scholarly journals DataStorm: Coupled, Continuous Simulations for Complex Urban Environments

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-37
Author(s):  
Hans Walter Behrens ◽  
K. Selçuk Candan ◽  
Xilun Chen ◽  
Yash Garg ◽  
Mao-Lin Li ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Parameter Space ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Decision Criterion ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Parallel Execution ◽  
Effective Density ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Space Partitioning ◽  
Imperfect Knowledge

Urban systems are characterized by complexity and dynamicity. Data-driven simulations represent a promising approach in understanding and predicting complex dynamic processes in the presence of shifting demands of urban systems. Yet, today’s silo-based, de-coupled simulation engines fail to provide an end-to-end view of the complex urban system, preventing informed decision-making. In this article, we present DataStorm to support integration of existing simulation, analysis and visualization components into integrated workflows. DataStorm provides a flow engine, DataStorm-FE , for coordinating data and decision flows among multiple actors (each representing a model, analytic operation, or a decision criterion) and enables ensemble planning and optimization across cloud resources. DataStorm provides native support for simulation ensemble creation through parameter space sampling to decide which simulations to run, as well as distributed instantiation and parallel execution of simulation instances on cluster resources. Recognizing that simulation ensembles are inherently sparse relative to the potential parameter space, we also present a density-boosting partition-stitch sampling scheme to increase the effective density of the simulation ensemble through a sub-space partitioning scheme, complemented with an efficient stitching mechanism that leverages partial and imperfect knowledge from partial dynamical systems to effectively obtain a global view of the complex urban process being simulated.

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.

scholarly journals On the complexity of assimilation in urban communities

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.

scholarly journals Re-thinking Re-construction New Design Strategies for the Reconstruction after Natural Disasters. A Local Research Experience for a Global Topic

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roberto Bianchi ◽  
Roberto Ruggiero
Keyword(s):  
Natural Disasters ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Housing Demand ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Research Experience ◽  
Design Strategies

The paper presents the ongoing results of a design research carried out at the School ofArchitectureandDesign” EduardoVittoria”of Ascoli Piceno(SAAD)of the university of Camerino. Thespecificobjectiveoftheresearchistodevelopaninnovativeandreplicabledesign methodology, and to experiment new design strategies devoted to the sustainable, compatible and innovative-construction after natural disasters in rural areas and low-density urban systems. The research is based on a “local-to-global” approach: it refers to Italy as a case study but it aims to achieve general results applicable in different geographical contexts. Thespecificcasestudyrelatestotheearthquakethatin2016/2017affectedasignificant area of Central Italy and that strongly hit a large part of the so called “Italian village system”, i.e. a peculiar environmental and productive urban system that is still now in real emergency. As in most of the international reconstruction experiences, this reconstruction will certainly require along process which,still today,is full of unknowns. The massive damage caused by this disastrous event, the constraints imposed by regulations and the need for and adaptation of the buildings stock to the current housing standards, exclude the possibility of applying design strategies focused on a “where it was/as it was” model. This awareness, which increases the uncertainty about the future of the ”earthquake” communities, requires an innovative approach in relation to apparently incompatible aspects: the preservation of the identity of lost places and the upgrade of building performance often explicitly required by the population and however connected to a new housing demand. In relation to worldwide territories with a high level of disaster risk, this scenario can nowadays be considered a global issue which concerns both cultural and technical aspects. The design methodology pursued is based on a scientific approach to re-construction that focuses on a “systemic” and “design to build” approach that concerns also productive and technological aspects in relation to purposes of low-cost performance, constructive simplicity, cost-effectiveness of the interventions. This approach aims also at the introduction of the lightweight building system in contexts of traditional and massive construction, according to an idea of a construction site as an “assembly point” of prefabricated parts, light and modular, with a controlled life-cycle.

Functional Effectiveness and Modern Mechanisms for National Urban Systems Globalization

2019 ◽  
pp. 1022-1040
Author(s):  
Alexey Arkhipov ◽  
Denis Ushakov
Keyword(s):  
Urban System ◽  
International Competition ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Competitive Advantages ◽  
Municipal Governance ◽  
Urban Economies ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
International Economic Relations ◽  
Macroeconomic Indicators

Cities' transformation into active actors of international economic relations and their participation in international competition form a complex of relevant problems about efficiency of relationships between business and government, global competitive advantages of urban economies, quality of municipal governance, and development and international integration of the urban system of the modern countries (including Russia). This chapter examines a development of the modern features of the urban system in Russia, analyzes its macroeconomic indicators, actual problems, and evaluates various scenarios for the development of both individual urban economies and the entire urban system of Russia.

scholarly journals Analyzing Urban Agriculture’s Contribution to a Southern City’s Resilience through Land Cover Mapping: The Case of Antananarivo, Capital of Madagascar

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 1962 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stéphane Dupuy ◽  
Laurence Defrise ◽  
Valentine Lebourgeois ◽  
Raffaele Gaetano ◽  
Perrine Burnod ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Land Cover ◽  
Agricultural Land ◽  
Spatial Information ◽  
Urban Land ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Systemic Analysis ◽  
Urban Land Cover ◽  
Functional Patterns ◽  
The City

High urbanization rates in cities lead to rapid changes in land uses, particularly in southern cities where population growth is fast. Urban and peri-urban agricultural land is often seen as available space for the city to expand, but at the same time, agricultural land provides many benefits to cities pertaining to food, employment, and eco-services. In this context, there is an urgent need to provide spatial information to support planning in complex urban systems. The challenge is to integrate analysis of agriculture and urban land-cover classes, and of their spatial and functional patterns. This paper takes up this challenge in Antananarivo (Madagascar), where agricultural plots and homes are interlocked and very small. It innovates by using a methodology already tested in rural settings, but never applied to urban environments. The key step of the analysis is to produce landscape zoning based on multisource satellite data to identify agri-urban functional areas within the city, and to explore their relationships. Our results demonstrate that the proposed classification method is well suited for mapping agriculture and urban land cover (overall accuracy = 76.56% for the 20 classes of level 3) in such a complex setting. The systemic analysis of urban agriculture patterns and functions can help policymakers and urban planners to design and build resilient cities.

Population in Trans-Border Regions: The Southern California-Baja California Urban System

1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (4) ◽  
pp. 1020-1045
Author(s):  
Jane R. Rubin-Kurtzman ◽  
Roberto Ham-Chande ◽  
Maurice D. Van Arsdol
Keyword(s):  
Population Growth ◽  
Southern California ◽  
Baja California ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Urban System ◽  
The United States ◽  
Population Characteristics ◽  
Policy Implications ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
The Impact

This article is a case study of population growth and composition in the Southern California-Baja California trans-border urban system (TBS). The central question guiding the research is how the combination of geographic proximity and economic integration in two very different regions affects population characteristics in the Southern California-Baja California TBS. We begin by briefly defining trans-border urban systems. We then specify the attributes of the Southern California-Baja California TBS, contrasting them with attributes observed elsewhere in the United States and Mexico. We particularly emphasize the impact of the Mexican-origin population on population growth, composition, age structure and trans-border mobility. We conclude by outlining several national and international policy implications that can be derived from a regional focus on the Southern California-Baja California TBS. The units of analysis are the aggregate TBS and the component counties and municipios. The data are drawn primarily from the U.S. and Mexican censuses. Secondary data from a variety of sources also are discussed.

Locating the interstitial island: Integration of Zhoushan Archipelago into the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration

Urban Studies ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 004209802093798
Author(s):  
Huan Zhang ◽  
Adam Grydehøj
Keyword(s):  
Yangtze River ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Yangtze River Delta ◽  
River Delta ◽  
Urban Agglomeration ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
The Yangtze River ◽  
Zhoushan Archipelago ◽  
The Yangtze River Delta ◽  
Urban Functions

Amidst the debate concerning how to interpret the emergence of new forms of urbanism in today’s world, little attention has been given to urban interstices – the inter-urban boundary areas and interface zones that facilitate exchange between and within vast urban systems. The present paper considers how place is made and developed at these interstices, which frequently provide essential urban functions but are also frequently regarded as rural. We explore this topic through the case of Zhoushan Archipelago (Zhejiang Province, China), an interface zone both between cities within the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and between the Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration and other megaregions. Like many islands, Zhoushan Archipelago has long been conceptualised as peripheral to the urban yet has simultaneously performed vital urban functions. The paper uses this case to shed light on what interstitiality (in-betweenness) means in today’s urbanism, both for the people living ‘in-between’ and for the wider urban system.

scholarly journals System Dynamics Analysis of the Relationship between Transit Metropolis Construction and Sustainable Development of Urban Transportation—Case Study of Nanchang City, China

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 3028
Author(s):  
Yunqiang Xue ◽  
Lin Cheng ◽  
Kuang Wang ◽  
Jing An ◽  
Hongzhi Guan
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
System Dynamics ◽  
Traffic Congestion ◽  
Simulation Analysis ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Urban Transportation ◽  
Urban Environments ◽  
Motor Vehicles ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
New Energy

In order to systematically analyze the benefits of transit metropolis construction, the system dynamics (SD) theory was used to construct the transit metropolis SD simulation model from the four subsystems of economy, society, environment, and transportation supply and demand. The validity of the SD model was verified by the social and economic data of Nanchang City and the operational data of the bus company, and the quantitative simulation analysis was carried out by taking the construction of the transit metropolis in Nanchang as an example. The simulation results show that, in 2020, the number of motor vehicles in Nanchang will reach 1.13 million and the urban population will reach 5.71 million. It is necessary to build a transit metropolis for the sustainable development of urban transportation. In order to complete the transit metropolis creation goal of 60% of the public transit mobility sharing rate, the proportion of public transport investment in the total transportation investment needs to be adjusted from 0.25 to 0.35. As a result, Nanchang City will improve after the peak traffic congestion in 2022, indicating that the construction of the transit metropolis will have a positive effect on Nanchang. By developing new energy vehicles and low-emission vehicles, vehicle emissions will drop from 0.05 tons/year to 0.04 tons/year, and overall nitrogen oxide emissions will fall by 70%, which is significant for urban environments. The research results provide theoretical support for the significance of transit metropolis construction, and promote the sustainable development of urban transportation.

scholarly journals Urban resilience to floods in parts of Makassar, Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 200 ◽  
pp. 01007
Author(s):  
Meydelin Isani Thoban ◽  
Dyah Rahmawati Hizbaron
Keyword(s):  
Open Space ◽  
Social Economic ◽  
Urban System ◽  
Early Warning Systems ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Warning Systems ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Contributing Factors ◽  
Multi Criteria Evaluation ◽  
The Government

Makassar – the largest and fastest growing area in eastern Indonesia – experienced significant number of damages and losses due to recurrent floods. In early 2019, the flood disaster exposed the urbanized area and inundated 1,658 houses and caused 9,328 impacted population. These figures imply that Makassar needs to create concerted efforts to improve its currently low resilience to floods. This study was designed to assess the urban resilience to floods in Makassar to provide the government with reference for evaluation and identify the most contributing factors to the resilience. In this context, resilience was assessed in four urban systems, namely physical, social, economic, and institutional, in every unit of analysis, i.e., flood-affected districts. The research data included building density, green open space, population density, the number of economically disadvantaged households, community’s subsistence funds, and the availability of early warning systems and disaster emergency stations. The physical, social, economic, institutional, and equal scenarios of resilience were modeled using the Spatial Multi-Criteria Evaluation (SMCE). The results showed that the districts in Makassar were moderately resilient to floods and that the resilience of each urban system shaped the overall resilience. Tamalate and Rappocini sub districts had the lowest resilience values, whereas Manggala was estimated as the most highly resilient district in several scenarios.

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