PUBLIC VS PRIVATE SECTOR OWNED URBAN PUBLIC SPACE PERFORMANCE IN TERMS OF USER PERCEPTION IN CITY OF COLOMBO

Public spaces are considered one of the fundamental elements in the urban context to promote leisure and recreation for urban dwellers. Public spaces contain variations within each other from the physical appearance, activities, and to usage factors. Private sector involvement for public space provision was increased in the recent past where public space ownership and access controls were shifted from solely public to private. This was criticized as privatization of public space and lead to debates on the decline of publicness and privacy of space. In this context, this research studied the public space from the user perception by considering publicly owned and operated versus privately owned and operated public spaces within Colombo, Sri Lanka. It is also explored the balance between ownership and access controls to determine the user preference in terms of the publicness features. User defined public space features were identified using 35 semi-structured interviews and 119 online questionnaire surveys. Qualitative analytic tools were used to evaluate the results including Content analysis and Space-shaper models with the support of NVivo software. The results revealed that publicly owned spaces were preferred by the users due to easy access and freedom for activities while privately owned spaces were preferred due to better infrastructure, safety, and security within. Also, it is identified that urban public space offered users the freedom to experience based on the levels of ownership and access controls. Finally, people preferred ownership by public over private sector as anecdotal evidence and values dominated in the public space attributes. This study provides key insights for planners to consider in the public space planning and the importance of private sector involvement and balance in the provision of optimal urban spaces in cities.

SARS-CoV-2 RNA is enriched by orders of magnitude in solid relative to liquid wastewater at publicly owned treatment works

Wastewater-based epidemiology has gained attention throughout the world for detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater to supplement clinical testing. Methods have been developed using both the liquid and the solid fraction of wastewater, with some studies reporting higher concentrations in solids. To investigate this relationship further, we collaborated with six other laboratories to conduct a study across five publicly owned treatment works (POTWs) where both primary solids and raw wastewater influent samples were collected and quantified for SARS-CoV-2 RNA. Solids and influent samples were processed by participating laboratories using their respective methods and retrospectively paired based on date of collection. SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentrations by mass (gene copies per gram) were higher in solids than in influent by approximately three orders of magnitude. Concentrations in matched solids and influent were positively and significantly correlated at all five POTWs. RNA concentrations in both solids and influent were correlated to COVID-19 incidence rates in the sewershed and thus representative of disease burden; the solids methods appeared to produce a comparable relationship between SARS-CoV-2 RNA concentration measurements and incidence rates across all POTWs. Solids and influent methods showed comparable sensitivity, N gene detection frequency, and calculated empirical incidence rate lower limits. Analysis of solids has the advantage of using less sample volume to achieve similar sensitivity to influent methods.

Risk stratification of nursing homes to plan COVID-19 responses: A case study of Victoria, Australia

Emergency management responses to COVID-19 in nursing homes lacked preparation and nuance; moving forward, responses must recognize nursing homes are not generic organizations or services, and individually appreciate each’s unique nature, strengths and limitations. Objective: To describe an approach to stratifying nursing homes according to risk for COVID-19 outbreak. Methods: Population-based cross-sectional study of all accredited nursing homes in Victoria (n=766), accommodating 48,824 permanent residents. We examined each home’s facility structure, governance history, socio-economic status, proximity to high-risk industry, and proximity and size of local acute public hospital, stratified by location, size and organizational structure. Results: Privately owned nursing homes tend to be larger and metropolitan-based, and publicly owned homes regionally based and smaller in size. The details reveal additional nuance, e.g. privately owned metropolitan-based medium-to-large-sized facilities tended to have more regulatory non-compliance, no board of governance, and fewer Chief Executive Officers with clinical background. In contrast, the smaller, publicly owned, remote facilities perform better on those same metrics. Conclusion: Nursing homes should not be regarded as generic entities, and there is significant underlying heterogeneity. Stratification of nursing homes according to risk level is a viable approach to informing more nuanced policy direction and resource allocation for emergency management responses.

SUSTAINABLE MANUFACTURING - THE PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE

- Sustainable manufacturing has become of utmost importance during these times of strained supply chain logistics and availability as highlighted by the Covid-19 pandemic. Organizations, both privately and publicly owned have realized the positive relation of economic progress and sustainable manufacturing which have made them imbibe and implement such practices. Newer technologies, efficient processes and waste reducing methods etc. have become key in any manufacturing process. This trend will continue increasing with time for production to remain economical and regular. Almost all research on this topic has focused on a particular timeline of sustainable manufacturing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the wider timeline of events that sustainable manufacturing has gone through in order to reach this importance.

A concept plan for Kennedy Mobility Hub: envisioning transit oriented development in Toronto's inner suburbs

This project presents a concept plan and vision for Kennedy Mobility Hub in Toronto, Ontario. The concept plan seeks to achieve six project goals, which are informed by a literature review, policy review, and context review. The goals are: to increase residential and employment density; achieve a more complete mix of transit-supportive land uses; replace all surface parking currently on developable public lands; improve the pedestrian and cyclist experience; expand greenspace; and ensure seamless transit mobility. The concept plan proposes extensive changes to the project area including mid-and high-rise development on all publicly owned surface parking lands. A number of new and extended roads are proposed to increase the area's permeability and facilitate development. Residential and employment densities for hypothetical development sites are calculated and discussed. The project highlights some of the pragmatic planning challenges, and potential solutions, associated with retrofitting commuter parking nodes to become transit-and pedestrian-oriented urban environments.