A comparative study for the assessment of Ikonos satellite image-fusion techniques

I<span>Image-fusion provide users with detailed information about the urban and rural environment, which is useful for applications such as urban planning and management when higher spatial resolution images are not available. There are different image fusion methods. This paper implements, evaluates, and compares six satellite image-fusion methods, namely wavelet 2D-M transform, gram schmidt, high-frequency modulation, high pass filter (HPF) transform, simple mean value, and PCA. An Ikonos image (Panchromatic-PAN and multispectral-MULTI) showing the northwest of Bogotá (Colombia) is used to generate six fused images</span>: MULTI_{Wavelet 2D-M}, MULTI_G-S, MULTI_MHF, MULTI_HPF, MULTI_SMV, and MULTI_PCA. <span>In order to assess the efficiency of the six image-fusion methods, the resulting images were evaluated in terms of both spatial quality and spectral quality. To this end, four metrics were applied, namely the correlation index, erreur relative globale adimensionnelle de synthese (ERGAS), relative average spectral error (RASE) and the Q index. The best results were obtained for the </span> MULTI_SMV image, which exhibited spectral correlation higher than 0.85, a Q index of 0.84, and the highest scores in spectral assessment according to ERGAS and RASE, 4.36% and 17.39% respectively.

Epidemics X Popular Housing in Rio de Janeiro

The work comparatively analyzes the relation between popular housing and the main epidemics in Rio de Janeiro, from the end of the 19th century to the present day. The text rescues the memory of the tenements (the first popular form of housing), recalling the mortality of Yellow Fever and Spanish Flu; continues to study the formation process of the favelas, in parallel to the Dengue and Covid 19 epidemics, and the solutions implemented by the government with the objective of improve sanitary conditions in the form of housing estates, and more recently, in their urbanization. The SWOT Analysis, a reflection and positioning tool in relation to situations, widely applied in engineering and administration, it was used to list points of weakness and potential solutions in low-income housing in the face of sanitary problems and the solutions brought by the Government. In the methodology, consultations with secondary sources (books, articles, and newspapers) and iconographic research that illustrate the situations and provide support for the application of the SWOT analysis stand out. The conclusions highlight the extent to which epidemics overwhelmingly plague the population living in needy areas, whose absence of wholesome and appropriate urban solutions demonstrate the lack of Urban Planning and Management.

The Role of Urban Informatics in Monitoring the Physical Deteriortion of Urban Environment

The twenty-first century is witnessing a rapid growth population in urban areas; this growth needs intelligent urban planning and management. The field of urban informatics is one of the new and vital specialties to organize and analyse the urban system at all levels and areas. ICT works with interactive community participation to guide and manage the urban environment to serve, provide the residents with safety and security. The paper presents a new vision in terms of employing the field of urban informatics in mapping and monitoring the urban deterioration of the built environment in general and buildings in particular. The urban informatics system is still taking its first steps to manage and serve the city's facilities (transportation, communication, air pollution, etc.). The built environment and the deterioration through time and other factors are still far from this area. This paper aims to identify the urban information field, the situations, and types of urban deterioration and move to capture urban deterioration indicators (main and secondary), which can be measured in urban informatics. This paper recommends the adoption of such a mechanism in managing and controlling the deterioration that contributes to the reduction of material and human losses, saving time and money away from traditional methods, and the possibility of employing them in times of crisis and disasters in the urban environment.

Research on the Mode Transformation and Innovation of Urban Planning Management

As an important part of today’s social development, cities are also an important guarantee for the improvement of people’s living standards. As an important model of urban spatial layout, urban planning and management plays an important role in the development of urban economy, politics and culture. Based on this, this paper takes “urban planning and management” as the research theme, analyzes the existing planning model, and starts from the aspects of content and form, improves the pertinence and directivity of the existing planning system, so as to provide valuable reference for experts in the field.

Perceived Benefits and Costs of Owning a Pet in a Megapolis: An Ecosystem Services Perspective

Ongoing urbanization has led to a significant increase in the number of pets and has altered the relationships between pets and owners from primarily utilitarian to cultural (e.g., entertainment and health improvement). Existing classifications of ecosystem services (ES) (e.g., CICES) and nature’s contributions to people (NCP) explicitly consider only the ES provided by livestock and wild animals. This study attempted to translate perceived benefits and costs from owning pets (dogs or cats) in a megapolis into ES and disservices frameworks. The data were collected via an online questionnaire distributed through social media among residents of Moscow (Russia). The study showed that pets contribute to the well-being of city dwellers, for which owners are willing to put up with some potential risks and also bear monetary costs. Reasons for owning a pet have been translated into ES and NCPs ranging from regulating (4%) to provisioning (1%). However, cultural services linked to mental (26%) and physical (32%) health, spiritual, symbolic interaction (19%), and educational values (16%) have been the most prominent group. Considering an increase in pet owners, the interests and needs of this distinct stakeholder group need to be taken into account in urban planning and management. Pets’ integration into classifications and thus assessments of the urban ES can be a crucial step towards achieving this goal.

Chinese Pattern of Urban Development Quality Assessment: A Perspective Based on National Territory Spatial Planning Initiatives

The State Council of the People’s Republic of China issued the National Territory Spatial Planning Outline (2016–2030), which is a fundamental guide and blueprint for China to achieve its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Based on its sustainable-city initiatives, this paper establishes a “four-space (4S)” assessment framework, and measured the urban development quality (UDQ) of 336 cities in China. Then we analyzed the spatial patterns of UDQ, and identified the main obstacles. Our results show that there is considerable room for improvement in UDQ in China. The spatial pattern of UDQ shows that the eastern economic zone score is higher than the western score and the northern lower than the southern. The spatial efficiency, structure, and quality in Chinese cities have significant hierarchical structure, while the form pattern is complicated. The most important obstacle to China’s high-quality development is spatial efficiency. The most significant limiting indicator is the industrial structure, followed by land output level and land consumption per unit GDP. Our findings help enhance the effectiveness of National Territory Spatial Planning policy implementation and guide China’s urban planning and management to achieve sustainability.

Evaluation of the impacts of land use/cover changes on water balance of Bilate watershed, Rift valley basin, Ethiopia

Land use/cover change is one of the responsible factors for changing the water balance of the watershed by altering the magnitude of surface runoff, interflow, base flow, and evapotranspiration. This study was aimed at evaluating the impacts of land use/cover change on the water balance of Bilate watershed between 1989, 2002, and 2015. The water balance simulation model (WaSiM) was used to access the impacts of land use/cover change on water balance. The model was calibrated (1989–2003) and validated (2007–2015) using the streamflow of at Bilate Tena gauging station. The result of land-use dynamics showed land use/cover change has a significant impact on the water balance of the watershed like on runoff production, base flow, interflow, evapotranspiration, and total simulation flow. In the study watershed, the change in total simulated flow increased by 77.83%, and surface runoff, interflow, and base flow increased by 80.23%, 75.69%, and 87.79% respectively and evapotranspiration decreased by 6% throughout the study period (1989–2015). The results obtained from this study revealed that the watershed is under the land/cover change that shows its impacts on hydrological processes and water balance. Thus, effective information regarding the environmental response of land use/cover, change is important to hydrologists, land-use planners, watershed management, and decision-makers for sustainable water resource projects and ecosystem services. Therefore, the policy-makers, planners, and stakeholders should design strategies to ensure the sustainability of the watershed hydrology for the sake of protecting agricultural activities, and urban planning and management systems within the watershed area.

IMPLICATION OF GIS ON SUSTAINABLE URBAN PLANNING AND MANAGEMENT IN UGANDA

Purpose: The fundamental purpose of this study was to assess the implication of GIS on sustainable urban planning and management in Uganda, one of the East African countries. Methodology: This study was a desk review research where documents were reviewed using a documentary checklist as the primary data collection instrument. Data was analyzed using content thematic analysis where emerging themes were identified and presented in a narrative form accompanied with quotation of texts from the documents where the identified themes emerged from. Findings: This study found out that GIS contributes to sustainable urban planning and management through the following ways; analyzing the existing situation for adequate urban planning process; producing and maintaining geographical information which aids planning of urban areas and towns; providing quick access of data to planners and other stakeholders which eases the urban planning and management process; enabling planners to make effective, efficient and informed decision with regards to urban planning and management; enabling monitoring, evaluation and provision of feedback with regards to implementation of urban plans. Unique contribution to theory, practice and policy: This study concludes that GIS has a positive implication on sustainable urban planning and management. This study also recommends that Governments of developing economies especially low income and middle income economies, Uganda not being exceptional should develop a strong data base for GIS systems so as to enable quick access to data by planners for effective and informed decision making in order to foster sustainable urban planning and management in low and middle income countries.

Social Vulnerability Assessment for Landslide Hazards in Malaysia: A Systematic Review Study

Landslides represent one of the world’s most dangerous and widespread risks, annually causing thousands of deaths and billions of dollars worth of damage. Building on and around hilly areas in many regions has increased, and it poses a severe threat to the physical infrastructure and people living within such zones. Quantitative assessment of social vulnerability in Malaysia is worrying because it has been given less attention than hazard-related studies. Therefore, this study’s objective is to find out the indicators used for social vulnerability assessment in the context of a landslide in Malaysia. The analysis is critical for understanding the measures of social vulnerability, given that the incorporation of climate change and disaster risk mitigation issues in urban planning and management are considered priorities in ensuring a stable population growth and avoiding economic disruption. A systematic study on the Scopus and Web of Science repositories was conducted based on the PRISMA Report analysis method. This article concluded that there are six important indicators of social vulnerability in the context of landslide in Malaysia.

Generating and Visualizing Spatially Disaggregated Synthetic Population Using a Web-Based Geospatial Service

Geographically fine-grained population information is critical for various urban planning and management tasks. This is especially the case for the Chinese cities that are undergoing rapid development and transformation. However, detailed population data are rarely available in comprehensive and timely means. Therefore, appropriate approaches are needed to estimate populations from available data sets in a systematic way to support the continuous demand from urban analytics and planning. Population synthesis approaches such as Iterative Proportional Fitting (IPF) were developed to combine microdata samples with marginal statistics about population characteristics at aggregated spatial levels in order to expand the microdata sample into a complete synthetic population. This paper presents the framework for and the implementation of a geospatial platform for supporting the generation and exploration of spatially detailed urban synthetic populations. The platform provides analytical and visualization tools to support the quick generation of a full urban population with critical attributes based on the latest data available. The case of the synthetic population of Chongqing is used to illustrate the population information and types of visualization that are facilitated.