scholarly journals The Role of Urban Informatics in Monitoring the Physical Deteriortion of Urban Environment

2021 ◽  
Vol 1203 (3) ◽  
pp. 032136
Author(s):  
D. Basma Usama Mohammad Ali ◽  
Rafif Mohammad Ja'far Alzu'bi

Abstract The twenty-first century is witnessing a rapid growth population in urban areas; this growth needs intelligent urban planning and management. The field of urban informatics is one of the new and vital specialties to organize and analyse the urban system at all levels and areas. ICT works with interactive community participation to guide and manage the urban environment to serve, provide the residents with safety and security. The paper presents a new vision in terms of employing the field of urban informatics in mapping and monitoring the urban deterioration of the built environment in general and buildings in particular. The urban informatics system is still taking its first steps to manage and serve the city's facilities (transportation, communication, air pollution, etc.). The built environment and the deterioration through time and other factors are still far from this area. This paper aims to identify the urban information field, the situations, and types of urban deterioration and move to capture urban deterioration indicators (main and secondary), which can be measured in urban informatics. This paper recommends the adoption of such a mechanism in managing and controlling the deterioration that contributes to the reduction of material and human losses, saving time and money away from traditional methods, and the possibility of employing them in times of crisis and disasters in the urban environment.

Parasitology ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 107 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-173 ◽  
Author(s):  
D. T. Richards ◽  
S. Harris ◽  
J. W. Lewis

SUMMARYA descriptive epidemiological survey was undertaken of the ascarid nematode Toxocara canis in 521 red foxes (vulpes, vulpes) during the period January 1986 to July 1990. Age–prevalence and age–intensity profiles show that worm are significantly higher in cubs than in subadult or adult foxes and higher in subadult than in adult foxes. variations in worm burdens occur, with the highest prevalences and intensities being found during the spring, when are born, and in the summer months. Prevalences and intensities then decrease during the autumn and winter months both subadult and adult foxes, but, during this period, prevalences are significantly higher in male than in female Variations in worm burdens in the fox population are likely to be related to the reproductive cycle of the fox, with proportion of cubs becoming infected in utero. The role of the fox in the transmission of T. canis in the urban environment is discussed.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 3200 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anfal Al-Ali ◽  
Praveen Maghelal ◽  
Khaled Alawadi

Behavioral research studies propose that urban open spaces contribute to enhance sociability in urban areas. The urban areas in the city of Abu Dhabi are less appealing to attract vibrant activity and social life. This study investigates the role of the built environment in the enhancement of neighborhood satisfaction and social capital in a residential neighborhood of Abu Dhabi. A total of 145 residents were surveyed for their perception, attitude, and behavior. Regression analyses to predict the role of the built environment of the open space, as well as the ethnicity of respondents, on measures of neighborhood satisfaction and social capital were performed. Spatial data and audit tools were used to assess the lack of suitable built-environment in the study area. Results indicate that improvements to the built environment can improve both the social capital and neighborhood satisfaction of the urban residents of Abu Dhabi. Implications of this study include recommendations to enhance the experience of urban spaces in arid regions like Abu Dhabi. Recommendations include adding landscape elements, providing a comfortable walking environment, adding attractive locations and destinations, and a clean and safe environment with attractive buildings or homes.


Author(s):  
Maria Grazia Alaimo ◽  
Daniela Varrica

Urban areas are characterized by numerous pollutants emitted by anthropic sources both in the form of solid and gaseous particulates. Biomonitoring is an easy, economical, and accessible approach for the determination of atmospheric pollutants. In this study, we used the leaves of Ficus macrophylla Desf. ex Pers., collected in the city of Palermo (Italy), to determine major and trace elements. Geogenic elements exhibited the highest concentrations, making up 99% of the weight of the analyzed elements (Ca, K, Mg, P, S, Na, Fe, and Al); they range 21,400 (Ca) to 122 µg g−1 (Al). The remaining elements showed median concentrations in the range 47.5–0.05 µg g−1 in the following order of abundance: Sr > Cu > Mn > Zn > Br > Rb > Ba > Pb > Cr > Sb > As > Mo = Sc. Cluster analysis, with Spearman’s coefficient to measure sample similarity, identified five main groups, namely, three clusters related to the geogenic background and marine spray; one cluster linked to elements essential to plants, and a final group attributed to the influence of traffic emissions. Calculated enrichment factors (EF) showed that the enrichments found for P and K were linked to plant metabolism; Na and Mg confirmed the role of sea spray; Cu and Zn underlined the contribution linked to anthropic processes and the role of micronutrients in plants.. As, Cr, and Mo had EF values ranging from 10 and 20, and Sb had EF > 90. From geochemical distribution maps of As, Cr, Mo, and Sb it was observed that metal and metalloid concentrations were higher in urban areas and immediately decreased as one moved away from these areas. Local pollution sources play a great role in trace element concentrations in airborne particulate matter. The present study confirms that Ficus macrophylla leaves are suitable for screening an urban environment to identify concentrations of inorganic chemicals, since they have high tolerance to pollution.


2000 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-116 ◽  
Author(s):  
York W. Bradshaw ◽  
Mark J. Schafer

Half of the world's population will live in cities by the early twenty-first century, and, of the ten most populated cities, nine will be in the developing world. Unfortunately, this is occurring at a time when national governments are increasingly unable to provide basic public services to growing populations. International nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) have dramatically increased their efforts in urban areas and in economic and social development in general. Although sociologists have examined the causes and effects of Third World urbanization and development, they have not focused on the role of nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in this process. We argue that inclusion of NGOs in the literature is necessary and even compatible with several current theories of development. We test the impact of INGOs on three interrelated measures of urbanization and development: overurbanization, economic growth, and access to safe water. The results show that INGOs slow overurbanization and promote economic and social development.


Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 5
Author(s):  
Luis Alfonso Escudero Gómez ◽  
Juan Antonio García González ◽  
José María Martínez Navarro

Traditionally, medium-sized cities have been compact urban centres, which have also emerged as satellite nuclei within metropolitan areas of larger cities. However, urban dispersion models have led to growth in population and the increasing urbanisation of large cities’ peripheral areas. This article will analyse medium-sized cities in Spain, as well as their urban areas within the national urban network. Medium-sized cities will be defined herein, and their urban areas of influence will also be established. The increase and growth in area and population of the so-called medium-sized cities draws a new map of urban relationships. Empirical analysis will resort to a nuclear, demographic source, the population of urban areas. Source data will be analysed both statistically and cartographically. Finally, a spatial analysis of Spain’s urban network will be presented as the main method used to obtain results, with a characterisation of Spain’s urban system and the role of cities in such system being displayed. There is a trend which aims at re-balancing the permanent configuration of the country’s urban network. The article concludes with a typology of medium-sized cities regarding their relative position in the territory. This research contributes to the current scientific debate on the dynamics of urbanisation in the environment of medium-sized cities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 59 (3) ◽  
pp. 81-89
Author(s):  
Aleksandr Fedorovich TETERIN ◽  
◽  
Andrian Anatol’evich SELEZNEV ◽  

Problem Statement. The relevance of the research is caused by the need to study the processes of contemporary sedimentation in urban area, which reduce the quality of urban environment and have negative impact on the environmental state. The objective of the study is to determine the role of bad road periods in fall, spring, and summer. The material for the study is represented by the meteorological data for the period from fall 2005 to summer 2019. Meteorological conditions were analyzed in the context of formation of surface sediment runoff in bad road periods. The study was conducted on the example of Ekaterinburg (Russia). The following meteorological conditions were analyzed: time of the start, end and duration of bad road period, the thermal regime, precipitation, and the state of soil surface. Results. It was found that the climate changes in winter and spring led to a change in the regime of thawing. Spring thaw begins earlier relative to average start dates. The duration of bad road period in fall has increased by a month, it began to start earlier and end later relative to average dates. Excess atmospheric precipitations and low temperature contribute to an increase in the bad road period. In summer bad road period, the air temperature decreases and the amount of precipitation increases. For the beginning and middle of the spring, the end of autumn bad road period, the state of the surface of soils is characterized by snow cover. At the end of spring and at the beginning of autumn thaw, the moist state of the soil surface prevails. In spring thaw, the soil moisturizing was noted more often than in fall. In the spring and autumn thaw, the maximum overmoistening of soils takes place, the maximum amount of dirt is formed in Ekaterinburg. The results can be used in planning the measures to improve the environmental situation in the urban areas.


2017 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 142
Author(s):  
Jawoto Sih Setyono ◽  
Hadi Sabari Yunus ◽  
Sri Rum Giyarsih

Small cities and towns in Indonesia have experienced a significant development during the period of 2000-2010. However, the development of small cities and towns has not been in line with the way the urban areas are governed and managed. There is a tendency that the governments pay a little attention to the governance of smaller urban areas, especially those which do not municipal status or the urban areas which is part of regency administrative boundary. This research analyzes the governance and planning of small towns in Central Java taken four small towns in Joglosemar region (Yogyakarta-Surakarta-Semarang). The research applied some qualitative methods combining document analysis, interview and regulation analysis. It is found that there is a significant gap between the urban development and its planning and governance. Urban development policies seem to be lacking in providing guidelines to drive the development of the small towns so that they can perform their functions within their respective regional urban system as well as solve their internal problems. The governance has mostly relied on the role of local government despite continuing lack of institutional capacity in managing urban development.


Author(s):  
Cornelia Marcela Danu ◽  
Elena Nechita ◽  
Liliana Rozemarie Manea

In the present paper we analyzed the position of the Romanian urban environment in the process of implementing the circular economy, with the correlations and interdependences between the phenomena and demo-economic processes and the forms for the application of the circular economy. The poor implementation of the circular economy in the urban areas in Romania is conditioned by the low level of income, the expenditure, the consumption expenditure and the degree of low urbanization, the low level of labour productivity, etc., and by the psychology of the decision makers that is still not adjusted to the requirement to make the best choices for sustainable development of the economic system. We have highlighted the correlations between: the municipal waste recycling rate and the resource productivity in Romania; the total income of the population in the urban areas of residence in Romania and the waste recycling rate; the total average expenditure per person in urban areas and the municipal waste recycling rate; the monthly average consumption expenditure per person, in urban areas and municipal waste recycling rate; the employed population rate in urban areas and the municipal waste recycling rate; the urban population living in the 41 counties of Romania and Bucharest and the municipal waste recycling rate.


2019 ◽  
Vol 25 (1) ◽  
pp. 42-48
Author(s):  
Thomas M. Hanna

In response to increasing inequality, the rising power of large corporations, climate change, and other challenges, public ownership is back on the agenda in the United States and around the world. In this "new gilded age" there is much to learn from past experiments as we construct a new vision of public ownership for the Twenty-First Century.


1992 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 61-84 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane Favro

Rome in the mid-first century B. C. projected an unattractive image. The urban infrastructure had long been mismanaged. Even public temples showed the effects of neglect. Focusing on immediate solutions solvable in a single term in office, Republican magistrates could not deal effectively with problems of urban care. Rather than enforcing extant regulations, the state relied inefficiently on private efforts and civil suits to maintain and protect the built environment. As a result, legal restrictions only marginally curbed poor construction and speculation. At the end of the millennium, Augustus assumed the role of pater patriae. As benevolent father, he exerted control over the Roman people at every level. Using a skillful combination of carrot and stick, he intervened in all aspects of the urban environment, building and repairing structures and reshaping legal and administrative provisions for urban care. For maximum efficiency, he redefined existing offices and established a clear hierarchy of responsibility. Exploiting the office of curator, he made appointments for lengthy terms and created permanent bureaucratic staffs. He involved every class in the care of the capital and made sure that all officeholders owed their allegiance to him personally. His efforts coalesced in 7 B. C. with the establishment of fourteen new administrative regions. Seen in totality, Augustus's seemingly ad hoc provisions for fire fighting, water distribution, building maintenance, and urban safety reflect a consistent policy of social control. His efforts to create a functional, attractive, and enduring urban environment were both paternal and calculated.


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