scholarly journals Urban scaling in Europe

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (116) ◽  
pp. 20160005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luís M. A. Bettencourt ◽  
José Lobo
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Statistical Procedure ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Scaling Relations ◽  
Scaling Effects ◽  
Economic Productivity ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Urban Scaling

Over the last few decades, in disciplines as diverse as economics, geography and complex systems, a perspective has arisen proposing that many properties of cities are quantitatively predictable due to agglomeration or scaling effects. Using new harmonized definitions for functional urban areas, we examine to what extent these ideas apply to European cities. We show that while most large urban systems in Western Europe (France, Germany, Italy, Spain, UK) approximately agree with theoretical expectations, the small number of cities in each nation and their natural variability preclude drawing strong conclusions. We demonstrate how this problem can be overcome so that cities from different urban systems can be pooled together to construct larger datasets. This leads to a simple statistical procedure to identify urban scaling relations, which then clearly emerge as a property of European cities. We compare the predictions of urban scaling to Zipf's law for the size distribution of cities and show that while the former holds well the latter is a poor descriptor of European cities. We conclude with scenarios for the size and properties of future pan-European megacities and their implications for the economic productivity, technological sophistication and regional inequalities of an integrated European urban system.

scholarly journals THE EVALUATION OF VISUAL INFLUENCES ON THE ENVIRONMENT OF IVANO-FRANKIVSK CITY

2018 ◽  
pp. 44-51
Author(s):  
T. V. Kundelska ◽  
M. T. Mykytsei
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Visual Fields ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Waste Utilization ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Evaluation Procedure ◽  
Visual Environment ◽  
Visual Evaluation ◽  
Normative Documents ◽  
Visual Impact

The article deals with the problems of urban systems visual contamination which is connected with the issues of noise and electromagnetic loading, waste utilization and storage, water resources pollution, and which depends entirely on the environmental situation within the cities. The paper analyzes Ukrainian and foreign publications on the factors of visual evaluation, particularly the calculation of the coefficient of videoecological susceptibility of the territory, the statistical analysis of visual pollution estimation based on the poll of the respondents who are exposed to negative visual impact. The authors reveal that in Ukraine there are no normative documents which regulate the procedure for the estimation of visual contamination. The article presents the main drawbacks and unresolved parts of the general problem of visual impact evaluation. The authors of the publication suggest a generalized method for conducting a visual evaluation of urban areas. The results of the estimation are presented using the urban system Ivano-Frankivsk as the example. The main stages of the evaluation of visual influences are highlighted. These stages are the city zoning according to the presence and types of dominant visual objects, the clarification of the list of those criteria which are necessary to evaluate the quality of the visual environment, the choice of the optimal solution concerning the evaluation procedure and regarding the selection of the appropriate number of points on the urban system territory, and, finally, carrying out the evaluation itself in accordance with thirty criteria.  The authors of the publication substantiate visual evaluation procedure based on the suggested method together with some elements of the method of multi-criteria analysis. Using the results of the evaluation, the authors construct the map of visual influences and carry out a complex spatial analysis of the visual fields of Ivano-Frankivsk. The article solves the problem of comprehensive evaluation of the ecological situation of urbanized systems and living conditions of the population, taking into account the evaluation of the visual environment quality.

scholarly journals Revitalization Processes of Changing Geospatial in European Cities

2019 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Project Planning ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Sustainable Urban Development ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Control Center ◽  
European Cities ◽  
The City

Purpose. Brief retrospective analysis of the geographical component of revitalization in European cities, study of the generalized and indirect effect of the revitalization phenomenon on the geospace of urban urban systems. Results. The results of the study of revitalization processes in European cities are presented. European cities are characterized by uneven development, concentration of potential in the capital and some regional centers, as well as the increase of crisis phenomena in the periphery. We are talking about depressed territories, settlements, post-industrial cities or parts of them. That is why we consider it necessary to speak not only about the restoration of potential and improvement of socio-economic indicators in cities, but also about the large-scale implementation of urban space revitalization programs. Approaches to revitalization processes are ideally designed as processes for empowering unused urban space. At the same time, they should be aimed at ensuring the effective use of public and private financed bonds and project funds for projects from the Civic Control Center. The main requirement of the community is to begin the process of updating and involving the administration in these projects. The first round of negotiations between the authorities and society prompted the city to come up with a coherent approach aimed at the target group and at the same time agree on the financial budget and future beneficiaries. In addition to those responsible for urban planning, special roles are assigned to local departments of schools, youth, senior citizens and business development (business, marketing and investor talks). It is these areas of human and financial capital that should be responsible for urban marketing and tourism. The involvement of a restructuring trustee in project planning and development is required. Conclusion. Taking into account the geographical component (in particular the topography, vegetation, green areas), as a result of the revitalization helps to improve the quality of living environment and affects the peculiarities of the geospatial of the city. An important component of the success of a revitalization program must be public participation in discussing and solving problems to ensure sustainable urban development. Studying the experience of European cities in the area of ​​revitalization will give a new impetus to many Ukrainian cities trying to overcome the problems of deprived urban areas, including the historic central districts and mediocrity.

Are the absent always wrong? Dealing with zero values in urban scaling

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1663-1677 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivier Finance ◽  
Clémentine Cottineau
Keyword(s):  
Foreign Investment ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Ordinary Least Squares ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Zero Values ◽  
Urban Scaling ◽  
Definition Of

Both theoretical and empirical studies have shown the ability of scaling laws to reveal processes of emergence in urban systems. Nevertheless, a controversy about the robustness of results obtained with these models on empirical cases remains, regarding for instance the definition of the ‘city’ considered or the way the estimations are performed. Another source of bias is highlighted in this contribution, with respect to the non-ubiquitous character of some urban attributes (i.e. their partial absence from several cities of the system). The problem with the zero count for cities where these attributes are absent is that the technical necessities of usual estimation procedures make the analysis ignore them altogether even when they represent some valid information. This could seriously impact the results. A precise exploration of the effects of this arbitrary filtering is conducted here, and several solutions are proposed to overcome this limitation. In a case study about foreign investment towards French cities, we show that some erroneous conclusions about a hierarchical diffusion could be drawn when adopting the classical ordinary least squares approach. The framework we suggest specifies how it is possible to avoid misinterpretations deriving from the exclusion of zero values by using methods of analysis which deal with zero values specifically. The conclusion of a diffusion of foreign investment in the French urban system is then rejected.

scholarly journals Using the State Space of a BLV Retail Model to Analyse the Dynamics and Categorise Phase Transitions of Urban Development

Urban Science ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Dearden ◽  
Yi Gong ◽  
Mark Jones ◽  
Alan Wilson
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
State Space ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Initial Conditions ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Complex Nature ◽  
Urban Dynamics ◽  
Shopping Centre ◽  
Human Habitat

Urban areas are now the dominant human habitat, with more influence than ever on economies, environment and our health. Dynamic urban models are increasingly applied to explore possible future scenarios of urban development to achieve sustainability. However, it is still challenging to use these models for prediction, taking into consideration the complex nature of urban systems, the nonlinear interactions between different parts of the system, and the large quantities of data output from simulations. The aim of this study is to analyse the dynamics of two hypothetical dynamic BLV (Boltzmann–Lotka–Volterra) retail models (two-zone and three-zone). Here, by visualising and analysing the qualitative nature of state space (the space of all possible initial conditions), we propose an alternative way of understanding urban dynamics more fully. This involves examining all possible configurations of an urban system in order to identify the potential development in future. Using this method we are able to identify a supply-demand balancing hyperplane and categorise two causes of phase transition of urban development: (A) change in variable values (e.g., building a new shopping centre) that cause the system to cross a basin boundary, (B) state space change (e.g., construction of a new motorway changes travel costs in the region) causes the containing basin to be modified. We also identify key characteristics of the dynamics such as velocity and how the phase space landscape changes over time. This analysis is then linked with equilibrium-size graphs, which allow insights from state space to be applicable to models with large numbers of zones. More generally this type of analysis can potentially offer insights into the nature of the dynamics in any dynamical-systems-type urban model. This is critical for increasing our understanding and helping stakeholders and policy-makers to plan for future urban changes.

scholarly journals Two metropolisation gradients in the European system of cities revealed by scaling laws

2018 ◽  
Vol 46 (9) ◽  
pp. 1645-1662 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Pumain ◽  
Céline Rozenblat
Keyword(s):  
Diffusion Of Innovation ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Scaling Laws ◽  
Relative Concentration ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Structural Features ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Hierarchical Diffusion ◽  
European System ◽  
System Of Cities

Urban systems share with other complex systems constraints on their dynamics that are revealed by pervasive structural features, among which scaling laws. Scaling laws are relationships between cities’ attributes and their size (here measured by their population). When the relationship is non proportional with exponents larger than 1, scaling laws indicate the relative concentration of some urban functions at the higher levels of urban hierarchies. Superlinear scaling thus reveals the metropolisation trends that are produced in the urban system, according to our evolutionary theory perspective, by the hierarchical diffusion of innovation waves. Considering the current urban changes linked with the globalisation processes as an ‘innovation’ that is likely to diffuse hierarchically in urban systems, we analyse the relationships between 25 indicators expressive of their position in globalisation processes and the size of European cities (356 largest functional urban areas of the 28 European Union member states plus Switzerland and Norway). When summarised in a single metropolisation factor, we expected to find a unique superlinear scaling relationship that would reveal the hierarchical structure of the unifying European system of cities. We instead identify two distinct metropolisation gradients for each of the Western and Eastern subsystem that we interpret according to the delayed globalisation process in the latter. This provides a demonstration of the usefulness of scaling laws for summarising stages in the process of hierarchical diffusion of innovation in systems of cities.

Visualizing resource dependencies of the urban system at multiple scales: a hydrological case study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Héctor Angarita ◽  
Vishal Mehta ◽  
Efraín Dominguez
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
River Basin ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Multiple Scales ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Resource Dependency ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Freshwater Systems ◽  
Novel Approach ◽  
Freshwater System

<p>Freshwater is one key component of the resource dependency of urban areas, linking concentrated population centers to geophysical and ecosystem processes operating at regional and global scales. Resources like water, food, biofuels, fibers or energy that sustain cities directly depend on the productive or assimilative capacities of the hydrological system, operating at multiple nested scales (from catchment to river basins) —areas orders of magnitude greater than the extent of the built-up urban areas.</p><p>Although the freshwater systems–urban population relationship has a broad regional and sectorial scope, the quantification of the extent of regional and global impacts of cities’ resource demands, and more importantly, their integration into decision-support frameworks continues to be overlooked in water-management and urban planning practice. A key limitation of understanding the scope of impacts of urban systems is the characterization of the distributed and non-linear nature of the regional relationship of water and cities, wherein a given region can simultaneously supply resources to—or be affected by—multiple urban areas (and vice-versa), and the heterogeneity of physical and biotic processes of freshwater systems.</p><p>Here we introduce a novel approach to assess and visualize the interactions between urban resource demands and the freshwater system. We propose a set of indicators that make use of freshwater drainage structure to incorporate the cumulative effects and concurrent resource dependency of urban areas across multiple nested scales. The cumulative character of the proposed indexes aims to replace the fixed control boundary (i.e. basin, sub-basin, etc -the current practice in water resources appraisals), with the (topological) integral of the process across the multiple nested scales present in a river basin. This approach allows: (i) visualizing how factors like patterns of size, spatial distribution and interconnection of urban resource demands or the nested and hierarchical character of freshwater systems, influence the cumulative pressure exerted or a urban system on the freshwater system, (ii) mapping the spatial patterns of resource import and export across different scales and regions of a freshwater system, and (iii) quantifying the scales of the process required to sustain the resource supply of the multiple cities sharing the same provisioning freshwater system. The presented advances can inform regional urban planning to determine options to avoid, minimize or offset regional impacts of urban populations. An example of this proposed approach is presented for the Magdalena River Basin (Colombia).</p>

Engineering in the time of cholera: overcoming institutional and political challenges to rebuild Zimbabwe's water and sanitation infrastructure in the aftermath of the 2008 cholera epidemic

2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 222-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clarissa Brocklehurst ◽  
Murtaza Malik ◽  
Kiwe Sebunya ◽  
Peter Salama
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Humanitarian Aid ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Political Crisis ◽  
Rapid Improvement ◽  
Cholera Epidemic ◽  
Rapid Action ◽  
Water And Sanitation Infrastructure ◽  
Urban Rehabilitation

A devastating cholera epidemic swept Zimbabwe in 2008, causing over 90,000 cases, and leaving more than 4,000 dead. The epidemic raged predominantly in urban areas, and the cause could be traced to the slow deterioration of Zimbabwe's water and sewerage utilities during the economic and political crisis that had gripped the country since the late 1990s. Rapid improvement was needed if the country was to avoid another cholera outbreak. In this context, donors, development agencies and government departments joined forces to work in a unique partnership, and to implement a programme of swift improvements that went beyond emergency humanitarian aid but did not require the time or massive investment associated with full-scale urban rehabilitation. The interventions ranged from supply of water treatment chemicals and sewer rods to advocacy and policy advice. The authors analyse the factors that made the programme effective and the challenges that partners faced. The case of Zimbabwe offers valuable lessons for other countries transitioning from emergency to development, and particularly those that need to take rapid action to upgrade failing urban systems. It illustrates that there is a ‘middle path’ between short-term humanitarian aid delivered in urban areas and large-scale urban rehabilitation, which can provide timely and highly effective results.

scholarly journals Health in cities: Getting out and about as we age

2020 ◽  
Vol 30 (Supplement_5) ◽  
Author(s):  
T Ma ◽  
R Ivers ◽  
E de Leeuw ◽  
K Clapham ◽  
C Kobel
Keyword(s):  
Older People ◽  
Policy Making ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Transportation Systems ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Activity Levels ◽  
The Public ◽  
Housing Developments ◽  
Health Community

Abstract Transportation influences health through its effects on people's access to goods, services, and life chance opportunities; social interactions; physical activity levels; air pollution exposures; and road injury risks. Given the ageing of populations, it is essential that decisions about land use and transportation systems are appropriate to meet the mobility needs of older people and support healthy ageing. Not all transportation options, however, may be accessible to older people. Factors that affect accessibility relate to the spatial and physical characteristics of places, personal and social contexts of individuals, and rules and norms underpinning planning and policy making. This research aimed to understand how different parts and processes of urban systems interact to influence transportation options for older people. Using the Greater Sydney area as a case, we drew on key informant interviews and public policy documents to identify the considerations that inform planning and policy making as they pertain to the nature of cities and the opportunities of older people to get out and about. We compared and integrated these findings with peer-reviewed literature of similar urban growth areas. Our analysis mapped the factors of the human-urban system that are central to enabling transportation mobility for older people, articulated their interrelationships, and identified the actors that influence them. Our results point to the involvement of actors from the public health, community development, transportation, and urban planning sectors at multiple levels of government. Each of these actors operate within their own remit to influence a part of the urban system relevant to older people's transportation, such as the zoning of land, the approval of housing developments, and the location of bus stops. However, these individual actions are constrained by others in the system. We interpret this complexity with a governance lens. Key messages Efforts to promote mobility in old age should move beyond ‘single solutions to single issues’ approaches toward those that reflect the complexity of cities and the ways that people move within them. For sustained realization of desired outcomes, age-friendly initiatives cannot occur in isolation, but rather must take into account the behaviours and dynamics of the urban system.

Living costs and welfare ratios in Western Europe: new estimates using a linear programming model

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis Felipe Zegarra
Keyword(s):  
Linear Programming ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
Programming Model ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
Linear Programming Model ◽  
Nutrient Requirements ◽  
European Cities

Abstract This study provides new estimates on welfare ratios for London, Amsterdam, Paris, Strasbourg, Munich, and Leipzig for 1600–1850. I use a linear programming model to compute the basket that minimizes the food cost subject to nutrient requirements. For a balanced nutrition, I take into consideration that people should ingest not only calories and proteins, but also fat, iron, and some basic vitamins. The results suggest that living standards in Western Europe were lower than previously thought. However, like previous studies, this article suggests that welfare ratios in London were higher than in other European cities.

scholarly journals Evaluating the Urban Canopy Scheme TERRA_URB in the COSMO Model for Selected European Cities

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Valeria Garbero ◽  
Massimo Milelli ◽  
Edoardo Bucchignani ◽  
Paola Mercogliano ◽  
Mikhail Varentsov ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Morphological Characteristics ◽  
Urban Canopy ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat ◽  
Climate Modelling ◽  
Model Framework ◽  
European Cities ◽  
Cosmo Model ◽  
Anthropogenic Heat Flux ◽  
Urban Heat

The increase in built surfaces constitutes the main reason for the formation of the Urban Heat Island (UHI), that is a metropolitan area significantly warmer than its surrounding rural areas. The urban heat islands and other urban-induced climate feedbacks may amplify heat stress and urban flooding under climate change and therefore to predict them correctly has become essential. Currently in the COSMO model, cities are represented by natural land surfaces with an increased surface roughness length and a reduced vegetation cover, but this approach is unable to correctly reproduce the UHI effect. By increasing the model resolution, a representation of the main physical processes that characterize the urban local meteorology should be addressed, in order to better forecast temperature, moisture and precipitation in urban environments. Within the COSMO Consortium a bulk parameterization scheme (TERRA_URB or TU) has been developed. It parametrizes the effects of buildings, streets and other man-made impervious surfaces on energy, moist and momentum exchanges between the surface and atmosphere, and additionally accounts for the anthropogenic heat flux as a heat source from the surface to the atmosphere. TU implements an impervious water-storage parameterization, and the Semi-empirical Urban canopy parametrization (SURY) that translates 3D urban canopy into bulk parameters. This paper presents evaluation results of the TU scheme in high-resolution simulations with a recent COSMO model version for selected European cities, namely Turin, Naples and Moscow. The key conclusion of the work is that the TU scheme in the COSMO model reasonably reproduces UHI effect and improves air temperature forecasts for all the investigated urban areas, despite each city has very different morphological characteristics. Our results highlight potential benefits of a new turbulence scheme and the representation of skin-layer temperature (for vegetation) in the model performance. Our model framework provides perspectives for enhancing urban climate modelling, although further investigations in improving model parametrizations, calibration and the use of more realistic urban canopy parameters are needed.

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