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Solid waste management is a global challenge, particularly in economically developing countries due to their growing population, urbanisation, and increasing waste generation. Municipalities in South Africa are responsible for general waste management in both residential areas and industrial sites. However, waste management is not implemented in all rural areas of South Africa, even against the background of socioeconomic improvement and increased consumption patterns in these communities. This study aims to examine the relationship between rural socioeconomic conditions and solid waste generation and management. The target population of this study is five rural communities of the Vulindlela area, which is situated west of Msunduzi Municipality in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal. A total of 50 households were randomly selected as sample sites as the result of a detailed field survey in 2022 and 50 respondents participated in the study for interview through cluster sampling technique. The study uses a mixture of qualitative and quantitative methods. Primary data about the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents were gathered through close-ended questions. Open-ended questions in the semi-structured interviews were utilised to gather data on Vulindlela residents’ perceptions of waste pollution effects and strategies implemented in their area. Microsoft Excel version 2305 was used to perform basic descriptive statistics (frequencies and percentages) to examine the socio-economic characteristics of respondents. While a thematic content analysis was undertaken to analyse the open-ended question data which was on respondents’ perceptions of waste pollution in their area. The study findings suggest that Vulindlela is a socioeconomically diverse rural community, with households earning between 500 and 31,000 Rand per month. In addition, grocery expenditures range from 800 to 3100 Rand per month. Communities characterised by lower income generation dispose of their waste inside their households, apart from certain waste such as nappies that are disposed of in freshwater ecosystems and open spaces, while those who earn more money have diverse waste types and dispose of their waste at illegal dump sites.

Construction has been highlighted as one sector that could reduce its effect on the environment by implementing more sustainable methodologies. However, there are many different challenges preventing sustainable construction practice, and despite existing research providing advice for carbon emission reduction, these practices are being somewhat neglected. The purpose of this research is to investigate the challenges surrounding sustainable construction practice and the current knowledge on energy security and project management practices that can aid climate change mitigation. The design methodology of this study involves a thorough literature review of existing knowledge on the subject matter followed by primary research. The survey conducted collected quantitative data of 160 valid responses via an online closed ended questionnaire using snowball sampling methods from the construction and engineering professionals working in the UK construction industry. The study found that most participants agree with the encouragement of sustainable construction practices, but are generally unsure about what they can do. Factors such as government involvement and organisation culture have some significance but will rely on further research in order to assess specific influencing variables. The study contributes to existing research on factors surrounding project management and identifies and plethora of areas of improvement, that can be formed into a holistic approach to the current construction industry practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Creating biodiverse urban habitat has been proposed, with growing empirical support, as an intervention for increasing human microbial diversity and reducing associated diseases. However, ecological understanding of urban biodiversity interventions on human skin microbiota remains limited. Here, we experimentally test the hypotheses that disturbed skin microbiota recover better in outdoor schoolyard environments and that greater biodiversity provides a greater response. Repeating the experiment three times, we disturbed skin microbiota of fifty-seven healthy 10-to-11-year-old students with a skin swab (i.e., cleaning), then exposed them to one school environment—either a 'classroom' (n = 20), 'sports field' (n = 14), or biodiverse 'forest' (n = 23)—for 45 min. Another skin swab followed the exposure to compare 'before' and 'after' microbial communities. After 45 min, the disturbance immediately followed by outdoor exposure, especially the 'forest', had an enriching and diversifying effect on skin microbiota, while 'classroom' exposure homogenised inter-personal variability. Each effect compounded over consecutive days indicating longer-term exposure outcomes. The experimental disturbance also reduced the core skin microbiota, and only outdoor environments were able to replenish lost species richness to core membership (n species > 50% prevalent). Overall, we find that environmental setting, especially including biodiversity, is important in human microbiota recovery periods and that the outdoors provide resilience to skin communities. This work also has implications for the inclusion of short periods of outside or forest exposure in school scheduling. Future investigations of the health impacts of permanent urban biodiversity interventions are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article shows how the burgeoning Hindu festivals in small town West Bengal – in Hooghly and Nadia – can be understood as a dynamic interplay of political patronage, play as rivalry and revelry, and finally piety. The article argues that in a strategic implementation of competitive Hindutva (Hindu nationalism), the concept of utsab instead of puja is employed by the political leadership to appease the Hindu majority while ostensibly signalling towards Hindu-Muslim harmony and inclusivity. In addition, it argues that the need for decentralisation and fair distribution of resources between the metropolis and the rest of the state is expressed through festival rivalries. Furthermore, the article demonstrates the place of popular culture and aspirations towards a global urban lifestyle in the spaces of libidinal pleasures and pageantry in the festival. Finally, despite the increasingly transgressive revelry, there is a continuing, shrinking yet inviolable presence of devotion and Brahminical or priestly caste doctrine in the festival. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Seed fungal endophytes play a crucial role in assisting the overall health and success of their host plant; however, little is known about the factors that influence the diversity and composition of these endophytes, particularly with respect to how they change over time and within urban environments. Using culturing techniques, morphological analyses, and Sanger sequencing, we identified the culturable seed fungal endophytes of Banksia ericifolia at two urban and two natural sites in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. A total of 27 Operational Taxonomic Units were obtained from 1200 seeds. Older cones were found to contain, on average, more colonised endophytes than younger cones. Species richness was also significantly influenced by cone age, with older cones being more speciose. Between urban and natural sites, the overall community composition did not change, although species richness and diversity were greatest at urban sites. Understanding how these endophytes vary in time and space may help provide an insight into the transmission pathways used and the potential role they play within the development and survival of the seed. This knowledge may also be crucial for restoration purposes, especially regarding the need to consider endophyte viability in ex situ seed collection and storage in seed-banking practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, I describe the experience of rural-urban migration amongst herders to Ulaanbaatar's ger-districts. I show how this problematises conventional notions of rural-urban migration and suggests a particular form of urbanisation in Mongolia. Following one particular household as they move from the countryside to the city, I show how for many new migrants adaptation to urban life is tied to the transposition of existing skills – and the learning of new skills – in the new urban context. I also show some of the more problematic aspects of life in the ger-districts, including the devaluation of herding skills and the existential impact of deskilment on gender and identity. In the process, I develop a phenomenologically-grounded political-economy of skill, whereby social, economic, and political change can be traced at the level of human embodiment and polydirectional experiences of enskilment and deskilment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban areas are rapidly expanding into natural habitats worldwide. When species are threatened with habitat loss, it is vital to understand how they will respond or adapt to the change in their environment. One primate species threatened by habitat loss is the fully arboreal Javan slow loris (Nycticebus javanicus). This non-leaping species not only relies on canopy continuity but is also subject to capture for illegal wildlife trade, especially in anthropogenic landscapes where they are easier to catch. We examine the use of urban areas by Javan slow lorises in terms of habitat use as well as feeding and terrestriality behaviours in the municipality of Cipaganti in West Java, Indonesia. For this study, we observed Javan slow lorises from May 2018 to April 2020 for two dry periods and two wet periods. We combined home ranges and core areas with a land cover classification of the area to understand the composition of the loris habitat. We also included feeding and terrestriality data to determine the ratio of these activities within each land cover class. We found that approximately half of their territory falls into natural areas (bamboo patches: 45–60%), and the other half is in human land use areas (agriculture, shade gardens, urban areas, and fallow land). Urban areas ranged from 0 to 54% of an individual loris's habitat, with the proportion of urban land cover being higher in some individuals' core areas than in their home ranges. Only urban areas showed a variation between periods, with p-values of 0.06 and 0.002 for home ranges and core areas, respectively, showing a significant increase usage during dry periods. Of all feeding observations, 4% occurred in urban areas with nectar being the most common feeding item. We recorded thirteen different food species in urban areas with Calliandra calothrysus being the most frequent. We found that 7% of terrestriality events occurred in urban areas. The findings from this study show that human land use areas cover a significant portion of the Javan slow lorises habitat in this region, further emphasising the need to consider the needs of these Critically Endangered primates when developing natural habitats into those of human managed landscapes. The same principles are true for the large number of species that are able to persist in urban areas in a world increasingly dominated by humans. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last few decades, within the framework of remarkable urban expansion accompanying a real-estate boom in Spain, it has been medium-sized cities that have registered the most drastic changes in morphology. Currently, about 50% of urbanised land was developed after 1980. Historically compact and dense urban structures have been transformed, with new urbanised spaces expanding into the outskirts. High land consumption has created sprawling, fragmented and scattered urban areas. These are new, more complex and multifunctional urban structures, and there has been a change in the scale of urbanisation, in the forms and in the resulting urban landscape. However, the growth model which has caused these transformations is defined by hardly sustainable land-use patterns. The number of medium-sized cities has increased by around 50%, while the number of houses built has grown by 109% and developed land by 87% between 1981 and 2021. This paper analyses these recent dynamics through the statistical treatment of growth patterns and their cartographic analysis using GIS technology. The significant modification of urban forms at this scale in the Spanish urban system is confirmed. The paper also reflects on the lack of sustainability in the prevailing model with respect to the 2030 city strategy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The Vembanad Lake and its associated low-lying areas and network of canals (hereafter VBL) form the major part of India's second-largest Ramsar wetland (1512 km2) located in Kerala State along India's southwest coast. The extensive VBL has a large fishery, inland waterways, and popular tourist attractions that support the livelihoods of thousands of people. Over the last several decades, the proliferation of water weeds in the VBL has alarmingly increased, causing many adverse ecological and socioeconomic effects. This study based on a review and synthesis of long-term data introduced the environmental and human dimensions of water weed proliferation in the VBL. Eichhornia (= Pontederia) crassipes, Monochoria vaginalis, Salvinia molesta, Limnocharis flava, Pistia stratiotes, and Hydrilla verticillata are the most troublesome water weeds in the VBL, with the first three being the most widespread. They were mostly imported to India long ago before becoming a part of the VBL. These weeds harmed water quality, waterways, agriculture, fisheries, disease vector management, as well as the vertical and horizontal shrinkage of the VBL through increased siltation and faster ecological succession. The inherently fragile VBL was harmed by extensive and long-term reclamation, the construction of saltwater barrages, and many landfill roads that crisscross water bodies serving as coastal dams, creating water stagnation by blocking natural flushing/ventilation by periodic tides from the adjacent southeastern Arabian Sea. These ecological imbalances were exacerbated by excessive fertiliser use in agricultural areas, as well as the addition of nutrient-rich domestic and municipal sewage, which provided an adequate supply of nutrients and a favourable habitat for the expansion of water weeds. Furthermore, because of recurrent floods and a changing ecology in the VBL, the water weed proliferation has become a more significant problem, with the potential to disrupt their current distribution pattern and spread in the future. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with climate change, population growth, and overexploitation of natural resources, urbanisation is among the major global challenges of our time. It is a nexus where many of the world's grand challenges intersect, and thus key to sustainable development. The widespread understanding of urbanisation as a successive and unidirectional transformation of landscapes and societies from a rural to an urban state is increasingly questioned. Examples from around the globe show that 'the rural' and 'the urban' are not only highly interdependent, but actually coexist and often merge in the same space or livelihood strategy. Our concept of rurbanity provides an integrated theoretical framework which overcomes the rural–urban divide and can be operationalised for empirical research. Rurbanity is the next stringent step following the gradual widening of previous concepts from urban-centred approaches through the emphasis on urban peripheries to attempts of abolishing any distinction of a rural environment and acknowledging the highly dynamic nature of globalising urbanisation. Building on complex systems theory and assemblage thinking, our concept explores complementary aspects of the distinct epistemic worldviews dominating the natural and social sciences. Within this theoretical frame, we derive four analytical dimensions as entry points for empirical research: Endowments and Place, Flows and Connectivity, Institutions and Behaviour, and Lifestyles and Livelihoods. Two examples illustrate how these dimensions apply, interact, and together lead to a comprehensive, insightful understanding of rurban phenomena. Such understanding can be an effective starting point for assessing potential contributions of rurbanity to long-term global sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urbanisation in African cities has caused considerable problems by hindering their ability to meet infrastructure and service needs, resulting in rising land-use consumption. This study examines how land use/land cover change in Lafia, a city in North-central Nigeria, has impacted the city's boundaries between 1999 and 2019 and includes a projection using GIS simulation of land use/land cover to 2029. This study used remote sensing techniques, statistical models, and spatiotemporal analysis of geographical measurements. This study involved spatial analysis and projection of city growth from 1999 to 2029 in Lafia using GIS. This analysis focuses on the changes in built-up areas, vegetal cover, bare land, and water bodies using land-use/landcover data. The results indicated significant urban expansion and its impact on the city's spatial patterns. The Urban Expansion Differentiation Index (UEDI) and Urban Expansion Intensity Index (UEII)were used to assess urban sprawl and socioeconomic patterns such as population density and density gradient. High residential and employment densities, varied land uses, continuous development, and multimodal transportation are all important for sustainable urban growth. The study indicates a direct relationship between population growth and urban expansion, as seen in Lafia. Furthermore, the findings suggest that cities grow beyond their typical boundaries, resulting in peri-urban expansion, as shown in the Alakio districts of the Lafia Metropolis. The study findings have important implications for urban growth policy and land use/land cover change. They will contribute to a better understanding of the effects of urban growth on the spatial matrix and morphology of cities, assisting city planners in recognizing these effects. Furthermore, the study adds evidence to the continuing debate about urban expansion, liveability, and spatial sustainability in African cities. The thorough examination of land use/land cover change in Lafia sheds light on the spatial dynamics of urbanisation and its implications for sustainable urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Incrementalism is a mode of self-help and continuing practice that is prevalent primarily in the Global South. It enables owner-builders to meet housing needs typically over an extended period of time as they can more conveniently manage the required resources. While (informal) tenure, materiality, and housing conditions have long been the focus of incremental housing scholarship, researchers are increasingly recognising the value of incrementalism’s metabolic interplay with broader urban processes. This paper complements these later works by qualitatively examining four dominant incremental housing pathways in the urban fringes of Khulna, Bangladesh: absentee landholding, makeshift sheltering, speculative land disposal and informal brokerage. Empirical evidence suggests that a variety of actors, primarily motivated by land speculation, participate in these incremental housing pathways. While the implementation of the official plan for Khulna’s peri-urban areas is delayed, I argue that these actors coproduce a complex housing market as well as a self-help city in which urban institutions play more passive and reactionary roles. The findings contribute to rethinking the self-organising logic of urban expansion in many Southern cities, which is often centred on urban land at the crossroads of institutional capacity deficit, speculative housing demand and supply, and informal-formal hybridity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Akofena is the property of Universite Felix Houphouet Boigny 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 critically discusses the importance of cooperative environmental governance (CEG) for efficient waste management and waste-to-energy (WtE) generation in the context of growing urban South Asia. Focusing on Bangladesh, India and Pakistan experiences, the paper reveals that even though much progress has been done in the urbanisation in the selected countries, the process of waste management (mainly municipal solid waste) has not been effective due to low level of local inclusion. As a result, the WtE generation potential has not been realised to its fullest. In addition, it has been argued that institutional and social reforms are extremely important for strengthening the CEG, and it will eventually lead to effective and optimal WtE generation in the urban cities of the selected South Asian countries for green transition and urban sustainability. Finally, an integrated solid waste management framework has been formulated for policy implications in South Asia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper I explore the possibility that interruptions in in situ interviews can support understandings of power and social relations in research. I base my discussion on an extract from a study of young people's experiences of rapid urbanisation in Central Beqaa, Lebanon. The extract is from an interview with a young man who was continually interrupted by his mother. I problematise a tendency to silence these interruptions in the research process by considering how interruptions can reveal the social architecture in which young people are embedded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It has been observed that hypertension is multi-factorial, where some risk factors are modifiable and some are non-modifiable. The present study examines obesity, sex and age as risk factors of hypertension among the adult urban population of Gangtok, the capital of Sikkim, Northeast India. The data was collected from 343 men and 657 women aged between 20--60 years from three communities namely, Lepcha, Bhutia and Nepali. Anthropometric data and blood pressure was collected from the study population. One way ANOVA, t-test and chi-square was calculated to test the significance. Stepwise linear regression was used to determine the risk factors of systolic and diastolic pressure. Binomial logistic regression was used to predict the adjusted odd ratio for risk of hypertension. The prevalence of hypertension in men and women was 30.32 percent and 19.63 percent respectively. The prevalence of hypertension was significantly higher in obese men (general obese = 50.35%, increased waist circumference = 57.14%, substantially increased waist hip ratio = 42.54%) and women (general obese = 28.66%, increased waist circumference = 27.63%, substantially increased waist hip ratio = 27.37%). 50 percent of the older adults were hypertensive. The mean systolic blood pressure and diastolic pressure were significantly higher among obese groups. Adults with increasing obesity, advancing age and men are at greater risks of hypertension. Behavioural factor like alcohol consumption also possesses a risk for elevated pressure in the present study. Awareness, conscientious lifestyle modification and inclusive urbanization are necessary to reduce the burden of obesity and hypertension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined the urbanization, industrialization and land transformation surrounding National Highway-48 in the National Capital Region of Delhi. Over the last 20 years, this region has experienced rapid urban growth, industrialization and land transformation. Its urban expansion has fluctuated over time, indicating future urban dynamics. This highway from Delhi to Mumbai is a part of the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) project. It is India's most ambitious infrastructure development programme, aiming to transform new industrial cities into "Smart Cities" by integrating next-generation technologies. This study covers 2637 sq km area surrounding NH-48 from Gurugram city to Sotanala industrial location in Behror, a 127 km stretch in the NCR with a buffer of 10 km. It covers sixteen urban centres, including Gurugram, Garhi Harshru, Bhondsi, Manesar and Pataudi in Gurgaon District, Rewari, Dharuhera, Bawal, Rampura, Ghatal Mahaniawas, Aakera and Maheshari in Rewari District, Bhiwadi, Shahjahanpur, Neemrana and Behror in Alwar District. Landsat satellite images, census data, state and district industrial profiles of Haryana and Rajasthan and city/regional development plans have been used for meaningful analysis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Humans are transforming natural habitats into managed urban green areas and impervious surfaces at an unprecedented pace. Yet the effects of human presence per se on animal life-history traits are rarely tested. This is particularly true in cities, where human presence is often indissociable from urbanisation itself. The onset of the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak, along with the resulting lockdown restrictions, offered a unique, "natural experiment" to investigate wildlife responses to a sudden reduction in human activity. We analysed four years of avian breeding data collected in a European capital city to test whether lockdown measures altered nestbox occupancy and life-history traits in terms of egg laying date, incubation duration and clutch size in two urban adapters: great tits (Parus major) and blue tits (Cyanistes caeruleus). Lockdown measures, which modulated human presence, did not influence any of the life-history traits investigated. In contrast, the interaction between year and tree cover, a distinct ecological attribute of the urban space, was positively associated with clutch size, a key avian life-history and reproductive trait. This highlights the importance of inter-year variation and habitat quality over human activity on urban wildlife reproduction. We discuss our results in the light of other urban wildlife studies carried out during the pandemic, inviting the scientific community to carefully interpret all lockdown—associated shifts in biological traits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urban expansion progressively envelops and transforms natural insect habitats, and the variety of threats to both terrestrial and aquatic tara area major contributor todeclines ofnativeinsects. Modifications to urban settlements and their surrounding areas to reduce habitat losses, invasive species impacts and pollution. and to proniote connectivity are key conservation needs, together with effective protection of remnant patches of native vegetation. 'Ihis paper suggests an action plan that can be implemented by communities to improve insect conservation in urban environments. (The Victorimi Natumlist 140 (3),2023,75-80). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Today, smart cities offer many significant benefits. As a result, the smart city is usually described in highly benign terms, and it is often uncritically assumed that its implementation must lead to widescale improvements, at all levels of society. Yet, while smart cities undoubtedly offer advantages, they also carry associated risks and dangers which could outweigh the benefits. This raises the important question of to which extent the ordinary citizen is aware of these risks and dangers. This study sets out to examine this question. While the 'downsides' of smart cities have been the subject of research over the past few years, there have been no studies which explore the perception of smart city disadvantages among citizen-stakeholders in the GCC countries. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature, by examining the perspectives of a representative sample of citizens from the GCC. The results show that, despite the 'whitewashing' effect of public messaging, the study's participants have a range of significant concerns about smart cities which could affect their acceptance of such initiatives. The findings will inform smart city development bodies in the GCC and contribute to strategies for promoting smart cities and citizen engagement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Count Kunó Klebelsberg was a significant member of Hungarian politics in the interwar period. He served as minister of religion and education of the Bethlen-government between 1922 and 1931. During his tenure, he started and managed several reform programs regarding different aspects of publicand higher education, science, and cultural diplomacy in Hungary; these usually have a very positive reception, regardless of their conservative and nationalist approach. The authors would like to introduce in this paper a new interpretation of the best-known element of Klebelsberg's cultural policy, namely the elementary school program. This expansive program could be analysed not only in cultural policy context, but also as an adequate response to certain issues of regional development. With the GIS-based analysis of a database from 1928, the authors would like to reveal the complex response of the cultural policy to the challenges of urbanisation, covering much more, than building new schools in the outskirts of the Great Hungarian Plain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding the responses of vegetation phenology to natural and human disturbances is essential for better understanding ecosystems. In this study, Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer data and products were used together with other relevant data to analyse vegetation phenological responses to urbanisation and natural factors in the major urban agglomerations of the Urumqi-Changji, Shihezi-Manasi, and Wusu-Kuidun-Dushanzi regions on the Urban Agglomeration on the Northern Slope of the Tianshan Mountains (UANSTM). Vegetation phenology distributed along an urban-rural gradient showed distinct variability, with start of growing season (SOS), end of growing season (EOS), and growing season length (GSL) occurring earlier, later, and longer, respectively, in urban areas than those in suburban and rural areas. In the Urumqi-Changji region, the earliest SOS, the later EOS, and the longest GSL occurred. Surface urban heat island intensity (SUHII) was most pronounced in the Urumqi-Changji region, with a heat island intensity of 1.77–3.34 °C. Vegetation phenology was influenced by both urbanisation and natural factors, whose contributions were 44.2% to EOS and 61.8% to SOS, respectively. The results of this study emphasise the importance of quantifying the vegetation phenological responses to human disturbances, including climate change, along the urban-rural gradient on the UANSTM. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In southern Mexico, the home garden has played a key role in the livelihood security of rural families and in the conservation of agrobiodiversity. This article examines how, as a dominant trend, rural urbanisation has reduced the dependence on home gardening as a livelihood strategy, with a consequent decline in agrobiodiversity. Drawing upon a mixed methods approach involving household surveys and life stories, the article contributes to a better understanding of long-term dynamics in the relationship between agrobiodiversity management and people's livelihoods, and provides novel evidence on alternative pathways that allow households to maintain greater home garden agrobiodiversity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2010, the city of Chongqing in south-western China has built 40 million square metres of public rental housing, responding to China's New Urbanisation Plan. Due to its emphasis on massive provision and the role played by the state, public rental housing in Chongqing has attracted considerable attention. Yet few studies have examined the effects of this scheme on household strategies and experiences from the perspective of rural migrant families. The results of 120 semi-structured interviews with rural migrants show that they tend to adopt a family-based approach to maximise their households' economic and non-economic interests when considering resettling. This article was published open access under a CC BY licence: https://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid urban population growth in Africa has resulted in the rapid expansion of many African cities. This has important ramifications for sustainable development across the continent. However, studies systematically synthesising the emerging literature to critically comprehend the different dimensions of urban expansion in Africa, and its intersections with sustainability are lacking. We conduct a systematic review of 247 peer-reviewed papers, critically discussing the dimensions of urban expansion in Africa, using the Drivers–Pressures–State–Impacts–Responses (DPSIR) model. Despite the significant variability between contexts, urban expansion occurs through a complex mix of Drivers, including urban population growth, in-migration, housing deficits, and the complex land governance systems. Urban expansion has multiple Impacts including the loss of agricultural land and natural vegetation that catalyses livelihood shifts/loss, and social transformation in expansion areas. The literature on the Responses to urban expansion is rather limited, usually focuses on policy-oriented responses, and suggests that such policy-oriented responses are rarely implemented effectively. Overall, we observe the centrality and multi-dimensional role of land (and its governance) and demographic transitions in urban expansion processes. We also identify the severe fragmentation of the relevant literature, the disproportionate focus on urban expansion's negative Impacts, and the critical lack of studies on Responses. Arguably, there is a need for more systematic, cohesive and increasingly comparative research to both understand the different dimensions of urban expansion, as well as design effective and fit-for-purpose responses to ensure that it does not compromise Africa's sustainable development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the nineteenth century, epidemic typhus was one of the main public health problems resulting from industrialisation and urbanisation processes in Europe. It became an illness intricately linked to poverty, famine, the labour crisis and residential overcrowding. In Spain, it reached a significant peak in the first decade of the twentieth century, and Madrid was its uncontested epicentre. Between 1903 and 1910, the Spanish capital was hit by two waves of epidemic typhus. Their causes were associated with the fault lines drawn in the city's structure during the previous decades. The origins of both epidemics, the resources deployed to control them and their socio-spatial spread can be linked to the gaps in urban policies in Madrid in comparison with the transformations that the city underwent after the middle of the nineteenth century. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Urban environments are characterised by different microclimates, ecological resources and habitat connectivity compared to nonurban environments. Hence, urban environments may affect phenotypic variation of local populations relative to populations in adjacent nonurban environments through different mechanisms (phenotypic plasticity, natural selection, phenotypic sorting). We analysed the effects of urbanisation on phenotypic traits in adults of the grasshopper Chorthippus brunneus at three spatial scales (0.5, 3, and 5 km). Traits included functional morphology, personality-related behaviours (i.e. boldness and exploration), metabolic rate and song parameters. Our experimental tests pointed to several lines of behavioural divergence between individuals of urban and nonurban populations. Grasshoppers of urban population origin were on average shyer and less explorative, but they were more rapid to reach the edges of an artificial environment deprived of any food or conspecifics compared to individuals of nonurban population origin. Songs of urban grasshoppers were characterised by a narrower frequency range than songs of nonurban grasshoppers. Their constitutive bursts of sound (echemes) were more spaced out than songs of nonurban conspecifics. Interestingly, we found more autotomized grasshoppers (i.e. self-amputated individuals) in the urban environment, and these individuals tended to be bolder, while also having more spaced echemes in comparison to uninjured conspecifics. We also demonstrate that the spatial scale at which urbanisation showed the most pronounced effects varied considerably for behavioural and song traits. The detectability and size effects of urbanisation on traits may vary with the spatial scale at which urbanisation is studied around focal populations or habitat patches. Our study motivates for a documented characterisation of the multiple and complex effects of urbanisation on functional phenotypic trait values at the intraspecific level. Significance statement: We analysed the impact of urbanisation on multiple phenotypic traits of a thermophilous grasshopper species. We integrated information on morphology, physiology, behaviour and song characteristics, and we addressed the relationships of those traits with urbanisation at several spatial scales. Our study points at phenotypic differences between urban and nonurban environments, and we show that such relationships are spatial-scale dependent or sensitive. We provide evidence for spatial-scale dependent effects of urbanisation on boldness and explorative behaviour. Our study contributes to our understanding of how urban areas shape behavioural variation across anthropogenic landscapes. We also observed a high incidence of autotomized grasshoppers in highly urbanised environments. Autotomy refers to the extreme escape tactic where the grasshopper sheds a limb to escape predation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing levels of urbanisation globally has created a situation in which cities are growing rapidly. The growth has had lasting impacts on the infrastructure and environment of the city, often leading to pollution and other environmental impairment. This study examines the environmental challenges in informal settlements of Abuja, Nigeria. Data collected were on the environmental challenges in five purposively selected informal settlements in Abuja, Nigeria. Utilizing a qualitative and quantitative research approach, the paper investigates the environmental challenges of rapid urbanisation in the city. The major research instruments used were questionnaire for quantitative data and observation schedule for qualitative analysis of the study area. Quantitative data were subjected to statistical analysis using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Qualitative data were subjected to content analysis. Major findings showed that rapid urbanisation has led to an increase in all urban environmental problems. The paper will make a valuable contribution to the understanding of the environmental challenges associated with urbanisation of Abuja and help identify potential solutions. The paper concludes that Abuja's environmental issues are a direct result of rapid urbanisation and lack of adequate planning as well as infrastructure deficits. The paper recommends that proper city planning and management are necessary to ensure the long-term sustainability of urban environments. This paper provides valuable insights for other cities facing similar challenges as well as a useful case study for future investigations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To identify potential sylvatic, urban and bridge-vectors that can be involved in current or future virus spillover from wild to more urbanised areas, entomological field surveys were conducted in rural, peri-urban and urban areas spanning the rainy and dry seasons in western Cameroon. A total of 2650 mosquitoes belonging to 37 species and eight genera were collected. Mosquito species richness was significantly influenced by the specific combination of the habitat type and the season. The highest species richness was found in the peri-urban area (S = 30, Chao1 = 121 ± 50.63, ACE = 51.97 ± 3.88) during the dry season (S = 28, Chao1 = 64 ± 25.7, ACE = 38.33 ± 3.1). Aedes (Ae.) africanus and Culex (Cx.) moucheti were only found in the rural and peri-urban areas, while Cx. pipiens s.l. and Ae. aegypti were only found in the urban area. Cx. (Culiciomyia) spp., Cx. duttoni and Ae. albopictus were caught in the three habitat types. Importantly, approximately 52% of the mosquito species collected in this study have been implicated in the transmission of diverse arboviruses. This entomological survey provides a catalogue of the different mosquito species that may be involved in the transmission of arboviruses. Further investigations are needed to study the vectorial capacity of each mosquito species in arbovirus transmission.

Context The continuous rise in urbanisation and its associated factors has been reflected in the structure of the human gut ecosystem. Objective The main focus of this review is to discuss and summarise the major risk factors associated with urbanisation that affect human gut microbiota thus affecting human health. Methods Multiple medical literature databases, namely PubMed, Google, Google Scholar, and Web of Science were used to find relevant materials for urbanisation and its major factors affecting human gut microbiota/microbiome. Both layman and Medical Subject Headings (MeSH) terms were used in the search. Due to the scarcity of the data, no limitation was set on the publication date. Relevant materials in the English language which include case reports, chapters of books, journal articles, online news reports and medical records were included in this review. Results Based on the data discussed in the review, it is quite clear that urbanisation and its associated factors have long-standing effects on the human gut microbiota that result in alterations of gut microbial diversity and composition. This is a matter of serious concern as chronic inflammatory diseases are on the rise in urbanised societies. Conclusion A better understanding of the factors associated with urbanisation will help us to identify and implement new biological and social approaches to prevent and treat diseases and improve health globally by deepening our understanding of these relationships and increasing studies across urbanisation gradients.HIGHLIGHTS Human gut microbiota have been linked to almost every important function, including metabolism, intestinal homeostasis, immune system, biosynthesis of vitamins, brain processes, and behaviour. However, dysbiosis i.e., alteration in the composition and diversity of gut microbiota is associated with the pathogenesis of many chronic conditions. In the 21st century, urbanisation represents a major demographic shift in developed and developing countries. During this period of urbanisation, humans have been exposed to many environmental exposures, all of which have led to the dysbiosis of human gut microbiota. The main focus of the review is to discuss and summarise the major risk factors associated with urbanisation and how it affects the diversity and composition of gut microbiota which ultimately affects human health.

Debris accumulation in natural ecosystems is one of several anthropogenic stressors exerting pressure on ecosystems all around the world. Effects of the ubiquitous anthropogenic debris pollution on free-living organisms is well known. Increasing reports of anthropogenic debris in nests of several species of birds ranging from terrestrial to seabirds are pouring in year after year. Shortage of natural nesting materials coupled with abundance of anthropogenic debris have been suggested the rationale behind the change in the nest building. Synthetic materials incorporated in nests can harm the occupants and negatively impact nesting and fledging success. As of late, majority of these studies are centred on plastic debris in bird nests. Here we present, a report of nest incorporation of metallic wire mesh in avian nests. 24 nests of Little egrets and 9 nests of Indian pond herons, totalling 33 nests in a heronry in India contained welded wire mesh. Though metal strips and wires in bird nests have been reported earlier, this could be the first report of inclusion of wire mesh in bird nests.

This paper explores the scope for upscaling and transnational transfer of participatory landslide risk management strategies for informal settlements in Latin America. Drawing on lessons from transdisciplinary action-research in three neighbourhoods in Medellín, Colombia, and one in São Paulo, Brazil, the paper discusses how bottom-up approaches were developed to co-produce landslide risk management in both Global South cities, in a way that optimises the collaboration between communities and relevant governmental bodies. The analysis focuses on mitigation and ‘agreement-seeking’, from the perspectives of scale, power and knowledge, which help understand the parallels between co-production of landslide risk management and co-production of urban services. Two key conclusions are that landslide risk management should be built into neighbourhood upgrading and management, and that both community and the state have stronger roles to play in landslide risk management from their respective capacities. The paper also reflects on the role of academia in enabling co-production of landslide risk management through engaging with local communities.

The increase in human activities in urban areas resulting from the urbanisation process continues to put immense pressure on urban ecological resources including water bodies. This study seeks to assess the relationship between the various categories of human activities within the 100 m buffer of the major water bodies in the Kumasi Metropolis and the chemical and biological composition of the pollutants that are emitted into the water bodies. The findings of this study showed that the Kumasi Metropolis is confronted with weak enforcement of regulations that protect water bodies. For example, along the Subin River, human activities such as commercial activities and the development of squatter settlements did not conform to the standard setback average distance of 100 feet in the Zoning Regulation and Planning Standards. There is a need for city authorities to strategically respond to the various human activities that threaten the sustainability of water resources in cities.

In this study, the authors will attempt to highlight some details of the urbanisation of Pécs in the early 20th century by presenting the foundation of one elementary school (Gyárváros). Our study will provide essential details to understand the urbanisation of the industrial peripheries, wherever the mining colonies and some other industries created special conditions for urban development far away from the core/centre. The authors try to refine the picture of the famous school-building programme in the 1920’s, named after minister Kuno Klebelsberg. It is often labelled as a program for the rural peripheries, but it has substantial significance in rapidly urbanising industrial cities too, especially in their outskirts, wherever working-class families are concentrated. According to the social status and the lack of the inhabitants’ access to educational facilities, these urban peripheries are at least equally in need of coordinated development, mobilising national, local, public and private sources, like their rural counterparts.

The industrial development policy focusing on heavy industry, mainly the steel and machine-construction branches, was a characteristic feature of the socialist-type political systems of Eastern Europe. Its notable consequence for the system of human settlements translated into forcible urbanisation, but only insofar as quantity was concerned (artificial multiplication of towns and of the town population). As industrial units set up, some villages, functioning as dormitories, would be turned into towns: other would be integrated into the urban administrative territory; on the other hand, some dominantly rural residential districts would be attached to the town and a new type of settlements, connected with the construction of big industrial estates, would be built on empty terrain. As a result, a new type of town-integrated settlements would emerge, but the quality of their urban-type infrastructure falls far below that of traditional centres. Their individual character is marked by a fluctuating evolution, in the majority of cases much closer to countryside, that is, decreasing population and growing vulnerability connected with the units they had been engendered by. Considering the foregoing, we could say that these settlements, now part of the town, represent a distinct, intermediary category between the urban and the rural system and should be designated as such. The state capital determines a specific organisation of the state territory, as materialised in a certain pattern of communication routes and a specific layout of the other urban nuclei with macro-territorial functions. Bucharest’s peripheral position within the national territory calls for the decentralisation of its functions concomitantly with remote regional metropoles becoming more important as spatial structuring nuclei. Bucharest’s high degree of hypertrophy compared to the second city in the urban hierarchy, together with its distinct position within the Romanian urban system, asked for a distinctive organisation of its built-in area as early as the beginning of the 20-th century.

The great dynamics and wide range of contemporary Polish processes of urbanisation as well as problems of city development and operation require setting objectives, formulating rules and implementing urban policy. Its aim should be to support municipalities in their attempt to solve primary problems. What makes such a policy necessary is the fact that, while cities play a crucial role in global socio-economic development, they also experience financial, demographic, social, environmental, housing and other problems most severely. Therefore in many cases cities cannot be generators of development and cannot be responsible for the implementation of the Lisbon Strategy, as stipulated by the European Union. The aim of this paper is to present the principles of urban policy which could be implemented in Poland taking into account both, the existing situation and the position of the European Union on this matter. It is assumed that urban policy will be implemented at two levels: supra-local (the European Union, state and regional) and local. The first of these levels will apply to all European cities, Polish cities and those of a particular region, while the other, to a particular city and its spatial components. The policy principles will result from EU documents for which urban policy is a component of regional policy. Primarily, it is the Leipzig Charter on Sustainable European Cities and the Green Paper on Territorial Cohesion: Turning territorial diversity into strength.

Buildings are a major contributor to climate change, accounting for one third of global energy consumption and one quarter of CO2 emissions. However, comprehensive information is lacking for the development, evaluation and monitoring of mitigation policies. This paper discusses the remaining challenges in terms of reliability and consistency of the available data. A review of energy use in buildings is presented to analyse its evolution by building types, energy services and fuel sources. Residential buildings are the most consuming, although tertiary expansion requires further analysis to develop sound specific indicators. Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) systems concentrate 38% of buildings consumption, calling for strengthened standards and incentives for retrofitting. Electrification is rapidly increasing, representing a potential tool for climate change mitigation, if renewable power was promoted. However, energy use in buildings will only curb if global cooperation enables developing nations to break the link between economic growth, urbanisation and consumption. To this aim, efficiency gains both in construction and equipment, decarbonisation of the energy mix and a global awareness on energy conservation are all needed.