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Urban Nexus: An Approach for Regenerative Urban Environments (Public Spaces Located in the Urban Fringe)
Get PDFThe built environment is the main habitat for human beings, this makes it act as a driver for climate and biodiversity changes, with multiple potential opportunities for alteration and transition. Therefore, it may be essential for the built environment to go beyond ordinary actions not only to limit the negative impacts, but instead aim for benificial outcomes. Analysing and desigining the urban built environment from the perspective of ecosystems functions and services could help in creating cities where positive restoration of and integration with local ecosystems could be recognised. Urban regeneration could be useful in this regard as it is defined as a comprehensive integration of vision and action aimed at resolving the multi-faceted problems of urban areas in order to improve their quality of life. However, the rapid urbanisation - especially with the exploding urbanism of some cities - controlled sustainable development and carefully considered urban regeneration have not always been achieved. It is also argued that one of the strategies for successful urban regeneration is “High-Quality Architectural Design and Public Space as a Catalyst for a Better City”. At a more local perspective, new urban expansions in Egypt lack one of the relavant quality-of-life pillars. Public spaces are currently losing their role in the new communities located in the urban fringe of Cairo. In such context, new urban nucleii are expanding disregarding the necessity of collective public spaces (a continuum of public realm) due to the privatization, disconnection, and introversion. Thus, the aim of this research is to introduce the Urban Nexus, a new approach merging the contemporary trends and emerging theories to design sustainable urban development solutions. The nexus approach seeks to understand risks, engage decision-makers, and enable action with the aim of attaining knowledge integration, efficiency, synergy and ‘win-win’ solutions. This could be achieved through bridging/ integratng Ecosystem services preserved through Nature Based Solutions (NBS), Human Centred Design (HCD) and the Star Approach, in order to reform public spaces acting as a catalyst for the urban regeneration. Ultimately the study would contribute in improving the built environment and in providing a better quality of life in new urban expansions
Theoretical and Methodological Framework for the Development of Urban Climatic Planning Recommendation Maps
Get PDFUrban climatic analyses and planning recommendation maps are becoming increasingly important in the climate-sensitive planning of cities. Urban climatic maps typically include two main components (Ren et al. 2012): an urban climatic analysis map and an urban climatic planning recommendation map. Given the urgent need for action due to climatic changes in urban areas, planning recommendation maps are essential for introducing and locating measures that effectively increase the adaptive capacity of cities, thus increasing the resilience of urban areas and their inhabitants (Baumüller 2015). The first urban climatic maps were produced in Germany in the 1970s and currently they are used worldwide.
The aim of this contribution is to develop a theoretical and methodological framework for the development of urban climatic planning recommendation maps. The main focus is on the review of existing theories and methods that serves as a roadmap for developing these maps. The examples show that these analyses usually consist of four steps or four areas of processing: (i) an urban climatic analysis, (ii) additional in-depth analyses, (iii) the development and location of measures and (iv) the consolidation in a planning information map (Ren et al. 2011).
Within the urban climatic analysis two main approaches are common: pure static GIS (Geographic Information System) derived maps or mainly meteorologically focused maps including the calculation of regional climate simulations (and hybrid forms thereof). Supplementary in-depth analyses are often carried out, such as the intersection with socio-demographic data to identify areas that are particularly vulnerable from a social point of view, or analyses based on specific urban or spatial configurations (Reisinger et al. 2020). In the third step of the process, measures are usually developed at different levels or for different sectors of urban development. As a final step, the results are summarised in planning recommendation maps and the measures are spatially located (Baumüller 2015). Each of these individual steps has been intensively researched in the last few years; the synopsis or bringing together of these numerous research projects and approaches is a gap that this contribution seeks to fill.
The contribution demonstrates available approaches, methods and tools necessary to translate scientific climatic knowledge into urban planning recommendation maps, considering that the analyses for a particular city or municipality are strongly limited in reproducibility to other citys, even in the same country. Based on this, a theoretical and methodological framework for the development of urban climatic planning recommendation maps is elaborated that enables the creation of these
Requirements for a Dashboard Application to Facilitate Climate-Smart Planning for Sustainable Resilient Green and Blue Cities
Get PDFTo ensure a liveable, resilient and sustainable city in the future, climate change adaptation and mitigation measures must be integrated into urban development projects. This is necessary to counteract the negative effects of climate change, as Austria is already experiencing a noticeable increase in the number of hot days and an increase in extreme weather events (ÖKS 15). Adaptation to climate change requires that the impact of an urban development project on the local microclimate be assessed as early as possible in order to minimise the effects and optimise the project. Microclimate analyses can be used to assess the impact of a development project or to compare different variants of a project and show the effects on local temperature, perceived temperature, wind field or humidity (Oswald et al. 2020). At the same time, urban planning processes are increasingly influenced by digitalisation in the form of Building Information Modelling (BIM).
Linking microclimate simulation and BIM is therefore an important step for the future of sustainable cities. So far, however, no tool exists that combines the various requirements and enables microclimatic assessment or optimisation of urban development projects. Some planning or assessment tools, such as microclimate models or green area indicators, allow for sectoral assessments. What is missing is a comprehensive tool that makes it easy to present the various impacts of a project to spatial planning and development decision-makers, investors and planners and, last but not least, to the general public, such as (future) residents.
This contribution analyses and describes the requirements for such a tool in the form of a web-based dashboard that uses BIM models, links them to microclimatic simulations, and additionally presents key performance indicators (KPI), such as green area indicators, in a structured way. The design of the dashboard is data and task dependent (Conrow et al. 2023); in light of the challenges and opportunities associated with optimising urban development projects from a microclimatic point of view, we set out to address issues related to (i) the requirements for the user interface, i.e. the dashboard, (ii) the requirements for the models (BIM model and microclimatic numerical simulation model), (iii) the possible applications in different planning phases, and (iv) the necessary requirements for data and data preparation.
The aim of the contribution is to analyse and describe the requirements, implementation perspectives and application possibilities of a web-based dashboard, which enables climate impact assessments, macro-ecological data for properties and neighbourhoods in an early planning phase (“climate check”) on the basis of three-dimensional building models
Nature-Based Solutions through Blue-Green Infrastructure as Measure of Adaptation, Resilience and Liveability to Climate Change: Case Study City Lab Saltillo, Mexico
Get PDFThe impacts of the current urbanization and climate change challenges are well documented, as well as, the role of cities and the urgent action that needs to take place at the local level, especially in small and middle-sized cities. As extreme climatic events unfold, there is a need to identify the potential and the strategies that can help municipalities steer urban planning on a more sustainable and resilient track to reach the global climate goals within the next decade. Now more than ever, Nature-based solutions (NbS) such as Blue-green infrastructure(BGI) are proving to be a feasible alternative for cities to adapt their urban environment in response to climate change, while simultaneously obtaining economic, environmental, and social co-benefits.
Anticipating climate challenges in cities makes it vital to change today's traditional urban planning into initiatives that consider greener solutions like BGI. However, some implementation barriers such as the lack of stakeholders' involvement to navigate and co-create a more resilient and adaptive city environment, make difficult the transition.
As part of the Morgenstadt Global Smart Cities Initiative (MGI), financed by the German Government through the International Climate Initiative (IKI), the city of Saltillo located in the Northeast region of Mexico is paving the path towards sustainable urban planning through the City Lab project. In the first phase, the City Lab consisted of an integrated urban analysis, stakeholder engagement, and the co-creation of a roadmap of solutions by experts and local actors to tackle the city’s urban challenges. The City Lab process allowed anchoring the identified measures in the planning documents of Saltillo, ensuring the implementation of the roadmap in the long term. Simultaneously, it opened up spaces for co-creation and community engagement valuable to understand the city´s local environment and identify its potential. In the second phase of the City Lab, the implementation of a pilot project based on BGI addressed the most pressing problems of the city such as pluvial floods, water scarcity, and depletion of aquifers. In this regard, the stakeholders were actively involved in analyzing, planning, formulating, developing, implementing, testing, evaluating, and maintaining the pilot project to cope with climate impacts and contribute to sustainable urban development in the short, medium and long term. In this paper, special attention will be given to the process of pilot project implementation, showing the efforts that the City Lab Saltillo is undertaking to implement BGI techniques such as rain gardens, infiltration basins, permeable pavement, and vegetation in a public and urban space as an adaptation measure in response to climate change. This effort is reshaping the city's discourse, shifting the role of urban planning, and highlighting climate action as a shared responsibility among the public, private, academic, and civil society
Functional Applications of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle Technology in Urban Planning Practice: A PRISMA systematic Review
Get PDFCovid-19 pandemic has arguablely created an opportunity for urban planners to create cities that are more resilient and sustainable. This systematic review was aimed at analysing the potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) technology as a tool for post-covid-19 urban planning and design. Specifically, the study reviewed the functional application areas that have leveraged the existence of UAV technology since its inclusion in non-military sectors in 2006. PRISMA method was used to retrieve journal articles that were published between 2006 and 2022 from scopus database and a total of 48 journal articles were included in the study. The results of the literature analysis revealed that there is a growing application of UAV technology in urban disaster managemnert, smartcities development initiatives, urban landscape management and urban road transportation management. The study also revealed that there is already a research increase on UAV integration in urban planning from 2019 which signifies the contribution of the pandemic towards UAV adoption. It has also been established that there is an increasing application of Machine Leaning (ML) and Computer Vision (CV) models for UAV data analysis. The study concludes that UAV technology has a lot of potential for improving urban planning processes with regard to time, cost, and safety and hence can be regarded as one of the sustainable tools in post-covid-19 urban planning efforts. Therefore, there is need for robust research to explore its potential in other application areas such as municipal waste management, urban developement control, and urban drainage systems among others. The study also recommends that basic courses on Artificial Intelligence (AI) be introduced in urban planning education to equip urban planners on the emerging AI applications
Climate Twins for Future – Equivalent Urban Climate as Starting Point towards more ClimateAdapted Cities
Get PDFClimate change-related effects such as heat or drought stress for humans, animals and plants or overstrained
infrastructures can be observed especially in urban areas. Since these increasingly problematic situations do
not represent individual phenomena, but are embedded in a global system, a search for similar problems in
other cities or regions followed by a transfer of solutions have evolved as proven approach in the urban,
regional, rural, landscape planning and research discourse. Regarding the urgency of the climate crisis, the
approach "Mainly something happens and quickly" could guide spatial development planning within this
"learning from" approach. But a greater potential would exist by looking to urban structures, mainly open
and green spaces, whose current urban climate point to the future for other cities. These climate forecasts
combinded with specific spatial examples are called Climate Twins and are an explanatory path that allows
comparisons between urban climates, but diverges on the components of time and place (Rey et al. 2020,
Bastin et al. 2019, Rohat et al. 2018 and 2017, Nakageawa et al. 2017, Beniston 2014, Ungar et al. 2011,
Peters-Anders et al. 2011, Loibl et al. 2010, Loibl and Peters-Anders 2009, Hallgatte 2009, Kopf et al. 2008,
Hallegatte et al. 2007).
The aim of this paper is to put this modeling and climate research based method into an open and green
spatial planning context and develop it as part of a more climate-conscious and climate-adapted planning
paradigm. By using descriptive and explorative analytical methods, questioning what role climate has played
in urban development historically, currently, but especially in the future may help to understand the climatic
and planning relevance of “non-built” urban structures. Thus, this paper intends to develop Climate Twins as
a research-led planning topic and starting point towards more climate-adapted and sustainable cities
Comparison of a Direct Line System and a Renewable Energy Community on the Basis of a Pilot Plant in Thannhausen
Get PDFWith the renewable energy directive of the European Commission the path has been set toward more
emancipated end consumers in the energy system, by allowing shared energy use schemes such as renewable
energy communities. These were transposed into national law in Austria in July 2021. But even before that,
energy could be shared between a producer/prosumer and one or multiple users via a so-called direct line or
direct line system. While the technical and legal requirements for operating a direct line (system) are a major
barrier to overcome, direct line (systems) have for a long time been the only means to exchange renewable
energy between different buildings in the Austrian energy system. In the municipality of Thannhausen such a
direct line system with multiple end users has been installed and is in a test phase since September 2021.
During the implementation of the direct line system the legal framework for energy sharing has changed and
renewable energy communities have been introduced in Austria. The question arose, whether the direct line
system can compete with renewable energy communities. In this paper a comparison between these two
types of energy sharing schemes, a direct line system and a renewable energy community is made on basis of
the Thannhausen pilot. As mentioned before, in Thannhausen, a direct line system, consisting of multiple
direct lines to connect eight consumers with one photovoltaic generator was built. For the same configuration
a renewable energy community was investigated by means of a simulation model. Even if it might seem, that
the direct line system is outdated by the new possibilities which are provided by the renewable energy
communities, a closer look showed, that both systems have their advantages and disadvantages. For the
direct line system structural measures are necessary, which result in a certain amount of investment costs
which are higher than for a renewable energy community, where the public grid is used. In contrast to that,
no grid fees have to be paid for the energy distributed via the direct line system. Another advantage of the
direct line system is the possibility of an islanding-mode in case of a disruption of the public grid. However,
it always depends very much on the initial situation. Direct line systems are an attractive solution only in
cases where the consumers are located closely to each other, so that the digging effort is manageable. In case
of the Thannhausen pilot, the evaluation showed, that the direct line system enables similar savings for the
participants to a renewable energy community, when the subsidies granted are taken into account. Since
there are no grid fees for the direct line system, a higher feed-in tariff is made possible for the municipality,
which amortises the higher investment costs, so that the direct line system has even the higher net present
value at the end of the period under consideration
Cultural Backgrounds Effects on Travel Mode Choice of International Communities in Vienna
Get PDFThere are many factors influencing daily travel behaviour. For example, information and communication,
living space, policies, and urban planning, are among the parameters that are known to affect travel
behaviours. Lifestyle and socioeconomic and demographic structures can also be attributed. Although the
cultural background of a person may be a determining factor in all parts of our living space and directing our
behaviour, it may not have always been taken into consideration in the context of travel behaviour research.
In this study, a multilingual online questionnaire was designed to understand and measure the impact of
cultural differences of international communities on transportation mode choices and travel behaviour, and
an online survey was carried out in Vienna. 213 participants took part in the questionnaire. After the
elimination of invalid ones from the data set, for instance, responses from those living outside of Vienna, 150
responses are used for analysis. The data collected from the participants are split into the ones from
international communities with non-Viennese origins, native Viennese people, and a mixed/intermediate
group. The transportation mode choices and travel behaviours among these communities are compared by
statistical analysis. The preliminary analysis among the international communities. evaluating commuting,
grocery shopping, and leisure travel shows signs of cultural influences on using transportation modes,
frequency and duration. It also implies that more comprehensive and detailed studies are needed on this
subject. The result implies that existing policies should be more dynamic and adaptive, especially taking
account of the widespread migration wave nowadays
Virtual Reality Simulators for Inclusion and Participation: Broadening Perspectives on Accessible Cities and Public Space
Get PDFThe design of urban public space often involves a convergence of different actors with different priorities in
the use of available space. This becomes evident when different modes of transport are combined in the very
limited space available. At the same time, the growing and aging population strengthens demands for action
in public space design towards better accessibility and involvement of the vulnerable. Innovations in digital
design and simulation tools have shown a great demand to address these challenges as they have the potential
to facilitate mediation and improve citizen science, participative and collaborative planning processes. Joint
evaluation is supported and planners, decision makers and foremost citizens are brought together [(Yang et
al. 2019), (Sanchez-Sepulveda et al. 2019), (Buffel et al. 2012)]. In our research, we have implemented
human-computer interfaces for urban digital twins. These digital twins combine geometry and point cloud
models, simulation results, and sensor data and enable analysis of existing situations, scenario testing, as well
as prediction, on all urban scales, from buildings to cities and regions. By visualization in VR environments
such as a CAVE (Cave Automatic Virtual Environment) they provide a powerful method for informed
discussions between all stakeholders which is essential for joint decision-making. Our recent work extends
these tools to include often neglected groups, such as people with disabilities, the elderly, or children, with
the aim to empower them and to address their specific needs with respect to public spaces, while making
these needs more traceable for others. Therefore, we have implemented different modes of traffic in
simulators: Cars, bicycles, skateboards, and wheelchairs. Using one of these simulators, users can then
interactively explore virtual replicas of public spaces using a real vehicle for steering. In combination with a
tracking system, the user’s perspective in the virtual world is adjusted accordingly, enabling an impression of
riding through the replica similar as in a real environment. Users can explore the accessibility of public
spaces and detect shortcomings like high curbs or slopes. Often, these are unnoticed by pedestrians while
posing major obstacles for people in wheelchairs, with strollers or roller walkers. Hence, this simulator helps
to better understand and include the mentioned group in public participation. Moreover, the simulator was
combined with traffic simulations (Zeile et al. 2021). These, in particular when visualized along with the
digital twin, improve the depiction of the actual processes and dynamic scenarios, and allow to simulate and
compare scenarios of different design proposals. Bottlenecks such as narrow sidewalks incapable of handling
the load of pedestrians, or unclear intersections with an insufficient view can be detected as well as the use of
space in certain conditions as during rush hours or at construction sites. Experiments were carried out using
the different simulators as human-computer interfaces. Observations and questionnaires were used to analyse
the experiences of 23 test subjects. In summary, the developed simulators are intended to contribute to safer
and better accessible urban spaces for all. In this initial work, the focus lies on groups with special needs in
public spaces - for example, highly mobile young people and in contrast people with limited mobility or the
elderly. By detecting current barriers, the developed simulators make them tangible and understandable for
the wider public but also for planners, designers, and decision-makers
Sustainable Revolution for a Greener Planet – Possibilities in the Indian Context
Get PDFThe key challenge of the urbanisation process is the rise in population at a rapid pace. Although the reason is
the aim of a better life for people, it is costing the environment and healthy living to a great extent in diverse
ways. This sudden rise in population attracts uninvited guests like pollution, traffic, congestion, lack of green
spaces, urban heat island effect, etc. The paper aims to study the environmental effects of the increased urban
population, to bring sustainable awareness and environmental justice to the planet. The study draws
comparisons of effects between the countries of the world and India, which in turn helps in formulating
diverse ways to raise a sustainable revolution, and their applicability in developing countries like India. The
approach helps understand the impact that can cause if not implemented at the earliest. The 2022 ranking of
the Environmental Performance Index (EPI) and Sustainable Development Report (SDR) shows that India
occupied the 180th position out of 180 countries, and the 121st position out of 163 respectively, indicating
the necessity for a sustainable revolution in the context of India at a much bigger scale than the present. This
not only shows different parameters affecting the planet but also the roles of diverse people in the revolution.
The sustainable revolution can be achieved by the use of renewable energy techniques, energy-saving
fixtures, control mechanisms, and responsive measures. The key methodology here is to apply these to the
cities around the globe which would draw inspiration and awareness to others, thereby transforming the
whole planet into sustainable practice. This revolution should start right from the smaller products at the
building and the community level. The concern for health and luxury needs to be combined to form a single
sustainable by-product. The perspective of products for a single-use needs to be changed and addressed.
Sustainable awareness of different products, materials, and standards should be raised among diverse
individuals, like students, teachers, employees, government servants, etc. Awareness campaigns at various
places would help to revolutionise sustainable practice on a large scale, especially when the results are seen
straight away. The paper concludes with the diverse ways of raising sustainable revolution that help in
making a greener planet, which reduces expenses drastically and boosts people’s confidence. Once, people
get used to this, it would be a game-changer for the planet’s health. The paper also discusses the role of
government and people, where the former play a key role in taking the revolution to further heights