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According to Finnish national housing policy, social rental housing (ARA) plays a key role in providing affordable housing and combating segregation in growing urban regions, in particular in Finland’s three largest urban regions (Helsinki, Tampere and Turku), which are the focus of our study. However, the proportion of social housing in Finland has declined, with an internal structural shift towards housing for special groups. Moreover, in the large cities, the ARA housing stock has not been completed to the extent called for in the housing programmes. Our paper addresses these contradictions. We examine the views of key actors responsible for housing policy and social housing implementation with data from three separate research projects between 2017 and 2022. We ask: What reasons do key actors see as to why the supply of social housing has stagnated and declined? Furthermore, we identify the possible barriers to promoting social rental housing in current policies and practices. Our analysis reveals several market-, policy- and practice-based constraints to the promotion of social rental housing. Above all, Finnish housing policy has always been secondary to other policy objectives, which makes it unpredictable. Therefore, the guiding regulations at the national level and the implementation of housing programmes at the local level seem to be out of step with each other. However, local governments are politically more stable and have attempted to promote social housing objectives, but there are clear and path-dependent differences between the cities in our study in this respect. Despite this, the representatives of social housing companies did not see the need for a broader housing policy reform in Finland. Instead, they asked for long-term commitment and predictability.

Groundwater is a critical resource for drinking purposes that is under pressure and polluted with multiple inorganic contaminants. Among various contaminants, potentially toxic element contamination in groundwater has significant public health concerns due to their toxicity at a low level of exposure. This investigation aimed to assess the toxic element contamination and associated non-carcinogenic human health risk at rapidly growing urban centers in Telangana to ensure potable water and to generate baseline data in the study province. Thirteen potential toxic trace elements (Al, As, B, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn) were determined in 35 groundwater samples collected from the Karimnagar and Siddipet smart cities in lower Manair River basin using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The trace element concentration is found in the range for Al (1–112 µg/L), As (2–8 µg/L), B (34–438 µg/L), Cd (bdl–2 µg/L), Co (bdl–17 µg/L), Cr (bdl–4 µg/L), Cu (bdl–216 µg/L), Fe (4–420 µg/L), Mn (bdl–3311 µg/L), Ni (5–31 µg/L), Pb (bdl–62 µg/L), Se (1–18 µg/L), and Zn (3–1858 µg/L). Analytical data of groundwater revealed the occurrence of toxic elements observed as above the acceptable limits of Bureau of Indian Standards for drinking purposes found in the order of Al > Ni ≥ Mn > Se ≥ Cu ≥ Pb > Fe with 26% > 14% ≥ 14% > 9% ≥ 9% ≥ 9% > 6% of samples, respectively. The non-carcinogenic health risk to humans upon groundwater ingestion has been evaluated and found to be non-hazardous for all the individual elements studied except for aresenic. However, cumulative hazard quotient observed as > 1 in the category of infants and children might be a major potential health concern. This study provided baseline data and suggested implementing preventive measures to protect human health around the urban areas of lower Manair river basin, Telangana, India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over th e past decades, the rise and growth of knowledge-based economy (KE) have become central to the development of global and local economies. However, the crisis in 2008 and the subsequent major restructuring process in sector's and regional distribution of the KE require that we rebuild our understanding of "development of knowledge-based economy (DKE)". The important issues in having a new outlook on DKE are to explain the concept of DKE, the forms of expression of DKE, the profile of DKE, the orientation of DKE, and the relations between the regions and the sectors of KE (SKE). The authors intend to achieve the aim of the study by focusing on the relationship between the SKE and regions during a period of expansion (2000–2007) and a period of recession (2007–2015). First of all, the paper presented the theoretical studies of the key concepts of KE and DKE. Besides, by means of clustering based on the data (2000–2007–2015), the sequence of regional clustering and the components of the stage clusters were used for determining the profile of DKE and the orientation of DKE respectively. Next, the DKE that has changed in response to unfavorable economic environment such as crisis was analyzed and assessed on the assessment of the regional relationship between SKE and their regional distribution. In conclusion, KE is more resilient to crisis than agglomeration economies, and it is reconstructed from a complex combination of agglomeration economies, amenities, and proximity to the metropolitan multicores. Also, the right combination of micro-economic factors (functions, amenities, proximity) and the characteristics (sharing force, matching force, and learning force or their well combinations) of agglomeration economies affect the profile and the orientation of DKE. Otherwise, DKE is expressed that the SKE are expanding from the capital to the second- or medium-sized cities, close to the historic administration centers (HACs), forming the profile of DKE in the method of forming new employment centers (NECs) in rest small towns. Next, due to the regional relevance of SKE and agglomeration economies, the sectors of knowledge-intensive business service (KIBS) and other knowledge service (OKS) still achieve sustainable DKE before and after the economic crisis. Future study should consider the changes in policy and use rich analysis data to consider the impact of DKE and its regional distribution. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is mounting evidence that the current model of economic development negatively affects many ecological processes and creates serious threats to the sustainability of economic processes and welfare. In response to those threats, policies have been introduced at supranational and national levels to alleviate the most burning environmental challenges and mitigate their consequences for humanity. At the same time, however, there is a growing understanding that economy–environment relations have to be analysed and approached from a geographical perspective, as this sheds more light on spatial differences and specificities, the unevenness of transition processes and their social consequences as well as the need to perform the transition towards sustainability in a spatially sensitive manner. This article seeks to reconstruct and analyse two processes – urban sprawl and the automobile revolution – that took place in the Polish urban regions during the systemic transformation period and to discuss their potential consequences for the transition to sustainability from a geographical perspective. We show that different places, due to their specificities and legacies, start sustainability transitions from different initial conditions that might affect the pace of this process as well as its environmental and social consequences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There is a significant dearth of knowledge regarding changes in intra-metropolitan local labor markets in former socialist countries, which encompass extensive parts of Eurasia and where industrialization and urbanization were centrally controlled by the state. This paper aims to contribute to the existing body of research by (a) illuminating and explaining changes in the spatial structure of urban regions in Poland during the transition from 'extensive' to 'intensive' socialist urban development (1973-1983), and (b) investigating changes in commuting patterns and their socio-demographic composition during the transition to 'mature' socialism. We selected four major city-regions for analysis: gdański, katowicki, łódzki, and warszawski. These regions were carefully chosen to represent different types of polycentric development and diverse economic profiles. The main findings of our paper are as follows: (a) despite the substantial population growth and the unprecedented rate of new housing development in the four city-regions, the overall impact of the socialist transition to intensive urbanization on their spatial structure was relatively minor, (b) the intensification of urbanization process in Poland contributed to the reduction in commute distance for all socioeconomic and demographic groups of workers. • The impact of the socialist transition to intensive urbanization on the spatial structure of urban regions was relatively minor. • Intensification of the urbanization process in Poland in the 1970s had a significant impact on commuting patterns. • Irrespective of the impact of central planning on urbanization, there were significant differences between the study regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Urban heat islands (UHI) are of the most common urban phenomena according to which some urban regions, especially downtowns, are hotter than the surrounding by some degrees. Urban development and its relationship with UHIs are important topics that should be first understood and then controlled by devising relevant plans for the trend of urban development. Municipal District 6 (MD-6) is an oldest and the most populous areas of Tehran city in Tehran province-Iran, which also has a high building density. In order to reduce the calculation error, this area is divided into 23 sections. And modeling in each section is done by comparing closely related sections separately. The results of this study can be generalized to all same parts of the world. Initially, earth surface temperature is estimated using Landsat 8 satellite data. Then, the vegetation area of each section is calculated using Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). And in the next step, by establishing a relationship between the obtained data, the rate of reduction of UHI is determined by adding a certain area of vegetation. Also, a map was prepared that showing the buildings on UHI, thus measuring the area of roofs with the ability to add vegetation. Finally, the modeling is based on this information. Results show with the addition of vegetation to the roofs of buildings, an average of% 38.58 of the area and 0.68°C of the intensity of the UHI was reduced in this area. Modeling gave different results for other sections depending on their location and the area of buildings inside heat islands that can be used for green roof development. When the material of urban surface changes and water and humidity penetration increases due to the replacement of these surfaces with plants, more time will be required for the increase in ambient temperature by plants versus impermeable surfaces like asphalt and concrete. Therefore temperature rise in plants needs more time than in impermeable surfaces.

This article analyzes the impact of the occupational crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic on Argentina's urban regional labor markets, focusing on the composition, functioning and quality of jobs. It examines the performance of these markets during the year 2020 compared to the previous situation (2019-2020) and the subsequent recovery (2020-2021). Indicators such as changes in the sectoral composition of employment and work precariousness at the aggregate level and in major urban regions are used. The results reveal an increase in inequalities in terms of labor irregularity according to sectoral insertion, occupational category and urban region. These results are based on a descriptive, comparative and inferential data analysis from the Permanent Urban Household Survey (National Institute of Statistics and Census). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: The purpose of this research was to prepare a model of the underlying factors of the occurrence of social creativity in the urban environment and zoning the urban areas of Ahvaz city. Methodology: This qualitative-quantitative descriptive research was done in 2022 in Ahvaz city, Iran. The literature study of the research field was done using the meta-analysis strategy. After the final version of the questionnaire was approved and prepared, a combination of field method and visits to urban areas was used, as well as measuring the opinions of the citizens of urban areas. The required sample number, which was estimated to be 680 people based on Morgan's table, was selected using simple random sampling. Data analysis was done using factor analysis method in SPSS 23 software. The Vicor method was used to weight the status of the examined indicators in each of the urban areas. To zone urban areas in terms of urban creativity, the weights obtained in ArcGIS 10.8 software were added to each area and the final map was prepared. Findings: Place context, general social characteristics, social characteristics of creativity, individual characteristics and economic characteristics were extracted as 5 main dimensions of creativity in urban places. Exploratory factor analysis led to the identification of 13 factors that explained a total of 68.546% of the variance of the questionnaire. Social creativity in regions 1, 2 and 4 was very high (0.8), high (0.7) and high (0.6), respectively. Regions 3 (0.42), 6 (0.4) and 7 (0.5) in terms of the status of social creativity indicators are in average condition, as well as regions 8 and 5 that were, respectively in low (0.3) and very low conditions (0.2). Conclusion: The status of the factors affecting the occurrence of social creativity in urban areas 5 and 8 of Ahvaz compared to other areas needs special attention. While the situation of these factors in urban areas 1, 2 and 4 of Ahvaz is better than other areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the past decade, the topic of Smart City is indisputably one of the most important concepts in the development of cities and urban regions in Central and Eastern Europe, their management and planning, while innovations and innovation potential are becoming a prerequisite for functioning connections and processes within integrated local (or geographical) functional areas. The Slovak Republic is gradual, despite the difficult beginnings without system coordination, declaring an effort to implement the Smart City policy within the existing residential structure of cities and municipalities. Relying on the Action Plan for Smart Cities and Regions 2023-2025 as well as the Slovakia Program 2021-2027, at the same time the results of world studies and analyzes carried out in the conditions of the Slovak environment (while we start from the findings and follow up on the study by Kóňa et al. 2022), the authors identify in their research as the main problem the fact that the attention of the state, professional public, as well as local authorities, is aimed at supporting the creation of Functional Urban Areas in the geographical structure of individual regions with the aim of supporting the development of six defined areas, the so-called „domains", which ultimately brings about an increase in the quality of life of the population of these regions. However, given domains are ambiguous in terms of content, this variability is also reflected in the inability of participating parties to perceive their content. As part of the research, respondents were asked about six areas of smart city policy implementation, the aim of the research was to identify the content perception by the respondents according to the weight they assign to individual areas and subsequently define within individual domains the elements/characteristics perceived by the population as key to the growth of the quality of their lives in cities and regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on topics of research examining how metropolisation processes affect the areas surrounding metropolitan centres and change the locations of metropolitan functions in urban regions, this article examines: (i) how pronounced the process of the regionalisation of metropolitan functions is; (ii) in which sub‐areas of a surrounding region the regionalisation of metropolitan functions can be observed and (iii) which places are anchor points of metropolitan regionalisation. The regionalisation processes are studied using a municipal‐level dataset of metropolitan functions from German urban regions. The findings indicate that centrifugal forces distribute metropolitan functions across the surrounding region around one or more metropolitan core cities, and that this is, for the most part, linked to medium‐sized cities and to the complementary areas of metropolitan centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, entrepreneurship ecosystem (EE) research has become a leading field in entrepreneurship research. In this paper, we use the Regional Entrepreneurship and Development Index (REDI) methodology to analyze the EEs of 22 urban regions in Hungary. These urban regions statistically range from metropolitan agglomerations to smaller regional units with urban centers which organize their respective local economies, representing real economic entities relevant to EEs. Compared to other European regions, Hungarian urban regions perform poorly in entrepreneurship. Budapest, the leading Hungarian regions, ranks 81st out of the 140 regions in the sample, and it also lags behind other similarly developed regions. Looking at the REDI sub-indices, Hungarian urban regions perform relatively well in Entrepreneurial Attitudes while Entrepreneurial Aspiration is the weakest component in 19 of them. At the pillar level, we have identified the strengths and the weaknesses of each region. Pinpointing local weaknesses is particularly important because they act as limitations on the operation of EEs and serve as a basis for policy interventions. While Risk Acceptance and Financing are the weakest pillars in most regions, the combinations of pillar components differ, underlining the legitimacy of case-sensitive policy interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Rozwój Regionalny & Polityka Regionalna is the property of Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza (IH UAM) 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.)

Circular economy (CE), the new ‘buzzword’ in urban and regional studies and policy debates, is about shifting from a linear production process towards a circular one in which the generation of waste is minimised, materials circulate in ‘closed loops’, and waste is not considered a burden but rather a resource that brings new economic opportunities. However, while there is a consensus on the need to facilitate a transition towards a circular economy, the governing of this endeavour remains extremely challenging because making a circular economy work requires cutting across sectoral, scalar, and administrative boundaries. Drawing on the sustainability transitions literature and the case of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, arguably one of the frontrunners on the strive towards a circular built environment and economy, the paper seeks to identify and understand barriers for CE transition at a regional scale. The findings underscore the multi-faceted nature of the challenge and offer lessons for the governance of emerging regional circular spatial-economic policies.

The article argues that to reach circular economy goals urban regions need to identify and understand the challenges and opportunities originating from the differences in spatial settings, and to develop place-based solutions by adequately involving (local) stakeholders. Based on the case study that was conducted in Hamburg within the Horizon2020 project REPAiR, spatial specificities in five different urban areas shall be analysed and strategies that were developed in a co-creative process shall be explored. The results show that the spatial organisation of CE strategies depends on urban structures and stakeholders’ interest and needs to be embedded in the (local) governance setting and a spatial planning system.

This paper investigates changes in the spatial structure and explores the link between the initial shape and other characteristics of city-regions of Poland and heterogeneity in the changes of urban structure. Shifting attention to the former socialist country offers an opportunity to illuminate the link between a rapid and systemic political–economic transition and the development of city-regions. The results suggest that increasing polycentricity is not the main trend in Poland, and show that the context and initial stage of spatial structure indeed matter in shaping trajectories of urban change. Irrespective of the systemic transition, the spatial structure of city-regions is relatively slow to change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Equitable spatial distribution of facilities and resources between urban regions, as one of the most important pillars of desirable urban life, is one of the requirements of establishing a dynamic, coherent and progressive society. Considering importance of the issue of equality in the spatial distribution of facilities and its role in human societies, in the present study, we intend to analyze Tabriz metropolitan areas, in terms of development indicators. Therefore, the present study is descriptive-analytical in nature and in terms of purpose it is an applied type. Required data collected from statistical yearbook, comprehensive plan of 2011 and 2016 as well as other valid data of urban organizations in the form of 58 important indices including data related to economic, social, physical, welfare components , Educational and environmental. For data analysis we used Shannon entropy, coefficient of variation and Promethee technique for weighting, dispersion analysis and level of determination, respectively. ArcGIS software was also used to display the results on the map. The results of the research indicate that there is no balanced development indicators between the regions of Tabriz. As only regions 5 and 2 have higher levels of Economic, social, welfare, physical, environmental and educational indexes, regions 7,3,1 and 4 are among the deprived regions and region 10 is among the most deprived regions with not having the mentioned indicators. Overall, the research results show that the situation in the regions of Tabriz is not consistent with the balanced spatial distribution and requires proper attention and management.

The extraction of a road network is critical for city planning and has been widely studied in previous research using high resolution images, whereas the high cost of high-resolution remote sensing data and the complexity of its analysis also cause huge challenges for the extraction. The successful launch of a high resolution (130 m) nighttime remote sensing satellite, Luojia 1-01, provides great potential in the study of urban issues. This study attempted to extract city roads using a Luojia 1-01 nighttime lighting image. The urban regions were firstly distinguished through a threshold method. Then, an unsupervised PCNN (pulse coupled neural network) was established to extract the road networks in urban regions. A series of optimizing methods was proposed to enhance the image contrast and eliminate the residential regions along the roads. The final extraction results after optimizing were compared with OSM (OpenStreetMap) data, showing the high precision of the proposed approach with the accuracy rate reaching 83.2%. We also found the precision of city centers to be lower than suburban regions due to the influence of intensive human activities. Our study confirms the potential of Luojia 1-01 data in the extraction of city roads and provides new thought for more complex and microscopic study of city issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Internacional de Sociología is the property of Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas 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.)

'Polycentricity on a regional scale', or in short the 'polycentric region' (PR), is a key concept in both urban and regional research and planning. But the term is used in many different ways, making it an overstretched concept unsuitable for drawing normative conclusions from. This article highlights the fact that, beyond the lowest common denominator – PRs consist of several centres ('poly' = many) and are situated on a regional scale ('region') – there is no single generally accepted definition of what a PR is. Instead, there are various historical trajectories for the formation of PRs, as well as different substantive perspectives. In this contribution, we will develop a conceptual typology and terminology describing the various dimensions of a PR for the North-Western European context on the basis of a critical literature review. The typology addresses two formation modes, four substantive perspectives and two time perspectives in an attempt to establish conceptual 'building block(s)' for use in empirical PR research and policy formulation. Our typology exposes knowledge gaps to be addressed in a recast PR research agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Industrial agglomeration and inequalities are much of the concerns in recent literature. Pakistan, being a developing country, is also restricted by resource availability to treat all regions equally with respect to investment and development. As a result, regions with growing agglomeration experience higher income levels relative to other regions. To investigate this empirically this study employed propensity score matching (PSM) across urban regions in Pakistan using Labour Force Survey data 2017-18. For agglomeration regional herfindahl indices were estimated and regions with above average index value along with having positive index growth were considered as treated or agglomerated regions. The positive and significant coefficient of regions with treatment signifies that regions with agglomeration were found to have higher relatively income. Hence introducing industrial concentration in untreated regions would be effective in reducing inequalities rather tackling them by reducing agglomeration in agglomerated regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We estimated CO _2 emissions from the Beijing region of China using differential ground-based observations of the column-averaged dry air mole fractions of CO _2 ( $\Delta X{\text{C}}{{\text{O}}_{2,{\text{ obs}}}}$ ; urban minus upwind background column observations) in winter (1 November 2020–1 March 2021). Beijing is one of the most world’s populated cities and the CO _2 emissions from this region contain large uncertainties in different bottom-up anthropogenic inventories. Differential measurements are potentially able to capture urban signals over Beijing (3.46 ± 2.35 ppm). The simulated X CO _2 enhancements were calculated ( $\Delta X{\text{C}}{{\text{O}}_{2,{\text{ sim}}}}$ ) based on three emission inventories (the Open-source Data Inventory for Anthropogenic CO _2 (ODIAC), Multiresolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC) and Emissions Database for Global Atmospheric Research (EDGAR) datasets) for Beijing. The $\Delta X{\text{C}}{{\text{O}}_{2,{\text{ sim}}}}$ values based on the ODIAC dataset were much higher than the observations, whereas the values from the EDGAR dataset were much lower and the MEIC dataset was more consistent. We performed a Lagrangian inversion framework based on Bayesian theory. The average and uncertainty of a priori estimates (12.18 ± 8.0, 7.09 ± 7.5 and 3.53 ± 11.4 μ mol (m ^2 s) ^−1 ) were optimized to the posterior emissions (9.44 ± 5.7, 7.13 ± 4.9 and 7.15 ± 5.7 μ mol (m ^2 s) ^−1 ), suggesting that the three posterior estimates tended to converge to become more consistent, transport errors (especially the horizontal transport errors) and the spatially uneven corrections in Beijing were the main reason for the differences between the posterior estimates. Sensitivity tests suggested that the prescribed spatial and temporal structures affected up to about 12.9%, 4.9% and 20.8%, respectively, of the three inventories.

Introduction Takayasu’s arteritis (TA) is a rare and potentially life-threatening granulomatous large-vessel vasculitis that involves mostly in the aorta and its proximal branches, and occurs most commonly in young females. This study measures the incidence and prevalence of TA, and assesses the gender distribution and territorial differences in the occurrences of this disease in Poland over a five-year period. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first evaluation of this rare disease in Poland based on a hospital morbidity database. Material and methods Analyses were performed with population-based administrative data obtained from a national hospital morbidity study carried out between January 2011 – December 2015 by the Polish National Institute of Public Health. Yearly incidence rates and prevalence of TA were calculated using the number of TA patients and corresponding census data for the overall Polish population. Results Data included 660 hospitalization records. The final study sample comprised 177 patients: 154 female (87%) and 23 male (13%) with first-time hospitalization for TA. The mean age was 45.4years (95% CI: 42.9–47.8; SD 16.8; range 4–81 years), median 47. The incidence rate of TA was estimated at 0.92 per million per year (95% CI: 0.68–1.16). Five-year TA prevalence was estimated to be 4,6 per million. Incidence rates of TA did not vary significantly between more urban and more rural regions. Conclusions The incidence of TA in Poland was similar or lower to data reported by other European countries. The study provides epidemiological data on TA in Poland that may be useful while comparing it with other geographical regions.

Urban development based on the principles of sustainable development has been one of the main concepts of urbanization in the last decade. The term sustainable urban development means providing the necessary grounds for the balanced and efficient utilization of urban resources so that all citizens can benefit from urban economic, social and environmental infrastructure in accordance with their needs. The aim of this research is to investigate the sustainability status in Tabriz metropolis. This is a descriptive-analytic research. The statistical population of this research is the inhabitants of all ten regions of Tabriz, and 500 individuals over 15 years old are selected as sample size using simple random sampling by the classified method. The validity of the questionnaire was verified by experts and the reliability of the different parts of the questionnaire obtained the score of 0.876 to 0.881 using Cronbachchr('39')s alpha coefficient. Fuzzy TOPSIS Method is used to evaluate the variables in order to assess the sustainability, the model of barometer sustainability is used. Also to infer and testability of data the statistical tests such as Anova test, T test and Tukey and Scheffe tests are used. Drawing of maps related to the stability of Tabriz urban areas has been done using GIS software. According to the results, region 8 is the most sustainable region and region 3 is the most unstable region. Also, all 10 regions of Tabriz with sustainability value of 0.591 are in medium sustainability status. The status of the regions in terms of human welfare and ecosystem well-being was also equal to 0.548 and 0.515 respectively. The results of T and Anova tests also showed that according to the sustainability barometric results, physical, social, economic and environmental dimensions are of the most importance respectively. Tukey and Scheffe tests also demonstrated the stability gap between different dimensions of sustainability. Finally, according to the findings of the research and taking into account the situation of the tens of ten regions of Tabriz, practical suggestions are presented in accordance with different dimensions of sustainable urban development.

This paper contributes to the discussion about the driving forces behind the polycentric restructuring of urban regions involving a centripetal process of metropolization and a centrifugal process leading to a regionalization of cities. Using the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main urban region in Germany as an example, it analyzes how these processes are manifested in the regional spatial structure. Two different empirical explorations are applied to reveal the spatial distribution and clustering of (1) knowledge-based industry (KBI) firms on a locational scale and (2) the sectoral specializations of and complementarities between the identified clusters. On the one hand, the identified traditional and new KBI clusters mirror the region’s traditional polycentric structure; on the other, the Frankfurt central business district stands out as the definite hotspot for KBI activities within the region. Thus, metropolization processes turn out to be the dominant driver of urban restructuring. Regarding the latter, the analysis shows that new KBI clusters frequently demonstrate strong monofunctional specialization and tend to complement and relieve traditional central business districts with regard to specific types of KBI activities, particularly in high-technology manufacturing and related high-technology knowledge-intensive services.

Cities play a key role in the creation of the national product. Most of the population is located in cities, which leads to intensive economic activity. At present, two main topics are being discussed in the academic environment. One focuses on the importance of different size categories of cities in the economic system of countries. The second focuses on the importance of individual production factors in the creation of economic output of cities. This article deals with measuring the effects of production factors on the economic output of urban regions (also referred in this article as cities) in Slovakia. The analysis of 78 urban regions of Slovakia showed that the human capital factor has the largest effect on the production of their total output. Results from the subsequent analysis on the comparison of the impact of production factors between different size categories of urban regions largely confirmed the main result. However, the measured effects of individual production factors for different size categories of urban regions brought interesting differences. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies dealing with the issue of polycentric urban development, both functional and morphological, often promote different approaches to the measurement of polycentricity. Relying on data on commuting patterns and the intra-regional distribution of population in Poland in 2011, we apply two measures of polycentricity to shed more light on the functional and morphological development of urban regions in Poland. We also explore the relationship between the two dimensions of polycentricity, using a functional/morphological primacy index and a general functional polycentricity index. The results reveal regions for which the different measures suggest divergent conclusions, while also implying that the measure used can determine the strength and statistical significance of the relationship between the two dimensions to polycentricity. As, in our view, it is the measure advocated by Burger et al. (2011) that best seems to differentiate between the different forms of urban structure, we use this to summarise patterns of polycentric urban development in Poland. The results illustrate: the statistical significance of the relationship between the two (morphological and functional) dimensions to polycentricity in Poland's urban regions, and the way in which the level of functional polycentricity is higher than the degree of functional polycentricity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article argues that to reach circular economy goals urban regions need to identify and understand the challenges and opportunities originating from the differences in spatial settings, and to develop place-based solutions by adequately involving (local) stakeholders. Based on the case study that was conducted in Hamburg within the Horizon2020 project REPAiR, spatial specificities in five different urban areas shall be analysed and strategies that were developed in a co-creative process shall be explored. The results show that the spatial organisation of CE strategies depends on urban structures and stakeholders' interest and needs to be embedded in the (local) governance setting and a spatial planning system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Circular economy (CE), the new 'buzzword' in urban and regional studies and policy debates, is about shifting from a linear production process towards a circular one in which the generation of waste is minimised, materials circulate in 'closed loops', and waste is not considered a burden but rather a resource that brings new economic opportunities. However, while there is a consensus on the need to facilitate a transition towards a circular economy, the governing of this endeavour remains extremely challenging because making a circular economy work requires cutting across sectoral, scalar, and administrative boundaries. Drawing on the sustainability transitions literature and the case of the Amsterdam Metropolitan Area, arguably one of the frontrunners on the strive towards a circular built environment and economy, the paper seeks to identify and understand barriers for CE transition at a regional scale. The findings underscore the multi-faceted nature of the challenge and offer lessons for the governance of emerging regional circular spatial-economic policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the factors discriminating entitlements to water supply among the different type of urban regions at the household level through the multivariate linear discriminant function model. It presents three empirical evidences from the analysis as follows: (i) Institutional, access, personal and economic factors are principal to discriminating the entitlements to water supply among the urban regions of the study area. (ii) Particularly, institutional and access parameters play a vital role to discriminate slum region from developed and moderately developed regions. On the other hand, personal and economic parameter bifurcate the moderately developed region from the developed region. (iii) Among the different factors, the role of institutional and access factors are more significant to discriminate the entitlements to water-supply as compared to personal and economic factors. Thus, the study suggests that the relaxation in rules for piped water supply connection, introduction of new policies for controlling the market based water supply and managing ground water are indispensable to attain the equality in water access in urban regions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the discussion on borrowing size effects. According to this concept, smaller cities that are part of larger functional urban regions can utilise metropolitan functions and economic externalities, thereby boosting their regional performance. This is conceptualised in the four‐dimension scheme of Meijers and Burger. Consequently, this paper analytically explores and operationalises the borrowed size concept and reveals insights into the relation and spatial distribution of four types of effects: borrowed size, borrowed performance, borrowed function and agglomeration shadow. Research on these spatial effects is applied on a small‐scale spatial level and integrates all municipalities in German urban regions. We find different geographies of effects among the four‐dimensions of borrowed size. City size and centrality degree show a significant influence on positioning in the four borrowed size effect types. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the literature dealing with measuring 'urban polycentricity', relatively little attention has been paid to the identification of what constitutes an 'urban centre'. In this paper, we assess the sensitivity of polycentricity measures to one particular aspect of this identification: using the case of 'polycentric urban regions', we empirically examine the sensitivity of the 'level' of polycentricity to the number of cities included in the analysis. Using a two-mode firm–city data source, we do so by stepwise measuring the polycentricity of the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) as cities are added to the analysis. This measurement of 'stepwise polycentricity' is benchmarked against an ideal typical urban system with a rank-size distribution. The results suggest that the measure of polycentricity is indeed highly sensitive to the choice of the number of cities, so that the alleged level of polycentricity is contingent on the choice of a cut-off point. We propose that the analysis of the sensitivity of polycentricity can help researchers to (1) investigate the different role of cities in shaping polycentric structures of urban regions, and (2) better identify mono- or polycentric structures of urban regions. Analyses of trends in the 'stepwise polycentricity' of the YRD and seven other urban regions along the Yangtze River Economic Belt serve to illustrate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Simultaneously considering the economic and environmental priorities of PV project owners. • Utilizing a search space algorithm to determine the optimal layout for roof-installed PV systems. • Adapting payback time as an economic parameter and CO 2 emissions savings as an environmental parameter. • Observing dramatic differences in PV system layout for different priorities of PV project owners. In recent years, the utilization of photovoltaic (PV) solar systems in built-up regions have received more attention due to global warming issues and the need to mitigate the dependence on fossil fuels in buildings. In this context, it becomes critical to comprehend the economic and environmental implications of roof-installed PV systems for project owners looking to expand their usage. Thus, there is a need to develop a framework for optimizing rooftop solar PV systems in urban regions considering the economic and environmental aspects with regard to the PV project owners' priorities, in addition to the energy-saving context, which was addressed in previous studies. Therefore, this study develops a search space optimization method to find the optimum layout of PV modules on roofs of buildings in urban regions, considering solar PV project owners' economic and environmental priorities. Payback time (PBT) and CO 2 emission savings are considered for the economic and environmental criteria calculations, respectively. The results show the significance of owners' economic and environmental priorities toward PV module arrangement on roofs. Instead of having an entire economic priority, having a 25 % environmental priority enhances annual PV system output and CO 2 emission savings about 1.5 times with almost the same PBT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The extraction of a road network is critical for city planning and has been widely studied in previous research using high resolution images, whereas the high cost of high-resolution remote sensing data and the complexity of its analysis also cause huge challenges for the extraction. The successful launch of a high resolution (130 m) nighttime remote sensing satellite, Luojia 1-01, provides great potential in the study of urban issues. This study attempted to extract city roads using a Luojia 1-01 nighttime lighting image. The urban regions were firstly distinguished through a threshold method. Then, an unsupervised PCNN (pulse coupled neural network) was established to extract the road networks in urban regions. A series of optimizing methods was proposed to enhance the image contrast and eliminate the residential regions along the roads. The final extraction results after optimizing were compared with OSM (OpenStreetMap) data, showing the high precision of the proposed approach with the accuracy rate reaching 83.2%. We also found the precision of city centers to be lower than suburban regions due to the influence of intensive human activities. Our study confirms the potential of Luojia 1-01 data in the extraction of city roads and provides new thought for more complex and microscopic study of city issues.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the coverage of Serbia's national territory with urban regions. In order to acquire the status of an urban region, a city and its surrounding area have to meet certain criteria. There is a set of criteria that apply to cities as the centres of urban regions, and there is another set of criteria relating to the settlements in their surroundings. The analysis and evaluation of the characteristics of a selected set of urban regions are very important both for urban geographical research and the planning of spatial and functional relations and links, as well as the management of regional development in Serbia.

The traditional categorization of crime types relies on a hierarchical structure, from high-level categories to lower-level subtypes. This tree-based classification treats crime types as mutually independent when they do not branch from the same higher-level category, therefore lacking inter-category semantic relations. The issue then extends over crime distribution analysis of urban regions, often reporting statistics based on crime type counts, but neglecting implicit relations between different crime categories. Our study aims to fill this information gap, providing a more complete understanding of urban crime in both qualitative and quantitative terms. Specifically, we propose a vector-based crime type representation, constructed via unsupervised machine learning on temporal and geographic factors. The general idea is to define crime types as “related” if they often occur in the same area at the same time span, regardless of any initial hierarchical categorization. This opens to a new metric of comparison that goes beyond pre-defined structures, revealing hidden relationships between crime types by generating a vector space in a completely data-driven manner. Crime types are represented as points in this space, and their relative distances disclose stronger or weaker semantic relations. A direct application on urban crime distribution analysis stands out in the form of visualization tools for intuitive data investigations and convenient comparison measures on composite vectors of urban regions. Meaningful insights on crime type distributions and a better understanding of urban crime characteristics determine a valuable asset to urban management and development.

One of the main concerns of city planners and managers is how to distribute and allocate resources, and provide urban services fairly in different parts of the city according to the needs of the urban community. The lack of optimal distribution of services between different regions and areas of the city, provides for the emergence of problems aroused by injustices and socio-economic inequalities. This paper aims to investigate and determine the allocation and concentration of resources and urban services; emphasizing on spatial inequality approach in different regions of Yazd. The research method was descriptive-correlative, using library methods for data collection, and utilizing statistical techniques and Williamson's utility models, Shannon Entropy, Topsis, LQ Factor, and Spearman-Pearson Correlation Coefficient. Results indicate unequal distribution of a number of urban facilities and services among different regions of the city. Finally, the way of urban-services spatial distribution indicates the tendency of urban land uses, to focus and polarity in some parts of the city; while there is also no relationship between the services and population-density of the regions. Findings show that this relationship has been existed in the past. Finally, in order to increase spatial inequality in differen regions of Yazd, the priority of suggested land uses was determined, using local-coefficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is aimed at assessing and disentangling how territorial governance configurations influence contemporary practices in strategic plan-making in 14 European urban regions. The findings allow us to distinguish three dominant practices: i) plan-making shaped by consensus building and multilevel government cooperation; ii) plan-making shaped by the involvement of profit-oriented actors and negotiations, and iii) plan-making shaped by consolidated planning practice. To truly grasp plan-making practice, it is necessary to scrutinize who rules and who is ruled while negotiations are unfolding, as well as the extent to which private actors' interests influence how spatial development goals and strategies are defined. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This study highlights the need and suggests some basis for working on the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) of cities with a sustainability perspective. Cities are relevant actors in sustainable development and contribute to the generation of significant environmental impacts upstream and downstream their internal activity. LCA is precise in assessing environmental aspects of sustainability but lacks social and economic inputs. It is important to avoid problem shifting, even between the different dimensions of sustainability. A systematic literature review has been performed so as to extract the procedure for defining the goal, function, functional unit, and reference flow of a complex system. The existing literature is mainly product focused, although services are also considered somehow. The procedure for defining the abovementioned items is previously applied to a relatively simple system, a power generation plant, so as to find parallelisms to define those items for a complex system such as a city. To obtain a feasible (i.e., simplified) city Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment, the authors propose to introduce the social and economic aspects through the use of the City Prosperity Index (CPI) as technical performance within the FU of the city LCA. The CPI combined with the number of inhabitants is the normalization factor which is found to be more suitable to avoid problem shifting among sustainability dimensions and to avoid the interference of the number of inhabitants when comparing two different cities. An exemplification of the variation of the results after the application of these two factors in 18 cities' CO 2 -eq emissions is described. Even though this is not a large sample, it includes cities from different continents and levels of development and, thus it can be useful to see the how the suggested method is affecting cities' ranking. Graphical abstract Unlabelled Image Highlights • The function of cities is to provide prosperity to its inhabitants. • The functional unit of a city LCA includes the prosperity per year·inhabitant. • The City Prosperity Index allows monitoring the performance of cites. • Laying the groundwork for a more widespread use of LCA for cities. • Simplified LCSA through the inclusion of Social and Economic aspects in an LCA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This article is a step forward in the definition of the goal and scope of city Life Cycle Assessments (LCA). We contribute to city LCA by proposing procedures (i) to set city boundaries and (ii) for allocating burdens among cities. The study has been based on a systematic literature review of existing guidelines and standards as well as academic work linked to system boundary definition and to allocation procedures setting. Internationally accepted guidelines provide a basis on how current city assessments should be performed. LCA-based and LCA ISO 14040 compliant case studies of other types of systems provide background knowledge to analyse the applicability of existing methods to define the system boundaries and to apply allocation procedures to the case of a city LCA. The analysis and proposal of procedures is complemented with a survey sent to environmental and urban management researchers and specialists. Geographical boundaries and functional boundaries compose the city LCA boundaries. Three methods for setting the boundaries for a city LCA are proposed: (i) administrative-based boundaries, defined by the area delineated for the purpose of local administration; (ii) density-based boundaries, defined by the continuity of the population density of an urban area; and (iii) service-based boundaries, defined by the density-based boundaries plus those services induced by the city. Four allocation methods are proposed: (i) monetary-based allocation , which uses the added value generated at each stage in the life cycle to distribute the burden; (ii) producer-based allocation, which assigns impacts to the city that holds the production of the good; (iii) consumer-based allocation , which assigns impacts to the city that hosts the final user/consumer of the good; and (iv) category-based allocation , proposed by the authors, according to which, global impacts are assigned to the city where consumption takes place, while local impacts are allocated to the city where the impacts occur. D ensity- and service-based boundaries are the most parsimonious as we see it is the simplest way to simulate the complexity and interdependency of cities. Geographical boundaries of a city LCA should be defined through the density-based procedure, which should include cities, towns and suburbs connected with a continuous density of population. However, the functional boundaries of the city LCA should be defined through service-based procedure, which would help to include, in the city system, those induced activities that happen out of the geographical boundaries of the city. The chosen allocation procedure should follow the causality principle between the impact and the activity performed. The proposed method for allocating impacts to the producer or the consumer, depending on whether the impact category under consideration is local or global, has been found through a survey to be the most preferred way to share responsibilities along the supply chain. Thus, the category-based allocation procedure is the suggested one. The survey results show how density- and service-based boundaries are the preferred by the panel of experts, by giving best marks in lifelikeness and accuracy. They also prefer the category-based allocation procedure, by giving best marks in informativeness, lifelikeness, and accuracy, and second in influence. Graphical abstract Image 1 Highlights • City LCA boundaries are composed by geographical and functional boundaries. • Geographical boundaries in city LCA should be defined through density-based procedure. • Functional boundaries in city LCA should be defined through service-based procedure. • Category-based procedure assigns local impacts to the city where the impacts occur. • Category-based assigns global impacts to the city where consumption occurs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper contributes to the discussion about the driving forces behind the polycentric restructuring of urban regions involving a centripetal process of metropolization and a centrifugal process leading to a regionalization of cities. Using the Frankfurt/Rhine-Main urban region in Germany as an example, it analyzes how these processes are manifested in the regional spatial structure. Two different empirical explorations are applied to reveal the spatial distribution and clustering of (1) knowledge-based industry (KBI) firms on a locational scale and (2) the sectoral specializations of and complementarities between the identified clusters. On the one hand, the identified traditional and new KBI clusters mirror the region's traditional polycentric structure; on the other, the Frankfurt central business district stands out as the definite hotspot for KBI activities within the region. Thus, metropolization processes turn out to be the dominant driver of urban restructuring. Regarding the latter, the analysis shows that new KBI clusters frequently demonstrate strong monofunctional specialization and tend to complement and relieve traditional central business districts with regard to specific types of KBI activities, particularly in high-technology manufacturing and related high-technology knowledge-intensive services. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigated the urban growth dynamics of urban regions. The study area was the Marmara Region, one of the most densely populated and ecologically diverse areas in Turkey. Using CORINE land cover data for 2006, 2012, and 2018, the study utilized multiple correspondence analyses and cluster analyses, to analyze land cover changes. The resulting maps, visualized in GIS, revealed the rapid urban transformation of the regional structure, formerly comprised of four distinct areas, into a more complex structure, in which densification and sprawl occur simultaneously. Our findings demonstrated a dissonance between the spatial dynamics of the Marmara Region during the study period, and the capacity and scope of the simultaneously initiated regional policies and mega-projects. This uncoordinated approach has endangered the region’s sustainable development. The paper, therefore, discusses the importance of land use planning and transboundary collaboration for sustainable regional development. Beyond the local case, the results contribute to critical theories in regional planning by linking theory and practice.