Search Results (50)

Knowledge of river flood risk in semiarid rural areas is often based on outdated, low-resolution geoinformation. Consequently, identification of exposed settlements, assets and risk-reduction measures remains challenging. This dataset provides up-to-date, fine-grained information for a rural area spanning 931 km² that is exposed to flooding from the Niger River and the Karma Wadi. The dataset includes information on (i) areas exposed to the two flood types that characterise the river’s hydrological regime and flash floods from the wadi, (ii) flood-prone crops, buildings and (iii) measures for risk treatment. Discharge data, a 4 m horizontal-resolution digital elevation model, and two-dimensional hydraulic modelling with BASEMENT were used to identify flood-prone areas. Visual interpretation of high-resolution satellite imagery in Google Earth, together with field inspections, enabled the identification of exposed assets. The Information System on Rural Markets of Niger and house compensation values recognised during resettlement-related works enabled asset valuation. Risk was expressed in monetary terms as the product of flood probability and expected damage. Risk-reduction measures were identified with stakeholders through a SWOT analysis and prioritised using eight criteria. The dataset can support emergency plans, flood early warning systems, rescue and recovery operations and flood risk management. Full article

The platformization of urban space is opening new frontiers of capital accumulation, particularly through short-term rentals. Airbnb plays a central role in this process by commodifying housing in tourist destinations. Despite its rapid growth, research on Airbnb in Latin America—especially in small tourist cities—remains limited and largely focused on metropolitan contexts. This article addresses this gap with the objective of analyzing how platform-mediated short-term rentals reorient housing markets beyond traditional urban cores. It is hypothesized that Airbnb expands housing commodification by extending tourism-oriented uses into new residential areas and by redistributing returns unevenly across actors. Using a quantitative and geospatial approach, the results reveal a strong presence of Airbnb in rural and natural areas, from which the highest returns are extracted, as well as a high concentration of accommodation supply among professional hosts. These dynamics reconfigure housing use toward asset-based logics, posing challenges for housing security and social and territorial sustainability in small tourist cities. Full article

Urban demographic dynamics—including migration, aging, fertility change, and population redistribution—are central to sustainable urban development, urban resilience, and long-term well-being. In many small and transition economies, rapid urbanization combined with sustained emigration and population aging poses significant challenges for urban planning, labor markets, housing systems, and public services. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate urban sustainability-related demographic risks by a composite index and assess long-term demographic dynamics with different trajectories of migration flows and fertility. Since migration flows are more intense among urban population, depopulation is very high in peripheral rural areas, and urbanization is about 64% in Armenia, the results of the research will inform national and urban policy makers to reshape policy frameworks to enhance long-term urban resilience. This study develops a demographic threat index (DTI) to assess demographic risks relevant to urban sustainability in Armenia over the period 2000–2023. The index integrates 20 indicators grouped into three pillars—population change, population health, and socio-economic vulnerability—with indicator weights derived using principal component analysis (PCA). The results reveal a persistent increase in demographic risks, marked by accelerated population aging, declining youth cohorts, and rising socio-economic vulnerability, particularly in urban contexts. A decomposition of population change demonstrates that net migration has been the dominant driver of demographic dynamics, outweighing the combined effects of fertility and mortality. Scenario-based population projections further indicate that even optimistic increases in fertility are insufficient to stabilize population trajectories without sustained positive migration. By linking demographic security to urbanization, migration, and socio-economic vulnerability, the study highlights the importance of integrated urban and demographic policy frameworks. The proposed index offers a replicable tool for evaluating demographic risks in countries facing similar urban and demographic transitions and provides evidence-based insights for urban planning, migration management, and sustainable city strategies. Full article

Medium-sized cities are increasingly affected by processes of urban fragmentation and residential segregation, despite having traditionally been perceived as more socially cohesive and territorially balanced than large metropolitan areas. Acting as functional connectors between metropolitan hubs and rural regions, these cities are particularly vulnerable to unplanned suburban growth, housing market polarization and uneven access to urban opportunities. This study develops and applies a multidimensional Urban Territorial Index (UTI) to diagnose socio-spatial inequality in medium-sized cities, using Ciudad Real (central Spain) and its functional urban area as a case study. The UTI integrates six indicators across three analytical dimensions—socioeconomic, sociodemographic and housing—through a PCA-informed weighting scheme and GIS-based spatial analysis. The index is calculated at census-tract and neighborhood scales and is validated through internal consistency checks, external comparison with a local Human Development Index (r = 0.87; p < 0.001), and qualitative robustness assessments. Results reveal a pronounced core–periphery polarization: central and strategically located neighborhoods associated with key infrastructures (university, high-speed rail station and hospital) concentrate higher income levels, educational attainment and land values, while peripheral municipalities and disadvantaged neighborhoods exhibit higher unemployment, lower housing values and greater social vulnerability. The analysis also identifies population–housing mismatches linked to suburban expansion without equivalent functional integration. Beyond the local case, the study provides a transparent and replicable methodological framework tailored to medium-sized cities, where metropolitan-scale indices often fail to capture fine-grained socio-spatial disparities. The UTI offers a practical tool for comparative analysis, temporal monitoring and evidence-based urban policy, supporting more inclusive and territorially balanced development strategies in diverse institutional and geographical contexts. Full article

To meet the development needs of high-rise timber structures, current cross-laminated timber (CLT) shear walls typically feature a single-layer thickness of 35 mm with more than three laminations in the stack. However, such thickness easily leads to resource waste in small-scale residential buildings, while increasing transportation and hoisting costs, which is not conducive to the prefabrication and lightweight development of timber structures. To adapt to the development trend of China’s timber structure market towards public buildings such as cultural and tourism projects and small-scale residential buildings including new rural housing renovation, this study focuses on thin CLT shear walls with an overall thickness of 48 mm (16 mm per layer) and conducts research on their lateral load-bearing performance. Monotonic lateral static load tests and finite element (FE) simulations were carried out on thin CLT shear walls without openings, with different opening areas, and with the same opening area but different positions. A corresponding FE model was established and validated, with a focus on analyzing the influence of opening parameters on the shear performance of the walls. The research results show that wall openings significantly reduce the bearing capacity and shear stiffness of the walls: compared with the wall without openings, the ultimate load and shear stiffness of the walls with openings decrease by 20.4–28.6% and 36.3–42.3%, respectively. Among them, increasing the opening height has a more obvious weakening effect on the bearing capacity; for the same opening area, a wider opening results in a more significant decrease in stiffness. The FE model exhibits reliable accuracy, with the error between the experimental and simulation results in the elastic stage controlled within 10%, and the influence of the under-wall support on the shear stiffness is relatively small. Opening parameters have a prominent impact on the stiffness of the wall in the elastic stage, and the influence of the opening position is more critical—the smaller the distance from the opening to the top of the wall, the more obvious the decrease in overall stiffness. Full article

The present conceptual paper proposes a purpose-driven experiential marketing framework for film-induced destinations, integrating sustainability and emotional engagement into destination management. The model under discussion comprises five interconnected dimensions, namely integrated experience, branding, people, emotional touchpoints and processes. These are articulated through purpose-driven marketing principles and aligned with selected Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) indicators. This approach positions sustainability as an inherent component of value creation rather than an external policy layer. The framework under discussion was developed through an interdisciplinary literature review and is illustrated through insights from an exploratory case study of Monsanto, a rural Portuguese village recently featured in HBO’s House of the Dragon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with a purposive sample of local stakeholders, including tourists, residents, entrepreneurs and institutional representatives. These interviews were analysed thematically to provide indicative evidence of the framework’s relevance and potential applicability. The findings suggest that emotional engagement, co-creation and territorial authenticity play a central role in shaping memorable film-related tourism experiences that are consistent with destination purpose and stakeholder well-being. The study also emphasises the strategic importance of storytelling, audiovisual narratives and collaborative governance in the strengthening of place identity and the support of sustainable differentiation. Despite its exploratory nature, the framework provides practical guidance for destination management organisations (DMOs), cultural programmers and creative industry actors. The article concludes by identifying avenues for future research, including cross-regional application, digital experimentation and the quantitative assessment of experiential dimensions. Full article

Environmental factors motivate migration across the globe, calling for better planning. Although the US experienced such movements during the COVID-19 pandemic, literature on population mobility and outcomes for receiving communities in the US is scarce. We use a mixed-methods case study approach to explore the COVID-era population movement trends in the US Northeast (NE) Region and their outcomes for receiving communities to draw lessons for strategic regional planning aiming to achieve sustainable and equitable outcomes of disaster-induced movements. Utilizing the Statistics of Income data and focus group data collected from 27 local experts in 22 rural counties of NE, which experienced the highest relative numbers of in-movers between 2016 and 2020, the findings revealed the top receiving counties were predominantly rural areas where urbanites moved from within NE. This movement challenged the housing market and services, disproportionately burdening socioeconomically disadvantaged groups in receiving communities. The COVID-19 experience opened a window of opportunity for regional planning to prepare desirable outcomes of such mobilities by addressing existing issues in receiving communities while incorporating pulse and slow population movements into the agenda. The right policy timing and communication among communities are keys to building trust and ensuring integration of newcomers into receiving communities. Full article

This study investigates how housing prices influence urban–rural income inequality (URG) in mainland China by explicitly incorporating spatial interdependence and nonlinear adjustment mechanisms, features often neglected in previous research. Using a balanced panel of 31 provinces from 2005 to 2023, we develop a dynamic spatial panel threshold model that jointly accounts for temporal persistence, spatial spillovers, and regime-dependent estimation. This framework enables a full decomposition of housing price effects into direct, indirect (spillover), and total impacts across distinct market regimes. The results reveal three major insights. First, URG in mainland China displays strong temporal persistence, suggesting that income disparities evolve gradually over time. Second, rising housing prices significantly widen the urban–rural income gap, both within provinces and through interprovincial transmission, underscoring the amplifying role of spatial spillovers. Third, threshold estimation identifies a critical housing price level of ln(HP) = 8.4843 (approximately 4838.21 RMB/m²), revealing that the inequality-enhancing effect of housing prices is stronger in low-price regions but diminishes as markets mature and affordability constraints intensify. These findings provide new empirical evidence that the housing market functions as a nonlinear and asymmetric driver of regional inequality in mainland China, with implications for housing policy and inclusive growth. Full article

The dual Hukou system, originating in China’s planned economy period, structured Chinese society into separate urban and rural segments, thereby generating distinct sets of rights and benefits for agricultural and non-agricultural residents regarding land, social security, education, and healthcare. Urban home purchase is a pivotal indicator of social integration for rural–urban migrants in destination cities. While the literature has extensively examined migrants’ residential conditions in China, the institutional impact of the agricultural hukou system—a core constraint—on their urban homeownership, along with its underlying mechanisms and heterogeneity, remains underexplored. To address this gap, this study adopts a twofold approach: theoretically, it employs the separating equilibrium model in housing markets with incomplete information to verify that agricultural hukou acts as an institutional barrier to migrants’ local home purchases; empirically, it uses data from the China Migrants Dynamic Survey (CMDS) and applies the Fairlie decomposition method to quantify the constraint effect. The empirical results suggest that agricultural hukou exerts a 29.72% suppressive effect on migrants’ urban home purchase behavior. This effect operates indirectly by weakening migrants’ long-term settlement intention, which serves as a mediating variable. Moreover, the hindrance of agricultural hukou varies heterogeneously across groups, differing in education level, generational cohort, and regional distribution. To advance the fair and sustainable development of the real estate market, we advocate accelerating hukou reform by decoupling public services from residence status, fostering inclusive urbanization, and ensuring equitable development of housing markets. Full article

Background and objective: Child illness remains a significant public health challenge in low- and middle-income countries, including Bangladesh, with complex multifactorial causes extending beyond biomedical factors. This qualitative study explored perceived causes of child illness from the perspectives of caregivers and healthcare providers in rural and urban Bangladesh. Methods: Twenty-three in-depth interviews with primary caregivers, grandmothers, healthcare providers, and a group discussion with four community representatives revealed four primary categories of perceived illness causes. Results: Individual causes included maternal illness, forgetfulness, and knowledge gaps that affected caregiving practices, leading to missed vaccinations, poor hygiene and feeding practices. Socio-cultural causes included supernatural beliefs, intra-household power dynamics, domestic violence, maternal work burdens, early marriage, adolescent motherhood, and dowry practices. Economic causes included irregular income, rising food prices, and marketing of unhealthy products. Environmental causes included poor housing ventilation, inadequate waste management, heat wave exposure, urban air pollution, and water contamination, causing respiratory and waterborne diseases. Conclusions: These findings illustrate that child illness results from complex interactions between individual, socio-cultural, economic, and environmental causes. Potential interventions can address these multifaceted causes through comprehensive approaches including caregiver education, maternal empowerment strategies, economic support programs, and household environment improvements. Full article

With the advancement of building industrialization and sustainable development, modular demountable buildings, as an efficient and environmentally friendly form, show significant potential in scenarios such as emergency housing and rural construction. However, they face issues including insufficient component adaptability, low demounting efficiency, and low integration level. Based on the Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) theory, this paper proposes solutions and takes M-Box1.0 as a case study to explore design strategies from four dimensions: product modularization, logistics optimization, rationality of demounting, and component integration. The results show that M-Box1.0 has excellent ventilation and lighting performance. Compared with similar products on the market, it has fewer parts and lower costs. Moreover, it reduces construction waste through prefabrication and demountable connections. This study clarifies the advantages of DFMA-oriented design and has practical significance for promoting the efficient and energy-saving development of building industrialization. Full article

Using ArcGIS software to conduct spatial autocorrelation analysis, it was found that the price distribution of rural homestays in Suzhou is not random but shows apparent spatial clustering. Among the 81 rural homestays were 9 high-high clusters, 25 low-low clusters, 1 high-low outlier, and 5 low-high outliers. The hedonic price model is an economic model that breaks down goods or services into multiple attributes to estimate their prices. Based on this model, this paper further investigates the differentiated impacts and interactions between internal accommodation characteristics and external environmental attributes in the pricing mechanism of rural homestays in Suzhou. The results show that (1) the high-priced rural homestays in Suzhou are concentrated in the lake island resort with good natural environment and perfect infrastructure; (2) the location, facility quality, and network score of rural homestays have a positive impact on housing prices; (3) the parking lot of rural homestays hurts housing prices; (4) the quality of rural residential buildings and facilities has the most significant positive impact on housing prices. By comparing the hedonic price model of rural homestay and the heterogeneous preferences of consumers, this study provides rural homestay operators with effective room pricing strategies and marketing implications, provides policymakers with reference factors to promote the development of rural homestay industry, and has specific guiding significance for the sustainable development of the homestay industry. Full article

Pilot policy relating to the building of rental houses on collectively owned land is crucial for forming integrated urban and rural construction land markets and promoting rural revitalization. However, inequalities in the distribution of benefits may impede pilot projects. This paper employs a mixed-methods approach combining social network analysis, case study, and game theory to analyze the strategic decisions of key stakeholders in pilot policy, aiming to identify challenges and barriers to its implementation. Local governments, rural collective economic organizations, and enterprises are defined as the three key stakeholders, according to social network analysis. The findings suggest that the successful implementation of pilot policy requires cooperation among at least two stakeholders. Key factors influencing stakeholders include policy risk, market risk, the local government’s stance on the pilot policy, communication, coordination costs, the capabilities of collective economic organizations, and expected benefits, all of which can lead to conflicts among stakeholders. Strategies to support equilibrium of the interests of all parties are proposed, in order to promote cooperation among these three core categories of stakeholders. Full article

The proliferation of abandoned houses in rural South Korea poses significant challenges to sustainable rural development, driven by declining birth rates, aging populations, and urban migration. However, effective policy implementation is hindered by the lack of understanding of the negative externalities caused by abandoned houses. This study fills this gap by estimating the negative externalities associated with abandoned rural houses using discrete choice experiments. Surveys targeting individuals planning rural relocations and potential tourists considering rural stays were conducted to quantify the external costs. Our findings reveal that the marginal willingness to pay associated with abandoned houses is negative and decreases with an increasing number of abandoned houses nearby, both in the context of house purchases and rural stays. Extrapolating these results to the national level, we estimate the aggregate negative externalities value to be approximately 4.2 trillion KRW per year, highlighting significant negative externalities in rural areas nationwide. The implications of our analysis underscore the severity of negative externalities from abandoned houses, which may surpass the value of housing services, discourage migration, and prompt residents to leave rural communities, thus exacerbating the issue. Our study emphasizes the necessity for further research and policy interventions to address the negative externalities associated with abandoned rural houses, offering insights into the potential use of discrete choice experiments in similar contexts. Full article

The Syrian war, which commenced in 2011, transformed the Damascus real estate market due to heightened insecurity and tenure disputes. Using the hedonic price models, including 2411 housing transactions over the period 2010–2022, this study aims to understand the spatial dynamics of the real estate market in wartime. Our findings indicate that war variables have had a significant impact on the differentiation of property prices. Notably, property attributes have a more substantial impact on real estate values than district location, with severely damaged buildings in Damascus City resulting in an 89% decline in prices, while prices in Rural Damascus districts have decreased by 50%. Additionally, this study examines the urban texture of Damascus using correlation and homogeneity statistics derived from the gray-level co-occurrence matrix obtained from Google Earth Engine. Our findings show that correlations were highly differentiated, particularly among Rural Damascus districts, with a total decline of 87.2%. While homogeneity values decreased overall between 2015 and 2019, they improved slightly after 2019. This study guides decision makers in mitigating severe property value variations across war-affected urban areas by fostering spatial justice in property rights and promoting balanced investment and sustainable real estate development during the post-war recovery phase. Full article