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Spatial Trends of Adaptive Reuse Projects: Challenges and Opportunities for Developing Cities
Get PDFContemporarily; there has been increasing complexity and interplay among issues associated with developing spatial forms and structures of urban areas to foster inclusivity and sustainability. Likewise, the emergence of the smart cities discourses has led to planning that is informed and supported by information and communications technology (ICT). Globally adaptive reuse project have been driven by a need to address the sprawl of vacant buildings in the city. These buildings have been neglected over time due to economic structural changes, technological changes and migration of people. This paper explores the spatial trends of adaptive reuse projects in the City of Johannesburg. The study employs a case study approach to assess the adoption and implementtion of adaptive reuse projects in Johannesburg, South Africa from 2002 to 2020. Using geolocation data from municipal records, the spatial location of adaptive reuse projects were visualised and assessed using an ArcGIS prediction analysis. A questionnaire was used to assess the sustainability parameters associated with these adaptive reuse projects. The results reveal accessibility, functional adaptability, and market demand as the key factors influencing the conversion of properties in the past 20 years. The spatial trends revealed locations with a high concentration (hot spots) of adaptive reuse projects being suburbs in the northern portions of Johannesburg, such as Bryanston and Randburg that have had a considerable influx of corporations expanding their operations. Moreover technologies to assess the locations of adaptive reuse projects have the potential to inform the policy and legislative instruments and frameworks on spatial planning to guide better developmental practises in the city
Temporary Urban Pop-Up Environments – Design Requirements and Sustainable Solutions
Get PDFWith more than half of the world’s population already living in urban areas, cities are increasingly faced with the challenging and conflicting target of providing a high-quality living environment for its inhabitants whilst at the same time ensuring that the rise in population does not come at the expense of increased land use and loss of green space. Looking at the aspect of space, increasing the density in urban agglomerations is one key approach. However, another way forward is also to consider the aspect of time by assessing which needs can also be catered for by temporary means. In addition to the morphology and structural density of a city, consequently the temporal aspect gains in significance and can ensure that cities become more resilient in times of crisis. Nevertheless, temporary use of space and consequently temporary housing solutions are not yet widely investigated and discussed topics in strategic urban planning.
Based on a highly interdisciplinary research project on PopUp Housing Environments, this paper aims at addressing this knowledge gap by providing investigations on and solutions for the specific design requirements on temporary housing spaces and structures. The goal is to define framework conditions for affordable, flexible, sustainable and reusable concepts, that are easy to construct and swift to implement, in order to fulfil the requirements of environmental, economic and social sustainability. Researchers from the fields of spatial and landscape planning, architecture, building services engineering as well as energy and waste management have been collaborating with social and political sciences as well as humanities in order to develop scenarios and models for sustainable temporary housing environments.
In this paper the process for several scenarios will be presented in terms of their relevance for urban areas and use of space as well as examples of developed housing models, that can serve as an inspiration for architectural, technical and space-saving land-use solutions. The models have been developed with the aim of reducing the impact on land, resource and energy consumption, focusing strongly on de-constructability, reusability and the temporal aspect of the occupied space.
The initial results have been discussed with various stakeholders from the city administration and other related organisations in order to fine-tune the requirements and subsequent scenarios and housing models. The overall aim is to support the methodical development of temporary housing solutions so that these can form an integral part of long-term urban planning strategies
The Relationship between Information and Communication Technology and Travel: a Compendium of Literature
Get PDFOver the years, the focus of transportation planners has only been on physical travel; neglecting the fact that information and communication technologies may influence travel demand. However, with the advent of telecommunications and other advanced technologies, modern telecommunications are rapidly increasing the accessibility to activities that previously only could be reached by physical transportation. The integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) is an essential element for the success of transportation planning. ICTs provide access to information on where, when, and how to make trips thus reducing the negative externalities associated with transportation. In recent years there has been progress in mobile technologies that have influenced and necessitated the growth and development in the transport sectors in all the three worlds; the developed, transitional and the developing worlds. Various scholars have contracting views on the relationships that exist between telecommunication and transportation. Consequently, this study reviewed literature on these relationship as well as examine the impact of information and Communication technologies on travel. The study adopted the Prisma approach by extracting relevant information from peer reviewed journal articles and proceedings. Although the outcomes of these interactions are complex as they both highly depend on each other and there are conflicting views on the relationships; the latest developments call for the need to address the relationships between ICTs and transport. The study recommends that ICTs offers a possibility to increase the efficiency of the existing infrastructure supply and such functions includes Intelligent Transport Systems (ITSs), a technology aimed to directly increase the efficiency of the traffic system and as well influence the passenger demand in such a way that the road capacity is optimally utilized
Urban Rooftop Uses: Competition and Potentials from the Perspective of Farming and Aquaponics – a Berlin Case Study
Get PDFAccelerating urbanisation is profoundly changing our world, making it necessary to rethink - inter alia - the way cities distribute and provide food. Agriculture is an emerging urban use that can play an important role in these processes, supporting circular economy and resilience, but competes with other uses for limited space. One option to address this spatial problem in relation to urban food production is to exploit rooftops. For evaluation, we investigated the use, competition and potential of urban roofscapes, using the city of Berlin as an example. An overview of current roofscape uses in Berlin is given, plans and initiatives for further expansion are presented, rooftop potential studies are compared, and important boundary conditions of rooftop uses are discussed. Berlin’s roofscape of 97.3 km² (excluding 4.5 km² underground garages) already has a wide range of roof uses, with green roofs (11.8 km²) and solar roofs (0.7 km²) being the most common ones. As on the ground, commercial urban farming competes for space in the roofscape. We highlight rooftop aquaponics as a possibility to save resources by coupling fish and crop production and producing animal protein with a low environmental footprint compared to other animal farming systems. Freestanding single-storey aquaponic systems in inner cities should be avoided and in Berlin, approximately 800 buildings of appropriate using type exist with more than 2000 m² roof area as a precondition to host commercial rooftop aquaponics. The selection of specific sites should consider the availability of urban resources and requirements of an urban situation for the roofscape under existing as well as future competitive conditions. Further research efforts are required to adapt building regulations and planning laws, determine circular city locations for rooftop aquaponics, and evaluate the potential of peri-urban versus urban rooftop food production
Capturing Customer-Centred Functions of Local eCommerce Platforms
Get PDFThe COVID-19 pandemic fuelled the trend of linking online consumption to local interests (such as buying local or localising production). In Austria, the pandemic fostered local eCommerce platforms offering local goods or goods from local retailers. This concept of local digitalism (Fuentes-Bautista, 2011) focuses on the spatial aspects of consumption and production. However, it is difficult for local eCommerce platforms to achieve sufficient online traffic next to internationally established eCommerce platforms. Therefore, evidence-based knowledge on essential customer-centred functions of eCommerce platforms supporting local retail is required. In this study, we screen a sample of local eCommerce platforms in Austria (n=40) and derive a list of customer-centred functions resulting in more than 100 customer-centred functions. A revision procedure with local retail experts helps to condense and categorise the listed functions. Based on a typology adaptation of Standing, Standing & Love (2010) and Bakos (1998), the functions ultimately comprise six categories: (1) performance parameters (i.e., all functions indicating platform performance such as website traffic, mobile optimised implementation, app availability, platform reach and types of products and services offered on the platform, (2) information and connection (i.e., all functions supporting information retrieval on the platform, its vendors and products as well as product search and product filtering), (3) matching (i.e., all functions enabling the matching process between buyer and seller after product selection), (4) customizability (i.e., all settings on the platform to be individually changed by the customer), (5) transaction and fulfilment (i.e., all functions enabling the transaction process and fulfilment services for product purchase and delivery), and (6) sustainability (e.g., information on product materials, product origin, product delivery, or quality seals).
Subsequently, independent platform visitors analyse the platform sample (n=40) using the consolidated list of customer-centred functions and a binary coding scheme (0 = function not available on the platform, 1 = function available on the platform). This evaluation results in customer-centred perception matrices for each local eCommerce platform. Based on the matrices, we derive the overall implementation degree for every customer-centred function. Also, we conduct Fisher's exact test to determine whether there is a significant association between website traffic and function range. Out of the long list of customer-centred functions, we finally extract and discuss the most relevant customer-centred functions for local eCommerce platforms
Climate Proofing Spatial Planning Policies in Austria – Case Studies and Findings
Get PDFThe Austrian Panel on Climate Change (APCC, 2014), as well as the next report version (2021) emphasise that spatial planning policies have to be empowered to combat climate change. While the 2014 version contained a rather modest presentation of spatial planning and mobility approaches, the future version will have a full chapter on “spatial planning and climate change”. Usually, APCC reports tend to trust sources that are highly validated and highly agreed upon by many experts. “Climate proofing” should be a process to measure the mitigation and adaptation impact of spatial strategies and programmes, but so far there is only poor evidence that this exists: we believe that spatial planning is powerful, but it is hard to prove this in qualitative and/or quantitative terms and numbers
Enhancing Identity through Streetscape Composition
Get PDFEach city or an urban space has a unique identity and a character of its own. Therefore, there is a special pleasure in looking at a city and its components. The lived experience added to a place is considered significant to people through time. Think of a city and directly its streets come to your mind, according to Jacobs (1961). People experience the city through moving in a linear path formed by elements, such as; building façades, trees, curbs, and other elements. Streetscape skeleton, along with other physical design elements, form the vista that any individual recognises when arriving at an urban place or a street. Due to the dynamic development of cities, a key question concerning the quality of life is always asked. According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the standard indicators of the quality of life is physical and mental health, and social belonging. This paper aims to identify the most important physical features in streetscape design elements according to users, as well as showing which of the physical features could enhance identity and character of a place. Literature reviews and the analysis of a case study in downtown Alexandria in Egypt are used as the research methodology and procedures for this paper. The results show a hierarchical ranking of elements to take into consideration to design a future guideline or a framework to enhance the identity of a street or an urban space. Findings show that the Physical Setting is the most noticeable quality of place to users. It is also clear that the Softscape elements are considered the most important when answering the question of the important physical features with the largest impact on identity and sense of comfort
Integration of Multi-dimensional Rural and Urban Planning Efforts for Achieving SDG 13 – Indian Context
Get PDFEarth’s climate is dynamic phenomenon subjected to change through natural cycle and anthropogenic influences. Rapid urbanization and industrialization have accelerated the process of climate change. During last few decades world has become more concerned about changes in climate, popularly known as Global Warming. Every sphere of life is affected through climate change. Prime anthropogenic reason for climate change is accumulation of Green House Gases due to burning of fossil and fuel. As per estimation of World Bank half of the world’s population lives in cities, a share that is likely to reach 70 per cent in 2050 (World Bank 2010). Cities utilize as much as 80 per cent of worldwide energy production and account for a roughly equal share of global greenhouse gas emissions. Urban population is expected to be double by 2030 however; the global built-up area is expected to triple during the same period (Angel et al. 2005).
Sustainable Development Goal 13 (SDG13) talks about climate change action plan, it is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals established by United National during 2015. SDG13 invites Governments to “take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts”. It emphasizes addressing and minimizing the risks arised due to climate change and is integral to the successful implementation of SDGs. Scope of SDG13 comprises multi-dimensional focus which inter alia includes adaptation and mitigation, mainstreaming climate concerns in development policies and discussing financial mechanisms to meet the targets.
Cities are hubs of opportunities for livelihood, therefore, it attract population for migration. Cities are drivers of global climate change and at the same time it is most affected party. Rapidly growing cities in developing countries and emerging economies with limited infrastructure very often become unsuccessful to provide adequate protection from extreme weather events and changing climatic conditions. The urban poor are particularly most vulnerable towards extreme weather events as they are more exposed to these events. In many cities, unplanned and haphazard urban growth leads to rapid urban sprawl, pollution, and environmental degradation. To meet the demand of urbanization issues related to climate change is largely under estimated. Peri urban areas are the most dynamic space in the process of urbanization, encounter land use change, haphazard development without prefeasibility study. These areas need special attention for mitigation and adaptation for climate change.
Rural ecosystem of India possesses unique physical, social and economic characteristics which make them uniquely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. Impact of climate change in rural areas involves major questions of detection and attribution. Whilst having potential, there are complications with using traditional knowledge and farmer perceptions to detect climate trends (Rao et al., 2011; in IPCC 2014). Climate Change impact may be categorized into two segments, i.e. first sort involves extreme events, such as floods and storms, as they impact on rural infrastructure and cause direct loss of life and second sort will involve impacts on agriculture or on ecosystems on which rural people depend.
Sustainable development, climate change impacts and disaster risk management are core issues for both rural and urban areas of India. Vulnerability due to climate change is a dynamic concept, varies spatially as well as temporally with sensitivity, exposure and adaptive capacity. In case of urban areas climate change responsive city plan should not be confined within city administrative boundary it should encompass peri-urban areas. Similarly for climate change responsive rural planning efforts may integrate climate change issues with rural employment, infrastructure development, natural resource management, basic need development programme, etc.
Various initiatives like, Smart City Mission, National Urban Information System, Environmental Information System, National Spatial Data Infrastructure, Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transmission, Rurban Mission, etc. are implemented by the Government of India toward sustainable rural and urban development. But in these rural and urban planning programmes issues related to climate change are not addressed. Details study of these programmes/ schemes reveals the scope of integration of climate change related issues with exiting planning initiatives. For achievement of SDG13 there is need to integrate these initiatives along with climate change responsive plan for both rural and urban areas. . In this article an attempt has been made to develop a methodology for preparing cross sectoral and multi-dimensional planning model for climate change responsive planning for rural and urban areas
New Technologies for Participatory Planning: Between Parametric Design and Brand Urbanism
Get PDFCities are called to face new challenges. The actions they plan must conform to their image and future values. This way, they can differentiate themselves and become more attractive. It is, therefore, necessary to involve citizens and brands differently from the past and with tools suitable for change.
The ongoing research intends to develop a new design tool applicable in complex contexts and stimulate participation. It is a conceptual model that integrates parametric design, inclusive communication, and planned forms of brand urbanism.
The research intends to introduce parametric design to evaluate urban transformations and coordinate them according to the future image of the city. The tool must be accompanied by inclusive communication that can involve more people to participate: this will also be possible thanks to new technologies such as social platforms that combine information, images, and sounds.
The problem is addressed in Chiasso, in the cross-border region between the Canton of Ticino (Switzerland) and the Lombardy Region (Italy). It is an important hub and has recently been affected by two projects. The design of the future vision of the territory must necessarily take place with the contribution of local actors and brands
Radfahren auf realen und virtuellen Flächen – Das NRVP-Projekt Cape Reviso
Get PDFDas durch den Nationalen Radverkehrsplan (NRVP) vom Bundesministerium für Verkehr und digitaler Infrastruktur (BMVI) geförderte Verbundprojekt Cape Reviso (Cyclist And PEdestrians on REal and VIrtual Shared rOads) befasst sich mit der Problematik, welche möglichen Konflikte Fußgängerinnen, Fußgänger, Radfahrerinnen und Radfahrer im täglichen Verkehr ausgesetzt sind. Ziel ist es, Optimierungsstrategien für Führungsformen und Knotenpunkte durch Erfassung des gegenwärtigen Zustandes und Simulationen von Variationen in Living Labs zu entwickeln. Der Ansatz verfolgt Methoden im realen und virtuellen Raum. Die aus den Erkenntnissen entwickelten Werkzeuge und Empfehlungen für eine moderne Stadt- und Verkehrsplanung sollen helfen, durch gute Infrastruktur die Attraktivität des Zu-Fuß-Gehens und Radfahrens zu steigern, speziell vor dem Fokus der Reduktion von Stress und Konflikten. Oftmals bilden diese eben ein persistierendes Hemmnis in der Gruppe der unentschlossenen Radfahrerinnen, Radfahrer, Fußgängerinnen und Fußgänger. In der Realität bleiben gefährliche und Stress auslösende Knotenpunkte und Führungsformen oft unerkannt, da die Unfallzahlen in einem Erhebungsgebiet zu gering sind. Die zu entwickelnden Werkzeuge zielen daher darauf ab, Situationen und Orte zu erfassen und zu messen, in denen Radfahrende und Zu-Fuß-Gehende sich subjektiv unsicher fühlen (Stress empfinden) oder es zu gefährlichen Situationen (Beinahe-Unfällen) kommt. Zielgruppe des Projektes sind nicht ausschließlich Stadt- und Verkehrsplanerinnen sowie Stadt- und Verkehrsplaner. Die entwickelnden Werkzeuge sind quelloffen und verhältnismäßig günstig. Sie können so nicht nur von Kommunen für die Planung, sondern auch von Initiativen und Verbänden eingesetzt werden, um sich für sichere Verkehrsbedingungen einzusetzen. Um breite Zielgruppen mit den Projektergebnissen anzusprechen, werden die entwickelten Werkzeuge direkt angewendet und aus dieser Anwendung allgemeingültige Empfehlungen abgeleitet. Beispielhaft werden in diesem Beitrag erste Ergebnisse aus der freiwilligen Messkampagne mit dem OpenBikeSensor (OBS) in Stuttgart sowie erste Analysen des Straßennetzwerkes mit „Space Syntax“ vorgestellt