Search Results (74)

Urban population growth is intensifying pressure on mobility systems, with road transportation contributing to environmental and sustainability challenges. Policymakers must navigate complex uncertainties in addressing rising mobility demand while pursuing sustainability goals. Advanced technologies offer promise, but their real-world effectiveness in urban contexts remains underexplored. This meta-review comprised three complementary studies: a broad analysis of sustainable mobility with Norwegian case studies, and systematic literature reviews on digital twins and Big Data/AI applications in urban mobility, covering the period of 2019–2024. Using structured criteria, we synthesised findings from 72 relevant articles to identify major trends, limitations, and opportunities. The findings show that mobility policies often prioritise technocentric solutions that unintentionally hinder sustainability goals. Digital twins show potential for traffic simulation, urban planning, and public engagement, while machine learning techniques support traffic forecasting and multimodal integration. However, persistent challenges include data interoperability, model validation, and insufficient stakeholder engagement. We identify a hierarchy of mobility modes where public transit and active mobility outperform private vehicles in sustainability and user satisfaction. Integrating electrification and automation and sharing models with data-informed governance can enhance urban liveability. We propose actionable pathways leveraging Big Data and AI, outlining the roles of various stakeholders in advancing sustainable urban mobility futures. Full article

Understanding the complexity of urban systems remains a significant challenge for researchers and practitioners in urban planning and governance. Cities function as multifaceted systems composed of interconnected subsystems with nonlinear interactions, making the design of effective interventions to enhance sustainability and liveability particularly challenging. Spatial modelling has gained prominence in recent decades, fuelled by advances in digital technologies and the advent of digital twins as decision support tools. To fully harness these innovations, it is essential to grasp their underlying principles, strengths, and limitations, and to select the most suitable modelling approach for specific applications. This paper examines two contrasting spatial modelling paradigms: top-down and bottom-up. Specifically, it focuses on Space Syntax and Agent-Based Modelling as representative tools of each approach, analyzing their potential applications in urban planning. This discussion delves into the effectiveness of the proposed methodologies in analyzing crime dynamics—selected as a representative application field—at the micro-urban scale. It highlights the insights each approach offers, emphasizing their contributions to understanding the spatial and environmental factors influencing crime patterns. Finally, this paper explores the potential for integrating these methodologies to develop hybrid models that capture both spatial structure and emergent behaviours, offering enhanced support for sustainable urban policies and planning. Full article

Modern cities are rapidly evolving in terms of urban morphology, driven by exponential population growth that accelerates the urbanisation process. The changes in land use have increased urban area and density, intensifying the urban heat island (UHI) effect, which poses one of the biggest threats to human health and well-being, especially in metropolitan regions. One of the most effective strategies to counter urban heat is the implementation of green infrastructure and the use of suitable building materials that help reduce heat stress. However, access to green spaces and the affordability of efficient building materials are not the same among citizens. This paper aims to identify the socio-economic characteristics of communities in Melbourne, Australia, that contribute to their vulnerability to urban heat under local conditions. This study employs remote sensing and geographical information systems (GIS) to conduct a macro-scale analysis, to investigate the correlation between urban heat patterns and socio-economic characteristics, taking into account factors such as vegetation cover, built-up areas, and land use types. The results from the satellite images and the geospatial data reveal that Deer Park, located in the western suburbs of Melbourne, has the highest land surface temperature (LST) at 32.54 °C, a UHI intensity of 1.84 °C, a normalised difference vegetation index (NDVI) of 0.11, and a normalised difference moisture index (NDMI) of −0.081. The LST and UHI intensity indicate a strong negative correlation with the NDVI (r = −0.42) and NDMI (r = −0.6). In contrast, the NDVI and NDMI have a positive correlation with the index of economic resources (IER) with r values of 0.29 and 0.24, indicating that the areas with better finance resources tend to have better vegetation coverage or plant health with less water stress, leading to lower LST and UHI intensity. This study helps to identify the most critical areas in the Greater Melbourne region that are vulnerable to the risk of urban heat and extreme heat events, providing insights for the local city councils to develop effective mitigation strategies and urban development policies that promote a more sustainable and liveable community. Full article

This study investigates the role of digital technologies, specifically Building Information Modelling (BIM) and City Information Modelling (CIM), in sustainable urban renewal. The study reviews the literature on urban renewal and the application of BIM and CIM technologies. The findings show that digital technologies play a crucial role in facilitating the flow and sharing of information, improving the transparency of decision-making, and enhancing public participation. The study emphasises the need for interdisciplinary collaboration and technological innovation to achieve more sustainable and liveable urban environments. Full article

Rapid urbanization presents significant challenges in energy consumption, noise control, and environmental sustainability. Smart cities aim to address these issues by leveraging information technologies to enhance operational efficiency and urban liveability. In this context, urban sound recognition supports environmental monitoring and public safety. This study provides a comparative evaluation of three machine learning models—convolutional neural networks (CNNs), long short-term memory (LSTM), and dense neural networks (Dense)—for classifying urban sounds. The analysis used the UrbanSound8K dataset, a static dataset designed for environmental sound classification, with mel-frequency cepstral coefficients (MFCCs) applied to extract core sound features. The models were tested in a fog computing architecture on AWS to simulate a smart city environment, chosen for its potential to reduce latency and optimize bandwidth for future real-time sound-recognition applications. Although real-time data were not used, the simulated setup effectively assessed model performance under conditions relevant to smart city applications. According to macro and weighted F1-score metrics, the CNN model achieved the highest accuracy at 90%, followed by the Dense model at 84% and the LSTM model at 81%, with the LSTM model showing limitations in distinguishing overlapping sound categories. These simulations demonstrated the framework’s capacity to enable efficient urban sound recognition within a fog-enabled architecture, underscoring its potential for real-time environmental monitoring and public safety applications. Full article

The utilization of contemporary technology enhances the efficiency of parking resource management, contributing to more liveable and sustainable cities. In response to the growing challenges of urbanization, intelligent parking systems have emerged as a crucial solution for optimizing parking management, reducing traffic congestion, and minimizing pollution. The primary aim of this study is to present the concept of the developed web application that supports finding available parking spaces, embodied in the SPARK system (Smart Parking Assistance and Resource Knowledge). The integration of the YOLOv9 (You Only Look Once) segmentation algorithm with Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) optimization, combined with the use of crowdsourced data and deep learning for image analysis, significantly enhances the SPARK system’s operational efficiency. It enables rapid and precise detection of available parking spaces while ensuring robustness and continuous improvement. The accuracy of detecting available parking spaces in the presented system, estimated at 87.33%, is satisfactory compared to similar studies worldwide. Full article

The rapid pace of urbanisation has heightened the need for sustainable urban regeneration projects on a global scale. These projects primarily aim to address the increasing demand for buildings and to cultivate liveable urban environments. Over the years, a substantial amount of data has been collected and analysed as a result of various urban regeneration efforts. These data indicate that the success of urban transformation is influenced by a wide range of interconnected factors rather than the mere creation of new areas to meet demand. The primary objective of this study is to carry out a comprehensive and systematic literature review that assesses the effectiveness of sustainable urban regeneration (SUR) projects. This review examines a range of existing factors, including policies, management practices, and economic considerations, while also highlighting frequently overlooked elements such as climate change. Moreover, the study investigates how these factors influence the success of SUR initiatives and seeks to identify their overall impact on the effectiveness of such projects. Specifically, it explores the common challenges encountered, the criteria for performance evaluation, and the strategies that lead to successful SUR projects while emphasising their interconnections. An in-depth assessment of urban regeneration projects is provided, focusing on performance indicators across multiple dimensions: social, cultural, economic, environmental, and physical. A novel organisation involving all stakeholders and addressing climate change is also proposed to ensure the success of the SUR projects. Lastly, the findings highlight existing gaps in the current literature, offering valuable insights for future research and identifying potential directions for further exploration. Full article

Urban growth is vast in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) due to economic development, and there is a need to consider liveability and sustainable ecosystems for future urban expansion. Promising strategies for sustainability focus on minimizing a building’s effects on the environment and improving residents’ quality of life, which is important in the desert and when confronting the issues of water and climate change. Sustainable practices that impact the livelihood of people in the UAE include factors such as walkable areas, open space, policing, healthcare, education, housing, and ensuring friendly transport that enhance the overall quality of life of residents in the region. Recognizing and appreciating the UAE’s cultural values is crucial when incorporating these aspects, allowing references to the nation’s character when creating communal areas. The primary research included quantitative surveys of three identified communities, composed of fifty participants each, where the findings indicate partial to full compliance, with 85.7% of the liveability indices being about public transport and green space. Through this analysis, liveability and sustainability principles need to be trialed and incorporated into future urban development to embrace the ecology as well as the inhabitants. To realize these targets, the proposed study adopted a four-part approach. Initially, an analysis of related studies concerning the UAE or the Gulf area was carried out to obtain important liveability and quality-of-life factors. A total of 6 dimensions and 51 indicators were extracted from the literature to inform the next stage. Subsequently, the authors identified and evaluated the design of three chosen communities in various cities in the UAE concerning liveability and sustainability indices. Consequently, a conceptual redesign of a typical community was made, illustrating the improved quality of life and sustainability. Lastly, a survey with respective facets from an urban planning architect and environmental scientist cum environmental economist was conducted to evaluate the practicality of the proposed design. This research gives a comprehensive picture of how liveability and sustainable ecosystem concepts need to be implemented in the UAE urban context and offers a direction to develop lively, context-specific, culturally attached, and sustainable urban environments for the present day and for the future. Full article

People responsible for shaping the future of cities often seek valuable tools to assist in their decision-making processes. Using objective, quantified, and analysed data proves highly beneficial when determining where to focus interventions at the city level. Various urban indexes have been established to measure different aspects of urban life, ranging from sustainability to liveability. These indexes encompass multiple dimensions of a city, including mobility and walkability, among others. The age-friendly cities initiative developed indicators for assessing the age-friendliness of cities. Some researchers further refined these indicators to focus on urban planning competencies. Building on this foundation, this article aims to present an Age-Friendly Neighbourhood Index (AFNI) validated by a panel of experts using the Delphi method. This index can serve as a valuable tool for urban planners when they need to prioritise interventions to enhance age-friendliness at neighbourhood scale. The article also outlines the necessary data and measurement techniques for these indicators. The AFNI has been applied to a real case study in the city of Santander (Spain). This application assesses the age-friendliness of various neighbourhoods in Santander, demonstrating the challenges in acquiring sub-local quality data and emphasising the need for data-driven urban management. Full article

The densification of urban spaces globally has contributed to a need for design tools supporting the planning of more sustainable, efficient, and liveable cities. Urban Design Optimisation (UDO) responds to this challenge by providing a means to explore many design solutions for a district, evaluate multiple objectives, and make informed selections from many Pareto-efficient solutions. UDO distinguishes itself from other forms of design optimisation by addressing the challenges of incorporating a wide range of planning goals, managing the complex interactions among various urban datasets, and considering the social–technical aspects of urban planning involving multiple stakeholders. Previous reviews focusing on specific topics within UDO do not sufficiently address these challenges. This PRISMA systematic literature review provides an overview of research on topics related to UDO from 2012 to 2022, with articles analysed across seven descriptive categories. This paper presents a discussion on the state-of-the-art and identified gaps present in each of the seven categories. Finally, this paper argues that additional research to improve the socio-technical understanding and usability of UDO would require: (i) methods of optimisation across multiple models, (ii) interfaces that address a multiplicity of stakeholders, (iii) exploration of frameworks for scenario building and backcasting, and (iv) advancing AI applications for UDO, including generalizable surrogates and user preference learning. Full article

Background: Urban sprawl adversely effects the sustainability of urban environments by promoting private vehicle use, decreasing the viability of active/public transport, and increasing the cost of public service provision. Autonomous vehicles could change the desirability of different residential locations due to resulting changes to urban design and decreased value of travel time. Methods: Adult Australians (n = 1078) completed an online survey that included a description of a future where autonomous vehicles are widely available. The respondents reported anticipated changes in residential location in this autonomous future. Frequency analyses were conducted, and three logistic generalised linear models were run to identify factors associated with staying in the same area or moving to higher- or lower-density locations. Results: Autonomous vehicles are likely to have mixed effects on people’s desired residential locations. Most respondents (84%) elected not to move location, 11% intended to move to lower-density locations, and 6% to higher density locations. Reasons for moving included a desire for more space, the ease of travelling in urban areas, and the reduced value of travel time. Conclusion: The introduction of autonomous vehicles will need to be managed to avoid fostering increased urban sprawl and the associated negative consequences. Strategies that increase the liveability of higher density urban environments are likely to discourage urban sprawl in a future characterised by autonomous transport options. Full article

This study explores the concept of sustainable placemaking from a spatial planning perspective, focusing on Marabastad, a township in South Africa. Drawing on the New Urban Agenda and Sustainable Development Goals, this research seeks to understand how placemaking can contribute to the creation of liveable, resilient, and sustainable human settlements. Through a review of the placemaking literature and a case study, this study examines the evolution of placemaking towards sustainability and its application in diverse cultural, geographic, and socio-economic contexts. The findings reveal the importance of creating and enhancing places that are environmentally responsible, socially inclusive, economically viable, and culturally meaningful. The Marabastad case study illustrates the challenges and possibilities of sustainable placemaking in a multicultural and urbanising community. Economic interventions (e.g., tourism promotion and community markets), social interventions (e.g., education and community events), and environmental interventions (e.g., infrastructure upgrades and preservation of cultural sites) are proposed to address the complex challenges faced by Marabastad. This study emphasises the role of spatial planners in advancing theories and practises of sustainable placemaking, highlighting the need for context-specific approaches to promote inclusive and resilient urban environments. Full article

Urban mobility is a critical aspect of sustainable urban development, with significant environmental, social, and economic implications. Assessing the sustainability of urban mobility systems in order to create more carbon neutral, liveable, healthier, and sustainable cities and neighborhoods for the future requires a multidimensional approach that integrates diverse factors. However, the lack of a unified assessment framework poses challenges in comparing and evaluating different urban mobility projects. This article proposes an ontology for assessing the sustainability of urban mobility systems. This ontology is based on a multidimensional approach that integrates knowledge from experts in transportation engineering, urban planning, environmental science, and social sciences to incorporate existing sustainability indicators and frameworks, as well as domain-specific knowledge. A consensus approach based on Dempster–Shäfer (DS) and Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) methods is proposed to account for uncertainties and to allow for the consideration of preferences and ill judgment. Through a case study in Romania, the authors demonstrated the applicability of the proposal to provide a comprehensive and flexible framework for assessing urban mobility sustainability. The proposed ontology provides a valuable tool for policymakers, urban planners, and transportation engineers to make informed decisions towards sustainable urban mobility, and the sensitivity analysis is carried out to demonstrate the robustness of the proposed framework. It has potential for iterative validation and feedback from domain experts, and can serve as a foundation for future research. Full article

Urban parks, integral to city life, have long contributed to the well-being of residents through various ecosystem services. Previous studies consistently highlighted unequal park distribution and access, and the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated these disparities. From a spatial justice perspective, this review examines urban parks’ roles during the pandemic, the impact on equity and access, and how evolving park usage characteristics inform future management challenges. Analysing 53 peer-reviewed studies and 11 online materials from January 2020 to April 2023, this review reveals a significant increase in park visitors during the pandemic, causing challenges in accommodating the surge due to lockdown measures. The findings underscore physical and social justice dimensions, revealing disparities in park access during COVID-19. These challenges prompt reevaluating urban parks’ potential for well-being and ecosystem benefits, advocating for inclusive decision-making to enhance community resilience and socialisation. The COVID-19 crisis highlighted planning and management challenges, emphasising the need for a more sustainable, liveable, and responsive approach to urban park planning. Full article

The paper adds to the debate on urban transformation, which plays a significant role in improving quality of urban life and liveability of public spaces, as also stated in UN Sustainable Development Goal No. 11. The research aims to test a methodology for identifying an abacus of urban regeneration interventions to enhance attractive and critical nodes through accessibility and inclusivity. The quality of the system of connections between polarities, the promotion of active mobility, zero soil consumption and the renaturalisation of urban spaces are fundamental criteria to define urban regeneration solutions. The proposed approach develops on two levels: a GIS-based spatial analysis of urban data and a participatory process. The innovative planning process is tested on the San Leonardo neighbourhood in the Municipality of Parma, Italy, which allows us to verify the potentials and limitations of the procedure, identifying future work perspectives. Moreover, the application allows us to check the replicability in other urban contexts, possibly envisaging other applications to more case studies. Our results consist of the identification of the vocations and the critical aspects of nodes and axes to regenerate urban space in medium-sized and large cities’ suburbs. Full article