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Looks at how leisure complexes in urban areas have become the norm in the UK, particularly with regard to the multiple use types incorporating cinemas, nightclubs, theme bars, restaurants, etc. States the article is based on short questionnaires sent to major leisure complex developers and operators within England and Wales in the 1999‐2001 period.

This paper sets out describe the creation of sustainable urban planning concepts based on optimized urban landscape functioning. It gives an account of the formation and transformation processes of natural and artificial streaming structures.

The paper examines the present‐day approaches to the environmental assessment and zoning of urban territories. This was achieved by creating the conceptual methodological basis for the assessment and classification of urban landscapes.

Based on an analysis of the urban planning development of the Moscow agglomeration, principles have been proposed for the shaping of sustainable urban planning structures – landscape planning that can be applied to the management of the territorial growth of large cities and urban agglomerations. First, the shaping and reconstruction of the city structure, including the structure of land management, as well as the mutual arrangement of functional areas, should be based on the need to preserve the axes – the lines and planes of mass, energy and information transfer of landscapes of various orders. Second, the order of preserved landscape axes depends on the organisational complexity of a territory. Third, assessment of the sustainability of the structure of a city and agglomeration should be based on the criteria of river systems along their borders, such as the quantity and composition of water, its temperature, retention of the annual functioning cycle and biodiversity. Finally, urban planning control regimes should be established across the entire city and they should be determined by the position of the territory in the city's landscape structure.

This work will provide a better understanding of integrated environmental systems to enable development of best management practices in the city of Moscow.

Urban transport plays a key role in reducing climate gas emissions. However, public policies are developed and implemented in an increasingly complex, fragmented, and multilevelled society. This chapter focuses on how interactive political leadership can address challenges related to spatial justice, network cooperation, and communication to increase legitimate and robust policies. Through in-depth case studies of the Norwegian urban regions of Trondheim and Nord-Jaeren, the importance of ensuring broad political alliances, handling spatial complexity, strong political leadership, as well as engaging in dialogue and communication with the public is shown. This may be more challenging to achieve in a complex institutional structure. We argue that governance structures reflect dynamics of the urban regions in which they are implemented. Related to our two empirical cases, the urban structure of Nord-Jaeren is more complex, compared to that of Trondheim, and likewise is their governance network. Linking the conditions of interactive political leadership to the three interconnected urban governance challenges, we see that contextual characteristics are important to explain differences in political leadership and public engagement.

The geographic space of the old Trinational Agglomeration Basel is a complex area where municipalities (and urban systems) belonging to three different countries meet, and part of a paradigmatic scenario where former and recent cross-border cooperation structures and practices are opening opportunities for joint development. The purpose of this paper is to analyse how organisation and spatial relations are being transformed in this context and if there exist barriers, focusing on Weil am Rhein (Germany), Basel (Switzerland) and Saint-Louis and Huningue (France), which converge in the heart of the Agglomeration.

The paper is structured in two parts. The first one is a theoretical exploration of the evolution and extent of cross-border cooperation structures and practices affecting the area. The second one focuses on urban transformation and intertwining resulting from this environment, exploring it through analytical work and cartographies for the 1985–2010 period. In this study, three categories are considered: transport networks, morphology and land use.

Results suggest that cooperation structures are bringing opportunities for the interweaving of neighbouring border urban spaces. However, significant limitations due to regulatory and spatial inheritances and economic constraints, among others, persist. The analysed space continued evidencing barriers and over-simplified areas at the end of the period studied.

The research offers a not-so-frequent, but necessary, perspective of border urban systems as complex scenarios: not only nodes of interaction but also inhabited spaces. It provides insights into border urban development and original cross-border cartography, giving clues on planning in singular environments.

Brussels Capital Region has to deal with urban conflicts arising from the different kinds of land uses. On the one hand the process of metropolisation has intensified the inner city's land use through residential, economic and urban development and on the other hand this same process has contributed to the expansion and sprawling of the city beyond its administrative borders. The city's main challenge is to ensure the cohabitation of different urban forms and densities in a multi-scale level related to metropolitan and local functions (Ananian P. 2010). Brussels, originally an industrial city, has become an administrative centre, generating a series of disaffected areas. Urban regeneration and sustainable development policies aim to improve the standard of living through urban, social and economic enhancements. Indeed, these policies deal with the construction, renovation and requalification of obsolete areas into new dwelling complexes. In this context, the present article shows the results of a broader research commissioned by the Brussels Capital Region on residential densification between 1989 and 2007(Declève B. Ananian P. et al 2009). Through the analysis of this inventory, we have identified three main techniques concerning the requalification of old places into residential uses: firstly the reurbanisation of brownfields generated by the delocalisation of large facilities; secondly the requalification and reconversion of isolated buildings (abandoned and obsolete industrial and office buildings) and last but not least, the recycling of terrains merged into the urban fabric of old neighbourhoods. Following two methodological approaches (morphological observation and analysis of social perception), this research has shown us that, in the last twenty years of housing production in Brussels, the main abandoned buildings and sites that were available were requalified, increasing density and improving urbanity through the diversity of the urban forms adopted for the public and private spaces.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the process and result of urban public space regeneration (UPSR) plans in Tokyo's urban center under the guidance of Urban Renaissance. It aims to clarify why public space has a close relationship with urbanization and urban regeneration, and why compact and diverse urban public spaces can promote public life.

Firstly, this paper investigated urbanization and urban renaissance in Tokyo, and analyzed the motivation for implementing UPSR from the perspective of urban policy. By on-the-spot investigations and literature materials, this paper introduced urban regeneration measures of Roppongi Hills to Toranomon Hills, and then summarized the similarities and differences between Roppongi Hills and Toranomon Hills by studying them on the basis of contrast.

UPSR had been an important component of the re-urbanization process and an essential method of strengthening urban vitality. Moreover, it promotes the development of polycentric urban structure and the return of population to urban center. First, the UPSR pattern integrating vertical space and street space can form a net-shaped urban life circle. Second, more diversified public activities can serve more varied groups of people.

This paper systematically analyzes the development reasons and process of UPSR project in Tokyo from both internal and external factors, and summarizes the future development direction of public space through the comparison of the two projects, and provides a reference for urban public space renewal in the future.

Urban typogenetics investigates the use of machine intelligence for the evaluation of performance measures as a decision support system (DSS) with a focus on urban aesthetics evaluation. This framework allows designers to address performance measures, urban measures and aesthetic criteria in an adaptive, interactive generative design approach. The purpose of this paper is to provide an understanding of the structure and the nature of the framework and the application of human-in-the-loop design systems to urban design.

Significant literature reviewed lead to the identification of an application potential in the decision-making process. This potential is situated around the use of AI for the evaluation of subjective performance criteria in a DSS. Recognising that the key decisions about urban aesthetics are based on the individual evaluation of the designer, an HITL approach for computational design software to support creative decisions is presented in this paper.

Urban typogenetics for interactive generative urban design allows the exploration of complex design spaces by using a human-in-the-loop design system in the context of urban aesthetics. Hybrid aesthetic evaluation allows the designer to analyse morphological features and urban aesthetics during exploratory search and reveal hidden aspects of the urban context by visualisation of the results of the aesthetic evaluation. Integrating performance measures and urban aesthetics in urban typogenetics addresses major criteria of urban design at the beginning of the creative process.

The use of a broad interactive approach to typogenetic design in an application to urban scenarios is a novel conceptual approach to the design of urban configurations. The suggested adaptive mechanism would allow the user of a typogenetic tool to subjectively evaluate solutions by sight and reason about aesthetic, social and cultural implication of the reviewed design solutions.

The purpose of this paper is to attempt to realize the optimization of cascading failure process of urban transit network based on Load‐Capacity model, for better evaluating and improving the operation of transit network.

Robustness is an essential index of stability performance for urban transit systems. In this paper, firstly, the static robustness of transit networks is analyzed based on the complex networks theory. Aiming at random and intentional attack, a concrete algorithm process is proposed on the basis of Dijstra algorithm. Then, the dynamic robustness of the networks, namely cascading failure, is analyzed, and the algorithm process is presented based on the Load‐Capacity model. Finally, the space‐of‐stations is adopted to build the network topology of Foshan transit network, and then the simulation analyses of static and dynamic robustness are realized.

Results show that transit network is robust to random attack when considering static robustness, but somewhat vulnerable to intentional attack. For dynamic robustness analysis, a large‐scale cascade of transit network may be triggered when the tolerance parameter α is less than a value, so that the robustness of transit network can be improved through some reasonable measures.

The results of this study provide useful information for urban transit network robustness optimization.

An effective method for analyzing the static and dynamic robustness of transit network is provided in this paper.

Security is one of the most important challenges for contemporary integrated urban developments. In Hungary, every strategic document highlights this goal, seeking social and smart city solutions to the problem. Yet, what about crime prevention through environmental design (CPTED)? The purpose of the paper is to introduce a Central-European perspective into the international discussion of the topic.

Focusing on European Union-funded renewal of public space in the historic city centre of Budapest, the research investigates how urban security can be facilitated through urban planning and design. The analysis of two projects based on design documents and interviews with actors highlights the importance of CPTED, although it is not recognised officially either in the development or in the management phase.

March 15th Square is an attractive contemporary public space in the tourist-historic city centre. The project was centrally planned, executed with typical EU indicators, but without any special requirements for security. The process resulted in a safescape. By contrast, the main principal for the renewal of Teleki László Square, the first Hungarian example of community-based planning, was to instil a feeling of security. The public square became a fenced defensible space.

The analysis method can be used for other projects evaluating changes in urban security due to public space renewal: history, requirements for security, design solutions for space division, materials and urban furniture, as well as use of space and management after the regeneration.

The paper uncovers Hungarian cases where environmental crime prevention criteria are not explicitly but implicitly present in contemporary urban planning and design. In relation to urban security, it highlights the gap that exists among disciplines, indicative of a lack of dialogue among policymakers, researchers, designers and management.

This paper aims to present empirical testing of an experience-based usability framework to study an urban area. The framework is applied to the Punavuori neighbourhood in Helsinki, Finland, to understand the issues that make this neighbourhood attractive to its users.

The experience-based usability framework for an urban area study is the 6T-model of experience of place, which was developed by combining service and experience design tools and methods as well as former research to assess the user’s experience. The framework is tested by analysing data gathered from documents, a walkthrough of the neighbourhood and interviews.

This paper interprets users’ experiences of the Punavuori area using the 6T-model to capture new perspectives on user-centric urban design and the management of places. The identified connections can be a starting point for investigations into users’ experiences as a part of the usability of an urban area.

The results represent a beginning study into the usability and the usability experience of individuals in the built environment. The preliminary testing of the experience framework is used as a framework for the analysis of the secondary data. The user data have not been gathered in the broadest sense.

The results can be used in other experience-based research for (re-)design an existing or new area that attracts new inhabitants and business. The results can be applied by urban planners as well as place managers.

The identified points of connection provide a valuable approach to capture and discuss about user experiences in complex urban context.