradigms may lead to a more significant plurality of themes, theories, and methods, enabling a greater alignment with international trends. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of smart cities has led to transforming modern city operations by applying emerging technologies from the fourth industrial revolution such as the Internet of Things, BIM and machine learning. To prepare for the future development of cities, it is necessary to investigate the current status of city development, research topics and the direction toward future cities. In this study, a systematic literature review was conducted following the combination of literature review guides by Kitchenham and the PRISMA statement. The review identified 141 peer-reviewed academic papers from web-based archives, such as Web of Science and SCOPUS, that were categorized into five topics related to smart cities and urban areas. The technologies applied in the research were analyzed to determine the direction future cities should take based on current smart cities and emerging technologies that will shape individuals' daily lives. However, it was discovered that research papers on critical areas, such as mobility and management, were lacking compared to those on building design and urban planning. This paper concludes with an example of a future urban area that has been transformed due to adoption of future mobility technology to address the shortcomings of the reviewed literature on building and urban environments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Informal waste reclaimers are a key part of South Africa's recycling economy, being responsible for around 51% of all paper and packaging waste collected in South Africa in 2017. Active in the waste and recycling landscape for more than three decades, their activity predates the earliest voluntary paper and packaging Extended Producer Responsibility schemes. However, these voluntary schemes have been instrumental in scaling South Africa's recycling economy. Investment by brand owners, retailers, converters and recyclers has helped develop local end-use markets, creating a demand for paper and packaging recyclables and a resultant increase in their collection. An analysis of tonnage and price data shows that the mean estimate of money paid by the private sector to the informal waste sector through the purchase of recyclables at intermediaries such as buy-back centres, was ZAR625 million in 2012, increasing to ZAR872 million in 2017. This private sector 'investment' in the local recycling economy has led to direct and indirect job creation and improved livelihoods, particularly for a large, well-established and effective informal waste sector, and has indirectly funded municipal waste diversion strategies, saving municipalities in both the collection and disposal of waste. Significance: * Informal waste reclaimers make a significant contribution to the diversion of paper and packaging recyclables from landfill to recycling in South Africa. * Limited information exists on the earnings of informal reclaimers. * This paper provides new insights on the annual financial payments made by the private sector to informal reclaimers tor the collection of recyclables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of urbanization has brought new challenges to the ecological environment, and the promotion of green technology innovation and development is widely recognized as an essential method to achieve cities' economic benefits and environmental protection. This paper examines whether the new urbanization pilot policies (NUP) increase green technology innovation (GTI) from both theoretical and empirical perspectives. This paper examines the impact of new urbanization on GTI by analyzing data from 285 cities in China between 2010 and 2021, using the multi-period DID model with the implementation of NUP as an exogenous policy shock. The study results indicate that NUP significantly affects GTI, and the conclusion still holds after the parallel trend test, placebo test, and other robustness tests. Heterogeneity analysis shows that the NUP significantly enhances GTI in low environmental pollution, non-resource-based, Medium-sized, and Central Region cities. The test of moderating effect shows that NUP has a "linkage effect" with the government's environmental attention, financial investment in innovation, and regional talent pooling. The findings of this paper provide empirical evidence and decision-making reference for promoting NUP and sustainable development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There are good reasons to expect that attributes of local public finance may impact urban land use and, specifically, sprawl. A detailed and novel investigation of U.S. metropolitan areas published in 20061 provides substantial insights into the causes of sprawl, but it overlooks the main characteristics of local public finance (taxes and user charges). Using a subset of the data matched to city public finance data, a parallel analysis gives insight into the impacts of local public finance on sprawl. There is evidence that greater reliance on local property taxes reduces sprawl. The evidence that user charges (primarily for water, sewerage and solid waste services) could have a similar effect is weak but suggestive. The combined effects of a high reliance on property taxes and user charges (compared to typical levels) might reduce sprawl by as much as one-third. For Calgary and Edmonton, this means that the current heavy reliance on property taxes in both cities reduces sprawl and that the adoption of alternative local taxes--that reduce reliance on property taxes--is expected to increase sprawl. Further analysis of the impacts of local public finance on urban sprawl is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Comparing with cities, rural communities especially those declining rural communities have become vulnerable to natural disasters owing to their backward socioeconomic conditions. Taking Xun County of China's Henan Province as the study area, the paper aims to evaluate rural community resilience to flood by unveiling the connection between individuals' cognition, follow-up actions and the community resilience. Research results show that: (1) The logic chain exists as individual's cognition to disaster leads to their constructive actions to cope with disaster, which contribute to community resilience. (2) At the cognition dimension, individual's knowledge reserve of disaster prevention and their recognition to local authority are playing an important role in their decision making and follow-up behaviors when disaster occurs. (3) At the action dimension, individual's familiarity with the disaster preparedness, efficient information transmission when disaster occurs and villagers' following order and their unity of action all contribute to community resilience to disaster. The paper proposes ways to improve rural community resilience to disasters based on the research findings. [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]

This paper studied the feasibility of a sliding base isolation layer to be used in rubble stone masonry buildings in rural areas in the Himalayan Mountain range to provide robust protection to important building like schools against strong earthquakes. In this paper, we carried out on-site investigations, quasi-static tests, and shaking table tests focusing on constructability as well as isolation performance. From the results of the feasibility study, the combination of styrofoam, concrete slab, and grease was found to be the most feasible to be used as the upper element, the lower element, and the lubricant, respectively, in the sliding isolation layer. The key features of the present sliding base isolation layer are: 1) the use of the materials that exist in rural mountain areas or those that can be easily transported from the neighboring towns and cities and 2) ease of construction and minimal change from the current construction practice. From the shaking table tests, we identified the conditions, e.g., grease amount, grease type, normal stress at the interface, and roughness of concrete slab surface, to achieve dynamic friction coefficients ranging from 0.08 to 0.16, suitable for sliding base isolation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Urban Living Lab (ULL) is both a methodology and a place where different actors of a territory can collaborate with the aim of urban transformation and sustainable development. This paper briefly introduces a methodological framework, that combines stakeholder engagement and co-design process on Circular Economy (CE) ideas and projects. The structure of the methodological framework foresees four main phases: scouting and analysis of the territorial context, listening and exploration, participation and execution. The main objective of this paper focuses on the application and experimentation of the same ULL methodology framework in four different Italian urban territories (Anguillara Sabazia in the metropolitan area of Rome, Bologna, Taranto and Venosa, a small town in southern Italy), to highlight how the ULL is an effective approach for stakeholder engagement and co-design processes aiming to the transition toward CE. The discussion section of the four ULL cases highlights the main results of the co-design process: the ideation of project proposals of CE activities suitable for implementation in the reference urban territories. The four ULL cases have shown how the same methodological steps can be applied in urban areas with different geographical, territorial and socio-economic characteristics, with comparable results in terms of activating processes of engagement and co-design within the communities living there. In conclusion, experimenting the proposed methodological framework in each of the four urban areas, despite their differing characteristics, it has stimulated the growth of cultural capital and community ties. This was achieved through the exchange of different skills and the collaborative contributions of multidisciplinary teams, resulting in increased collective awareness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the operation of the first route in Xi'an City, the matching relationship between the metro networks and the urban population is a root factor affecting the utilization of rail transit facilities. The mismatch between the metro networks and the urban population has led to an imbalance between the supply and demand for rail transport, resulting in wasted urban infrastructure. Based on this issue, the research objective is to focus on the spatiotemporal variations of the matching relationship. Firstly, the topological network model abstractly extracted metro spatial distribution features, and the spatial autocorrelation model was adopted to identify the evolution characteristics of the metro networks and urban population. Secondly, this paper adopted a time-lagged regression model to demonstrate the action relationship from 2011 to 2021. Then, the compositive coordination index was utilized to assess the variation of the global matching relationship. Finally, the paper explored spatial heterogeneity through the coupling coherence degree attached to grid cells. The research results indicate that the Moran's I value of metro elements decreased from 0.782 to 0.510 with the further complexity of topological networks, while the population was consistently high in spatial dependence with a Moran's I value of around 0.75 during the decade. Based on the regression coefficients and significance, this paper verified the hypothesis that the metro networks and urban population had a positive time-lagged feedback effect in urban development. From 2011 to 2021, the compositive coordination index symbolizing the global matching relationship increased from 0.29 to 0.90, but the coupling coherence degree shows significant spatial heterogeneity in different grid units. Differentiated spatial planning strategies were proposed for varied areas to efficiently utilize rail transit, which may provide a reference for other cities with the same reality problem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Land intensive use reflects the spatial structure, agglomeration characteristics, and internal mechanisms of urban economic, social, and ecological system development, significantly impacting urban resilience. Based on panel data from 287 cities in China from 2010 to 2020, this paper measures the levels of land intensive use and urban resilience, and empirically examines the impact mechanism of land intensive use on urban resilience through baseline regression and panel quantile regression. The results reveal that: (1) During the study period, China's urban land intensive use level has significantly improved. The land intensive use level shows a trend of "the strong become stronger, and the weak are always weak" and "high in the east and low in the west" spatial differentiation, while the urban resilience level showed a trend of accelerated "catching up" of low-resilience cities towards high-resilience cities and "high in the east and low in the west" spatial differentiation as well. (2) Land intensive use significantly promotes effect on urban resilience, and the effect depends on different conditions. (3) Among all dimensions of land intensive use, both land input intensity and land use benefits significantly promote urban resilience, while land use intensity shows an insignificant effect. (4) The impact of land intensive use on urban resilience demonstrates significant scale heterogeneity and geographic regional heterogeneity. Based on these findings, the paper proposes relevant policy suggestions for land intensive use aimed at improving urban resilience, offering guidance for promoting high-quality land use and sustainable urban resilience development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the growing trend of urbanisation and the growing number of people migrating to cities, the demand for the development and construction of new buildings and infrastructure has risen, meaning that the construction industry must adapt to these trends. Growing demands with shorter deadlines for an industry already known for its high costs and late delivery means that productivity must be increased without increasing costs. The solution for this might lie in the application of the Lean philosophy to the construction industry. This paper analyses the application of the Lean philosophy in order to increase the productivity of construction work for an airport project. This paper highlights the potential for enhancing productivity in construction workplaces by concurrently fostering continuous improvement and sustainability through the implementation of the A3 methodology and Lean principles, resulting in waste reduction and increased value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Measuring human perception of environmental safety and quantifying the street view elements that affect human perception of environmental safety are of great significance for improving the urban environment and residents' safety perception. However, domestic large-scale quantitative research on the safety perception of Chinese local cities needs to be deepened. Therefore, this paper chooses Chaoyang District in Beijing as the research area. Firstly, the network safety perception distribution of Chaoyang District is calculated and presented through the CNN model trained based on the perception dataset constructed by Chinese local cities. Then, the street view elements are extracted from the street view images using image semantic segmentation and target detection technology. Finally, the street view elements that affect the road safety perception are identified and analyzed based on LightGBM and SHAP interpretation framework. The results show the following: (1) the overall safety perception level of Chaoyang District in Beijing is high; (2) the number of motor vehicles and the proportion of the area of roads, skies, and sidewalks are the four factors that have the greatest impact on environmental safety perception; (3) there is an interaction between different street view elements on safety perception, and the proportion and number of street view elements have interaction on safety perception; (4) in the sections with the lowest, moderate, and highest levels of safety perception, the influence of street view elements on safety perception is inconsistent. Finally, this paper summarizes the results and points out the shortcomings of the research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cities are the core carriers and key positions to achieve the dual carbon goals. It is of great significance to explore whether promoting urbanization can improve carbon emission performance, which is of great significance to comprehensively promote the goal of carbon neutrality. Based on the panel data from 2006 to 2021, this paper analyzes the spatial autocorrelation of carbon emission performance per unit space and the impact mechanism of urbanization process on it. The fixed-effect model was further used to identify the influencing factors of spatial carbon emission performance. The results show that: 1) China's carbon emission performance per unit space is declining year by year. 2) There is a strong positive spatial correlation and stable path dependence on the performance of carbon emissions per unit space in each region. 3) To a certain extent, increasing the level of urbanization will reduce the carbon emission performance per unit space. 4) The urbanization process has a spatial spillover effect on the carbon emission performance per unit space of surrounding provinces, and the spatial spillover effect of industrial structure and energy consumption structure is more obvious than that of economic level, population density and urbanization rate. Based on the conclusions, this paper puts forward specific policy suggestions to reduce the carbon emission performance per unit space to help the low-carbon development of cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the past 40 years of reform and opening-up, the implementation of an unbalanced enhancement strategy has led to severe resource misallocation, making the mitigation and rectification of this misallocation an urgent issue. This paper utilizes urban data from China between 2006 and 2020 to examine the impact of two-way foreign direct investment (FDI) on resource misallocation, as well as the pathways through which coordinated advancement of two-way FDI affects resource misallocation. After undergoing a series of robustness and endogeneity tests, the conclusion remains stable. Mechanism testing reveals that coordinated advancement of two-way FDI improves capital resource misallocation by enhancing the enhancement level of the financial industry, while exacerbating labor misallocation by increasing labor costs. This paper integrates the coordinated advancement of two-way FDI and resource misallocation into the same analytical framework, proposing policy recommendations to alleviate China's resource misallocation issue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the main problems of urban governance in Algeria is bureaucracy. Based on the experience of other countries, the concept of smart cities is becoming increasingly important, including urban e-governance which is considered as an important corner stone of smart cities. Hence, e-governance is proposed as a new tool to solve urban governance problems. Its main objectives are focused on strengthening credibility and accountability. This paper tried to assess the ability of Algiers bay municipalities to adopt urban e-governance policies and to see strategies to be deployed to solve urban related problems. To achieve this goal, the work presented in this paper describes the development of a Smart Synthetic (SS) model that could serve as a tool for policy makers to assess their policies and to identify ways to solve urban problems. This 'SS model' is based on the findings of relevant, locally based case studies from the bay area, to which the model is later applied. In order to achieve this, the authors opted for a Multi-Attribute Value Theory method. The application of the model revealed that of a total of nine municipalities, four are in a position to adopt an urban e-governance policy. However, the remaining ones have not yet been able to adopt such a policy due to several barriers which are mainly related to the governance policy. The advantage of this model is therefore its flexibility. It could even be adapted to evaluate urban e-governance in other cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper focuses on the smart city concept implementation in the Czech Republic during 2007-2013. The aim is to deliver a closer look at the implementation of the concept in the conditions of the selected Czech municipalities by means of decoding the investments from the EU Cohesion policy. The municipalities represent small sized cities that have so far been on the periphery of interest in smart city debate as they are neither metropolises nor do they fit the newer concept of smart village. The analysed projects are divided into six smart city dimensions, the authors then explore investment intensity in relation to city size and its future commitment to become a smart city by means of having a formalized strategy. The results show that Czech municipalities invested into all smart city dimensions and infrastructure related projects prevailed. The larger the city the more intensive investment activity confirming the relation between size and absorption capacity. The divisive dimension that sets apart future smart cities is the investment into smart economy measures which were implemented in cities that later officially undertake the commitment of smartness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The editorial describes the aims of the conferences reuniting the papers presented in "Urbanism Architecture Constructions" for several successive editions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Green development is the main theme of modern development in China and even the world. Green development depends on green technology innovation (GTI). Therefore, for developing countries like China in the stage of economic transition, it is urgent to accelerate GTI to gain sustained advantages in the new round of international competition. As an important representative of contemporary rapid transportation, high-speed railway (HSR) can not only alleviate the rapidly growing transportation demand of the public, but also have potential benefits to the energy consumption structure and environmental quality. Whether and how HSR affects GTI has become the focus of this paper. Hence, by employing the panel data of 286 cities in China from 2007 to 2018 with the time-varying DID model, this paper verifies that HSR development can contribute to GTI. The main findings of this paper are as follows: (1) The operation of HSR can not only make the incremental development of GTI, but also improve the quality of GTI simultaneously. Moreover, the quality improvement effect of HSR is greater than the quantity increment effect. (2) Heterogeneity analysis shows that the positive effect of HSR on GTI is more significant for cities that have implemented LCCP. (3) This paper verifies the mediating effect of high-quality human capital. The opening of HSR further stimulates GTI by improving the level of high-quality human capital in cities and increasing the opportunities for knowledge exchange and diffusion. Based on the above findings, this paper proposes some policy recommendations to help developing countries achieve GTI with positive externalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This vision paper addresses the challenges and explores the avenue of solutions regarding the use of Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) for transporting parcels in urban areas. We have already witnessed companies' delivering parcels using UAS in rural areas, but the challenge of utilizing them for an urban environment is eminent. Nevertheless, the increasing research on the various aspects of UAS, including their battery life, resistance to harsh weather conditions and sensing its environment foresee their common usage in the logistics industry, especially in an urban environment. In addition, the increasing trend on 3D city modelling offer new directions regarding realistic as well as light 3D city models that are easy to modify and distribute. Utilizing UAS for transporting parcels in an urban environment would be a disruptive technological achievement as our roads will be less congested which would lead to less air pollution as well as wasted money and time. In addition, parcels could potentially be delivered much faster. This paper argues, with the support of the state-of-the-art research, that UASs will be used for transporting parcels in an urban environment in the coming decades. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is a comprehensive assessment of the waste management system in Besisahar municipality. Information and some data have been collected from the municipality of Besisahar, followed by interviews with municipal officials responsible for waste management, stakeholders, waste workers, and residents. A total of 230 households, 20 schools, 10 government and private offices, 10 financial institutions, 60 commercial hotels, restaurants, and shops, and 20 medical shops and healthcare institutions, were selected in this study by random sampling. An extensive field study was conducted within all municipal wards and at dump sites. The results indicated that 42.14% of solid waste was collected through door-to-door collection services, 5.87% was mismanaged in open public places, 11.21% was used as compost manure, and the rest was discarded on riverbanks, dug up, and burned. A large component of the characterization of household waste consisted of organic waste (68.03%), followed by paper/paper products (8.13%), agricultural waste (5.5%), plastic (5.21%), construction (3.81%), textile (2.72%), metals (0.54%), glass (1.01%), rubber (0.10%), electronic (0.05%), pharmaceutical (0.1%) and others (4.78%) in the Besishahar municipality. Solid waste generation was found to be at 197.604 g/capita/day, as revealed by cluster sampling in 230 households. Around 4.285 tons-solid waste/day were generated in urban areas, while 16.13 tons-solid waste/day was estimated for the whole municipality. An important correlation between the parameters of solid waste was found by statistical analysis. Currently, solid waste is dumped on riverbanks, open fields, and springs, creating environmental and health hazards. The findings of this study will be useful to Besisahar municipality and its stakeholders in forming policies that facilitate waste management practices in this region and promote sustainable waste management systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The regional networking strategy is widely implemented in China as a normative policy aimed at fostering cohesion and enhancing competitiveness. However, the empirical basis for this strategy remains relatively weak due to limitations in measurement methods and data availability. This paper establishes the urban networks by the enterprise investment data, and then accurately measures the network's external effects of each city by the method of MGWR model. The results show that: (1) Regional networking plays a significant role in urban development, although it is not the dominant factor. (2) The benefits of network connections may vary depending on the location and level of cities. (3) The major cities assume a pivotal role in the urban network. Based upon the aforementioned research conclusions, this paper presents strategic measures to enhance the network's external impacts, aiming to offer insights for other regions in formulating regional development strategies and establishing regional urban networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Africa's population is expected to triple by 2050, owing to rapid urbanisation and overall demographic trends. The combined pressures of urbanisation and climate change impact the ecosystem and the services it provides. As a result, additional dangers such as increased flooding, and environmental disruption have risen. Therefore, devising adaptive solutions to mitigate flood risk impacts while also building community resilience is needed. Evidence suggests that Nature‐based Solutions (NbS) can potentially alleviate floods and mitigate climate change impacts while also delivering other societal benefits. Despite rising NbS popularity following its recognition in the last decade, studies on its recognition in Africa remain limited. For this reason, this paper reviewed NbS studies conducted in East Africa (EA) to evaluate opportunities and barriers surrounding NbS adoption in EA. Academic literature published from January 2012 to May 2022 was reviewed using a comprehensive search of the SCOPUS database. Results show 14 papers have been published during the period, with the majority being post‐2020. In addition, the majority of the articles focused on cities and peri‐urban settlements, while public awareness, clear guidelines on performance monitoring, stakeholder inclusion, and diverse demonstration projects were highlighted as potential success factors for the adoption of NbS in EA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increasing uncertainty of urban security, urban resilience construction with risk awareness and bottom-line thinking has become essential for promoting sustainable urban development. This paper measures China's urban resilience development index (CRDI) based on 284 cities in China (except Tibet) using the entropy method from four dimensions: economic, social, environmental, and infrastructure, and analyzes it by combining coupling coordination degree and barrier factor analysis. We find that: (1) At the national level, CRDI and its sub-dimensions show an increasing trend in time, a decreasing spatial layout from coastal to inland, and a "high-high-low-low" clustering feature in space. (2) At the regional level, the CRDI is from high to low in the east, middle, and west order. The sub-dimensions are from high to low in the order of east, middle, and west for economic, social, and infrastructure resilience and from high to low in the order of east, west, and middle for environmental resilience. (3) To coupling coordination degree, the CRDI index coupling coordination is increasing in time trend but is still on the verge of dissonance. (4) Social resilience is the main obstacle factor. In the indicator layer, human resources, innovation, education, security, living, and environmental protection are the areas where CRDI coordinated development is the key to improvement. Based on the above empirical evidence, this paper proposes countermeasures to optimize urban resilience construction from four perspectives: economic, social, environmental, and infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying influential spreaders in complex networks is a crucial issue that can help control the propagation process in complex networks. An aviation network is a typical complex network, and accurately identifying the key city nodes in the aviation network can help us better prevent network attacks and control the spread of diseases. In this paper, a method for identifying key nodes in undirected weighted networks, called weighted Laplacian energy centrality, was proposed and applied to an aviation network constructed from real flight data. Based on the analysis of the topological structure of the network, the paper recognized critical cities in this network, then simulation experiments were conducted on key city nodes from the perspectives of network dynamics and robustness. The results indicated that, compared with other methods, weighted Laplacian energy centrality can identify the city nodes with the most spreading influence in the network. From the perspective of network robustness, the identified key nodes also have the characteristics of accurately and quickly destroying network robustness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information related to knowledge management economics, particularly on the notion of knowledge spillovers. It mentions the benefits of an individual's knowledge spilling over to other persons which play a critical role in economic growth and the existence of cities. Information about patent citations and interferences is provided.

Copyright of Studia Historica Brunensia is the property of Masaryk University, Faculty of Arts and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article presents an analysis on the planning reform agenda in the 2007 White Paper "Planning for a Sustainable Future" in Great Britain. The author stated that the paper marked a conclusion to another period of uncertainty for city planning. He said White Paper contained proposals for an independent commission to deal with major infrastructure projects. He said that the statements of national policy in the White Paper was subject to consultation, parliamentary scrutiny and ministerial sign off. He emphasized that the full public participation was significant in the statements of national policy.

How can computational tools support the proposition of 15-minute cities? This paper examines the implementation of computer-aided approaches that support the analysis and proposition of urban areas where residents can access all their basic needs within a 15-minute walk, bike ride, or public transportation ride—the ultimate goal of a 15-minute city. Although this concept has gained significant attention as a sustainable and equitable urban development model, more efficient implementations require complex spatial and temporal analysis. At the same time, computational approaches such as those within the generative and parametric logic can utilize algorithms to create and test design solutions quickly and efficiently, allowing designers to address a variety of scenarios and options for producing more walkable, integrated, and resilient urban environments. Exploring a systematic review of the scientific literature (n = 244 peer-reviewed empirical studies) on Scopus and Web of Science databases, this paper synthesizes approaches to support the analysis and design of 15-minute cities, emphasizing the use of computer-aided techniques. The work contributes to developing a knowledge base on computational tools for 15-minute cities, highlighting their strengths, limitations, and potential for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The deployment of intelligent transportation is still in its early stages and there are many challenges that need to be addressed before it can be widely adopted. Autonomous vehicles are a class of intelligent transportation that is rapidly developing, and they are being deployed in selected cities. A combination of advanced sensors, machine learning algorithms, and artificial intelligence are being used in these vehicles to perceive their environment, navigate, and make the right decisions. These vehicles leverage extensive data sourced from various sensors and computers integrated into the vehicle. Hence, massive computational power is required to process the information from various built-in sensors in milliseconds to make the right decision. The power required by the sensors and the use of additional computational power increases the energy consumption, and, hence, could reduce the range of the autonomous electric vehicle relative to a standard electric car and lead to additional emissions. A number of review papers have highlighted the environmental benefits of autonomous vehicles, focusing on aspects like optimized driving, improved route selection, fewer stops, and platooning. However, these reviews often overlook the significant energy demands of the hardware systems—such as sensors, computers, and cameras—necessary for full autonomy, which can decrease the driving range of electric autonomous vehicles. Additionally, previous studies have not thoroughly examined the data processing requirements in these vehicles. This paper provides a more detailed review of the volume of data and energy usage by various sensors and computers integral to autonomous features in electric vehicles. It also discusses the effects of these factors on vehicle range and emissions. Furthermore, the paper explores advanced technologies currently being developed by various industries to enhance processing speeds and reduce energy consumption in autonomous vehicles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many companies prefer to use third party logistics firms to deliver their goods and as such planning the return of the vehicles to the depot is not required. This is called open vehicle routing problem (OVRP). In literature, the OVRP is handled with minimum distance as objective function like vehicle routing problem. But in the real world, the objective function achieves minimum many costs like standard routing cost, stopping by cost and the deviation cost. The standard routes are previously defined under free market conditions by third party logistic firms. The deviation from the standard route is required to arrive cities which are not on the standard route. The stop by cost occurs on the delivery points. In this paper mentioned three costs are considered in the objective function while many papers consider only distance related costs in the literature. This paper proposes a new mathematical model for the OVRP. In the constraints, the last points of the routes are researched in detail. The standard route costs are determined by considering the last point of the route. Because of the NP-hard structure of the OVRP, the proposed mathematical model is solved with a hybrid metaheuristic called Civilized Genetic Algorithm (CGA). CGA is developed by hybridizing a modified genetic algorithm and a local search algorithm. The application of this study is implemented for the delivery routing of a combi boiler producer in Turkey. The third party logistic firms may use this proposed model and the solution approach for the real life applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]