Search Results (1,605)

This study presents a data-driven framework for optimizing parking space allocation and pricing in large commercial complexes, addressing persistent spatial imbalances in occupancy between high- and low-demand zones. A mixed Logit (ML) model with interaction terms is estimated from stated preference survey data to capture heterogeneous user preferences across trip purposes. A dual clustering algorithm is then applied to generate spatially coherent pricing zones, integrating geometric, functional, and occupancy-based attributes. Two differential pricing strategies are formulated: an administered model with regulatory price bounds and a market-based model without such constraints. Both pricing models are solved using an improved multi-objective Particle Swarm Optimization–Grey Wolf Optimizer (PSO–GWO) algorithm that jointly optimizes spatial zoning and zone–time pricing schedules. Using data from the Kingmo Complex in Nanjing, China, the results show that both strategies significantly reduce spatio-temporal occupancy variance and improve utilization balance. The administered strategy reduces variance by up to 67% on weekdays, with only a 1% increase in revenue, making it suitable for contexts prioritizing regulatory compliance and price stability. In contrast, the market-based strategy reduces variance by over 40% while generating substantially higher revenue, particularly during periods of high and uneven demand. The proposed framework demonstrates the potential of integrating behavioral modeling, spatial clustering, and multi-objective optimization to improve parking efficiency. The findings provide practical guidance for operators and policymakers seeking to implement adaptive pricing strategies in large-scale parking facilities. Full article

With the enlargement of underground parking lots, the risk of massive smoke and toxic gases generated during a fire will be increased, resulting in significant casualties, property damage, and difficulties in firefighting operations. To address these issues, installation of ventilation fans and inducer fans together has been proposed to extract smoke and hazardous gases more efficiently to the outside. However, the disturbance of ventilation caused by simultaneous operation of inducer fans and ventilation fans limits smoke extraction efficiency. In some worst cases, smoke disturbance may even lead to further smoke spread. Therefore, this study aims to suggest an efficient smoke extraction strategy for underground parking lots equipped with ventilation and inducer fans by optimizing the orientation of ventilation fans in the event of vehicle fires. Computational fluid dynamics-based simulation results showed that installing ventilation fan intakes and exhausts perpendicularly (PE, 90° apart) was more effective in controlling smoke than installing them in parallel (PA, horizontally facing each other). In the case of PE, the smoke stagnation area around the intakes decreased markedly from 38.18% to 3.68%. Although the smoke area near the exhausts increased in the PE configuration (53.66%) compared with the PA configuration (26.13%), this indicates that smoke was being effectively transported from the intakes to the exhausts. Furthermore, the overall smoke distribution across the entire space decreased by 4.5% under the PE setup compared with the PA setup. As the intake and exhaust flow rates of the fans increased, the efficiency of smoke removal was enhanced under the PE configuration. Consequently, in environments equipped with both ventilation and inducer fans with given conditions, perpendicular installation of fan intakes and exhausts is more efficient. These results are expected to provide practical design guidelines for ensuring effective smoke extraction in underground parking facilities. Full article

Urban park green space (UPGS) is a key component of urban green infrastructure, yet it faces multiple contradictions, such as insufficient quantity and uneven distribution. Taking Zhengzhou City as a case study, this research explored the impacts of temporal thresholds and the modifiable areal unit problem (MAUP) on UPGS accessibility and equity. An improved multi-modal Gaussian two-step floating catchment area (G2SFCA) method was employed to measure UPGS accessibility, while the Gini coefficient and Lorenz curve were used to analyze its equity. The results show that (1) UPGS presents a dual-core agglomeration feature, with accessibility blind spots surrounding the edge of the study area and relatively low equity in the western and southern regions; (2) changes in temporal thresholds and spatial scales have a significant impact on UPGS accessibility (p < 0.001), whereas their impact on equity is minor; and (3) UPGS distribution suffers from spatial imbalance, with a huge disparity in resource allocation. This study overcomes the limitations of traditional evaluation methods that rely on a single mode or ignore scale effects and provides a more scientific analytical framework for accurately identifying the spatial heterogeneity of UPGS accessibility and the imbalance between supply and demand. Full article

This paper presents a critical review of urban accessibility frameworks, standards, and implementation challenges, grounded in the principles of Universal Design (UD), Social Inclusion Theory, and Sustainable Urbanism. Drawing upon global guidelines, regulatory instruments, and recent academic discourse, it identifies common gaps between accessibility policy and the lived realities of urban space users. This paper integrates these insights with an applied case study of Kaimakli Linear Park in Nicosia, Cyprus—an observational field audit and stakeholder interview series that illustrates the practical challenges of implementing inclusive design in legacy urban environments. Key barriers identified include inconsistent application of design standards, limited tactile and sensory guidance, inadequate mobility infrastructure, and insufficient stakeholder coordination. The case is not offered as a statistically generalizable sample but as an illustrative microcosm of systemic accessibility deficits. This integrative approach offers a framework for diagnosing spatial exclusion in public parks and provides cost-effective, policy-aligned strategies for inclusive urban transformation. Full article

Urban green spaces are essential for promoting human health and well-being, especially in cities facing increasing noise pollution and ecological stress. This study investigates the effects of audio-visual interaction on restorative outcomes across three soundscape types (park, residential, and street), focusing on the compensatory role of positive visual stimuli in low-quality soundscape environments. Thirty-two university students participated in a controlled evaluation using soundscapes and corresponding visual materials derived from 30 urban green spaces. A two-way repeated measures ANOVA revealed significant main effects of soundscape type and modality (auditory vs. audio-visual), as well as a significant interaction between these factors. Audio-visual conditions consistently outperformed auditory conditions, with the strongest restorative effects observed in noisy street soundscapes when paired with positive visual stimuli. Further analysis highlighted that visual cleanliness and structural clarity significantly enhanced restorative outcomes in challenging environments. These findings align with existing theories of sensory integration and extend their application to large-scale urban settings. This study shows that multi-sensory optimization can mitigate urban environmental stressors, supporting healthier, more resilient, and sustainable urban environments. Future research should explore long-term and cross-cultural applications to inform evidence-based urban planning and public health policies. Full article

China has entered a period of urban renewal, with the focus shifting from large-scale incremental construction to both upgrading existing building quality and adjusting incremental structures. There are three main types of urban renewal: demolition and reconstruction, comprehensive improvement, and organic renewal. The latter systematically optimizes and enhances urban functions, spaces, and culture through gradual renovation methods and is, therefore, suitable for use in ancient cities. To promote organic renewal, the problem of limited space resources must first be addressed, which can be resolved to a certain extent by the moderate development of underground spaces; preliminary evaluations of the development potential are also required. In consideration of the demands of organic renewal, we constructed a novel indicator system for evaluating underground space development potential (USDP) in ancient cities that assesses two dimensions: development demand and development suitability. A multi-factor comprehensive evaluation method was adopted to quantify the indicators of USDP, taking Shaoxing Ancient City (SAC) as the case study. According to the USDP evaluation, SAC can be divided into four kinds of areas: high-potential, general-potential, low-potential, and prohibited development areas. High-potential areas accounted for 16.38% of the total evaluation area and were primarily concentrated in or near key locations: train transit stations (Shaoxing Railway Station), public service facilities, evacuated land, and cultural and tourism facilities around historic districts (Shusheng Guli Historical and Cultural Street). The proposed development strategies for these areas included the interconnection of metro stations, redevelopment of relocation-related and vacated land, construction of underground cultural corridors, and supplementation of parking facilities. For developed underground spaces with low utilization efficiency, functional renewal and management improvement measures were put forward. Our method of evaluating the USDP of ancient cities and the strategies proposed to optimize the utilization of underground space can provide reference examples for SAC and other similar ancient cities. Full article

The building sector plays a key role in the transition toward climate neutrality, with national regulations across the EU requiring the construction of nearly zero-energy buildings (nZEBs). However, while energy performance has been extensively studied, less attention has been given to the problem of ensuring user comfort—both indoors and in the surrounding outdoor areas—under nZEB design constraints. This gap raises two key research objectives: (1) to evaluate whether a well-designed nZEB with extensive glazing maintains acceptable indoor thermal comfort and (2) to assess whether residents experience greater outdoor thermal comfort and satisfaction in small, sun-exposed private gardens or in larger, shaded communal green spaces. To address these objectives, a newly built residential estate near Kraków (Poland) was analyzed. The investigation included simulation-based assessments during the design phase and in situ measurements during building operation, complemented by a user survey on spatial preferences. Indoor comfort was evaluated for rooms with large glazed façades, as well as rooms with standard-sized windows, while outdoor comfort was assessed in both private gardens and a shared green courtyard. Results show that shading the southwest-oriented glazed façade with an overhanging terrace provided slightly lower temperatures in ground-floor rooms compared to rooms with standard unshaded windows. Outdoors, users experienced lower thermal comfort in small, unshaded gardens than in the larger, vegetated communal area (pocket park), which demonstrated greater capacity for temperature moderation and thermal stress reduction. Survey responses further indicate that potential future residents prefer the inclusion of a shared green–blue infrastructure area, even at the expense of building some housing units in semi-detached form, instead of maximizing the number of detached units with unshaded individual gardens. These findings emphasize the importance of addressing both indoor and outdoor comfort in residential nZEB design, showing that technological efficiency must be complemented by user-centered design strategies. This integrated approach can improve the well-being of residents while supporting climate change adaptation in the built environment. Full article

Recently, cross-city recreation has received a considerable amount of attention to meet the challenges of today’s rapid urbanization, the limited green space in cities, and the increasing demand for urban residents to interact with natural environments. We use China’s Capital Economic Circle as a case study to examine the influence of cross-city recreation on park green space accessibility. Using a Normalized Difference Vegetation Index and an Multi-mode two-step floating catchment area (M2SFCA) model, different travel modes across the space were explored. The results show the following: (1) The landscape of multi-scale Park green space (PGS) accessibility in the study area exhibits a gradual decrease in accessibility from the core area to the periphery. (2) Cross-city recreation changes the spatial distribution of accessibility, with the emergence of hotspots having the greatest impact on PGS accessibility at the scale of 50–100 ha and above. (3) At the urban scale, the multi-scale PGS of peripheral urban areas is higher than central urban areas, and affected by cross-city recreation, this feature is more significant in urban core areas. Our research helps urban planners to develop effective regional environmental planning policies for the green development of urban agglomerations. Full article

Public events serve as a foundational mechanism for shaping the social and spatial dynamics of urban environments. Despite widespread recognition of their physical, psychological, and social impacts at the city scale, a significant gap persists in research addressing the social and spatial suitability of public spaces at the neighborhood level, particularly within the Arab urban context. This study investigates residential neighborhoods in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to assess how public events foster community engagement, cultural diversity, and social cohesion. Drawing on survey data from 510 residents, statistical analysis reveals that demographic variables such as age, gender, and professional sector influence participation, with youth and women demonstrating notably higher levels of engagement. Moreover, population density emerges as a critical factor in determining the appropriateness of event settings, with medium-sized gatherings in open spaces especially parks proving most effective. The findings emphasize the importance of designing inclusive and culturally responsive events, offering actionable insights for urban planning in rapidly growing cities. The study further highlights the need to reimagine neighborhood parks and open spaces as adaptable venues, equipped with essential infrastructure and governed by streamlined regulatory frameworks. Participants expressed a clear preference for accessible, medium-scale cultural events that prioritize safety, environmental sustainability, and enhanced public amenities, including transportation and sanitation services. Full article

Under the background of energy transition, the Integrated Energy System (IES) of the park has become a key carrier for enhancing the consumption capacity of renewable energy due to its multi-energy complementary characteristics. However, the high proportion of wind and solar resource access and the fluctuation of diverse loads have led to the system facing dual uncertainty challenges, and traditional optimization methods are difficult to adapt to the dynamic and complex dispatching requirements. To this end, this paper proposes a new dynamic energy management method based on Deep Reinforcement Learning (DRL) and constructs an IES hybrid integer nonlinear programming model including wind power, photovoltaic, combined heat and power generation, and storage of electric heat energy, with the goal of minimizing the operating cost of the system. By expressing the dispatching process as a Markov decision process, a state space covering wind and solar output, multiple loads and energy storage states is defined, a continuous action space for unit output and energy storage control is constructed, and a reward function integrating economic cost and the penalty for renewable energy consumption is designed. The Deep Deterministic Policy Gradient (DDPG) and Deep Q-Network (DQN) algorithms were adopted to achieve policy optimization. This study is based on simulation rather than experimental validation, which aligns with the exploratory scope of this research. The simulation results show that the DDPG algorithm achieves an average weekly operating cost of 532,424 yuan in the continuous action space scheduling, which is 8.6% lower than that of the DQN algorithm, and the standard deviation of the cost is reduced by 19.5%, indicating better robustness. Under the fluctuation of 10% to 30% on the source-load side, the DQN algorithm still maintains a cost fluctuation of less than 4.5%, highlighting the strong adaptability of DRL to uncertain environments. Therefore, this method has significant theoretical and practical value for promoting the intelligent transformation of the energy system. Full article

Rapid urbanization has resulted in widespread habitat loss and fragmentation, threatening global biodiversity. Urban parks serve as essential refuges for wildlife within cities, particularly for birds, which are sensitive indicators of ecosystem health and habitat quality. In recent years, numerous Chinese cities have begun integrating biodiversity-friendly design approaches into new park development. However, the effectiveness of these strategies remains insufficiently evaluated. This study assesses the ecological performance of newly built parks by examining 11 recently constructed parks (within the past decade) and 9 historical parks in Zhengzhou, China’s high-density urban area. Monthly bird surveys were conducted across all 20 parks from May to December 2020, covering breeding, post-breeding, and overwintering seasons. Our findings reveal that new parks significantly outperformed old parks in bird abundance, species richness, Shannon diversity index, and functional diversity. Analysis of environmental variables at both local (within-park) and landscape (1-km buffer) scales showed that habitat diversity and multi-layered vegetation structure were the most influential local factors promoting bird diversity, while green space connectivity was the primary landscape-scale contributor. Notably, neither park area nor age significantly predicted diversity patterns. Based on these results, we propose three key planning strategies: (1) enhancing habitat diversity within parks to support species from various ecological niches; (2) implementing multi-layered vegetation planting to provide diverse food resources and nesting opportunities; (3) improving green space connectivity to facilitate species movement and population persistence within urban environments. These findings provide valuable insights for designing more effective biodiversity-friendly urban green spaces. Full article

This research assesses how land-cover transitions from 2012 to 2022 have impacted the value of ecosystem services in Denton County, Texas. Using remote sensing and spatial analysis, this study quantitatively links land-use change to its ecological and economic consequences. Full-county Landsat data were analyzed in ArcGIS Pro through supervised classification and categorical change detection. To quantify the impact of these changes, an accuracy assessment was performed, and a benefit-transfer method using both global and Texas-specific coefficients was applied to estimate the change in Ecosystem Service Value (ESV). Results revealed a complex dynamic: while the county experienced significant urban expansion, it also saw substantial greening as large areas of bare land transitioned to vegetation. However, this greening was not enough to offset the economic impact of losing high-value ecosystems. The analysis shows a net loss in total ESV over the decade, estimated between USD 24 million and USD 95 million per year, primarily driven by the significant reduction of water bodies. This study provides a replicable framework for policymakers to assess the environmental trade-offs of development and highlights the critical importance of preserving existing high-value ecosystems alongside urban greening initiatives. Full article

Public green spaces are vital to urban life, offering recreational opportunities, enhancing mental and physical well-being, and supporting environmental sustainability. This study presents a structured evaluation of ten public parks in Riyadh, categorized as neighborhood, local, and large parks, and compares their performance to two internationally recognized benchmark parks—Hyde Park and Regent’s Park in London. A partly original evaluation framework was developed to assess the design-related and environmental (nature-based) qualities of these parks. The framework integrates 50 criteria grouped into nine categories, combining quantitative scoring on a five-point scale with qualitative on-site observations. This method enables a comprehensive assessment of design quality, accessibility, and sustainability features. A city-wide map with a color-coded legend illustrates the distribution of the evaluated parks, while field observations and photographic documentation supported the data collection. Findings reveal notable variations in design quality, accessibility, and sustainability across the parks. The results highlight both strengths and gaps compared to international benchmarks, providing valuable insights for improving park design and management. This study contributes to ongoing efforts to enhance park usability and align with Riyadh’s Vision 2030 objectives, offering a practical decision-support tool for planners, managers, and policymakers seeking resilient and inclusive public green spaces. Full article

Urban sprawl is a growing issue in developing countries such as Jordan, where urban populations continue to expand rapidly and are projected to reach 70% of the global population by 2050. This urbanization creates significant challenges, particularly the depletion of natural resources and the reduction in green areas. This study proposes an approach to improve the selection of open green space locations by integrating Geographic Information Systems (GISs) with Nature-based Solutions (NbSs) for urban sustainability and resilience. Using Al-Sarih, Jordan, as a case study, GIS was applied to analyze environmental factors, including soil, meteorological, and geological data, through a weighted overlay analysis to assess potential park sites. The results indicated that most parks are situated in areas with suitable geological and soil conditions. However, their distribution is uneven, with dense coverage in the northern region and limited availability in southern and western parts. This imbalance highlights the need for equitable green space planning to ensure accessibility for all residents. This study underscores the value of integrating GIS and NbS in optimizing green infrastructure, providing a scientific framework for sustainable urban planning. It further emphasizes the importance of spatial and natural data interactions to support resilient city development. Full article

The Surface Cool Island (SCI) refers to localized reductions in land surface temperature (LST) produced by features that enhance evapotranspiration, shading, and energy flux regulation. In arid urban areas, vegetated parks play a key role in mitigating heat through these mechanisms. This study evaluates how park vegetation structure and spatial configuration influence SCI intensity (ΔTmax) and extent (Lmax) using multi-seasonal, day–night satellite observations in Mexicali, Mexico. A total of 435 parks were analyzed using Landsat 8/9 TIRS (30 m) for LST and Sentinel-2 MSI (10 m) for vegetation mapping via NDVI thresholding and supervised random forest (RF) classification. On average, parks lowered daytime LST by 0.81 °C (max: 6.41 °C), with a mean Lmax of 120 m; nighttime cooling was weaker (avg. ΔTmax: 0.37 °C; Lmax: 48 m). RF-derived metrics explained SCI variability more effectively (R² up to 0.64 for ΔTmax; 0.48 for Lmax) than NDVI-based metrics (R² < 0.35), highlighting the value of object-based land cover classification in capturing vegetation structure. This remote sensing framework offers a scalable method for assessing urban cooling performance and supports climate-adaptive green space design in hot-arid cities. Full article