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Topic Review
Using Remote Sensing in Soil Salinization Mapping
Meeting current needs without compromising future generations’ ability to meet theirs is the only path toward achieving environmental sustainability. As the most valuable natural resource, soil faces global, regional, and local challenges, from quality degradation to mass losses brought on by salinization. These issues affect agricultural productivity and ecological balance, undermining sustainability and food security. Therefore, timely monitoring and accurate mapping of salinization processes are crucial, especially in semi-arid and arid regions where climate variability impacts have already reached alarming levels. Salt-affected soil mapping has enormous potential thanks to recent progress in remote sensing.
  • 531
  • 29 May 2023
Topic Review
Using Pyrolysis to Create Biochar
Pyrolysis is a combustion process of woody biomass conducted under low or no oxygen conditions. It converts any kind of biomass into biochar, bio-oil, or biogas. Hence plants’ woody material can also be converted into bioenergy products. Valorization of woody biomass in the form of energy-rich compound biochar is a more sustainable technique as compared to conventional burning which leads to toxicity to the environment. Innovations and the need to limit open burning have resulted in numerous mobile and fixed plant pyrolysis methods that burn a variety of woody residues. 
  • 230
  • 25 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Use of Electrocoagulation in Wastewater Treatment
Electrocoagulation (EC) is a wastewater treatment method based on chemical reactions between a coagulant formed under the influence of an electric current released from a given electrode. Electrocoagulation is a technology that properly combines electrochemistry, coagulation, and flotation (or sedimentation). This technology consists of four main stages: electrolytic reaction on the surface of the electrode, formation of metal hydroxides (coagulants), adsorption of soluble (colloidal) particles on coagulants, and removal by sedimentation or flotation. Reactions between the coagulant and pollutants lead to precipitation of sediments which are removed by sedimentation or flotation.
  • 510
  • 14 Aug 2023
Topic Review
Urbanization
Urbanization (or urbanisation) refers to the population shift from rural to urban areas, the decrease in the proportion of people living in rural areas, and the ways in which societies adapt to this change. It is predominantly the process by which towns and cities are formed and become larger as more people begin living and working in central areas. Although the two concepts are sometimes used interchangeably, urbanization should be distinguished from urban growth. Whereas urbanization refers to the proportion of the total national population living in areas classified as urban, urban growth strictly refers to the absolute number of people living in those areas. The United Nations has projected that half of the world's population will live in urban areas at the end of 2008. It is predicted that by 2050 about 64% of the developing world and 86% of the developed world will be urbanized. That is equivalent to approximately 3 billion urbanites by 2050, much of which will occur in Africa and Asia. Notably, the United Nations has also recently projected that nearly all global population growth from 2017 to 2030 will be by cities, with about 1.1 billion new urbanites over the next 10 years. Urbanization is relevant to a range of disciplines, including urban planning, geography, sociology, architecture, economics, and public health. The phenomenon has been closely linked to modernization, industrialization, and the sociological process of rationalization. Urbanization can be seen as a specific condition at a set time (e.g. the proportion of total population or area in cities or towns), or as an increase in that condition over time. Therefore, urbanization can be quantified either in terms of the level of urban development relative to the overall population, or as the rate at which the urban proportion of the population is increasing. Urbanization creates enormous social, economic and environmental changes, which provide an opportunity for sustainability with the "potential to use resources more efficiently, to create more sustainable land use and to protect the biodiversity of natural ecosystems." Urbanization is not merely a modern phenomenon, but a rapid and historic transformation of human social roots on a global scale, whereby predominantly rural culture is being rapidly replaced by predominantly urban culture. The first major change in settlement patterns was the accumulation of hunter-gatherers into villages many thousand years ago. Village culture is characterized by common bloodlines, intimate relationships, and communal behavior, whereas urban culture is characterized by distant bloodlines, unfamiliar relations, and competitive behavior. This unprecedented movement of people is forecast to continue and intensify during the next few decades, mushrooming cities to sizes unthinkable only a century ago. As a result, the world urban population growth curve has up till recently followed a quadratic-hyperbolic pattern. Today, in Asia the urban agglomerations of Osaka, Tokyo, Mumbai, Dhaka, Karachi, Jakarta, Shanghai, Chongqing, Guangzhou, Manila, Seoul, and Beijing are each already home to over 20 million people, while Delhi is forecast to approach or exceed 40 million people in the year 2035. Cities such as Tehran, Istanbul, Mexico City, São Paulo, London, Moscow, New York City, Lagos, Los Angeles, and Cairo are, or soon will be, home to over 15 million people each.
  • 4.4K
  • 09 Oct 2022
Topic Review
Urban Wetlands
Wetlands are a critical part of natural environments that offer a wide range of ecosystem services. In urban areas, wetlands contribute to the livability of cities through improving the water quality, carbon sequestration, providing habitats for wildlife species, reducing the effects of urban heat islands, and creating recreation opportunities. 
  • 1.9K
  • 13 Jan 2022
Topic Review
Urban Trees in Mitigating Climate Impacts
Urban tree cadastres, essential for climate adaptation and urban planning, face challenges in maintaining accuracy and completeness. Existing urban vegetation has a large cooling potential. However, it is important to note that all tree species emit varying concentrations of biogenic volatile organic compounds (BVOCs) (e.g. isoprene and terpenes), which can act as precursors for the formation of ground-level ozone.
  • 161
  • 16 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Urban Transportation Meteorological Observation
With the advantages of various advanced technologies from multiple aspects, researchers could further expand explorations on urban transportation meteorological observations. Associated theoretical studies and practical investigations are also to be carried out to provide solid scientific foundations for urban transportation disaster prevention and mitigation, for implementing the action of meteorological guarantees, and for the construction of a high-quality smart society.
  • 396
  • 25 Nov 2022
Topic Review
Urban Solid Waste Management
Urban solid waste management is one of the most important local services, and its effective economic regulation can be a driver for the sector toward innovation, sustainability, and efficiency. Prominent economic topics include, among others, the analysis of the market structure, the regulatory frameworks, charging models of waste management services, economic efficiency, and environmental goals.
  • 772
  • 06 Jul 2021
Topic Review
Urban Soils and Road Dust
Urban soils might be defined as soils within the administrative boundaries of municipalities or settlings, respective a territory of settlement and natural production, including rests of soils in young cities.
  • 523
  • 16 May 2021
Topic Review
Urban Remote Sensing with Spatial Big Data
During the past decades, multiple remote sensing data sources, including nighttime light images, high spatial resolution multispectral satellite images, unmanned drone images, and hyperspectral images, among many others, have provided fresh opportunities to examine the dynamics of urban landscapes. In the meantime, the rapid development of telecommunications and mobile technology, alongside the emergence of online search engines and social media platforms with geotagging technology, has fundamentally changed how human activities and the urban landscape are recorded and depicted. The combination of these two types of data sources results in explosive and mind-blowing discoveries in contemporary urban studies, especially for the purposes of sustainable urban planning and development. Urban scholars are now equipped with abundant data to examine many theoretical arguments that often result from limited and indirect observations and less-than-ideal controlled experiments. For the first time, urban scholars can model, simulate, and predict changes in the urban landscape using real-time data to produce the most realistic results, providing invaluable information for urban planners and governments to aim for a sustainable and healthy urban future. 
  • 358
  • 14 Apr 2023
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