scholarly journals Higher Density Environments and the Critical Role of City Streets as Public Open Spaces

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (21) ◽  
pp. 8896
Author(s):  
Liang Wen ◽  
Jeffrey Kenworthy ◽  
Dora Marinova

This paper explores the relationship between crowding and streets as public open spaces in high-density urban environments from the perspectives of perceived density and human needs, two antecedents to crowdedness. City streets are the places through which various forms of crowding are perceived and experienced. Hence, they can play a role in easing this sense of crowding if corresponding strategies are put in place. The paper argues that practices, such as traffic calming and self-building, can transform the streets to serve as public open space, which increases spaciousness and eases crowding. It also puts forward tactical urbanism as a strategy for city governance to create the right conditions encouraging flourishing civil society initiatives in a dense primary environment that is invigorating and at the same time has a level of crowding perceived as both comfortable and liveable.

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (15) ◽  
pp. 6062
Author(s):  
Anastasiia A. Paukaeva ◽  
Tsuyoshi Setoguchi ◽  
Norihiro Watanabe ◽  
Vera I. Luchkova

Due to the severe climate, residents of winter cities tend not to utilize public open spaces inwinter. Temporary design interventions such as emblematic events are always proposed in wintercities to enhance pedestrian activity by celebrating the season and improving the perception ofwinter. In this study, we clarify the impact of the event on pedestrians’ perception to determinethe role of temporary design in improving the perception of public open spaces in winter cities.Using the example of event known as “Ice Town” on the Lenin Square in Khabarovsk, the contentof the Instagram images was analyzed to determine their perception during and after the event.The analysis includes classification of the images into clusters related to dierent urban elementsusing transfer learning with CNN (convolutional neural network). A total of 10,200 generated imageson the Lenin Square were considered, with 1700 images which relate the event itself. This accountsfor approximately 20% of all data, while those which related to the during the permanent use of LeninSquare accounted for just 6%. Temporary design of public open spaces has great potential to involvepedestrians in interacting with urban and natural environments in winter cities, even in severe coldclimate, by improving an impression of a place.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (8) ◽  
pp. 4372
Author(s):  
Abdullah Addas ◽  
Ahmad Maghrabi

Public open spaces services have been shown to be profoundly affected by rapid urbanization and environmental changes, and in turn, they have influenced socio-cultural relationships and human well-being. However, the impact of these changes on public open space services (POSS) remains unexplored, particularly in the Saudi Arabian context. This study examines the socio-cultural influence of POSS on the King Abdulaziz University campus, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia and the impact of these services on well-being. A field survey and questionnaire were used to collect data. Non-parametric tests (Kruskal–Wallis and Mann–Whitney tests) were used to find significant differences in the importance of POSS as perceived by stakeholders based on socio-demographic attributes. Factor analysis was performed for 14 POSS to identify those that are most important. The study showed that (i) university stakeholders are closely linked to services provided by public open spaces (POS) and dependent on POSS, (ii) there were significant differences in the perceived importance of POSS according to gender, age, and social groups, and (iii) 70 to 90% of stakeholders reported POSS as having a positive impact on well-being. Thus, the findings will help design and plan POSS to meet the needs of society and promote well-being.


2018 ◽  
Vol 95 (3) ◽  
pp. 2-20 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew Wiese

Place-based activism has played a critical role in the history of urban and environmental politics in California. This article explores the continuing significance of environmental place making to grassroots politics through a case study of Friends of Rose Canyon, an environmental group in San Diego. Based in the fast-growing University City neighborhood, Friends of Rose Canyon waged a long, successful campaign between 2002 and 2018 to prevent construction of a bridge in the Rose Canyon Open Space Park in their community. Using historical and participant observer methodologies, this study reveals how twenty-first-century California urbanites claimed and created meaningful local places and mobilized effective politics around them. It illuminates the critical role of individual activists; suggests practical, replicable strategies for community mobilization; and demonstrates the significant impact of local activism at the urban and metropolitan scales.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Filzani Illia Ibrahim ◽  
Dasimah Omar ◽  
Nik Hanita Nik Mohamad

This paper aims to provide valuable insight of the various dimensions of human needs’ towards open spaces. This study employed a mixed method research design involving both quantitative and qualitative methods that were utilised to identify and evaluate the human-human interaction and human-nature interaction in the area of study. Primary data was gathered by using questionnaire survey that was administered to 861 respondents who were visitors to public parks. The finding of this study is intended to show the main domains that reflect human needs’ toward open spaces together with perceived benefits to the open space users.


2021 ◽  
Vol 922 (1) ◽  
pp. 012035
Author(s):  
A F Abus ◽  
T Lubis ◽  
N A A Abus

Abstract Taman Gajah Mada is an outdoor recreation landscape located on Jalan Gajah Mada Medan, North Sumatra. Residents around Medan use this landscape to carry out sports activities. Usually, Taman Gajah Mada is visited by visitors in the morning and evening. Visitors who come in the morning usually come to just exercise. Meanwhile, visitors who come in the afternoon typically sit around enjoying the afternoon atmosphere in this beautiful and clean garden. This study was qualitative, and the ethnography method was applied to collect and analyze the data. The analysis also deliberated the unity of multidiscipline landscape architects and landscape anthropology to explain the use of outdoor recreation in Taman Gajah Mada. This literature becomes a reference for research on the concept of public open space at Taman Gajah Mada to maintain cultural originality in the use of roars in the landscape. This study indicates three public open spaces, namely the buffer zone, transition zone, andcore zone. These three public open spaces can be grouped into two based on their function and purpose: general and special public open spaces. The general public open spaces such as transition zoneand core zonecan be utilized and used by the entire community, while special ones such as the Buffer Zone are buffer areas.


Author(s):  
Masoomeh Dadkhah ◽  
◽  
Abbas Ali Vafaei ◽  
Ali Rashidy-Pour ◽  
Parnia Trahomi ◽  
...  

Purpose: The basolateral amygdala (BLA) and infralimbic area (IL) of medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) are two inter-connected brain structures that mediate both fear memory expression and extinction. Besides the well-known role of the BLA in the acquisition and expression of fear memory, projections from IL to BLA inhibit fear expression and have a critical role in fear extinction. However, the details of IL-BLA interaction remain unclear. Here, we aimed to investigate the role of functional reciprocal interactions between BLA and IL in mediating fear memory extinction. Methods: Using lidocaine (LID), male rats underwent unilateral or bilateral inactivation of the BLA and then unilateral intra-IL infusion of CORT, prior to extinction training of auditory fear conditioning paradigm. Freezing behavior was reported as an index for the measurement of conditioned fear. Infusions were performed before the extinction training, allowing to examine the effects on fear expression and also further extinction memory. Experiments 1-3 investigated the effects of left or right infusion of CORT into IL, and LID unilaterally into BLA on fear memory extinction. Results: Results showed that intra-IL infusion of CORT in the right hemisphere reduced freezing behavior when administrated before the extinction training. Auditory fear memory extinction was impaired by asymmetric inactivation of BLA and CORT infusion in the right IL; however, the same effect was not observed with symmetric inactivation of BLA. Conclusion: It is concluded that that the IL-BLA neural circuit may provide additional evidence to contribution of this circuit in auditory fear extinction. This study demonstrate dissociable roles for right or left BLA in subserving the auditory fear extinction. Our finding also raise the possibility that left BLA-IL circuitry may contribute in mediating auditory fear memory extinction via underlying mechanisms, however further research is required.


2020 ◽  
pp. 129-146
Author(s):  
Ilija Gubic ◽  
Oana Baloi

With a population of close to 13 million, and an annual growth rate of 2.86 percent, Rwanda plans to position itself as a climate resilient, low carbon, low unemployment, reduced poverty country, with a strong services sector by 2050. Its projected increase in its urbanization rate from a current value of 18.4 percent to 35 percent by 2024 is driven by strong political will, significant investments in infrastructure, service provision, and human capital development. Rwanda’s secondary cities, identified as economic nodes of growth, are currently undergoing revision of their masterplans in consideration of climate change realities and the pressure on infrastructure and services due to rapid urbanization. Currently, cities in Rwanda do not yet have a system of public open spaces. Where available, such spaces are usually hardly accessible and need upgrading. To address this, the Ministry of Infrastructure, Rwanda Housing Authority, City of Kigali and six secondary cities have committed to deliver on public open space related activities and targets under the yearly performance contract ‘Imihigo’. The outcomes of their commitments support the climate-responsive revision of masterplans of the City of Kigali and six secondary cities. This paper presents public open space initiatives in Kigali and the results of the technical assessment of public open spaces and participatory planning and design workshop in Nyagatare, secondary city in Rwanda’s. It also discusses ongoing policy changes and initiatives that aim to promote public open spaces as crucial for urban public health.


Author(s):  
Sofia Nikolaidou

New forms of urban gardening are gaining a momentum in cities transforming the conventional use and functions of open green and public space. They often take place through informal and temporary (re)use of vacant land consisting part of greening strategies or social inclusion policy through new modes of land use management, green space governance and collaborative practices. Particular emphasis is placed on shifted meanings of the notion of open public space by referring to its openness to a diversity of uses and users that claim it and relates to the questions of access rights, power relations among actors, negotiations and the so called right to use and re-appropriate land. By using examples drawn from the Greek and Swiss case, this chapter underlines differences and similarities in urban gardening practices, social and institutional contexts, collaborative governance patterns, motivations, levels of institutionalisation, openness and inclusiveness of space. More specifically it calls attention to the critical role of the temporary nature of these initiatives in relation to their multifunctional, spatial and socio-political aspects that affect new configurations of urban green areas and public space as well as related planning practices.


Author(s):  
Marialuce Stanganelli ◽  
Carlo Gerundo

This paper focuses on urban planning strategies to adapt cities to the increasing rising of temperatures during summer heat waves. The main target is to investigate which configuration and distribution pattern of green spaces could effectively improve natural cooling of urban environments. Although the benefit that green areas give to natural cooling is well known, this kind of studies has hardly been carried out, especially at an urban scale where it is crucial to define quantities and density of green areas to address open spaces design. To reach this goal, a methodology based on the interpretation of the statistical correlation among temperature, urban parameters and green areas configurational indicators was implemented and applied to the case study of the Municipality of Naples, performing all the analysis in a GIS. Results provide guidelines to improve natural cooling in urban areas adopting the most effective configuration and distribution of green areas within a densely-built context.


Author(s):  
Kenneth A. Reinert

This chapter considers health services as a basic good that satisfy critical basic human needs for maintaining minimal levels of well-being. It considers the widespread nature of health services deprivation and the consequent negative health impacts. The chapter examines the subsistence right to health services and the role of this right within the United Nations system of human rights. It doing so, it makes a distinction between the right to health services and the right to health itself, favoring the former. It also examines the leading causes of death, child survival, the provision of health services to poor people, essential medicines, medical brain drain, antimicrobial resistance, and pandemics.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document