Search Results (22)

The increasing number of natural and man-made disasters registered at the global level is causing a significant amount of damage. This represents one of the main sustainability challenges at the global level. The collapse of the Twin Towers, Hurricane Katrina, and the nuclear accident at the Fukushima power plant are some of the most representative disaster events that occurred at the beginning of the third millennium. These relevant disasters need an enhanced level of preparedness to reduce the gaps between the plan and its implementation. Among these actions, training and exercises play a relevant role because they increase the capability of planners, managers, and the people involved. By focusing on the exposure risk component, the general objective of the research is to obtain quantitative evaluations of the exercise’s contribution to risk reduction through evacuation. The paper aims to analyze serious games using a set of methods and models that simulate an urban risk reduction plan. In particular, the paper proposes a transparent framework that merges transport risk analysis (TRA) and transport system models (TSMs), developing serious game activities with the support of emerging information and communication technologies (e-ICT). Transparency is possible through the explicitation of reproducible analytical formulations and linked parameters. The core framework of serious games is constituted by a set of models that reproduce the effects of players’ choices, including planned actions of decisionmakers and travel users’ choices. The framework constitutes the prototype of a digital platform in a “non-stressful” context aimed at providing more insights about the effects of planned actions. The proposed framework is characterized by transparency, a feature that allows other analysts and planners to reproduce each risk scenario, by applying TRA and relative effects simulations in territorial contexts by means of TSMs and parameters updated by e-ICT. A basic experimentation is performed by using a game, presenting the main results of a prototype test based on a reproducible exercise. The prototype experiment demonstrates the efficacy of increasing preparedness levels and reducing exposure by designing and implementing a serious game. The paper’s methodology and results are useful for policymakers, emergency managers, and the community for increasing the preparedness level. Full article

The cement industry, a key player in globalization and urbanization, has replaced traditional shelters with modern buildings, raising environmental concerns. This study examines the use of cement in construction in Togo, its impact on residents’ thermal comfort, and adaptation strategies for sustainable construction and well-being. The research was conducted in Lomé, Atakpamé, and Kara through documentary research, photography, household surveys, interviews, and temperature recordings, involving 646 households and nine interviews. Findings reveal a high use of cement due to availability, ease of use, strength, affordability, and aesthetics. Cement houses are generally less comfortable than earthen houses, particularly in hot climates. Lomé and Kara experience higher discomfort, while Atakpamé has lower discomfort despite cement dominance. Thermal comfort varies more during the day. Residents adopt strategies like sleeping outside, wearing light clothing, installing awnings and false ceilings, planting trees, staying hydrated, taking cool showers, and ventilating rooms. Full article

The construction industry, a major player in economic development, is facing increased pressure to address sustainability concerns amidst rapid population growth and urbanization. With global projections indicating a significant rise in building demand by 2050, sustainability has emerged as a crucial focus area and paradigm shift to enhance environmental friendliness, quality, and project outcomes. The UAE, renowned for its vibrant construction industry, offers a unique context for examining the integration of sustainable practices. The use of sustainable construction practices is growing in the UAE, where the built environment plays a key role in economic growth and environmental stewardship. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) aims to foster long-term sustainability while enhancing the standard of living for current and future generations by integrating social, environmental, and economic aspects within construction projects, while also reevaluating conventional sustainable development frameworks and embracing a triple bottom line approach. This research was conducted to explore sustainable construction material usage and evaluation in the United Arab Emirates. The literature was reviewed for sustainable building construction materials across the UAE in the SCOPUS index from 2014 to 2024, as well as the regional regulations concerning the subject. This study evaluated the increasing trend of sustainable construction material research works, as well as the sound regional parameters of sustainable construction materials implemented across the country. Through an exploration of the significance of sustainable construction materials, this research underscores the multifaceted benefits of locally sourced, recyclable, and renewable materials in reducing environmental impacts, fostering economic and social well-being, and improving overall project performance and project management practices. The construction sector’s role in economic development and its substantial environmental impact are discussed in alignment with sustainable construction materials, sustainable construction practices, and the need to enhance environmental sustainability and create healthier built environments. In the realm of sustainable construction materials, project management knowledge areas encompass a range of factors. These include the properties of materials sourced regionally; the incorporation of recycled content; considerations for indoor air quality, energy, and water efficiency parameters; and how these properties relate to project scopes, scheduling constraints, and challenges. Additionally, the availability of resources and competency levels, quality control standards, specifications, communication strategies, and stakeholder involvement play crucial roles. It is important to assess both the positive and negative risks associated with these elements across construction projects. Full article

Climate change has become a serious threat to human life. This study aims to reveal the face of climate policies and the integration of urban adaptation into urban planning policies in the city of N’Djaména. To achieve this, we adopted a methodology combining both quantitative and qualitative approaches. Surveys of key informants were used to gather information on how to achieve the objectives set. The results show that key informants believe that climate policies have not met the expectations of the city’s citizens in terms of effectiveness and positive impacts. These players assume that urban policy planning does not take urban adaptation into account. The four categories of barriers hindering the integration of urban adaptation and its implementation relate to a lack of information and knowledge, political ill will, and organization and constraints linked to the mobilization and availability of resources. This study suggests the sharing of information, knowledge, and communication involving all stakeholders in N’Djaména’s urban development, the organization of the city’s state and municipal structures, the involvement and support of political authorities, greater access to financing, and the establishment of professional networks of expertise as catalysts for success. Full article

In Europe, more than two-thirds of the population live in urban areas. The management of urban green areas and trees is becoming increasingly relevant involving different players and stakeholders, as well for keeping a focus on the Sustainable Development Goals. Society and policy makers are often unaware of the disservices that neglecting these areas can cause. Appropriate monitoring interventions can protect both citizens and trees themselves. The aim of the study was to assess the risk potential in urban trees in Bologna suburbs (Italy). For each tree in the city of Bologna, three target variables identifying the number and categories of streets, buildings, and walking and cycle paths near the tree were considered and used as covariates. A multiple regression model assessing the relationship between a dependent synthetic spatial variable (digital number, DN), proxy of the likelihood of tree failure, and the three independent covariates was estimated. Both the number of streets and walking and cycle paths in the area surrounding a tree are shown to be significantly associated with the DN value. The use of open data can assist in monitoring and maintaining urban green areas. The tool supports a virtuous circle between stakeholders in urban systems through sustainability and efficiency. Full article

A city is an organism made of social, economic, cultural, and environmental fabrics, the interactions of which determine the form and functioning of city life. Different disciplines are then involved in analyzing the complex processes of the 21st-century city. The aim of this study was to explore the use of an analytical method that can act as a catalyst for the main players involved in the environmental urban morphology (EUM). This multidisciplinary methodology focuses on the study of public space in dense urban fabrics as a key context for understanding a city. Operationally, the work shows the potential of integrating morphological analysis, pedestrian flow analysis, and environmental analysis and applying them in dense and compact urban fabrics. The first of these analyses methods was carried out using urban survey tools and the geographic information system (GIS) in order to detect the physical forms of the city and develop a number of morphological maps. The second, using the global positioning system (GPS) and on-site detectors, maps pedestrian movement within public spaces. The latter mainly focuses on the microclimatic analysis of public spaces and outdoor comfort, carried out using environmental software such as ENVI-met (4.4 version). The ultimate goal of this study was to achieve the definition of a dynamic, multidisciplinary, and multilayer methodology for the analysis of dense urban fabrics which we believe could be very useful for addressing the regenerative processes of the contemporary city. Full article

In complex health systems, referral and outreach systems (ROS) are formal strategies for connecting and managing interdependencies between facilities in service delivery pathways. Well-functioning maternal and newborn ROS are critical to successful outcomes, and therefore, a good lens through which to examine the management of local interdependencies. We conducted a qualitative study of maternal–newborn ROS, involving interviews with 52 senior, middle, and frontline managers, in three health districts of three different provinces in South Africa. We analyse the differences in functioning of ROS as an interplay of setting (urban, rural), individual facility strengths and weaknesses, the quality of emergency medical services (EMS), and the wider provincial strategic and organisational context. ROS are strengthened by sub-district governance arrangements that recognise and enable connectedness—in particular, between primary health care and district hospital services; by informal, day-to-day communication and collaboration across levels and professions; and by hybrid clinical–managerial players as system brokers and systems thinkers. We also identify leverage points, places where small shifts could have wider system effects, most notably in the design and functioning of EMS, and in addressing small, but significant bottlenecks in supply chains in lower level facilities that negatively impact the system as a whole. Full article

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effects of repeated floods in the city of Niamey and the strategies developed by the state in terms of prevention, rehabilitation, and care for victims. Although numerous framework documents have been drafted in the last decade and urbanization in flood zones has been limited, the reality in Niamey shows that urban sprawl is increasing along the riverbank and the population facing vulnerable situations is growing. The inefficiency of state action determines that, on the one hand, it is non-governmental institutions that need to develop improvement plans—with the recovery of the city being dependent on the arrival of their funds and their distribution in those areas that donor countries consider most suitable—and on the other hand, it is the citizens—already vulnerable—who must find their own resilience mechanisms to try to survive the next flood. This study reveals that this diversity of players is involved in flood management through emergency relief, solidarity in rehousing, and providing support for living and non-living flood victims. Despite this mobilization, the actions undertaken are hampered by a number of constraints. Insufficient financial and human resources, a lack of foresight on the part of the authorities, and poorly coordinated actions are the main difficulties limiting the success of public action in the face of flooding. Through a qualitative approach, combining documentary research, direct observation and semi-structured interviews, we analyze the mobilization of actors around the management of the effects of floods in Niamey. Full article

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is the most common chronic relapsing neuroinflammatory skin disease that is characterized by a complex and multifactorial pathophysiology. It reflects a profound interplay between genetic and environmental factors, and a recently disclosed neuroimmune dysregulation that drives skin barrier disruption, pruritus, and microbial imbalance. In terms of the key external environmental players that impact AD, air quality and itch severity linkage have been thoroughly researched. The impact of ambient air pollutants including particulate matter (PM) and AD pruritic exacerbation has been recorded despite reductions in air pollution levels in in developed countries. The developing countries have, on the contrary, experienced significant urbanization and industrialization with limited environmental protection standards in the past decades. This unprecedented construction, petrochemical industry utilization, and increment in population counts has been paired with consistent exposure to outdoor PM. This may present a key cause of AD pruritic exacerbation supported by the fact that AD prevalence has intensified globally in the past 50 years, indicating that environmental exposure may act as a trigger that could flare up itch in vulnerable persons. At the molecular level, the impact of PM on severe pruritus in AD could be interpreted by the toxic effects on the complex neuroimmune pathways that govern this disease. AD has been recently viewed as a manifestation of the disruption of both the immune and neurological systems. In light of these facts, this current review aims to introduce the basic concepts of itch sensory circuits in the neuroimmune system. In addition, it describes the impact of PM on the potential neuroimmune pathways in AD pathogenesis with a special focus on the Fc Epsilon RI pathway. Finally, the review proposes potential treatment lines that could be targeted to alleviate pruritus based on immune mediators involved in the Fc Epsilon signaling map. Full article

Along with society’s development, transportation has become a key factor in human daily life, increasing the number of vehicles on the streets. Consequently, the task of finding free parking slots in metropolitan areas can be dramatically challenging, increasing the chance of getting involved in an accident and the carbon footprint, and negatively affecting the driver’s health. Therefore, technological resources to deal with parking management and real-time monitoring have become key players in this scenario to speed up the parking process in urban areas. This work proposes a new computer-vision-based system that detects vacant parking spaces in challenging situations using color imagery processed by a novel deep-learning algorithm. This is based on a multi-branch output neural network that maximizes the contextual image information to infer the occupancy of every parking space. Every output infers the occupancy of a specific parking slot using all the input image information, unlike existing approaches, which only use a neighborhood around every slot. This allows it to be very robust to changing illumination conditions, different camera perspectives, and mutual occlusions between parked cars. An extensive evaluation has been performed using several public datasets, proving that the proposed system outperforms existing approaches. Full article

Sustainable pedagogical approaches and practices have changed during the years, generating a set of philosophical, theoretical, and scientific concepts. Inside them, regenerative design is a proactive method based on systemic frameworks and developmental processes for maintaining the integrity of natural ecosystems, also enhancing human life, environmental awareness, social equity, and economic sustainability through the support of codesign techniques. This approach is widely used in architectural design, both for existing and heritage buildings, to address negative impacts of global warming, climate change, urban sprawl, touristic pressure, and other contemporary challenging phenomena. Specific workflows for archaeological sites have been never proposed, despite the fact that these sites face problems and risks completely different from other cultural heritage settings (e.g., physical development, pollution, tourism pressure, vandalism, looting, inappropriate excavations or interventions, lack of maintenance, funding, and legislation). This study presents a multicriteria decision analysis workflow for preserving and regenerating archaeological sites in a sustainable way through a deep understanding of current problems, values, features, and risks at urban and building levels. This method is tested with a pedagogical experiment at the UNESCO Site of Casterseprio (Italy), to investigate the interaction between heritage, environmental, social, and economic dynamics as well as to define its feasibility, applicability, limitations, and opportunities for further developments. The didactic process is supported by a participatory program among the key players of the site (owners, heritage and public authorities, and local associations), to create strong public support and a shared vision of the sustainable regeneration of the area. Differences between traditional and regenerative design processes, key design principles, shared criteria, replicability, novelty, and limitations of the pedagogic approach are also identified. Key findings of the present study are: (i) students need clear and shared design workflows for supporting their design projects; (ii) “regenerative design” involves multilevel dynamic training methodologies that motivate and involve the student while also improving their consciousness; (iii) the cooperation and the involvement of the stakeholders is important to favor a human-centered approach based also on social and economic interactions; (iv) digital technologies are fundamental for quantifying the key performance indicators in each design stage; (v) “regenerative design” boosts long-term planning and financial self-sustainability of the intervention; and (vi) multicultural design teams producing more innovative design ideas. Full article

The diffusion of carsharing in cities can potentially support the transition towards a sustainable mobility system and help build a circular economy. Since urban transportation is a complex system due to the involvement of various stakeholders, including travelers, suppliers, manufacturers, and the government, a holistic approach based on systems thinking is essential to capture this complexity and its causalities. In this regard, the current research aims at identifying cause-and-effect relationships in the diffusion of carsharing services within the urban transport systems. To do so, a causal loop diagram (CLD) is developed to identify and capture the causalities of carsharing adoption. On this basis, the main four players within the carsharing domain in urban transportation were scrutinized and their causes and effects were visualized, including (i) the characteristics, behavior, and dynamics of the society population; (ii) transportation system and urban planning; (iii) the car manufacturing industry; and (iv) environmental pollution. The developed CLD can support decision-makers in the field of urban transport to gain a holistic and systemic approach to analyzing the issues within the transport sector due to their complexity. Moreover, they can help regulators and policymakers in intensifying the diffusion of more sustainable modes of transport by highlighting the role of population, car manufacturing, the transportation system, and environmental pollution. Full article

The basis for developing logistics solutions in cities is to know the requirements and expectations of current and potential transport users and for decision makers to strive to meet them. In building an urban logistics strategy, it is therefore necessary to take into account different stakeholder groups. Building stakeholder relations should be aimed at involving them in the development of a sustainable transport policy for the city. It should be noted, however, that the importance of stakeholders in transport policy is diverse. This assumption was made in the paper, which aimed to identify the role of the various groups of urban logistics stakeholders in the sustainable movement of people. This challenge is subordinated to the methodology proposed in the paper, which combines the analysis of urban logistics stakeholders and the assignment of roles to them in the pursuit of sustainable flows of people in the city with the identification of tasks in which stakeholders characterized by a particular role should be involved. Achieving the stated goal required collaboration with experts. Research on the roles of stakeholders, as well as the tasks in which they should be involved, was conducted in Polish cities. Infrastructure managers, small mobility organisers, public safety organisations and public transport organisations turned out to be the development leaders who, as a result, were recommended to be included in most tasks by local government units of Polish cities. What deserves special attention in the results obtained, on the other hand, is the role of the unpredictable main player, which is other cities. Full article

In the last decade, the drone market has grown rapidly for both civil and military purposes. Due to their versatility, the demand for drones is constantly increasing, with several industrial players joining the venture to transfer urban mobility to the air. This has exacerbated the problem of noise pollution, mainly due to the relatively lower altitude of these vehicles and the proximity of their routes to extremely densely populated areas. In particular, both the aerodynamic and aeroacoustic optimization of the propulsive system and of its interaction with the airframe are key aspects of unmanned aerial vehicle design that can signify the success or the failure of their mission. The industrial challenge involves finding the best performance in terms of loading, efficiency and weight, and, at the same time, the most silent configuration. For these reasons, research has focused on an initial localization of the noise sources and, on further analysis, of the noise generation mechanism, focusing particularly on directivity and scattering. The aim of the present study is to review the noise source mechanisms and the state-of-the-art control strategies, available in the literature, for its suppression, focusing especially on the fluid-dynamic aspects of low Reynolds numbers of the propulsive system and on the interaction of the propulsive system flow with the airframe. Full article

Various efforts are presently being undertaken to set up and maintain open, inclusive, participatory, and transparent processes, whilst at the same time, strengthening stakeholder partnerships in implementing SDGs remains a challenge. This paper enriched the discussion of multi-stakeholder approaches through a dynamic multi-level system view of stakeholder mapping, along with important theoretical frameworks and key empirical results to tackle the lack of security of energy services in poor urban settings. The study attempted to develop comprehensive cases for Africa-based experiences of the pilot project launched through a set-up of an energy living lab in the Groenheuwel community, as well as achieve an improved understanding of social-technical benefits of gendered energy security and innovative solutions at the household level. The contents are two-fold. The first part assesses the theoretical models available for stakeholders and outcome mapping. The second part focuses on the preliminary identification of stakeholders and their primary interests at all levels. The results of this study found that the energy living lab in poor urban settings recognised the importance of stakeholder mapping and the development of new solutions. Findings indicated that all stakeholders should support the government in the development of policies and strategies. Findings also suggested that key players should proactively agree and negotiate with the local government on energy outcome measures. It was also found that multi-stakeholder involvement improved transparency and accountability for decision making. Full article