Search Results (311)

Many Australian suburbs are threaded with open drainage networks. However, a preoccupation with drainage functions means that most of this drainage land delivers few liveability benefits to surrounding communities. As a result, numerous Local and State Governments are engaged in providing Living Stream upgrades to drainage land. Nonetheless, questions remain about where such improvements should be targeted for maximum benefit. In response, this paper documents a Delphi survey of experts and a related geospatial suitability analysis using a wide-ranging set of urban, societal, and environmental criteria to determine which areas of drainage land are most suitable for upgrades in Perth, Western Australia, a city which experiences a Mediterranean climate. The novelty of the paper’s contribution stems from the highly seasonal rainfall and related ephemeral summer hydrology distinguish Perth from many other cities where Water-Sensitive Urban Design is well-established. Moreover, the inclusion and evaluation of both tangible criteria (e.g., areas with a shortage of Public Open Space) and more intangible criteria (e.g., areas with population experiencing psychological distress) in the suitability analysis are comparatively rare. The results indicate that Living Stream-oriented Public Open Space should be deployed in areas with limited Public Open Space reserves, urban forest degradation, increasing urban densification, and Urban Heat Island challenges. Full article

Rapid urbanization poses a significant challenge to striking a balance between urban development and heritage conservation, particularly in historic urban environments. In this regard, UNESCO’s Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) approach reconceptualizes heritage as a multifaceted system of interwoven cultural and natural values, advocating for integrated and participatory governance. Nonetheless, the implementation of the HUL approach in Türkiye is constrained by factors such as institutional fragmentation, overlapping mandates, and inadequate coordination among key stakeholders. This article aims to develop a conceptual system dynamics (SD) framework, informed by existing scientific literature, to elucidate the relationships between stakeholder objectives and the interdependencies that complicate the HUL implementation process in Türkiye. This article compiles and organizes key stakeholders and their corresponding objectives, as delineated in the scientific literature. The proposed conceptual SD model elucidates plausible pathways through which stakeholder objectives may interact with the HUL implementation process. Furthermore, this article presents critical considerations for stakeholder engagement and outlines a conceptual framework designed to enhance it during the HUL implementation process. Ultimately, this article presents a replicable conceptual framework designed to promote adaptive, inclusive, and sustainable implementation of the HUL approach in Türkiye by integrating systems thinking into heritage governance practices. Full article

Drawing on panel data from 279 prefecture-level cities in China from 2011 to 2022, this study employs the National Pilot Policy of Information Benefiting the People (NPIB) as a quasi-natural experiment to examine how government-led digital governance shapes the digital divide among cities. Using a difference-in-differences (DID) design combined with mediation and spatial analyses, the results demonstrate that the NPIB policy significantly narrowed inter-city digital disparities, with findings robust across alternative model specifications and placebo tests. Mechanism analysis shows that digital governance promotes inclusion primarily through three pathways: strengthening strategic policy orientation, enhancing technological innovation capacity, and stimulating digital market vitality. Heterogeneity analysis indicates that policy effects vary by regional development, urbanization level, and fiscal autonomy, being most pronounced in eastern cities and those with moderate urbanization and fiscal self-sufficiency. Spatial analysis reveals that while digital governance improves local inclusion, it can generate negative spillovers among neighboring cities with similar economic structures, partially offsetting aggregate gains. Overall, the findings highlight the importance of regionally differentiated strategies, cross-regional coordination, and sustained investment in digital infrastructure to promote balanced, inclusive, and sustainable digital transformation—providing practical insights for developing countries aiming to bridge structural divides and advance digital sustainability. Full article

Streets are vital socio-spatial infrastructures that shape mobility, well-being, and social inclusion across age groups. This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric and comparative review of all-age-friendly street walkability research in the Chinese (CNKI) and English (Web of Science) literature from 1994 to 2024. Using CiteSpace for keyword co-occurrence, clustering, and burst detection, 204 publications were analyzed to map thematic evolution and methodological trends. Results reveal a persistent elderly-oriented bias and fragmented cross-scale integration, with international studies demonstrating earlier theoretical maturity and multi-scalar analytical models, while Chinese research advances in streetscape image analysis, VR simulations, and perception-based designs. Despite their differing trajectories, both studies converge on the shared goal of enhancing walkability, health, and urban livability. This review highlights key research gaps—particularly intergenerational assessment frameworks, explainable analytics, and policy translation—and proposes pathways toward integrating design, planning, and governance to promote all-age-friendly streets worldwide. Full article

Urban revitalization processes are increasingly requiring inclusive and data-driven approaches that address spatial inequalities and support the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The article presents a methodology for utilizing social geoparticipation tools in the revitalization process of the Warsaw University of Technology campus. The study demonstrates how campus-scale geoparticipation can incorporate SDGs and spatial justice principles in micro-urban contexts, with a methodology that is transferable to city-scale projects and provides practical guidance for inclusive and sustainable urban governance. This enables the transformation of volunteered geographic information (VGI) data and spatial databases into practical spatial knowledge that supports sustainable urban development. Empirical analysis of 710 responses and nearly 1000 mapped locations revealed that 83% of respondents identified insufficient greenery as the primary spatial problem. At the same time, accessibility (β = 0.618) and green infrastructure quality (β = 0.553) were the strongest predictors of the need for change. The collected feedback from the academic community was processed using exploratory data analysis and spatial statistics into a spatial knowledge base. ESRI’s ArcGIS Experience Builder (Developer Edition version 1.16) was employed in the app’s development. A custom function was developed to meet the requirements of the geo-questionnaire fully. The application was ultimately deployed within the CENAGIS domain of the IT infrastructure at Warsaw University of Technology. Authors employed the structural equation modeling (SEM) method and provided statistical analysis of community expectations. The findings provide actionable evidence for urban planners, campus managers, and decision-makers seeking to implement data-driven, participatory revitalization strategies, demonstrating how social geoparticipation can directly inform sustainable design and policy-making at both campus and city levels. Full article

Urbanization in Sub-Saharan Africa is advancing rapidly, raising critical questions about whether metropolitan growth fosters transformation or exacerbates inequality and ecological risk. The Greater Maputo Metropolitan Area exemplifies these tensions, with consolidated urban cores, expanding informal settlements, peri-urban “problem areas,” and vulnerable ecological zones. This article applies a comparative policy analysis methodology to assess the alignment between the structural challenges identified in Greater Maputo in 2015—unregulated sprawl, informal settlement dominance, ecological degradation, and fragmented governance—and the governance principles in Mozambique’s 2024 Urbanization Policy. The purpose of the study is to determine whether recent policy directions meaningfully address these persistent challenges. The study combines secondary analysis of spatial and institutional data from 2015 research with documentary review of the 2024 Urbanization Policy. A convergence assessment framework is applied across four governance dimensions—urban containment, informal settlement upgrading, ecological sustainability, and institutional coordination—to evaluate policy–practice alignment. Results reveal differentiated convergence: while the policy acknowledges key challenges, it remains largely declarative and lacks clear operational mechanisms. Although the 2024 Urbanization Policy marks a step toward integrated governance, its effectiveness will depend on enforceable containment strategies, participatory upgrading, ecological protection, and multi-scalar coordination. The findings underscore the need for inter-municipal collaboration, dedicated financing mechanisms, and inclusive governance for effective metropolitan management. Full article

This study examines the integration of artificial intelligence (AI)-based strategies within the framework of landscape sustainability science and urban ecology, focusing on urban sports and recreation areas in Turkey and Lithuania. In the era of sustainable urban transformation, AI technologies offer new opportunities for maintaining ecological integrity, enhancing green infrastructure connectivity, and supporting adaptive management of urban ecosystems. The research aims to comparatively analyze the role and effectiveness of AI applications—such as intelligent waste management, predictive maintenance, and spatial planning tools—in promoting clean, safe, and ecologically resilient environments. A qualitative design was employed, and data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 30 experts, including local administrators, facility managers, environmental professionals, AI specialists, and academics from both countries. Thematic analysis using NVivo revealed key themes linking AI functions to ecological outcomes, including improved resource efficiency, habitat connectivity, and data-informed governance. Results show that Lithuania’s institutionalized green infrastructure facilitates multi-scale AI adoption, while Turkey’s evolving policy framework presents significant potential for system integration. The study emphasizes the necessity of embedding AI-driven ecological indicators into landscape-scale planning and developing an interdisciplinary governance model to achieve sustainable, resilient, and inclusive urban ecosystems. Full article

Mixed-use development (MXD) is crucial for urban planning and travel. The COVID-19 outbreak had a significant impact on travel behaviour and MXD projects worldwide, particularly in high-income countries. However, limited studies have explored the predictors of MXD usage and travel patterns in low- and middle-income countries, including Malaysia, and how these events were affected by COVID-19. Using the Rowley and extended Hopenbrouwer and Louw models, this study investigates the travel patterns within MXD premises, their associated factors, and residents’ perspectives of internal and external trips before and during COVID-19 in Klang Valley, Malaysia. A mixed-method study was conducted by using a validated survey and performing a structured interview with MXD residents. A total of 134 and 52 respondents participated in the survey and qualitative interviews, respectively. Data were analysed using descriptive statistics, logistic regression models, and thematic analysis. A significantly higher proportion of MXD respondents engaged in external travel compared to internal travel before and during COVID-19. Before COVID-19, external travel was significantly higher among younger residents, government servants, higher-income earners, and those who owned a car and had recently moved to MXD areas. The odds of internal travel were significantly higher among private-sector employees, students, and low-income earners. During the pandemic, external travel frequency was significantly higher among male residents, older residents, government servants, high-income earners, and those with multiple vehicles. Residents with more parking lots tended to travel less internally compared to those with fewer parking lots allocated. Qualitative analyses revealed that cost-saving, convenience and comfort, social lifestyle, health and well-being, and green environment were the factors that shaped MXD residents’ perceived benefits of trip internalisation. Meanwhile, the barriers to internal trips included the lack of infrastructure, poor management, lifestyle activities/individual factors, and environmental factors. The recommended strategies to reduce external trips were to ensure diversified services and accessibility, inclusiveness in planning activities, promoting social interaction, and work-from-home policies. These findings reflect the strategies that can be incorporated to reduce external trips generated by MXD and enhance effective traffic management. Full article

This article explores participatory planning as a key tool for addressing the challenges of overtourism, a phenomenon that exerts complex pressures on the environment, social cohesion, and the cultural identity of cities, despite its contribution to economic growth. Through a comparative analysis of six European urban destinations with high tourism intensity, the study presents different forms of participatory processes as strategies for the sustainable management of tourism. The findings show that the active involvement of stakeholders—local authorities, professional associations, civil society organizations, and residents—strengthens the legitimacy and social acceptance of policies, while improving their overall effectiveness. The article examines whether existing strategies address the structural conditions that generate overtourism or are limited to managing its symptoms, and how the level of community engagement influences the sustainability of these policies. It also highlights that the concept of overtourism, while useful, is often overused in both public and academic discourse, which makes evidence-based analysis even more crucial. The study concludes that there is a pressing need for a more inclusive and strategically oriented model of tourism governance, one that goes beyond symptom management and targets the deeper causes of the phenomenon. Full article

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) are central to spatial evidence in Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA). In this review, GIS is used in a broad, integrative sense to refer to an ecosystem of geospatial technologies—such as remote sensing (RS) and GPS—where GIS serves as the core platform for managing, analyzing, and communicating spatial data throughout the EIA process. GIS plays a crucial role at each stage of EIA, from baseline data collection to spatial analysis, ecological sensitivity mapping, impact prediction, scenario simulation, and landscape connectivity assessment. These capabilities support alternatives analysis, risk communication, and decision-making in EIA. This paper synthesizes thematic evidence and presents case studies to illustrate the synergies between GIS, remote sensing, GeoAI, and multisource data fusion. It highlights operational workflows and key deliverables for EIA applications, including urban expansion, transport corridors, and protected-area management. We identify persistent challenges in data quality and standardization, interoperability, model uncertainty, and policy gaps. To address them, we propose a minimum geospatial dataset with clear metadata standards, interpretable GeoAI paired with formal sensitivity analysis, IoT–GIS pipelines for real-time monitoring and adaptive management, and the systematic inclusion of cumulative effects and climate scenarios. By linking GIS methods to typical decision points and reporting standards in EIA, this review clarifies where GIS adds value, how to quantify and communicate uncertainty, and how to align analytical outputs with regulatory requirements and stakeholder expectations. The study offers a practical framework and implementation checklist for standardized, transparent, and reproducible EIA processes, contributing to evidence-based ecological governance. Full article

Urban ecosystems are increasingly shaped by multiple environmental stressors, which may threaten both biodiversity and human well-being. We summarised the current knowledge on the ecological and social consequences of seven major urban pressures: air pollution, freshwater degradation, biological invasions, noise pollution, habitat fragmentation, soil pollution and climate crisis. Air and soil pollution, largely driven by traffic and industrial activities, compromises vegetation functions, reduces ecosystem services, and affects human health. Urban freshwater systems face contamination from stormwater runoff, wastewater, and microplastics, leading to biodiversity loss, altered ecosystem processes, and reduced water availability. Biological invasions, facilitated by human activities and habitat disturbances, reshape ecological communities, outcompete native species, and impose socio-economic costs, while management requires integrated monitoring and citizen engagement. Noise pollution disrupts animal communication, alters species distributions, and poses significant risks to human physical and mental health. Simultaneously, habitat fragmentation and loss reduce ecological connectivity, impair pollination and dispersal processes, and heighten extinction risks for both plants and animals. Collectively, these stressors interact synergistically, amplifying ecological degradation and exacerbating health and social inequalities in urban populations. The cumulative impacts highlight the need for systemic and adaptive approaches to urban planning that integrate biodiversity conservation, public health, and social equity. Nature-based solutions, ecological restoration, technological innovation, and participatory governance emerge as promising strategies to enhance urban resilience. Furthermore, fostering citizen science initiatives can strengthen monitoring capacity and create community ownership of sustainable urban environments. Addressing the combined pressures of urban environmental stressors is thus pivotal for building cities that are ecologically robust, socially inclusive, and capable of coping with the challenges of the climate crisis and global urbanization. Full article

Urban agriculture is increasingly recognized not only for its role in enhancing ecological resilience, food security, and social inclusion, but also for its potential to challenge dominant urban development paradigms. Agroparks, as a spatial typology, have traditionally been associated with multifunctionality, productivity, and land preservation. This Perspective argues that agroparks can also serve as instruments for degrowth-oriented urban transitions, particularly in the context of climate emergency and the need to reconfigure urban land use beyond growth imperatives. Through landscape architectural analysis, the Bernex Agropark (now Parc des Molliers) in Geneva is examined as a spatial prototype that transforms underutilized land into a coherent system of crop zones, civic amenities, and ecological infrastructure. The project demonstrates how landscape architecture can contribute to the regeneration of urban edges while promoting ecological productivity, cooperative stewardship, and spatial limits to urban expansion. We introduce the concept of “Agroparks and Degrowth Urbanism”, framing Bernex as both a post-growth design strategy and a governance experiment. The Perspective concludes with recommendations for integrating agroparks into urban planning: connecting them to green infrastructure networks, prioritizing ecological over economic outputs, enabling commons-based management, and supporting climate adaptation through spatial design and food system relocalization. Full article

Administrative digital accessibility drives rural development, particularly in peri-urban areas where traditional governance meets the growing demands for digital services. The study examines the role of digital tools in local administrations in supporting citizen engagement and responsiveness in communes near Bucharest. A composite digital maturity index was created, utilizing indicators such as website usability, social media presence, integration with national platforms, and administrative transparency. Building on this framework, results reveal pronounced disparities. Dobroești (79 points) and Jilava (69 points) emerge as digital leaders, demonstrating advanced online services and structured communication. In contrast, communes such as Chiajna, Clinceni, and Tunari show limited digital adoption, with four out of eleven communes scoring below 50. This highlights significant inconsistencies in digital implementation. These disparities are further reflected in the findings, which indicate the absence of a coherent regional digital strategy. Each commune operates independently, without a standardized approach to digitalization, resulting in fragmented infrastructures and uneven citizen engagement. High performance in one area does not guarantee broader digital inclusion. These insights underscore the need for targeted policies that respect local priorities while promoting harmonized digital capacities across peri-urban communes, ensuring equitable access to digital public services and fostering inclusive administrative modernization. Full article

Understanding the spatial drivers of community satisfaction is crucial for achieving inclusive and sustainable urban development. However, traditional spatial regression models often assume linearity and fail to capture complex, spatially heterogeneous relationships. This study integrates a GeoShapley-based explainable GeoAI framework with the XGBoost algorithm to identify and quantify spatially varying factors influencing community satisfaction in Chengdu, China. By incorporating geographic coordinates as explicit spatial features, the GeoShapley method decomposes model outputs into intrinsic spatial effects and feature-specific interaction effects, enabling the interpretation of how and where each factor matters. Results show significant spatial clustering (Moran’s I = 0.60, p < 0.01) and a distinct south–north gradient in satisfaction. Built environment indicators—including building coverage ratio (BCR), walkability index (WI), and distance to green space (DGS)—exhibit nonlinear relationships and clear thresholds (e.g., BCR > 0.15, DGS > 590 m). Social vitality (Weibo check-ins) emerges as a key local differentiator, while education and healthcare accessibility remain spatially uniform. These findings reveal a dual structure of public service homogenization and spatial-quality heterogeneity, highlighting the need for place-specific, precision-oriented community renewal. The proposed GeoXAI framework provides a transferable pathway for integrating explainable AI into spatial sustainability research and urban governance. Full article

This study investigates how urban park co-governance fosters a sense of belonging among residents and advances the Right to the City. It examines the role of parks in mitigating spatial fragmentation, inadequate living conditions, and relational disconnection in high-density urban environments. As essential green infrastructure, urban parks play a vital role in promoting spatial justice, community cohesion, and resident well-being. Drawing on Henri Lefebvre’s Right to the City framework, this study introduces the concept of the Right to Urban Park, conceptualised as a bundle of rights: freedom (appropriation), individualisation (socialisation), habitat and to inhabit (differentiation), and key point participation. Focusing on the governance and self-governance of parks in high-density cities, this research mixed qualitative and quantitative methods to analyse a representative case in central Shanghai. The findings show that participation, collective action, and co-governance in urban parks effectively support the Right to the City. Integrating the Right to Urban Park framework into park planning and management enhances diversity, equality, and inclusion, thereby improving urban well-being. This framework plays an important role in fostering enfranchisement, individuation, and association processes that strengthen recognition, sense of belonging, and well-being. Full article