Search Results (486)

Walking plays an important role in improving public health and creating more livable cities. Participatory planning incorporates the local knowledge and preferences of residents, community organizations, and other stakeholders into the identification of walking routes. However, whether these routes are actually used after implementation remains insufficiently understood. Using Fukuoka, Japan, where community walking maps and routes have been developed through local participation for over two decades, this study combines these participatory walking routes with crowdsourced walking data, built environment indicators, and spatial analysis to substantiate their actual use and inform route improvement. The results show that these routes generally have higher walking usage than the citywide average, although substantial spatial differences remain. Hotspot routes were concentrated around waterfront areas, commercial districts, and public transport hubs, whereas coldspot routes were more common in suburban, mountainous, and island areas. Route usage was positively associated with street visibility, land-use diversity, population density, and public transport accessibility. Significant spatial dependence and heterogeneity further indicate that these associations vary across urban contexts. These findings highlight the value of local knowledge in identifying walking routes and the value of crowdsourced walking data in evaluating their actual use. Communities can build on this approach by involving local people in identifying walking routes and then using crowdsourced behavioral data to evaluate and refine them, supporting better walking environments. Full article

The rapid integration of artificial intelligence (AI) into higher education marks a radical epistemic shift, unsettling long-held assumptions about how knowledge is made, taught, and judged. This paper argues that the theory of living structure offers a timely foundation for liberal arts and whole-person education in the era of AI. Living structure—Christopher Alexander’s term for the recurrent hierarchical order that makes environments feel alive—is treated here as two faces of one phenomenon: living, the right-brain perception of wholeness, and structure, the left-brain order that can be computed through fifteen geometric properties, two fundamental laws, two design principles, and the computable L- and B-scores. From this basis the paper develops a Living Structure + AI paradigm, a new episteme for higher education, deliberately so ordered because living structure is held to be more fundamental than AI: structure is the order of nature and culture, while AI is a tool that gives that order new expression. The argument is grounded in teaching practice led by LivableCityLAB, under its own teaching-research project and in partnership with Residential College 1, spanning architecture and city-science courses or theses, an undergraduate whole-person common-core course (Self and Wholeness), and a new postgraduate course (Experiential Learning: Living Structure + AI Inspired Design). Across these settings, students read built environments structurally, declare a skeleton, and use AI as a structural mediator while making and inhabiting real spaces. Across four campus renovations (total N = 33 students) and the two courses (N = 49 undergraduates; N = 7 postgraduates), structural scores (the L- and B-scores) rose in every renovated case, and these architectural and perceptual measures converged with preference tests and visual-attention analysis; course-embedded, rubric-based assignments provide complementary, though not psychometrically validated, evidence of students’ engagement with the paradigm. This paper closes by arguing that the deepest contribution of Living Structure + AI to liberal arts education is not on paper or on screens but down to earth—in the daily life spaces in which students learn to feel, measure, and remake wholeness. Full article

Urban green spaces (UGSs) are vital for enhancing a city’s resilience and livability; however, their functionality is increasingly jeopardized by drought, particularly in water-scarce regions. This study evaluates drought impact on UGSs in Metropolitan Adelaide, Australia, a representative semi-arid urban system, using satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) time-series data spanning 2000–2020. Vegetation dynamics were analyzed through Seasonal-Trend decomposition using Loess (STL), standardized anomaly assessment, lagged Pearson correlation, Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) regression, and Mann–Kendall trend analysis. To isolate climatically sensitive signals, 29 urban lawn patches were examined separately from mixed urban canopy, given their shallow root systems and direct dependence on surface moisture. NDVI declined by approximately 0.09 units during the Millennium Drought (2001–2009), with summer greenness deficits reaching 24% below the 20-year benchmark. Temperature was the dominant driver of lawn NDVI variability (r = −0.863, R² = 74.5%), substantially exceeding the effect of rainfall (r = 0.156, R² = 2.4%). El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) cycles modulated vegetation responses, with La Niña years supporting recovery and El Niño years amplifying decline. Post-drought recovery remained incomplete, with NDVI deficits of 8–20% persisting through 2020; full recovery was observed only in 2017, coinciding with the highest recorded summer rainfall. No significant directional trend was detected over the full study period (Mann–Kendall τ = 0.005, p = 0.908). These findings demonstrate that heat, rather than water limitation alone, is the primary driver of vegetation stress in urban systems, highlighting the benefits of integrated management strategies that address both warming and moisture deficits to sustain urban green infrastructure under future climate conditions. We introduce the concept of “urban greenery drought,” referring to a form of vegetation stress in managed urban landscapes where greenness is reduced primarily by elevated temperature and atmospheric demand despite water availability. Full article

Copenhagen is often regarded as a pioneer city in climate change adaptation and green–blue infrastructure deployment. However, when addressing extreme environmental problems such as heavy rainfall flooding and urban heat island effects, many interventions remain site-specific and insufficiently connected across spatial scales. This article investigates how Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) can be structured as an integrated spatial infrastructure system to enhance climate resilience and urban livability in Copenhagen. The research combines theoretical analysis, comparative project studies, GIS-based spatial analysis, and a multi-criteria evaluation matrix. Building on this method, a multi-scalar framework for NBS interventions is developed, which consists of site prioritization at the Meso scale, development strategies at the Micro scale, and NBS spatial design at the Nano scale. With the assessment criteria adapted from the UNalab project Nature-Based Solutions Technical Handbook Factsheets, the results demonstrate that Nano-scale design strategy can enhance green connectivity, create new inclusive urban public spaces, transform existing industrial areas, and improve new streets and parks for climate resilience. The Meso-scale distributed measures deliver localized benefits such as infiltration and flood buffering, while the most effective strategies integrate cross-scalar NBS interventions within a connected network. The case of Nordhavn is analyzed through multi-criteria selection and multifunctionality assessment as a qualitative process for a better demonstration of the practical application of NBS prioritization and spatial design analysis. Full article

The scarcity of resources is a major challenge for the livability of cities and sustainable urbanization. This study explores the socioeconomic dimensions of water scarcity in four low-income neighborhoods of Amman, the capital of Jordan, using a qualitative approach. The study investigates how water scarcity intersects with socioeconomic vulnerability, spatial injustice, and behavioral adaptation. The main research findings are that income, the quality of the neighborhood, and infrastructure access commonly shape residents’ coping strategies and perceptions of fairness. While households adopt a range of adaptive behaviors, limited affordability and institutional neglect intensify existing inequalities. Temporal shifts in service provision, spatial disparities within and between neighborhoods, and gaps in awareness and governance deepen the sense of water insecurity. The study concludes that water scarcity in Amman is not only a technical or economic challenge but a socially embedded problem that requires equity-oriented policies, participatory planning, and spatially targeted investments. Full article

Urban noise pollution is considered to be a significant challenge to neighborhood livability, particularly in cities with limited noise governance. This has resulted in raising the environmental noise as a critical health and livability concern. Existing approaches rely on decibel thresholds that fail to capture the spatial, social and perceptual complexity of noise conditions at the neighborhood scale. This study offers a multi-criteria soundscape framework integrating acoustic measurements and urban parameters (urban design, landscape, regulations and perception). The aim is to support the optimal location for noise planning. The framework was applied as a pilot study across five residential neighborhoods in Tripoli, Lebanon. The OpeNoise mobile application was used across four temporal sessions. Recordings were combined with qualitative resident interviews. Average Equivalent Continuous Sound level LAeq(t) values ranged from 60.3 to 76.8 dBA. While all neighborhoods exceeded the World Health Organization WHO guidelines, acoustic severity alone did not determine the best case for intervention. The neighborhood with the highest measured noise did not achieve the highest priority score. This demonstrates that decibel planning is insufficient. The alignment of acoustic severity, feasibility, and community demand is more effective for intervention. The framework’s criteria are based on observable urban indicators, suggesting applicability to similar urban contexts, further pending validation. Full article

Tourism industry development has become an important driver of regional economic transformation and urban functional restructuring, while urban livability is a key indicator of high-quality urban development and residents’ well-being. However, the spatially heterogeneous and cross-regional effects of tourism development on urban livability remain insufficiently understood. This study examines 28 cities in the Middle Reaches of the Yangtze River Urban Agglomeration, China, from 2000 to 2024. Using kernel density estimation, a two-way fixed effects model, and a spatial Durbin model (SDM), this study investigates the spatiotemporal evolution, spatial spillover effects, and moderating mechanisms of tourism industry development on urban livability. The results show that both tourism industry development and urban livability exhibit significant spatial disparities. Tourism industry development enhances local urban livability, while generating negative spillover effects on neighboring cities, indicating a spatially asymmetric “local gain-neighbor suppression” pattern. Public service provision and infrastructure connectivity amplify the positive effects of tourism development on urban livability. These findings highlight that tourism-led improvements in urban livability are spatially uneven and conditioned by regional development capacity. The study contributes to understanding tourism-livability interactions at the urban agglomeration scale and provides implications for coordinated regional governance. However, this study cannot fully capture micro-level transmission mechanisms due to limitations. Full article

This study investigates the conceptual and practical interlinkages among four major urban paradigms—smart cities, sustainable cities, livable cities, and X-minute cities—using bibliometric co-occurrence and citation analyses. A total of 1439 peer-reviewed publications indexed in Scopus (1979–2024) were examined to map the thematic overlaps and emerging clusters among these city concepts. The findings reveal that smart cities constitute the most interconnected paradigm, appearing in 980 publications and functioning as a technological bridge to sustainability, livability, and proximity-based planning. The smart–sustainable city nexus, evidenced by 530 shared publications, dominates the literature. By contrast, livable cities and X-minute cities represent emerging, human-centered niches with significant growth potential. The findings offer a conceptual framework for integrated urban planning and policy, demonstrating how these paradigms collectively address the complexities of contemporary urbanization. Rather than adopting singular models, urban leaders are encouraged to formulate hybrid planning agendas that reflect local needs while aligning with global urban sustainability objectives. This study calls for a comprehensive understanding of urban development paradigms. Full article

The coordinated development of urban renewal (UR) and ecological resilience (ER) is essential for regional sustainability and livable city construction. Based on data from 108 cities in the Yangtze River Economic Belt (YREB) during 2012–2023, this study constructs the UR indicator system from the dimensions of urban infrastructure construction, social function development, and cultural and leisure facility construction. ER is evaluated in terms of resistance, adaptability, and recoverability. The spatiotemporal evolution of their coupling coordination degree (CCD) is then examined. In addition, the XGBoost-SHAP model is employed to identify the threshold of digital technological innovation (DTI) on CCD and its interactions with different development conditions. The results show that (1) CCD remained relatively low but improved slowly during the study period. UR lagged behind ER in most cities, indicating that insufficient UR development capacity was the main constraint on coordination between the two systems. (2) CCD exhibited a pronounced core–periphery pattern, with high-value areas mainly concentrated in provincial capitals and centrally administered municipalities within the YREB. (3) DTI was positively associated with CCD and exhibited a nonlinear pattern with a model-derived turning point, while the strength and pattern of this association varied across different development contexts. These findings enrich the understanding of UR-ER coordination and offer policy implications for sustainable urban governance. Full article

Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SuDSs) represent a contemporary and eco-friendly method for managing surface water, with the goal of reducing flooding impacts while preserving the environment and enhancing water quality and biodiversity. In Bari, recurrent flooding stemming from water stagnation, extreme weather, and urban development poses challenges to sustainable growth. This study applies the ‘Sponge city’ concept to address these issues through an evaluation of current urban permeability and the implementation of Nature-Based Solutions (NBSs) to reduce runoff and manage underground flows. By assessing the climatic conditions and hydrological factors contributing to urban stagnation, this project seeks to create a resilient urban environment capable of adapting to climate change and effectively mitigating both significant and minor rainfall events. It aims to reduce runoff, while also promoting groundwater recharge and alleviating saline contamination effects in coastal areas, ultimately enhancing the safety and livability of urban landscapes. Full article

Industrial new towns have become important spatial instruments for regional economic development in China, yet many continue to struggle to attract and retain a stable workforce, support long-term settlement, and provide a complete urban living environment. Taking the Chenglingji New Port Area in central China as a case study, this paper applies the Industry–People–City analytical framework to examine the relationship among industrial development, residents’ everyday behaviours, and public service provision. The study combines field investigations, activity-diary interviews with 60 local residents, semi-structured interviews with 12 enterprise managers, and point-of-interest data on public service facilities. These materials are used for a primarily qualitative analysis supported by GIS-based spatial evidence. The findings show that the Chenglingji New Port Area has developed a clear basis of industrial agglomeration and four functional sectors, but public service provision remains mismatched with the everyday needs of different population groups. Managerial personnel and some technical workers continue to rely heavily on Yueyang’s main urban area for residence, consumption, leisure, and higher-order services, while locally based residents face combined deficits in commerce, transport, healthcare, education, cultural and recreational services, and public open spaces. The contribution of this study is twofold. First, it provides an empirically grounded assessment of the living conditions of labour and related residential groups in a resource-constrained inland industrial new town. Second, it demonstrates how the Industry–People–City analytical framework can be used to diagnose structural imbalances among industrial growth, population behaviour, and urban service provision. The study argues that improving the livability of industrial new towns should not depend solely on industrial expansion or one-off investment in high-standard facilities. Instead, phased, sector-specific, and user-oriented public service provision is needed to help industrial new towns gradually transform from mono-functional production-oriented growth poles into more complete and sustainable urban living nodes. Full article

Urban green spaces play a critical role in mitigating heat stress and enhancing urban livability, in line with the objectives and expectations of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals 10 (Reduced Inequalities) and 11 (Sustainable Cities and Communities). This study employs Physarealm (Grasshopper), a lightweight agent-based simulation (ABS) model, to dynamically simulate pedestrian behaviors for different mobility groups. Together with Space Syntax, the results—time-extended movement and interaction patterns—are conceptualized as a relational configuration of green space provision (supply), pedestrian activity intensity (demand), and thermal exposure (environmental resistance). Three contrasting urban areas in northern Italy (Lambrate, Bolognina, and Ispra) are selected as case studies. The results demonstrate that urban inequality cannot be sufficiently explained by the inadequacy of single components, but emerges from imbalanced relational configurations of supply, demand, and environmental resistance. In May, 100% and 95% of traversed cells in Lambrate and Bolognina fall within the high-heat-stress range (>32 °C), compared with 59% in Ispra. Correspondingly, average green provision within the 5 min walking range is 5.4% in Lambrate, 7.2% in Bolognina, and 37% in Ispra. By uncovering relational mismatch patterns that are often overlooked in conventional urban analyses, this study enables a multi-dimensional diagnosis of imbalances. By positioning ABS as a front-end process generator and Space Syntax as a structural interpretation step, it demonstrates how dynamic behavioral processes can be reorganized into network-scale diagnostic representations. The study supports a climate-sensitive and human-centered diagnosis of walkability and green space accessibility, while contributing a transferable analytical approach for identifying relational inequality patterns within open urban data science contexts. Full article

Building climate-resilient cities strengthens urban livability and sustainable development levels. This paper constructs a difference-in-differences model to examine the impact of the pilot policy for climate-resilient city construction (CRCC—CRCC is used uniformly in the following text to represent the policy) on green sustainable innovation, using panel data of 260 prefecture-level Chinese cities from 2009 to 2023. The results reveal that CRCC can significantly promote green sustainable innovation in Chinese cities. Additionally, CRCC promotes green sustainable innovation by increasing the level of informatization, improving green total-factor energy efficiency, boosting corporate ESG performance, and alleviating corporate financing constraints. Therefore, it is necessary to further strengthen the implementation and promotion of China’s climate pilot policy. Attention should be paid to optimizing the pathways through which the pilot policy affects green sustainable innovation. Differentiated regional policies should be implemented based on local conditions. A tripartite linkage mechanism involving the government, enterprises, and the public should be established to increase societal awareness and support for climate-resilient city construction. Full article

Background/Objectives: Although urban greening interventions are increasingly implemented to improve livability, environmental quality, and adaptation capacity in cities, their evaluation still predominantly relies on physical outputs rather than validated, resident-centered outcomes. This study examined whether the five-item attachment dimension of the Urban Green Attachment Scale (UGAS) can reliably indicate the social integration of newly introduced greenery in an SDG 11-oriented evaluation context. The present adaptation of the UGAS captures the perceived importance of the planting, its contribution to well-being, anticipated loss, willingness to protect it, and aesthetic appreciation. Methods: Data were collected through two independent face-to-face surveys conducted among residents of the same housing estate shortly after a greening intervention in May 2025 (n = 150) and September 2025 (n = 191). The first sample was used for exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and the second for confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Reliability was assessed using Cronbach’s α and McDonald’s ω; inter-item associations were estimated using Kendall’s tau-b; and construct validity was examined through known-groups comparisons with theoretically relevant appraisals and stewardship-related indicators. Results: The adapted UGAS demonstrated high internal consistency, low floor and ceiling effects, and moderate to strong inter-item associations. Exploratory factor analysis supported a unidimensional solution with high loadings and 65.7% explained variance, and confirmatory factor analysis corroborated this structure after minor, theory-guided localized refinements. Higher UGAS scores were consistently observed among residents who reported stronger calming and home-related effects, perceived healthier local conditions, expressed willingness to help care for the plants, and demonstrated a readiness to cooperate in improving the area. Conclusions: The results support the five-item UGAS attachment score as a compact, psychometrically adequate measure of residents’ attachment to newly planted urban greenery. Rather than replacing official SDG indicators, the UGAS can complement them at the project level by determining if urban greening becomes socially meaningful and accepted and if it supports stewardship. In this sense, UGAS offers municipalities a practical tool for linking physical greening outputs with resident-centered outcomes relevant to inclusive public spaces, participatory urban development, and the long-term social durability of urban greening interventions. Full article

This manuscript creates a framework for decision support based on green urbanism to direct the sustainable development of Gamasa, an Egyptian seaside city. The paper aims to convert the concepts of green urbanism into a multi-criteria evaluation that can support strategic urban development and prioritize spatial interventions. Sustainable mobility, green and blue infrastructure, energy and resource efficiency, urban form and density, social livability and public space quality, and governance and implementation feasibility are the six dimensions that are defined. These dimensions are derived from international sustainability literature and tailored to Gamasa’s particular challenges. The study’s methodology combines a multi-criteria decision-making approach based on the AHP with spatial analysis of land use, street hierarchy, building shape, and green space distribution. Weights for these dimensions are determined by expert-based pairwise comparisons, which are backed by a SWOT analysis. To prioritize priority zones for green transformation, the weighted framework is applied to four important urban areas: residential districts, a large urban park, the waterfront, and the main urban corridor. The top priorities, according to the results, are climate-responsive coastal design, increased green and blue infrastructure, and sustainable transportation. For quickly urbanizing coastal cities, the method demonstrates how the AHP operationalizes green urbanism into quantifiable, context-sensitive goals. Full article