scholarly journals Urban Form and Productivity in México 1995-2015

2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 300
Author(s):  
Jorge Montejano ◽  
Camilo Caudillo ◽  
Paavo Monkkonen ◽  
Erick Guerra ◽  
Juan M. Núñez ◽  
...  

Worldwide, urban policies are encouraging more compact development in cities arguing environmental sustainability and higher economic productivity. However, there is limited evidence for the relationship between urban form and economic productivity outside high-income countries. While we know that workers in larger cities are more productive, existing empirical evidence on the relationship between compactness and productivity is only from high-income countries, with a productive service sector. Given that the economic base of many cities in Mexico consists of land-intensive manufacturing activities, policies promoting urban compactness have potential negative impacts on economic growth by restraining expansion. In this paper we explore the relationship in time between urban form/spatial structure and economic productivity in Mexico, by testing the hypothesis that growing in a compact way is positively associated with labor productivity. That hypothesis is not completely rejected because several measures of urban form are positively correlated with higher levels of productivity, and other measures are negatively correlated. As the principal findings are counterintuitive, they raise questions about what is the accepted knowledge of urban growth. Keywords: Urban Form; urban structure; productivity; manufacturing; México.

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Harald Zepp ◽  
Luis Inostroza ◽  
Robynne Sutcliffe ◽  
Salman Ahmed ◽  
Susanne Moebus

Abstract The relationship between urban green, urban form and health remains unclear. This research explores health and urban green as well as urban structure as constituents of urban form. The objective was to develop a novel indicator (Neighbourhood Environmental Contribution, NEC) to analyse the spatial relationship between urban green and health (diabetes, mental health and self-rated health) on the neighbourhood scale. NEC performs more stably when regression models are adjusted for confounders. This suggests that better representations of urban form including the built-up structure of urban areas are promising.


Spatium ◽  
2017 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Georgia Gemenetzi

The article explores the relationship between urban sprawl and the urban system. Urban sprawl is not considered to be a static, unsustainable urban form, but rather a dynamic process of urban deconcentration through which the urban structure evolves. After identifying the main characteristics of urban sprawl, this article investigates the connection between urban sprawl and the urban system through the concept of polycentricity. Finally, the two-way relationship between urban sprawl and the urban system is highlighted. Based on the above, an integrated theoretical, conceptual and methodological framework is formulated. A key finding was the emergence of ?small-scale? polycentricity, which implies increasing monocentricity over a wider spatial area. This raises questions over the distinction between the negative phenomenon of urban sprawl and sustainable polycentric forms, and points out a need to review the explanatory devices and theories used in spatial analysis and planning. Empirical evidence was extracted from Thessaloniki?s Influence Area.


Author(s):  
Eric J. Miller ◽  
Amal Ibrahim

Some empirical findings are presented on the relationship between urban form and work trip commuting efficiency, drawn from the analysis of 1986 work trip commuting patterns in the greater Toronto area. Work trip commuting efficiency is measured with respect to the average number of vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) per worker in a given zone. Preliminary findings include VKT per worker increases as one moves away from both the central core of the city and from other high-density employment centers within the region; job-housing balance, per se, shows little impact on commuting VKT; and population density, in and of itself, does not explain variations on commuting VKT once other urban structure variables have been accounted for.


2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Enongene Mirabeau Sone

The main objective of this paper is to show how oral literature is engaged by Swazis with regards to environmental sustainability. It demonstrates the relationship between nature and culture as reflected in Swazi oral literature and how indigenous knowledge embedded in this literature can be used to expand the concepts of eco-literature and eco-criticism. The paper argues that the indigenous environmental expertise among the Swazi people, encapsulated in their oral literature, can serve as a critical resource base for the process of developing a healthy environment. Furthermore, the paper contends that eco-criticism, which is essentially a Western concept, can benefit by drawing inspiration from the indigenous knowledge contained in Swazi culture and expressed in their oral literature. The paper concludes by recommending the need to strengthen traditional and customary knowledge and practices by protecting and recognising the values of such systems in the conservation of biodiversity for sustainable development.


Energies ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (12) ◽  
pp. 3470
Author(s):  
Xueqing Kang ◽  
Farman Ullah Khan ◽  
Raza Ullah ◽  
Muhammad Arif ◽  
Shams Ur Rehman ◽  
...  

In selected South Asian countries, the study intends to investigate the relationship between urban population (UP), carbon dioxide (CO2), trade openness (TO), gross domestic product (GDP), foreign direct investment (FDI), and renewable energy (RE). Fully modified ordinary least square (FMOLS) and dynamic ordinary least square (DOLS) models for estimation were used in the study, which covered yearly data from 1990 to 2019. We used Levin–Lin–Chu, Im–Pesaran–Shin, and Fisher PP tests for the stationarity of the variables. The outcomes of the panel cointegration approach looked at whether there was a long-run equilibrium nexus between selected variables in Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and Sri Lanka. The FMOLS approach was also used to assess the relationship, and the results suggest that there is a significant and negative nexus between FDI and renewable energy in south Asian nations. The study’s findings reveal a strong and favorable relationship between GDP and renewable energy use. In South Asian nations (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh), the FMOLS and DOLS findings are nearly identical, but the authors used the DOLS model for robustification. According to the findings, policymakers in South Asian economies (Sri Lanka, Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh) should view GDP and FDI as fundamental policy instruments for environmental sustainability. To reduce reliance on hazardous energy sources, the government should also reassure financial sectors to participate in renewable energy.


2021 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hao Wu ◽  
Paolo Avner ◽  
Genevieve Boisjoly ◽  
Carlos K. V. Braga ◽  
Ahmed El-Geneidy ◽  
...  

AbstractAccess (the ease of reaching valued destinations) is underpinned by land use and transport infrastructure. The importance of access in transport, sustainability, and urban economics is increasingly recognized. In particular, access provides a universal unit of measurement to examine cities for the efficiency of transport and land-use systems. This paper examines the relationship between population-weighted access and metropolitan population in global metropolitan areas (cities) using 30-min cumulative access to jobs for 4 different modes of transport; 117 cities from 16 countries and 6 continents are included. Sprawling development with the intensive road network in American cities produces modest automobile access relative to their sizes, but American cities lag behind globally in transit and walking access; Australian and Canadian cities have lower automobile access, but better transit access than American cities; combining compact development with an intensive network produces the highest access in Chinese and European cities for their sizes. Hence density and mobility co-produce better access. This paper finds access to jobs increases with populations sublinearly, so doubling the metropolitan population results in less than double access to jobs. The relationship between population and access characterizes regions, countries, and cities, and significant similarities exist between cities from the same country.


2021 ◽  
pp. 135406882110119
Author(s):  
Matthew Polacko

Previous research into the relationship between income inequality and turnout inequality has produced mixed results, as consensus is lacking whether inequality reduces turnout for all income groups, low-income earners, or no one. Therefore, this paper builds on this literature by introducing supply-side logic, through the first individual-level test of the impact that income inequality (moderated by policy manifesto positions) has on turnout. It does so through multilevel logistic regressions utilizing mixed effects, on a sample of 30 advanced democracies in 102 elections from 1996 to 2016. It finds that higher levels of income inequality significantly reduce turnout and widen the turnout gap between rich and poor. However, it also finds that when party systems are more polarized, low-income earners are mobilized the greatest extent coupled with higher inequality, resulting in a significantly reduced income gap in turnout. The findings magnify the negative impacts income inequality can exert on political behavior and contribute to the study of policy offerings as a key moderating mechanism in the relationship.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4948
Author(s):  
Núria Boix Rodríguez ◽  
Giovanni Formentini ◽  
Claudio Favi ◽  
Marco Marconi

Face masks are currently considered key equipment to protect people against the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for such devices is considerable, as is the amount of plastic waste generated after their use (approximately 1.6 million tons/day since the outbreak). Even if the sanitary emergency must have the maximum priority, environmental concerns require investigation to find possible mitigation solutions. The aim of this work is to develop an eco-design actions guide that supports the design of dedicated masks, in a manner to reduce the negative impacts of these devices on the environment during the pandemic period. Toward this aim, an environmental assessment based on life cycle assessment and circularity assessment (material circularity indicator) of different types of masks have been carried out on (i) a 3D-printed mask with changeable filters, (ii) a surgical mask, (iii) an FFP2 mask with valve, (iv) an FFP2 mask without valve, and (v) a washable mask. Results highlight how reusable masks (i.e., 3D-printed masks and washable masks) are the most sustainable from a life cycle perspective, drastically reducing the environmental impacts in all categories. The outcomes of the analysis provide a framework to derive a set of eco-design guidelines which have been used to design a new device that couples protection requirements against the virus and environmental sustainability.


Urban Science ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 37
Author(s):  
Georgios-Rafail Kouklis ◽  
Athena Yiannakou

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the contribution of urban morphology to the formation of microclimatic conditions prevailing within urban outdoor spaces. We studied the compact form of a city and examined, at a detailed, street plan level, elements related to air temperature, urban ventilation, and the individual’s thermal comfort. All elements examined are directly affected by both the urban form and the availability of open and green spaces. The field study took place in a typical compact urban fabric of an old city center, the city center of Thessaloniki, where we investigated the relationship between urban morphology and microclimate. Urban morphology was gauged by examining the detailed street plan, along with the local building patterns. We used a simulation method based on the ENVI-met© software. The findings of the field study highlight the fact that the street layout, the urban canyon, and the open and green spaces in a compact urban form contribute decisively both to the creation of the microclimatic conditions and to the influence of the bioclimatic parameters.


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