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This study is based on the use of geographic information system, remote sensing and multiple-criteria decision analysis as tools and methods well suited for the selection of the appropriate sites for landfills; which best illustrates the multidisciplinary approach to allow the selection of environmentally sound, economically feasible and socially acceptable sites with high precision and within reasonable cost and time. The result indicates that on the total of the studied area; 3·6% (4634 ha) is highly suitable, 12% (16282 ha) is suitable, 3·1% (3907 ha) is moderately suitable and 80% (102632 ha) is unsuitable for a landfill. Indeed, the results show that six priority sites have been selected for solid waste disposal in Casablanca city area: five sites suitable in the province of Nouaceur and one site in the province of Mediouna.

This paper focuses on the critical role of institutional entrepreneurs’ social skills in enabling transformative change as described by the Multi-Level Perspective. Understanding the role of social skills is crucial for developing a micro-foundational view of sustainability transitions. We develop an analytical framework using a multiple case study on Swiss cantonal planners who acted as institutional entrepreneurs during comparable sustainability transitions by introducing sustainable planning practices within their cantons. We find seven applied skills (i) empathic, (ii) analytical, (iii) translational, (iv) framing, (v) tactical, (vi) organizational, and (vii) timing. Four propositions discuss the role of these social skills across transition phases: from pre-development to take-off, from take-off to acceleration, and from acceleration to stabilization. We present conclusions and implications for future research on the micro-foundations of sustainability transitions.

The Environmental Sensitivity Mapping(ESM) Tool is A crucial tools to show location of resources and to indicate environmentally sensitive areas so Environmental planner can use it to take decisions about land development response .GIS has opened up new possibilities for integrating interdisciplinary studies and analysis, which are essential for sustainable planning, especially in island planning as aspecial cases, Island ecosystems are highly sensitive and dynamically, facing many natural and human challenges. Therefore, the research presents a tool (ESM) that is designed according to the unique characteristics of the Egyptian islands to achieve sustainability by using GIS. In The paper, suggestions for future land use, development decisions and protection decisions can be taken from evidence of ES. Paper will be applied to Al-Shaeir Island, is considered one of the areas of unique island, which is located in head of the Delta, where the Nile branches into Rosetta and Damian, it represents historical environmental components. In addition, the Island faces many economic, social, and construction problems that have led to environmental impacts reflected on the ecosystem. So that, it needs ESM tools for achieving sustainable ecological management in Egyptian island cases.

Implementation of the ESF project “Reduction of Fragmentation of Study Programmes and Strengthening of Resource Sharing by Developing and Licensing the Bachelor's Study Programme “Special Education” and Accrediting the Study Direction “Education, Pedagogy and Sport” (No. 8.2.1.0/18/1/003) has started in September 2019. The aim of the project: in cooperation with University of Latvia (LU), Daugavpils University (DU), Liepaja University (LiepU), to develop and license the study programme "Special Education" and accredit the study direction "Education, Pedagogy and Sport" that includes the developed study programme in order to reduce the fragmentation of study programmes in Latvia’s higher education institutions and strengthen the sharing of resources. In order to achieve the aim, a working group of experts - delegates of four higher education institutions (Rezekne Academy of Technologies (RTA), DU, LU, LiepU) – has been set up. In cooperation with the expert of special education implementation issues in Latvia and the EU and the expert of study programme development issues, the group mutually exchanges experience on development and implementation of special education study programmes and gets acquainted with the competence approach and the experience of competent foreign universities in the field of inclusive education implementation and training of special education teachers. The working group works on developing, licensing and approbating the Bachelor's study programme "Special Education" that is going to correspond to the needs of the education system in Latvia and the principles of sustainable planning.

Drawing on interviews with selected UK planning academics and survey results from current planning practitioners, this article provides valuable and timely perspectives on how internationalisation is experienced by those within and beyond the immediate institutional context. Although internationally focused planning education helps planners tackle the manifold urban challenges in the global South, the article goes on to argue that relational approaches hold much promise for planners working in so-called developed countries, including the UK, to understand the diverse needs of different diasporic communities. Such knowledge is crucial to develop sustainable planning solutions in the face of uneven processes of urban development.

The urban advances of the last decades have enabled the expansion of the electric sector globally, hence increasing the waste generated by such activities. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) standards have been adopted worldwide by the electricity sector and corroborate for sustainable planning of these companies. However, a gap in studies that specifically address the waste management strategies in such sustainability reports for this sector can be highlighted. Therefore, the present study aimed at identifying and analyzing quantities, typologies, and disposal options for waste generated in the electricity sector through declared information of a sample of companies worldwide in GRI reports from 2017 to 2019, besides discussing the results under the sustainability and circularity approaches. The adopted methodology considered the selection of the electricity sector's companies in the GRI database and the evaluation, according to sustainability criteria, of the collected data related to waste management. The results pointed to 26 holding companies, 15 of them reported waste management, but, in general, nonstandard. During the analyzed period, approximately 51.2 ​Mt of waste were declared, 99.2% of which refer to non-hazardous waste, and a fraction of 55% of the total generated waste sent to landfills, even though a large part of it was recyclable. Nonetheless, the sample pointed to a 17% reduction in the total waste generation and a decrease of 56% on landfilling in the two-year analysis, which might constitute a trend in internal policies for increasing the sustainability and circularity levels in the electricity sector concerning waste management. This study innovated by highlighting the current practices on waste management and its evolution towards more sustainable patterns in the electricity sector, which are, to the best of our knowledge, still incipient themes discussed by the recent literature.

Portugal and Spain share one of the greatest European borderland areas. This fact has direct impacts on a large territory and consequently on the communities’ living in it. Still, even if the border areas represent an essential fraction of the territory, planning policies have not resulted in specific cooperation programs that could enable sharing general leisure and recreation assets and infrastructures and collaboration in critical domains—i.e., the case of the health sector. The present study aims to assess the territorial accessibility to the hemodynamic rooms by the potential population of the Spanish-Portuguese transition areas that may suffer an acute myocardial infarction. Contextually, this study employed a spatial interaction model based on the three-step floating catchment area method (method-3SFCA). By applying these methods, it was possible to develop a map of accessibility to health infrastructures equipped with hemodynamics rooms on both sides of the border that may answer the Spanish-Portuguese border populations’ needs. Besides, while granting valuable information for decision-makers regarding the need to develop new infrastructures to guarantee that even considering cross border cooperation, everyone gets access to a hemodynamics room within the critical intervention period. GR18052, GR18054, 018/RID/2018/19 info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The aim of this article is to select the optimum green energy sources for sustainable planning from a given set of energy alternatives. This study examines the combined behavior of multi-criteria decision-making approaches-TOPSIS, MOOSRA and COPRAS are used to evaluate the green energy sources–solar, hydro, biogas and biomass and to identify the optimum source by appraising its functioning features based on entropy probability technique. An illustrative case study is presented in order to demonstrate the application feasibility of the combined approaches for the ranking of optimum green energy sources. The analyzed results show that biogas is the optimum green energy source having the highest score value obtained by combined approaches. The sensitivity analysis shows the robustness of the combined approaches with the highest effectiveness. The study not only considers the various cost criteria but other actors like power generation, implementation period and useful life are also considered to select the optimum green energy sources for future project investment.

Water being one of the most important elements for life on earth and the planetary ecosystem as a whole, it is widely recognized by both society and the United Nations as one of the most important research problems of the modern world. One of the difficulties faced by this system has to do with the management of water treatment plants in the context of sustainable development. This article introduces a decision-making support system conceived to develop an optimal planning aimed at the efficiency and sustainability of the drinking water treatment chain. The system is made up of a mathematical programming model and a solution procedure for the optimal planning of the water treatment in a bi-objective context. Thus, the first objective maximizes profit and the second one minimizes the emission of pollutants. The following constraints are considered: mass balances, production capacities of the different water production echelons and their specific conditions, water supply and demand, and the technically permissible levels of pollutants, which are generically suggested, regardless of the technologies and production alternatives. Due to its particular nature, the model allows solving any instance of the problem in excellent CPU times.

The Generation Expansion Planning (GEP) stands as one as one of the most discussed topics within the academia and decision makers in the energy sector, especially related to meeting deep emission reduction targets. Every country, aiming at decarbonizing its economy, focuses on the application of policies that could enhance the penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in its power capacity mix. GEP is a complex task, combining techno-economic, financial, spatial and environmental characteristics. Several models are developed to model GEP, applying different methodological approaches. The underlying theory is very important as it might inherit bias in the resulted outcomes. The debate on the appropriateness of each methodology is increased, especially as projected outlooks deviate from reality. The paper aims to provide a review of the models employed to integrate RES in the GEP. The paper classifies models in three generic categories: optimisation models, general/partial equilibrium models and alternative models, not adopting the optimum integration of RES in the GEP. It provides insights on the characteristics, advantages and disadvantages of the theoretical approaches implemented, as well on their suitability for different aspects of the problem, contributing in the better understanding on the expected outcomes of each methodology.

The great degree of human development in recent centuries has generated an environmental problem: the spread of human activities through the landscape without sustainable planning. Currently, most natural areas of the planet that are protected for their natural resources have not been impacted by linear infrastructure. The landscape is one of the natural resources that is adversely affected by linear infrastructure. In this short essay, a methodological procedure is described that is easy to use and cost effective and allows for early stage environmental planning. The method uses environmental assessment maps in which weighted pixel values for landscape quality and visual fragility are predetermined. GIS techniques, such as accumulated costs and driving direction scripts, are used to calculate linear infrastructure routes that have the lowest environmental impact. The optimal path is generated by quantitatively calculating the impact of each map pixel along the route such that alternative routes can be selected prior to construction. This method is a powerful tool for environmental modelling focused on the avoidance of environmental impacts during the assessment phase of a project.

Sustainable planning of waste management is contingent on reliable data on waste characteristics and their variation across the seasons owing to the consequential environmental impact of such variation. Traditional waste characterization techniques in most developing countries are time-consuming and expensive; hence the need to address the issue from a modelling approach arises. In modelling the complexity within the system, a paradigm shift from the classical models to the intelligent models has been observed. The application of artificial intelligence models in waste management is gaining traction; however its application in predicting the physical composition of waste is still lacking. This study aims at investigating the optimal combinations of network architecture, training algorithm and activation functions that accurately predict the fraction of physical waste streams from meteorological parameters using artificial neural networks. The city of Johannesburg was used as a case study. Maximum temperature, minimum temperature, wind speed and humidity were used as input variables to predict the percentage composition of organic, paper, plastics and textile waste streams. Several sub-models were stimulated with combination of nine training algorithms and four activation functions in each single hidden layer topology with a range of 1–15 neurons. Performance metrics used to evaluate the accuracy of the system are, root mean square error, mean absolute deviation, mean absolute percentage error and correlation coefficient (R). Optimal architectures in the order of input layer-number of neurons in the hidden layer-output layer for predicting organic, paper, plastics and textile waste were 4-10-1, 4-14-1, 4-5-1 and 4-8-1 with R-values of 0.916, 0.862, 0.834 and 0.826, respectively at the testing phase. The result of the study verifies that waste composition prediction can be done in a single hidden-layer satisfactorily.

Study of the spatial and temporal trends of rainfall is very important for water resources planning and management. Therefore, this study has been attempted to examine the spatial and temporal trends and pattern of rainfall over the semiarid Sahibi Basin in Rajasthan State of India for a period of 57 years (1961–2017). Rainfall data for nine stations located over the basin have been obtained from the Department of Water Resources, Rajasthan. Statistical methods such as Mann–Kendall test, Sen’s slope estimator, and linear regression were employed to detect the rainfall trends. Percent change for rainfall, and years of excess and deficient rainfall, have also been identified. The findings have shown high interannual variability in mean annual rainfall with an average of 633.95 mm (SD = 204.93, CV = 32.33). However, no significant rising or declining trend has been observed in the mean annual rainfall over the basin during the 57-year period, whereas Kotkasim and Tapukara stations have shown significant increasing and decreasing trends, respectively. Further, pre-monsoon season rainfall has shown a significant increasing trend. Spatial analysis has shown an increase in rainfall amount from northeastern and western parts to the southeast. The observed spatial and temporal differences in the amount of rainfall are high. These results may be valuable for efficient and sustainable planning and management of water resources for agricultural purposes in the basin.

The ocean provides crucial resources for humanity and enables human existence, but its size and opaqueness limit our capacity for observation and understanding. A recent shift in focus toward developing economic opportunities associated with the ocean, referred to as the “blue economy,” demands environmentally, economically, and socially sustainable planning based on sound scientific knowledge generated from relevant and reliable data. Generating such data requires expanded ocean observations and data management in forms useful to diverse stakeholders, from other scientists to managers to policymakers and society at large. We review past and present biological, physical, and chemical ocean observing technologies, describing some major advances in recent decades and identifying technological gaps and opportunities to improve ocean observation and capacity enhancement. Finally, we discuss what a well-sensed ocean might require to support the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and the United Nations Decade of Ocean Science for Sustainable Development.

Air pollution and the urban heat island effect are consistently linked to numerous respiratory and heat-related illnesses. Additionally, these stressors disproportionately impact low-income and historically marginalized communities due to their proximity to emissions sources, lack of access to green space, and exposure to other adverse environmental conditions. Here, we use relatively low-cost stationary sensors to analyze PM2.5 and temperature data throughout the city of Richmond, Virginia, on the ten hottest days of 2019. For both hourly means within the ten hottest days of 2019 and daily means for the entire record for the year, the temperature was found to exhibit a positive correlation with PM2.5. Analysis of hourly means on the ten hottest days yielded a diurnal pattern in which PM2.5 levels peaked in the early morning and reached their minima in the mid-afternoon. Spatially, sites exhibiting higher temperatures consistently had higher PM2.5 readings, with vulnerable communities in the east end and more intensely developed parts of the city experiencing significantly higher temperatures and PM2.5 concentrations than the suburban neighborhoods in the west end. These findings suggest an uneven distribution of air pollution in Richmond during extreme heat events that are similar in pattern but less pronounced than the temperature differences during these events, although further investigation is required to verify the extent of this relationship. As other studies have found both of these environmental stressors to correlate with the distribution of green space and other land-use factors in cities, innovative and sustainable planning decisions are crucial to the mitigation of these issues of inequity going forward.

Land&ndash, sea interaction dynamics are physiologically regulated by an exchange of matter (and energy) between the anthropic system and the natural environment. Therefore, the appropriate management of land&ndash, sea interaction (LSI)contexts should base on those planning approaches which can holistically support coastal development, such as Maritime Spatial Planning (MSP) and Climate Adaptation Planning (CAP). One of the main limiting factors for this integration is the fragmentation of existing databases and information sources, which compose the territorial knowledge framework. Investigations have sought to address the representation and assessment of &ldquo, wicked&rdquo, and interconnected coastal problems. The present research focuses on the production of the necessary information to fill sectorial knowledge gaps and to merge the available data into a single framework. The research methodology is based on remote sensing assessment techniques and is designed to be replicated in other coastal areas to integrate CAP and MSP. The output maps are a result of the empirical application of the integration of the assessment techniques and are meant to support local decision-making processes. The result aims at illustrating and highlighting the relationships between climate change impact vulnerabilities their spatial relation to marine resources and maritime activities. This can support effective actions aimed at environmental and urban protection, the organization of the uses of the sea and adaptation to climate impacts. The application of the assessment techniques is developed on a case study in the north Adriatic Basin. The Gulf of Trieste constitutes a representative case study for the Mediterranean Basin due to its transboundary nature. The relationship and the ongoing projects between Slovenia and Italy make the case study an interesting context in which to test and train the proposed integrated planning approach. Therefore, the study investigates local vulnerability to climate impacts, i.e., Urban Heat Island (UHI) and urban runoff, and the existing relationship between the urban fabrics and the marine environment.

The relationships between territorial governance and the pursuit of sustainable development are evidenced to be critical. Exploratory tools, like Geographic Information Systems (GIS), enable us to comprehend the patterns, dynamics, and parameters of land-use changes over the years. The results from such studies could be used in the design of a sustainable territorial governance strategy. Contextually, a study has been conducted based on the changes that occurred in land uses in the Canary Archipelago in the years 1990, 2000, 2012, and 2018 using CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) data. Even if most of the land uses have been stable over the analyzed period, the investigation shows a decrease in agricultural areas. By contrast, it is possible to verify an increase in semi-natural areas and urban agglomerations. Moreover, the authors believe that an assessment of the land-use changes on these ultra-peripheral areas will also enable us to disclose some obstacles and opportunities for sustained development. FCT—Foundation for Science and Technology to VALORIZA info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

The design, construction and management of sustainable and intelligent buildings, neighbourhoods and cities require tools that can manage complexity in a completely different manner to the practices adopted to date. This chapter introduces the most advanced current approach, Building Information Modelling (BIM), focusing in particular on its use to support green and smart planning of buildings, neighbourhoods and cities. The initial part of the chapter introduces the general concepts underlying the BIM. The second part explores its application, the Green BIM, intended as the use of the tool to support the sustainable design of buildings. The chapter concludes with the introduction of a more recent concept, the City Information Modelling (CIM), intended as a common platform to design, build and manage the buildings, infrastructures and services of neighbourhoods and cities that evolve towards sustainable and smart schemes.

Hosting mega event is an opportunity for hosting city to attract investment in construction of new building and facilities and upgrading its infrastructure and transportation network required for the event. This research paper explores the conceptual elements adopted by Roads & Transport Authority of Dubai to deliver sustainable planning of new metro line route 2020. The main objectives considered in the planning phase of the new metro line are increase ridership, penetration to new to new development and existing urban areas and continuity of the service beyond event period, which will last for 6 months from Oct 2020 to April 2021. Different alignment options were examined against selection criteria that consisted of the following elements: transportation & future developments or transit oriented development TOD, route insertion, constructability and sustainability to ensure integration with urban areas. Refereed/Peer-reviewed

The primary contribution of this research is the theoretical development of a decision-support framework that identifies the tools and approaches that decision-makers could/should use to create policies and programs that transition society towards sustainability. The framework is then used to consider how Riga municipality might move the city’s transportation system towards sustainability and particular aspect – to planning decisions for passenger network in Riga City in the frame of Rail Baltica project – Riga central multimodal public transportation hub.

With more than 10 million inhabitants, in particular, Seoul, the capital of Korea, has already experienced a number of severe heat wave. To alleviate the potential impacts of heat wave and the vulnerability to heat wave, policy-makers have generally considered the option of heat wave strategies containing adaptation elements. From the perspective of sustainable planning for adaptation to heat wave, the objective of this study is to identify the elements of vulnerability and assess heat wave-vulnerability at the dong level. This study also performs an exploratory investigation of the spatial pattern of vulnerable areas in Seoul to heat wave by applying exploratory spatial data analysis. Then this study attempts to select areas with the relatively highest and lowest level of adaptive capacity to heat wave based on an framework of climate change vulnerability assessment. In our analysis, the adaptive capacity is the relatively highest for Seongsan-2-dong in Mapo and the relatively lowest for Changsin-3-dong in Jongno. This study sheds additional light on the spatial patterns of heat wave-vulnerability and the relationship between adaptive capacity and heat wave.

Lately, even in Romania, the interest in ecological homes has begun to take on proportions. Hugged by curiosity, but especially by reorienting towards a (more) healthier lifestyle, people seek to find out as much detail as possible about them - thus capturing the outline and the present work. Although eco-house construction is simple and eliminates many of the heavy stages of a classical construction, future homeowners omit, due to lack of information, this option, especially in the context in which we do not have a good filter of information about this subject, which will give us the real benefits we have. Ecologic houses seem to be a trend with strong growth, because the shapes that they can wear are extremely varied. The great variety, low price and promise of ecological housing is likely to convince people to completely change their lifestyle. How well are we prepared for sustainable development? How do we meet the demands of today's society? What does a green house look like, how does it behave in time, and how much does it cost? What are the trends in designing a green house? These are just a few questions that we will answer during the work.

Many people live in cities today. Many more will do so in future. This increases the demand for space and (space for) transport. Space to expand roads is usually scarce. Building tunnels or elevated bridges is very expensive. Solving one bottleneck creates another bottleneck downstream. More road infra- structure leads to more cars and more cars to more congestion and externalities. Megacities invest in large-scale (preferably underground) public transport while smaller cities lack the required number of travellers and the money to warrant the high investment costs. In a sustainable city, the supply of goods, services, water, energy and transportation should differ from the current practice. New technologies in car manufacture are interesting, in particular, the nearly roadworthy self-driving (autonomous) cars. It is still a demanding challenge to let these share roads with conventional cars, cyclists and pedestrians. Currently, cities lack the space for a separate network for these cars. A socially challenging alternative would be to replace all private cars by shared electric self-driving cars and small shuttle buses and inte- grate these with mass transport, cycling and walking. Passenger transport would need much less space for driving and parking. Congestion will vanish. Local air pollution, noise and use of resources to pro- duce cars and road materials will be reduced. Reclaimed space can be used to create a more sustainable and social environment and to optimize city logistics. The building blocks of such a (public–private)system exist already or will become available in the future.

Privately owned parks and public spaces (POPS) are increasingly common in New Urbanist (NU) communities. POPS raise concerns related to environmental privilege, equity, and inclusion; however, no investigation has fully analyzed whether POPS in NU communities cause these same concerns. This is particularly problematic because of NU’s recognition as a sustainable planning paradigm and because NU proponents seek to establish mixed-income and ethnically diverse communities. Thus, this study examines how these 3 concerns about POPS play out in NU developments. In addition, it analyzes how municipal policies and real estate processes contribute to establishing POPS in NU communities. We find that concerns about environmental privilege, equity, and inclusion are well founded, and that reliance on POPS provides significant advantages for developers, residents, and municipalities alike, mostly because of cost savings and notions of exclusivity.

Geosites are sites of scientific interest based on geology or geomorphology that can serve various purposes such as research, conservation, education, tourism, and sustainable development. Quantifying their value to potential visitors and researchers is widely recognized as a useful tool for the effective development and management and for the protection of geological heritage of a certain area. Although many quantitative evaluation schemes have been proposed for various types of sites in Europe, over the past two decades, the schemes can give widely variable results for the same sites due to differences in needs and expectations, which can present difficulties for inter-site comparison for management purposes. It therefore remains necessary to develop a uniform evaluation scheme with low overall complexity to assist with prioritization and management. This study presents a new evaluation scheme based on the most commonly used attributes for quantifying geosites as applied to geomorphological landscapes and geological processes with natural and/or cultural heritage. The utility of the evaluation scheme is demonstrated through application to selected geosites in Japan, Germany, and Poland. The results clearly show the present condition of geosites, identify their promotional advantages and disadvantages, and provide a widely applicable reference for planning and development of such sites for geotourism.

Incorporating principles of sustainable development in long-term socio-economic planning at regional and municipal levels requires novel methodology and its supporting tools. In the chapter, the best practices of strategic planning of sustainable initiatives have been investigated based on the thorough analysis of the dynamics of sustainability indicators, major stakeholders, and organizations involved in the process. The approaches supporting sustainable planning and corresponding tools have been identified using planning activities in a large industrial and agricultural area – the Rostov region. As a result, the recommendations on strategic planning supporting sustainability at the local and regional levels are formulated. These recommendations can be useful for strategic planning in other regions with similar socio-economic characteristics.

Sustainable conservation aims to ensure the sustained conservation of landscape multi-functionality which in turn requires ensuring ecosystem service (ES) and habitat quality (HQ) sustainability with inclusive landscape-scale conservation planning. This study proposes a landscape conservation planning (LCP) framework for landscape-scale ES-HQ conservation and sustainability. Spatially explicit hotspots for five ESs and HQs are identified via InVEST and LISA software. Spatiotemporal changes in ES-HQ hotspots, in terms of stability and resilience, are delineated. The Zonation technique is applied to prioritize areas for conservation based on ES-HQ hotspot stability and resilience maps. High priority conservation areas are identified and are used as reserve area inputs for land use modeling with CLUE-S software to simulate future land use change under climate change scenarios. This study reports that varied rainfall and climate are major driving factors of ES-HQ sustainability disturbance in the study area. Furthermore, our proposed conservation Strategy 2 demonstrates that a larger extent of landscape multi-functionality can be sustained when the existing conservation area includes the total area of identified ES-HQ resilient hotspots. This study effectively identifies the stability and resiliency of ES-HQ hotspot areas affected by disturbances for high priority landscape conservation requirements to ensure ES-HQ sustainability and landscape multi-functionality in the study area.

Accurate and reliable water demand forecasting is important for effective and sustainable planning and use of water supply infrastructures. In this paper, a hybrid EEMD-Elman neural network model for hourly campus water demand forecast is proposed, aiming at improving the accuracy and reliability of water demand forecast. The proposed method combines the Elman neural network, EEMD method, and phase space reconstruction method providing favorable dynamic forecast characteristics and improving the forecasting accuracy and reliability. Simulation results show that the proposed model provides a better performance of hourly campus water demand forecast by using the real data of water usage of our campus.

An important quest for a feminist transport agenda is that policy and practice reflect a diverse set of experiences. This chapter explores how professionals understand sustainable mobility and how their understandings are linked to gendered relations. The analysis shows that professionals use their own experiences of travelling as a source of knowledge. Their understandings of sustainable mobility are built on their own middle-class and family-oriented experiences. Sustainable mobility is thus constructed as something desirable but difficult for families to choose since car offers a flexibility that cycling and public transport don’t. This understanding excludes users who lack resources such as car. The chapter concludes with a suggestion for expanding professionals’ knowledge bases, which can support a future feminist transport agenda.

More and more countries are popularizing the use of electric vehicles (EVs) in an effort to consider economic, environment-friendly and sustainable planning goals. Therefore, building sufficient charging stations in the right places becomes increasingly significant and necessary. We approach related problems in Korea by establishing a series of models using publicly available data. We first select the Set Covering model (SC) to simulate the optimal placement and distribution of charging stations for Korea and present a feasible investment planning to solve the classic “chicken or the egg” quandary via using the Evaluation Index System (EIS) based on FAHP theory. Additionally, we establish a TQ Forecasting model (TQF) and then apply it to identify that when the market share of EVs reach 10%, 30%, 50% and 100% is 2022, 2033, 2037 and 2053.

The metabolic study of the southeastern part of the Calderona Mountain Range (Sierra Calderona) was developed over an area of 200 square kilometers. Due to its location on the outskirt of the Metropolitan Area of Valencia (Spain), the Calderona Mountain Range presents most of the metabolic challenges and potentials that characterize peri-urban areas. The main goal of the study was to increase the sustainability levels of the region by optimizing the flows of materials and energy, as well as flows related to the transport of people within and in/outside the region. The following article includes a methodological introduction to regional and urban metabolic studies. Secondly, it presents the specific application of those principles in the Sierra Calderona case and the qualitative and quantitative results of the assessed regional flows. Moreover, the use of Metabolic Functional Areas (FMAs) is proposed to better integrate metabolic studies with land-use and spatial planning. In its second section, the article also presents the potential for shifting toward an optimized metabolism of the studied area, as well as a set of strategies and actions for their achievement. Finally, in the conclusions, we present a critical reflection on the methods, data, exportability and scalability of the results produced in the Sierra Calderona Case. Due to its regional character, the metabolic performance of the Sierra Calderona is connected to a wide range of land uses, productive functions and stakeholders. That is the reason why the formulated strategies and actions are deeply interlinked with different sectors and why they were supported by the results of an open participatory process. However, and in spite of its regional scope, the urban systems of the Sierra Calderona proved to be an essential lever for improving the regional and local sustainability, due to their varied morphological structures, distinctive ways of functioning, and different types of interaction with the surroundings.

Islands as peripheral and ultra-peripheral are typically highlighted as ecologically sensitive areas to human activities due to the tremendous biological diversity of beings and the future possibility of habitat loss. In this regard, the comprehension of the land occupation dynamics and trends in the ultra-peripheral territories is crucial to attempt long-lasting regional sustainability, as is the island region’s case. Therefore, the present article aims to analyze the trends and dynamics of the land-use changes on the European Archipelagos of the Macaronesia Region over the last three decades, using the CORINE (Coordination of Information on the Environment) data. Some of the obtained results show that about 3.4% of the Azores’ surface is characterized mainly by discontinuous urban fabric, representing 67% of the total urban fabric of the Azores over the last thirty years. Additionally, in Madeira Archipelago, the land is mainly occupied by forest and semi-natural areas, representing almost three-thirds of the territory. A similar scenario is verified in the Canary Islands, where forests and semi-natural areas represent approximately three-quarters of the territory. Once more, this study shows the relevance of the island areas’ unique character, which should be preserved and protected. Therefore, the priorities must be defined and established management strategies that are significant for the well-being of these highly valued areas. Moreover, the study showed that notable changes had occurred in the period 1990–2018 in this landscape. Hence there is a need for appropriate measures to mitigate these negative impacts on the environment.

Interest in the peri-urban landscape has grown steadily over the last decade as researchers seek to clarify the character of the space that links the urban and rural environment. However, peri-urban typologies and different perspectives on the relation between peri-urban, urban and rural areas remain unresolved. The present study hypothesizes that exploration and discussion of the views and attitudes of peri-urban landscape users within the frame of current planning-related concepts and practices may make this complexity easier to understand. Using focus groups and interviews, the findings highlight some discrepancies between decision-makers’ knowledge and opinions and users’ views and use of the peri-urban landscape. The study concludes that more inclusive and sustainable planning of peri-urban areas in the future will depend on gathering information about what is going on in the peri-urban landscape.

Historic settlements adapting to local climate and geographical environment contain rich and precious scientific design concepts, which should be investigated extensively. This paper is a study on the sustainable design and planning experiences of Chinese historic settlements. In this study, the thermal environment of Jin-Jiang-Li village with ‘comb-like’ layout in the southern China was simulated to evaluate the interactions between layout, landscape design, and ambient environment. The study has illustrated that the layout as well as the presence of water and vegetation would have an obvious-reducing effect and could play a very important role in improving the microclimate of historic settlements. The findings of our study have an essential practical significance for creating modern sustainable human environments and adapting to the changing modern climate.

This paper presents research, which investigates community engagement in drive tourism in Ireland. In particular, it focuses on the Wild Atlantic Way (WAW), Ireland’s first long distance drive touring route stretching along the Atlantic coast for 2500 km from Donegal to West Cork. Face-to-face surveys were carried out to obtain a representative sample of community stakeholders along this touring route. The findings provide insight into the level of community engagement with drive tourism on the WAW with a high level of approval for the project but a low level of community integrated involvement with this drive-tourism product. This paper concludes that while there are low levels of community engagement with the WAW, there is a significant level of community support for the development of the WAW. However, to acquire community engagement in tourism development requires sustainable planning to maximize community benefits and minimize community costs thus increasing community participation, which is ...

This study seeks to benefit from a medical science-based implication for urban and landscape planning in the Gorgan Township area, a highly developing region in northeastern Iran. Based on growth stages and patterns of a malignant cancer tumor inside a human's body, a sustainable, realistic and practical urban growth pattern is introduced applying land suitability analysis, SLEUTH urban growth modeling, landscape metrics and statistical analyses. This pattern, in this study called cancer-treating , is implemented through three predictive scenarios including afforest protection (AP), rangeland protection (RP) and historical growth (HG). Accordingly, the effects of each scenario on land suitability parameters for afforest, rangeland and urbanization activities are evaluated to compare their efficiency. In addition, Spearman correlation analysis is also undertaken to measure the bivariate associations between landscape metrics and land suitability values to specifically address the consistency of the cancer-treating growth pattern with the potential of the study area. According to the results, the HG scenario yielded the highest amount of urban growth without substantially modifying the historical growth trajectory while no negative impact on land potential for targeted land-uses were detected. Correlations between landscape metrics and land suitability parameters also provided evidence for the functionality of the cancer-treating growth pattern in terms of area and connectivity metrics. Findings of the present study highlight that cancer-treating growth strategy can be considered as a realistic, practical and sustainable planning alternative for Iranian developing urban environments that are at times undergoing uncontrolled expansion processes.

Environmental deprivation is an issue influencing the urban wellbeing of a city. However, there are limitations to spatiotemporally monitoring the environmental deprivation. Thus, recent studies have introduced the concept of “Smart City” with the use of advanced technology for real-time environmental monitoring. In this regard, this study presents an improved Integrated Environmental Monitoring System (IIEMS) with the consideration on nine environmental parameters: temperature, relative humidity, PM2.5, PM10, CO, SO2, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), UV index, and noise. This system was comprised of a mobile unit and a server-based platform with nine highly accurate micro-sensors in-coupling into the mobile unit for estimating these environmental exposures. A calibration test using existing monitoring station data was conducted in order to evaluate the systematic errors. Two applications with the use of the new system were also conducted under different scenarios: pre- and post-typhoon days and in areas with higher and lower vegetation coverage. Linear regressions were applied to predict the changes in environmental quality after a typhoon and to estimate the difference in environmental exposures between urban roads and green spaces. The results show that environmental exposures interact with each other, while some exposures are also controlled by location. PM2.5 had the highest change after a typhoon with an estimated 8.0 μg/m³ decrease that was controlled by other environmental factors and geographical location. Sound level and temperature were significantly higher on urban roads than in urban parks. This study demonstrates the potential to use IIEMS for environmental quality measurements under the greater framework of a Smart City and for sustainability research.

This introductory chapter lists the attributes of small towns, maps social transformations, and outlines contemporary challenges that those communities are facing and principles of sustainable planning. Setting the stage for the chapters that follow, it provides background and supportive material on environmental challenges, demographic trends, economic changes, and cultural aspects with unique implications on the retooling of town centres.

The EU project SmartReFlex—smart and flexible, 100%-renewable district heating and cooling systems for European cities—aims to promote the massive use of renewable sources for heating and cooling in cities through district heating networks. Among the project activities, the analysis of real case studies shows the potential of renewables in district heating systems. AIRU, Italian Association of District Heating, and the Department of Energy of Politecnico di Milano are supporting the promotion of local initiatives for renewable networks in the Emilia Romagna region: the feasibility of a multisource DHC system in Mirandola is assessed and presented in this paper. In Mirandola’s district heating and cooling system, natural gas is only one among several possible energy sources: alternative configurations integrating biomass, biogas and solar thermal have been included in the study. The analysis deals with the extension of the network and with the choice of the best new energy source to cover the new heat demand. The use of MCDA has been applied in order to perform a holistic analysis of possible energy-related choices by considering competing objectives. For instance, the use of biomass is quite controversial: biomass is a renewable, local and a CO2 neutral source, able to reduce GHG emissions. However, biomass burning can have negative impacts on air quality by producing pollutants such as PM10, BaP, SOx and NOx. This paper presents the multicriteria process applied to plant design, the various alternatives and the criteria used. The result is a combination of natural gas, biogas, solar thermal energy and biomass, which corresponds to the preference of both the utility and municipality.

To encourage sustainable planning processes and behaviours in the engineering profession and the wider public there is an urgent need for policy-makers, urban planners and engineers to consider psychological factors. When urban plans, policies and projects neglect public values and beliefs, projects may be less likely to fulfil the intended aims. This paper investigates the role of psychological factors of belief, risk perception, trust and attitude in the adoption of urban plans and sustainability policies by explaining why these result in inconsistencies in behaviour. Examples are provided from the literature and recent case studies to support this and demonstrate how these factors explain the reluctance of the public to engage in sustainable behaviours. Recommendations are provided for urban planners, central and local government and engineers to achieve and maintain sustainable behaviours by the public and professionals by considering behavioural theories.

This paper proposes a new tool for assessing the impacts of shopping centres on the urban ecosystem. This decision-making tool is innovative because it is holistic: a holistic impact assessment (HIA). It can take into account all the impacts of shopping centres, viz. economic, social, environmental (natural and built environment) ones and their impact on urban governance. The assessment approaches adopted so far tend to focus on the socio-economic impact or on the transport infrastructure one, and to a lesser extent, the environmental impact. Yet, the whole urban ecosystem is affected at several spatial scales. The paper reports the use of the HIA tool applied to a case study, Bab Ezzouar regional shopping centre in Algiers, showing its operational ability when integrated in the urban and commercial sustainable planning process.

This paper reviews rail station access outcomes and potentials across the Melbourne metropolitan area. Assumptions and discussions around rail transit access tend to emphasise the issue of park and ride (P&R) to a degree that is not borne-out by the reality of access to stations in usage statistics. Equally, a great deal of energy is invested in discussion of sustainable planning and ‘integration’, without making the vital connection between mass transit and new investments in walking and in cycling infrastructure for access to transit. In this paper, we critically review the level of performance in station access mode shares across Melbourne – using techniques such as cluster analysis, in combination with mapping and cross-references to broader demographic and land-use trends. We find that P&R in Melbourne are sometimes a ‘poor fit’ by being heavily utilised in some middle-suburban locations. Melbourne's bus–rail connectivity is patchy – with some locations delivering high levels of bus-based access to r...

Historic settlements adapting to local climate and geographical environment contain rich and precious scientific design concepts which should be investigated extensively. The paper is the further study on the sustainable design and planning experiences of Chinese historic settlements. In our previous works, we simulated the wind environment of the Shang-gan-tang village in the central-western region of China which is characterized with hot-humid climate and examined the relationship between settlement selection and layout and the wind environment of the village. In this study, the thermal environment of the village was simulated and the traditional bioclimatic design concepts and techniques were investigated in order to explore a more comprehensive guide for creating sustainable modern human settlement adapting the changing climate.

It is increasingly recognized around the world that the landscape needs more sustainable planning and management. It often needs new tools to effectively apply the principles, planning and management of sustainable development. Therefore, when planning for sustainable development, the ecological knowledge is essential.

Urban metabolism components define the energy and material exchanges within a city and, therefore, can provide valuable information on the environmental quality of urban areas. Assessing the potential impact of urban planning alternatives on urban metabolism components (such as energy, water, carbon and pollutants fluxes) can provide a quantitative estimation of their sustainability performance. Urban metabolism impact assessment can, therefore, contribute to the identification of sustainable urban structures with regards, for example, to building types, materials and layout, as well as to location and capacity of transportation and infrastructural developments. In this way, it enables the formulation of planning and policy recommendations to promote efficient use of resources and enhance environmental quality in urban areas. The European FP7 project BRIDGE (sustainaBle uRban plannIng Decision support accountinG for urban mEtabolism) has developed a decision-support system (DSS) that systematically integrates urban metabolism components into impact assessment processes with the aim of accurately quantifying the potential effects of proposed planning interventions. The DSS enables integration of multiple spatial and non-spatial datasets (e.g. physical flows of energy and material with variables of social and economic change) in a systematic manner to obtain spatially defined assessment results and to thus inform planners and decision-makers. This multi-criteria approach also enables incorporation of stakeholders' perceptions in order to prioritise decisive assessment criteria. This paper describes the methodological framework used to develop the DSS and critically examines the results of its practical application in five European cities.

This study deals with the problem of the negotiation between public and private actors in the urban planning, in the case study of the Plan for the Sustainable Development of Syracuse (Italy). The contribution focuses on the modalities of execution of the Plan that envisages the tool of the Public-Private Partnership (PPP). The study intends to verify the equity of the negotiation mechanism and the advantage gained by the public actor from conferring two large buildings to a Real Estate Fund. The contribution is structured in three parts. The first part provides the general programmatic and valuation frame referring to the features of the area. It describes the overall development perspectives and therefore the whole process of real estate development that would be supported by means of the contribution of the fund. The second part describes the implementation of a cash flow analysis based on a hypothesis of use of the buildings previously outlined. The third part provides the elements of the analysis of the investment that are retroactive on the design hypotheses converging on the value assessed to determine the quota of participation of the Municipality in the Real Estate Fund.