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In 2020, more than seven million people across the globe starved, and 868 million people were estimated to be undernourished globally. Although the eradication of hunger is a noble goal, the continuously growing world population together with the warning of a future characterized by food insecurity spells ongoing hardship for the future of humankind. This study explores the extent of permaculture literature to establish its potential place within urban systems. A scoping review looks at permaculture literature from the last 8 years to establish its benefits and limitations, possibly within urban systems. Permaculture is mainly studied from social, environmental, and economic perspectives, and mostly within rural contexts. Urban planning directly concerns the social, environmental, and economic dimensions of urban systems. This study thus reveals the possible merits of permaculture for food production within urban systems; however, certain limitations should be kept in mind that may encumber the implementation of permaculture by urban planning.

By studying Aboriginal maps, this speculative research discusses world heritage concepts about land and merges them into western urban contexts. Assumptions concerning spatial allocation and demarcation such as boundaries, divisions and geometric patterns are being contested by ideas pertaining to Indigenous narratives expressing holistic views about community, and the ecosystem as integrated components of broader organisations. First, this paper introduces principles of the Indigenous culture spurring viable land management by shared, equal and inclusive schemes as ones that also respond to global socio-environmental challenges. Alternative strategies are being considered relating to the soft demarcation of distinct areas understood as malleable aggregates merging with each other and with the landscape's topological features, with reference to the Aboriginal culture. The techniques being proposed are further compared with original approaches in architecture and urban design developed since late modernism, challenging enduring practices. Seen next to each other, these models of thought are suggestive of a paradigm shift by which architecture reinforces deeper connections with the intellectual, sociocultural, and natural resources of the greater cosmos. Furthermore, as these ideas are propelled by computing, they lead towards the dynamic linking of analysis with the design results producing all-sustainable structures that are widely applicable, as architecture's contribution to the current socio-scientific discourse on holistic approaches with a more-than-human perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is growing evidence that projected climate change has the potential to significantly affect public health. Many of these effects are likely to be exacerbated by the risks associated with exposure to heat, floods, and chemical and biological pollution in cities. Identifying the effects of climate change on the environment, and the risks and opportunities of adapting to mitigating climate change can help city policies and planning. The stability of urban systems may be jeopardized if appropriate measures are not taken with the urban climate in the field of environment. Studies show that urban life has always been closely related to the natural environment. One of the most important natural factors involved in the typology of cities, which has a very influential role, is climate. In fact, the characteristics and conditions of geographical spaces, especially cities, are due to the natural and abnormal natural possibilities and limitations of natural geographical factors. Because the city originates from the mathematical and relative position, natural factors, especially climate, have a great impact on the typology and natural and human characteristics of cities. In this fundamental article, a descriptive-analytical method has been tried to examine urban space policies with emphasis on the environmental field. The question that arises here is what effect does climate change have on the type and method of policy- making and policy of urban managers in the field environmental? The results show that cities are climatically divided into desert, mountainous and coastal cities that have their own economic and social characteristics. Since environmental issues in any country are largely due to natural conditions and the characteristics of the human environment, knowledge of natural geography and an understanding of the dialectical relationships between the environment and humans are important for analyzing geographical issues. And has a significant role in managing space policy, especially urban space. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Soundwalks provide rich data, showcasing the dynamic interplay of sounds in parks. • Innovative use of graph theory reveals complex soundscape networks in city parks. • Central role of water sounds in enhancing urban park ambiance is uncovered. • Sound co-occurrence mapping reveals intricate urban park soundscapes. Based on the detailed exploration of urban park soundscapes through graph theory, this study presents a nuanced examination of the acoustic environments of two urban parks located in Wrocław, Poland, and Ankara, Turkey. The research captures the diversity of sound events within these parks, emphasizing the co-occurrence and interconnectivity of natural and anthropogenic sounds. By mapping these sounds into a network, the research provides a novel perspective on urban soundscapes, emphasizing the usefulness of some of indicators stemming from graph science in the realms of urban park acoustics. The findings suggest that a holistic approach to urban park design, considering the various measures of acoustic ecosystem organization, can contribute significantly to urban planning and environmental conservation. Through detailed analysis, the study reveals the potential of graph-theoretical approaches in understanding and improving the auditory experiences in urban green spaces, highlighting the synergy between different sound sources and their collective impact on the urban park ecosystem. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A quantitative approach to examine policy preference conflicts among diverse stakeholders across multiple plans. • Hazard mitigation plan incorporated the most overall stakeholder policy preferences among the four examined plans. • The regional transportation plan incorporated the fewest overall stakeholder policy preferences. • The hazard mitigation plan and the regional conservation plan had the highest level of policy consistency. • The hazard mitigation plan and regional transportation plan had the lowest level of policy consistency. The objective of this paper was to create and test a methodological framework for examining the extent to which various plans captured diverse stakeholder policy preferences related to resilience planning and management of interdependent urban systems. Policy preferences represent what were important for stakeholders and determine the priorities of stakeholders in resilience planning of urban systems. Stakeholders in different urban sectors may have conflicts of policy preferences in the resilience planning process. A comprehensive understanding of the extent to which plans incorporated and reflected policy preferences of different stakeholders would greatly improve the quality of resilience planning. Hence, we proposed a plan evaluation framework to examine the extent to which various plans captured diverse stakeholder policy preferences in resilience planning of interdependent infrastructure systems. We showed the application of the proposed framework in the evaluation of four plans affecting flood resilience planning in the Houston area. The proposed tool could help identify conflicted stakeholder policy preferences in planning and enable evaluation of policy consistency in networks of plans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the unintended outcomes produced by Finland's planning system? This analysis of present-day planning in Finland addresses how positive aims and promised designs and plans are diluted by the planning process. It shows how changes in the legislation governing planning are empowering the role of institutional needs rather than fostering the desired outcomes. Three levels are analysed: the development and crucial boundary conditions of planning-related legislation; the structure of urban development within the region; and a case study of the 30-year development of an orbital light-rail project. In contrast to claims in the planning literature, the communicative turn has not led to clear positive changes in the process and implementation. This research shows how institutional stakeholders are empowered in current planning practice. The attempt to make planning more inclusive and participatory has paradoxically led into the empowerment of institutional players. The actual outcomes of the planning process are side-tracked, and the evaluation is outsourced in the process, which calls into question the legitimacy of planning actions. There is a need for planning-related studies to address the legislative boundaries and the concrete outputs of the planning process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that planning in the Global South needs to be embedded within a more complex and systemic framework based on understanding cities' functions and transformations, at both local and regional levels, whilst advocating for and incorporating informal and temporary dynamics. This is to differentiate between two competing processes: formal planning and citizen-led place-making, here considered as a form of reactive alternative-substitute place-making that occurs when there is no available alternative. The paper calls for a better integration of such impermanent, adaptable, temporary and alternative forms of place-making into the planning process for regional futures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of On the W@terfront is the property of University of Barcelona, Centre de Recerca POLIS 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.)

Today, major planning agendas in Europe steer the future of territorial organization towards an urban polycentric perspective. The accessibility to services of general interest (SGI), a significant source of spatial inequality in Europe, is one of the key challenges to address. However, instruments needed to support the implementation and monitoring of territorial policy measures regarding the distribution of, and accessibility to SGI are still under-developed. Studies generally relate to the (intra)regional and not the national scale. When they do so, they lose local specificity as they often consider the existence/availability of services at a given scale and not the actual capacity to reach their (often just estimated) location through the transport network. In the context of the revision of Portugal's National Plan for Territorial Planning Policies, this paper presents a comprehensive multi-criteria location-based approach for measuring the factual accessibility to a representative range of SGI at the national Portuguese scale. Results are evaluated considering the dichotomy between centrality and periphery, high and low density, and the regional disparities found. High accessibility values do not necessarily mean greater territorial cohesion. Contributions to the development of national planning policies that respond to cohesion challenges are also debated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aimed at identifying factors that could support increasing urban competitiveness or on the contrary, which may have negative effects on the level of urban competitiveness. The work highlighted a series of viable actions through which Bucharest could maintain a satisfactory level of urban competitiveness. This was accomplished through an empirical research on the urban competitiveness of Bucharest, which included the analysis of the questionnaire results applied on three large employers in Romania in order to test the hypotheses and to capture the factors that could increase the urban competitiveness of Bucharest. Also, the paper revealed the role of local actors regarding the factors that influence competitiveness and what caused Bucharest's decline in terms of urban competitiveness in 2018 compared to 2017. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

City, urban systems and their evolution are classical interdisciplinary issues in urban studies. Most traditional classical theories have different drawbacks because of the inherent limitations of their basic disciplines. Therefore, a general theoretical framework is urgently needed to interpret city, urban systems and their evolution. This study proposed a novel theoretical framework of urban systems and their evolution (the GUSE theory) to explain the processes and features of origin, spatial pattern and evolution of regional urban systems. We firstly proposed definitions of coverage, city and urban system based on Graph Theory method; then built models and indices to interpret and evaluate growth and evolution of urban system by combining the model of spatial interaction flow with the “urban tree (UT)” hypothesis. Numerical simulation is finally conducted to illustrate the GUSE theory and verify the stability of the proposed models. The GUSE theory in this study can provide significant theoretical basis for regional research, such as urban system study and planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Smart cities” grew out of the realization that North American models of suburban development and central business district decline needed to be challenged with new paradigms. This movement began in the 1990s with ideas centered on smart growth and new urbanism. While initially restricted to small, wealthy cities, the ideas that emerged during this period combined with a vertiginous growth in information technologies to create software-driven urban managerial tools for major cities. The increasing “technologization” of urban systems that automatically replicate spatial dynamics has been on the agenda of urban scholars for some time. However, the relatively new paradigms of “whole system” implementation in large urban centers has not been the subject of robust critical engagement. The aim of this paper is to examine critically the implementation and functioning of two “smart cities” systems in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil as part of the city's broader preparations for hosting the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current urban water and energy systems are expanding while increasing attention is paid to their social, economic and environmental impacts. As a research contribution that can support real-world decision making and transitions to sustainable cities and communities, we have built a model-based and data-driven platform combining comprehensive database, agent-based simulation and resource technology network optimization for system level water and energy planning. Several use cases are demonstrated based on the Greater Accra Metropolitan Area (GAMA) city-region in Ghana, as part of the Future Cities Africa (FCA) project. The outputs depict an overall resource landscape of the studied urban area, but also provide the energy, water, and other resource balance of supply and demand from both macro and micro perspectives, which is used to propose environmental friendly and cost effective sustainable city development strategies. This work is to become a core component of the resilience.io platform as an open-source integrated systematic tool gathering social, environmental and economic data to inform urban planning, investment and policy-making for city-regions globally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will have adverse impacts on human health, which are amplified in cities. For these impacts, there are direct, indirect, and deferred pathways. The first category is well-studied, while indirect and deferred impacts are not well-understood. Moreover, the factors moderating the impacts have received little attention, although understanding these factors is critical for adaptation. We developed a conceptual framework that shows the pathways of climate impacts on human health, focusing specifically on the factors of urban environment moderating the emergence and severity of these health impacts. Based on the framework and literature review, we illustrate the mechanisms of direct, indirect, and deferred health impact occurrence and the factors that exacerbate or alleviate the severity of these impacts, thus presenting valuable insights for anticipatory adaptation. We conclude that an integrated systemic approach to preventing health risks from climate change can provide co-benefits for adaptation and address multiple health risks. Such an approach should be mainstreamed horizontally to all sectors of urban planning and should account for the spatiotemporal aspects of policy and planning decisions and city complexity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Phosphorus is a resource that is utilized with efficiency in most parts of the world. Farmers fertilize with increasing precision; wastewater treatment plants strip phosphorus from sewage; and industries make use of phosphorus byproducts. Why, then, do incidents of eutrophication and harmful algal blooms related to excessive phosphorus outflows continue to intensify? Incremental improvements in phosphorus use efficiency and monitoring of individual phosphorus waste streams no longer seem sufficient to dampen these environmental impacts. A radical shift in perspective is needed, one in which phosphorus is treated as a resource rather than as waste. Using substance flow analysis, we explore various types of phosphorus management scenarios for a specific system, for the urban city-state of Singapore. These scenarios are jointly framed with the urban planning agency of Singapore and takes into consideration both behavioral and infrastructural changes to the status quo. These scenarios include strategies and technologies such as composting, separated incineration of organic and non-organic waste, anaerobic co-digestion of food waste and wastewater, and dedicated anaerobic digestion of food waste and wastewater. Publicly available UN Comtrade data is used to establish temporal trends in phosphorus consumption between 1989 and 2012. Phosphorus waste outputs are verified via empirically collected data on household and commercial waste generation. The results of this paper demonstrate how the transition from a linear to a closed-loop phosphorus cycle might be possible for Singapore, an island that is an important test bed for planning the sustainable metabolism of future urban areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The past decade has seen a renaissance of urban agriculture in the world's wealthy, northern cities. The practice of producing food in and around cities is championed as a method to reduce environmental impacts of urban food demands (reducing distance from farm to fork – ‘food miles’) whilst conferring a number of ancillary benefits to host cities (runoff attenuation, urban heat island mitigation) and ex-urban environments (carbon sequestration). Previous environmental assessments have found urban agriculture to be more sustainable than conventional agriculture when performed in mild climates, though opposite findings emerge when external energy inputs are significant. In this study we perform an environmental life cycle assessment of six urban farms in Boston and New York City, US producing lettuce and tomatoes, with conventional counterparts across six impact categories. Performance of urban agriculture was system dependent and no farm provided superior performance to conventional for all indicators. High-yield, heated, greenhouse production of tomatoes has potentially higher environmental burdens than conventional methods in terms of climate change (267–369%) and non-renewable resource depletion (108–239%), driven primarily by external energy inputs. Heated lettuce production systems showed similar trends. Low-tech, empty-lot farming appears to hold some advantages in terms of climate change burdens and resource use, though water and land usage was found to be elevated relative to conventional lettuce and tomatoes. Open rooftop farming apparently provides benefits if high yield crops (e.g. tomatoes) are cultivated, otherwise significant capital inputs detrimentally affect environmental performance. In general, the benefits of reduced food miles may be overwhelmed by energy inputs and inefficient use of production inputs. A comparison of urban agriculture and solar panels showed that the latter would confer greater benefits to mitigate climate change per unit area. Thus, urban agriculture may not be the optimal application of space in northern cities to improve urban environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents a novel approach to design and evaluate ‘last-mile’ solutions – encompassing the social and economic perspectives of key stakeholders. While urban system initiatives have been implemented in practice, theoretical gaps remain at the operational design level. A theoretical framework is developed, based on design criteria identified from a critical synthesis of supply chain and operations management literature, and ‘operationalised’ using an in-depth case study demonstrating implementation of a Consumer Choice Portal-Package Consolidation Centre solution, within a densely populated urban geography. Findings suggest that there is a need to re-define the role of institutional actors beyond that of the traditional governance task, to one of being able to facilitate performance outcomes. Similarly, industrial efficiency dimensions need to be reorientated to include consumer participation, social considerations and multi-stakeholder service outcomes. Finally, implications for operations theory and practising managers in city logistics are highlighted, with suggested directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Technical Transactions / Czasopismo Techniczne is the property of Sciendo 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.)

This paper illustrates the power of geography in solving spatial problems. We demonstrate how an urban system can be produced to meet spatial development objectives stated in Ghana’s nascent National Urban Policy. Even though the growth pole, functional, territorial and economy of affection approaches have been used to theorize the role of towns, we conceptualize the role of towns in the development process as arenas for providing services, infrastructure, livelihoods, housing, governance and environmental protection. Urban systems are therefore produced to meet development objectives which are often spelled out in development plans or societal imperatives. Based on our conceptualization of the role of towns, we identify the current functional structure of Ghana’s urban system. This is followed by a determination of functional gaps and weaknesses in the country’s urban system. We offer ways of filling the gaps and strengthening weaknesses in the country’s urban system in the light of objectives of the proposed NUP. We conclude the paper with general lessons for sub-Saharan African countries. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In this article, the author researches the hypothesis that the urban system in Slovenia has not followed the planning goals over the previous 20 years. Large cities have grown in the form of suburbanisation, while smaller cities have stagnated and have not reached the level of regional centres. The author proposes a new scientific examination of urban systems as a part of Strategic Spatial Plan of the Republic of Slovenia. His thesis is that seven regional urban centres in Slovenia should be developed (including the cities of Ljubljana, Maribor and Koper) as the core of polycentric urbanisation. Other cities should develop according their potentials following free market conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid pace of urbanization which has affected third world countries is a by-product of the post-1945 period. In most developing countries like Iran, spatial population distribution is not balanced, leading to the deficiencies in services, hygiene, formation of slums, and etc. To balance those patterns in the country, different strategies have been applied, one of which is the construction of new cities. This study aims to examine the role of new cities in balancing spatial population distribution in Tehran province. For this purpose, first, the changes in the population of Iran and its urban mechanisms are studied; then, the performances of new towns in previous decades are examined. To analyze data and investigate the role of new cities, entropy coefficient model was used. The results showed that new towns of Tehran have not affected population overflow and deconcentration successfully; as a result, urban officials need to revise construction policies in those cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change will have unavoidable impacts on urban systems and populations, especially in Asia where many large cities are exposed. Climate adaptation will be essential, and planning for adaptation can be simplified through operationalizing concepts of climate resilience and vulnerability. This article reviews concepts and theories in a range of diverse fields to illustrate how the general notion of urban climate resilience can be developed into an operational framework for planning practitioners. The framework integrates theoretical and empirical knowledge of the factors contributing to resilience with processes for translating those concepts into practice. The framework includes characteristics of urban systems, the agents (people and organizations) that depend on and manage those systems, institutions that link systems and agents, and patterns of exposure to climate change. It operationalizes these concepts through structured and iterative shared learning approaches that allow local planners to define these factors in their own context, in order to develop practical strategies for local action. The viability of the framework is demonstrated through examples from resilience planning activities undertaken in 10 cities across Asia through the Asian Cities Climate Change Resilience Network funded by the Rockefeller Foundation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Urban modeling methods have traditionally followed a forward modeling approach. That is, they use data from today’s situation to forecast or simulate future states of an urban system. In this paper, we propose an inverse modeling approach by which we shift our attention from solely forecasting or simulating future states of an urban system to steering it to a desired state in the future via key variables characterizing the system in the present. We first present a theoretical framework for the use of the inverse approach in urban planning. We test the power of the proposed method using a hedonic house price model in a metropolitan area in Switzerland to investigate the negative effects of densification on house prices. The model is calibrated by mixed geographically weighted regression in order to account for spatial variability of both key variables and model outputs. We show how devaluation of house prices caused by densification can be compensated by different levels of socioeconomic, locational as well as structural variables. We illustrate and discuss how trade-offs between variables may lead to more feasible results from an urban planning perspective. We conclude that the proposed method might be valuable for urban planners for developing implementable spatial plans based on future visions. In particular, the fact that other model specifications than hedonic house price model can also be employed to formulate an inverse model application, allows planners to address other type of problems or externalities from urbanization processes such as urban sprawls, environmental pollution or land uses change. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents abstracts on topics related to history and planning including attitudes towards menstruation in Elizabethan England, sexual fantasy in modern America, and feminism.

Copyright of Papeles de Población is the property of Universidad Autonoma del Estado de Mexico 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.)

Abstract: A geographical information system has been developed to model the energy requirements of an urban area. The purpose of the platform is to model with sufficient detail the energy services requirements of a given geographical area in order to allow the evaluation of the integration of advanced integrated energy conversion systems. This tool is used to study the emergence of more efficient cities that realize energy efficiency measures, integrate energy efficient conversion technologies and promote the use of endogenous renewable energy. The model is illustrated with case studies for the energetic planning of the Geneva district (Switzerland). [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This is the second of two special issues in Progress in Planning exploring emerging research agendas in planning. It brings together scholars from diverse schools working on new areas of research and application in urban design and planning. Emergent research agendas include both novel areas of research and important shifts in the direction of a research area. The challenge for planning schools is to reflect critically on these changes and develop long-term research agendas that can better position our field in society and academia, and provide a basis from which to assess our academic programmes. The chapters in this issue display the different scales and fields of planning, including planning for: disaster recovery; climate change, especially opportunities for mitigation; shrinking cities in the First World; and rapidly urbanising informal and impoverished cities in the global South. At the same time, the chapters identify research areas that respond to major social and environmental changes. Olshansky and Chang highlight the increasing losses from catastrophic disasters, and address the need for disaster recovery planning. Wheeler, Randolph and London focus on climate change, and, noting the urgency of action now, their research agenda emphasises opportunities for planners to develop research and policies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Hollander, Pallagst, Schwarz and Popper look at increasing economic and population trends in many First World cities that result in city ‘shrinkage’. They present new opportunities for improving cities’ green space networks and natural features, and for research. The trebling of urban population in African cities by 2050, in conditions of poverty and informality, is the major trend driving Parnell, Pietriese and Watson''s chapter. They present an agenda for new planning theories and for supporting empirical research to address the actual conditions of African cities. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article presents abstracts of articles about planning including those focusing on settlement house work and social reform, the development of heating and cooking technology in the U.S. in the 19th century and emergence of historic sites as tourist destinations in the U.S. in the late 19th century.

The article presents abstracts on land use planning topics, including "Historical Amnesia: New Urbanism and the City of Tomorrow," "More Than Sector Theory: Homer Hoyt's Contributions to Planning Knowledge" and "Methodology for the Survival Analysis of Urban Building Stocks."

This paper describes the development of an operational prototype for a comprehensive microsimulation model of urban systems. It examines several important design advances that emerged during the transition from a conceptual framework to operational code. ILUTE (Integrated Land Use, Transportation, Environment) simulates the evolution of an integrated urban system over an extended period of time. This model is intended to replace conventional models for the analysis of a broad range of transportation, housing and other urban policies. An overview of the ILUTE framework was presented at the 9th IATBR conference (Miller and Salvini, 2001). Since then, considerable progress has been made on the overall model and its component sub-models. At present, an operational prototype is being tested using data from the Greater Toronto Area. Disaggregate information for the model is synthesized from census data, travel survey data, activity data, and randomly generated proxy data. ILUTE is based on the “ideal model” described in the final report of the Transit Cooperative Research Program’s (TCRP) Project H-12, “Integrated Urban Models for Simulation of Transit and Land-Use Policies” (Miller et al., 1998). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents abstracts of several studies on city planning. "Designing and Living in a New Industrial Suburb: Experiences in the Cannock Chase Coalfield From the 1950s to the 1970s," by Gareth Evans and Peter J. Larkham; "Learning to Shop in Zion: The Consumer Revolution in Great Basin Mormon Culture,1847-1910," by Greg Umbach; "Curing Congestion: Competing Plans for a Loop Highway and Parking Regulations in Boston in the 1920s," by Asha Weinstein.

Presents several abstracts of studies concerning land use planning. "North American Urban History: The Everyday Politics and Spatial Logics of Metropolitan Life," by Mary Corbin Sies; "The Myth of Liberty Place: Race and Public Memory in New Orleans," by Jacob A. Wagner; "Planned Industrial Districts in Chicago: Firms, Networks, and Boundaries," by Robert Lewis.

The pivotal role of vulnerability in disaster risk assessment and reduction makes it a highly explored - although still blurred - concept in the scientific debate. Therefore, a better understanding of the vulnerability concept is far from an academic exercise: it is still today of paramount importance to better coping with both current and emerging risks. The paper presents a review of European and international research on vulnerability over the past twenty years. The review has been carried out in two main steps: the analysis of selected European projects focused on vulnerability issues and carried out in the last 20 years; the analysis of scientific articles published over the last 20 years all over the world, selected through a Scopus search based on the main vulnerability facets identified by the EU projects. The review aims at exploring the state-of-the-art of research studies on vulnerability, by pointing out the definitions given for the multiple facets of vulnerability (social, physical, etc) and its spatial, systemic, and dynamic dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Urban sustainability is analyzed by scrutinizing 2847 indicators. • A novel approach linking indicators to SDGs, STEEP and MONET frameworks is proposed. • Current issues and gaps in urban sustainability indicator sets are elicited. • The most frequently used indicators are identified and discussed. • Seven key lessons are proposed for selecting urban sustainability indicators. Today, the centrality of cities in the global sustainability challenge is widely acknowledged, and numerous initiatives have been developed worldwide for monitoring and comparing the sustainability performance of urban areas. However, the escalating abundance of indicators makes it difficult to understand what really counts in urban sustainability and how to properly select the most suitable indicators. By methodically collecting and mapping the diversity of available indicators, our work aims to elucidate the emphases, as well as the gaps, that exist in the way urban sustainability is currently translated into metrics, and to draw instructive lessons to support the development of future indicator sets. Representing the most comprehensive study ever performed in the field, this analysis relies on both an innovative research approach entailing multi- and cross-typological systematic analysis of indicators and an extensive data sample comprising 67 indicator sets (for a total of 2847 indicators) from academia and practice. The findings highlight the most frequent indicators in urban sustainability measurement initiatives, and demonstrate the prominence of social issues (e.g., quality of life, access to services, consumer behaviour, employment) and to a lesser extent, of environmental stakes. In contrast, urban sustainability indicator sets generally pay marginal attention to political questions (e.g., participation, policies, institutional settings), gender issues and distributional concerns. From a systemic point of view, the analysis reveals the strong emphasis placed on the status of actual and potential resources as well as the satisfaction of current needs. The study further highlights seven key lessons on how to deal with three typical tensions faced during indicator selection processes: (i) parsimony vs. comprehensiveness; (ii) context-specificity vs. general comparability; and (iii) complexity vs. simplicity. The directly implementable recommendations proposed herein will support both scholars and practitioners in the design of future urban sustainability measurement initiatives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Analyzing prevailing workflow and requirements for urban building energy modeling (UBEM). • Categorizing UBEM applications into four main use cases via examples and summary case studies. • Outlining data sources, modeling approaches, and calibration methods for UBEM applications. • Introducing the minimum viable UBEM (MVU) concept. • Outlining potential and future development for UBEM applications. Urban building energy modeling (UBEM) is a bottom-up, physics-based approach to simulate the thermal performance of new or existing neighborhoods and cities. The field has flourished in recent years, creating increasingly robust urban data streams that lead from Geographical Information Systems, CityGML, Light Detection and Ranging, and tax assessor databases to synthetic hourly building energy demand profiles for current and potential future conditions. Depending on the availability of historic building energy use data, a variety of modeling, simulation, and calibration approaches as well as use cases have been proposed. This paper provides a consolidated UBEM workflow with data and process requirements, and organizes UBEM proposals into four main application categories: urban planning and new neighborhood design, stock-level carbon reduction strategies, individual building-level recommendations, and buildings-to-grid integration. For each application, the paper further introduces a minimum viable UBEM, a novel concept for UBEMs conceptualized in the spirit of a minimum viable product. Specific case studies and/or examples are listed for each application area where available. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]