Search Results (155)

Healthy soils are an essential ingredient of land systems and ongoing global change. Urbanization as a global change process often works through the lens of urban planning, which involves urban agriculture, urban greening, and leveraging nature-based solutions to promote resilient cities. Yet, urbanization frequently leads to soil erosion. Despite recognition of this tension, the rate at which the urban growth boundary accelerates soil erosion above natural background levels has not yet been determined. Our goal here is to provide a first broad estimate of urbanization’s impact of soil erosion. By combining data on modern erosion levels with techniques for estimating long-term natural erosion rates through cosmogenic nuclide ¹⁰Be analysis, we modeled the impact of urbanization on erosion across a range of cities in different global climates, revealing an acceleration of soil erosion ~7–19x in environments with mean annual precipitation <1500 mm; growth in wetter urban centers accelerated soil erosion ~23–72x. We tested our statistical model by comparing natural erosion rates to decades of monitoring soil erosion on the margins of Phoenix, USA. A century-long expansion of Phoenix accelerated soil erosion by ~12x, an estimate that is roughly at the mid-point of model projections for drier global cities. In addition to urban planning implications of being able to establish a baseline target of natural rates of soil erosion, our findings support the urban cycle of soil erosion theory for the two USA National Science Foundation urban long-term ecological research areas of Baltimore and Phoenix. Full article

Semantic change detection technology based on remote sensing data holds significant importance for urban and rural planning decisions and the monitoring of ground objects. However, simple convolutional networks are limited by the receptive field, cannot fully capture detailed semantic information, and cannot effectively perceive subtle changes and constrain edge information. Therefore, a dynamic graph reasoning network with layer-by-layer semantic decomposition for semantic change detection in remote sensing data is developed in response to these limitations. This network aims to understand and perceive subtle changes in the semantic content of remote sensing data from the image pixel level. On the one hand, low-level semantic information and cross-scale spatial local feature details are obtained by dividing subspaces and decomposing convolutional layers with significant kernel expansion. Semantic selection aggregation is used to enhance the characterization of global and contextual semantics. Meanwhile, the initial multi-scale local spatial semantics are screened and re-aggregated to improve the characterization of significant features. On the other hand, at the encoding stage, the weight-sharing approach is employed to align the positions of ground objects in the change area and generate more comprehensive encoding information. Meanwhile, the dynamic graph reasoning module is used to decode the encoded semantics layer by layer to investigate the hidden associations between pixels in the neighborhood. In addition, the edge constraint module is used to constrain boundary pixels and reduce semantic ambiguity. The weighted loss function supervises and optimizes each module separately to enable the network to acquire the optimal feature representation. Finally, experimental results on three open-source datasets, such as SECOND, HIUSD, and Landsat-SCD, show that the proposed method achieves good performance, with an SCD score reaching 35.65%, 98.33%, and 67.29%, respectively. Full article

The remote sensing monitoring of land use changes and future scenario simulation hold crucial significance for accurately characterizing urban expansion patterns, optimizing urban land use configurations, and thereby promoting coordinated regional development. Through the integration of multi-source data, this study systematically analyzes the spatiotemporal trajectories and driving forces of land use changes in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration (PRD) from 1990 to 2020 and further simulates the spatial patterns of urban land use under diverse development scenarios from 2025 to 2035. The results indicate the following: (1) During 1990–2020, urban expansion in the Pearl River Delta urban agglomeration exhibited a “stepwise growth” pattern, with an annual expansion rate of 3.7%. Regional land use remained dominated by forest (accounting for over 50%), while construction land surged from 6.5% to 21.8% of total land cover. The gravity center trajectory shifted southeastward. Concurrently, cropland fragmentation has intensified, accompanied by deteriorating connectivity of ecological lands. (2) Urban expansion in the PRD arises from synergistic interactions between natural and socioeconomic drivers. The Geographically and Temporally Weighted Regression (GTWR) model revealed that natural constraints—elevation (regression coefficients ranging −0.35 to −0.05) and river network density (−0.47 to −0.15)—exhibited significant spatial heterogeneity. Socioeconomic drivers dominated by year-end paved road area (0.26–0.28) and foreign direct investment (0.03–0.11) emerged as core expansion catalysts. Geographic detector analysis demonstrated pronounced interaction effects: all factor pairs exhibited either two-factor enhancement or nonlinear enhancement effects, with interaction explanatory power surpassing individual factors. (3) Validation of the Patch-generating Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model showed high reliability (Kappa coefficient = 0.9205, overall accuracy = 95.9%). Under the Natural Development Scenario, construction land would exceed the ecological security baseline, causing 408.60 km² of ecological space loss; Under the Ecological Protection Scenario, mandatory control boundaries could reduce cropland and forest loss by 3.04%, albeit with unused land development intensity rising to 24.09%; Under the Economic Development Scenario, cross-city contiguous development zones along the Pearl River Estuary would emerge, with land development intensity peaking in Guangzhou–Foshan and Shenzhen–Dongguan border areas. This study deciphers the spatiotemporal dynamics, driving mechanisms, and scenario outcomes of urban agglomeration expansion, providing critical insights for formulating regionally differentiated policies. Full article

Amid intensifying global climate anomalies and accelerating urban expansion, land use systems have become increasingly dynamic, complex, and uncertain. Accurately predicting and scientifically evaluating the evolution of land use patterns is essential to advancing territorial spatial governance and achieving ecological security goals. However, most existing land use models emphasize quantity forecasting and spatial allocation, while overlooking the third critical dimension—structural complexity, which is essential for understanding the nonlinear, fragmented evolution of urban systems, thus limiting their ability to fully capture the evolutionary characteristics of urban land systems. To address this gap, this study proposes an integrated SD-PLUS-FD model, which combines System Dynamics, Patch-based Land Use Simulation, and Fractal Dimension analysis to construct a comprehensive three-dimensional framework for simulating and evaluating land use patterns in terms of quantity, spatial distribution, and structural complexity. Wuhan is selected as the case study area, with simulations conducted under three IPCC-aligned climate scenarios—SSP1-2.6, SSP2-4.5, and SSP5-8.5—to project land use changes by 2030. The SD model demonstrates robust predictive performance, with an overall error of less than ±5%, while the PLUS model achieves high spatial accuracy (average Kappa >0.7996; average overall accuracy >0.8856). Fractal dimension analysis further reveals that since 2000, the spatial boundary complexity of all land use types—except forest land—has generally shown an upward trend across multiple scenarios, highlighting the increasingly nonlinear and fragmented nature of urban expansion. The FD values for construction land and cultivated land declined to their historical low in 2005, then gradually increased, reaching their peak under the SSP1-2.6 scenario. Notably, the increase in FD for construction land was significantly greater than that for cultivated land, indicating a stronger dynamic response in spatial structural evolution. In contrast, forest land exhibited pronounced scenario-dependent variations in FD. Its structural complexity remained generally stable under all scenarios except SSP5-8.5, reflecting higher structural resilience and boundary adaptability under diverse socioclimatic conditions. The SD-PLUS-FD model effectively reveals how land systems respond to different socioclimatic drivers in both spatial and structural dimensions. This three-dimensional framework reveals how land systems respond to socioclimatic drivers across temporal, spatial, and structural scales, offering strategic insights for climate-resilient planning and optimized land resource management in rapidly urbanizing regions. Full article

Urban expansion threatens sustainable development in densely populated countries like Bangladesh. This study aims to quantitatively identify and evaluate the key drivers influencing the spatial distribution of urban surfaces (SDUS) in Chattogram City, providing insights into urban growth patterns over 30 years. Using Landsat 5 and 9 imageries, the Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI) was computed for 1993 and 2023 to map urban surface changes. A total of 16 geospatial variables representing potential drivers were analyzed. Four statistical and machine learning methods, including GeoDetector, Distributed Random Forest (DRF), global Geographically Weighted Random Forest (GWRF), and local GWRF, were employed to quantify individual and interactive influences on SDUS. The Geodetector analysis identified the central business district (CBD) as the most influential driver of urban surface distribution, with a q statistic of 0.22, followed by river proximity (q = 0.14) and administrative boundaries (q = 0.13). Across all models, CBD consistently ranked as a dominant factor. In the Distributed Random Forest (DRF) model, CBD showed the highest importance score (0.57), followed by coastlines (0.35) and rivers (0.35). The DRF model achieved the highest performance (R² = 0.612), outperforming the global GWRF (R² = 0.59) and local GWRF (R² = 0.529). Although variables like the proximity of administrative location and forests have low individual impacts, they show a stronger coupled influence. This industrial port-based economy expanded, facing challenges of uncontrolled urbanization, poor governance, and environmental issues. Promoting mixed land use planning, decentralizing urban governance, and improving coordination among implementing agencies may better resolve these issues. This work may help planners and policymakers in planning future cities and developing policies to promote sustainable urban growth. Full article

With the rapid expansion of urban underground spaces, safety concerns related to ascending evacuation have become increasingly critical, particularly for children, who are more susceptible to fatigue than adults. However, most existing research focuses on adults and overlooks the unique needs of children. This study investigated two key fatigue-related factors, evacuation height and body mass index (BMI), to construct a predictive model of children’s fatigue levels and proposed a non-invasive, code-compliant assistive solution integrated into underground fire escape stairways. Data were collected from 41 child participants during an ascending evacuation under simulated emergency conditions using real-time heart rate monitoring and video analysis. Statistical correlation and regression modeling revealed a significant positive correlation between evacuation height and heart rate (p < 0.01). Female participants exhibited higher mean heart rates and greater variability, with a strong positive correlation between BMI and heart rate observed in females (p < 0.01). Regression analysis showed that heart rate increased with BMI but plateaued in the obese group. These findings demonstrate that evacuation height and BMI significantly influence children’s fatigue levels. Based on these physiological insights, this study proposes a non-invasive architectural intervention to enhance children’s evacuation performance, offering practical guidance for the design of intelligent evacuation systems. Furthermore, it provides theoretical support for child-centered assistive design and safety improvement within the boundaries of current fire protection codes. Full article

Contemporary metropolises, particularly those in the Global South, grapple with the complex challenge of balancing urban development with environmental conservation. In such contexts, forest remnants often face constant threats from illegal urban encroachment and insufficiently defined boundaries, which undermine conservation efforts and hinder effective legal enforcement. This study explores cost-efficient, geographic-information-technology-driven solutions to improve the management of conservation units and incorporate them into cities’ multipurpose land cadastres. By employing tools such as a remotely piloted aircraft, total stations, and GNSS receivers, this work highlights the pivotal role of geotechnologies in safeguarding the urban natural heritage. These technologies not only address the pressures of urban expansion but also enable continuous monitoring and impact assessment through geographical information systems (GISs). To illustrate these applications, this study examines a case study from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, the Darke de Mattos Municipal Park, to demonstrate how accurate geographic data can significantly enhance planning and management efforts while maintaining cost-effectiveness. Full article

Spatially uneven urbanization shapes various urban-lake spatial patterns; however, the effect of pattern evolution on lake breeze front (LBF) penetration via thermal and aerodynamic mechanisms in inland multi-lake megacities remains unclear. Therefore, sensitivity experiments were conducted to examine LBF changes over the past 40 years in Wuhan, China—where lakes are located on the periphery of built-up areas or integrated with urban fabrics—using the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model under high-temperature and weak-wind conditions. Moreover, we quantified the contributions of thermal (lake-land surface temperature differences (LSTD), urban heat island intensity (UHII)), and aerodynamic factors (lake-land surface roughness differences (LSRD)) to LBF penetration. The results showed that for lakes entirely within urban fabrics, the thermal and roughness characteristics at lake-land interfaces dominated LBF penetration. Specifically, urban expansion towards lakeshores without connections promoted LBF penetration due to the stronger positive benefits of the LSTD. However, urban expansion bordering lakeshores inhibited LBF penetration, as the inhibitory effects of LSRD outweighed those of LSTD. When lakes remained on the periphery of built-up areas, higher UHII and the UHII-weighted center moving towards suburban lakes accelerated the LBF movement into built-up areas. Based on these findings, we propose adaptive strategies for urban growth boundaries to facilitate the natural infiltration of LBFs into urban environments. Full article

Increasing anthropogenic disturbance in urban areas and the expansion of built-up zones into surrounding rural landscapes represent one of the most significant spatial and ecological challenges of recent decades. Urban expansion influences not only land use patterns but also the ecological integrity and naturalness of the landscape. In the present study, anthropogenic landscape change trends and changes in land cover categories were investigated within the current administrative boundaries of Nyíregyháza, a county seat located in northeastern Hungary. Using data from the CORINE Land Cover program (1990, 2000, 2012, 2018) and historical military surveys (1819–1869), landscape development trends within the municipality were examined over the past one and a half centuries. Particular attention was focused on examining changes in the extent of built-up areas, which are among the most concerning from a landscape ecological perspective. By comparing the results with data from other Hungarian cities (Debrecen and Szeged), a significant increase—nearly 20%—in built-up areas was identified. The proportion of built-up areas in relation to the total municipal administrative area increased in all the periods studied, even in those where the population was decreasing. This indicates that even in municipalities experiencing demographic decline, internal population redistribution may lead to the spatial growth of certain neighborhoods, which are the primary contributors to the expansion of built-up urban areas. Finally, based on CORINE Land Cover data, the ecological conditions of Nyíregyháza were assessed, and a hemeroby map of the municipality was created, reflecting landscape changes that occurred between 1990 and 2018. It was found that over a 28-year period, the total area of the most ecologically problematic meta- and polyhemerobic categories increased by 6%, in parallel with the growth of built-up areas. Full article

Traditional Japanese architecture is known for its open, ambiguous spatial boundaries (“kyokai”), which integrate nature and dwelling through Zen/Shinto philosophies. Yet modern urban housing, driven by high-density minimalism, flattens spatial hierarchies and erodes these rich boundary concepts. This study aims to explore how Japanese architect Yoshiji Takehara reinterprets traditional spatial principles to reconstruct the interior–exterior relationships in modern housing through a mixed-methods approach—including a literature review, case studies, and semi-structured interviews—verifying the hypothesis that he achieves the modern translation of traditional “kyokai” through strategies of boundary expansion and ambiguity. Analyzing 78 independent residential projects by Takehara and incorporating his interview texts, the research employs spatial typology and statistical methods to quantify the characteristics of boundary configurations, such as building contour morphology, opening orientations, and transitional space types, to reveal the internal logic of his design strategies. This study identifies two core strategies through which Takehara redefines spatial boundaries: firstly, clustered building layouts, multi-directional openings, and visual connections between courtyards and private functional spaces extend interface areas, enhancing interactions between nature and daily life; secondly, in-between spaces like corridors and doma (earthen-floored transitional zones), double-layered fixtures, and floor-level variations blur physical and psychological boundaries, creating multilayered permeability. Case studies demonstrate that his designs not only inherit traditional elements such as indented plans and semi-outdoor buffers but also revitalize the essence of “dwelling” through contemporary expressions, achieving dynamic visual experiences and poetic inhabitation within limited sites via complex boundary configurations and fluid thresholds. This research provides reusable boundary design strategies for high-density urban housing, such as multi-directional openings and buffer space typologies, and fills a research gap in the systematic translation of traditional “kyokai” theory into modern architecture, offering new insights for reconstructing the natural connection in residential spaces. Full article

Monitoring the variation of urban expansion is crucial for sustainable urban planning and cultural heritage management. This paper proposes an approach for the semantic segmentation of very-high-resolution (VHR) satellite imagery to detect the changes in urban sprawl in the surroundings of Chan Chan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Peru. This study explores the effectiveness of combining Mix Transformer encoders with U-Net architectures to improve feature extraction and spatial context understanding in VHR satellite imagery. The integration of active contour loss functions further enhances the model’s ability to delineate complex urban boundaries, addressing the challenges posed by the heterogeneous landscape surrounding the archaeological complex of Chan Chan. The results demonstrate that the proposed approach achieves accurate semantic segmentation on images of the study area from different years. Quantitative results showed that the U-Net-scse model with an MiTB5 encoder achieved the best performance with respect to SegFormer and FT-UNet-Former, with IoU scores of 0.8288 on OpenEarthMap and 0.6743 on Chan Chan images. Qualitative analysis revealed the model’s effectiveness in segmenting buildings across diverse urban and rural environments in Peru. Utilizing this approach for monitoring urban expansion over time can enable managers to make informed decisions aimed at preserving cultural heritage and promoting sustainable urban development. Full article

With the rise of the sharing economy and the concept of the sharing city, the field of urban renewal is facing new opportunities and challenges. This paper innovatively explores built heritage renewal in central Shanghai from the perspective of the sharing economy, focusing on the evolution of plot morphology and associated design strategies. Six representative cases, selected within the framework of three urban renewal policies from 1999 to the present, are analyzed using a diachronic method based on the Conzen school and the street frontage index. Combined with historical maps, aerial photographs, and satellite images, the paper analyzes the changes in plot morphology from 1999 to 2024. The paper highlights how the introduction of sharing city principles significantly impacted plot morphology, facilitating the expansion and diversification of space use and driving the restructuring of plot boundaries, including physical, property, and activity boundaries. The study further reveals how the shared city concept has led to the emergence of privately owned public spaces. Additionally, the paper discusses the pursuit of flow, openness, and sharing in urban renewal, noting how these factors have shifted the focus from purely rentable and sellable areas to more efficient space resource allocation, optimizing spatial configurations. Finally, the paper introduces the concept of “sharing by transfer”, proposing that adjustments to plot boundaries under the sharing economy framework can foster more equitable, efficient, and sustainable urban renewal, providing new perspectives and strategic recommendations for built heritage renewal. Full article

With the intensification of global climate change, the frequent occurrence of typhoon disaster events has become a great challenge to the sustainable development of cities around the world; thus, it is of great significance to carry out the assessment of typhoon-directed economic losses. Typhoon disaster loss assessment faces key challenges, including complex regional environments, scarce historical data, difficulties in multi-source heterogeneous data fusion, and challenges in quantifying assessment uncertainties. Meanwhile, existing studies often overlook the complex relationship between the spatial expansion of urban and rural construction (SEURC) and typhoon disaster losses, particularly their differential manifestations across different regions and disaster intensities. To address these issues, this study proposes CLPFT (Comprehensive Uncertainty Assessment Framework for Typhoon), an innovative assessment framework integrating prototype learning and uncertainty quantification through a UProtoMLP neural network. Results demonstrate three key findings: (1) By introducing prototype learning, a meta-learning approach, to guide model updates, we achieved precise assessments with small training samples, attaining an MAE of 1.02, representing 58.5–76.1% error reduction compared to conventional machine learning algorithms. This reveals that implicitly classifying typhoon disaster loss types through prototype learning can significantly improve assessment accuracy in data-scarce scenarios. (2) By designing a dual-path uncertainty quantification mechanism, we realized high-reliability risk assessment, with 95.45% of actual loss values falling within predicted confidence intervals (theoretical expectation: 95%). This demonstrates that the dual-path uncertainty quantification mechanism can provide statistically credible risk boundaries for disaster prevention decisions, significantly enhancing the practical utility of assessment results. (3) Further investigation through controlling dynamic assessment factors revealed significant regional heterogeneity in the relationship between SEURC and directed economic losses. Furthermore, the study found that when typhoon intensity reaches a critical value, the relationship shifts from negative to positive correlation. This indicates that typhoon disaster loss assessment should consider the interaction between urban resilience and typhoon intensity, providing important implications for disaster prevention and mitigation decisions. This paper provides a more comprehensive and accurate assessment method for evaluating typhoon disaster-directed economic losses and offers a scientific reference for determining the influencing factors of typhoon-directed economic loss assessments. Full article

Urban development boundaries are efficient tools for coordinating urban–rural relations and ensuring sustainable development. From 2000 to 2020, the expansion rate of the built-up area in cities and towns throughout China reached 177%, far exceeding the urban population growth rate of 96.5% in the same period. As this spatial expansion seems to continue, there is a need to intervene and control urban boundaries. We believe using the urban–rural integration perspective to set (or reset) and maintain urban development boundaries will help manage urban expansion more effectively than present methods. This research, therefore, develops an urban development boundary delineation method from a macroscopic view for China. A new model for defining boundaries was developed based on the four dimensions of urban–rural interaction: economic demand, environmental protection, urban carrying capacity, and urban development resistance. And an empirical study was conducted in Guiyang City as an example. The results show that the resultant urban boundary can provide a more comprehensive and realistic growth model than current methods, making it more applicable for controlling and fostering sustainable urban and rural development. Full article

Urbanization-driven land use and cover change intensifies the competition for limited land resources, exacerbating spatial conflicts and challenging sustainable development, particularly in rapidly urbanizing regions. This study focuses on the delineation and coordination of territorial space functional zones, addressing conflicts arising from rapid urbanization and the multifunctionality of land resources. By integrating land suitability evaluation, spatial simulation, and spatial overlay analysis, this paper delineates three functional zones and three types of conflicts for 2035: a farmland protection zone, an ecological protection zone, and an urban development zone, and construction–farmland conflicts, construction–ecological conflicts, and farmland–ecological conflicts. A suboptimal equilibrium boundary is proposed to resolve conflicts by balancing the economic output price and the ecological service price of agricultural land against construction land prices. The results show that the optimized urban construction land (632.50 km²) is significantly smaller than that resulting from the planned 1.3-fold expansion, indicating that the original coefficient is unreasonable. Post-coordination, FPZ, and EPZ areas were adjusted to 1136.72 km² and 295.15 km², respectively, prioritizing food security and ecological conservation. The findings highlight the need for collaborative urban planning to mitigate spatial conflicts and manage the compounded effects of urbanization and land resource competition. This paper provides a quantitative framework for resolving space conflicts, offering insights for sustainable territorial planning and management. Full article