Search Results (13)

Making cities resilient and secure remains a central goal in urban policy strategies, where established methods, technologies, and best experiences are applied or replicated when the knowledge of a threat is already well established. The scientific community and specialized bodies are invited to comprehend and evaluate disastrous events that are still not well explored to broaden the concept of resilient cities. Among these, terrorism in the European-built environment remains an underexplored topic, despite various studies assessing its economic, social, and political dimensions, exploring the radicalist matrix, or examining the post-effects of high-impact disastrous events. Within this framework, this work presents an algorithm for the risk assessment of historic urban open areas (uOAs) in Europe, combining theories of the terrorism phenomenon, the normative experiences, and the phenomenological results of violent acts in uOAs. Specifically, the algorithm is determined by studying physical qualities/properties and elements that usually feature the uOAs, using a limited set of descriptors. The descriptors and their formulation are set starting from their qualification, in compliance with the risk determinant (Hazard, Vulnerability, and Exposure), and discussed starting from participatory methods (Delphi and AHP). The algorithm is finally applied to Italian historic squares, testing the mathematical approach, verifying theories of the phenomenon, and setting up a comprehensive three-dimensional risk matrix for both soft and hard targets. This latest constitutes an operative tool to assess the investigated built environment exposed to terrorist threats aimed at developing more detailed mitigative strategies. Full article

Homelessness, affecting over half a million Americans, significantly elevates the risks of mental and physical health issues, consequently diminishing life expectancy when compared with the general population. Homelessness is a critical public health issue, and efforts are needed to address lack of housing as a social determinant of health. Transitional housing (TH) programs emerge as vital interventions, offering a place to stay with various support services to facilitate the transition to permanent residency. Nearly half of the unhoused population in the country and over 90% in New York live in TH or shelters. Despite the high utilization rates of TH, engagement with support services and opportunities for improvement remain poorly understood. This study aimed to fill this gap by examining the factors influencing support service usage and opportunities for enhancement through semi-structured interviews with TH residents in New York City to capture their lived experiences and perspectives. Analysis of the interviews (n = 20) revealed five main factors affecting service engagement that aligned with constructs of the socioecological model: intrapersonal (self-efficacy, chronic health conditions, mental health), interpersonal (parenthood and well-being of children with special needs, individual staff interactions, and communication), institutional (bureaucratic challenges, administrative burden, and living facilities), community (social isolation and educational opportunity), and policy (challenge meeting basic needs and undocumented status). Recommendations for bridging service gaps primarily arose at the institutional and community levels, offering critical insights for administrators to tailor services more effectively to TH residents’ needs, thus contributing to the broader goal of advancing health equity among the unhoused. Full article

Background: Fear of Childbirth (FOC) can significantly impact women’s physical and psychological health; therefore, healthcare providers must provide proactive care, which means they have to intervene before FOC becomes tokophobia. This study’s purpose is to evaluate the determinants of prenatal childbirth fear during the third trimester among low-risk expectant mothers. Methods: A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted at the Maternal and Children Hospital’s outpatient clinics in Najran City, Saudi Arabia, from April to July 2023. The study involved 377 nulliparous and multiparous women, using a systemic random sampling technique. The data were collected using an interview schedule composed of questions related to demographic and obstetrics characteristics, the FOC questionnaire, and a multidimensional scale of perceived social support. Significant FOC predictors were examined using a binary logistic regression model. Results: There was a statistically significant difference between nulliparous and multiparous participants concerning FOC; 80.0% of nulliparous participants had significant FOC compared to 67.8% of multiparous participants (p = 0.011). A binary logistic regression clarified that regular antenatal care and family and spousal support were significantly negatively correlated with significant FOC among multiparous and nulliparous women (p < 0.05). For multiparas, FOC was associated with pregnancy planning and previous labor-related complications. In addition, friends’ support was an important predictor of significantly lower FOC among nulliparous women (p < 0.05). Conclusions: Significant FOC was higher in nulliparous women when compared to multiparous women. Numerous obstetric variables and different types of social support play important roles in significant FOC. Special attention and support should be provided to high-risk women for proper FOC management during prenatal classes to improve their childbirth experiences. Full article

Social inclusion is one of the important conditions for sustainable socio-economic development. However, one of the paths leading to social inclusion is to ensure a high level of accessibility of institutions for people with special needs. The study described in the present paper examined the accessibility of Polish public sector bodies based on data from government reports (comprehensive study). Accessibility is a feature that should be offered as a complementary service offered to both individuals and legal entities during epidemic emergencies and beyond. The limited accessibility of public institutions is a significant obstacle to the full well-being of the population. Indicating differences in the spatial dispersion of this phenomenon in Poland was the basis for undertaking research for this article. Three areas of accessibility were tested: physical (architectural) accessibility, digital (web) accessibility, and ICT accessibility. A synthetic measure of accessibility was constructed for the study and used to rank Polish voivodeships (provinces, NUTS 2) from highest to lowest. Clustering was used to identify similar regions. The highest- and lowest-scoring regions were the Mazowieckie voivodeship (capital city—Warsaw) and the Podkarpackie voivodeship (capital city—Rzeszów), respectively. Legal accessibility requirements are the biggest driver of further accessibility improvements for voivodeships. Full article

In recent years, the study of urban flood resistance has included the perspectives of spatial environment and multiple elements of urban space, which break through the limitation of only focusing on engineering measures in traditional disaster prevention. The article constructs a flood prevention and mitigation index system under the perspective of resistance based on the basic work of urban physical examination and ignoring the variability of population size affected by floods in different regions. It also takes 6 districts and 6 counties under the jurisdiction of Zhengzhou City as the research object, combines the relevant data of 12 cities, uses the entropy weight method and the coefficient of variation method to determine the index weights comprehensively and introduces the barrier degree diagnosis model. This article carries out urban flood control and disaster reduction special physical examination, considers resistance obstacle factors and promotes strategy analysis and research. The results show that from the perspective of spatial distribution, the flood control and flood mitigation resistance of Zhengzhou City is in a “differential” distribution state and the high resistance areas are Erqi District, Jinshui District and Gongyi City. In general, the resistance index in the southwest region was higher than that in the northeast region and there was a significant difference between urban areas and counties, showing a medium-high and medium-low resistance status. From the results of the study, to improve the level of resistance to flood mitigation in each city, it is necessary to focus on the main obstacle factors that hinder the development of the city and to fundamentally improve the level of resistance to create a more livable and healthier city according to local conditions. Full article

With the rapid development of urbanization in China, urban waterlogging has become a significant problem in constructing the safety of the human environment. As an essential manifestation of the modernization of the urban governance system and capacity, the city physical examination establishes a multi-criteria evaluation system for problem diagnosis, rectification, and improvement. In order to accurately identify the risk of urban waterlogging, the concept of special physical examination of urban waterlogging risk was established, and the evaluation mechanism and indicator definition were improved on the basis of the “four-factor method” of flooding disaster assessment. From the perspective of urban basin flood control capacity, background disaster-bearing conditions, “Major-Minor-Micro” drainage system capacity, crucial locations and personnel protection, and emergency management capacity, twenty-four indicators in five categories were selected. The interaction between multiple factors is considered to establish a special physical examination indicator system as a characteristic evaluation mechanism of waterlogging with the goal of urban safety and resilience. The results of the study could provide theoretical and technical support for the diagnosis of urban waterlogging risk problems and the formulation of prevention and control strategies. Full article

Taipei has been ranked as the most vulnerable city to a wider combination of risks. Although the Special Education Law addresses the consideration of disaster preparedness for students with disabilities enrolling in Special Education Schools, more attention needs to be given to the far larger number of students with disabilities enrolling in normal schools. These schools need to consider the care for students with different types and severe degrees of disabilities. The aim of the research is to investigate challenges of earthquake preparation and response for students with different severe degrees of disabilities who enrol in the special education classes in general primary schools. The objectives of the research include the following: (1) investigating the challenges and requirements for support of students with different severe degrees of disabilities; (2) examining the need and support for students with different degrees of disabilities during the earthquake response process; and (3) exploring the best practice in the curriculum building for students with different severity of disabilities. The purposive sampling was used to select four primary schools in Taipei as participant groups in the research. The research team used semi-structured interviews to interview eight participants: one special education class teacher and one administrator of each school were invited. Findings include the following: (1) ensuring the appropriate design of physical environment for earthquake response in schools, including rapid response, evacuation, and assembly points for students with different severe degrees of disabilities; (2) proposing suitable staff to student ratio to be planned for the response phase; (3) identifying the appropriate individualised curriculum and learning objectives to suit students with different severe degrees of disabilities. Full article

Urbanization inevitably poses a threat to urban ecology by altering its external structure and internal attributes. Nighttime light (NTL) has become increasingly extensive and practical, offering a special perspective on the world in revealing urbanization. In this study, we applied the Normalized Impervious Surface Index (NISI) constructed by NTL and MODIS NDVI to examine the urbanization process in the Yangtze River Delta (YRD). Geographical detectors combined with factors involving human and natural influences were utilized to investigate the drive mechanism. Urban ecology stress was evaluated based on changes in urban morphological patterns and fractional vegetation cover (FVC). The results showed that the NISI can largely overcome the obstacle of directly coupling NTL data in performing urbanization and has efficient applicability in the long-term pixel scale. Built-up areas in the YRD increased by 2.83 times during the past two decades, from 2053.5 to 7872.5 km². Urbanization intensity has saturated the city center and is spilling over into the suburbs, which show a “cold to hot” spatial clustering distribution. Economic factors are the primary forces driving urbanization, and road network density is becoming essential as factor that reflects urban infrastructure. Urban geometry pattern changes in fractal dimension (FD) and compactness revealed the ecological stress from changing urban external structure, and internal ecological stress was clear from the negative effect on 63.4% FVC. This impact gradually increased in urban expanded area and synchronously decreased when urbanization saturated the core area. An analysis of ecological stress caused by urbanization from changing physical structure and social attributes can provide evidence for urban management and coordinated development. Full article

The capacity of green roofs to intercept rainfall, and consequently store and slow runoff resulting in a reduction in flood risk, is one of their main advantages. In this review, previous research related to the influence of green roofs on the hydrological cycle is examined with a special focus on studies for Mediterranean climate conditions (Csa and Csb according to the Köppen–Geiger climate classification). This climate is characterized by short and intense rainfall occurrences which, along with the increased area of impervious surface on Mediterranean regions, intensify the risk of flooding, particularly in the cities. The analysis covers the variables rainfall retention (R, %), runoff delay (RD, min or h), peak delay (PD, min or h), peak attenuation (PA, %), and runoff coefficient (RC, −), in relation to physical features of the green roof such as layers, substrate depth, slope, and vegetation, as well as, weather conditions, such as monthly temperature and monthly precipitation. Following a statistical analysis, some patterns for the average rainfall retention (%) were found in the published literature for green roofs under Mediterranean climate conditions—namely, that the most significant variables are related to the substrate depth, the existence of certain layers (root barrier, drainage layer), the origin of the vegetation, the types of green roofs (extensive, semi-intensive, intensive), and the precipitation and temperature of the location. Moreover, a multivariate analysis was conducted using multiple linear regression to identify the set of green roof features and weather conditions that best explain the rainfall retention (%), taking into consideration not only the studies under Mediterranean conditions but all climates, and a similar pattern emerged. Recommendations for future research include addressing the effect of physical features and weather conditions on the other variables (RD, PD, PA, RC) since, although present in some studies, they still do not provide enough information to reach clear conclusions. Full article

This study examines the impact of the provision of specialized transportation services for older adults on the attainment of preventive healthcare services in selected cities across Michigan. The main hypothesis is that transportation services are critical factors for older adults to not only attain preventive healthcare but also to maintain an active lifestyle that avoids the physical, mental and social isolation that they may face when advised to stop driving. Results indicate that provision of transit services and socio-economic characteristics have statistically significant effects on the attainment of preventive healthcare services. However, although transportation is a critical element for maintaining medical appointments, other factors need to be considered if we truly want to attain better health outcomes for all older adults. Qualitative analyses point to other logistical barriers and the need for more awareness of insurance plans and covered services in order to increase preventive healthcare attainment. Full article

Since workplace skills present diverse dimensions of a worker’s ability, it has recently received renewed interest by researchers examining the growth of cities. The purpose of the paper explores the advantage of regional concentrations of workers specialized in different types of skills. Specifically, the analysis estimates the agglomeration effects of skill-based labor pooling on wage levels and wage growth in South Korea. To this end, it constructs skill-based labor pool indices for cognitive, social, technical, and physical skills at a provincial level. The indices show an uneven geographical distribution in varying degrees across four types of skills. The regression results indicate that the urban wage premium of skill-based local labor pooling varies according to types of skills. The greatest magnitude of benefit is incurred by workers in cognitive-skill-oriented occupations and moderate benefits are found in technical- and physical-skill-oriented occupations. An urban wage premium is non-existent in social-skill-oriented occupations. In addition, the wage growth model with job mobility shows that the urban wage premium immediately affects workers who change jobs and relocate to denser areas. As high-wage occupations earn higher wage premiums when workers in these occupations are concentrated, it supports patterns of the polarization of both skills and their effects. Full article

The concept of resilience implies uncertainty and the ability to adapt to unexpected changes. Projects in cities that require long periods of time and extensive budgets, which include large parks, need resilience to flexibly cope with political, economic, social, and physical changes. The concept of resilience emerged from the design of large parks in the early 2000s and has continued in more recent urban design competitions, but there is still a lack of research on specific planning strategies in the literature. This paper aims to interpret the process of creating a large park and to explore the strategies needed for a resilient process by examining the first national urban park being planned in Seoul, Korea as an example. After discussions began in 1990 and the General Basic Plan was established in 2011, the winning design was announced through an international design competition in 2012. Although the park master plan was considered complete as of 2018, its progress seems unclear because of various changes in the surrounding urban planning and political and economic conditions. This study intends to examine the processes that have already been executed and to assist in setting the future direction of the project. Through the framework derived from prior research on the concept of resilience, this project’s process is examined and analyzed in six main categories: park infrastructure, social dynamics, economic dynamics, health and well-being, governance networks, and planning and institutions. The results show that the categories park infrastructure, health and well-being, and planning and institutions are consistent with the resilience planning strategy to some degree, but social dynamics, economic dynamics, and governance networks are unsatisfactory. From a resilience perspective, a holistic approach to designing the process is most important in planning a large park, beginning from the conceptual stage through to the long-term implementation phase. An integrative process should aim to incorporate specialized knowledge and experiences from a variety of fields, not to resolve single aspects in a piecemeal fashion. This study aims to provide a practical link between large-scale park projects and the concept of resilience for the future. Full article

Alcohol use is to one of the most of risk factors for intimate partner violence. The aim of this study was to check the difference of demographic characteristics and type of violence between of the perpetrators with a history of alcohol abuse (A) versus the perpetrators without a history of alcohol abuse (N). Data were obtained from the survey conducted in the office of the Association for Violence Prevention in the city of Lublin, Poland. 400 perpetrators and their victims (400 subjects) were examined. To collect information from victims a specially designed questionnaire was used (VQ). Besides, another questionnaire (PQ) and The Alcohol Use Disorders Identification Test (AUDIT) was used to measure alcohol use in the perpetrators. About 76% of the perpetrators scored 8 and above (AUDIT). 84.8% of the perpetrators with a history of alcohol abuse (A) versus 9.2% of the perpetrators without a history of alcohol abuse (N) committed acts of violence after alcohol consumption. The A-perpetrators were more likely to be younger, have lower education and break law, and less likely to have permanent jobs than the N- perpetrators. The significant difference in the type of violence was found: the A-perpetrators were more likely to commit physical violence (78.2%) than the N-perpetrators (33.2%) and the N-perpetrators were more likely to commit sexual violence (32.2%) than A-perpetrators (9.14%). We would like to conclude that despite similarities among perpetrators, they are not a homogenous group so different therapeutic approach should be considered. Full article