Search Results (9)

This study explores sustainable housing solutions for urban areas in the Galapagos Islands, aiming to balance human needs with ecosystem preservation by fostering co-habitation between local communities and native species. Recognising the ecological importance of the Galapagos and the challenges posed by human-driven urban expansion, the research focuses on Puerto Ayora as a case study. It addresses material and spatial configurations that support key species such as giant tortoises, land iguanas, and sea lions. Computational strategies and simulations are employed to guide architectural, structural, and material decisions, including the use of evolutionary algorithms and selection strategies based on environmental performance metrics such as temperature, humidity, and solar radiation. These algorithms enhance architectural performance, facilitating co-habitation between humans and animals, with an emphasis on modularity and adaptability in architectural morphology. The results indicate that current configurations meet the habitat requirements for giant tortoises year-round. However, adjustments are needed for other species during specific months. The study also highlights bioceramic as a novel material for environmentally aligned construction in restricted environments. Limitations include focusing only on keystone species, with recommendations for future research to address the multispecies impact and integrate desalination and waste management systems for extracting the primary chemical component of bioceramic. This work advances the understanding of multispecies architectural design in ecologically sensitive regions, positioning the Galapagos as a model for sustainable co-habitation in conservation-focused development. Full article

Due to a lack of guidance in urban systems thinking, China’s rapid urbanization has intensified the interactions and coercive effects between the various urban space subsystems. As a result, “urban diseases” such as environmental pollution, frequent earthquakes, and unbalanced urban–rural development have spread. As a complex giant system, the exploration of urban resilience enhancement is critical to ensuring the joint spatial development of cities and towns. Based on the PSR model, this study screens 38 indicators in five levels of the natural-material-economic-social-intelligent regulation subsystem of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area urban giant system, and constructs a multi-source data resilience assessment framework. Likewise, it employs the Geodetector model to investigate the key factors impacting the resilience mechanism. The results demonstrate that: (1) between 2011 and 2020, the overall resilience in the Hubei section of the Three Gorges Reservoir Area increased from low to high and the coupled characterization of the “pressure-state-response” increased at different rates, with the state layer increasing the most; (2) the frequency of geological hazards, urbanization rate, and total number of early warning and monitoring of geological hazards are the key factors that contribute to changes in spatial resilience; (3) enhanced resilience is the result of the synergistic effects of different driving factors. Our model is used to assess the resilience of the urban system, assisting decision-makers in planning strategies to respond to urban system problems effectively and improve urban resilience. Full article

Giant urban rail transit (GURT) systems have been formed in many metropolises and play a critical role in addressing serious traffic congestion. Unfortunately, as a dynamic and complex system, the vulnerability of GURT networks under various failure scenarios will be more prominent as the network expansion continues. Thus, it is imperative to explore the complex structural characteristics of the network and improve the ability to deal with the disturbance of emergencies. In this study, the destruction resistance of GURT networks with scale growth is illustrated from a vulnerability perspective. Specifically, taking Shanghai rail transit (SHRT) system as an example, the network topology model is constructed using the Space L method, and the network structure characteristics are analyzed based on the complex network theory. In addition, five attack strategies are developed to represent random and targeted attacks during the simulation of network failure, and two metrics are determined to evaluate the network vulnerability. Some meaningful results have been obtained: (i) The Shanghai rail transit planning network (SHRTPN) has increased the network efficiency by more than 10% over the Shanghai rail transit operating network (SHRTON) and has effectively enhanced the network destruction resistance. (ii) The SHRT network is a small-world network and shows significant vulnerability under the targeted attacks. The failure of only 3% high betweenness stations in SHRTON can lead to a 66.2% decrease in the network efficiency and a 75.8% decrease in the largest connected component (LCC) ratio. (iii) Attacking stations will cause more severe network failures than attacking edges, and it is necessary to focus on preventing catastrophic network failure caused by the critical station’s failure breaking the threshold. Finally, the strategies for improving the destruction resistance of GURT networks are proposed. The findings of this research can provide an essential reference for the rational planning, safety protection, and sustainable construction of GURT systems. Full article

The COVID-19 epidemic has caused giant influences on people’s life, and China’s communities play an important role in dealing with these major public health events (MPHEs). Community as the grassroots autonomous organization has various significant functions in intervening in MPHEs. The community intervention follows a system which directly influences the anti-epidemic effectiveness. To explore the mechanism, we devise a theoretical system for community intervention, mainly consisting of “organizational structure”, “functional performance” and “internal and external connections”. Questionnaire surveys, the chi-square test, the independent sample T-test, and principal component analysis are used to identify the characteristics of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region’s (Inner Mongolia) community intervention. Through the empirical research, it is verified that the community intervention in MPHEs is the combination of “the structural response of the organization”, “the performance of the community’s own function”, and “the establishment of internal and external connections”. The central Inner Mongolia delivers the best performance in community intervention compared to eastern Inner Mongolia and western Inner Mongolia. The urban communities commonly perform better than that in the agricultural and pastoral areas. The built system and findings could provide a guidance for future community to improve its intervention capability. Full article

To solve the problem of location service interruption that is easily caused by incomplete visual satellite environments such as occlusion, urban blocks and mountains, we propose an altimeter + inertial navigation system (INS) + giant low earth orbit (LEO) dual-satellite (LEO2) switching integrated navigation algorithm based on a similar ellipsoid model and unscented Kalman filter (UKF). In addition to effectively improving the INS error, for the INS + LEO dual-satellite switching algorithm without altimeter assistance, our algorithm can also significantly suppress the problem of excessive navigation and positioning error caused by this algorithm in a long switching time, it does not require frequent switching of LEO satellites, and can ensure navigation and positioning functions without affecting LEO satellite communication services. In addition, the vertical dilution of precision (VDOP) value can be improved through the clock error elimination scheme, so, the vertical accuracy can be improved to a certain extent. For different altimeter deviations, we provide simulation experiments under different altimeter deviations; it can be found that after deducting the fixed height deviation, the algorithm can also achieve good accuracy. Compared with other typical algorithms, our proposed algorithm has higher accuracy, lower cost and stronger real-time performance, and is suitable for navigation and positioning scenarios in harsh environments. Full article

The goal of this research was to characterize the impact of invasive riparian vegetation on burn severity patterns and fluvial topographic change in an urban Mediterranean riverine system (Med-sys) after fire in San Diego, California. We assessed standard post-fire metrics under urban conditions with non-native vegetation and utilized field observations to quantify vegetation and fluvial geomorphic processes. Field observations noted both high vegetation loss in the riparian area and rapidly resprouting invasive grass species such as Arundo donax (Giant Reed) after fire. Satellite-based metrics that represent vegetation biomass underestimated the initial green canopy loss, as did volumetric data derived from three-dimensional terrestrial laser scanning data. Field measurements were limited to a small sample size but demonstrated that the absolute maximum topographic changes were highest in stands of Arundo donax (0.18 to 0.67 m). This work is the first quantification of geomorphic alterations promoted by non-native vegetation after fire and highlights potential grass–fire feedbacks that can contribute to geomorphic disruption. Our results support the need for ground-truthing or higher resolution when using standard satellite-based indices to assess post-fire conditions in urban open spaces, especially when productive invasive vegetation are present, and they also emphasize restoring urban waterways to native vegetation conditions. Full article

This paper explores a blend of digital and traditional methods to inform about a city’s popular spaces. Using locational data from social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, along with using participatory field surveys and direct observations and combining insights from architecture and urban design literature, this study reveals popular socio-spatial clusters in the city of Chicago. The locational data of photographs were visualized by using geographic information systems, and they helped in producing heat maps that showed the spatial distribution of posted photographs. The geo-intensity of photographs illustrated the areas that are the most visited in the city. The study’s results indicate that the city’s most popular places include Millennium Park, Maggie Daley Park, Navy Pier, the Magnificent Mile Gateway, the Inner Loop, the Water Tower Area, the River Confluence, Museum Campus, Urban Giants, Grant Park, and the River City complex. The findings elucidate that social media plays an important role in promoting places and thereby sustaining a greater interest and stream of visitors. Consequently, planners should tap into the public’s digital engagement in city places to improve tourism and the economy. Full article

New developments of tall buildings of ever-growing heights have been continuously taking place worldwide. Consequently, many innovations in structural systems have emerged. This paper presents a retrospective survey of the main structural systems for tall buildings with emphasis on the advancements of recent, emerging, and potentially emerging systems. A structural systems chart that was previously developed by the authors has been updated in this paper to recognize, categorize and add the more recent structural systems. Recent trends of tubular structural systems in modified forms including the braced megatubes and diagrids are presented. Core-outrigger structural systems are discussed with emphasis on their adaptability. The potential of employing superframes for stand-alone and conjoined megatall buildings is predicted. As a means to solve today’s various project-specific complex design requirements, different mixed structural systems for supertall and megatall buildings are presented. This paper also discusses the widespread application of composite structural systems and recent trends of concrete cores for contemporary tall buildings. Finally, the future of tall buildings is predicted as the race for height continues. Full article

Culture sustainability is one of the indispensable components of sustainability. Culture has likely always been an important element for promoting urban and rural sustainable development. It is now playing an increasingly significant role in sparking and incubating innovation, which is becoming the main driver of economic growth and competitiveness. Unfortunately, little research has been conducted on how much culture matters to economic performance in a quantitative way. Therefore, in this paper, which is based on an intensive literature review, we try to specifically quantify the importance of culture to urban development in general and urban economic performance in particular, by proposing an index system dubbed as the Culture Quotient (CQ). Following this, an integrated database of 297 prefectural-level cities in China is accordingly established. By manipulating the database, the CQ value for each city is then calculated by using principal component analysis with SPSS (19.0). Afterwards, spatial pattern by CQ value tier is presented and illustrates urban China’s “winner-take-all” phenomenon, with the predominance by the three giant urban clusters in the coastal area, i.e., the Jing (Beijing)-Jin (Tianjin)-Ji (Hebei province)-based Bohai rim region, Yangtze River delta, Pearl River delta, as well as some mega-cities such as Chengdu and Wuhan in other parts of China. More precisely, the regression analysis shows that there is a strong positive relationship between CQ and gross domestic product (GDP), with the striking result that every increase of one percentage point in CQ will induce a five percentage point increment in GDP. Although the finding makes an impressive and convincing case that culture does exert a great impact on urban economic development, and can also be measured in a quantitative way in Chinese cases, more cases from other countries need to be included for further verification and confirmation. We therefore urgently call for more in-depth international comparative studies both in theoretical and practical regards. Full article