Topic Review
Urban Green Areas, Urban Geometry and Water Presence
Due to global climate change’s effects on the local climate and microclimate scale, issues of low comfort and low quality of life will become more prominent on the agendas of city administrations and citizens. It is the relationship between urban space and climatic conditions that will determine the development of this process. Despite the multiple opportunities provided by metropolitan cities in terms of health, education, technical know-how, and comfort, major problems arising from land change and transformation in cities are becoming more prominent as a result of urban warming and the decline in the quality of urban microclimate conditions, as the microclimate in urban areas significantly differs from the climate in rural areas. The main reason for this is that air temperatures are higher and wind speeds are lower in cities due to the urban heat island (UHI) effect. While traditional settlement typologies seem to take climate factors into account to a great extent, climate is often neglected in today’s spatial practices. While this situation negatively affects the comfort of urban life, it also harms nature by causing excessive consumption of natural resources. 
  • 36
  • 18 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Urban Ageing Welfare Leaking and Remedy Strategies in Macau
The world is experiencing population ageing, which will extend to the future across the world. The ageing population is sure to impact a country’s welfare policy and economy. Macau is a special administrative region (SAR) of China with a long-life expectancy and a decreasing reproduction rate, making the population ageing particularly obvious. 
  • 31
  • 11 Mar 2024
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
The Lost Shantytowns of Barcelona
Shantytowns still existed in many of Southern Europe’s major cities in the second half of the 20th century, although many have now been demolished. The purpose of this article is to highlight the history and evolution of some of the main shantytowns that remained in Barcelona in the mid-1970s, track their subsequent demolition, and reflect on the fate of the shanty dwellers. This form of self-build housing, usually lacking in basic services, played a vital role in providing shelter for immigrant families and the urban poor. A strong neighbourhood identity existed in many of these shantytowns, and national and local policies that aimed at their demolition and the re-housing of residents, often in low-quality housing blocks, proved problematic. The shantytowns studied here are La Perona, the Tres Turons, Campo de la Bota, and Ramon Casellas, which together comprised over 2000 shanty dwellings in the 1970s. Drawing on photographs taken at the time and existing literature, and using recent images from Google Earth, the demise of these shantytowns is examined, and the policies and plans that determined their fate are discussed. This article finds that the shanty dwellers experienced mixed fortunes, some being forcibly removed and re-housed in tower blocks with associated social-economic problems, whilst others played an active part in the design of replacement housing, implemented in situ where the shanty dwellings once existed. This article contributes to existing studies on shantytowns in Barcelona, which received scant attention from academics at the time, and which only now are being recognised as an important aspect of Barcelona’s urban history.
  • 285
  • 08 Mar 2024
Topic Review
Urban Resilience in China
As modern cities increasingly face environmental disasters and inherent challenges, the creation and enhancement of resilient cities have become critical. China’s urban resilience exhibits significant imbalances and inadequacies at the provincial level.
  • 48
  • 21 Feb 2024
Topic Review Peer Reviewed
Unpacking Transdisciplinary Research Scenarios in Architecture and Urbanism
Research in architecture and urbanism is a complex undertaking. It involves a multitude of challenges, approaches, variables, diverse scales, and types of environments to examine. This entry dives into the complexities of architectural and urban research and explores the integration of diverse approaches into various research topics or domains. Recognizing the dynamic interplay of human, cultural, technological, and environmental factors in architecture and urbanism, it proposes a transdisciplinary approach to bridge existing disciplinary and methodological boundaries. This entry adopts and operationalizes a comprehensive approach that encompasses hybrid scenario development, integrated socio-spatial analysis, a revised experiential approach, and the integration of environmental psychology into architectural and urban studies. These components are envisioned to harmonize various methodologies and to depict a picture of what research in architecture and urbanism could be within an identified set of domains. This approach is grounded in a rigorous literature review, empirical evidence, and relevant validation through case studies. The application of this approach instigates a series of research scenarios which act as frameworks that provide new insights into design and practice-based research, building anatomy research, city dynamics research, housing dynamics research, and user perception studies. Each scenario demonstrates the applicability of combining theoretical insights with empirical investigations. The implications of these scenarios for architectural and urban research emphasize the significance of transdisciplinarity and highlights the importance of integrating diverse theoretical tenets and methodological insights to address the complex challenges of research in architecture and urbanism.
  • 1.8K
  • 20 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Smart Cities and Urban Energy Planning
This review paper comprehensively investigates the dynamic interplay between technological innovations and urban energy planning within the framework of smart cities. It embarks on a comprehensive bibliometric analysis encompassing over 9,300 publications to critically assess the progression, ambitions, obstacles, and the evident disconnection between technological advancements and the necessary policy and regulatory frameworks. This paper categorizes the multifaceted aspects of smart city initiatives, including energy-efficient buildings, sustainable urban design, intelligent transportation systems, and the integration of smart grids, drawing attention to the predominantly technology-centric focus in existing research. It underscores a substantial gap in the literature regarding the holistic integration of policy measures that are crucial for bridging the divide between technology and societal needs. By highlighting these discrepancies, the paper advocates for a more cohesive approach that aligns technological solutions with strategic policy development, aiming to optimize the benefits of smart city initiatives. This involves a critical evaluation of policy challenges, suggesting the imperative for comprehensive strategies that encompass regulatory, economic, and socio-technical dimensions to enhance urban sustainability and resilience. Through this detailed investigation, the paper contributes valuable insights into the evolution of smart cities, offering a roadmap for future research and policy-making to harness the full potential of urban technological innovations in creating socially just, environmentally friendly and energy-efficient urban ecosystems.
  • 87
  • 06 Feb 2024
Topic Review
Natural Language Processing in Connected Vehicle Patents Analysis
Patents are a valuable source of information for understanding technological advancements, identifying emerging trends, and assessing the competitive landscape of various industries. Analysts have used NLP and ML to automate tasks such as patent classification, topic modeling, technology identification, and patent recommendation systems.
  • 57
  • 22 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Analysis of Perceived Safety, Urban Landscape Sense Perception
Numerous studies in the field of urban planning show that the perception of qualitative traits such as safety is influenced by the visual components of the urban environment. Studies have proposed methods to predict citizens’ subjective perceptions at the urban scale, which also includes the evaluation of the subjective safety perceptions of streets. 
  • 73
  • 19 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Community Governance and Old Community
The emergence of community governance can be traced back to the application of governance theory within the realm of community studies. Conflicts of interest within community governance have primarily revolved around interactions between owners’ committees, community management organizations, and frequently property committees acting on behalf of residents.
  • 61
  • 19 Jan 2024
Topic Review
Tourism Ecological Efficiency
Tourism ecological efficiency is a critical branch of ecological efficiency research that explores the impact of tourism on the environment. To promote sustainable tourism development, it is essential to consider not only the economic and social benefits but also the environmental impact of tourism.
  • 58
  • 19 Jan 2024
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