Monitoring spatio-temporal compliance of urban development plans using GIS and remote sensing in Nairobi City County, Kenya

Development control aims to provide an urban environment with quality service delivery, optimal use of available resources, conservation, and reduction of haphazard urban growth. At the core of development control is the compliance assessment process, which ensures adherence to regulatory policies. The City of Nairobi compliance assessment process lacks considerable enforcement capacity and this has led to uncontrolled development. This study uses GIS and remote sensing to assess the spatio-temporal compliance of development plan(s) in Nairobi City County. Land use/cover of Nairobi City County from 1976 to 2019 were obtained from classified Landsat images at a nearly 10-year interval of six epochs (1976, 1984, 1993, 2002, 2010 and 2019). The zoning plan maps were digitised and superimposed on the classified images to determine compliance, taking subsequent reviews of spatial development plans into account. The non-compliance rates for residential, commercial, and industrial activities varied at 57~84%, 63~81% and 65~92%, respectively, during the study period (1976–2019). A comparison between the planned and non-compliant areas showed that residential, commercial, and industrial activities occurred mostly outside planned areas from 1976 to 2019. The analysis showed a considerably less increase in non-compliance on commercial land use. This is so because of the review done on the zoning plan for Nairobi City in 2005. The industrial land use non-compliance was constantly increasing over the study period, an indicator of the ever-rising rate of urbanisation in the Nairobi metropolitan area. This study illustrates the power of rapid spatial mapping in monitoring compliance of urban development plans for informed decision making.

DENSITY CHALLENGES OF HIGH-RISE RESIDENTIAL DEVELOPMENT IN MALAYSIA

Although the term ‘urbanisation’ was first coined in the 19th century, the phenomenon experienced a significant impact and received a lot of attention in the 21st century. One of the major results is density, causing effects such as excessive demand for residential buildings. To cope with the increasing urban population and limited land availability, cities can no longer opt for horizontal development strategies. Going vertical seems a practical solution, but it can lead to convoluted problems if it is not done with proper planning and mitigation measures at the preliminary stages of planning. This article describes the challenges of residential planning density for high-rise development in Malaysia using a systematic literature review on three identified real cases which separated by pre-development, post-development, and development control. The findings show the major challenges in pre-development and post development related to dissatisfaction with the increasing numbers of high-rise residences due to the increase in population and residential density. As a strategic development control, there must be uniformity in the act or law to control the development of this highrise residential. Thus, this article led to a better understanding of density related to high-rise residential development in Malaysia.

Good Governance in Regional Development in Deli Serdang Regency

The implementation of development must be carried out with good governance such as how the Deli Serdang Regency government applies good governance in the implementation of its development. Deli Serdang Regency has experienced rapid development in recent years, but on the other hand, corruption practices still occur and budget absorption in 2020 is still low, making this phenomenon contradictory and needs to be investigated. The purpose of this study is to analyze good governance in regional development in Deli Serdang Regency. This research uses a qualitative approach. The results of this study indicate good governance in regional development in Deli Serdang Regency as a form of development control in achieving development goals, with the principle of the rule of law as the basis for the principles of participation, transparency and accountability in development in Deli Serdang Regency. The efforts that can be done in overcoming obstacles to the application of the principles of good governance are socialization of development with the right strategy, increasing community empowerment, and increasing human resources in order to improve competence. Keywords: Good Governance, Regional Development, Development Control.

Street perceptions: A study of visual preferences for New Zealand streetscapes

<p>City leaders often make reference to their built and natural environments when they compete domestically or internationally for financial investment, tourism spending and high quality workers. These leaders are aware that people in the workforce, investors and tourists would prefer to be associated with vibrant and attractive places. Research has confirmed the important role the appearance of the built environment plays in people’s physical, financial and psychological wellbeing, not the least of which is helping to foster a sense of individual and community pride. However, there is also literature critical of the appearance of many individual buildings and urban streetscapes, particularly those that have arisen through the well-intentioned but uncoordinated efforts of those involved in the development of individual sites. Recognising that wider public interests have not always been well-served by private development, governments and local authorities become involved to control development outcomes. One aspect of development control is design review, which aims to improve the quality of urban places by influencing the design of individual buildings. However, given that design review is administered by professional experts and that design guidance is based on normative expressions of what good design should be, what assurances are there that urban transformation meets with public expectations? The research reported in this thesis addresses this question. This research seeks to identify those streetscape design characteristics that are best liked by people and those that they dislike. A methodology based on mixed research methods was developed. An initial study sought people’s preferences for six different urban streetscapes, as depicted photographically. Analysis of nearly 200 responses to the survey questionnaire identified several building and streetscape characteristics that were consistently liked and disliked. To explore these and other responses from another perspective, a second study was designed that would examine people’s preferences in more detail and on the basis of their actual experience of the streetscapes. Study Two was developed around three separate case studies and two focus group discussions. Demographic information about the 156 survey respondents was collected, along with their aesthetic perceptions about individual buildings, relationships between buildings and overall streetscapes. This enabled comparisons to be made on the bases of gender, age and occupational background. Of particular interest was to understand the streetscape preferences of lay members of the public, those whose interests design review aims to ensure, and change professionals, who make the design and planning decisions. Two focus group discussions were convened, one for change professionals and the other for lay people, to explore findings from the survey in more detail. The results indicate that people prefer older buildings whose façade designs are based on more traditional composition patterns, and that the activities with which a building is associated have considerable influence on perceptions. These are two matters about which design control of new building development is not interested. In general, people prefer moderate variations in height between buildings along the length of a street and change professionals seem to tolerate/prefer bigger variations than others. Abrupt differences in height between adjoining buildings were viewed negatively by lay people, in large part because blank walls on internal boundaries become evident. On the other hand, change professionals were less sensitive to such differences, in part because they understood the nature of change and anticipated that future change would help heal such conflicts. In addition to exploring people’s perceptions of New Zealand streetscapes the thesis discusses several of the best-liked and the least-liked buildings in the context of design control processes in order to speculate about which methods might hold the greatest promise for creating well-liked urban streetscapes. While this discussion is relevant it sits outside the main thrust of the project and is necessarily brief. In anticipation that this discussion will continue the thesis concludes with a summary of the matters around which design control could, and perhaps should, be interested, based on the collected evidence. The findings of the research help us to better understand how people perceive urban streetscapes and therefore these become a platform for future work, one aspect of which could explore how people’s preferences can be better integrated with development control.</p>

Street perceptions: A study of visual preferences for New Zealand streetscapes

<p>City leaders often make reference to their built and natural environments when they compete domestically or internationally for financial investment, tourism spending and high quality workers. These leaders are aware that people in the workforce, investors and tourists would prefer to be associated with vibrant and attractive places. Research has confirmed the important role the appearance of the built environment plays in people’s physical, financial and psychological wellbeing, not the least of which is helping to foster a sense of individual and community pride. However, there is also literature critical of the appearance of many individual buildings and urban streetscapes, particularly those that have arisen through the well-intentioned but uncoordinated efforts of those involved in the development of individual sites. Recognising that wider public interests have not always been well-served by private development, governments and local authorities become involved to control development outcomes. One aspect of development control is design review, which aims to improve the quality of urban places by influencing the design of individual buildings. However, given that design review is administered by professional experts and that design guidance is based on normative expressions of what good design should be, what assurances are there that urban transformation meets with public expectations? The research reported in this thesis addresses this question. This research seeks to identify those streetscape design characteristics that are best liked by people and those that they dislike. A methodology based on mixed research methods was developed. An initial study sought people’s preferences for six different urban streetscapes, as depicted photographically. Analysis of nearly 200 responses to the survey questionnaire identified several building and streetscape characteristics that were consistently liked and disliked. To explore these and other responses from another perspective, a second study was designed that would examine people’s preferences in more detail and on the basis of their actual experience of the streetscapes. Study Two was developed around three separate case studies and two focus group discussions. Demographic information about the 156 survey respondents was collected, along with their aesthetic perceptions about individual buildings, relationships between buildings and overall streetscapes. This enabled comparisons to be made on the bases of gender, age and occupational background. Of particular interest was to understand the streetscape preferences of lay members of the public, those whose interests design review aims to ensure, and change professionals, who make the design and planning decisions. Two focus group discussions were convened, one for change professionals and the other for lay people, to explore findings from the survey in more detail. The results indicate that people prefer older buildings whose façade designs are based on more traditional composition patterns, and that the activities with which a building is associated have considerable influence on perceptions. These are two matters about which design control of new building development is not interested. In general, people prefer moderate variations in height between buildings along the length of a street and change professionals seem to tolerate/prefer bigger variations than others. Abrupt differences in height between adjoining buildings were viewed negatively by lay people, in large part because blank walls on internal boundaries become evident. On the other hand, change professionals were less sensitive to such differences, in part because they understood the nature of change and anticipated that future change would help heal such conflicts. In addition to exploring people’s perceptions of New Zealand streetscapes the thesis discusses several of the best-liked and the least-liked buildings in the context of design control processes in order to speculate about which methods might hold the greatest promise for creating well-liked urban streetscapes. While this discussion is relevant it sits outside the main thrust of the project and is necessarily brief. In anticipation that this discussion will continue the thesis concludes with a summary of the matters around which design control could, and perhaps should, be interested, based on the collected evidence. The findings of the research help us to better understand how people perceive urban streetscapes and therefore these become a platform for future work, one aspect of which could explore how people’s preferences can be better integrated with development control.</p>

Modeling the Size of Protection Zones of Cultural Heritage Sites Based on Factors of the Historical and Cultural Assessment of Lands

This article addresses the global issue of preserving cultural heritage, which is associated, among other things, with the lack of provision for boundaries of protection zones for cultural heritage sites. This paper analyzes the worldwide experience in the field of establishing protection zones for cultural heritage sites, identifies the issues of preserving cultural heritage in Russia, as well as imperfections in the management of lands containing cultural heritage sites. To improve the management of such lands, a method of historical and cultural assessment of territories has been developed, which, on the basis of evaluative factors, makes it possible to characterize the historical and cultural value of a territory. In this article, based on this list of factors, a method for mathematical substantiation of the boundaries of protection zones of cultural heritage sites has been developed; this method includes seven stages. Using mathematical and statistical methods, models were obtained to determine the area of the protection (buffer) zone and the development control zone, the analysis of which revealed differentiation between the factors of historical and cultural assessment that characterize the urban environment, depending on the type of zones. The interpretation of the obtained models and the fields of their use are given.

Monitoring the composition of gas condensate well streams based on samples taken from multiphase flow meters

The article highlights the relevance of reliable estimation of the composition and properties of reservoir gas during the development of gas condensate fields and the complexity of the task for reservoirs containing zones of varying condensate content. The authors have developed a methodology that allows monitoring the composition of gas condensate well streams of similar reservoirs. There are successful examples of the approach applied in Achimov gas condensate reservoirs at the Urengoy oil and gas condensate field. The proposed approach is based on the use of the so-called fluid factors, which are calculated on the basis of the known component compositions of various flows of the studied hydrocarbon system. The correlation between certain "fluid factors" and the properties of reservoir gas (usually determined by more labor-consuming methods) allows one to quickly obtain important information necessary to solve various development control tasks.

Eigenvalue Selection and Development Control of Rural Tourism: a Case Study of Raghurajpur, an Artful Village in Puri

In India we found an endless, living vibrant tradition of crafts and culture, while Odisha is a diversified state with a variety of tourist attractions and amenities. The Odisha culture reside in villages and having high potential for art and cultural growth in terms of tourism .Tourism growth potential can be harness as a strategy for rural tourism development. The concept of rural tourism should be used for Odisha and their villages which constitute rich cultural heritage, magnificent architectural buildings & monuments. This research paper discribes the concept and development of rural tourism in odisha, with the case study of Raghurajpur. Rural tourism is a multifaceted destination because of its eco, ethnic, farm, cultural, historical importance. This paper also deals with accentuating artisan beauty of Raghurajpur village and various methods by which we can make it sustainable to with proper understanding between the tourist and local people to participate in tourism development of Puri in Orissa.

Physical and psychosocial working conditions as predictors of 5-year changes in work ability among 2078 employees in Germany

Objective To examine 5-year prospective associations between working conditions and work ability among employees in Germany. Methods A cohort study (2011/2012–2017), based on a random sample of employees in employments subject to payment of social contributions aged 31–60 years (Study on Mental Health at Work; S-MGA; N = 2,078), included data on physical and quantitative demands, control (influence, possibilities for development, control over working time), relations (role clarity and leadership quality) and work ability (Work Ability Index, WAI; subscale ‘subjective work ability and resources’). Data were analysed using linear regression. Results Physical demands and control were associated with small 5-year changes in work ability (ΔR2 = 1%). Among the subgroup of employees with ≥ 25 sickness days, possibilities for development, control and quality of leadership were associated with changes in work ability (ΔR2 = 8%). Conclusions The impact of working conditions on long term changes in work ability seems to be negligible. However, in vulnerable subpopulations experiencing poor health, working conditions may be associated to a larger extent to work ability over this time span.