The book offers a novel approach to the study of the complex dynamics of cities. It is based on (1) Synergetics as a science of cooperation and selforganization, (2) information theory including semantic and pragmatic aspects, and optimization principles, (3) a theory of steady state maintenance, and of (4) phase transition, i.e. qualitative changes of structure or behavior. From this novel theoretical vantage point, the book addresses particularly three issues that stand at the core of current discourse on cities: Urban Scaling, Smart Cities and City Planning. An important consequence of "the 21st century as the age of cities", is that the study of cities currently attracts scientists from a variety of disciplines, ranging from physics, mathematics and computer science, through urban studies, architecture, planning and human geography, to economics, psychology, sociology, public administration and more. The book is thus likely to attract scholars, researchers and students of these research domains, of complexity theories of cities, as well as of general complexity theory. In addition, it is directed also to practitioners of urbanism, city planning and urban design.

'Green space in the community' refers to the public space that is located in sections of residential land, often a space providing entertainment facilities and a place for the community to interact across various activities. As one of the most important components of urban green space, public green space makes a huge impact on the quality of residents' daily lives. With the rapid development of the urbanisation process, people are paying much more attention to the construction of infrastructure in their living environments, thus the construction of public green space is steadily increasing on a larger scale. The construction of green space not only helps improve the quality of residential living spaces and the level of public welfare, but these spaces also inspire residents' participation in the community.

This book presents recent innovative trends in land, water and energy management in Vietnam. Presenting the main projects and outcomes of a close collaboration between Italian and Vietnamese researchers in the last three years, the book is divided into three main sections: environment, climate change and land management in Vietnam; energy for Vietnam; and cities and utilities in Vietnam. The first section focuses on water systems, including rivers and seacoasts, and on new growing methods for more sustainable agriculture. The second section addresses energy and wastewater. The country's rapid growth is a major challenge in terms of reinforcing the electrical infrastructures, and as such this section offers an overview of the government's planned measures and their impact on the Vietnamese power system. The third section highlights cities and utilities in the context of increasing urbanization, exploring the urban morphology of the Vietnamese metropolis, particularly Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.

This book explores key theoretical and empirical issues related to the development and implementation of planning strategies that can provide guidance on the transition to climate-compatible and low-carbon urban development. It especially focuses on integrating resilience thinking into the urban planning process, and explains how such an integration can contribute to reflecting the dynamic properties of cities and coping with the uncertainties inherent in future climate change projections. Some of the main questions addressed are: What are the innovative methods and processes needed to incorporate resilience thinking into urban planning? What are the characteristics of a resilient urban form and what are the challenges associated with integrating them into urban development? Also, how can the resilience of cities be measured and what are the main constituents of an urban resilience assessment framework? In addition to addressing these crucial questions, the book features several case studies from around the world, investigating methodologies, challenges, and opportunities for mainstreaming climate resilience in the theory and practice of urban planning. Featuring contributions by prominent researchers from around the world, the book offers a valuable resource for students, academics and practitioners alike.

This book explores the contributions of psychological, neuroscientific and philosophical perspectives to the design of contemporary cities. Pursuing an innovative and multidisciplinary approach, it addresses the need to re-launch knowledge and creativity as major cultural and institutional bases of human communities. Dwelling is a form of knowledge and re-invention of reality that involves both the tangible dimension of physical places and their mental representation. Findings in the neuroscientific field are increasingly opening stimulating perspectives on the design of spaces, and highlight how our ability to understand other people is strongly related to our corporeity. The first part of the book focuses on the contributions of various disciplines that deal with the spatial dimension, and explores the dovetailing roles that science and art can play from a multidisciplinary perspective. In turn, the second part formulates proposals on how to promote greater integration between the aesthetic and cultural dimension in spatial design. Given its scope, the book will benefit all scholars, academics and practitioners who are involved in the process of planning, designing and building places, and will foster an international exchange of research, case studies, and theoretical reflections to confront the challenges of designing conscious places and enable the development of communities.

The efficient usage, investigation, and promotion of new methods, tools, and technologies within the field of architecture, particularly in urban planning and design, is becoming more critical as innovation holds the key to cities becoming smarter and ultimately more sustainable. In response to this need, strategies that can potentially yield more realistic results are continually being sought. The Handbook of Research on Digital Research Methods and Architectural Tools in Urban Planning and Design is a critical reference source that comprehensively covers the concepts and processes of more than 20 new methods in both planning and design in the field of architecture and aims to explain the ways for researchers to apply these methods in their works. Pairing innovative approaches alongside traditional research methods, the physical dimensions of traditional and new cities are addressed in addition to the non-physical aspects and applied models that are currently under development in new settlements such as sustainable cities, smart cities, creative cities, and intercultural cities. Featuring a wide range of topics such as built environment, urban morphology, and city information modeling, this book is essential for researchers, academicians, professionals, technology developers, architects, engineers, and policymakers.

GNSS can detect the seismic atmospheric-ionospheric variations, which can be used to investigate the seismo-atmospheric disturbance characteristics and provide insights on the earthquake. This book presents the theory, methods, results, and modeling of GNSS atmospheric seismology. Sesimo-tropospheric anomalies, Pre-/Co-/Post-seismic ionospheric disturbances, epicenter estimation, tsunami and volcano ionospheric disturbances, and volcanic plumes detection with GNSS will be presented and discussed per chapter in the book.

This book focuses on interdisciplinary issues of human health in the changing urban environments of India's largest megacities-Delhi and Mumbai. The authors explore human health concerns related to increased temperatures and air pollution in these cities in a study based on primary data collected through interviews, as well as secondary data on causes of mortality from 2001 to 2012. During this period, the surface temperatures for both megacities were mapped using Landsat Images. The rapidly increasing populations of cities and urban centers alter ecosystem services such as water, air and land cover, with disastrous impacts on health and wellbeing, particularly in megacities. In 2015, polluted air was estimated to have been responsible for 6.4 million deaths worldwide, and it is projected that it will cause between 6 and 9 million deaths per year by 2060. In 2017, outdoor air pollution resulted in 1.2 million deaths in India and brought about a 3% loss in GDP. The increase in population, vehicles, and industries has led to changes in land use and land cover and a rise in city temperatures and air pollution, creating urban heat islands (UHIs). Together, UHIs and air pollution have damaging impacts on human health that range from stress and headache to asthma, bronchitis, and chronic diseases, and even to death. Delhi has been experiencing emergency conditions in terms of environmental health over the past two years. At the same time, both the Delhi and Mumbai urban agglomerations are growing at a rapid pace, and the United Nations has projected that they will be the second and third most populous cities in the world by 2025. In this context, the book offers significant insights into the past patterns and responses to the present global urban health emergencies, and explores sustainable means of combating the problem to enable college and university researchers to develop innovative solutions. Further. It presents trans-disciplinary research that cuts across the WHO Action Plan, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and Habitat III to help policymakers gain a better understanding of the global challenges of urban health and wellbeing. The book is especially useful for students and researchers in geography, urban demography, urban studies, environmental studies, health sciences, and policy studies.

This contributed volume collects cutting-edge research in Geographic Information Science & Technologies, Location Modeling, and Spatial Analysis of Urban and Regional Systems. The contributions emphasize methodological innovations or substantive breakthroughs on many facets of the socio-economic and environmental reality of urban and regional contexts.

In today's changing and transforming socio-economic, political, cultural, and technological paradigms, we encounter many methodologies, approaches, proposals, and practices in reconsidering the disappearing or emerging relations in the human/nonhuman-environment-nature interaction. These approaches, proposals, and practices range from new methods of urban gardening to biophilic design and augmented/immersive environments. However, these human-centric approaches, which only aim to meet their needs or emerge as technology-oriented replicas and representations of nature, lead to a departure from a holistic approach to the natural and artificial environment. Therefore, how can new and emerging approaches or methodologies draw a holistic framework for environmental health, sustainability, wellness, and co-existence between environments for all living beings? Emerging Approaches in Design and New Connections With Nature covers a variety of topics related to the intersection between nature, environment, and ways of living and provides a comprehensive guide to biophilic design and the idea of design and nature, including benefits, theories, and effects. Covering topics such as biophilic design and sustainability, soundscapes and landscapes, and urban environments and design, it is ideal for architects, designers, urban planners, landscape designers, policymakers, engineers, interior designers, practitioners, students, academicians, and researchers.

This book is an empirically rich case-study of what is currently the most popular alternative-fuel vehicle in the history of motorization - the electric two-wheeler (e-bike). The book provides sociological insights into e-bike mobility in China and discusses politics, social practices and larger issues of mobility transition in urban China. Taking an accessible approach to the subject, the book identifies the main sociospatial conflicts regarding the use of e-bikes and discusses why electric two-wheeler mobility is important for the future of urban China and urban transportation globally. This book will be an invaluable read for urban geographers and transportation researchers, but also for academics and general readers interested in Chinese Studies, specifically in the area of urban mobility in China.

From Yellowstone to the Great Smoky Mountains, America's national parks are sprawling tracts of serenity, most of them carved out of public land for recreation and preservation around the turn of the last century. America has changed dramatically since then, and so has its conceptions of what parkland ought to be.

In this book, one of our premier environmental historians looks at the new phenomenon of urban parks, focusing on San Francisco's Golden Gate National Recreation Area as a prototype for the twenty-first century. Cobbled together from public and private lands in a politically charged arena, the GGNRA represents a new direction for parks as it highlights the long-standing tension within the National Park Service between preservation and recreation.

Long a center of conservation, the Bay Area was well positioned for such an innovative concept. Writing with insight and wit, Rothman reveals the many complex challenges that local leaders, politicians, and the NPS faced as they attempted to administer sites in this area. He tells how Representative Phillip Burton guided a comprehensive bill through Congress to establish the park and how he and others expanded the acreage of the GGNRA, redefined its mission to the public, forged an identity for interconnected parks, and struggled against formidable odds to obtain the San Francisco Presidio and convert it into a national park.

Engagingly written, "The New Urban Park" offers a balanced examination of grassroots politics and its effect on municipal, state, and federal policy. While most national parks dominate the economies of their regions, GGNRA was from the start tied to the multifaceted needs of its public and political constituents-including neighborhood, ethnic, and labor interests as well as the usual supporters from the conservation movement.

As a national recreation area, GGNRA helped redefine that category in the public mind. By the dawn of the new century, it had already become one of the premier national park areas in terms of visitation. Now as public lands become increasingly scarce, GGNRA may well represent the future of national parks in America. Rothman shows that this model works, and his book will be an invaluable resource for planning tomorrow's parks.

This book explores the hybridity of urban identities in multiple dimensions and at multiple scales, how they form as catalysts and mechanisms for urban transitions, and how they develop as city branding strategies and urban regeneration methods. Due to rapid globalisation, the notion of identity has become scarcer, more fragile, and inarguably more important. Given the significance of place and displacement for contemporary everyday life, and the continuous advancement of technologies, identifying relations and values that define humans and their environments in various ways has become crucial. Divided into seven chapters, this book provides extensive coverage of 'urban identity', an often-overlooked topic in the fields of urbanism, urban geography, and urban design. It approaches the topic from a novel dual perspective, by exploring cities with tangible commonalities and shared strategies for refining their identities, and by highlighting cities and urban environments characterised by multiple identities. Based on a decade of research in this field, the book provides a multi-disciplinary perspective on urban identity. In addition to comprehensive information for students, it offers a key reference guide for urbanists, urban designers and geographers, architectural and urban practitioners, decision-makers, and governing bodies involved in urban development strategies.

Contemporary megaprojects have evolved from the discreet, modernist projects undertaken in the past by centralized authorities to encompass everything from large-scale construction to space exploration. Contemporary Megaprojects explores how these projects have been impacted by cutting-edge technology, the private sector, and the processes of decentralization and dematerialization. With case studies ranging from mega-plantations in Southeast Asia to ocean mapping to sports events, the contributions in this collected volume demonstrate the increasing ambition and pervasiveness of these projects, as well as their significant impact on both society and the environment.

This book proposes the concept of urban multiple habitats and then analyzes its corresponding classification, function and potential supply capability. It provides an analysis framework for studying the relationship between urban biodiversity and built environment, and for considering the loss of urban habitats caused by high-density development. It argues that urban biodiversity is a key indicator for assessing urban ecosystem services. On this basis, the book then presents a case study mainly focusing on wild birds in Shanghai, as urban wild birds and their species could be viewed as an essential indicator for evaluating healthy ecosystem of contemporary cities. Based on the empirical findings, the book proposes an assessment model for urban biodiversity performance and a range of principles, strategies and key indicators regarding the optimization of urban planning and design practice to enhance urban biodiversity performance.

The book investigates the relationship between ecosystem services (ES) and spatial planning, and explores potential means of integrating the two concepts to support the decision-making process. In addition, it presents case studies demonstrating the outcomes, limitations, opportunities and further new developments in ES assessment/mapping for planning support. Then it describes the "Restart from Ecosystem Services" (RES) methodology, which is aimed at integrating ES into the planning process using an ecological balance, and at promoting new planning parameters for the transformation areas. RES ensures the inclusion of ES in planning processes using the incremental measures of limiting, mitigating and compensating soil sealing and land take process promoting operational strategies in applying it. The implementation of RES is associated with strategic environmental assessment and provides valuable support in the definition of strategies across the entire planning process, especially for the evaluation of alternative scenarios.

This book provides theoretical perspectives and practical experiences on smart governance for smart cities. It presents a balanced linkage between research, policies and practices on this area. The authors discuss the sustainability challenges raised by rapid urbanization, challenges with smart governance models in various countries, and a new governance paradigm seen as a capable approach able to overcome social, economic and environmental sustainability problems. The authors include case studies on transformation, adaption and transfers; and country, regional, municipal contextualization. Also included are best practices on monitoring and evaluating smart governance and impact assessment. The book features contributions from researchers, academics, and practitioners in the field. Analyzes smart governance for cities from a variety of perspectives and a variety of sectors - both in theory and in practice Features information on the linkage between United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and smart governance Covers the connection between research, policies and practice in smart governance for smart cities

In this book, Dr Cole Hendrigan examines the options for sustainable transport and land-use planning based on building heights, mixes of land-use, transportation mode capacity and others to build the next generation of parks, housing, commercial and retail spaces along high-capacity rail corridors. Following the paradigm of 'Transit Oriented Development', Dr Hendrigan provides unique knowledge and insights on how to best make the transition towards more sustainable and livable cities, offering a practical method to better integrate transport and urban development to this end.

This book is a fascinating, wide-reaching interdisciplinary examination of urbanism in the context of humanities and social sciences research, comprising cutting-edge theoretical and empirical investigations of urban livability and sustainability. Urban livability is explored as a phenomenon of happenings that gather people, things, and domains in the specific spatiotemporal context of the city; this context is the life-world of urbanism. Meanwhile, sustainability is conceived of as the capacity of urbanism that enables people to cultivate their sociocultural and economic existence and development without the depletion of their current resources in the future. In this study, phenomenology is uniquely incorporated as a way of seeing things according to their presence in space and time.

This book provides critical insight into the experience of multi-owned property, and showcases different cultural responses across the Asia-Pacific region. Escalating demand for properties within global cities has created exuberance around apartment living; however less well understood are the restrictions on individual rights and responsibilities associated with collective living. In contrast to the highly populated and traditional communal housing arrangements of past Asian economies, we see an increasing focus on neo-liberalist, market-based policies associated with the rise of an Asian middle class shaping structural change from communal to individualistic. This edited collection unpacks the rights, restrictions and responsibilities of multi-owned property ownership across the Asia-Pacific region; examining the experiences of developers, strata-managers, owners and residents. In doing so, they highlight how the rights of one party affects the restrictions and responsibilities of others within different policy frameworks. This work will reach an interdisciplinary audience including scholars and practitioners of sociology, public policy, urban studies and planning, economics, property management and architecture.

This book elaborates the need, in a rapidly urbanizing world, for recognition of the ecological communities we inhabit in cities and for the development of an ethics for all entities (human and non-human) in this context. Children and their entangled relations with the human and more-than-human world are located centrally to the research on cities in Bolivia and Kazakhstan, which investigates the future challenges of the Anthropocene. The author explores these relations by employing techniques of intra-action, diffraction and onto-ethnography in order to reveal the complexities of children's lives. These tools are supported by a theoretical framing that draws on posthumanist and new materialist literature. Through rich and complex stories of space-time-mattering in cities, this work connects children's voices with a host of others to address the question of what it means to be a child in the Anthropocene.

The book analyzes the impact of urban movements on government and public policies in a context of rapid urban transformations, public policy crises and increasing social inequalities. The essays show how the impact of the movements is increasing and has effects both in the orientation of the policies, as in their form of management and its effects. The authors are leading scholars from universities and research centers in Spain, Italy, Portugal, France, Germany and the United Kingdom.