Search Results (2,377)

Housing inequalities remain a major challenge for contemporary urban governance, as they combine economic, social, spatial, and demographic dynamics that are difficult to capture through single indicators. This paper develops a data-driven assessment of housing inequalities in Portugal between 2015 and 2025, drawing on official national and European statistics and applying a Business Intelligence (BI) and urban analytics framework oriented towards policy monitoring. Official data from Statistics Portugal and Eurostat are integrated through an analytical pipeline including automated extraction via public APIs, data enrichment, and visual analytics. The workflow follows a CRISP-DM-inspired structure, creating a set of normalized indicators to capture different dimensions of housing conditions. The results point to a structurally polarized housing market. Housing valuations increased across all regions, but at uneven rates, reinforcing territorial disparities rather than convergence. Metropolitan and tourism-oriented regions experienced faster appreciation and indirect effects, while year-over-year growth in completed dwellings slowed after 2021–2022, indicating an uneven supply response. Beyond its empirical findings, the primary contribution of this study lies in demonstrating how BI and data science methodologies can be operationalized to monitor housing inequalities using official statistics. The proposed framework is replicable and can be adapted to other territorial and policy contexts. Full article

Traditional linear models in urban informatics struggle to capture the complex, non-linear spatial non-stationarity inherent in metropolitan housing markets. To overcome these constraints, this study introduces a data-driven computational framework integrating a Spatio-Temporal Graph Convolutional Network (STGCN) with gradient-based Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) and Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). This framework is empirically tested using 217,598 apartment transactions in Busan, the Republic of Korea, augmented with high-resolution micro-demographic grids and Digital Elevation Model (DEM) topographical data. Utilizing unsupervised K-Means clustering, the region is spatially stratified into a dense Urban Core and a dispersed Suburban Periphery. The STGCN demonstrates overwhelming predictive superiority ($R^2=0.802$) over the traditional Spatial Error Model ($R^2=0.437$). Crucially, gradient-based XAI and localized GWR coefficients successfully unspool the deep learning “black box,” visualizing hyper-localized economic realities that global linear models obscure. The analysis expose stark regional market segmentation driven by environmental topography, mathematically quantifying non-linear dynamics such as coastal high-floor premiums, severe mountainous altitude penalties, and latent urban reconstruction premiums. Ultimately, this research bridges the gap between predictive computational power and spatial economic interpretability, offering a robust informatics framework for equitable urban planning. Full article

Smart city governance increasingly relies on AI-enabled planning systems, digital twins, vulnerability scoring tools, and capital investment platforms to allocate climate-resilient housing and infrastructure investments. Yet existing smart-urbanism and adaptation frameworks do not adequately specify how such systems should encode well-being, equity, and climate uncertainty when translating urban data into ranked projects and funded portfolios. This paper develops the Caring Urban Governance Framework for AI-enabled urban prioritization through a structured scoping review and conceptual framework analysis integrating climate-risk decision-making under deep uncertainty, built-environment pathways affecting psychosocial well-being, and public-sector algorithmic accountability. The framework proposes a five-layer architecture linking urban form and infrastructure, climate exposure and environmental resources, psychosocial mediators of well-being, algorithmic design choices, and institutional governance, with explicit feedback loops. Its main outputs are an auditable decision architecture, eight mechanism-based propositions for empirical testing, an operational specification matrix for objective functions, equity constraints, robust logic, and documentation, and an analytical validation of construct clarity, coherence, literature congruence, and operationalizability. The analysis argues that aligning AI-enabled urban prioritization with SDG 11 requires treating well-being-supportive living conditions as a decision objective, constraining optimization with equity conditions, and institutionalizing auditability and contestability to reduce distributive and psychosocial harm in public investment planning. Full article

As a policy-driven land use transition initiative bridging poverty eradication and sustainable development, China’s Poverty Alleviation Relocation (PAR) program exemplifies how state-led resettlement can reconfigure land use patterns while balancing immediate livelihood security with long-term community capacity development. The integration of large-scale PAR communities into new urbanization is a critical postrelocation task that is essential for consolidating poverty eradication achievements and enhancing endogenous development capacity. This study examined how the configuration of policy instruments shapes the endogenous development capacity of PAR communities during their transition to new urbanization. Employing a “tool–goal” analytical framework, we conducted a content analysis of 38 provincial-level policy documents (2021–present) using NVivo 20 software. The findings reveal that while local governments have established a preliminary policy system, structural imbalances persist: (1) uneven deployment of policy tools, (2) underutilization of demand-based policy tools, (3) tool–goal misalignment, and (4) insufficient market/societal participation in government-led measures. The discussion further reveals that the land use transition in the PAR program emphasizes the “living mode” (housing and public services) over the “livelihood mode” (productive resources and nonagricultural employment), creating structural dependency and leaving industrial land underutilized—as evidenced by weak policy support for industrial development (14.83%) and labour outmigration from resettlement areas. Drawing on the sustainable livelihoods framework, we further demonstrate how this exogenous-dominated policy mix disproportionately enhances physical and financial capital while constraining the accumulation of human and social capital—the very foundations of endogenous development capacity. To address these issues, we propose three key recommendations: (1) optimizing the policy mix to strengthen the endogenous development capacity of PAR communities; (2) realigning policy tools with objectives to achieve diversified yet coordinated goals; and (3) addressing implementation gaps to better leverage market mechanisms and social forces in promoting the sustainable urban integration of resettlement areas. Full article

The housing crisis in rapidly transforming earthquake zones represents the exhaustion of conventional construction paradigms. Unlike single-focused analyses, this study compares conventional reinforced concrete and modular steel systems from a holistic lifecycle perspective, using Turkey as a strategic laboratory for urban transformation. Employing qualitative content analysis, it maps in-depth interviews with 14 sector experts onto a ‘Dialectical Life Cycle Matrix’ via frequency-based consensus indicators. Expert assessments indicate that conventional methods face a structural bottleneck driven by architectural uniformity, labour-related weaknesses, rising costs, and prolonged durations, triggering seismic vulnerability, compromised living quality, and non-circular end-of-life outcomes. Modular systems counter this through factory-controlled rapid production, QA/QC mechanisms, and economies of scale, integrating guaranteed safety and the robust option of steel with R&D-driven human comfort. However, transitioning requires relinquishing deep-rooted advantages—financial flexibility, established order, regulatory comfort, cultural perception, and morphological harmony—introducing local trade-offs: high initial investment, geometric plot and logistical constraints, cultural barriers, and design concerns. Consequently, universal technologies cannot be directly transferred. To overcome Turkey’s local barriers, this study proposes a three-stage transition model: (I) civil and public-led legislative and workforce reforms; (II) financial innovation and gradual hybrid adaptation; and (III) industrial maturation transforming housing into a continuously updated living product. Full article

This study investigates food-oriented revitalisation (FOR) of Poland’s large-panel housing estates, focusing on the widely used OWT-67 prefabricated system, and proposes an architectural framework for integrating food production into residential retrofit. The research combines (i) a critical review of scholarship on coupling housing and productive functions with (ii) a design-led case study that evaluates the potential of flat rooftops for cultivation, developed for an OWT-67 building in the Kolorowa estate (Ursus, Warsaw), and complemented by an analysis of available financing pathways. The case study translates structural and operational constraints into a buildable rooftop farming scheme based on lightweight cultivation devices arranged around a central circulation deck. The financing review shows that renovation support in Poland is dispersed and predominantly credit-based, suggesting that rooftop food programmes are most feasible when packaged with eligible measures such as energy upgrades, roof refurbishment, climate-adaptation actions and renewable-energy installations. Overall, the proposed rooftop production would meet approximately 8% of the annual fruit-and-vegetable demand in the 45-resident scenario and about 4% in the 100-resident scenario. Accordingly, the OWT-67 roof is best understood as a source of seasonal fresh produce and a socio-educational infrastructure that supplements—rather than replaces—conventional food supply systems. Full article

As global urban centers transition into “Super-Aged Societies,” the paradigm of urban sustainability has shifted from mere housing provision to the development of Sustainable Care Retirement Communities (SCRCs). This study addresses a critical gap in the urban aging literature: the lack of culturally sensitive frameworks for social resilience in non-Western contexts. By integrating Hofstede’s Cultural Dimensions Theory, this research investigates how national culture influences the prioritization of community attributes within the “15 min city” framework. Methodologically, a hierarchical evaluation framework comprising 4 dimensions and 26 indicators was established. It employed the Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM) to achieve expert consensus among stakeholders in Taiwan’s Long-term Care 3.0 ecosystem. Analysis using Double Triangular Fuzzy Numbers identified the “Charging Model,” “Staff-to-Resident Ratio,” and “Zoning with Care Continuity” as the highest-priority factors ($G^i$ ≥ 7.8). These results indicate that in cultures with high uncertainty avoidance, institutional financial stability and human-centric staffing are perceived as the structural bedrock of social resilience. Furthermore, the study highlights the emergence of AI-driven “Active Sensing” environments as a pivotal component of technical resilience, mitigating the loneliness epidemic while maintaining institutional efficiency. The findings suggest that social resilience in SCRCs is not merely a product of physical accessibility but is theoretically inferred by experts to be deeply rooted in the synergy of Bonding and Bridging Social Capital, rather than being a directly measured outcome. This research provides urban planners and policy-makers with a robust, evidence-based toolkit to design inclusive, resilient, and culturally aligned aging-in-place environments in the face of unprecedented demographic challenges. Full article

Constructing age-friendly residential environments is essential for supporting aging in place among the growing population of urban empty-nest older adults in China. Grounded in person–environment fit theory, this study developed and validated a multidimensional Aging-Suitability Index (ASI) to examine how residential environmental factors shape housing suitability and perceived independence. In this study, “aging suitability” refers to the degree of fit between residential environments and older adults’ needs for safety, functionality, accessibility, social support, and technological support, with the central aim of enabling aging in place and independent living. Questionnaire data were collected from 753 urban empty-nest older adults across 19 provinces in China and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The structural model showed strong explanatory power (R² = 0.754). The results revealed a clear hierarchy of environmental influences. Safety facilities and physical design were the strongest direct predictors of residential aging suitability, indicating that risk reduction and ergonomically appropriate spatial design constitute the foundation of age-friendly housing. Although accessibility showed a smaller direct effect, it exerted a significant indirect effect through perceived independence, with 67.35% of its total effect mediated through this pathway, highlighting the importance of barrier-free design in maintaining autonomy. Social support and smart technology also contributed positively as complementary resources that strengthened person–environment fit. These findings suggest that age-friendly housing interventions should move beyond fragmented modifications toward integrated residential renewal strategies that prioritize safety and physical design, improve accessibility to support independent living, and combine community support with age-friendly technologies. This study provides empirical evidence to inform built-environment decision-making in the design and renewal of housing for older adults in rapidly aging urban contexts. Full article

Gentrification refers to a transformation in the composition of land users whereby in-coming users possess a higher socio-economic status than those they replace, accompanied by reinvestment in the built environment and the physical transformation of urban space. Displacement is an essential part of this process. Gentrification has become one of the central analytical concepts in urban studies. Gentrification has become one of the central analytical concepts in urban studies enabling the analysis of socio-spatial restructuring processes in cities and has been applied to a broad range of geographical settings and historical conditions. Originally coined in the context of post-war London, the concept has since traveled widely and has been applied to a broad range of geographical settings and historical conditions. This entry provides a comprehensive overview of the evolution of the concept, its principal theoretical interpretations, and its empirical applications. It reviews the major strands of explanation—demand-side, supply-side, and institutionalist approaches—and situates them within broader debates in urban theory. Particular attention is devoted to the relationship between gentrification and displacement, including both classical conceptualizations and recent efforts to capture its more diffuse and subjective dimensions. The entry concludes by arguing that while gentrification remains a key concept for analyzing urban change, it must be continuously reworked in light of emerging dynamics such as financialization, digitalization, and trans-local housing practices. It calls for more systematic and genuinely comparative research in order to better understand the evolving geographies of gentrification. Full article

Achieving sustainable urban development and optimizing the urban scale structure are central priorities in global governance. However, the relentless population agglomeration in Chinese megacities, despite astronomical living costs, presents a prominent “China Paradox” that seemingly defies classical spatial equilibrium theories. This study decodes this paradox by endogenizing the strategic land supply behaviors of local governments. Utilizing a comprehensive panel dataset of 287 Chinese prefecture-level cities from 2006 to 2020, we construct a multi-dimensional mediation framework and a panel threshold model to investigate how the structural misallocation of land—specifically, the pro-industrial and anti-residential bias—reshapes urban migration dynamics. Empirical results reveal that this land allocation bias acts as the fundamental institutional engine driving urban polarization. Analysis of the transmission pathways reveals a complex push–pull dynamic at the core of this paradox. The artificial restriction of residential land drives up housing prices, generating a profound centrifugal “push” force. However, this dispersion effect is entirely neutralized by two formidable centripetal “pull” forces: industrial co-agglomeration fueled by subsidized manufacturing land, and premium public service capitalization financed through lucrative land revenues. Furthermore, this demographic pull effect exhibits a pronounced inverted U-shaped dynamic, peaking during the rapid growth phase but diminishing precipitously once cities cross the threshold into highly developed megacities (LnGDP > 11.525). These findings highlight the ultimate unsustainability of the land-driven urbanization model. We propose a paradigm shift towards sustainable urban governance, advocating for stage-specific land supply reforms and the transition from monopolistic land finance to a sustainable property tax system to foster a spatially just and resilient urban hierarchy. Full article

Architectural and urban quality, or spatial quality, is inherently difficult to objectify due to its subjective nature. Traditional surveys can identify general trends but lack numerical precision. This study proposes a “qualitative quantification” model that transforms subjective judgments into measurable values and tracks their evolution throughout the production process. Based on evaluation criteria decomposition and Hanrot’s MATEA framework, the model measures a large set of indicators related to the spatial quality of the built environment, including accessibility, density, visual comfort, functionality, maintenance and several other aspects. It generates a conceptual and graphical radar evaluation scheme, integrating production stages with quantified indicators. Applied to the outdoor spaces of 40 collective housing estates in Biskra, southeastern Algeria, the model objectively confirms the poor spatial quality perceived subjectively by residents and other stakeholders. Results reveal negative evaluations in design, construction, use and maintenance reflecting systemic deficiencies and governance challenges. This approach contributes to post-occupancy evaluation and sustainable urban development assessment, providing a reproducible framework for quantifying and visualizing spatial quality throughout architectural and urban production, enabling planners and designers to identify weaknesses and monitor improvements over time. Full article

Climate-driven intensification of pluvial and fluvial flooding increasingly challenges lowland cities in Central Europe, while conventional protection and land-use controls offer limited flexibility under growing hydrological variability. A planning-oriented framework is developed and tested to integrate hydro-adaptive housing into climate-resilient urban development using three typologies: elevated foundations, amphibious dwellings and modular floating platforms. The framework links hazard profiles and site-enabling conditions to typology selection and considers supporting blue–green measures within the broader adaptation context. It is applied to three flood-prone settings in northern Poland representing a coastal delta, a river confluence and a lower-river terrace. The methodology combines GIS-based hazard mapping; one-dimensional unsteady-flow HEC-RAS simulations for 50-, 100- and 500-year design events; and parametric structural modelling in Rhino–Grasshopper. Performance is assessed using maximum inundation depth, surface-water retention time, and a probabilistic building damage index. Amphibious dwellings reduce modelled 100-year flood damage by 62% relative to slab-on-grade construction, while modular floating platforms maintain habitability under water-level rises exceeding 5.0 m. In addition, bioretention and blue–green corridors reduce retention time by 18–31%. The results provide a planning-oriented decision logic for expanding adaptive housing options in flood-prone lowland settings under increasing hydrological variability. Full article

Mapping directed spillover pathways in urban housing prices is essential for monitoring the contagion of housing prices across cities. However, existing studies typically rely on either spatial gravity models or time-series models in isolation to analyze intercity connections, thus failing to simultaneously capture the spatiotemporal integration characteristics of housing price contagion. To address this, we embed a finite-length sequence correlation analysis (Correlation-Dependent Balanced Estimation of Diffusion Transfer Entropy, $CBEDTE$) into the gravity model, yielding the $CBEDTE$-GM integrated model. Using housing price data from 296 Chinese cities, we construct a spatiotemporal correlation matrix and employ the directed minimum spanning tree algorithm to extract core directed spillover pathways. Results reveal that China’s urban housing price spillover network exhibits a hierarchical architecture with pronounced ripple effects, where eastern coastal cities and the national core city serve as dominant radiation hubs. The East China sub-network occupies a distinctive net spillover position. We identify heterogeneous structural evolution patterns across regional sub-networks: (1) North China evolved from a dispersed multi-centered configuration to a Beijing-dominated single-core structure; (2) East China developed a robust multi-centered architecture anchored by Shanghai; and (3) South China transitioned from a Guangzhou-centered single-core pattern to a tri-polar configuration co-driven by Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Nanning. Full article

Against the backdrop of rapid global urbanization, peri-urban villages universally face the dual dilemmas of landscape homogenization and the imbalance between heritage preservation and functional renewal. As a typical representative, the “Shanghai-style Jiangnan” villages feature an open water–land chessboard pattern and linear water-house parallel organization, which are distinctly different from the closed and introverted texture of traditional Suzhou-Hangzhou water towns. Such villages urgently need to balance the continuation of the original spatial fabric and the adaptation of modern functions. Existing studies on rural landscapes mostly focus on the static vertical identification of single elements, lacking a systematic quantitative analysis of the horizontal topological relationships among multiple elements, making it difficult to accurately define the spatial boundaries between preservation and renewal. This study takes Xinyuan Village in Jinshan District, Shanghai, as an empirical subject to construct a model for the vertical gene decoding of the “Point-Line-Network” and horizontal topology coupling of “Surface Gene.” By introducing a landscape sensitivity assessment combined with the Entropy Weight Method (EWM) and GIS (Geographic Information System) spatial Kernel Density Estimation (KDE), a quantifiable landscape control heat map is generated. The study identifies the nested original fabric structure of the “water-field-forest-house” and the spatial landscape differentiation characteristics in Xinyuan Village and delineates three-tier differentiated zoning controls through dual-verified heat maps. Validated based on Xinyuan Village, this method effectively resolves the conflict between rural preservation and renewal and realizes the transformation from static museum-style preservation to refined adaptive zoning. It provides specific practical strategies for the renewal of “Shanghai-style Jiangnan” villages and offers a quantitative morphological reference for enhancing the spatial resilience and living heritage of peri-urban villages, while its cross-regional transferability needs further verification. Full article

In the context of rapid population aging, aging in place, or remaining in one’s home and community as one grows older, has become an important policy and research issue. This study examines how environmental factors related to age-friendly cities are associated with aging in place across age groups in urban regeneration areas, focusing on nine urban regeneration community facilities in Daegu, South Korea. Survey data from 563 adults with experience using these facilities were used as the primary dataset, supplemented by GIS-based neighborhood environment data. Environmental factors were categorized into three dimensions—built environment, social environment, and health and social services—and their associations with aging in place were examined using logistic regression models estimated separately for three age groups (young, middle-aged, and older adults). The results indicate that associations between environmental factors and aging in place vary across age groups. The built environment was more strongly associated with aging in place among older adults, particularly in relation to housing and transportation, whereas the social environment, including social inclusion and participation, was significant only among young adults. Within health and social services, community support and health services were consistently associated with aging in place across all age groups. In addition, descriptive findings from selected cases indicate that high levels of aging in place among older adults were observed in both transit-oriented urban settings and nature-oriented non-urban settings. Overall, the findings highlight the need for age-responsive and context-sensitive environmental strategies in urban regeneration areas. Full article