Measuring Human-Scale Living Convenience through Multi-Sourced Urban Data and a Geodesign Approach: Buildings as Analytical Units

Living convenience, as a perceptual quality of life, is gradually playing an increasingly important role in the context of seeking livable cities. A high degree of living convenience positively affects urban vitality, livability, and daily physical activities. However, it is hard to achieve a quantitative measurement of this intangible, subjective issue. This study presents a data-informed analytical approach to measuring the human-scale living convenience using multi-sourced urban data and geodesign techniques. Firstly, according to classical theories, living convenience is translated as the co-presentation of accessed number and diversity of urban facilities. Based on that, this study applies multi-sourced urban data, including points of interest (PoIs), buildings, and street networks, to compute the living convenience of each building in the 15 min community–life circle. Through the geoprocessing tools developed by ArcGIS API for Python (ArcPy), the living convenience of millions of buildings in an entire city can be computed efficiently. Kaifeng City from Henan Province, China, is selected as the case study, and the verification from local experts in urbanism shows high accuracy. The capacity to measure intangible perception exhibits the potential for this analytical approach in urban planning practices. Several explorations have been conducted in this direction, including analyzing the spatial heterogeneity in Kaifeng City and planning decision support for bus station arrangement. In short, this study contributes to the development of human-centered planning by providing continuous measurements of an ‘unmeasurable’ quality across large-scale areas. Insights into the perceptual-based quality and detailed mapping of living conveniences in buildings can assist in efficient planning strategies toward more livable and sustainable urbanism.

Research on rainwater utilization potential and key utilization methods of sponge city in Kaifeng, China

China is carrying out the construction of sponge city vigorously. It is necessary to estimate the utilization potential of urban rainwater resources in order to ensure the implementation of sponge city planning and construction program. There are some problems in the existing calculation models of rainwater resource utilization potential. In view of these problems, we put forward a reasonable classification system of underlying surface, built a rainwater resource utilization potential calculation model suitable for the construction of sponge city, and applied this model in Kaifeng city, and put forward specific measures for the utilization of urban rainwater chain.

RECONSTRUCTION OF HISTORICAL URBAN AREAS IN MODERN CHINA

С начала XXI века в Китае появилось несколько знаковых проектов реконструкции исторической застройки. Одним из первых стало предложение по реконструкции двух старых улиц Куай-сянцзы и Чжай-сянцзы в городе Чэнду провинции Сычуань, где основной упор был сделан на сохранение исторической застройки улиц и местного колорита. Затем появился знаменитый проект перестройки квартала Тайгули в Чэнду, который пошел по иному пути — по пути создания новой национальной архитектуры современными средствами. А в проекте реконструкции квартала 960 города Кайфэн провинции Хэнань архитекторам нужно было учитывать наличие на участке ценных объектов археологии, что повлияло на выбор легких конструкций для новой застройки и тем самым в значительной степени определило ее облик. Рассмотренные в данной статье проекты решали различные градостроительные задачи, но цель у них была схожа — создание комфортной современной среды исторического города. A number of significant projects for the reconstruction of historical urban areas appeared in the early twenty-first century in China. One of the first was the reconstruction project of Kuai-xiangzi and Zhai-xiangzi streets in Chengdu city, Sichuan province. This project was mainly focused on preservation of historical buildings and local style. Thereafter a famous redevelopment project of Taikooli was implemented in Chengdu city, which had different approach of inventing a new contemporary national architecture. In a third project of reconstruction of 960 quarter in Kaifeng city, Henan province architects had to consider a presence of valuable archaeological objects at the site, which led to the use of light constructions for new buildings and highly affected their appearance. Projects reviewed in this paper solved various urban tasks, but they had a similar goal of creation of modern and comfortable environment of historical city.Keywords: reconstruction, historical urban areas, urban public space, China.

A Geoarchaeological Reading of the City-Overlap-City Phenomenon in the Lower Yellow River Floodplain: A Case Study of Kaifeng City, China

The unique urban form on the ground and the “city overlap city” phenomenon occurring underground at Kaifeng city, on the Yellow River floodplain, is investigated. Archaeological data and historical geographical analysis were used to study the form of surface remains. Primary data were collected from four 25 m long drill cores which were obtained from different locations at Kaifeng city and the sedimentary cycles were quantitatively divided-out and dated. The results show that the evolution of Kaifeng’s surface urban form mainly occurred over four periods, the first of which was before 225 BC; the second took place between 225 BC and 956 AD; the third between 956 AD and 1219 AD; and the fourth between 1219 AD and 1907 AD. The results support the view that the city wall of today has undergone continuous reconstruction on the basis of previous city walls and thus forming the special landscape sequence of overlapped walls as a result of the 1642 AD and 1841 AD floods. The results also substantiate the “city overlap city” phenomenon at Kaifeng city where there are at least “three and a half ancient cities” located underground today, and suggests the “city overlap city” landscape is a harmonious production comprising both natural and human heritages that are of worldwide significance in terms of authenticity and integrity. Our results contribute to understanding the effects of Yellow River flooding on shaping adaptive landscapes and human beings, and suggest that Kaifeng city as well as other lower Yellow River sites become World Heritage sites.