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The paper ethnographically explores modes of urban resistance emerging in tandem with climate change mitigation programs in Copenhagen.
Abstract
Purpose
The paper ethnographically explores modes of urban resistance emerging in tandem with climate change mitigation programs in Copenhagen.
Design/methodology/approach
Building on 11 months of fieldwork with a Danish construction enterprise, the paper examines the politics of urban climate change mitigation programs through the lens of a group of builders' struggles to rethink and resolve dilemmas related to environmental concerns in construction and urban development.
Findings
Based on an analysis of a specific construction project connected to a larger urban climate change mitigation program in Copenhagen, the paper shows how the builders deliberately move between different perspectives and positions as they navigate the shifting power relations of urban planning. The paper argues that this form of crafty resistance enables the builders to maneuver the political landscape of urban planning as they seek to appropriate the role of “urban planners” themselves.
Originality/value
Taking up recent discussions of “resistance” in anthropology and cognate disciplines (e.g. Theodossopoulos, 2014; Bhungalia, 2020; Prasse-Freeman, 2020), the paper contributes an ethnographic analysis of struggles between diverging and, at times, competing modes of engagement in urban climate change mitigation programs and thus sheds light on how professional actors negotiate the ambiguity of “sustainability” in urban planning.
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The purpose of this paper is to present some basic conceptual aspects and empiric examples of urban mitigation and adaptation to climate change, of greening urban development, as…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present some basic conceptual aspects and empiric examples of urban mitigation and adaptation to climate change, of greening urban development, as there is strong need for further research and education on these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
Starting with a review of the 4th IPCC report and the Stern Review, a strategy is developed on how to make cities main actors in fighting climate change. First examples of successful urban greening are presented.
Findings
Cities are main drivers of climate change, and they are driven by climate change. Therefore, there is a strong need for “greening” urban development, i.e. for both mitigation and adaptation activities.
Practical implications
Mitigation requires the reduction (more or less drastically) of urban energy and material flows. Adaptation requires restructure (more or less radically) of the established urban stocks.
Originality/value
Until recently, cities and urban areas have not been in the focus of climate change research and climate policy. The paper shows the need for change of both theory and practice.
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Chunlu Liu and Yan Li
The rapid and ongoing expansion of urbanised impervious areas could lead to more frequent flood inundation in urban flood-prone regions. Nowadays, urban flood inundation induced…
Abstract
Purpose
The rapid and ongoing expansion of urbanised impervious areas could lead to more frequent flood inundation in urban flood-prone regions. Nowadays, urban flood inundation induced by rainstorm is an expensive natural disaster in many countries. In order to reduce the flooding risk, eco-roof systems (or green roof systems) could be considered as an effective mechanism of mitigating flooding disasters through their rainwater retention capability. However, there is still a lack of examining the stormwater management tool. The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effects on flooding disaster from extensive green roofs.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on geographical information system (GIS) simulation, this research presents a frame of assessing eco-roof impacts on urban flash floods. The approach addresses both urban rainfall-runoff and underground hydrologic models for traditional impervious and green roofs. Deakin University’s Geelong Waurn Ponds campus is chosen as a study case. GIS technologies are then utilised to visualise and analyse the effects on flood inundation from surface properties of building roofs.
Findings
The results reveal that the eco-roof systems generate varying degrees of mitigation of urban flood inundation with different return period storms.
Originality/value
Although the eco-roof technology is considered as an effective stormwater management tool, it is not commonly adopted and examined in urban floods. This study will bring benefits to urban planners for raising awareness of hazard impacts and to construction technicians for considering disaster mitigation via roof technologies. The approach proposed here could be used for the disaster mitigation in future urban planning.
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Kanako Iuchi and Ann‐Margaret Esnard
The purpose of this paper is to show that the Philippines is often described as the melting pot of natural disasters (typhoons, floods and torrential rains). As part of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to show that the Philippines is often described as the melting pot of natural disasters (typhoons, floods and torrential rains). As part of the Pacific ring of fire, the Philippines is also prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. In the current disaster management scheme, the poor are likely to be put last. Conventional risk reduction mitigation methods (such as land use and building codes) are failing. A paradigm shift is needed – one that enables poor communities to maximize their limited resources and contribute to risk reduction.
Design/methodology/approach
Interviews and field investigations were conducted between 2001 and 2006 in three case study neighborhoods in Metro Manila to understand the risk components that exist and the resources (or lack of) for dealing with them.
Findings
Field surveys highlighted three major risk components: liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), illegal electrical connections, and residential buildings. Mitigation efforts need to be implemented by: developing hybrid community organizations; minimizing direct physical damage; developing neighborhood cooperatives through microfinance schemes; and developing an in‐kind community insurance system.
Originality/value
While this research focused on earthquake impact mitigation, the inquiry and findings with respect to the urban poor in high risk areas, have applicability to other localities in the developing world. Furthermore, Manila's situation is not unique. Disaster threats, rapid substandard urban development, growth in the number of the poor, and degradation of social capital, are phenomena present in other parts of the developing world. In such settings, traditional mitigation approaches are difficult to carry out effectively as well.
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Hatzav Yoffe, Noam Raanan, Shaked Fried, Pnina Plaut and Yasha Jacob Grobman
This study uses computer-aided design to improve the ecological and environmental sustainability of early-stage landscape designs. Urban expansion on open land and natural…
Abstract
Purpose
This study uses computer-aided design to improve the ecological and environmental sustainability of early-stage landscape designs. Urban expansion on open land and natural habitats has led to a decline in biodiversity and increased climate change impacts, affecting urban inhabitants' quality of life and well-being. While sustainability indicators have been employed to assess the performance of buildings and neighbourhoods, landscape designs' ecological and environmental sustainability has received comparatively less attention, particularly in early-design stages where applying sustainability approaches is impactful.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors propose a computation framework for evaluating key landscape sustainability indicators and providing real-time feedback to designers. The method integrates spatial indicators with widely recognized sustainability rating system credits. A specialized tool was developed for measuring biomass optimization, precipitation management and urban heat mitigation, and a proof-of-concept experiment tested the tool's effectiveness on three Mediterranean neighbourhood-level designs.
Findings
The results show a clear connection between the applied design strategy to the indicator behaviour. This connection enhances the ability to establish sustainability benchmarks for different types of landscape developments using parametric design.
Practical implications
The study allows non-expert designers to measure and embed landscape sustainability early in the design stages, thus lowering the entry level for incorporating biodiversity enhancement and climate mitigation approaches.
Originality/value
This study expands the parametric vocabulary for measuring landscape sustainability by introducing spatial ecosystem services and architectural sustainability indicators on a unified platform, enabling the integration of critical climate and biodiversity-loss solutions earlier in the development process.
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Paola Lassandro and Teresa Cosola
This paper aims to increase the resilience of building systems, especially roofs, in relation to climate changes. The focus is on Mediterranean cities, where, often, there is no…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to increase the resilience of building systems, especially roofs, in relation to climate changes. The focus is on Mediterranean cities, where, often, there is no regulation about these issues. Therefore, it is necessary to define resilience indicators through comparative studies of adaptive roof solutions to mitigate overheating in summer.
Design/methodology/approach
Through software simulations and data comparison, a specific methodological approach is used to analyze the resilience levels of different roof solutions (phase change materials, aerogel, green and cool roof), starting from energy efficiency as a prerequisite of resilience. Moreover, a case study of a historic existing building in a southern Italian town is examined.
Findings
The findings show the best strategies for building systems, especially for roofs, to decrease urban heat island effects according to the defined resilience indicators against overheating mitigation.
Research limitations/implications
Other building systems, such as facades, also have to be investigated in relation to climate change mitigation.
Practical implications
The implementation of resilient solutions that can also affect neighborhood for urban heat island mitigation.
Social implications
Because of resilience indicators definition, it is easier to introduce economic incentives according to reference thresholds and to increase community involvement.
Originality/value
The paper provides a new approach for the evaluation of technological solutions for a building from a resilience point of view, which has energy efficiency as pre-condition.
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Dimitra Dritsa and Nimish Biloria
This paper presents a critical review of studies which map the urban environment using continuous physiological data collection. A conceptual model is consequently presented for…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper presents a critical review of studies which map the urban environment using continuous physiological data collection. A conceptual model is consequently presented for mitigating urban stress at the city and the user level.
Design/methodology/approach
The study reviews relevant publications, examining the tools used for data collection and the methods used for data analysis and data fusion. The relationship between urban features and physiological responses is also examined.
Findings
The review showed that the continuous monitoring of physiological data in the urban environment can be used for location-aware stress detection and urban emotion mapping. The combination of physiological and contextual data helps researchers understand how the urban environment affects the human body. The review indicated a relationship between some urban features (green, land use, traffic, isovist parameters) and physiological responses, though more research is needed to solidify the existence of the identified links. The review also identified many theoretical, methodological and practical issues which hinder further research in this area.
Originality/value
While there is large potential in this field, there has been no review of studies which map continuously physiological data in the urban environment. This study covers this gap and introduces a novel conceptual model for mitigating urban stress.
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Leila Irajifar, Neil Sipe and Tooran Alizadeh
This paper examines the impact of urban form on disaster resiliency. The literature shows a complex relationship between urban form factors such as density and diversity and…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper examines the impact of urban form on disaster resiliency. The literature shows a complex relationship between urban form factors such as density and diversity and disaster recovery. The empirical analysis in this paper tests the impact of land use mix, population density, building type and diversity on the reconstruction progress in three, six and nine months after the 2010 flood in Brisbane and Ipswich as proxies of disaster resilience. Considerable debate exists on whether urban form factors are the causal incentive or are they mediating other non-urban form causal factors such as income level. In view of this, the effects of a series of established non-urban form factors such as income and tenure, already known as effective factors on disaster resilience, are controlled in the analysis.
Design/methodology/approach
The structure of this paper is based on a two-phase research approach. In the first phase, for identification of hypothetical relationships between urban form and disaster resiliency, information was gathered from different sources on the basis of theory and past research findings. Then in phase two, a database was developed to test these hypothetical relationships, employing statistical techniques (including multivariate regression and correlation analysis) in which disaster recovery was compared among 76 suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich with differing levels of population density and land use mix.
Findings
The results indicate that population density is positively related to disaster resilience, even when controlling for contextual variables such as income level and home ownership. The association between population density and disaster reconstruction is non-linear. The progress of reconstruction to population density ratio increases from low, medium to high densities, while in very low and very high density areas the reconstruction progress does not show the same behavior, which suggests that medium-high density is the most resilient.
Originality/value
The originality of this paper is in extracting hypothetical relationships between urban form and resiliency and testing them with real world data. The results confirmed the contribution of density to recovery process in this case study. This illustrates the importance of attention to disaster resiliency measures from the early stages of design and planning in development of resilient urban communities.
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Funda Baş Bütüner, Aysem Berrin Cakmakli, Ahmet Can Karakadilar and Esra Deniz
This article explores the impacts of the changing land-use on urban heat island (UHI) in an urban transformation zone in Ankara (Türkiye). Identifying a characteristic rural…
Abstract
Purpose
This article explores the impacts of the changing land-use on urban heat island (UHI) in an urban transformation zone in Ankara (Türkiye). Identifying a characteristic rural landscape until the 1950s, the study area experienced a drastic land-use change by razing the fertile landscape of the city and replacing it with a sealed surface. Development of the squatter houses after the 1960s and, subsequently, the implementation of a new housing morphology have introduced new sceneries, scales and surface conditions that make the study area a noteworthy case to analyze.
Design/methodology/approach
Regarding the drastic spatio-temporal change of the study area, this research assesses the impacts of the changing land-use on UHI based on three periods. Using 1957, 1991 and 2021 aerial imaginaries and maps, it analyzes the temperature alteration caused by the changing land-use. To do so, different surface types, green patterns and built-up areas have been modeled using Ankara climatic data and transferred to ENVI-Met to calculate the Universal Thermal Climate Index (UTCI) values.
Findings
The calculation has been developed over a transect covering an area of 40 m × 170 m, which includes diversity in terms of architecture, landscape and open space elements. To encourage future design strategies, the research findings deliberate into three extents that discuss the lacking climate knowledge in the ongoing urban transformation projects: impervious surface ratio and regional albedo variation, changing aspect ratio and temperature variation at the pedestrian level.
Originality/value
Urban transformation projects, being countrywide operations in Türkiye, need to cover climate-informed design strategies. Herein, the article underlines the critical position of design decisions in forming a climate-informed urban environment. Dwelling on a typical model of housing transformation in Türkiye, the research could trigger climate-informed urban development strategies in the country.
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Penelope Allan and Martin Bryant
This paper aims to propose the concept of resilience as a way of aligning these disciplines. Theories of recovery planning and urban design theories have a common interest in…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to propose the concept of resilience as a way of aligning these disciplines. Theories of recovery planning and urban design theories have a common interest in providing for the health and safety of urban communities. However, the requirements of safe refuge and recovery after a disturbance, such as an earthquake, are sometimes at odds with theories of urbanism.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper analyses the data from two case studies: the earthquake and fire of 1906 in San Francisco and the Chile earthquake of 2010. It uses a set of resilience attributes already embedded in the discourse of urban theory to evaluate each city’s built environment and the way people have adapted to that built environment to recover following an earthquake.
Findings
The findings suggests that resilience attributes, when considered interdependently, can potentially assist in the design of resilient cities which have an enhanced capacity to recover following an earthquake.
Originality/value
They also suggest that the key to the successful integration of recovery planning and urban design lies in a shift of thinking that sees resilience as a framework for the design of cities that not only contributes significantly to the quality of everyday urban life but also can be adapted as essential life support and an agent of recovery in the event of an earthquake.
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