International Conference Virtual City and Territory (CTV)
The 1st International Conference on Virtual City and Territory (CTV), Barcelona-2004, was conceived by the Centre for Land Policy and Valuations (CPSV), as a meeting place to present developments in virtual models and tools for representing the built environment. This has continued, alternately between Europe and Latin America, organized by the CPSV, with the support of the Architecture, City and Environment International Network, and local organizing committees. Maintaining its initial spirit, social and environmental topics have been incorporated, always with an impact on territorial and urban areas. Its proceedings are published in Open Access Journal, with access and free consultation.
Centre de Politica de Sol i Valoracions, CPSV / Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, UPC
Climate Change, regional and urban planning
Global warming is an unequivocal fact, increasingly affecting the ecosystems of the entire planet, with the consequent increase in singular events (heat waves, torrential floods, droughts, storms, ...). Climate Change (CC), in addition, is reinforced in cities by the presence of different phenomena such as the Urban Heat Island, air pollution, soil waterproofing or low albedo. In this context, it is essential to radically rethink the historically inherited urban development model, promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. It is also necessary to know the effects of CC on the population and develop methodologies conducive to improving environmental conditions by adapting cities to climate change and reducing their effects on the population, both from territorial planning and urban design.
Copyright (c) 2020 International Conference Virtual City and Territory (CTV)
From Energy Efficiency to Ecological Transition. Urban Rehabilitation as a Driver of Change
This article deals with the results obtained in a research being carried out within the framework of the project "EnerValor" (EnerValor, 2015), with the aim of analysing the positive effects that an intersectional regulatory framework can achieve in the process of ecological transition undertaken from the Spanish State. In this process highlights as a fundamental element the improvement of the energy efficiency conditions of buildings, both new construction and those undergoing rehabilitation (art. 3.3) (Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015). The methodology used has consisted in the analysis and evaluation of several mandatory standards in areas such as urban planning, the environment and the building industry and always referring to new residential buildings and refurbishment of existing ones to achieve the strategic objectives set out in the European Energy Action Plan: 2020, 20% reduction in consumption, 20% introduction of renewables, 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions ([COM(2010) 639 final de 10.11.2010]). Together with this, the next milestone is that of Europe 2030 developed through a framework for action on climate change and energy policy. This framework aims to support progress towards the development of a competitive economy and a secure energy system (Plan Nacional de Adaptación al Cambio Climático, PNACC). The norms analysed have as a common thread the Law of Urban Land and Rehabilitation because, based on the principle of sustainable urban and territorial development, it prescribes that regulation, planning, occupation, transformation and land use have as their common purpose their use in the general interest. Natural resources need to be used rationally by harmonizing the requirements of the economy, employment, social cohesion, equal treatment and opportunities, health and safety of people and environmental protection (art. 3.1 y art. 3.2) (Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015). This Law requires the evaluation and monitoring of the sustainability of urban development with the guarantee of technical and economic viability of urban environment actions. To this end, is required the authorities responsible for urban planning and implementation to draw up a report on the monitoring of urban development activities falling within their competence, which should consider both environmental and economic sustainability (art. 22.6) (Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015). The regulations and documents discussed in the context described above are as follows: - National Climate Change Adaptation Plan (Plan Nacional de Adaptación al Cambio Climático, PNACC). Work programs and monitoring reports. - Energy aid programme for heating, domestic hot water or kitchen, better known as “Thermal social bonus“. (Bono social térmico). - Electric Bill Discount Program aimed at vulnerable consumers, better known as “Electric social bonus” (Bono social eléctrico). - Law on urgent measures for energy transition and consumer protection (Real Decreto-ley 15/2018). - Law on administrative, technical and economic conditions for the self-consumption of electricity (Real Decreto 244/2019). The results of the analysis carried out allow us to state the following: - The Law of Urban Land and Rehabilitation (Real Decreto Legislativo 7/2015) contains the legal and management mechanisms that make buildings' energy efficiency policies more effective through collective actions in large areas of the new or existing city. - Recent regulations on climate change and environmental sustainability enable effective action on vulnerable areas of the existing city.
Secondary Railways and Inner Areas in Italy. Planning and Economic Opportunities
The 90s European policy about railway liberalization, to promoting a modern infrastructure network for railway transportation, aimed to increase competition among national players, to exploit the opportunities related to the new technology opportunities and to make easier and faster all connections between the hinterland and the main cities. Up to today, European investments are focused on the main areas and the high-speed railway because, even if the number of users is a minority with respect the overall population, the profitability of the investment is significantly higher with respect to the average of the transportation industry. This strategy has increased the difference between high growth and low growth areas with the former served by efficient transportation facilities and the latter characterized by low quality level transportation services. The lack of good transportation serviced in the hinterland increased significantly the risk of creating new ghost towns because a lot of citizens were obliged to migrate to the bigger cities due to the lack economic opportunities and public services offered to citizens in the area. In Italy population is living mainly in hinterlands served by local railway services that due to the low quality of the service offered are often underutilized and sometimes the railway company decides to stop offering the service. The main target for the future will be to develop a new policy (at European and national level) for supporting the growth of local railways starting from the change of the regulatory framework at Country and European community level. The new infrastructure, urban planning, economic, and social framework has to support the development of local railways in order to revitalize dismissed areas and low density towns and to support their role for the society and the environment. In fact, the railway service is one of the main instrument in order to avoid the exclusion of people living in small towns from job opportunities offering them a solution to commute every day at a reasonable cost and avoiding the risk of urban concentration and sprawling. Local railway services have an impact on the demand of real estate assets in the hinterland for people not interested to live in the metropolis and interested to spend more time every time in commuting in order to have the opportunity to live outside the city. Railway companies working in the passenger transportation are firms that are working in a limited competition market (oligopoly) and may take advantage of public subsidies for reaching their break even. The type of service offered to customer is significantly different with respect to high-speed trains because the demand is interested to pay only for basic services and all ancillary services cannot be sold at a reasonable price. The analysis considers all the Italian railway companies that are currently authorized to offer passenger and freight transportation services and evaluates the main difference for local railway companies operating in the passenger services with respect to all other players in the industry. Results show that firms operating in the local railway services have different economic and financial equilibria because they are less profitable but also less exposed to a risk of bankruptcy.
Urban quality, mobility, quality of life. A grammar for the rebirth of the city. A proposal for the new "industry quarter" in Sant Adrià del Besòs, Barcelona
A strict connection exists between mobility patterns and urban quality. You don’t need to be an expert to appreciate how some places are more welcoming than others and how, most of the times, those same places are the ones deprived of an object that has been affecting our lives for decades: the car. The automobile allowed the diffusion of settlement patterns characterized by urban sprawl - clearly inspired by the United States - which, where not well regulated, became a “mandatory” instrument for transportation. The big contemporary cities, dominated by the car, have grown following the model of “urban sprawl” in which public space has completely lost its role of “urban armor” and the criteria of urban quality have been completely set apart. Following this growth pattern, the city appears today comprised of fragments that, integrating with the consolidated or historical fabric, produce friction. Today the concept of “sustainability” imposes a change in the settlement patterns, abandoning the globalized culture of suburbanization in favor of urban regeneration. Within this context, public space must once again play a fundamental role in mending the urban fragments produced during the decades of incessant growth of the city and in restoring its quality. Furthermore, urban fragments and residual spaces, too little valued and often forgotten, represent today for the communities that inhabit them an opportunity to rescue their own feeling of belonging and community. Citizens must therefore “reclaim” these parts of the city through the (re)construction of public space, basing on criteria that ensure the urban quality of the project: - participation: since the inclusion of the people who will have to animate those spaces cannot be underestimated, but rather, plays a key role; - cultural valuation: since the recovery of what were the places of memory, the foundation of the community, cannot have a marginal function; - quality of the environment: since guaranteeing biodiversity and the requalification of the existing one in favor of a healthy and revitalized environment is one of the pillars on which the very concept of urban recovery is based. The cities that have favored public transport, bicycles and pedestrians at the expense of private cars, are those today characterized by a superior urban quality. Today, more than ever, mobility planning is an effective urban regeneration tool. Therefore, it is proposed in this context to investigate the evolution that mobility planning, urban policies and government of the territory have registered in recent years, with the aim of dealing with the degradation caused by urban fragmentation, mobility models and the degradation of public space. To achieve that, it is presented a study on the contemporary city and the elements that compose it in order to understand the role that each of them plays in planning. Always with a look at the international scientific scene, studying in detail the phenomenon object of this work, the causes that generate it and the aspects to take into account to stop or interrupt it. As an intervention tool, inspired by a hypothesis developed by the Italian urban planner Marcello Vittorini in 1988, an “urban grammar” is proposed, expressed through a “theoretical grid” aiming to reconfigure urban mobility structures, and oriented towards the regeneration and sustainable development of the city. Taking into account the Barcelona Metropolitan Area, where mobility plans consistent with the criteria of the theoretical grid have already been implemented, a study is presented on the municipality of S. Adrià de Besòs (in the AMB), an urban fragment consisting of a former industrial area of approximately 4 square kilometers. This study is intended to mend this urban fragment and insert it between the fabrics of the municipalities of Barcelona and Badalona, so to re-connect the consolidated city through the application of the “theoretical grid”.
The Agenda for A Digital and Ecological Future
Ecology often criticizes the impacts of digitization considering it as a symbol of global acceleration and globalization of flows. Moreover, there is little doubt that digitization actors are rather moved by opportunities related to economic value creation than any consideration about their risks or impacts. Based on these considerations, the convergence between the two sectors seems very difficult. However, the Internet New Generation Foundation (FING), a French think tank that defines its mission as concretely imagining a digitization with a future and focused on human capabilities, observed the following: “The ecological transition is the horizon of our societies and the digital transition, the great transforming force of our time. The first knows her destination, but it is hard for her to draw her way; the second is our day to day; a permanent force of change but that does not pursue any specific collective objective. One has the objective, the other the way: these two transitions need each other!” With this idea, the project of an Agenda for a digital and ecological future* was born in 2015. It was published in March 2019, after 3 years of collaborative work, in association with ADEME or IDDRI among others. It is aimed at researchers, companies, organizations, public actors, media, etc., to disseminate their recommendations. This Agenda seeks collaboration between digitization and ecology based on the conviction that digital transformation has no meaning, nor future, if it does not consider its own ecological footprint and does not mobilize to act against climate change and the other consequences of human activity. To achieve this convergence, it marks new paths or existing paths to be reviewed or promoted that are classified in 5 principles (which the agenda details in 20 challenges): 1. Technology does not provide solutions, but solutions can produce technologies. To contribute to the ecological transition, digitization must participate in alternative models of development, other forms of production, exchange and consumption. 2. The transformative force of digitization will not be a result of calculations but of collective action. Data are essential for many environmental actions, but only their open management and shared use that generate social interaction, will allow the mobilization of citizen groups and a transformative impact. 3. Collaborative digitization and democratic ecology are inseparable, although they are not yet fully aware of it. Digital models have demonstrated their transformative force but their contribution to ecology is not obvious at all. The rapprochement between the actors of collaborative digitization, those of public and democratic innovation and ecological ones will generate a common culture of digital and environmental challenges thanks to shared learning. 4. Innovation can only play a positive role in the ecological transition if it focuses on both its impact and its economic model. The innovation management system together with the institutions and financial devices that allow it, must control that innovation measures its environmental and social impacts and ensure that it really achieves its objectives in this matter. 5. Digitization and its industry must teach the way. The digital industry must be green by design and lead the circular economy, proposing eco-responsible, repairable or recyclable products, with a longer life and lower resource consumption. The challenges of the Agenda for a digital and ecological future mark the steps to achieve an innovative as well as frugal, democratic and trust builder digitization. There is no doubt that the ecological aptitude of this digitization is considerable. So, considering that the problem is worldwide, we consider the message of the Agenda has to be propagated and applied outside the limits of the hexagon.
Identification of points of tourist interest through social network data
In most European cities, mass tourism is becoming a major industry, but the effects of the increasing visitor pressure are beginning to be negatively perceived by its inhabitants. Local authorities must implement policies that modulate these activities so they can coexist and become compatible with the daily life of the local population. However, these policies must take into consideration that tourist activity tends to concentrate in very specific areas, which must be clearly identified before implementing specific taxation schemes, or requiring the procurement of a mandatory license for certain activities. To clearly designate these areas, this research proposes using social media data to identify hot spots of visitor activity in Barcelona, as an emerging source of information for stakeholders in their decision-making process, using as a case of study more than 75,000 geotagged pictures collected the Panoramio picture sharing community through its Application Programming Interface. This data-driven approach to urban analysis must address some of the issues of what some authors describe as “the 4 V’s of Big Data”: volume, variety, velocity, and veracity. In particular, this research is especially sensitive to two aspects (volume and veracity) that must to be addressed accordingly. In the case of its volume, the large number of locations made conventional spatial data analysis challenging, while in the case of veracity, the informal nature of the source data reduced the confidence on location precision. The methodology followed a principled approach based on spatial statistics, focusing on the spatial distribution of locations analyzed using kernel density estimation (KDE), with the bandwidth determined to identify general trends at the intended scale of analysis and reduce spatial noise. However, the analysis of the density of photographs in isolation ignores the spatial variation of the intensity of use within the city, since a greater concentration of photographs is expected in areas of elevated activity, ceteris paribus. The estimation of the level of activity was based on the inventory of businesses in the city of Barcelona, considering that it was a good indicator of the intensity of use in the different areas of the city, under the premise that a higher number of businesses is indicative increased pedestrian activity. To analyze tourist attractiveness considering this spatial heterogeneity in the use of the city, the spatial distributions of photographs and street-level commercial activities (as an indirect indicator of intensity of use) were compared. To make both distributions equivalent, a methodology was developed to normalize the values obtained from the KDE, obtaining an indicator (relative attractiveness) robust regarding the resolution of discretization, the number of locations, and their spatial distribution. The differences between both standardized surfaces were classified on a divergent scale to identify and quantify the hot and cold spots of tourist activity, highlighting the areas of outstanding tourist pressure and also the “deserts” almost devoid of visitors. The proposed approach proposes an emerging avenue of research in a traditionally data-scarce field of study, and suggests that social media is capable of becoming a valuable source of data in urban research. However, while this amount of data available is unprecedented, it also requires new analysis techniques as well as specific domain knowledge in the data collection, cleaning, analysis and visualization processes to successfully provide accurate and meaningful results.
Verticality in tourist housing. The transformation process of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico
Due to its popularity as a tourist destination, the city of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico is experiencing an intense urban growth, primarily as a migratory flow of new residents, that manifests itself through the appearance of new buildings that consist, primarily, of vertical tourist housing, according to the architectural terminology used in the urban-planning of the city. In these new schemes, tourist housing plays a decisive role in the territorial reconfiguration of the city. It triggers the tendency to verticalization which, in turn, promotes new architectural attributes that change the urban landscape. All this has been done, so far, in an extractive mode. That is why in this research I have asked myself the following questions: what urban-planning and architectural factors should impact the option of verticality in tourist housing in the city of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco; and what urban-planning processes are affected by tourist housing, and what is the response to the trend towards verticalization in the city of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco?, the objective is to identify; and demonstrate the architectural and urban factors that have led to the urban transformation, and have influenced the trend towards verticality in tourist housing in the municipality of Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco and to identify; the new architectural attributes, to develop the concept of densification as expressed through verticality in tourist housing, and to identify; recent and current urban transformations as a result of this process. This methodology is being completed using the qualitative analytical method, by means of the technique of participant observation in the previously selected places of interest.
Urban climate project in Palma de Mallorca: Eje Alomar - Rosselló
Climate change and urban heat island effects are no longer discussed anywhere, and its consequences will be the new paradigm with which we will face in the near future, in fact, we are suffering many of these effects in the present. Even though we already have the scientific knowledge and the right tools, there weren't significant changes in the methodology of urban developments. his article exposes the need for a metropolitan understanding of the urban environment, a complete analysis of the area (demographic, socio-economic, mobility, regulatory, climatic and the effects of climate change), the development of a climate behavior map of Climatops, the corroboration of the existence of an urban heat island effect in the region, the development of a map of climate recommendations, and the subsequent development of an urban climate project in the municipality of Palma de Mallorca focused on three areas of action: the improvement of urban green, generation of quality public space, and the promotion of more sustainable mobility. In addition, the project will be subjected to climate simulations to determine and quantify the effects it will have on local climate behavior, as well as to verify its contribution as a mitigator of the urban heat island and climate change effects.
Spatial definition of the cooling effect of urban green spaces using remote sensing: Case studies in the Barcelona Metropolitan Area
Urban green spaces play a fundamental role in the climate change adaptation of the cities. Commonly, the high concentration of vegetation within cities is accompanied by an increase in humidity in the air and a greater projection of shadows on the surfaces. Which breaks the continuity of the artificialized ground cover distinctive of the cities and the high amount of solar radiation absorbed by it, which causes, in part, the urban heat island effect (UHI). In this sense, the green spaces register a reduction in temperature in relation to their urban context, which commonly extends over the closest surroundings. This effect is known as the urban green spaces cool island (GCI) and is commonly addressed through two indicators of magnitude: the extent and intensity of cooling. The cooling extent (Lmax) refers to a spatial indicator that describes the distance between the perimeter of the green space and the furthest point of the spread of its microclimatic effect on its surroundings. While the cooling intensity (ΔT) describes the temperature difference between the urban context and the green space. Given this, the literature has addressed the cooling quantification through three types of analysis of the climatic behavior of urban spaces: 1) field measurements, 2) numerical modeling and 3) remote sensing. In general, there is a broad consensus on the quantification of the cooling effect of green spaces by calculating the ΔT in the three types of approximations. However, the spatial definition of the cooling extent has been evolving in recent decades and presents an open panorama for methodological proposals that are appropriate to different contexts. Particularly, the recovery of the Land Surface Temperature (LST) from satellite images has allowed the inclusion of larger-scale microclimatic studies to discuss the spatial definition of the thermal influence of urban spaces through statistical approaches. Given this, the present work proposes a multiple-stage approach to spatial analysis for quantifying the cooling effect of green spaces in the metropolitan area of Barcelona from the LST of the Landsat-8 OLI/TIRs satellite. We select the summer period as a case study because of the increased vulnerability posed by climate change in cities during extremes heat waves episodes, which is accentuated by the UHI. We quantify the Lmax and ΔT of the cooling effect of seven green spaces in the conurbation of Viladecans, Gavà and Castelldefels through three analytical methods based on multiple stages of spatial subdivision of urban surroundings by concentric rings. The first results show a ΔT of 1.25ºC and 1.50ºC in relation to the concentric rings of 0-100m and 100-300m respectively. The Lmax calculated with the 10m-width concentric rings registered an average of 91.67m with a maximum ΔT (ΔTmax) of 1.22 ° C. Finally, with 10m-width cross sections in addition to the concentric rings of an arborized street, we identify an average ΔTmax of 2.21ºC in industrial areas, 1.05ºC in residential areas and 1.76ºC in spaces adjacent to another park. As well as an average Lmax of 109.00m to the northeast and 129.67m to the southwest, with a maximum of 170.00m in the industrial areas and 310.00m in the area adjacent to the other park. The ΔTmax records a correlation of 0.81R² (p<0.01) with the average LST of the closest surroundings to the perimeter of the park, while resulting in a non-significant correlation with the LST of the parks. In the conclusions, we discuss the differences between the methods applied and the considerations for their reproduction in larger-scale studies. The present study is part of the project “Urban-CLIMPLAN. The urban heat island: effects on climate change and modeling for territorial and urban planning strategies. Application to the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona”; financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (MINECO) and the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDR).
Seasonal variations in the cooling effect of Barcelona's urban parks: an approach using remote sensing
Urban parks are spaces of opportunity for the adaptation of cities to climate change. Its commonly abundant vegetation and unsealed surfaces, break the continuity of the artificial land cover that distinguishes urban areas, and generate a temperature reduction in relation to its context, which extends towards its surroundings and generates the so-called urban park cool island (PCI). Therefore, recognizing the role of the physical characteristics that define this effect is an opportunity to propose parameters of climate adaptation of cities and reduce health risks during extreme heat wave episodes. In recent years, the addition of the Land Surface Temperature (LST) to studies of the climatic behavior of urban spaces, has allowed addressing a greater number of cases with simultaneous thermal information in larger-scale areas. In this context, in this work we propose a remote sensing approach to the quantification of the seasonal variations of the cooling effect of the urban parks of Barcelona and the role of their design and location. Particularly, we highlight the relationship of the annual changes in the composition of the green spaces inside and around the parks with their microclimatic behavior. For this purpose, we calculate the PCI limit extension (Lmax) and intensity (ΔTmax) of 86 urban parks in the city of Barcelona, through a method of homogenization of the surrounding temperature using concentric rings, based on the LST of Landsat-8 OLI / TIRS satellite of representative days of the four seasons of the year. Subsequently, we analyze the correlation between these indicators and the physical attributes of shape, location and annual variations in the composition of the green spaces of the parks and their surroundings. Where we obtained the latter by quantifying changes in the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) from the same satellite images. First results record that the urban parks in Barcelona has an average LST per season between 0.99 and 2.56ºC lower than the urban context. Where we register average PCI values of 57.91 to 78.02m of Lmax and 0.75 to 1.70°C of ΔTmax. In addition, throughout the year, 83 parks register positive PCI and only one negative the entire year. Most of the parks record their maximum PCI during summer and their minimum in winter. On the other hand, the set of parks records an average NDVI of 0.17 to 0.22 greater than the urban context of Barcelona. Where, the annual variation range of NDVI of each park does not correlate with its PCI variations. In addition, coinciding with the literature, ΔTmax is the indicator of the PCI with the highest correlation with physical attributes throughout the year. Particularly, the greater the proportion of areas with clustered trees (identified with an NDVI from 0.50 to 0.60), the greater the ΔTmax in the four seasons, while the rest of the attributes vary in each season. As for the Lmax, it does not register a constant significant correlation during the year with some physical attribute, although with the ΔTmax does. In general, the results point to a predominant influence of the physical characteristics of the park shape and the composition of its green spaces. Leaving aside its location and the characteristics of its urban context. Given this, as conclusions we discuss the relevance of the methodological approach to the case studied and the contributions to the recognition of the influence of the design and location of urban parks in Barcelona on their microclimatic influence. The present study is part of the project “Urban-CLIMPLAN. The urban heat island: effects on climate change and modeling for territorial and urban planning strategies. Application to the Metropolitan Region of Barcelona”; financed by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness of Spain (MINECO) and the European Fund for Regional Development (FEDR).
Dose the University Built Environment Matter for Students' Quality of Academic Life: A Case Study of Female Students in a Saudi University
In recent years there has been increased concern over the quality of life (QOL) of individuals in many countries and cultures globally, including the Arab countries, specifically, Saudi Arabia (SA). SA has recently begun to improve the QOL of its population. One of the programs in the country’s 2030 vision focuses on this concept is called Quality of Life 2020. Youth represent the largest proportion of the population in SA. The age group of between15 and 64 years old, for example, represents about 65.4% of the total population in SA. Furthermore, Saudi Arabian women are an important part of the sustainable development of the country, and their empowerment is vital in SA’s 2030 vision. The quality of academic life (QOAL) is one dimension of an individual's general QOL, and it is specialized for academic institutions and can be an indicator of students' future professional life. University education is one of the educational stages that may affect the students' perception of themselves and their ability to feel independent and satisfied in meeting their needs; this means education impacts the quality of their lives, such as their willingness to join a job or have a family. Their satisfaction with achieving their personal and objective goals may affect their motivation for achievement and the quality of their academic performance. While many studies have investigated the concept of QOL in Western populations, including the QOAL of students in educational settings, this area of research is still in its infancy in SA. More specifically, the research on the QOAL in SA needs more attention from academics and researchers specializing in various fields. Many Western studies, for example, have examined the influence of the built environment on the QOAL and the overall perception of students' university experiences. However, none have been conducted on Saudi Arabian student populations. Thus, this study has two main objectives. The primary objective is to measure the level of the QOAL in a sample of Saudi Arabian female students. The secondary objective of the study is to examine the personal constructs (individual meanings) of the students regarding the indoor and outdoor design aspects of the university’s built environment and how it, positively or negatively, affects their QOAL. The population of this study is female undergraduate students in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Humanities at King Abdulaziz University (KAU) in SA. A total of 129 third- and fourth-year psychology students participated in the study. The study employs a mixed methods design and includes both qualitative and quantitative data within the theoretical framework of Personal Construct Psychology. The quantitative data were collected through the use of a short demographic questionnaire and the Arabic version of the QOAL. This 50-item scale consisted of four dimensions: 1) academic self-management, 2) academic self-efficacy, 3) academic affiliation, and 4) academic communication. The qualitative data, on the other hand, were obtained using rebuilt (adapted) form of the Repertory Grid Technique, which was used as an alternative instrument to the traditional questionnaire for evaluating the criteria of the built environment of the female section of KAU university from the students’ point of view. While quantitative data were analyzed using R software for descriptive and reliability and factor analyses, the analysis of qualitative data was conducted using thematic analysis. The study’s results revealed that the themes surrounding the university-built environment (e.g., the incoherent muddle of buildings, lighting, temperature, and colours of classrooms, and streets and paths) have a slightly moderate negative impact on the students' QOAL. The study suggests that the female students deserve attention on aspects of their QOAL, especially in improving the sufficient and adequate aesthetic, physical, and functional qualities of the indoor built environment. Findings of this study can be used to design an environment to support successful undergraduate student learning outcomes.
The Relationship Between Infrastructure/Mobility and Urban Fabrics Produced by PMCMV Ventures in the Functional Metropolitan Area (AMF) of the Metropolitan Region of Natal-RN/Brazil
The Región Metropolitana de Natal (RMN), as well as Brazil, has experienced in recent decades a growing increase in the urbanization process characterized by a discontinuous model of urban sprawl expansion and population concentration that resulted in significant alterations in the structures physical, social and economic of their cities. Consequently, there is a peripheral growth pattern, resulting from speculative behaviors that overlap the social function of urban land and reinforce its low occupational density, in addition to increasing distances, inefficiency of transport, rising social and private costs of urbanization and inefficiency of public administration in terms of urban sustainability. The process of creating a residential periphery is clearly consolidated by the predominance of low density and single-family housing in the RMN municipalities that distance themselves from their central city, presenting an urban dispersion; while, in the municipalities of the immediate environment - whose scale of analysis is the Intraurbana Metropolitan Region, which includes the municipalities of Natal, Parnamirim and São Gonçalo do Amarante, referred to in this research as Área Metropolitana Funcional (AMF). Note that the heterogeneity of urban tissues produced by the differentiation in the distribution of infrastructure items according to the data of the last census of Brazil conducted by the Instituto Brasilero de Geografia e Estatística – IBGE (2011) and the characteristics of the environment (paving, storm drain, sewage, cleaning and public lighting) reinforces the formation of an AMF marked by strong socio-spatial inequalities, fragmented with large areas of expansion and at the same time with concentration of housing typologies that constitute homogeneous areas of spots in the metropolitan territory that highlights the abrupt form of urbanization provided by residential real estate capital in the (re) configuration of the RMN. Recently, in the AMF, preliminary data shows that the phenomena of relocation of industries and services, together with the demographic dynamics exposed, explain that there have been important changes in intermunicipal mobility in RMN, with the reduction of radial movements, the increase of a more transversal nature and the successive incorporation of the AMF of increasingly integrated territories to the central city, Natal. With all this ask: How the urbanization provided by the current residential real estate dynamics materializes in the (re) configuration of the RMN, as for the AMF? For this purpose, the objective of this research is to relate the urbanization promoted by the current residential real estate capital as a driver of urban growth in relation to the road infrastructure and the mobility of the AMF. Therefore, the methodology used was the concentration of the data generated by the relationship between the occupational process and the new urban tissues of the RMN through the production of thematic maps. The sources were collected in: the Town Halls and their respective environmental and urban licensing units of the cities involved, SEMTHAS / Natal, Caixa Econômica Federal (CEF), Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais (INPE), Instituto de Desenvolvimento Sustentável e Meio Ambiente (IDEMA), Secretaria de Meio Ambiente e Urbanismo de Natal (SEMURB), IBGE (2011), Sistema Eletrônico de Serviço de Informação ao Cidadão (e-SIC) regarding the contracts made by the CEF via PMCMV, between 2009 and 2014 and data from the Observatório de Metrópoles. The methodology was complemented even with aerial photogrammetry through which local production could be observed, especially the urban insertion of PMCMV ventures and urban tissues produced through market strategies and the choice of location. As a result, it was possible to observe that lately the real estate valuation processes are defining the distances and inequalities between the different spaces. Urban polytique carried out in the RMN, especially in the cities of Natal, Parnamirim and São Gonçalo do Amarante, promotes urban development that stimulates urban fragmentation and social and spatial inequality, where real estate capital is the main agent of development, producing and guiding demand, isolated from real needs and turning the form of occupation into a mismatch in terms of sustainability and effective mobility.
Inclusive housing production through Urban Renewal processes: the case of the Partial Plan of the Phoenician Triangle in Bogotá – Colombia
The main objective of this paper is to expose an example about the possibilities of land readjustment as a “third way” for land management and the availability of social housing in urban renewal projects. The example is a project situated in Bogotá’s downtown, promoted by the Universidad de los Andes. The project is in its first step of execution, nevertheless, is a referent for the city because its opening and participative process for formulation and the innovations in its proposal of actors’ association. The project includes the original owners as main participants and a diverse component of all kind of housing, like substitution housing, social housing and free housing for the developers and new residents. The scale of the project (9 blocks and 10 hectares of land) allows to comprehend the potentialities and the complexities or urban renewal and land readjustment as ways to promote the diverse and balanced supply of land, by both in relation with the composition of land uses and the socioeconomic composition and in the way to integrate and coordinate a wide range of public and private actors. In order to expand the relevant issues of this case, this paper is going to do, in first place, a brief contextualization of land readjustment, defining it as a tool and showing its importance in the Colombian urban legislation. Also, it will talk about the traditional ways of land management, the expropriation and the free market, demonstrating how the land readjustment is that “third way” for the management. Subsequently, it will show the Partial Plan process, pointing out the stages of formulation, the general, socioeconomic and housing characterization of the project area. The analysis of the way in which it be promoted the participation and deliberation between a wide range of actors (owners, public authorities, traders, communitarian organizations) in the formulation and execution stages of the project shows the virtues and the complexities of new ways of urban governance where the interaction and the coordination between different actors are a mode to try to achieve more equitable and inclusive results in the urban renewal process in the central places of the city. On the other hand, the paper will show the general urbanistic proposal of the plan as long as the objectives and the scope of the housing supply, the owners and residents participation schemes and mechanisms, the ways of management, and financing for construction and the current progress of the project. And finally, the lessons are presented as a conclusion on two topics; access to housing and governance or citizen participation. The data used is that provided by both the developers and the participants in the project, through a methodology that allows collecting the experience of the project to the extent that the author has closely followed the main milestones since the stage of formulation. Also, secondary sources such as reports, concertation minutes and the communications that the actors make through different printed and electronic media are taken into account. The case of the Partial Phoenician Plan manages to show an urban renewal project framed in the inclusion and citizen participation, fundamental aspects for the success of the land readjustment. Furthermore, it demonstrates the need to build trust among the participants, establish clear rules of the game, and even take into account the actors who do not sit down to negotiate. In short, the good results that can be achieved when active citizenship is part of the formulation and execution of projects that seek a better city.
Tree canopy cover estimation by means of remotely sensed data for large geographical areas: overview, available data, and proposal
Climate change and global warming requires a strong boost to sustainable growth strategies. In particular, urban green management and planning is becoming a crucial and at the same time critical aspect. Therefore, urban green requires being accurately mapped, quantified and monitored over time. In this study we propose a cost-effective but reliable approach for the automatic classification and quantification of the tree canopy cover over extended geographical areas. The classification can also be used for estimating the number of trees, based on land use land cover (LULC) and the corresponding planting layout. The case study application is the Metropolitan City of Milan. Data used for classifying the tree canopy are based on high-resolution satellite imagery provided by the PlanetScope constellation. Based on the latter information, the work relies on the use of radiometric Vegetation Indices (VIs) to quantify the tree canopy. However, because the use of VIs can cause mixing of different types of vegetation, such as tree and grass, we used a stack of multi-temporal data from PlanetScope to retrieve per-pixel statistics for Red band and Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI). The hypothesis here is that during spring-summer season tree canopy provides less variability than grass and/or agricultural fields. The approach provides an improved vegetation index capable of separating potential canopy-tree from other vegetation types. The result of the accuracy assessment shows an overall accuracy of 78.33% and 71.5% for the whole Metropolitan City of Milan and the City of Milan respectively.
Ground level permeability as indicator of walkability in cities
For centuries, urban developments were dimensioned on a human scale. Cities had a limited number of inhabitants and a size which was not convenient to overtake so as not to exceed a balance point. Over time, after important discoveries in the field of transportation, these limits blurred. Mechanical transport systems made possible the expansion of cities because private cars allowed people to move easily and at a reduced cost. Then, the prioritization of vehicle traffic in streets grew at the expense of pedestrians. Street quality decreased gradually with this change, as authors like Jane Jacobs warned in the middle of the last century. After decades of urban sprawl, academic and political institutions call today for a totally opposite model. A shift towards compact cities, with mixed use neighborhoods and walkable streets is aimed nowadays. The study presented in this paper is focused on the last point, the promotion of streets designed for people to walk, enjoy and feel secure. Walkability is a concept that integrates several aspects related to street design with the aim of inviting people to move on foot. One of the aspects that affect walkability is the direct relationship between pedestrians and ground floors, both regarding the appearance and permeability of façades. Permeable ground level façades provide a connection between pedestrians and the surrounding buildings, making them feel secure and comfortable in the street. Some institutions have developed urban sustainability assessment tools which evaluate walkability of urban developments, among other parameters. Usually, a score system quantifies the degree of compliance of some metrics related to walkability. In this study, two metrics from the TOD Standard 3.0 assessment tool were applied to a case of study, both referred to ground level permeability. The objective is double: testing the system itself by getting some reference values and finding out the relation between the values in detail and their position along the street. The assessment was carried out in two streets in Gràcia neighborhood, Barcelona: Verdi and Bruniquer-Terol-Ros de Olano. The streets are perpendicular, 5-10 meters wide and 780 and 882 meters long. Gràcia is considered a vibrant, active, compact and mixed-use neighborhood, so that it would be expected to achieve a high score in ground level permeability. The chosen parameters are metric 1.B.1, “Visually active Frontage” and 1.B.2, “Physically Permeable Frontage”. The metrics were applied to the mentioned streets in a field study following the procedure defined in the standard. A series of pictures and a floor plan of the zone were used to this end. The result of 1.B.1 metric was a 100% of visually active frontage in both streets, which means that all segments or blocks have more than 20% of transparent length. This value corresponds to the maximum value in the score. In the case of 1.B.2 metric, the number of entrances per 100 meters of block frontage is 17 in Bruniquer-Terol-Ros de Olano and 20 in Verdi. The required value to obtain the maximum score in the TOD Standard is 5 entrances per 100 meters, so both streets are much over the score. According to both metrics, walkability would be widely reached. The analysis of each segment showed a relationship between ground level permeability and two features: plot distribution and the age of the building. Apart from this, an important question arose when applying the procedure, the influence of time; whether it be the time of day, the time of the year, or the situation of the premises on the ground floor according to market fluctuations. Depending on them, the data acquisition on field might change the result. The application of walkability TOD Standard metrics in the field has resulted to be an easy and useful tool to analyze ground level permeability, though subject in some way to the criteria applied in the data acquisition. The values obtained have been much higher than the maximum required in the score, so compact cities may need another range of values to provide a subtler definition of walkability because the score seems to be out of scale. The application in this field study has shown that the score is bound to the context and that a tool may consider that the nature of cities is variable.
The Right to the City from residential exclusion: The evolution of vulnerable neighborhoods in the Valencian Community
The right to the city was a concept used for the first time by Lefebvre (1968) understood as that right of citizenship to constitute cities that respond to human needs. In this way, the needs of a city are nothing more than the express manifestation of the collective needs of its residents reflected in the urban and community space (Caravantes, 2018). The specific needs of the people who are an active and integral part of the cities can be added to the collective needs. The concentration of such needs, as well as phenomena linked to the residential environment, lead to the “accumulation of disadvantaged classes in cities” (Subirats, 2016, p. 43). On the other hand, Alguacil et al. (2014, p. 77) report that this accumulation refers to urban vulnerability, understood as “that potentiality of the population of a specific urban space being affected by some adverse circumstance (s). The social inequality and fragility that is generated in the structuring of certain territories and the location of social groups in them (Subirats, 2005), is explained through two different processes: the first one manifested through the socio-social profile. demographic and socio-economic community, where minority ethnic groups converge. Secondly, due to the structural characteristics of the neighborhoods, including the availability of resources and / or services and access to them. In this last point, the distancing of community resources determines the level of well-being available to the population and their deficiencies, they will mark their most sensitive points for the community. Based on this, there are different instruments at state and regional level that allow geographically identifying the location of vulnerable environments in cities. From the Atlas of Urban Vulnerability of the Ministry of Development, through autonomous studies such as the Social Risk Map of Zaragoza (MRSZ), the identification of areas of residential vulnerability in Barcelona, to the Viewer of Sensitive Urban Spaces (VEUS) of the Community Valenciana developed by the Department of Housing, Public Works and Urban Planning. In the latter case, VEUS measures urban vulnerability based on census sections, based on residential, socioeconomic and socio-demographic variables. From this, three types of urban vulnerability are identified concerning: integral vulnerability, poly-vulnerability and residual vulnerability. With this, the purpose of this communication corresponds to analyzing the evolution of the vulnerable neighborhoods of the CV since 1991 - 2016. However, the sources that allow to carry out a panel study based on that period, are identified with the Atlas of Urban Vulnerability and the Map on Housing and Roma Community in Spain. In addition to this, the territorial identification by types of vulnerability developed by the VEUS, also allows mapping each of the provinces by census section and identifying the territorial nuclei with the highest rates of residential, socioeconomic and socio-demographic vulnerability. According to the results obtained through the Ministry, the CV has experienced an increase in vulnerable neighborhoods similar to what happened in Spain. In 1991, a total of 24 vulnerable neighborhoods were defined in 9 cities, while in 2001 38 were identified in 12 cities. The dynamics of population concentration respond to “a series of inertia that are part of the system in which we live, which are present both in the policies that lead to poverty and, sometimes, in the forces that try to combat them” (Varea et al., 2016, p. 100). According to the latest FOESSA report (2019), migrant and Roma people are among those profiles with the highest risk of social exclusion, doubling the rate of social exclusion of the CV with respect to the rest of Autonomous Communities. If we look at the data of the Fundación Secretariado Gitano, Valencia is the Valencian province where the highest index of neighborhoods or settlements with Roma population has (5,534), followed by Alicante with 5,515 (Ministry of Health, Social Services and Equality, 2016). In this way, the results provide both quantitative data that show the emergence, increasingly noticeable of vulnerable neighborhoods, and maps of the urban vulnerability of the Valencian Community where these types of environments are reflected based on the three provinces. Likewise, VEUS (2018) identified a total of 830 census sections with a representation of Sensitive Urban Spaces (EUS) of 24%, being in Alicante 37.47% (458), Valencia with 17.92% (324) and Castellón with 10.48% (48). In this sense, the identification of EUS encompasses a larger territorial space than the administrative delimitation offered by the Vulnerability Atlas and offering a more detailed X-ray of the CV from the local and proximity level. Among the main conclusions, it should be noted that, both in the configuration of the right to the city and in the identification of those spaces marked by vulnerability, the phenomenon of residential exclusion is an essential issue that cannot be avoided by the public authorities in the guarantee of this right. The abandonment of public policies in favor of the right to the city aggravates and chronicles the inequalities existing in this type of urban environment. Currently, the political argument continues to be scrutinized in the already consolidated economic crisis and encountering significant resistance to developing a territorial governance of a local nature that allows to tackle the processes of inequality.
Comparative study of urban eco-efficiency. Case study: Sarrià district - Sant Gervasi
Based on the studies referring to the city as a dissipative structure and the information theory applied to the urban environment, this research focuses on the analysis of physical entropy (S), as an indicator of the degree of environmental deterioration generated by the Metabolism of the urban system and its relation with the production of negative entropy or neguentropía (H) that compensates the negative impact on the environment. This type of entropy was related to the Shannon theorem, which allows measuring the amount of information generated by a system, in this case, the neighborhoods to study. The information, expressed in bits, reflects the degree of complexity of the city, which is generally associated with the positive attributes of diverse and compact city models. The main problem related to this type of evaluation is the lack of disaggregated information at scales lower than those of cities (districts and neighborhoods), mainly with respect to physical entropy indicators such as energy consumption, waste production, among others. The objective of the study is to develop an example of a comparative environmental assessment methodology, which allows qualifying a specific urban environment in a simplified way, through a ratio applicable at different scales. This comparative study focuses on the analysis of the Sarriá - Sant Gervasi district of the city of Barcelona and the 6 neighborhoods that comprise it, in which the variables physical entropy (S) and the variable negative entropy (H) were calculated separately. Variable S was simplified only to the calculation of energy consumption by neighborhood and its correspondence in CO2 emissions, and variable S was calculated by applying the Shannon formula to 4 urban indicators related to the complexity and diversity of each neighborhood. For the calculation of S, the data on energy consumption and its correspondence in CO2 emissions at the district level, present in the Barcelona Energy Balance document, available on the website of the energy observatory of the ecology department, were analyzed. urban planning and mobility of the Barcelona city council. From the verification of a series of correlations between the total district energy consumption and indices such as that of gross per capita income and cadastral areas at the city level, a series of linear regression models were generated, through the IBM program SPSS STATICS, with which the data on consumption and CO2 emissions are disaggregated for each neighborhood in the district studied. Regarding the H index, it was calculated with the Shannon entropy formula, applied to data obtained mainly from the website of the Barcelona City Council's statistics and data department, which are related to the diversity of each neighborhood: Inventory of premises commercial on 1st floor, cadastral premises according to use, academic level of the population, the nationality of the population. Finally, to calculate the eco-efficiency index, the H / S formula is applied, which divides the results of the annual CO2 production per neighborhood, by the weighted average of the urban complexity calculations for each of the 4 analyzed indices. The main results can be expressed in the following: The Sant Gervasi - Galvany neighborhood obtained an S index of 1.32 tCO2eq, an H index of 2,127 bits, and an eco-efficiency index of 1,606 tCO2eq / bits. As for the Sarriá neighborhood, it obtained an S index of 0.81 tCO2eq, a magnitude H of 2,256 bits, and an Eco-efficiency index of 2,798 tCO2eq / bits. From the previous results we can infer that: The neighborhood that obtained the most physical entropy, Sant Gervasi - Galvany, is the least eco-efficient, the information it produces does not compensate for the high CO2 emissions that the commercial and services sector generates. On the other hand, the Sarrià neighborhood is the one that generates the least physical entropy and at the same time is the second most diverse neighborhood in the district.
Improving Local Climate Zones Automatic Classification Based on Physic-Morphological Urban Features
The Local Climate Zone (LCZ) classification scheme, introduced by Stewart and Oke (2012), offers promising opportunities for better studying the urban climate phenomena at the micro- and local scale (e.g. the urban heat island effect). However, although several methods have been introduced to apply the concept of LCZs to cities, only a few utilize publicly available data, like, for instance, the World Urban Database and Access Portal Tools (WUDAPT). However, to date, results are relatively rough, and frequent quality assessments demonstrate moderate overall accuracy. This paper proposes an approach for improving the quality of LCZ automatic classification, combining freely available multispectral satellite imagery together with morphological features of the urban environment. And, overall accuracy of 67% was achieved for the Metropolitan City of Milan with an improvement of 12% with respect to using only Landsat 8 multispectral and thermal data. This ascertains the physic-morphological nature of the LCZs and opens the possibility for mapping more accurate LCZs without the need for additional thermal information.
Methodology to determine more sustainable locations for social housing complexes in Valdivia, Chile
Within the multiple decisions related to the development of social housing neighborhoods in Chile, the location of the complexes is especially relevant because of their potential to facilitate, or not, social mobility, access to better opportunities, and urban integration (Sabatini and Brain, 2008). In this sense, the housing policy has been insufficient, although it has incorporated specific incentives to improve the location, they are centralist application parameters that do not contribute to improving the condition of new neighborhoods in smaller cities, making the generation of incentives with a local approach. The Differential Location Grant (SDL) is part of the housing policy that seeks to address the deficiencies in housing and urban matters that have been perpetuated for more than 30 years in Chile. However, this policy has not fulfilled all its objectives, since its location parameters allow the location of social housing in sectors with poor access to equipment networks. Although it is requested to report the distance of travel for aspects such as transportation, health, and education in the formulas to obtain this incentive, they do not include, among others, measures for travel to places of employment (Brain et al., 2010). This is how it becomes valuable to investigate less explored variables in this decision-making, such as massive databases related to geo-referenced data. These are a powerful source of information to gather new responses and approaches to urban issues (Pentland, 2009). Taking into account that today there are numerous data sources for most of all cities, realities such as displacements, flows, land uses, among others, can begin to be modeled with high accuracy, in near-real time, with lower costs and Highest reliability. The volume of information provided by mobile phone antennas makes them capable of describing traces in different time-spaces (day, week, month) and for different groups, exposing how much, how and where people move in a city (Hoteit and col., 2014). Using the urban ICT capabilities, sustainability indicators have been described for areas of residence and destinations (Integration, Connectivity, and Diversity) and proposals for proximity and morphological criteria to locate new neighborhoods or improve existing ones from urban regeneration actions. In contrast to the current criteria of location and forms of urban characterization, this work represents a novel and valid approach to know the urban reality in a contextualized manner and complementary to the current instruments, but with the potential to replace them.
Parametric Modeling of Urban Coastal Areas: Visualizing Alternative Scenarios for Participatory Planning
Over the past decades, research on the use of prospective visualization as a means to communicate with and engage the community as actors in participatory planning processes has matured through methodological discussion, all the while exploring and incorporating new technology in representation and communication. The published results on experimentation with varying levels of abstraction/realism, simplicity/complexity and interactivity can clue planners developing participatory planning activities towards the most desirable tools and methods for their particular situation. This study reports on the use of parametrically generated urban landscape visualizations in the context of participatory planning as it took place during the participatory planning stages of the revision of city planning regulations in the municipality of Natal/RN, Brazil. Amongst more general definitions, planning regulations for the municipality include parameters that govern urban morphology, such as locally-defined maximum floor-to-area ratios (FAR), minimum setbacks and maximum building height, as well as special zoning that restricts land use as deemed necessary for the purposes of environmental protection, social or touristic interest. Additionally, specific cases of landscape-protecting regulations are in place on distinct locations along the beachfront and nearby zones. The abstract nature of these regulations can greatly limit the understanding of the related parameters’ values by non-expert population. While the revision of the municipal plan for Natal, which includes zoning and building regulations, scheduled for the year 2019, was required by law to include participatory planning stages, the methodology for this participation remained unclear. Whereas the construction industry-related interest groups have been intensely engaged in efforts to loosen building restrictions in environment and landscape protection zones, the general public has had little access to discussions pertaining these regulations. As a response to the perceived need to better include citizens in this process, the Fórum Direito à Cidade (“Right to the City” Forum) group has organized parallel workshops, to discuss and clarify planning topics being targeted in the plan’s revision. As thematic groups pertaining to these topics have been set up, the need has arisen to build visual material that might help non-expert participants to better grasp the mechanisms and results of proposed regulation changes. Given an evaluation of the available resources (time, hardware, and expertise), the authors chose two techniques – 3D computational modeling and photographic manipulation – in order to represent future scenarios. As a first step, the authors used parametric-enabled software to develop definitions representing general building regulations, as well as parametric representations of specific line-of-sight rules as contained in the current city plan. Subsequently, two urban coastal areas that feature landscape protection regulations were modeled, based on CAD data. The previously developed parametric definitions were then applied to the 3D models in a variety of different density, height and line-of-sight restriction configurations, generating aerial and ground level visualizations of these areas, as they would be materialized under alternative building regulation scenarios. These visualizations were presented both as low-fidelity “flat” shaded polygon models, which could be viewed in real-time 3D, as well as photo compositions onto real backgrounds, which aimed to represent the potential for landscape line-of-sight obstruction in each of the proposed scenarios. The visualizations, despite being restricted to static images, were regarded by workshop participants as invaluable aids to comprehending building regulation and landscape obstruction. When presented in events, the visualization results have elicited strong reactions from all sides in contentious planning situations, and have been widely shared in social media, even when incomplete and even against the researchers’ wishes. The chosen techniques allowed the visualization team to visually render disparate scenarios encompassing large urban areas and including several thousands of buildings, complete with prospective urban density indicators, with comparatively little required modeling effort and acceptable quantitative accuracy, even if not necessarily representing morphological realism. The modeling method has been deemed adequate for the development of additional visualization scenes based on other areas of the city, and further experiments may be done with direct participant interaction with the models.
Green infrastructure as a tool for urban adaptation and mitigation in the city of Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic
Global warming is an unequivocal fact, increasingly affecting the ecosystems of the entire planet, with the increase in the increase of singular events (heat waves, torrential floods, droughts, gales, among others). Climate Change (CC), in addition, is reinforced in the cities by the presence of phenomena such as Urban Heat Island, air pollution, soil waterproofing or low albedo. In this sense, it is essential to radically rethink the historically inherited urban development model, promoting the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions. Likewise, it is necessary to know the effects of CC on the population and develop conducive methodologies to improve environmental conditions by adapting cities to Climate Change and reducing their effects on the population, from Territorial Planning, from urban design The objective of this research in the evaluation of temperature increases in the last ten years in the city of Santo Domingo (Dominican Republic) will determine the most vulnerable areas to determine mitigation and adaptation strategies through green infrastructure. The methodology implemented is the collection of meteorological and urban data of the city, the data will be an evaluation of the information that will determine the times of the year and the most vulnerable urban areas in the city. These areas of greatest modification are the main mitigation and adaptation strategies through green infrastructure. The results obtained are that the city of Santo Domingo perceives a constant increase in temperature that is closely linked to certain environmental phenomena that have been occurring in recent years (drought, rainfall, among others). This increase is perceived mainly in the areas of the city where it lacks vegetation and urban permeability, generating floods in times of rain among other afflictions. An action plan is generated to achieve urban adaptation in these sectors.
While it is true that historical centers have undergone a great transformation since the 1960s, it is no less true that there is still a distance between the cultural heritage of cities and the population. The area surrounding the heritage seems to be wrapped in an "intellectual" halo completely away from the citizen that is often not able to feel part of its wealth. On the other hand, nowadays, the relationship between us and the historical centers is affecting them badly due to the waves of tourists that accelerate the phenomenon of gentrification and pious the inhabitants thereof to other areas of the city. How can we reverse all this, bring heritage closer to citizens and raise awareness about the importance of caring for our historic centers? For the preparation of this study, bibliography related to concepts such as cultural heritage, dissemination, technological advances, anthropology and architecture has been consulted. Another tool used for the development of this article has been the internet, online specialized magazines, related articles and university papers that share study themes. The data used are the results of the studies found in the methodology section. The advances linked to the different industrial revolutions that have been taking place since the SXIX have led to a change that goes far beyond the production systems or the materiality itself. Nowadays, in fields such as art or architecture, the interaction of the work with the individual is increasingly explored. In architecture, practices such as cohausing, cooperatives or inclusive urban planning that uses citizen platforms such as Consul to generate a rapprochement between citizens and architecture are being multiplied. The digital revolution, the rise of open source or technological advances are some of the key concepts to understand this phenomenon. But how is all this affecting heritage? On the other hand, as French critic and historian Françoise Choay expresses perfectly in her Allegory of Heritage, the change produced in the middle of the last century that completely transformed the concept of cultural heritage is closely related to the way we understand the spaces. Continuing with this reasoning, it is worth asking how the term space has changed and what does it refer to right now, does the definition given in the 1960s still apply? Do we continue to conceive of the spaces as we did before? The emergence and rapid development of augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality is giving a total change to the way we live and understand spaces. Apparently innocent games like Pokémon Go or applications like Geocaching are making us relate to cities and architecture in a whole new way, opening the way to countless possibilities and opportunities. New technologies have greatly affected the way we understand architecture today. As users, we feel much closer to the transformations that occur in our cities, we have totally changed the way we relate to spaces and there are new non-physical connections that link us with other users and allow us to have a voice on the changes and on the final decisions. Within the field of architecture these transformations occur more slowly in heritage, although there are very interesting initiatives that are striving to bring technologies to historic centers. We have analyzed them based on three characteristics that we believe are fundamental to arrive at an optimal solution to the problem we are facing. These are: the possibility of generating an experience that links the user with Heritage, their ability to generate a community and how are the relationships between members and, finally, the ability to adapt its content to the general public. Betting on the dissemination of heritage using a closer language, the use of new and current techniques based on both new methodologies (such as m-learning), digital tools and promoting citizen participation are key actions to face the problems characteristic of our historical centers. The citizens are the one who has the key to save our city centers, we need to democratize the heritage. Only by feeling part of something will we be able to fully engage in their care and preservation.
Dispersed growth and its metropolitanization process
The growth of the city of Boston has strengthened in the last two decades, developing an urban model composed mainly of suburbs of low and medium density, a characteristic pattern that mentions the theories of "Urban Sprawl". Therefore, this work will pay special attention to the gaze of James O'Connell, who tells us the historical process, the social effects, the events and the different public-private administrative decisions that have led her to become one of the largest metropolis in the world today. The interaction value is calculated to determine the level of polycentrism between municipalities, and an approach to the morphological analysis of discontinuity is proposed, one of the physical patterns that idealize urban expansion, proposed by Galster, et al (2001). To do this, the existence of “Sprawl” in the Boston metropolitan area (MAPC) will be analyzed based on the characterization of urban fabrics. For this it is necessary to obtain the growth of the multitemporal urban spot of the metropolitan area, to objectively assess the land consumption in the territory. To carry out the procedure, satellite image processing from NASA Landsat 5 TM was used, using SIG (remote sensing) technology, years 1985, 2002, and 2011 respectively. The objective is to calculate the BU (Build-up Index) or constructed area index, which shows that the higher the construction index, the lower the green area index (He, et al, 2010). It is necessary to observe how the soil cover changes (water and vegetation in relation to the artificialized surfaces), the results derived from this analysis will also be manifested in the study of the tissues revealing certain patterns of discontinuity.
Climatic study in the High-Andean region and the analysis of bioclimatic indicators of potential application in architectural design
The integration of the related climatic and energy data directly in the conception of the urban habitat requires: (i) in first place , the knowledge first of all of the local climate, taking into account the modifications granted by the built environment, of the scale of the agglomeration, of the presence of the so-called islands of urban heat or the wells of freshness present in the immediate surroundings; and (ii) in a second place of the indices of the architectural parameters on the qualitative and quantitative aspects at the level of internal, external and transitional spaces of the buildings. The objective of the communication of this research work is to know the importance of climate studies and their relationship with bioclimatic indicators to be taken into account in the architectural design process. The methodology used for this research consists of collecting climatic data in two places proposed in the High-Andean region, specifically in the Junín region. Then is proceed to systematize and characterize the particular climate of the study areas. In a second time some diagnostic tools are used for bioclimatic design such as Givoni psychometric abacus, Olyay diagram and finally Mahoney tables. The data used is from official sources obtained from public institutions such as the National Meteorology and Hydrology Service of Peru (SENAMHI), the Ministry of Environment, The National Institute of Statistics and Informatics, etc. As well as data taken at the site, that is, measurements made directly in the field in order to contrast and validate the official data. The selected locations are those that are located very close to the official weather stations. The preliminary results obtained show the relevance of this approach that deals with the study on the climatic integration of the traditional High-Andean rural habitat. Which has allowed us to make an evaluation of the alternatives suggested in each case, places of study, alternatives that would be valid for the context in the High-Andean region. This research will allow future professionals in architecture to take into account sustainability criteria and integrate them into their architectural and urban proposals. In this way, the academic objective of improving teaching learning of the criteria of conception of bioclimatic architecture in a Peruvian context. The field of our research is defined by the study of climate integration concerns the traditional High-Andean rural habitat in the Junín region. The places taken for this research are representative and account for the diversity of microclimates in the Peruvian territory. These would allow, in the precise context of our High-Andean region, to clarify and quantify the intensity of the relationship between climate and architecture. One of the objectives of this research is to provide designers, architects and urban planners with a diagnostic tool and possible solutions that could be applied as recommendations in our context of the High-Andean region. Allowing in this way the possibilities of implementation of the new techniques and innovative solutions used in the conception of our built environment, as well as the revaluation of ancestral techniques used in Peruvian architecture. In a second phase for this investigation, at a more practical level, it is to face the real possibilities of replication and / or transposition of traditional techniques in the current conception of the habitat in the High-Andean region, taking into account cultural and socio-economic variations that would condition the validity of these possible replications in the territory.
Critical and Gender Urban Planning. Case Study in Coia, Vigo
Gender urban planning proposes daily life alternatives to achieve real equality between people within the framework of urban development. This work applies these theories in a specific spatial field, criticizing the public policies in urban matters started to date.
Measuring Gentrification Processes in Barcelona and Madrid: A Methodological Proposal
Western cities are witnessing first-hand significant transformations in their socio-spatial configuration. On the one hand, exclusive areas are expanding rapidly from the metropolitan centers due to an increasingly qualified immigration and the resurgence of central spaces linked to the location of new productive activities and the concentration of cultural, creative and innovative enclaves. On the other hand, recent studies show that low-income residents are displaced and concentrated in the most peripheral and deprived spaces, with less access to all kinds of services. As a result, different social groups would be moving away territorially. In line with the first process, gentrification is the most local and visible example to define the transformation of a neighborhood. The common element among the many interdisciplinary definitions that have been given to gentrification processes is that of population replacement, understood as a sociodemographic substitution resulting from the arrival of upper-middle class population that contributes to the expulsion of previous residents, usually with fewer resources. Although this process was conceptualized more than five decades ago, the quantitative approach to the process of substitution and displacement of the population has been less developed than its theoretical approach. Academics and public institutions at local and regional level have tried to measure gentrification from a quantitative perspective. These approaches have sought to categorize neighborhoods according to the intensity of the process using population, geographic and / or urban variables. However, the diversity of sources in each country and the complexity of measuring displacement and substitution processes through data, explain the lack of a common and standard methodology to measure these processes at an international level. In the Spanish case, the geographic limitations of the last population census, as well as its distance in time, was carried out in 2011, have contributed to the lack of a quantitative approach to the most recent gentrification processes. In this paper, we propose a methodological and conceptual exercise to calculate a composite indicator measuring the intensity of the sociodemographic transformation processes linked to gentrification that the neighborhoods of Barcelona and Madrid have experienced from 2011 to 2017. The indicator includes seven theoretical dimensions associated with different axes of neighborhood socioeconomic transformation: (1) population rejuvenation; (2) changes in the origin of the population, understood as the growth of population born in countries with a high Human Development Index; (3) changes in the family arrangements/values, associated with the growth of single-person adult households; (4) attraction to population with university degree; (5) population substitution, understood as the loss of population without university studies due to the effect of migration and changes of residence; (6) speed of change, which introduces the transformative capacity of migratory and residential flows to alter the composition of the population; (7) transformations in the housing market, measured through price increases. One of the innovations of the indicator is the diversity of the data sources we have used, since it includes stock data (Population Register), flow data (migration and residential flows, including a socioeconomic variable such as level of education), characteristics of households and housing market indicators. The final values of the indicator have not only allowed us to identify which neighborhoods of Barcelona and Madrid have experienced gentrification processes in recent years, but also, and probably more interestingly, to measure its intensity. The indicator has been calculated based on common parameters, granting us not only to compare the indexes of the neighborhoods of both cities, but also to trace the main axes of expansion of the gentrification processes.
Modelling a New Workflow Based on Emotional Analysis of the Floor-Plans Using Machine Learning Algorithms and Semiotics
The initial purpose of technology is to aid us in repetitive tasks. For example, in recent years, CAD programs are helping Designers to spend more time on the Design itself; being limited by the tool seems like a distant memory. Designers can generate complex forms and plans for their design, however, like our predecessors, we are still open to all kinds of mistakes. With the emergence of Artificial Intelligence, not only we can make machines do a specific task for us, but also learn to guess, predict, and plan for the future and avoiding the same mistakes over (Tech Innovations to Help Manage Project Data and Create New Ways of Designing, 2018). Specifically, Machine learning (ML) is a field of artificial intelligence that uses statistical techniques to give computer systems the ability to "learn" (e.g., progressively improve performance on a specific task) from data, without being explicitly programmed (Stuart Russell and Peter Norvig, 2009). As Architects, we are all responsible for what we design and carry out, even further, we are responsible for the effects which our Buildings render into the world. Therefore, in Academia, we approach design as a practice of refinement, it's a process of Generating Alternatives and testing them, over and over, until finding the final option. This is Indeed, very similar to the way an automated machine works except machines are without human error. With the help of our current technologies, we can train machines to learn the design process and aid us in various tasks such as planning, optimization, and prediction for the outcome. One of the most fundamental aspects, regarding the design of a building, is the process of generating plans based on user’s needs; in which many factors are actively affecting the process. Many factors drive the generation/design of an architectural plan and Our Emotions towards a specific space is one of the important ones, which mostly and often dismissed by the Designer. By applying AI to this process; which follows the same principles; the designer is constantly supported by a recorded knowledge that can help him design avoiding such mistakes (Embracing artificial intelligence in architecture, 2018). Our creative goal is to develop an A.I, which can make a dialectic between the designer and the user’s emotion, making the design more efficient for the user. The research aims to find hidden relationships between the factors which shape a floor plan and the user’s emotions; and finding a balance point to establish a new Workflow. The first step to do so is to train a computer program, which learns the relation between our emotions and the design, the latter can be achieved using machine-learning technics, provided with data sets of floor-plans, powered by semantic networks.
Daily Mobility of University Students. Case of the Faculty of Architecture of the Central University of Ecuador
One of the issues that are permanently and increasingly on the metropolitan and local governments of Latin America agenda is urban mobility. This is due to its implications on efficiency, productivity and competitiveness of the city (WBCSD, 2013; UN-Habitat, 2015) as well as in the quality of life of its inhabitants, especially in relation to health and leisure (Miralles, 2010). In particular, Quito, the capital of Ecuador, has a set of variables that have hindered the management of urban mobility. This has affected all inhabitants, especially in their commute to work and school-. On this paper we will focus on the problem that university students have to commute. For this investigation the Faculty of Architecture of the Universidad Central Del Ecuador (UCE) has been taken as a case study. Central University Universidad Central Del Ecuador brings together more than 30% of students from Pichincha province, around 47,700 students. The problem is generated because of the location of Universidad Central Del Ecuador and its Faculty of Architecture. It is located in the city’s Hipercentro, which houses the twelve universities that the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ) has, and where daily 159 thousand students commute to. In addition to universities, there are businesses and urban facilities, where multitudes of citizen’s have to commute, generating 60% of public transportation and 40% of private transportation journeys (DMQ, 2014). On the other hand, in territorial terms, Quito has a linear city morphology of 42 km long and only 4 km wide (Cuenin & Silva, 2010), which extends from north to south. Therefore, Quito has a limited road network generating constant traffic and congestion problems. The DMQ public transport infrastructure consists of three axes: The Ecovía, the Trolebus, the Metrobús and soon Quito’s subway, these three transportation systems are interconnected to transport Quito’s cities’ from north to south. In that context, the objective of this paper is to analyze that urban morphology, mobility infrastructure and the location of the UCE; affect students from different socioeconomic status of the faculty of architecture in their everyday displacement. These case study corresponds to a part of the doctoral thesis work called Lifestyles and everyday mobility in university students. Case of the School of Architecture and Urbanism in the Metropolitan District of Quito (DMQ), from one of the co-authors of this document. The methodology starts from the analysis of the daily itineraries of 41 students of the Faculty of Architecture of the UCE, through an integrated GPS app called Wikiloc, chosen for its easy installation on cell phones and for being an application with which students are familiar with. Through an interview with Each student, the frequency of each trip and the motives which were divided by activities of university studies, sports, work, health, food, family, supplies and recreation were identify. This information was crossed with the location of the student's residence and the location’s socioeconomic level, taking into account their everyday mobility. Among the results, it was identified that students who live in the northern and southern urban limits of the DMQ, and have less urban accessibility, are those who spend more time commuting, regardless of their socioeconomic status. Likewise, diversity of activities and the residential location of the students, affects positively the Hipercentro of the DMQ and negatively to the external neighborhoods, These aspects influence in the same sense, in the variety and frequency of their daily activities. Therefore, we verify that the accessibility and functional diversity of the places of residence of university students are fundamental for the development of activities that promote their development. This will promote a greater frequency of health and recreational activities; as well as taking care of their eating habits. On the other hand, it emphasizes that sports activities are not related to accessibility to special urban facilities, but to other cultural factors in which it would be necessary have further studies. It was also found that if there is a gender component in the organization of students’ displacements with children, influenced by their role as resp for them and the home.
Soil Resistance, The Invisible Landscape
Urban planning must help mitigate the effects of climate change, moderate the global rise in temperature and control the misuse of energy and hydrological resources. This research is based on a case study of the daylighting project on the river Kjørbekk in the Municipality of Skien in Norway. The project substitutes the actual storm water management in old pipes, to a visible nature-based solution (NBS), corresponding to a landscape infrastructure capable of retaining, infiltrating and transporting water and generating a new landscape of urban and territorial cohesion. The human-made underground is a challenge for urban projects that have traditionally focused on the physical definition and legislation of what is visible, paying less attention to the invisible underground. The project reveals inherent underground constraints such as old landfills, polluted industrial ground, existing fresh and sewage water systems, fiber cables, electricity, etc. This has been necessary to map as a `contemporary archaeology´ in order to enable the design of the new waterways as well as the areas of retention and infiltration. The transformation of the old infrastructure into a new storm water management project corresponds to a system change that has demanded a design of a process over time, including both private and public actors. The urban project is under a paradigm shift which includes uncertainty and where the dynamic and the management of risk becomes a part of the project.
Urban Interventions with A Sustainability Focus: Strategy Against Informality in Montería, Colombia
The main objective of this research is to analyze the urban interventions carried out after the approval of the first territorial planning plan of Montería (POT) in 2002 and its urban effects, mainly interventions designed to correct urban imbalances associated with informality in transport (motorcycle taxi), informal commerce and inappropriate use of public space. The work approach is quantitative and qualitative; on one hand, data on informality and urban projects are presented, and on the other hand, their effects are analyzed at urban and social levels. The methodology includes documentary technique and field technique. The first corresponds to a review of the territorial planning plan, municipal development plans, institutional reports and publications. The second corresponds to the participant observation and photographic records that allow verifying the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of the mentioned interventions. The sources of information used are, among others: POT of Montería 2002-2015 and the development plans 2001-2003; 2004-2007; 2008-2011; 2012-2015 and 2016-2019. Among the results are: I) Social, urban and economic indicators of the city of Monteria before 2002, presented in the POT diagnosis and description of the five main long-term strategies of this plan, which allowed establishing the roadmap for the formulation of future development plans; II) The description of the main urban projects and interventions programmed in the development plans of the mayors Luis Jiménez Espitia, León Fidel Ojeda, Marcos Daniel Pineda García, twice, and Carlos Eduardo Correa. III) “Friendly Cities” Program as a strategy for efficient mobility and public transport of passengers of the National Development Plan 2006-2010 “Community State: development for all” approved by Law 1151 of 2007 and the incorporation of Montería to this program through CONPES document No. 3638 of February 1, 2010. IV) Climate Change Master Plan (PMCC) and the Action Plan 2032, Sustainable Monteria, as supports to achieve the inclusion of this city in the “Sustainable and Competitive Cities” program, which promotes the sustainable urban mobility; V) Projects "Strategic Public Transport System" (SETP), "Ronda del Sinú" and "Línea azul", and its effects on the offer of public space and urban mobility. The projects programmed in the post-POT development plans have contributed to partially reduce informal trade activities on the center's platforms, showing significant progress in urban indicators. The execution of these managed to increase the supply of public space from 1.66 square meters per inhabitant to 3.46, build and rebuild 133 parks, recover 144.604 square meters of platforms, construction of 30 kilometers of bicycle lanes and pedestrianization of two streets in the center and north of the city. The mobility for the pedestrian improved completely on the first avenue and partially on the second, third, fourth and fifth avenues, where some old merchants are still maintained and new vendors and / or motorcycle taxi drivers arrived. One of the conclusions of this work expresses that, the projects and interventions designed with a sustainability approach contributed to improve the environmental and urban quality of the city and the quality of life of its inhabitants, but failed to change the habits of the monterians in the use of transport, mainly those related to the obstinacy to use the informal transport of the motorcycle taxi, the unnecessary use of the motorcycle and the repeated use of the car in lanes destined for buses, which obviously increases emissions and does not contribute to the sustainable mobility that It is intended with the vision of Green City. This article, as a result of research funded by Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia, not only describes the urban projects of five periods of the municipal administration, but also analyzes their relevance, continuity and effectiveness at the urban, social and mobility levels. There is currently no evidence of similar work in this City., although there are reports, press releases and scientific papers with partial approaches. It is aimed at the academic and scientific community interested in this type of studies.