Search Results (376)

In response to environmental degradation and social inequities exacerbated by automobile-dependent urban sprawl, this study proposes a framework for dynamic delineation and vitality assessment of 15-min walkable neighborhoods, using Baohe District, Hefei, China as a case study. Static service catchments were constructed using POI and road network data, then refined using one week’s mobile phone signaling trajectories calibrated to actual walking behavior, yielding 143 validated living circles (out of 156 initially delineated). These circles are classified into five typologies: commercial-residential, industrial-residential, educational-residential, predominantly residential, and public-service-oriented. A dual-index system—Facility Vitality Index (FVI) and Population Vitality Index (PVI)—is developed and synthesized into a Composite Vitality Index (VI) through normalization and weighting. Results show that only 27.3% of living circles achieve high vitality in both dimensions, indicating widespread service–demand misalignment. Conversely, 61.5% exhibit low or very low vitality, forming a “vitality depression” around the urban periphery—a pattern of service poverty with significant socioeconomic implications. High-vitality circles cluster along the Binhu New District corridor, while low-vitality circles concentrate in industrial parks (e.g., Feinan Industrial Park) and transport hubs (e.g., Hefei South Railway Station). The historic core lacks micro-infrastructures, whereas new districts—despite high-standard amenities—suffer from weak pedestrian activity. To address these deficiencies, we propose a differentiated zoning strategy: retrofitting micro-infrastructures in legacy neighborhoods, applying Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) principles in new urban extensions, and integrating community-serving functions within industrial peripheries. This framework provides actionable protocols for data-informed governance of 15-min living circles. Full article

Waterfront brownfield urban public parks (WBUPPs) are complex regeneration projects that require comprehensive assessment of environmental remediation, climate resilience, urban connectivity, and social well-being. This study proposes a structured GIS-based spatial analysis protocol that operationalizes key attributes of brownfields, waterfronts, public parks, and sustainability, with the aim of examining how digital tools can support WBUPP planning processes. Using free and open source resources and datasets (QGIS and OpenStreetMap), the approach produces eight core thematic maps that spatially organize 39 of 50 criteria identified from the literature and classified under economic, environmental, and social sustainability dimensions. This mapping protocol streamlines navigation for planners through complex datasets and offers researchers a foundation for thematic spatial analyses aligned with these literature-based criteria. The protocol is illustrated with Brooklyn Bridge Park in New York City—an 85-acre waterfront redevelopment that demonstrates heritage conservation, ecological restoration, and financial viability. The results highlight identifiable spatial patterns such as dual zones (urban buffer and recreation), winding pathways, and clustered amenities. At the same time, the analysis underscores the importance of data validation, as inconsistencies in volunteered geographic information require cross-referencing with multiple sources and field verification. The analysis shows that WBUPPs require tailored approaches that integrate land–water mobility, heritage adaptation, nature-based solutions, and equitable service distribution. This criteria-driven protocol offers adaptable guidance for future waterfront brownfield regeneration, while emphasizing that digitalization enhances the process, but it cannot replace hybrid analytical methods that combine quantitative spatial analysis with qualitative evaluations. Full article

Rapid population growth challenges governance systems, housing markets, infrastructure capacity, and social cohesion, yet it is often treated as a predictable and uniform process. This structured comparative review synthesizes four distinct rapid-growth literatures: energy boomtowns, amenity-migration destinations, gateway communities, and mega-event host towns, to examine how different growth drivers shape community resilience. Using systematic forward and backward citation tracking grounded in community theory, the review identifies recurring patterns across otherwise separate research traditions. The analysis shows that outcomes are shaped less by growth itself than by institutional and spatial conditions. Extractive boomtowns and mega-event hosts experience compressed cycles of disruption and recovery that test adaptive capacity, while amenity-migration destinations and gateway communities face sustained pressures related to housing affordability, land-use conflict, and social boundary formation. Across contexts, three interrelated dimensions of adaptive capacity consistently structure trajectories: multilevel governance coordination, housing and land-use elasticity, and the management of social equity and cohesion. The findings advance a conceptual resilience framework that interprets rapid population change as a socio-spatial shock filtered through institutional and spatial conditions, with implications for sustainable urban design, flexible infrastructure planning, and inclusive governance. Full article

This study developed a Visitor Attraction Quality Checklist to evaluate amenity infrastructure. Seoullo 7017, an elevated linear park located in the Seoul Station area, is the study region. Drawing on the literature on urban regeneration and tourism, as well as amenity-based approaches and the quality evaluation of elevated linear parks, this study develops evaluation criteria that incorporate the physical environment and safety, accessibility and convenience, landscape and identity, and social usage and experience. By applying a longitudinal analysis, on-site qualitative evaluations were conducted between August 2017 and January 2026. The findings show that Seoullo 7017 functions well as a visitor attraction, offering high-standard safety infrastructure, cleanliness, and good esthetic value to accommodate diverse visitors. However, there is a seasonal disparity in cultural programming and limited connections to the surrounding local economy. This study also reveals that rigid planter designs, a lack of tree maintenance, and insufficient shaded areas limit spatial flexibility and visitor comfort. For Seoullo 7017 to pursue sustainability, it must refine its horticultural management, integrate with local businesses, and improve its design. The Visitor Attraction Quality Checklist serves as a longitudinal diagnostic tool for managing elevated urban linear parks as an outcome of global regeneration projects. Full article

In recent decades, cruise tourism has emerged as a key economic driver for port cities, while simultaneously intensifying environmental pressures and socio-spatial inequalities. Despite growing scholarly attention, research exploring how these pressures are distributed within urban contexts and how they interact with pre-existing vulnerability patterns remains scarce. This study addresses this gap by proposing a GIS-based integrated methodological framework, the Port-city Risk Integrated Spatial Method (PRISM), applied to the Mediterranean port city of Malaga, Spain. The approach combines socio-demographic indicators and data related to spatial amenities with environmental pressures from cruise ship emissions to construct an Urban Socio-Environmental Complexity Index. Emission scenarios for peak cruise days were estimated using a bottom-up methodology and spatialized through atmospheric dispersion modeling, enabling their integration with exposure, vulnerability, and urban capacity indicators. The results reveal marked intra-urban heterogeneity and highlight the emergence of cumulative risk hotspots in areas adjacent to the port and along prevailing inland dispersion corridors. This study demonstrates the potential of integrated spatial indices as decision support tools for urban planning, offering a replicable framework for other port cities facing similar tourism-driven transformations. Full article

Investments in urban parks are frequently justified not only in terms of their environmental and recreational amenities but also in terms of their potential to fuel appreciation in neighborhoods and corresponding increases in local fiscal revenues. There is a substantial body of literature indicating that proximity to parks and other forms of urban open spaces can be capitalized into surrounding residential property values; however, there is relatively limited research examining whether these effects plausibly translate into fiscal revenues that could offset the costs of urban park projects. This study seeks to address this question in the context of Chicago’s 606 Trail, a 2.7-mile elevated rail-to-trail conversion completed and opened on 6 June 2015, after a publicly disclosed investment of $95 million in the project at the time of opening. Using property transaction data and a difference-in-differences event-study approach, this study estimates the impact of park completion on surrounding residential property values and converts these amenity capitalization effects into corresponding municipal fiscal revenues. The main contribution of this paper is to demonstrate that amenity capitalization and fiscal self-financing are analytically separate outcomes, even though park completion may be associated with corresponding increases in surrounding residential property values. The study contributes a framework for evaluating substantial urban park investments by drawing on both urban amenity studies and municipal finance studies. Full article

Based on the stimulus–organism–response (S–O–R) framework, this study explored the psychological spillover mechanism through which tourism experiences in Museum Agglomeration Areas (MAAs) enhance city image and influence behavioral intentions. Structural equation modeling (SEM) based on survey data yielded several key findings. First, information visibility, content visibility, and the quality of amenities and the operational environment played critical roles in shaping tourists’ internal states, including perceived experiential value, affective response, immersion, and satisfaction. In addition, the social atmosphere emerged as an important factor in enriching these evaluations. Second, accessibility and connectivity were identified as factors that reduce friction along the visitor journey, thereby enhancing experiential continuity and immersion. Third, experiential value and immersion were found to be the primary mediators among the internal-state variables, transmitting the effects of environmental stimuli to city-level perceptions and behavioral intentions, such as revisit and recommendation intentions. These findings suggest that the competitiveness of MAAs lies not merely in spatial agglomeration itself but also in their ability to provide engaging and meaningful content, maintain safe and enjoyable operational environments, and develop integrated circulation and information systems. By conceptualizing MAAs as sites of district-scale tourism experiences, this study extends the application of the S–O–R framework to a multi-site urban cultural context and clarifies how differentiated internal states mediate the spillover from district experience to city-level perceptions and behavioral intentions. Rather than proposing a fundamentally new theoretical framework, the study offers a context-specific refinement of the organism layer and provides empirically grounded implications for design and operational strategies in culturally clustered urban districts. Full article

Urban areas are increasingly exposed to water-related challenges, including flood risk and water scarcity, amplified by climate change, population growth, and extensive soil sealing. Addressing these pressures requires integrated stormwater management (SWM) strategies that balance hydraulic, environmental, and social objectives. This study introduces a novel, replicable Key Performance Indicator (KPI)-based assessment framework for 36 green–blue and grey sustainable stormwater management systems (SWMSs), designed to enable cross-typology, multiscale comparison. Six KPIs, encompassing flood regulation, water consumption, water quality, air quality, environmental amenity, and biodiversity potential, are derived through a critical synthesis and harmonisation of the literature and complemented with new parameters and sub-parameters to address existing methodological gaps. The framework structures evaluations into six analytical tables and one summary table, ensuring transparent, systematic, and comparative assessment of heterogeneous solutions. Application to a pilot project in Rome demonstrates how integrating KPI evaluation with parametric hydraulic modelling provides actionable insights for solution selection. It also facilitates identification of potential synergies between performance dimensions, enhancing its value as a decision-support tool in preliminary design. Overall, the study demonstrates the research value of multi-scalar, performance-based approaches for urban water planning, highlights the transferability of resilient stormwater strategies in climate-sensitive contexts, and identifies promising avenues for future research, including multi-sectoral integration, trade-off analysis, and cross-platform application. Full article

Winter tourism is increasingly influenced by changing socio-demographic dynamics, climate change, and evolving leisure preferences. While prior research has examined winter tourist motivations, sustainability strategies and climate change adoption, less attention has been paid to differences between urban and rural residents in their attitudes toward domestic winter leisure tourism. This study addresses this gap by exploring variations in participation patterns, service evaluations, and overall tourism experiences among urban and rural Bulgarian residents. Drawing on a quantitative survey of urban and rural residents (n = 1003), the research systematizes the general characteristics of domestic winter leisure tourism practices and evaluates key tourism service dimensions, including accessibility, accommodation, pricing, infrastructure, and environmental quality. Descriptive statistics and inferential analyses were applied to identify statistically significant differences between groups. The findings reveal distinct behavioural and perceptual patterns: urban residents demonstrate higher participation frequency and place greater emphasis on service quality and diversified amenities, whereas rural residents show stronger sensitivity to pricing and accessibility factors. Differences are also observed in the overall evaluation of the tourism experience, reflecting structural and socio-economic disparities. The study contributes to winter tourism literature by integrating spatial residence into the analysis of domestic tourism demand and experience assessment. The results provide practical implications for destination managers and policymakers seeking to design differentiated marketing strategies and improve service provision in line with the needs of diverse domestic segments. Full article

The ongoing rise in temperatures due to climate change is one of the most critical considerations in the design of outdoor recreational spaces. Thermal conditions can affect people’s visitation patterns, satisfaction, health and well-being. In many developing countries, including Jordan, rapid urbanisation often occurs without sufficient planning for public outdoor spaces, thereby diminishing their quality. This study is the first to investigate the effects of temperature on visitor patterns and user satisfaction in Jordanian urban parks. A mixed-methods approach was employed, combining continuous measurements of outdoor temperature (Ta) and relative humidity (Rh) with a survey assessing users’ thermal sensation, satisfaction, and preferences across six urban parks in Amman, Jordan. Data were collected from 718 respondents in summer 2025. Visitation records for the surveyed parks were also obtained from local authorities for the monitored period. The results show that the mean Ta exceeded 30 °C in all surveyed parks during the monitoring period, with peak readings exceeding 41 °C. This resulted in a warm-to-hot thermal sensation among participants, with many preferring cooler conditions. A significant inverse relationship between temperature and park visitation rates (R² = 0.67, p = 0.001) was observed, with a 1 °C increase in outdoor temperature associated with approximately a 2.03 visitor decrease. Participants’ satisfaction was higher in parks with adequate amenities, such as shading, disability access, and green zones, than in parks with fewer amenities (p = 0.01, d = 0.63). The most reported areas for improvement included facilities, shaded seating areas, and perceived safety. The findings highlight the importance of considering outdoor thermal conditions when designing urban parks, as they shape public outdoor activity patterns, particularly in hot climates. Full article

Mobility of the migrant population plays a crucial role in shaping urban spaces, neighbourhood change and socio-economic development. While extensive research has been conducted on the spatio-temporal dynamics of migration in large metropolitan areas, there remains a notable lack of understanding of the impact of migration on medium-sized cities, on their internal spatial distribution and socio-spatial differentiation. This study aims to fill this gap by examining the urban settlement patterns of migrants in two medium-sized Danish cities: Aalborg and Odense. The research explores the intra-urban spatial distribution of various migrant groups, considering their origins and residential preferences. Additionally, it analyses the social and structural pull-factor proxies that influence these patterns, including urban housing market dynamics and access to amenities and services. Through an exploratory spatial analysis and data visualisation approach, this study reveals detailed insights into the determinants of migrant settlement. The findings indicate a significant intra-urban concentration of certain migrant groups, especially in the city centres, which often correspond to areas with a higher concentration of essential amenities. By focusing on mid-sized cities and adopting a case-based, comparative methodology through an extensive data visualisation approach, this research enhances urban science knowledge by illuminating underexplored urban contexts and providing a fresh view on the interplay between migration, urban development and spatial planning in medium-sized cities. Full article

Urban living streets are core venues for promoting public health; however, existing studies often lack a multidimensional quantitative evaluation system that integrates physical, psychological, and social health dimensions. To address this gap, this study constructs a space quality evaluation model comprising 15 indicators across three health dimensions, integrating multi-source data (including Street View Imagery, POI data, and field measurements). Taking six typical living streets in the central urban area of Changsha as a case study, we applied the Analytic Hierarchy Process to determine indicator weights and evaluate space quality. The results reveal significant spatial heterogeneity: (1) The comprehensive quality scores vary markedly, with Cai’e South Road ranking highest (66.62) and Zengjiawan Lane lowest (28.37); (2) key factor analysis indicates that seven indicators—including Street Width, Motorization Level, and POI Functional Diversity—are significantly associated with space quality, among which Sidewalk Width and Relative Sidewalk Width are identified as critical determinants; (3) addressing identified deficits in slow-traffic spaces and service amenities, this study proposes health-oriented micro-renewal strategies. This study provides a transferable analytical framework and practical decision support for the assessment and improvement of urban living street space quality. Full article

Urban blue-green spaces (UBGS) are crucial nature-based solutions for enhancing urban resilience and improving public health. This study examined the experiential relationships linking BGS use to human well-being among users of five urban parks in Delhi, India. Using an integrated experience-centered framework, we collected in-situ survey data (n = 411) to profile usage patterns, assess environmental quality, and quantify restorative outcomes grounded in Attention Restoration Theory (ART) and Stress Reduction Theory (SRT). Advanced analytical techniques, including ordinal logistic regression and interpretable machine learning (SHAP), were used to identify the key factors associated with user satisfaction. The results revealed that for these respondents, BGS appeared to function as an essential neighbourhood, with over 40% visiting three or more times per week. Although visual attractiveness was rated positively, deficits in noise buffering and amenities indicated a gap between aesthetic and functional qualities. Restorative benefits, including emotional calmness, mood refreshment, and fatigue recovery, were consistently reported among respondents. Analyses showed that embodied experiences, particularly post-visit relaxation and physical comfort, were more strongly associated with user satisfaction. SHAP interpretation highlighted seating adequacy, routine use, and thermal comfort as prominent contributors, suggesting somatic relief may be particularly salient. This study provides exploratory evidence from a Global South megacity and context-sensitive insights into how restorative processes operate under high-density urban conditions. The findings show that routine accessibility, basic amenities, and thermal comfort are central to the everyday functioning of blue-green spaces as urban infrastructure, underscoring the need for experience-responsive and equity-oriented urban greening policies in high-density cities. Full article

Intra-urban commuting plays a fundamental role in shaping urban spatial structure and daily mobility patterns. Existing studies have largely explained commuting flows using attribute-based or distance-centred approaches. Such approaches overlook the interdependent and relational nature of commuting within complex urban systems. This study constructs a subdistrict-level commuting network using anonymised mobile phone signalling data from Hangzhou, China, and a valued exponential random graph model (valued ERGM) to examine how commuting flows are generated through the interaction of network self-organization, local job-housing conditions, and multi-dimensional proximity. The results reveal strong endogenous dependence exemplified by reciprocal commuting ties. Employment agglomeration and public rental housing provision are associated with stronger integration of subdistricts within the commuting network, while high housing prices and certain residential amenities are associated with reduced inter-subdistrict commuting. Beyond geographic distance, metro connectivity, administrative affiliation, and social interaction are significantly associated with commuting flows. This study advances a relational explanation of intra-urban commuting and demonstrates the methodological value of valued ERGMs for analysing weighted urban flow networks. The findings have implications for integrated transport, housing, and governance strategies, particularly transit-oriented development, cross-jurisdictional coordination, and the strategic siting of affordable housing, aimed at promoting more locally embedded and sustainable urban mobility. Full article

In the spirit of the recent debate on the 15-minute city, two concepts are central: urban proximity and resilience. They became cornerstones of new urban planning perspectives on sustainability, livability, and inclusiveness in cities and metropolitan areas. Very recently, the notion of ‘proxilience’ has been introduced as an integration of urban planning views on the drivers of citizens’ wellbeing. The present study seeks to conceptualize and operationalize the proxilience concept for the case of metropolitan agglomerations, in which the core is termed here ‘Superbowl Economy’. Consequently, the paper presents a data-driven analytical approach that uses detailed empirical data on spatial density patterns, demographic factors, socioeconomic indicators, environmental quality attributes, infrastructure accessibility, and access to services and amenities. The empirical part of the study is based on a blend of geostatistical and econometric models (correlation and regression analysis, AHP modelling, and Random Forest model). The analysis framework and the underlying propositions on the proxilience impacts on spatial patterns of disparities in wellbeing are applied and tested for the greater Iași Metropolitan Area, which is one of the largest urban poles in Romania. The findings confirm proxilience as a novel, multidimensional tool that advances spatial (urban–regional) livability in a polarized yet fragmented urban system. Full article