Search Results (17)

Amid global energy demand escalation, renewable energy intermittency, and electric vehicle (EV) charging demand concentration exacerbating power grid supply–demand contradictions, Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) emerges as a solution, yet EV users’ V2G acceptance and participation willingness lack in-depth exploration. This study aims to fill this research gap by investigating Chongqing EV users’ V2G acceptance, behavioral intention, and influencing mechanisms to provide support for V2G promotion. It targets EV owners in Chongqing’s downtown areas, collecting 295 valid questionnaires, covering users’ demographics, travel-charging habits, and subjective attitudes. Based on technology acceptance and usage theories, it constructs a structural equation model (SEM) with perceived usefulness, ease of use, economic viability, and technological risk as latent variables to analyze their impacts on behavioral intention. Results show that perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and economic benefits positively affect behavioral intention, while technology risk perception exerts a negative effect; users with fixed commutes, low-range anxiety, and home charging piles are more receptive, and 70% support V2G but worry about battery wear and plug-in duration. Its innovation lies in integrating EV charging–discharging and travel patterns into the analysis, and its findings enrich new energy technology acceptance theory and provide a theoretical basis for transportation-energy system coordinated planning and V2G development. Full article

In many newly industrialized countries, the booming industrial parks have played a crucial role in propelling urban growth, promoting socioeconomic growth, and causing environmental deterioration. This study investigated land use/land cover (LULC) transformation and thermal effects of the “104 Industrial Blocks” in Shanghai, which have been the key industrial development zones since 1995. A total of 64 industrial clusters were identified by merging industrial parks with close spatial linkages. Subsequently, using a data-driven framework that contains data generated from Landsat series C2L2 images and auxiliary datasets, we analyzed land development patterns and associated anomalous thermal response across three scales: macro-level pattern, meso-level ring, and local scale. The results indicate that industrial growth in the downtown shifted from incremental expansion to stock renewal. Suburban areas became the main destinations for industrial relocation. Consequently, the thermal environment underwent a remarkable reconfiguration. Urban heat island (UHI) intensity declined in the downtown, while industrial clusters on the urban periphery emerged as newly emerging heat sources. Around 75% of suburban industrial parks have shifted from low- to medium/high-density patterns, creating new industrial heat islands. In contrast, only 20.31% of suburban industrial parks have shifted from low- to medium-density development without resulting in new urban heat islands. Full article

This study proposes a scenario-based conceptual model for transforming underground parking structures into sustainable interior green spaces, directly addressing two core research dimensions: energy efficiency and user experience. The originality of the research lies in repositioning subterranean spaces—often overlooked in urban planning—as climate-responsive, multi-functional public environments. Using a site-specific case in downtown Rize, Türkiye, three design scenarios—passive green walls, active modular systems, and experimental micro-farming—were comparatively analyzed. These scenarios were assessed through AI-assisted simulations and climate-based performance evaluations in terms of environmental benefits, thermal regulation, carbon reduction, and experiential quality. Underground space leads to green design interventions, which in turn generate environmental, energy, and social benefits. The results demonstrate that passive systems provide cost-effective improvements, active modular systems achieve balanced performance, and experimental micro-farming yields the highest ecological and social benefits. The study uniquely contributes to urban sustainable design by integrating climate-adaptive strategies, biophilic design principles, and AI-supported visualization into the transformation of underground structures. This research not only advances academic discourse but also provides policy-relevant insights for local governments, developers, and communities in the context of urban renewal. Full article

While informal settlements have been extensively studied in the Global South, their counterparts in the Global North remain under-researched, despite their critical role in shaping urban morphology. This paper introduces “Resident-Centered Narrative Mapping”, a framework designed to uncover micro-morphological knowledge through the lived spatial experiences of marginalized residents. By examining the epistemological question “whose morphology?”, this study critiques conventional urban morphological methods, which often disregard spatial practices embedded in the everyday lives of marginalized communities. Focusing on a marginalized lilong settlement in downtown Shanghai, this research work integrates critical cartography with ethnographic fieldwork to develop a micro-morphological mapping process centered on resident narratives. This process, structured around the phases of finding, inscription, and simplification, demonstrates how residents’ daily practices actively shape and reconfigure their built environment. This study offers an alternative perspective to understand the dynamic processes of urban renewal in informal settlements and emphasizes the dialectical relationship between resident-driven spatial practices and the transformation of the urban form. By broadening urban morphology’s methodological framework, this research provides insights into how resident-driven mapping can inform localized regeneration strategies. The findings highlight the potential for marginalized communities to shape urban regeneration policies, advocating for inclusive, resident-centered development. Full article

Urban botanical gardens collect, preserve, research, and utilize important regional plant resources and serve as ecologically friendly cores of development and renewal for urban organisms. Meanwhile, they offer garden landscape displays and public science education. Furthermore, biodiversity conservation has become important globally. Here, the connotation of urban botanical gardens is interpreted, the functional evolution of urban botanical gardens is examined, and the challenges of sustainably developing urban botanical gardens in the context of biodiversity conservation are analysed. Taking the Shanghai Botanical Garden as an example, the abilities of urban botanical gardens in high-density downtown areas to coexist with urban spaces and thrive along with cities—thus enhancing their five core functions of ex situ conservation, scientific research, popular science education, garden horticulture, and public service—are discussed. These discussions provide references for the sustainable development of urban botanical gardens in similarly high-density city centres. Full article

The use of solar energy has shown the fastest global growth of all renewable energy sources. Efforts towards careful evaluation are required to select optimal locations for the installation of photovoltaics (PV) because their effectiveness is strongly reliant on exposure to solar irradiation. Assessing the shadows cast by nearby buildings and vegetation is essential, especially at the city scale. Due to urban complexity, conventional methods using Digital Surface Models (DSM) overestimate solar irradiation in dense urban environments. To provide further insights into this dilemma, a new modeling technique was developed for integrated 3D city modeling and solar potential assessment on building roofs using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) data. The methodology used hotspot analysis to validate the workflow in both site and without-site contexts (e.g., trees that shield small buildings). Field testing was conducted, covering a total area of 4975 square miles and 10,489 existing buildings. The results demonstrate a considerable impact of large, dense trees on the solar irradiation received by smaller buildings. Considering the site’s context, a mean annual solar estimate of 99.97 kWh/m²/year was determined. Without considering the site context, this value increased by 9.3% (as a percentage of total rooftops) to 109.17 kWh/m²/year, with a peak in July and troughs in December and January. The study suggests that both factors have a substantial impact on solar potential estimations, emphasizing the importance of carefully considering the shadowing effect during PV panel installation. The research findings reveal that 1517 buildings in the downtown area of Austin have high estimated radiation ranging from 4.7 to 6.9 kWh/m²/day, providing valuable insights for the identification of optimal locations highly suitable for PV installation. Additionally, this methodology can be generalized to other cities, addressing the broader demand for renewable energy solutions. Full article

The rapid development of new first-tier cities in China has led to potentially significant differences in residents’ environmental perceptions toward parks in new and old urban areas. However, there is currently a lack of relevant comparative research. Therefore, this study used the new first-tier city of Hefei as an example and selected the two most popular urban parks in the new and old downtown areas—Swan Lake Park and Xiaoyaojin Park. This study aimed to find out which aspects of the new and old city parks were the most valued by the residents by analysing their online comments on social media platforms. Based on the social media comments, quantitative and qualitative analyses were conducted to study residents’ perceptions and preferences and analyse residents’ activities and satisfaction. The research found the following: (1) There was consistency in the type of content in the downtown parks as perceived by the residents of the new and old urban areas. (2) For the old downtown Xiaoyaojin Park, the residents were more interested in the experience in terms of the recreation facilities and services but were less satisfied with the visitor capacity of the playground and the ticket price. For the new downtown Swan Lake Park, the residents were more interested in the experience in terms of the exercise facilities and venues and were worried about the safety of the venues. (3) The perceived environmental preferences of the residents in the old urban areas were mainly related to childhood activity venues, and the perceived environmental preferences of the residents in the new urban areas were mainly related to novelty activities. Based on the results, targeted suggestions were proposed for the development of characteristic resources, facility management and maintenance, and the renewal and renovation of recreational activities. Since social media analysis plays an important role in the construction of urban parks, the findings can help us to better understand residents’ lives, ensure that parks are designed for the happiness of the people, and develop more sustainable pathways for the design and management of urban areas. Full article

A main restriction of renewables from intermittent sources is the mismatch between energy resource availability and energy requirements, especially when extensive power plants are producing at their highest potential causing huge energy surpluses. In these cases, excess power must be stored or curtailed. One alternative is increasing urban solar potential which could be integrated to feed electric buses directly or alternatively through hydrogen (H₂) as an energy vector. H₂ from renewable electricity can be stored and used directly or through fuel cells. This study aims to determine the H₂ capability that could be achieved when integrating large-scale photovoltaic (PV) generation in urban areas. This analysis was carried out by determining the PV energy potentially generated by installing PV in Cuenca City downtown (Ecuador). Cuenca is in the process of adopting renewal of the public transport vehicle fleet, introducing a new model with an electric tram main network combined with “clean type buses”. The conventional diesel urban transport could be replaced, establishing a required vehicle fleet of 475 buses spread over 29 routes, emitting 112 tons of CO2 and burning 11,175 gallons of diesel daily. Between the main findings, we concluded that the electricity that could be produced in the total roof area exceeds the actual demand in the study area by 5.5 times. Taking into account the energy surplus, it was determined that the available PV power will cover from 97% to 127% of the total demand necessary to mobilize the city bus fleet. The novelty of this work is the proposal of a combined methodology to find the potential to feed urban transport with urban solar power in cities, close to the equatorial line. Full article

After the Paris Agreement was signed in 2015, many countries worldwide focused on the hydrogen economy, aiming for eco-friendly and renewable energy by moving away from the existing carbon economy, which has been the primary source of global warming. Hydrogen is the most common element on Earth. As a light substance, hydrogen can diffuse quickly; however, it also has a small risk of explosion. Representative explosion accidents have included the Muskingum River Power Plant Vapor Cloud Explosion accident in 2007 and the Silver Eagle Refinery Vapor Cloud Explosion accident in 2009. In addition, there was an explosion in a hydrogen tank in Gangneung, Korea, in May 2019, and a hydrogen refueling station (HRS) in Norway exploded in 2018. Despite this risk, Korea is promoting the establishment of HRSs in major urban centers, including downtown areas and public buildings, by using the Regulatory Sandbox to install HRSs. This paper employed the Hydrogen Risk Assessment Model (HyRAM) of Sandia National Laboratories (SNL), a quantitative risk assessment (QRA) program specialized in hydrogen energy for HRSs installed in major urban hubs. A feasibility evaluation of the site conditions of an HRS was conducted using the French land use planning method based on the results obtained through evaluation using the HyRAM and the overpressure results of PHAST 8.0. After a risk assessment, we confirmed that an HRS would be considered safe, even if it was installed in the city center within a radius of influence of jet fires and overpressure. Full article

Japan’s urban planning system began with the Urban Renewal (1885) and has been modified since then in various ways through the Tokyo City Improvement Ordinance (1888) and the City Planning Law (1919). From 1895 to 1945 (Japanese colonization era), Japan applied and tested its urban planning in Taipei (1895–1945), Seoul (1910–1945, Gyeongseong), and Beijing (1936–1945). Although Tokyo was the first city discussed for planning, urban renewal was implemented in other colonized cities in a similar period. What Tokyo, Seoul, Beijing, and Taipei have in common is that they are built around fortress walls. Hence, the present study aims to examine the characteristics of Tokyo’s urban planning and reveal how Japan’s urban planning transformed these cities in East Asia, which had different cultures and styles, during Japanese colonial rule. We analyzed urban renewal projects implemented in each city, the organization of a committee to plan the City Planning Ordinance, the effect of urban planning, the characteristics of urban planning, and changes in existing downtowns. Full article

Wind power is known as a major renewable and eco-friendly power generation source. As a clean and cost-effective energy source, wind power utilization has grown rapidly worldwide. A roof-mounted wind turbine is a wind power system that lowers energy transmission costs and benefits from wind power potential in urban areas. However, predicting wind power potential is a complex problem because of unpredictable wind patterns, particularly in urban areas. In this study, by using computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and the concept of nondimensionality, with the help of machine learning techniques, we demonstrate a new method for predicting the wind power potential of a cluster of roof-mounted wind turbines over an actual urban area in Montreal, Canada. CFD simulations are achieved using city fast fluid dynamics (CityFFD), developed for urban microclimate simulations. The random forest model trains data generated by CityFFD for wind prediction. The accuracy of CityFFD is investigated by modeling an actual urban area and comparing the numerical data with measured data from a local weather station. The proposed technique is demonstrated by estimating the wind power potential in the downtown area with more than 250 buildings for a long-term period (2020–2049). Full article

Looking at the urban development of the past two centuries, we can conclude that engineers and architects have been dominating the field of urban design all over Europe. Architects played the most important role, which became even more significant with the increase of urban development. Beyond the architectural approach, a greater importance had been attributed to ecological aspects of urban planning by the turn of the 20th century as, for example, the advance of the garden city movement illustrates. This article focuses on the review of crucial open-space renewal projects from two Eastern European cities and China. The case studies are used to shed light on the characteristics and historical values of contemporary open-space design, based on innovative and landscape architectural approaches and artistic solutions. The study shows that the original role of urban open spaces was significantly extended during the first decades of the 21st century. The increased needs for representation—commercial, cultural and living functions, and ecological and healthy benefits—led to a multifunctional approach in design and planning. The renewal of the historic urban open spaces is carried out under an integrated framework and a unified goal: the development-oriented heritage conservation. Based on strong economic aspects, the general tendency is clearly positive—in spite of still-existing problematic issues (for instance, the management of public transport or the status of public utilities). In the time of a growing awareness of open-space heritage, this overview tries to depict possible general principles of a long-term renewal strategy built on local identity, heritage values and social sustainability. Full article

With rapid urbanization in recent decades, more and more urban renewal has taken place in China. Meanwhile, the early developed areas without change have become old towns, which need special attention in future city planning. However, other than field surveys, there is no specific method to identify old towns. To fill this gap, we used time-series image stacks established from Landsat Surface Reflectance Tier 1 data on the Google Earth Engine (GEE) platform, facilitated by Global Urban Boundary (GUB), Essential Urban Land Use Categories (EULUC) and Global Artificial Impervious Area (GAIA) data. The LandTrendr change detection algorithm was applied to extract detailed information from 14 band/index trajectories. These features were then used as inputs to two methods of old town identification: statistical thresholding and random forest classification. We assessed these two methods in a rapidly developing large city, Hangzhou, and subsequently obtained overall accuracies of 81.33% and 90.67%, respectively. Red band, NIR band and related indices show higher importance in random forest classification, and the magnitude feature plays an outstanding role. The final map of Hangzhou during the 2000–2018 period shows that the old towns were concentrated in the downtown region near West Lake within the urban boundaries in 2000, and far fewer than the renewed areas. The results could serve as references in the provincial and national planning of future urban developments. Full article

Mapping the fine-scale spatial distribution of emergency shelter demand is crucial for shelter planning during disasters. To provide shelter for people within a reasonable evacuation distance under day and night disaster scenarios, we formed an approach for examining the distribution of day and night shelter demand at the plot-scale using point of interest (POI) data, and then analyzed the supply and demand status of shelters after an evacuation simulation built in Python programming language. Taking the downtown areas of Guangzhou, China as a case study, the results show that significant differences exist in the size and spatial distribution of shelter demand in daytime and nighttime, and the total demand is 7.929 million people, which is far larger than the resident population. The average evacuation time of all 16,883 routes is 12.6 min, and after the evacuation, 558 of 888 shelters exceed their capacity to varying degrees, accounting for 62.84% of the total, indicating that the shelters cannot completely receive the potential evacuees. The method proposed in this paper provides a direct quantitative basis for the number and size of new shelter resources being planned during urban renewal activities, and form a reference for land reuse and disaster prevention space organization in future urban planning. Full article

Thunder Bay, a medium-sized city in Northern Ontario, has a twin downtown core model, arising from the merging of two former cities in 1970. Its north core, designated as the City’s Entertainment District has received considerable investment, notably a major waterfront renewal project undertaken in 2009 as part of an overall strategy towards downtown revitalization. Greater diversity of commercial functions and increasing residential capacity in downtowns are considered positive steps towards sustainable urban development. It is hoped the leadership taken by the City in its downtown capital investments can stimulate others (corporations and individuals) to re-invest in both living and working in more central locations to the benefit of environmental sustainability indicators like journey-to-work (distance and mode selected) and residential density. This article tracks changes in business composition and residential capacity during a five year period via the development of an intensive database of business and institutional activities. Urban sustainability metrics developed include residential capacity and density, business vacancy rates and business composition and turnover, which complement an existing measure of land-use diversity developed in earlier research. While major capital investments in downtown revitalization (such as the waterfront project) have fairly long-term impact horizons, data suggest some positive trends in the developed metrics in the downtown north core since 2009. In particular, there have been notable investments in waterfront condos and downtown lofts and some diversification in the food retailing and restaurant sectors. However, overall trends in downtown commerce are currently flat, indicative of a struggling local economy and a continued suburbanization of key commercial sectors. Full article