scholarly journals Sustainable Population Growth in Low-Density Areas in a New Technological Era: Prospective Thinking on How to Support Planning Policies Using Complex Spatial Models

Land ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 221
Author(s):  
Eduardo Gomes
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Spatial Models ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Electric Cars ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Internet Networks ◽  
Environmental Era ◽  
Planning Policies

Urban development is the result of the interaction between anthropogenic and environmental dimensions. From the perspective of its density, it ranges from high-density populated areas, associated with large cities that concentrate the main economic and social thrust of societies, to low-density populated areas (e.g., rural areas, small–medium-sized cities). Against the backdrop of the new technological and environmental era, this commentary offers insights on how to support spatial planning policies for sustainable urban growth in low-density areas. We propose the integration of technological drivers such as Internet networks, telecommuting, distance-learning education, the use of electric cars, etc. into the complex spatial models to project and thus to identify the best locations for urban development in low-density areas. This understanding can help to mitigate the disparities between high- and low-density populated areas, and to reduce the inequality among regions as promoted in the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development Goals.

scholarly journals Divergent Trajectories of Urban Development in 287 Chinese Cities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shenhao Wang ◽  
Jinhua Zhao
Keyword(s):  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Form ◽  
Cluster Structure ◽  
Low Density ◽  
Mobility Patterns ◽  
Small Cities ◽  
Temporal Dimension ◽  
Chinese Cities ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Development Literature

The urbanization and motorization of Chinese cities follow divergent trajectories. However, how the diversity occurred, particularly within the small and medium cities, is understudied. Using panel data from 287 cities from 2001 to 2014 and a time-series clustering method, this study identified representative trajectories along which Chinese cities were urbanized and motorized. Urbanization was measured by scale, wealth, urban form, and infrastructure; motorization by automobile, taxi, bus numbers, and subway lines. Chinese cities were classified into four clusters: 23 Cluster-1 cities were the large cities with heavy rails; 41 Cluster-2 cities were the low-density wealthy cities with auto-oriented mobility; 134 Cluster-3 cities were the low-density medium-wealth cities with moderate mobility levels; and 89 Cluster-4 cities were the high-density poor cities with lowest mobility levels. Comparing to the traditional three-tier structure, exclusively based on political tiers, the four-cluster structure respects the multi-dimensional nature of cities and reflects the essential diversities among the medium and small cities. While political tiers remain critical, other features including scale, density, infrastructure, and mobility patterns are also important: scale differentiates Cluster-1 from others; low density characterizes Clusters 2 and 3; heavy rail and auto-oriented mobility respectively identify Clusters 1 and 2. We contribute to China’s urban development literature by explicitly examining the temporal dimension, analyzing both urbanization and motorization, and incorporating all the medium and small cities in China. The distinct patterns of Clusters 2, 3, and 4 are evident, and the variation within them were as important as that between them and large cities.

The territory of the Russian Federation is a rescue from the COVID-19 coronavirus

2020 ◽  
pp. 26-29
Author(s):  
Yu. Kozlov ◽  
R. Serebryakov
Keyword(s):  
Wind Power ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Small Area ◽  
Power Plants ◽  
Air Spring ◽  
Atmospheric Air ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Wind Power Plants ◽  
The World ◽  
The Russian Federation

A new coronavirus pandemic is raging all over the world, especially in densely populated areas. Unlike most countries, more than half of the territory of Russia is not used by humans — which means that it is possible to settle large cities to avoid crowding people on a small area. The authors of the article consider wind power, namely vortex wind power plants, as a new source of energy that can be quickly and with less harm built in rural areas. The article also discusses the possibilities of an alternative Autonomous non-volatile installation "Air spring" for obtaining fresh water from atmospheric air.

scholarly journals Urban Sustainability at the Cost of Rural Unsustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5466
Author(s):  
Guangwei Huang
Keyword(s):  
Urban Sprawl ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Negative Externalities ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Rural Sustainability ◽  
Use Of Resources ◽  
The Cost ◽  
New Framework ◽  
Japan And China

Urban sustainability refers to building and maintaining cities that can continue to function without running out of resources. However, growing cities require more land and urban sprawl has transformed surrounding rural areas into urbanized settlements. Furthermore, the prosperity of large cities depends on the supply of both natural and human resources from rural areas, either nearby or remote. On the other hand, the use of resources of rural areas by cities may cause negative externalities to rural areas, affecting their sustainability. Therefore, a critical, but very much neglected issue, is how unban sustainability should be pursued without affecting rural sustainability. In this study, cases in Japan and China were analyzed from resources and population migration perspectives to provide evidence for the possibility that urban sustainability might have been pursued at the cost of rural unsustainability. It was intended to develop a better understanding of urban sustainability through the lens of externalities. Based on the analysis, a new framework for urban sustainability study was proposed, which consists of three new pillars. Namely, externality, vulnerability, and population instability.

scholarly journals Effects of Production of Woody Pellets in the Southeastern United States on the Sustainable Development Goals

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 821
Author(s):  
Keith L. Kline ◽  
Virginia H. Dale ◽  
Erin Rose ◽  
Bruce Tonn
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Supply Chain ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Southeastern United States ◽  
Clean Energy ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
Decent Work ◽  
Positive Effects ◽  
Responsible Consumption ◽  
Development Goals

Wood-based pellets are produced in the southeastern United States (SE US) and shipped to Europe for the generation of heat and power. Effects of pellet production on selected Sustainability Development Goals (SDGs) are evaluated using industry information, available energy consumption data, and published research findings. Challenges associated with identifying relevant SDG goals and targets for this particular bioenergy supply chain and potential deleterious impacts are also discussed. We find that production of woody pellets in the SE US and shipments to displace coal for energy in Europe generate positive effects on affordable and clean energy (SDG 7), decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), industry innovation and infrastructure (SDG 9), responsible consumption and production (SDG 12), and life on land (SDG 15). Primary strengths of the pellet supply chain in the SE US are the provisioning of employment in depressed rural areas and the displacement of fossil fuels. Weaknesses are associated with potential impacts on air, water, and biodiversity that arise if the resource base and harvest activities are improperly managed. The SE US pellet supply chain provides an opportunity for transition to low-carbon industries and innovations while incentivizing better resource management.

scholarly journals Delineation of the Urban-Rural Boundary through Data Fusion: Applications to Improve Urban and Rural Environments and Promote Intensive and Healthy Urban Development

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 7180
Author(s):  
Jun Zhang ◽  
Xiaodie Yuan ◽  
Xueping Tan ◽  
Xue Zhang
Keyword(s):  
Wavelet Transform ◽  
Rural Development ◽  
Data Fusion ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Urban Sprawl ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Healthy Development ◽  
Kappa Value ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Urban And Rural Areas

As one of the most important methods for limiting urban sprawl, the accurate delineation of the urban–rural boundary not only promotes the intensive use of urban resources, but also helps to alleviate the urban issues caused by urban sprawl, realizing the intensive and healthy development of urban cities. Previous studies on delineating urban–rural boundaries were only based on the level of urban and rural development reflected by night-time light (NTL) data, ignoring the differences in the spatial development between urban and rural areas; so, the comprehensive consideration of NTL and point of interest (POI) data can help improve the accuracy of urban–rural boundary delineation. In this study, the NTL and POI data were fused using wavelet transform, and then the urban–rural boundary before and after data fusion was delineated by multiresolution segmentation. Finally, the delineation results were verified. The verification result shows that the accuracy of delineating the urban–rural boundary using only NTL data is 84.20%, and the Kappa value is 0.6549; the accuracy using the fusion of NTL and POI data on the basis of wavelet transform is 93.2%, and the Kappa value is 0.8132. Therefore, we concluded that the proposed method of using wavelet transform to fuse NTL and POI data considers the differences between urban and rural development, which significantly improves the accuracy of the delineation of urban–rural boundaries. Accurate delineation of urban–rural boundaries is helpful for optimizing internal spatial structure in both urban and rural areas, alleviating environmental problems resulting from urban development, assisting the formulation of development policies for urban and rural fringes, and promoting the intensive and healthy development of urban areas.

scholarly journals Demographic Assessment of the Sustainability of Small and Medium-sized Cities in the Russian North

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 552-569
Author(s):  
Viktor V. Fauzer ◽  
Andrey V. Smirnov ◽  
Galina N. Fauzer
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Social Problems ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
The North ◽  
Demographic Dynamics ◽  
Russian North ◽  
Northern Territories ◽  
Market Relations

Since the dissolution of the USSR and advent of market relations, small and medium-sized Russian cities have experienced many economic and social problems due to their peripheral status. At the same time, they form the main framework for the settlement of the northern territories. The research aims to reveal the importance of small and medium-sized cities in the set- tlement system of 13 regions of the Russian North by studying their demographic dynamics. We examined the hypothesis that the demographic sustainability of these cities depends on the time of their formation. A proposed methodology for assessing the demographic sustainability of cities is based on five groups: demographically sustainable, relatively sustainable, unsustainable, critically unsustainable, instability. Four periods of the formation of small and medium-sized cities are defined: colonisation of the Russian North (1584–1917); industrialisation and urbanisation of the northern territories (1918–1959); from coercion to encouragement — northern romance (1960–1989); from settlement to abandonment — depopulation (1990–2020). For each period, the cities were assessed in terms of their demographic sustainability. The current sustainability of the cities was shown to be dependent on the period of their formation. Compared with the rest of Russia, the structure of settlements in the North revealed both similarities (concentration of the population in large cities) and differences (the proportion of the population living in small and medium-sized cities is higher, but lower in rural areas). Future research will focus on developing a methodology for assessing the «saturation» of small and medium-sized cities in the Russian North.

scholarly journals Green Tourism in the Context of Sustainable Development and the Challenges Posed by the Global Economic Crisis

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (45) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
T. O. Zinchuk ◽  
◽  
T. V. Usiuk ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Economic Crisis ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Global Economy ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Tourism Development ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
The Face ◽  
Green Tourism ◽  
Development Goals

The articles aims to substantiate the socio-economic, environmental, historical and cultural role played by green tourism and its contribution to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals based on current innovative trends and capabilities of tourism in the face of challenges posed by the ongoing crisis in global economy caused by the latest pandemic. The objectives of the research were to detail the theoretical, methodological and applied approaches to the development of green tourism, which is a market sector providing travel services. The definition of green tourism has been made more profound through connecting it with the Sustainable Development Goals, which is rather logical. The motivating factors for the development of green tourism have been analyzed taking into account the model of multifunctionality in agriculture and its importance in rural development policy. The nature of changes in the green tourism sector has been identified with respect to the peculiarities of the current global situation, when a pandemic is restraining the world tourism intensity, on the one hand, and is stimulating local tourism, on the other. It is worth adding that local tourism is mostly green and focused on the conservation of the environmental and natural resources, as well as sustainment of mostly rural areas. The research carried out shows that green tourism can become a driving force for economic growth in rural areas, a motivator for employment, a factor in preserving rural culture and traditions in a particular area. At the same time, the results of the research prove the existence of a link between green tourism and national economic, environmental, socio-cultural, intellectual, energy security due to the most typical development priorities of such tourism. On analyzing the experience of the countries that suffered the pandemic most, we have found some prospects for green tourism development. It is a new system of partnership between the state, business and civil society which can become an additional incentive to preserve the potential of green tourism. Thus, strategic guidelines for green tourism development based on institutional priorities, with the current economic crisis challenges in mind, have been designed.

scholarly journals Screening for type 2 diabetes in the Iranian national programme: a preliminary report

2003 ◽  
Vol 9 (5-6) ◽  
pp. 1122-1127 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. Azizi ◽  
M. M. Guoya ◽  
P. Vazirian ◽  
P. Dolatshati ◽  
S. Habbibian
Keyword(s):  
Type 2 Diabetes ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Control Strategies ◽  
Pilot Project ◽  
National Programme ◽  
Large Cities ◽  
Islamic Republic Of Iran ◽  
Heavy Burden ◽  
And Control

Diabetes mellitus is a significant threat to public health. It is estimated that more than 1.5 million people with diabetes live in the Islamic Republic of Iran. We report on the preliminary results of the national programme for the prevention & control of type 2 diabetes which began in 1996. The pilot project has so far been instituted in 17 provinces. Of 595 717 people aged 30 years and over, 247 518 were classed as at risk and 3.6% had diabetes, 4.3% of women and 2.6% of men. Diabetes prevalence varied from 1.3% in rural areas to 14.5% in large cities. Early detection and control strategies are aimed at diminishing the heavy burden of diabetes

scholarly journals Study of Vortex Systems as a Method to Weakening the Urban Heat Islands within the Financial District in Large Cities

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (23) ◽  
pp. 13206
Author(s):  
Luis Rodriguez-Lucas ◽  
Chen Ning ◽  
Marcelo Fajardo-Pruna ◽  
Yugui Yang
Keyword(s):  
Rural Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Flow Characteristics ◽  
Maximum Velocity ◽  
Vortex Generator ◽  
Urban Heat Islands ◽  
Navier Stokes ◽  
Specific Work ◽  
Heat Islands ◽  
Large Cities

This paper presents a new concept called the urban vortex system (UVS). The UVS couples a vortex generator (V.G.) that produces updraft by artificial vortex and a vortex stability zone (VSZ) consisting of an assembly of four buildings acting as a chimney. Through this system, a stable, upward vortex flow can be generated. The Reynolds Averaged Navier–Stokes (RANS) simulation was carried out to investigate the flow field in the UVS. The Renormalized Group (RNG) k–ε turbulent model was selected to solve the complex turbulent flow. Validation of the numerical results was achieved by making a comparison with the large-size experimental model. The results reported that a steady-state vortex could be formed when a vapor-air mixture at 2 m/s and 450 K enters the vortex generator. This vortex presented a maximum negative central pressure of −6.81 Pa and a maximum velocity of 5.47 (m/s). Finally, the similarity method found four dimensionless parameters, which allowed all the flow characteristics to be transported on a large scale. The proposed large-scale UVS application is predicted to be capable, with have a maximum power of 2 M.W., a specific work of 3 kJ/kg, buildings 200-m high, and the ability to generate winds of 6.1 m/s (20 km/h) at 200 m up to winds of 1.5 m/s (5 km/h) at 400 m. These winds would cause the rupture of the gas capsule of the heat island phenomenon. Therefore, the city would balance its temperature with that of the surrounding rural areas.

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