REAL CORP
Not a member yet
1255 research outputs found
Sort by
Spatial Transformations in Urban Areas During the Past 50 Years
Get PDFThis research examines the dynamics of spatial transformations in highly urbanized areas and in particular the urban agglomeration of Ghent (Belgium). To this end we go back 50 years in time (1963-2013). The hypothesis is assumed that three major spatial transformations take place during this period: (1) the population increase leads to sub-urbanization or the spreading of functions around the city center until the 1980s and (2) is followed by a period of compaction processes in which remaining open areas are filledwithin the suburban area. It is mainly about new construction. This condensed nebula - which presents itself as a city edge – (3) finally, together with the city core, transforms both in nature and in use of the existing built-up tissue. This mainly concerns renovation and reuse. The dynamics of these processes can be reconstructed on the basis of building and allotment permits. Based on this, neighborhoods can be distinguished with low or high dynamics regarding transformations.Finally, it will be investigated where transformations will occur in the future. Socio-economic characteristics of starters on the residential market can be an indication of expected transformations in the future in other neighborhoods. The article introduces the concept of Napoleon plots to carry out statistical and spatial analysis. Dynamics and patterns are mapped
Integrate Traditional Ecological Knowledge into Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies in High Risk Settlements – a Case Study of Taiwan
Get PDFThe accelerated pace of climate change in today’s global world has intensified the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events. Structural engineering measures are the common ways to cope with disasters. However, with the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme disaster events, the general engineering design standards could not stand with severe disasters. Non-structural engineering measures are the alternative including zoning and insurance. In fact, resettlement or relocation is the possible approach to relocate people from high risk areas to relative safer places. Nevertheless, such relocation might destroy the original living context and livelihood thoroughly. In the other hand, traditional ecology knowledge is the long lived knowledge inherited from ancestor. Traditional ecological knowledge could become a useful warning system to warn people when should retreat and when should be prepared. As a whole, the purpose is to collect possible traditional ecological knowledge in areas suffered from disasters and improve suchknowledge to become a feasible disaster mitigation approach
Building the Case for Nature-Based Solutions: Enablers and Barriers in Data-Driven Solutions for Climate Adaptive Developments
Get PDFGlobal climate change, urbanisation and increasing demand for limited resources are primary challengesfacing the sustainable, long-term development of cities. Traditional mitigation of flooding and stormwater management focused largely on technical and infrastructural solutions (e.g. larger pipes, underground storage, ‘out-of-sight / out-of-mind’ mentality). Yet these ‘trusted’ conventional infrastructure systems are proving to be neither safe nor cost-efficient solutions for managing the effects of climate change (e.g. flash floods, extreme heat, extended drought) and mitigating the resultant impact on liveability as well as ecology. In response to the need for more effective, ‘climate adapted’ tools, blue-green infrastructure (BGI), otherwise widely recognised as nature-based solutions (NBS) – or tools which echo or mimic natural systems and ecosystem services while providing the functional requirements of grey infrastructure such as pipes – have emerged in recent years as suitable measures to for complementing or replacing conventional solutions.Current available methods for integrating climate adaptive solutions such as NBS and BGI within the urban planning practice are insufficient and lacking when compared to the complexity of city planning today.Calculating the impact of design concepts today is still a highly manual process. The lack of resources both in terms of personnel and finances limits the capability to efficiently test and validate optimal solutions. Often, methods utilized in practice for simulating the effect of climate adapted solutions take too long to get to meaningful results or largely stems from guesswork and assumptions. Viewed in parallel with observations that 1) the loss of green areas to urban development has further challenged the capacity of conventional engineering solutions to the point of failure; 2) global temperatures, heat waves and urban heat island effects will intensify in coming years, leading to issues with water scarcity and drought; and 3) planning cities of the future requires coordinating a diverse group of stakeholder interests, our conclusion that a new method for planning and design is deemed necessary. We set out to answer the following questions: can the plethora of digital data available be used to create meanginful solutions that can manage, mitgate and adapt to the effects of climate change in the built environment? What barriers must one consider when utilising data-driven, software-based technology as decision-support tools in the field of urban planning? More specifically, what enables the acceptance and applicability of such methodologies compaerd to traditional planning and design processes? These observations and research queries, combined with the experience of testing tools in the field; retesting and validating the results; and lastly reapplying the results again within professional practice led to the establishment of ‘GreenScenario’, a rapid iteration and software-based decision-support tool for simplifying climate adaptation planning. The following paper details this path by firstly describing the concept of nature-based solutions in relationship to climate adaptation. Secondly, the results of the 9-year+ R&D process that eventually led to the establishment of GreenScenario are detailed in relationship to the basis for the decision-support tool. Lastly, observations from practice regarding potential enablers and barriers to implementation of data-driven decision-support tools are summarised and compared to the initial results of implementing GreenScenario as a decision-support software, tool and process for urban planning and design
Standort, Wettbewerb oder Persönlichkeit: Wer oder was entscheidet über die Adoption des Onlinehandels als Vertriebskanal?
Get PDFDer Onlinehandel ist ein mittlerweile fest etablierter Vertriebsweg, der insbesondere den inhabergeführten stationären Einzelhandel (ISEH) – und mit ihm die Innenstädte und andere Einkaufsstandorte – vor großeHerausforderungen stellt. Gleichzeitig kann der Multi- bzw. Cross-Channel-Vertrieb auch eine Chance für den ISEH darstellen, was allerdings voraussetzt, dass diese (Prozess-)Innovation im Vertrieb überhauptgenutzt wird. Anhand von drei Angebotsstandorten in Karlsruhe (Innenstadt, Stadtteilzentren Mühlburg und Durlach) behandelt der vorliegende Beitrag zwei Kernfragen: 1) Welche Relevanz hat der Online-Vertriebsweg bei den stationären (inhabergeführten sowie filialisierten) Einzelhandelsbetrieben an den drei Standorten? 2) Welche Einflussfaktoren bedingen die Adoptionsentscheidung von Geschäftsinhaber/-innen,zusätzlich in den digitalen Vertrieb einzusteigen? Hierzu wurde in den Untersuchungsgebieten eine standardisierte, mündliche Anbieterbefragung durchgeführt und ausgewertet. Mit einem multivariaten Entscheidungsmodell wurde der Einfluss einzelner Faktoren (subjektive Einschätzung der Standortqualität und des Wettbewerbsdrucks, Unternehmer/-innenpersönlichkeit im Sinne der Marktphasentheorie) auf die Nutzung des Onlinevertriebs geprüft. Erwartungsgemäß zeigt sich, dass die Digitalisierung bei filialisierten Unternehmen wesentlich weiter fortgeschritten ist als im ISEH. Überraschenderweise stellen aber weder die subjektive Standortbewertung noch der empfundene Konkurrenzdruck durch den lokalen Handel Einflüsse im Hinblick auf die Adoption des Onlinehandels dar. Die Adoptionsentscheidung hängt aber in hohem Maßevon der individuellen Persönlichkeit der Geschäftsinhaber/-innen sowie von deren subjektiver Einschätzung des Wettbewerbsdrucks durch den Onlinehandel ab. Diese Ergebnisse implizieren, dass Strategien zur Förderung der Online-Kompetenz von mittelständischen Einzelhändlern eine höhere Relevanz beigemessen werden sollte und hierdurch andere Komponenten der Standortförderung sinnvoll ergänzt werden können
New Policies For The Development Of Informal Settlements
Get PDFMost urban areas of the world suffer from many urban problems resulting from population inflation and urban growth. Urban areas have seen many developments in the past decades, such as the migration of people from rural to urban areas, and the subsequent deterioration. Urbanization is growing rapidly, with no parallel investment in urban services, and housing policies, planning and land management systems failing to meet the needs of society. The concept of “informal” is usually defined negatively and simply, unlike typical “formal” characteristics, where it represents illegal, unauthorized, unplanned and unregulated characteristics. In recent years, land-use change and urban growth models have become important tools for city planners, economists, ecologists, and resource managers. In most models, future land use changes, urban sprawl and limb expansion are expected. Today, urban areas use smart growth strategies. The study illustrates the use of urban infill as a new approach to dealing with informal areas. It considers the transfer of incompatible land uses beyond the city limits, the redevelopment, improvement and renovation of old urban areas, worn-out fabric and the reuse of abandoned land in new urban development. The problem of informal settlements is one of the key issues. It is an economic, social and urban problem affecting the region itself and its surroundings. Informal areas have been imposed themselves as a form of planning for the majority of urban residents. The extreme neglect of this problem amplified it as it grew at more rates than the city itself. The promotion and development of informal settlements have become self-imposed in national developmentpolicies. Although there are several ways to address them, their problems remain, and development projects continue to suffer from many deficiencies in their performance. Therefore, the importance of the study was to use a new policy to deal with informal areas in Egypt such as the urban infill policy as a new approach to deal with it and try to use and implement it and try to reach solutions to reduce the problem and increase the resulting problems
New Places for Urban Development – the Space between Historical City Centres and Post-War Expansions Areas
Get PDFThis paper deals with the development and identification of urban zones, which used to function as a transition zone between the historical city and the outskirts. Usually these zones contained functions like car dealers, supermarkets, hardware stores, workshops, etc.. In summary these functions have in common that they need space and good connectivity, while their location nearby to the city was also of importance. During the last 20 years and encouraged by rising demand the pressure has increased on centrally located areas and plots, and forced a change of usage in these transition zones towards functions which are more profitable. Besides the change of the functions a major challenge was the need to rethink established formal methods of urban planning, like legal strategic plans or city development master plans. The present paper will therefore examine whether such urban districts offer prerequisites for alternative (informal) development methods. In this paper, a typology of urban districts will be generated to define a generic type. However, due to their size and heterogeneity, these urban districts can hardly be developed in their entirety with the help of the established, formal urban planning methods. It is therefore the task of urban planning to consider different informal and individual urban planning concepts and to act accordingly
Multimodale Verkehrslösungen als Chance für nachhaltige städtisch-ländliche Beziehungen
Get PDFNicht nur in städtischen Gebieten, sondern auch in erweiterten Stadtregionen und peri-urbanen Gemeinden ist ein deutlicher Trend zu multimodalem Mobilitätsverhalten zu beobachten. Der Trend, nur einen Verkehrsträger zu nutzen, ist hingegen rückläufig. Vielmehr wollen die Verkehrsteilnehmerinnen und Verkehrsteilnehmer das für ihren jeweiligen Zweck und ihr aktuelles Ziel am besten geeignete Verkehrsmittel oder die geeignetste Kombination von Verkehrsmitteln nutzen. Multimodale Mobilitätskonzepte machen diese Verknüpfung möglich. Dieser Trend zu einer nachhaltiger Mobilitätsentwicklung wird anhand der beiden Good-Practice Beispiele „GUSTmobil“ und „REGIOtim“ im Steirischen Zentralraum aufgezeigt. Die Realisierung dieser alternativen Mobilitätskonzepte fördert sowohl die Lebensqualität der Bewohnerinnen und Bewohner als auch die Austauschbeziehungen und Synergien zwischen den städtischen, stadtnahen und ländlichen Gebieten der Region
Micro Housing: No Contribution to Affordable Housing – a Berlin Case Study
Get PDFThe limited body of research on micro housing, which refers to small-scale housing units for single-person households, often associates this with housing affordability. In this study, we analyse the affordability of micro housing based on housing advertisements using Berlin as case study area. Therefore, we focus on different target groups of micro housing named by industry-driven research. On the one hand, we argue that the relevance of some of these groups for housing affordability from anurban development planning perspective is questionable. On the other hand, the results indicate that micro units are hardly affordable for target groups such as students, who are often affected by housing affordability problems. Our study illustrates that for Berlin there is a substantial mismatch between the potential contribution postulated in literature and the actual contribution of micro units to affordable housin
E-Scooter as Environmentally Friendly Last Mile Option? Insights on Spatial and Infrastructural Implications for Urban Areas based on the Example of Vienna
Get PDFWe recently face an e-scooter hype in Europe. More and more e-scooter sharing offers are provided in cities and towns which are marketed as a last mile option. At the same time, a greater extent of private households has their own equipment. This trend is two-fold as e-scooter offers not only provide benefits (e.g. in terms of accessibility) but also pose certain risks (e.g. in terms of road safety). To find out about spatial and technical implications and to assess the potential of e-scooters for urban areas, we used a ‘triangulation’ research strategy using different sources. Based on the insights from a trend and target group analysis and focus groups with users and non-users we conducted 1-week tests with personsusing e-scooters on everyday routes (N=51), a survey of users and non-users (N=128) and course exercises carried out with pupils (N=94) in the city of Vienna in Austria. Against widespread assumptions that e-scooters can use existing infrastructure, we found that the preconditions are not necessarily suitable for e-scooters. Infrastructure elements would have to be adapted to enable a safe use of e-scooters. It was revealed that e-scooter usage should be recommended for the last mile in suburban areas and not the city center as the density and infrastructure (e.g. cubblestone) do not correspond to preconditions essential for a safe e-scooter usage. In addition to that, we found that labeling e-scooters as an environmentally friendly option is the subject of controversial debate
Socio-Economic Transformation of Urban Nodes in Amman: Determining Ingredients of Success
Get PDFAmman has experienced different types and modes of urban transformation in its neighborhoods’ urban structures. Such transformations have shaped these neighborhoods on social and economic levels leading to prosperity of some and the decline of others, without knowing why and how to encourage or prevent. However, this phenomenon was ivestigated through the paper to identify the causes and consequences of these transformations. It will identify the crucial aspects resulting in such transformations and try to display an understanding of the phenomenon to enable better development and sustainable change in the future. Three urban nodes were analyzed in this paper based on a master thesis submitted to the Department of Architecture at the German Jordanian University. The analyzed urban nodes are Jabal Al Hussein, Shmeisani and Um Uthaina. The authors mapped the trends and dynamics in these nodes along time and applied mixedmethod tools to reach the causes and drivers for such transformation. Main findings were resulted from the survey to determine few major undertakings in Amman. Such includes avoiding developing certain urban nodes and neglecting the adjacent ones. More attention should be paid to the quality and the quantity of the granted commercial touristic investments licenses. Expanding the system of vertical construction to achieve an optimal utilization of spaces along with avoiding random commercial distribution between residential layouts. Such findings have shown to have great weight in causing informal urban transformation. The main output of this paper is displayed through specific strategies, guidelines and policies that govern urban nodes towards proactive planning rather than informal growth and change. The results of this study showed that economic, social and service factors played a major role in these transformations. The aspects that can curb the decline in these urban nodes and the flourish of others