The relationship between aerosol concentration and atmospheric potential gradient in urban environments

The expansion of urban agglomerates is causing significant environmental changes, while the demand and need for sustainability keep on growing. In this context, urban and peri-urban agriculture can play a crucial role, mainly if associated with an agroecological approach. Indeed, the extensive use of living fences and tree rows can improve the environmental quality, assuring ecosystem services (ES), developing a sustainable urban food system and increasing local productions and the related socio-economic improvements. This study aims to assess the benefits of an agroecological requalification of a dismissed peri-urban area in the South Milan Agricultural Regional Park (Italy), by evaluating two possible scenarios, both involving planting trees and shrubs in that area. The software I-Tree Eco simulates the ecosystem services provision of planting new hedgerows, evaluating the benefits over 30 years. The study underlines the difference between the two scenarios and how the planted area becomes an essential supplier of regulating ecosystem services for the neighbourhoods, increasing carbon storage and air pollution removal. Results were then analysed with a treemap, to better investigate and understand the relationship between the different ecosystem services, showing a notable increase in carbon sequestration at the end of the simulation (at year 30). The study shows a replicable example of a methodology and techniques that can be used to assess the ES in urban and peri-urban environments.

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Factors Contributing to the Relationship between Driving Mileage and Crash Frequency of Older Drivers

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11236643 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (23) ◽

pp. 6643 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

Lee ◽

Guldmann ◽

Choi

Keyword(s):

Negative Binomial ◽

Age Groups ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Vehicle Miles Traveled ◽

Crash Frequency ◽

Rural Environments ◽

Lower Likelihood ◽

Conditional Autoregressive ◽

The Relationship ◽

Binomial Models

As a characteristic of senior drivers aged 65 +, the low-mileage bias has been reported in previous studies. While it is thought to be a well-known phenomenon caused by aging, the characteristics of urban environments create more opportunities for crashes. This calls for investigating the low-mileage bias and scrutinizing whether it has the same impact on other age groups, such as young and middle-aged drivers. We use a crash database from the Ohio Department of Public Safety from 2006 to 2011 and adopt a macro approach using Negative Binomial models and Conditional Autoregressive (CAR) models to deal with a spatial autocorrelation issue. Aside from the low-mileage bias issue, we examine the association between the number of crashes and the built environment and socio-economic and demographic factors. We confirm that the number of crashes is associated with vehicle miles traveled, which suggests that more accumulated driving miles result in a lower likelihood of being involved in a crash. This implies that drivers in the low mileage group are involved in crashes more often, regardless of the driver’s age. The results also confirm that more complex urban environments have a higher number of crashes than rural environments.

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On the complexity of assimilation in urban communities

Applied Network Science ◽

10.1007/s41109-021-00399-y ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 6 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Renita Murimi

Keyword(s):

Complex Systems ◽

Urban Communities ◽

Human Experience ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Urban Systems ◽

Sociological Perspective ◽

Information Theoretic ◽

Information Theoretic Measures ◽

Urban Complex ◽

The Relationship

AbstractCities are microcosms representing a diversity of human experience. The complexity of urban systems arises from this diversity, where the services that cities offer to their inhabitants have to be tailored for their unique requirements. This paper studies the complexity of urban environments in terms of the assimilation of its communities. We examine the urban assimilation complexity with respect to the foreignness between communities and formalize the level of complexity using information-theoretic measures. Our findings contribute to a sociological perspective of the relationship between urban complex systems and the diversity of communities that make up urban systems.

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El "hameau" vertical de Le Corbusier. Una alternativa residencial al bloque lineal

Le Corbusier, 50 years later. Conference proceedings. ◽

10.4995/lc2015.2015.778 ◽

2015 ◽

Author(s):

Yolanda Martínez Domingo ◽

Josefina González Cubero

Keyword(s):

Le Corbusier ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Formal Structure ◽

Summer Camps ◽

Palabras Clave ◽

Cylindrical Volume ◽

Collective Housing ◽

The Relationship ◽

The City ◽

Synthetic Work

Resumen: El "hameau" vertical de Le Corbusier es un prototipo de alojamiento colectivo, desarrollado como alternativa plástica a la "Unité d'habitation de grandeur conforme", quizás su obra más sintética. La torre residencial se concreta a partir de las teorías urbanas de la regla de las 7V, a través de la impronta de una de las formas elementales: el volumen cilíndrico, manteniendo prácticamente inalteradas capacidad, forma y dimensiones en cualquiera de los entornos urbanos donde se inserta, los proyectos no construidos de su última etapa para Europa. Lejos de ser un modelo genuino es deudor de otras construcciones previas, los albergues para las colonias infantiles italianas, promovidas por la fábrica FIAT en los años 30, y algunos experimentos residenciales del arquitecto francés Auguste Bossu, erigidos también por esos años en la ciudad de Saint-Étienne. El artículo traza las relaciones entre estas construcciones y las aldeas cilíndricas para solteros, analizando las particularidades de su estructura formal y la dinámica de su organización interna, para comprobar cómo son adoptadas por Le Corbusier en la constitución de la identidad de un nuevo tipo de vivienda colectiva que permanece todavía a la sombra de sus proyectos más reconocidos. Abstract: The vertical "hameau" of Le Corbusier is a prototype of collective housing, developed as a plastic alternative to “Unité d’habitation de grandeur conforme", perhaps his most synthetic work. The residential tower is generated from urban doctrine of 7V theory through the shape of one of the elementary forms: the cylindrical volume. The towers keep capacity, shape and dimensions unchanged in any urban environments where they are inserted: the unbuilt urban projects in his last stage in Europe. Far from being a genuine type, is based in other previous constructions; the children's summer camps sponsored by the Fiat factory in the 30s, and some residential experiments by French architect Auguste Bossu erected by those years in the city of Saint-Etienne. The article describes the relationship between these structures and the cylindrical villages for singles and analyzes the peculiarities of their formal structure and the dynamic of their internal organization in order to check how those constructions were adapted by Le Corbusier for the constitution of a new collective type dwelling which still remains in the shadow of his most famous projects. Palabras clave: Le Corbusier; hameaux verticaux; comuna cilíndrica; torre residencial. Keywords: Le Corbusier; hameaux verticaux; cylindrical commune; residential tower. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4995/LC2015.2015.778

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Understanding Human Scale and the Importance of its Relationship with Enclosure

10.26686/wgtn.16999867.v1 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

◽

Austin H. Mackesy-Buckley

Keyword(s):

Urban Design ◽

Middle Ages ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Design Practice ◽

Human Scale ◽

Design Case Study ◽

Sphere Of Influence ◽

Scale Design ◽

The Relationship

<p>The main objective of the research is to better understand the concept of human scale and the role that it has to play in the design of our urban environments. The need for a clearer, less ambiguous understanding of human scale is identified as a result of its poor definition and numerous manifestations across a multitude of literature. Human scale is an important part of design that flourished particularly in the middle ages, but has largely been neglected in the industrial and technological ages. Its remergence comes with the return of consideration for the comfort of people. Yet we cannot successfully apply a concept we do not wholly understand. Human scale is therefore redefined as a collective concept that embodies the multitude of existing definitions and treats them as aspects of a larger theory. As a broader but more comprehensive definition it better facilitates the identification and exploration of relationships with what are currently treated as separate urban design objectives, such as enclosure, in an endeavour to better understand the influence of human scale. The design case study proposes a design that tests the relationship between enclosure and human scale. A large site is chosen to display how human scale operates at urban, as well as architectural and detailed levels. Through aspiring to achieve a thorough human scale design, without any exclusive emphasis on enclosure, the process and the outcome still reveal that the theoretical relationship identified in the research (that aspects of human scale foster the formation of enclosure) is unavoidable in design practice. Enclosure simply results as a consequence of thorough human scale design. The research suggests that many urban design objectives may fall under human scale's sphere of influence meaning it is not a singular concept, but an ethic of design that has many desireable consequences. While the idealistic nature of the design may be unrealistic to achieve at present, it highlights the incompatibilities with contemporary approaches and succeeds in generating discussion.</p>

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Growing Value: Describing The Nature Of The Relationship Between Street-Level Greenery and Housing Prices in Toronto

10.32920/14639640 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Spencer Bridgwater

Keyword(s):

Urban Environment ◽

Housing Prices ◽

Urban Forestry ◽

Demographic Variables ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Developmental Context ◽

Street Level ◽

The Relationship ◽

Aerial Perspective

The role of urban forestry has become increasingly important in the context of sustainability, both from an environmental context, and from a developmental context. Greenery in an urban environment has demonstrable implications for health, air quality, aesthetics, and land value, as described broadly across the literature. Until recently, studies on green urban canopies and housing prices have been limited in their methodology by using aerial-perspective data. The MIT Senseable City Lab in 2015 developed the Treepedia project, which uses Google Street View images to quantify greenery levels in urban environments. Using the green view index (GVI) data from the Treepedia project, street-level greenery densities were compared against housing prices across Toronto. Models for different property types, accounting for characteristic, locational, and demographic variables, were estimated. It was determined that a statistically significant relationship between street-level greenery and housing prices exists in Toronto for detached homes, semi-detached homes, row/townhouse units, condo apartments, and condo townhouses.

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Educational Geostimulation

Online and Distance Learning ◽

10.4018/978-1-59904-935-9.ch272 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 3321-3338

Author(s):

Vasco Furtado ◽

Eurico Vasconcelos

Keyword(s):

Police Officers ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Pedagogical Tools ◽

Tutoring Systems ◽

Agent Based ◽

Training Tool ◽

Multi Agent ◽

The Relationship ◽

Urban Activities

In this work we will describe EGA (educational geosimulation architecture), an architecture for the development of pedagogical tools for training in urban activities based on MABS (multi-agent based simulation), GIS (geographic information systems), and ITS (intelligent tutoring systems). EGA came as a proposal for the lack of appropriate tools for the training of urban activities with high risk and/or high cost. As a case study, EGA was used for the development of a training tool for the area of public safety, the ExpertCop system. ExpertCop is a geosimulator of criminal dynamics in urban environments that aims to train police officers in the activity of preventive policing allocation. ExpertCop intends to induce students to reflect about their actions regarding resources allocation and to understand the relationship between preventive policing and crime.

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Built environment and autism: towards a set of spatial requirements for autism friendly cities

European Journal of Public Health ◽

10.1093/eurpub/ckaa165.1393 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽

Author(s):

G Tola ◽

V Talu ◽

J Lindert

Keyword(s):

Built Environment ◽

Urban Environment ◽

Functional Organization ◽

Spatial Configuration ◽

Autism Spectrum ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Urban Planning And Design ◽

Wide Variability ◽

The Relationship ◽

Spatial Needs

Abstract Background The opportunity for people functioning in an atypical way to autonomously and fully interact with the city is often compromised or denied, due to the gap between their specific spatial needs and the physical and functional organization of the urban environment. The need to reconsider the living environments taking into account the vast diversity of people gained an increasing importance in the overall debate and specifically in the field of urban planning and design. The research aims at investigating the relationship between the urban environment and people with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Methods A scoping review of current available original studies research exploring the relationship between autism and built environment was conducted. PubMed, Scopus, PsychInfo and Web Of Science where searched. Studies included provided spatial requirements for designing autism friendly environment. Results In total, 801 studies were identified and 22 were included. Current researches and applications investigating the role of spatial configuration as a means for improving the autonomy of people with ASD almost exclusively focus on closed and dedicated spaces (residences, schools, care facilities, healing gardens) mostly devoted to children. Starting from this and the data collected, a first set of enabling urban spatial requirements addressing the atypical urban functioning of people with ASD - the reduction of sensory overload and the use of visual supports - in order to promote their possibility to walk autonomously and safely across the everyday city is proposed. Conclusions Despite the wide variability of the spectrum which makes it very difficult to define effective design criteria for all people with ASD, it's possible to identify a set of recurrent spatial needs. Furthermore, designing cities for people with ASD can also contribute to healthier and more inclusive urban environments for other groups of vulnerable inhabitants.

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¿Ayudan los libros de texto a comprender la realidad fluvial de la ciudad?

Revista de Humanidades ◽

10.5944/rdh.37.2019.22895 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 209

Author(s):

Agustín Cuello Gijón ◽

Francisco, F. García Pérez

Keyword(s):

Social Sciences ◽

Content Analysis ◽

Economic Value ◽

Natural Sciences ◽

Urban Environments ◽

Frequent Use ◽

Domestic Savings ◽

The Relationship ◽

The City ◽

Economic Value Of Water

Resumen: Se analiza el tratamiento de la idea de río y sus relaciones con la ciudad en los libros de texto de Educación Secundaria, con el fin de valorar su influencia en la comprensión de los fenómenos fluviales en entornos urbanos por los escolares. Se han revisado textos de ciencias naturales y ciencias sociales de uso frecuente en España y se han sometido a análisis de contenido mediante selección y tratamiento de unidades de información, siguiendo un sistema de categorías relacionadas con el concepto de río y su interacción con la ciudad. Se concluye que la relación ciudad-río tiene escasa presencia en los libros de texto, está marcada por el valor económico del agua, el río como amenaza y en el ahorro doméstico como único compromiso. Esta visión mercantilista, antropocéntrica y superficial no facilita el aprendizaje crítico de la realidad ni ayuda al cambio necesario en las relaciones de las ciudades con sus ríos.Abstract: The treatment of the idea of river and its relations with the city is analyzed in Secondary Education textbooks, in order to assess its influence on the understanding of fluvial phenomena in urban environments by schoolchildren. Texts of natural sciences and social sciences of frequent use in Spain have been reviewed and have been subjected to content analysis by selection and treatment of information units, following a system of categories related to the river concept and its interaction with the city. It is concluded that the relationship city-river has little presence in textbooks, is marked by the economic value of water, the river as a threat and in domestic savings as the only commitment. This mercantilist, anthropocentric and superficial vision does not facilitate the critical learning of reality or help the necessary change in the relationships between cities and their rivers.

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Noise and Air Pollution Related to Health in Urban Environments

Proceedings ◽

10.3390/proceedings2201311 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 2 (20) ◽

pp. 1311 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

David Montes-González ◽

Rosendo Vílchez-Gómez ◽

Juan Miguel Barrigón-Morillas ◽

Pedro Atanasio-Moraga ◽

Guillermo Rey-Gozalo ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Air Pollution ◽

Road Traffic ◽

Urban Environments ◽

World Health ◽

Sound Levels ◽

European Environmental Agency ◽

Environmental Health Risk ◽

Health Organization ◽

Relationship Of ◽

The Relationship

Environmental noise is a pollutant considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a threat to public health due to its harmful effects on human health. In this regard, the European Environmental Agency (EEA) indicates that road traffic is the sound source that generates the greatest number of people exposed in Europe to sound levels above what is recommended by the European Noise Directive. In a similar way, the EEA also reports that air pollution is the most important environmental health risk in Europe, where road traffic is one of the main sources of emission of polluting gases. The relationship between both pollutants, leads to think about the development of common strategies. This paper presents a review on recent researches about the relationship of these two types of pollution in urban environments with different types of diseases.

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