Land-use aspects of air-quality management

This paper describes relationships between land-use and air quality. Until very recently, strategies directed toward improved air quality relied almost exclusively upon fuel switching and employment of emission control devices. However, air quality can also be influenced through alteration of land-use patterns. Engineers during their education are generally not exposed to land-use and other socio-economic aspects of air-quality management, although federal and state policy maker are increasingly recognizing that exclusive reliance upon emission control devices is not a very satisfactory long range approach. Alteration of land use as it affects the living, working, and transportation patterns must be considered as well.The first two sections of this paper attempt to provide guidelines within which land-use alternatives can be meaningfully evaluated. Air-quality standars and other aspects of air-quality management are described and interpreted within a quantitative cost-benefit framework.The rudiments of urban geography are also provided in order to introduce the readers to the economics and social forces which shape cities. The fundamental purpose is to make technologists aware of the conflict between these forces and plans for arbitrary changes in spatial patterns. Next, energy variables are proposed as a way to meaningfully relate land-use and environmental pollution with society's quest for affluence. The section on meteorology and dispersion models describes and criticizes the modeling tools and simulations currently available for the prediction of pollution dispersion. Finally, an urban simulation is used to integrate the foregoing material. The air-pollution propensities of various land-use alternatives are assessed.Thus a diversity of topics—all with the common thread of relating urban air quality to urban land use—is addressed. Rather than providing ready-made answers, this paper describes useful evaluation tools and provides insight into the complex problems and interactions involved.     

Landscape metrics in the analysis of urban land use patterns: A case study in a Spanish metropolitan area

Urban growth patterns are characteristic of spatial changes that take place in metropolitan areas (MA). They are particularly prominent in more recently formed MAs, such as those in certain locations in Spain, where the structure of the traditional city has undergone sweeping changes. Given the capacity of spatial metrics to characterize landscape structure, these metrics can be a valuable instrument to identify growth patterns in MAs and to evaluate possible urban growth options, based on spatial characteristics.This article focuses on a medium-sized MA (Granada, Spain), and explores the use of spatial metrics to quantify changes in the urban growth patterns reflected in three future scenarios (2020). The scenarios were simulated with a model based on cellular automata, which reproduced three urban growth processes (aggregation, compaction, and dispersion) and four urban growth patterns (aggregated, linear, leapfrogging, and nodal). The scenarios were evaluated with metrics that quantified changes in the spatial characteristics of urban processes. Thus, for example, the NP and AREA_MN allowed us to characterize the decreased aggregation of high-density residential land uses in one scenario (S1) and the linear growth patterns in industrial land uses in another scenario (S2). In this way, spatial metrics were found to be useful for the evaluation of urban planning.     

Simulation of Mass Fire-Spread in Urban Densely Built Areas Based on Irregular Coarse Cellular Automata

Mass fire-spread is a potential threat to some densely built urban areas by its devastating destructions. Especially in case of a large earthquake when multiple fires break out simultaneously, fire-spread hazard is likely to overwhelm fire-fighting capabilities and enlarge damage area. To explore fire-spread behavior and assess its damages, a simulation model of fire-spread in densely built urban areas is developed. Cellular Automata (CA) is a Bottom-up dynamics model that can reproduce a complicated phenomenon by setting up simple rules in a cell space. However, the traditional grid-based cells of CA are not suitable for modeling building-to-building fire-spread behavior. Therefore, an irregular coarse CA schema is proposed in this paper. Two sub-processes are involved urban mass fire-spread, i.e. (I) fire-developing in a single building and (II) fire-spread among buildings. When a fire is developing in a single building, the building will experience 5 fire stages along time, which become the states of cell. While fire spreads among buildings, there are 2 spread patterns: (I) short-range direct flame contact, radiation and convection spread and (II) long-range firebrand spotting spread. In relation to the 2 spread patterns, 2 sets of neighborhoods and rules of CA are formulated respectively. To verify the newly developed model, 100 times of individual random simulations for a real site fire-spread in Kobe City after Hanshin Earthquake (1995, Japan) are performed using an integrated GIS-CA-fire tool developed in the paper. Comparing the simulation results with the local observations, the general feature of fire-spread is found similar, and it is proved that the newly developed model is reliable to simulate urban fire-spread. Furthermore, based on the simulated results, a loss assessment model is formulated to calculate economic and life losses after fire-spread.     

Automated vehicles and how they may affect urban form: A review of recent scenario studies

Motorisation in cities has fundamentally transformed urban patterns of development, ranging from residential parking and density standards of single buildings on one hand to urban infrastructure construction and the expansion of entire cities on the other. The introduction of automated vehicles (AVs) has enormous potential to transform urbanisation patterns and urban design even further. However, the direction in which this technology will change the city is contested and a diverse set of views can be found. This paper provides a review of scenarios on these issues to date. Although some scenario studies provide useful insights about urban growth and change, very few consider detailed impacts of AVs on urban form, such as the density and mix of functions, the layout of urban development and the accessibility of locations, including the distance to transit.     

How current and future urban patterns respond to urban planning? An integrated cellular automata modeling approach

While many publications predict future urban scenarios, few have deliberated the impact of issued urban planning on scenario prediction. We propose a planning-constrained model (named PCGA-CA) that integrates cellular automata (CA) and genetic algorithm (GA) to simulate current and future urban patterns under the spatial constraints of urban planning. The planning regulations include three types: fully allowed area (FAA), partially allowed area (PAA), and strictly prohibited area (SPA), where we propose a planning implementation parameter (PIP) to represent the stringency in PAA. Under different PIPs, we apply the PCGA-CA model to simulate the 2015 urban patterns and predict the 2030 and 2045 scenarios for Ningbo city, China. The results show that the regulations substantially affect the simulation accuracy and urban pattern. As the planning regulations become less stringent, the accuracy decreases from 90.3% to 89.4% and the urban pattern becomes less compact. In particular, the urban pattern is the most compact when the regulations are not imposed. The PCGA-CA predicts the quantity and location of illegal urban development, and identifies spatially varying urban growth across planning regulations. For the same year, the urban patterns with different PIPs illustrate substantial differences in landscape metrics. The simulations of the current urban pattern should help urban planners and local authorities assess past implementations of urban planning, while the scenario predictions can offer a view of the future by evaluating the consequences of different planning regulations.     

Selecting independent measures to quantify Melbourne's urban–rural gradient

As cities and towns increase in population and size around the world, there is a growing interest in the impact of urbanisation on humans and the environment. The use of urban–rural gradients has proven to be a useful tool for studying changes in ecological patterns and processes across urbanising landscapes. Currently, there are a wide range of measures being used to represent changes in human demographic patterns, physical structures and landscape composition and structure along urban–rural gradients. The aim of this paper was to identify a suite of measures that can be used to define an urban–rural gradient in Melbourne, Australia. Using principal components analysis, we assessed 17 commonly used measures of urbanisation that included demographic variables, physical variables and landscape metrics. Four measures captured most of the variability in the patterns of urbanisation: (1) Index_combined; (2) the ratio of people per unit urban land cover; (3) landscape shape index; (4) dominant land-cover. We used these four measures to quantify Melbourne's urban–rural gradient and then explored their use in representing urbanisation as an environmental space rather than a geographic space. This study provides an example of how to objectively select a subset of measures to quantify urbanisation, and illustrates a novel way of combining the measures to obtain a richer understanding of ecological responses to urbanisation.     

广州西关公共生活空间的质性观察与模式初探

保持旧城城市生活的多样性是城市公共空间更新的重要途径和本质追求,也是传承地域建筑文化、提升旧城居民生活质量以及实现城市可持续发展的必由之路。本文基于现场调查数据及环境行为学分析,以参与观察的视角,从环境与行为相互作用的角度,总结了若干承载广州西关传统城市生活的行为空间模式,以期对未来广州西关的环境改造有所启示。     

区域DNA——区域规划中的人工智能

人工智能技术在城市及区域规划中的应用正在不断地发展着。在简要地回顾了城市模型的发展历程后,本文介绍了人工智能重要组成部分之一的人工生命计算机模型,并对人工生命的一种简单形式——CA模型的特点、作用进行了阐述。本文进一步通过引入CA模型之一的SLEUTH程序在里斯本、波尔图2个大都市地区的应用实例,来说明基于人工生命技术的自我学习能力。CA模型拥有相当广的通用性,可以被用来从区域间的共性中辨别出地域的个性特征——区域DNA,它对于区域、城市研究及城市规划将产生深远的影响,人工智能技术在区域规划中的应用前景广阔。     

基于区域生态系统健康评估的土地利用规划研究——以北京市为例

健康的区域生态系统能持续提供生态系统服务,是实现城市可持续发展的基础。同时,城市土地利用直接影响区域生态系统的健康状态,因此如何在健康视角下合理规划与协调城市土地利用方式,成为风景园林与城市规划领域的重点研究课题。以北京市为例,基于2007和2017年的土地利用类型,采用CA-Markov模型对2027年自然发展、快速发展、多目标保护和森林建设4种土地利用情景进行预测,统筹生态系统的物理健康与功能健康评价,构建区域生态系统健康评估框架,探讨4种土地利用情景下更健康的城市土地利用规划新方法。结果表明,与2017年健康状态相比,北京市快速发展情景的区域生态系统健康评估结果呈现负值,其他情景下均呈现良好的增长趋势,森林建设情景下增长最为明显。坚持生态优先、绿色发展、集约化发展建设用地和加强森林建设,可大幅提升区域生态系统的健康状态。     

Conceptualizing ‘the Urban’ Through the Lens of Durban,South Africa

Contemporary urban theory raises many questions about how ‘the urban’ is being conceptualized in a fast changing world that is approaching an urban epoch. Evolving debates about what it means to be urban, including the similarities and differences between so-called northern and southern cities, the future of cities, the way to manage and sustain cities, and cities’ relationships to the new Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals, reveal the need for urban theory that can explain and provide insights into contemporary urban governance, processes, and outcomes. This special issue uses Durban as a lens to provide insight into the changing nature of cities in the Global South and Africa in particular, which encapsulate and reflect both formality and informality; tradition and modernity; uneven and unequal growth and social transformation; environmental crises and ‘resilience and sustainability’. This paper reflects on the dominant processes shaping the development of the city, revealing the challenges, tensions, and opportunities that emerge as the city assembles new ways of being urban, through the rationalities, knowledge, experiences, practices and actions of the state, citizens, and the private sector.     

城市规模的建筑能耗研究综述

城镇化速度的加快导致城市建筑能耗的快速增加,因此,城市规模的建筑能耗研究得到人们更多的关注。综述了国内外城市规模的建筑能耗研究现状。首先讨论城市建筑能耗分析与单体建筑能耗分析的差异,主要从4个方面论述,包括如何在城市环境中定义单体建筑、能耗数据获取、单体与群体建筑负荷差异、城市建筑之间的相互作用。然后将先前研究根据3个标准分类,分别是空间规模、建筑类型、能耗模型。综述表明,与城市规模的交通能耗研究相比,建筑能耗研究还处于非常初级的阶段,主要原因是缺少城市规模的群体建筑信息和能耗数据。同时,城市地理信息系统(GIS)的完善和新型统计学方法如贝叶斯和空间分析方法的出现,为城市规模建筑能耗的研究提供了新的机遇。     

基于支持公共健康导向的城市建成环境要素优化策略研究

本文以国内主要城市的城市建成环 境设计导则为研究对象,筛选出63篇设计导 则,利用NVivo 11软件进行文本主题分析总 结城市建成环境要素框架,继而利用WELL 健康社区标准作为评估参考进行文本评估 分析,探讨导则中的环境要素和对应策略是 否对公共健康具有支持作用。研究表明,国 内城市建成环境设计导则主要关注两个类别 的八大环境要素：软质要素（植物、水体、 地形）,硬质要素（道路、铺装场地、建筑 及园林构筑、公共艺术和景观小品、城市 家具）,其中包含37个子项、241个对应指 标。八个要素均能作为支持公共健康的载 体,可以通过营造利于健康的物理环境、促 进居民体力活动和改善居民的心理健康水平 三个角度来改善场所的环境要素以促进公共 健康。     

生态混凝土在改善城市水环境中的应用前景

生态混凝土是20世纪90年代开始研究的一种新型混凝土,是一种理想的新型环保材料,目前主要用于城市污水处理和科学研究。研究表明,利用生态混凝土改善城市水环境,从源头上控制面源污染,提高城市雨水资源的利用效率,将是生态混凝土在城市水环境中应用的一个新途径。介绍了生态混凝土的种类、应用现状和应用前景,从透水性路面、绿地、屋顶绿化、生态护岸等方面对其构建模式进行了探讨。     

传统城市色彩在现代建筑与环境中的运用

结合城市色彩规划实例探讨城市色彩内涵,阐述传统城市色彩对于城市历史文化的承载作用,及城市色彩对于城市发展的记录价值和城市理想空间的建构意义。     

Strategies for landscape ecology: An application using cellular automata models

The countervailing cellular automata (CVCA) is a loose coupled program designed to work in conjunction with SLEUTH (an urban cellular automata simulation model). CVCA operationalises a set of landscape ecological strategies for urban planning. CVCA first assesses a landscape against a set of landscape metrics. It then evaluates the proposed urban cells from SLEUTH against the metrics and allocates future land uses according to a suite of planning strategies (offensive, defensive, protective, opportunistic). This paper describes the development of CVCA, the theory behind the landscape strategies, and the actions taken to bring CVCA into a computable environment. An application of CVCA in two metropolitan areas in Portugal (Porto and Lisbon) is made and discussed. The results of implementing it are then discussed and evaluated. The paper concludes that the implementation of the cellular automata model CVCA, loose coupled with SLEUTH (a cellular automaton urban model), provides a robust and useful application of landscape ecological strategies in metropolitan planning. The applied strategies vary locally as a function of the specifics concerning particular patterns and processes to be promoted. Besides the quantitative analysis they provide, these patterns and processes can also be assessed and compared in terms of the resulting images of urban growth, the location and the shape of corridors, buffers, and the relative importance of the different landscape ecological planning strategies.     

城市规划的生境方法

现代规划存在着诸多弊端,必须对其范式进行改革.生境理论可以为此提供基础.基于生境的城市规划过程可以分为三个阶段:生境规划阶段、经济社会规划阶段和规划评价与调整阶段.规划的技术路线是:以生境为核心,评价和划分生境等级,据此确定生境保护等级及生境空间体系,并确定开发建设的空间范围及开发次序,最后还要对规划的实施进行评价和调整,这样整个规划就处于一种动态的过程.     

Cities,Natures and the Political Imaginary

Despite the seeming accumulation of natural and manmade disasters over the last decade, and increasing urban intensification across the world, there seems to be little or no actual progress in solving urban ecological problems. In exploring a way forward, Maria Kaika and Erik Swyngedouw highlight three potential approaches to urban socio-ecological research and how these might provide a conduit for re-politicising urban nature.