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In response to the “Leave No One Behind" principle (the central promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development), reliable estimate of the total number of citizens living in slums is urgently needed but not available for some of the most vulnerable communities. Not having a reliable estimate of the number of poor urban dwellers limits evidence-based decision-making for proper resource allocation in the fight against urban inequalities. From a geographical perspective, urban population distribution maps in many low- and middle-income cities are most often derived from outdated or unreliable census data disaggregated by coarse administrative units. Moreover, slum populations are presented as aggregated within bigger administrative areas, leading to a large diffuse in the estimates. Existing global and open population databases provide homogeneously disaggregated information (i.e. in a spatial grid), but they mostly rely on census data to generate their estimates, so they do not provide additional information on the slum population. While a few studies have focused on bottom-up geospatial models for slum population mapping using survey data, geospatial covariates, and earth observation imagery, there is still a significant gap in methodological approaches for producing precise estimates within slums. To address this issue, we designed a pilot experiment to explore new avenues. We conducted this study in the slums of Nairobi, where we collected in situ data together with slum dwellers using a novel data collection protocol. Our results show that the combination of satellite imagery with in situ data collected by citizen science paves the way for generalisable, gridded estimates of slum populations. Furthermore, we find that the urban physiognomy of slums and population distribution patterns are related, which allows for highlighting the diversity of such patterns using earth observation within and between slums of the same city., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

L’ensemble paysager des Côtes lorraines couvre l’extrême sud de la Wallonie (883 km², soit 5% de la Wallonie), de la bordure ardennaise aux frontières française et luxembourgeoise. Le relief y est caractérisé par une alternance de côtes ou cuestas, allongées d’est en ouest. Au pied de chacune s’étend une dépression parcourue par un cours d’eau important au tracé souvent méandreux, tel la Semois qui occupe la dépression la plus large au nord de l’ensemble.Le paysage des Côtes lorraines est essentiellement rural. Les espaces agricoles y sont dominés par des herbages parsemés de formations arborées (haies, bosquets.), tandis que la forêt occupe des sols sableux au centre de l’ensemble et de nombreux versants pentus. D’apparence stable, le paysage évolue toutefois petit à petit. Deux de ces évolutions sont notamment à encadrer :le développement spontané de la végétation ligneuse masquant les vues et le remplacement des peuplements d’épicéas touchés par les scolytes.A part quelques villes (Arlon, Virton et l’agglomération d’Athus-Aubange), l’essentiel du bâti est groupé en villages et hameaux selon un mode de peuplement ancien toujours lisible :le village-rue. Cette organisation du bâti se matérialise par un noyau d’habitat dont les constructions mitoyennes se succèdent de part et d'autre d'une rue unique, voire de deux rues parallèles. La densité et l’étirement linéaire qui en résultent constituent des particularités à prendre en compte vis-à-vis de l’intégration paysagère des nouveaux développements bâtis alimentés par le voisinage du Grand-Duché de Luxembourg.Les atlas sont conçus comme des outils de connaissance, de sensibilisation et de gestion à destination d’un très large public, allant du décideur public ou privé jusqu’au citoyen avide de mieux connaître les différentes facettes de la Wallonie. La collection décrypte les paysages dans lesquels nous vivons à travers des analyses descriptives, une approche historique et prospective et une approche sociologique. Une, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

It is estimated that more than half of city dwellers in sub-Saharan Africa currently live in deprived urban areas, often called slums or informal settlements, although these terms cover different urban realities. While the first target of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11 is “to ensure access for all to adequate, safe and affordable housing and basic services and upgrade slums," there is a huge gap in timely spatial data to support evidence-based policies and monitor progress toward that objective. In this study, we document the potential of Earth Observation (EO) for mapping and characterizing deprived urban areas (DUAs) to narrow this gap. First, we provide a synthesis of user requirements that can be met without resorting to ancillary sources such as censuses and socioeconomic surveys, and we propose a list of cost criteria that should be minimized in EO workflows. Next, we present the city-scale and DUA-scale workflows that we developed based on three case studies and an assessment of their suitability for supporting pro-poor policies, in light of the cost criteria. We also share the main lessons learned and propose some avenues for future research., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

While high-speed rail networks involve significant public expenditure in the name of the whole nation, scholars have paid little attention to the share of the population served by this modern transport mode. Studies have favoured perspectives that either neglect population volumes or include them but cannot offer a worldwide assessment. Public authorities favour passionate statements about network length and cruising speed but at the same time they neglect the populations served. In contrast, this paper offers a worldwide comparison of populations served by high-speed rail services in 15 countries. We found the range is wide (7%−94%) and depends on several factors beyond network length, including network design, urbanisation patterns, technical characteristics and domestic vs. international purposes., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Green infrastructure (GI) is increasingly linked to urban water management and can contribute to achieving water security in communities. This research uses a variation-finding comparative approach to recognize how far GI solutions are currently used to address water security in the urban developments of Monterrey City, Mexico, and Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. A comparative content analysis of seven related urban development/sectoral plans is conducted using ATLAS.ti 9 software. The results depict the overall distribution of GI implementations, their typologies and spatial scales, water-security aspects that are addressed by GI, and the related definitions in the plans. In general, our analysis does not present a promising situation for the Monterrey case, although it reveals that policymakers have started to use GI in urban plans to address water security. Considering Brussels’ conditions, although GI solutions are much more frequent and advanced than in Monterrey plans, the region cannot be considered a frontrunner of GI policies. Comparing these two remarkably diverse areas is beneficial to illuminate universal aspects of planning, as the method provides an opportunity to gain insight from a multi-city perspective, whether developed or developing, showing the potential areas to advance urban policies., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This contribution examines the profiles of the players involved in the financialization of the private rental residential sector, in terms of ownership and management. It takes as a case study Brussels coliving, a real estate niche of high-standard furnished shared accommodation targetting young expatriates. This sector is run by coliving companies, which either manage properties owned by private landlords, or acquire buildings by raising capital from wealthy individuals, funds or listed companies. These two funding models give rise to different investment geographies. The contribution illustrates the variety of players involved in the financialization of real estate, confirming the plural nature of this process. It also highlights the key role of property managers as intermediaries between tenants and investors. Finally, it highlights the main contribution of local players in the financialization of an area., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Plastic pollution has attracted the attention of the media, public, and government worldwide. Analysis of the inverted U-shaped environmental Kuznets curve (EKC) relationship between economic development and plastic pollution is crucial because economic growth is a critical driver of plastic pollution. In this study, for the first time, we (i) used the stochastic impacts of regression on population, affluence, and technology (STIRPAT) model to investigate the EKC relationship; (ii) performed a comprehensive analysis of the effects of sociodemographic factors on plastic pollution; and (iii) used a panel dataset of 128 countries for empirical analyses. The STIRPAT model was used to conduct scenario analyses to explore the impacts of sociodemographic driving forces on future plastic pollution by 2050 on a national (217 countries) and global scale. The empirical results confirmed the EKC relationship and revealed that changes in population structure and urbanization could substantially affect plastic pollution. Global plastic pollution was projected to reach 66.1 MT/y by 2050 under the business-as-usual scenario. Low-income countries and sub-Saharan Africa are projected to become major contributors to plastic pollution, leading to a global trend of increasing plastic pollution. These findings will help policymakers identify targets to effectively reduce future global plastic pollution., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Public Transport as Contested Public Space: Fare Policies and Daily Mobilities in Brussels and TallinnThis dissertation explores the social and political dimensions of public transport and examines its implications as a public space in cities such as Brussels and Tallinn. By examining the tensions between planned and lived public spaces through four case studies, this research sheds light on the structuring devices of mobility regimes and their impact on everyday mobilities.Using a variety of qualitative methods, including interviews with different passengers and stakeholders, observational research and travel diaries, this dissertation explores the role of fare policies on mobility behaviour, the transformative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on public transport atmospheres and behaviour, and the establishment of social rules of behaviour and their impact on deviant experiences. Through analyses of fare evasion in the Brussels metro and the effects of the free public transport policy in Tallinn, the author outlines the interplay between policy decisions, infrastructure and social control mechanisms. Incorporating feminist perspectives on the body and embodiment in urban spaces, the dissertation sets out at the micro level to explore users' everyday experiences and practices, to reveal how marginalised mobility needs intersect with societal norms and socio-cultural constructions of space, and to highlight the importance of practical knowledge and 'lived expertise' in understanding the realities of diverse urban citizens. This research contributes to the existing literature on urban theory and public transport by highlighting the political, social and communal functions of public transport. It makes empirical contributions to the literature on fare policy and fare evasion, and to frameworks of mobility justice, by examining urban inequalities manifested in public transport and identifying deviant practices as avenues for wider access and publicness. By illuminating, Le transport public en tant qu'espace public contesté :Politiques tarifaires et mobilités quotidiennes à Bruxelles et à TallinnCette thèse est née dans le but de comprendre ce qui constitue le "public" se trouvant à la fois dans les "transports publics" et dans l'"espace public". Ce n'est que récemment que les transports publics ont été inclus dans la littérature sur l'espace public qui, depuis des décennies, avait déjà discuté de leur rôle dans la vie sociale, culturelle, économique et politique des villes. En outre, la recherche sur les transports, qui s'est généralement concentrée sur une approche fonctionnaliste, ainsi que sur les besoins des navetteurs et les objectifs de planification urbaine axés sur la croissance, a négligé les différents besoins des usagers et la mobilité en tant que phénomène complexe au-delà du mouvement physique. Pour combler ces lacunes, je m'appuie sur la littérature des études sur la mobilité, de l'espace public et des approches féministes de la justice sociale. Ainsi, je souhaite étendre l'approche conventionnelle des transports publics à un éventail plus large d'expériences, en les examinant en tant qu'espace public à travers une étude empirique des expériences et des pratiques quotidiennes de mobilité au niveau individuel. La recherche a été menée à Tallinn (Estonie) et à Bruxelles (Belgique). Ces deux villes sont confrontées à des défis similaires, tels qu'un taux de motorisation élevé et un étalement urbain croissant, la diversité de la population et la ségrégation socio-spatiale. Les principales données pour Bruxelles sont 27 entretiens avec des passagers fraudeurs, des observations ethnographiques dans les stations de métro et sur les médias sociaux, ainsi qu'une enquête en ligne et 33 entretiens semi-structurés avec des passagers pendant la pandémie COVID-19. À Tallinn, 22 personnes ont été interrogées lors de deux entretiens et ont rempli un journal de voyage de sept jours.Les quatre publications présentées dans cette thèse a, Doctorat en Sciences, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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Diaspora communities are a growing source of external assistance and resources to meet unmet needs and to strengthen existing health systems in their home countries. Although a growing number of articles have been published in this realm, very few have looked at diaspora communities’ role and the place translocal communities give to health (care) in the various remittance dynamics, whilst including power relationships and environmental change. This article examines the motivations and practices through which Senegalese diasporas engage with the health system in their origin country and what barriers they face in their interventions. The results of the migration-environment-health nexus are critically discussed with a political ecology approach. We found that households and villages with a critical number of members abroad, and with strong political and/or international networks, are better off and less exposed to health risks in the face of adverse extreme climate impacts., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This article describes the construction and content of an atlas of local jurisdictions of Ancien Régime France: bailliages. Bailliages were at the center of the Ancien Régime's jurisdictional apparatus: they administered the ordinary royal justice, delineated the area of influence of heterogeneous customary laws, and served as electoral constituencies for the Estates General of 1614 and 1789. Yet, their territorial extent was relatively unknown to the royal authority, leading early scholars to assert the impossibility of mapping the geography of bailliages. Based on Armand Brette's Atlas des bailliages et juridictions assimilées published in 1904, we develop a historical geographic information system containing shapefiles and associated data files of bailliage courts at the time of the convocation of the Estates General of 1789. This new source has many potential applications, including mapping the different legal systems that coexisted in France, such as Roman law in pays de droit écrit and customary law in pays de droit coutumier, and studying elections to the Estates General of 1789., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The aim of the paper is to propose a methodological framework to explore how urban planning policies, such as the construction of highways, and other major events, such as opening/closure of major plants, affect the spatial distribution of residential and economic activities within a specific location over time. To do so, the paper proposes to use statistics related to the spatial distribution of individual buildings based on centrographic analysis, and to explore the statistical relations between the changes that occur over time with a vector autoregressive (VAR) model. From a land use policy perspective, this framework allows to investigate the causal impact of public action and other events on the local spatial distribution of the activities to see if (and how) it shapes spatial footprints and the distribution of residential and economic activities. The framework is applied to a small Canadian city case but can easily be implemented to any other cases.

La résistance organisée face à la vidéosurveillance publique signifie plus qu’une opposition à la surveillance, elle ouvre la possibilité d’une critique de l’espace public et de son dépassement par la notion d’« espace commun ». La thèse défendue dans cet article s’appuie sur une recherche de terrain menée auprès de collectifs actifs dans la campagne Technopolice, dédiée à la résistance à la surveillance urbaine (entretiens, observations et participations à leurs activités). Après avoir fait le constat de l’algorithmisation croissante du contrôle de l’espace public, l’article se penche sur la structure organisationnelle décentralisée de Technopolice, reliant des groupes locaux autonomes via une plateforme centralisant des informations et favorisant la participation des habitant·es pour contester la légalité de la surveillance. L’enjeu est de démontrer que l’organisation de Technopolice reflète une autodétermination collective qui génère un espace politique alternatif remettant en question l’ordre établi de l’espace public et ses fondements philosophiques., https://journals.openedition.org/geocarrefour/22513, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

The contribution will present the conditions of possibility of an ethnographic approach to urban resurgences (A.Tsing, 2022) based on two case studies in Brussels, i.e. two wastelands that the regional authorities wish to re-urbanize., info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

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Transport geography has become more diverse in terms of research themes, methods, and sources considered. New pathways for transport research have been initiated not only within the field but also by scholars from other disciplines, for instance, sociology and environmental science. In addition, the advent of the big data era has offered new research opportunities while also raising new methodological concerns. These new directions have sometimes shaken up transport geographers and forced them to change their perspective. In this context, this chapter considers advances, opportunities, and, sometimes, risks and disappointments induced by the following topics to transport geography: epistemology and social theories; urban transport; long-distance travel and the environment; the relationships between transport and spatial planning; linking spaces, places, and time; new (big) data sources; and visualising transport geography., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

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Settled societies inhabit environments shaped by building activity. Geographic data in social scientific and geographical research are generally composed of architectural and social categories derived from commonplace lived experience and societal knowledge, thus carrying socio-culturally specific meaning. The mundane pragmatism of such categories conflate spaces and buildings with their use and may obstruct effective comparison. Here I introduce a formal redescriptive ontology for built environments that operates on the basis of how differentiation and subdivision constitute distinct occupiable spaces through boundaries. The ontology consists of formally redescriptive socio-spatial and material concepts called ‘Boundary Line Types’ (BLT). I present and photographically illustrate the definitions of the BLTs, which are formulated on a critical realist basis and rooted in a multidisciplinary body of theory concerning the development and inhabitation of built space. Considering inhabited built environments through this ontology foregrounds the emergent logic by which spaces are divided and connected, creating configurations of boundaries as material frames that afford everyday social life. Since BLTs offer transferrable empirical principles from which these material frames emerge, they also enable diachronic and cross-cultural comparative social research. My proposition to approach social scientific built environment research through constitutive material boundaries offers a comparative complement to commonplace and socio-culturally specific spatial categories that compose most geographic data, enabling formal thick redescriptions and the potential for quantitative spatial analysis., Note that at the time of publication (24 Oct 2023) the article is awaiting peer review as per the policies of Open Research Europe. Open peer reviews have been requested, but this version will remain published. A revised version may also be published if warranted by peer review., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Drawing on media richness theory, this study investigates the effect of rich media, such as virtual reality (VR), on visit intentions for a specific destination. Specifically, this research employs a mixed-method approach, using abductive theorization to explore and confirm the dimensions of the VR visit experience, notably those related to telepresence, a key concept in tourism through VR. Furthermore, the study aims to elucidate how telepresence influences mental imagery, attitudes towards tourist destinations, and actual visit intentions. To do this, qualitative data were gathered between February and June 2022 from 34 semi-structured interviews with respondents who viewed a VR video of the destination. A second study collected quantitative data from 400 participants through face-to-face questionnaires after a VR video view between June and August 2022. The findings reveal that telepresence comprises three dimensions: realism of the virtual environment, immersion, and the sense of presence in the virtual environment. Telepresence, in turn, both directly and indirectly affects actual visit intentions, with mental imagery and attitude toward tourist destinations partially mediating those relationships. This study provides methodological, theoretical, and tourism management implications to enhance our comprehension of telepresence’s facets, its measurement, and the process by which VR influences real visit intentions.

A multidimensional characterisation of urban areas is essential to provide relevant data for monitoring deprived urban areas (urban poverty) beyond the dollar threshold (World Bank) or household characterisation (UN-Habitat). We present a holistic characterisation of deprivation through a framework composed of domains and indicators for measuring urban poverty. It includes socio-economic and household characterisation (household-level) as well as the characterisation of physical and environmental conditions (area-level). In this chapter, we showcase the use of Earth Observation techniques to extract area-level data. The combination of Earth Observation and open geospatial data allows routine mapping and characterising essential aspects of urban deprivation related to the urban environment (e.g. contamination such as waste accumulations), urban morphology (e.g. unplanned urbanisation defined by built-up densities, street geometry, open/green spaces), and connectivity (e.g. the presence of infrastructures such as streetlights or road access). Such a mapping system provides meaningful information for classifying deprivation levels and discovering differences between and within deprived areas. Results are provided as an online tool for users to access information at the city and settlement scale in sub-Saharan African cities. The tool allows users to tailor information to support the improvement of living conditions for the rapidly growing number of urban inhabitants., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This research aims at assessing the potential of an semi-unsupervised approach to create labeled samples for predicting deprivation probability at 100x100m. We compare Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning approaches (DL) with a combination of Sentinel-1 (S1) and Sentinel-2 (S2) data. Our results confirm that the propose approach for creating labelled samples using semi-supervised method works. The best performance is achieve by the ML approach combining S2 and S1 data and reach an overall accuracy of 95.34%., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

À Bruxelles, comme dans d’autres villes européennes, la question des loyers et de leurs conséquences sociales pose de plus en plus problème. Pourtant, la question du logement est souvent abordée par le biais des locataires, laissant notre connaissance sur les propriétaires relativement partielle. Au travers de cette thèse, divisée en quatre chapitres, je me chargerai de répondre à la question : « comment la rente structure-t-elle le marché de la location ? » La première partie traite de la théorie de la rente et vise à répondre à la sous-question suivante : « Qu’est-ce que la rente ? ». D’abord, j’y présente ce qu’est la rente pour les Physiocrates, les classiques, les marxistes et les néoclassiques. Ensuite, je m’attarde sur les différences d’interprétation au sujet des trois catégories de rente – différentielle, absolue et de monopole – chez K. Marx ainsi que sur leur transposition au contexte urbain.La seconde partie de la thèse porte sur le profil des bailleurs et est guidée par cette question : « Qui perçoit la rente dans le secteur de la location de logements ? ». Elle se base sur des données administratives individuelles de la documentation patrimoniale. Une partie de la littérature insiste sur la financiarisation du logement. Pourtant, il ressort de cette analyse que les logements loués sont surtout possédés par des propriétaires individuels de petite ou moyenne envergure. Ces bailleurs sont plutôt issus des classes intermédiaires et supérieures même si l’existence de bailleurs populaires n’est pas négligeable. Enfin, bien qu'elle représente une part significative des ménages bruxellois, l’extraction de rentes est le fait d’une minorité, et porte sur des logements pour la plupart anciens et déjà amortis.Dans la troisième partie, j’étudie les stratégies de maximisation de la rente et je documente le cas de la conversion de logements en hébergements touristiques par le biais des plateformes du type Airbnb et HomeAway. Dans ce chapitre, je m’attarde d’abord à c, Doctorat en Sciences, info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

Urban soil security depends on the means and social practices that enable multiple generations to maintain and improve soil resources. Soils are pivotal to urban sustainability yet seem absent from international planning advisories for sustainable urban development. Subsuming soils under broad and unspecific categories (ecosystem, environment, land, etc.) leaves soil interests indeterminate and largely ignored in urban planning. The absence of soils in sustainable urban planning advice permits planning guidelines that cause increasing land-use conversions which seal soils. Urban patterns of sealed and distanced soils, preventing access to and direct enjoyment of soil benefits, generate disengagement from soils. Despite fierce land-use competition, urban areas offer the greatest potential for soil connectivity exactly because people concentrate there. Based on previous work we accept that everyday opportunities to encounter and directly engage with soils in Pre-Columbian lowland Maya urban life rendered soil connectivity commonplace. Here, we review how the two original routes towards soil connectivity, knowledge exchange and producer–consumer relationships, reinforced and supported regular soil engagement in Maya urban practice. We frame our interpretation of Maya cultural values and urban practices in terms of leading insights from environmental psychology on pro-environmental behaviour and stakeholder attitudes and the principles of building resilience. This allows us to recognise that Maya urban soil connectivity functions thanks to the structural involvement of the largest societal stakeholder group, while imparting soil knowledge is entangled in shared socio-cultural activities rather than a task for a minority of soil specialists. The emerging Maya model for a socially engaged soil-aware urban society combines bottom-up practices and top-down social–ecological cultural values to increase resilience, to diminish reliance on long-distance supply chains, and to m, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Using the Precolumbian lowland Maya model of urban soil connectivity discussed in Part I, we review how soil connectivity can transition into urban planning policy and, by extension, could ultimately become codified as vantages and guidelines for urban design. In Maya agro-urban landscapes, the interspersion of open and green space with construction and paving provides edges (or interfaces) between sealed and unsealed soils at which the potential for soil connectivity manifests. These edges create an undeniable opportunity for urban planning to determine methods, guidelines, and conditions that can enhance soil connectivity. We argue that adequate attention to soils in urban sustainability goals would counteract misconceptions about the compact city paradigm and compensation for soil sealing in urban practice. Through preserving and increasing urban soil availability, proximity, and accessibility, advisory policies can stimulate shared values and everyday behaviours that reinforce the responsible and productive use of urban soils. Such urban planning can enable and encourage widespread participation in urban soil management. To promote policymaking on urban soils, we assess the importance and challenges of using urban green space as a proxy for the presence of urban soils. Our review suggests that urban green space offers high potential for use in urban planning to develop habit architectures that nurture soil-oriented pro-environmental behaviour. However, we also acknowledge the need for consistent and systematic data on urban soils that match sustainable urban development concepts to assist the effective transition of soil connectivity into urban planning codifications. Formulating adequate soil-oriented planning guidelines will require translating empirical insights into policy applications. To this end, we propose methods for enhancing our understanding and ability to monitor urban soil connectivity, including onsite surveys of land-use and bottom-up experience, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Background Although malaria transmission has experienced an overall decline in sub-Saharan Africa, urban malaria is now considered an emerging health issue due to rapid and uncontrolled urbanization and the adaptation of vectors to urban environments. Fine-scale hazard and exposure maps are required to support evidence-based policies and targeted interventions, but data-driven predictive spatial modelling is hindered by gaps in epidemiological and entomological data. A knowledge-based geospatial framework is proposed for mapping the heterogeneity of urban malaria hazard and exposure under data scarcity. It builds on proven geospatial methods, implements open-source algorithms, and relies heavily on vector ecology knowledge and the involvement of local experts. Methods A workflow for producing fine-scale maps was systematized, and most processing steps were automated. The method was evaluated through its application to the metropolitan area of Dakar, Senegal, where urban transmission has long been confirmed. Urban malaria exposure was defined as the contact risk between adult Anopheles vectors (the hazard) and urban population and accounted for socioeconomic vulnerability by including the dimension of urban deprivation that is reflected in the morphology of the built-up fabric. Larval habitat suitability was mapped through a deductive geospatial approach involving the participation of experts with a strong background in vector ecology and validated with existing geolocated entomological data. Adult vector habitat suitability was derived through a similar process, based on dispersal from suitable breeding site locations. The resulting hazard map was combined with a population density map to generate a gridded urban malaria exposure map at a spatial resolution of 100 m. Results The identification of key criteria influencing vector habitat suitability, their translation into geospatial layers, and the assessment of their relative importance are major outcomes o, SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This study investigates the potential of freely available Sentinel-1 imagery coupled with Google Earth Engine (GEE) for mapping and monitoring flooding in Dar es Salaam. Sentinel-1 images (n = 55) available during the rainy season (March–May) since 2016 were used and processed in GEE. For separating water and land surfaces, we used a histogram-based automatic thresholding method. The binarization accuracy was assessed using confusion matrix based on 1064 randomly generated points in GEE. Overall accuracy of 95% (Kappa = 0.90) were achieved. Dar es Salaam has experienced flood inundation per flood event on average over an area of 50 km2 in March 2019 and 2021. Territories located along the Ocean and inland water shores, built and bare ground were subject to flooding compared to other land cover types. Flooding inundations have been difficult to detect in the city center. With the current temporal and spatial resolution of Sentinel-1, flood detection in city centers remains a challenge yet. However, Sentinel-1 images, coupled with GEE cloud computing simplified flood mapping and monitoring in a large urban region and this approach can be applied in other large cities and their surroundings for countries where data gap and lack of processing tools are critical challenges., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Le projet de port de Kribi au Cameroun est un exemple de grand projet d’infrastructures initié par un État africain pour moderniser son économie, dans ce cas-ci, à travers son insertion dans le trafic maritime des conteneurs. Ce grand projet est planifié de longue date mais sa réalisation s’est faite entre 2012 et 2017. La région de Kribi, qui est située au sud-ouest du Cameroun, a ainsi été affectée par de grands travaux dans une zone rurale localisée en bordure du Golfe de Guinée. Cette recherche vise à mieux comprendre les différents impacts des travaux reliés au port (installations portuaires, routes d’accès, autoroute régionale, zones d’entrepôts, etc.), en particulier les effets du programme de relocalisation de villages qui a notamment touché deux localités, soit Lalobé et Nlendé-Dibé. Nous avons effectué une série d’entrevues individuelles et des groupes de discussions en 2021 afin de saisir, selon une approche culturaliste, comment les résidents ciblés par ce programme de relocalisation ont vécu les bouleversements de leur cadre de vie et de leurs conditions de vie. Nos résultats démontrent que le programme de relocalisation des populations peut être globalement qualifié d’échec. Les consultations ont été limitées, les indemnisations ont été entachées de nombreuses irrégularités, la pêche et l’agriculture ont subi les contrecoups de l’aménagement d’infrastructures portuaires et routières et les nouveaux sites villageois n’ont pas encore été construits et habités.

Seasonality is an essential issue for service industries but lacks the attention of most transport scholars. To close this gap, this study explored the spatial heterogeneity and determinants of flight seasonality from a supply-side perspective, using the monthly flights of 222 airports in China during 2018 as a sample. The following conclusions were drawn. First, domestic flights in China face seasonality due to the country's vast territory and diverse natural environment. Second, from an airport perspective, seasonality is high in small airports serving remote places and in cities that are tourism destinations. Third, from a route perspective, feeder routes in the air transport network of China face higher seasonality when compared to trunk routes. Finally, airport size and a mix of natural landscape factors shape domestic flight seasonality at the national level. At the local level, most factors (e.g. airport size and temperature) are more evident in the northwest region., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Airport location is a well-known planning issue that can have a significant impact on a city’s accessibility, economy, noise pollution, and residents’ well-being. In this article, we leverage existing open-source geoinformation and geographical information system (GIS) software to compute statistical indicators that allow us to characterize worldwide the extent to which airports are enclosed in their surrounding urban environment, considering both human overcrowding and actual land use around airports. A so-called enclosure index is developed based on the number of residents and their distance from the airport. A significant number of airports face a high enclosure index, but no clear relationships with air traffic volumes are found. This study also investigates actual land use around airports through a principal component analysis, which unveils interesting contrasts across airports’ surroundings and suggests that, on average, airports with more traffic tend to be located close to—or within—densely built districts. All the original materials produced for this research, including the indicators, the computational code, and the visualization of the context of airports globally through atlas, are provided in open access for future research on the topic., info:eu-repo/semantics/published

One of the main ‘promises’ that populist parties seek to deliver is to bring politics closer to the ‘people’. While the literature focused mainly on the relationship between voters and those parties, less attention has been given to the role of members’ priorities in shaping parties’ legislative activity. In this paper, we focus on a paradigmatic technopopulist case, the Italian Five Star Movement (FSM): one of the founding trademarks of the party was the involvement of the members in the party activities via a digital platform. FSM’s digital platform included participative digital law-making features, which matched member priorities and élite policymaking. We built an original dataset which comprises the law-making activities of members and parliamentarians from 2013 to 2019. We analysed 2000 law proposals and found that FSM elected representatives’ agenda, albeit partly diverging from that of members, still changed in the direction of member priorities through time., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

What drives mass displacement in the context of cyclical violence and repeated refugee flows? We take the context of Burundi and the Great Lakes region in Africa to show the limitations of available causal models, which are typically focused on war-related displacement, struggle to connect war and post-war displacement and where mass displacement is understood as a response to acute violence. Burundi is an excellent case study to problematise episodic, reactive and war-related causal models of displacement as this is a context with cyclical mass displacements spanning both war and peace and interconnected through dynamics such as people's anticipation of worsening and reading of precedent. Taking the 2015 third-term contestation in Burundi as a starting point, we argue for a longue-durée approach to displacement and for complicating the dominant causality framework by bringing in three dynamics: anticipation, endogeneity and entrenchment. Anticipation considers how longer-term (violent) pasts rather than immediate events inform displacement. In Burundi, people drew on past experiences as well as rumours in an attempt to anticipate a deterioration. Endogeneity questions easy separations between displacement, violence and political crisis and rather sees them as co-constitutive. In Burundi, mass displacement cleared the opposition from domestic space and disenfranchised large populations in subsequent elections. It also drew increased transnational repression and triggered security fears on behalf of the regime. Finally, as the case of Burundi shows, redisplacement does not represent a ‘repeat’ or replication of past experience, but rather a new form of relation to exile and home. Against a long past of repeated displacements, many Burundians are entrenching in exile., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Transport infrastructure agencies are increasingly coping with strong budget constraints, while being highly under pressure to manage and upgrade an infrastructure network that meets the increasing service level expectations of all its stakeholders. Sound infrastructure management therefore includes tight cost control, a long-term vision and budget planning. Belgium has long been structurally underinvesting in infrastructure, but is in recent years trying to clear the backlog. However, it seems that cost overruns for transport investment projects – paid by the same budget as structural maintenance projects – may seriously reduce the number of critical projects to be carried out in the next years, delaying the necessary catching up process as compared to neighboring countries’ state of infrastructure (in the Netherlands, the UK, and Germany). This study analyzes quantitatively the cost developments, from the first publicly released estimates to the final execution costs, of 36 Belgian railway, road and inland waterway projects, representing a total final value of € 1,059,754,416.37 in 2020 prices, or approximately almost 10% of all transport infrastructure investments (in % of CAPEX) in Belgium during the last two decades is captured in our sample. We obtain results on the cost variation itself, and on the phase of the project in which the deviation is higher. We also investigate the transport mode as the independent variable. We find that overruns are higher in the project stage before contract awarding, and that cost overruns for road projects exceed those of rail or inland navigation projects. This case-based quantitative analysis, together with the variables researched in the case analysis, will enable Belgian governing bodies and transport agencies, separately responsible for one mode per region, to learn from these deviations, and to prioritize the need to further explore causes and develop solutions., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Background: In the past, deprivation has been mostly captured through simple and univariate measures such as low income or poor educational attainment in research on health and social inequalities in Belgium. This paper presents a shift towards a more complex, multidimensional measure of deprivation at the aggregate level and describes the development of the first Belgian Indices of Multiple Deprivation (BIMDs) for the years 2001 and 2011. Methods: The BIMDs are constructed at the level of the smallest administrative unit in Belgium, the statistical sector. They are a combination of six domains of deprivation: income, employment, education, housing, crime and health. Each domain is built on a suite of relevant indicators representing individuals that suffer from a certain deprivation in an area. The indicators are combined to create the domain deprivation scores, and these scores are then weighted to create the overall BIMDs scores. The domain and BIMDs scores can be ranked and assigned to deciles from 1 (the most deprived) to 10 (the least deprived). Results: We show geographical variations in the distribution of the most and least deprived statistical sectors in terms of individual domains and overall BIMDs, and we identify hotspots of deprivation. The majority of the most deprived statistical sectors are located in Wallonia, whereas most of the least deprived statistical sectors are in Flanders. Conclusion: The BIMDs offer a new tool for researches and policy makers for analyzing patterns of deprivation and identifying areas that would benefit from special initiatives and programs., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Public transport (PT) systems face the challenge of retaining users and preventing a shift towards individual transport modes. While satisfaction is recognized as a key factor in user loyalty, there is a need to understand the specific PT attributes that contribute to passenger satisfaction and foster loyalty. This study aims to assess the impact of PT service attributes on user loyalty, controlling for socio-demographic characteristics. Data from an online survey conducted in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, a country with high car dependency, were analysed using logistic regression models. The findings highlight the importance of attributes such as reliable service, in-vehicle travel time, number of transfers, and feeling safe, while also identifying differences in attribute importance between bus and train loyalty. The study provides valuable insights for transport agencies and policymakers to enhance user loyalty and develop effective ridership retention strategies. These findings are particularly relevant in the post-pandemic scenario and can contribute to addressing car dependency challenges in diverse metropolitan areas. The paper concludes with policy recommendations to improve PT services based on the identified attributes., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

Contaminated water and poor sanitation are associated with disease transmission. Absent, inadequate, or improperly managed water resources and sanitation systems expose individuals to preventable health risks. Billions of people lack access to these basic services today and will remain in this condition for decades to come. As we are usually thinking and talking about water, sanitation and hygiene services have changed. Looking back at the history of water, sanitation, and hygiene can help us understand the challenges and opportunities of these issues and draw lessons to achieve sustainable development in the future. Throughout history, civilizations have successfully experimented with treating water and using it for drinking, sanitation, and agriculture. For example, the Minoan civilizations originally focused on water treatment and cleaning to improve the aesthetic properties of drinking water. During prehistoric times, Minoan and Indus Valley civilizations, dating back to about 2000 BC, were the first to focus on the treatment of water supplies. From the early Minoan period, they relied on rainwater collection. During historic times, Hippocrates was the first to invent and used a water filter in the form of a cloth bag, at about 400 BC, known today as the Hippocrates Sleeve. The Romans perfected existing water technologies on a larger scale and initiated their spread throughout the Empire. Hygiene in ancient Rome was promoted by the famous public baths and toilets, which were supplied with water through widely branched aqueducts that had a high standard of cleanliness for the time and were regularly maintained., SCOPUS: re.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published

This paper complements the existing literature on Bike Share Schemes (BSS) by investigating their use from a spatiotemporal perspective to assess their relationship with public transport (PT). We address these questions through the case of Brussels and its long-standing docked BSS ‘Villo!’. Our study analyses comprehensive (consecutive 12 months) and disaggregated (station level) data on rentals and returns and finds that Villo! is used mostly in dense (although not all) districts also well served by PT. However, temporal structures suggest Villo! overtakes PT at night in vibrant districts and possibly in selected districts with lower PT services over weekends. In addition, Villo! stations at key PT hubs usually do not show specific temporal patterns, which suggests intermodality may work at all times during PT operations. There could be an evening peak effect combined with the Brussels’ topography, but this needs to be confirmed by on-site surveys., SCOPUS: ar.j, info:eu-repo/semantics/published