Wind comfort in a public urban space—Case study within Dublin Docklands

Open public spaces provide venues for cultural, recreational events and promote informal social contact between citizens. Successful outdoor spaces promote comfort and invite people to stay outdoors. Provision of thermal comfort outdoors present a challenge, as an extended range of environmental conditions must be dealt with. The present study examines whether climatic characteristics in Dublin facilitate exercising long-term outdoor activities during summer, and investigates the extent to which urban planning and the resulting urban morphology of the built environment influences microclimates created, from the viewpoint of wind environment. Microclimates at Grand Canal Square have been simulated by ENVI-met. Wind velocity has been expressed in relation to that of the ‘‘background’’ climate in order to verify if the site has a wind protecting character or to the contrary, it enhances airflow. The results show for the dominant wind directions (W, SW, S) that 60% higher wind velocity than at Dublin Airport can occur around buildingcornersandatrestrictedflowsections—preventing any kind of long-term outdoor activity during a ‘‘typical’’ day. S and SW winds cause 15%-20% acceleration at the W waterfront area. Windy urban environment can call forth a limited frequentation of urban space.     

A case study in early urban design: Toronto, 1966–1978

ABSTRACT

This is a study in the practice of postwar urban design in Toronto, Canada, based on archival documents and interviews with participants. The narrative begins with the hiring of one British-trained architect/urban designer, Raymond Spaxman, by the City of Toronto Planning Board in 1966. Spaxman then set up a new division of staff that he filled with five or six other architect/urban designers of various national and institutional origins. The study describes the work carried out by these urban designers, identifies the principle themes apparent in it, and relates this to published literature on the founding principles of postwar urban design. In most ways, the study's findings fit the current understanding of the early discipline – concern for pedestrians, sympathy for historical preservation – but in others not – it was different from but not antagonistic towards planning. The findings are then considered as an example of the international transfer of postwar planning ideas. The process of idea transfer in this case looks to have been more chaotic, and less definable, than existing paradigms suggest, but this might have been fairly common in second-rank, immigrant-receiving cities.     

Post-socialist context of culture-led urban regeneration – Case study of a street in Novi Sad,Serbia

In West European cities, culture has evolved to become a crucial ingredient of regeneration projects, in which stakeholders' cooperation is of utmost importance and economic and social benefits are often well balanced. In contrast, the majority of second-tier Central and East European cities, primarily non-holders of the European Capital of Culture title, still seem to struggle with clearly defining the relationship between culture and urban regeneration, precisely determining the responsibilities of the key actors and making the distinction between social and economic goals in regeneration projects. In this paper, the authors join the emerging discussion on the post-socialist context of culture-led regeneration through a case study of a street in the old core of Novi Sad, Serbia. In an effort to contribute to understanding various challenges that Serbian cities have been facing since the fall of communism, they seek to identify cultural effects of a very distinctive process of transition. They also investigate the interplay between the citizens' cultural preferences, visions of urbanity, private sector's interests and usage of urban space, and discuss the impacts of spontaneous utilization versus exploitation of space and culture. Furthermore, they analyse the outcomes of culture-led transformation conducted in the absence of cultural strategies and in-depth regeneration policies and marked by the laisser-faire attitude of the local authorities. Having completed the analysis, the authors propose the means for redefining the relationship between culture and regeneration in second-tier Serbian cities, yet also in other CEE cities of similar size, emphasizing the role of culture, responsibilities of the local authorities, significance of bottom-up approaches and relevance of place context.     

Does district heating affect residential property prices? Case study of an urban area in South Korea

This article investigates whether the residential heating method affects property prices in an urban area of South Korea. Sales data for 1760 apartments in Seocho District, Seoul, the country's capital, are employed. The property price equation is estimated, including the heating method as one attribute. The gap between the price of properties with a district heating system (DHS) and those with other heating methods, such as an individual heating system or central heating system, accounted for about 21.7% of apartment prices. Specifically, apartments with a DHS were more expensive than apartments with other heating methods.     

Assessment of groundwater depletion–induced land subsidence and characterisation of damaging cracks on houses: a case study in Mohali-Chandigarh area,India

Bulletin of Engineering Geology and the Environment - The present study identified groundwater depletion–induced land subsidence by spaceborne differential interferometric SAR (DInSAR)...     

Impacts of climate change on urban drainage systems – a case study in Fredrikstad,Norway

Norway has frequently encountered flood damage in urban areas during recent years. In this paper the authors, taking Veumdalen catchment in Fredrikstad as an example, simulated the possible consequences in the sewer system, in the present, predicted and artificial climate scenarios. Indicators that describe (1) surface flooding, (2) surcharging sewers, (3) basement flooding and (4) combined sewer overflow (CSO) are defined to represent the adverse effects of climate change. It is concluded from the annual-based simulation that the total volume of water spilling from the flooding manholes will increase 2–4-times the increase in precipitation, and the total CSO will increase 1.5–3-times as much as the increase in precipitation. The simulation results also show that the number of flooding manholes and number of surcharging sewers may change dramatically and irregularly with a slight change of precipitation, and vary with events and durations.     

In situ-based assessment of soil liquefaction potential–Case study of an earth dam in Tunisia

The present paper examines the evaluation of liquefaction potential of an earth dam foundation in Tunisia. The assessment of soil liquefaction was made using deterministic and probabilistic simplified procedures developed from several case histories. The data collected from the field investigation performed before and after the vibrocompaction are analyzed and the results are reported. The obtained results show that after vibrocompaction, a significant improvement of the soil resistance reduces the liquefaction potential of the sandy foundation. Indeed, in the untreated layers, the factor of safety FS drops below 1 which means that the soil is susceptible for liquefaction. However, in the compacted horizons, the values of FS exceed the unit which justifies the absence of liquefaction hazard of the foundation.     

Evolution of the “Golden Royal City”: Analytical study on urban forms of ancient capital cities in Myanmar

The historical cities in Southeast Asia with distinct characteristics are an important part of Asia's cultural heritage system and the ancient capitals of Myanmar are as an example of these civilizational achievements. Their urban forms through history are essential spatial carriers reflecting the traditional local planning thinking. However, the overall understanding has yet to form due to a lack of systematic research. This study aims to complement it by studying the urban forms of almost all Myanmar's ancient capitals based on verifiable spatial elements, works of literature, archaeology documents and field survey. The location, boundary and layout elements are analyzed to classify and characterize these urban forms, and their evolution rules are then summarized. Furthermore, the urban planning characteristics are discussed, indicating that the regulated structure and distinctive image gradually formed, accompanied by increasingly mature planning thinking and methods. The study reveals that the urban form and the planning thinking of Myanmar's ancient capital cities had undergone an evolution with its own characteristics and that the “Golden Royal City” is of unique value in the genealogy of Asian capitals. The findings will contribute to the mutual learning between civilizations and provide a scientific foundation for the heritage conservation.     

Brazilian city planners,American city planning? New perspectives on urban planning in Rio de Janeiro, 1930–1945

This article analyses the connections between the ideas and principles of American city planning from 1920 with those articulated by Brazilian city planners in the 1930s and implemented by the administration of the City of Rio de Janeiro, then the capital of Brazil, notably during the period of the Estado Novo [The New State] from 1937 to 1945. In a period characterized by the centralization of political power and the concentration of decision‐making in the hands of the president and the state, the City of Rio de Janeiro undertook a series of restructuring projects which utilized new forms of administration and organization. This article explores the links between urban planning in Brazil and the USA that were a notable feature of these projects. It examines particular requirements set down in city plans, city planning commissions and funding for urban activities, such as ‘excess condemnation’, by focusing upon articles and books written by four Brazilian engineers and proposals put forward by the American City Planning Institute, detailed in the proceedings of the National Conference on City Planning, in the periodical, City Planning and works by affiliated authors.