As the urban development continues, different parts of a city can grow or decay by varying degrees due to natural deterioration or changes in governmental policies. City is the center for business, culture, and social activities; is the place that reflects geography, commerce, society, and culture context; is a complex whole that is woven by “people,” “activity,” and “space” “People” in the “space”

Land use–transportation interaction models can be useful planning support systems to assess the long-term implications of emerging transportation technologies like mobility-on-demand and automated vehicles. We propose an agent-based simulation framework (SimMobility Long-Term) that uses econometrically robust behavioral models to model the potential impacts of accessibility changes in “car-lite” communities

The conformance approach is frequently used to evaluate the effectiveness of spatial plans in containing urban sprawl. However, non-conformances are widely considered inevitable. Prior conformance-based evaluations fail to answer the essential question of whether plans influence non-conforming situations. To address this gap, we built a framework for conformance measurement to reveal how plans affect

Urban form at the district scale is defined as a unique combination of the following basic spatial objects: road networks, plot patterns and building configurations. In particular, a plot represents one of the most important basic spatial objects of urban form. In recent theoretical and empirical work from downtown districts in Tokyo, it was found that (1) plot sizes and frontages approximately follow

Urban vitality, as a metric, measures the attractiveness and competitiveness of a city and is a driver of development. As the physical and social space of human activities, the urban landscape has close connections with urban vitality according to classical theories. However, limited quantitative criteria for the urban landscape and gaps between macro urban planning and micro design create difficulties

Abstract In the digital era of big data, data analytics and smart cities, a new generation of planning support systems is emerging. The Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario Explorer is a novel planning support system developed to help planners and policy-makers determine the likely land value uplift associated with the provision of new city infrastructure. The Rapid Analytics Interactive Scenario Explorer

Planning for cycling is often made difficult by the lack of detailed information about when and where cycling takes place. Many have seen the arrival of new forms of data such as crowdsourced data as a potential saviour. One of the key challenges posed by these data forms is understanding how representative they are of the population. To address this challenge, a limited number of studies have compared

Many times in these editorials over the last 30 years have I speculated on how we might think about cities in terms of their dynamics. The central constructs in such thinking involve ways in which cities can be disrupted by new technologies, and how a myriad of networks define the way energy, materials, people and information come together to generate levels of complexity, unimaginable before the industrial

This paper proposes that urban informatics can represent a flow of information from diverse and voluminous data into and back from the planning process. We present a proof-of-concept of how an urban informatics approach can improve public understanding of essential information in the planning process, and we propose a theoretical construct of how it can make planning processes more democratic and participatory

In order to contain commuting distance growth and relieve traffic burden in mega-city regions, it is essential to understand journey-to-work patterns and changes in those patterns. This research develops a planning support model that integrates increasingly available mobile phone data and conventional statistics into a theoretical urban economic framework to reveal and explain commuting changes. Base-year

This paper introduces a type of graph called ‘homeomorphically irreducible tree’ (HIT) and explores its analytical and computational aspects in the architecture of radial prison plans. As a theoretical introduction, HITs are first diagrammatically presented using a taxonomy of 20 different radial prisons. Using this analysis, a generative algorithm that transforms plan connectivity to a simple sequential

Microsimulation is a class of Urban Building Energy Modeling techniques in which energetic interactions between buildings are explicitly resolved. Examples include SUNtool and CitySim+, both of which employ a sophisticated radiosity-based algorithm to solve for radiation exchange. The computational cost of this algorithm increases in proportion to the square of the number of surfaces of which an urban

Urbanization’s rapid progress presents an urgent challenge for developing a predictive, quantitative theory of “the death and life of cities” (a.k.a. “the essential diversity conditions for the urban built environment”). Despite the importance of activity diversity (i.e. serving different primary functions), existing works ignored that time diversity (i.e. attracting people at different times of the

Urban settlements and urbanised populations have been growing at unprecedented rates around the world (Seto et al., 2010; UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, 2019). By 2050, the United Nations predicts 68% of the world’s population will live in cities and towns, and most of this change will be occurring in low- and middle-income countries (UN Habitat, 2016). This transition towards more urbanised

Analysis of changing patterns of ethnic residential segregation is usually framed by the coarse categorisations of ethnicity used in censuses and other large-scale public sector surveys and by the infrequent time intervals at which such surveys are conducted. In this paper, we use names-based classification of Consumer Registers to investigate changing degrees of segregation in England and Wales over

Planning support systems (PSSs) are designed to help planning authorities and other urban and regional planners understand complex urban systems, and plan for more sustainable and resilient future cities (Deal et al., 2017a; Kalantari et al., 2019a, 2018; Pettit et al., 2018). PSSs are used to analyze and link different aspects of urban planning (e.g. land use, transportation, environmental issues

The creation of a psychologically friendly outdoor environment has important quality-of-life implications for urban residents who live in cities with extremely high population density, such as Hong Kong. Prospect Refuge Theory is the most widely recognized theory that explains environmental emotional influence by referring to urban planning and architecture, and it can be quantified by applying isovist

Human movement and interaction across space and through time is full of economic and social opportunities. Access to information through location-based technologies offers potential for people to make better decisions about social activity participation needs and travel behavior preferences. Identifying an optimal trajectory (route) connecting desired activity locations for multiple attendees with

The paper aims to develop a campus-level planning support system that is driven by data analytics by comparing two design approaches, anticipation and optimization. A campus is defined as a small-scale complex urban system of buildings and infrastructure. Three questions are addressed: (1) What generates campus design? What principles are taken for making design decisions? (2) How do we optimize design

This paper develops a statistical approach to measuring and guiding grammatical applications using a descriptive shape grammar, ‘Murcutt Grammar’. Normalised Distance (ND) is proposed to identify the level of disparity of each design instance. Alternative design instances are generated using rule transition paths that illustrate the transition sequences of the grammar application (transition probability)

High levels of accessibility for people and jobs are the very essence of urban areas, as they allow the agglomeration economies. In the past, slow modes of transportation meant population and activity densities were the only way to reach high accessibility levels. More recently, the high speed provided by cars has enabled people to choose their home and job locations within larger areas, while keeping

The changing nature of retail coupled with rapid technological and social developments, are posing great challenges to the attractiveness of traditional retail areas in the UK. In this paper we argue that the definitions and classifications of town centres currently adopted by UK planners and policy makers are outdated, because of their focus on retail occupancy. Instead, we propose a more dynamic

In the context of rapid urbanization, it remains unclear how urban landscape patterns shift under different urban dynamics, in particular taking different influencing factors of urban dynamics into consideration. In the present study, three key influencing factors were considered, namely, housing demand, spatial structure, and growth form. On this basis, multiple urban dynamic scenarios were constructed

I recently attended a workshop organised by the SPatial Analysis Research Center at Arizona State University which was focused on a discussion around a whole series of questions pertaining to scale but where the emphasis was largely on inductive models for extracting meaningful scale from areal data. The workshop threw up many questions involving what we mean by scale, the ambiguities posed by its

Urban peripherality is a multidimensional phenomenon, requiring operational tools for analysis and policy design. In this paper, we explore if and how the concept of walkability can be employed as an indicator of peripherality. For this purpose, we employ the capability-wise walkability score (CAWS) to assess neighbourhoods of two case study cities to classify them into four classes (periphery, semi-periphery

Unprecedented urbanisation processes characterise the Great Acceleration, urging urban researchers to make sense of data analysis in support of evidence-based and large-scale decision-making. Urban morphologists are no exception since the impact of urban form on fundamental natural and social patterns (equity, prosperity and resource consumption’s efficiency) is now fully acknowledged. However, urban

With an increasing number of smart cities initiatives in developed as well as developing nations, smart cities are seen as a catalyst for improving the quality of life for city residents. However, current understanding of the risks that may hamper successful implementation of smart city projects remains limited due to inadequate data, especially in developing nations. The recent Smart Cities Mission

There is a worldwide trend for planning bodies to allow, require, or encourage developers to provide open spaces in their properties for public enjoyment to complement the open spaces on government lands. The two types of privately owned open space and government-owned open space, both accessible to public, can influence on people’s quality of life. Whether and how the land ownership of open spaces

Self-organization is a key mechanism through which cities spontaneously and dynamically evolve and adjust to changing circumstances (Allen, 1997; Batty, 2005; Portugali, 2000). It entails an emerging process: place-based actions and interactions of an unrestricted number of urban agents produce certain physical, social and economic patterns at a global level that in turn coordinate the expectations

In cities around the world, housing demand is increasing rapidly. Since housing supply is inelastic, house prices are rising as well, which causes affordability problems. Although there is consensus about the need to raise production, there is debate about its location: within the existing city, on underused or derelict buildings and sites, or on greenfield land outside existing city boundaries? The

In the late 19th century when the automobile was invented, Henry Ford is reported to have said: ‘If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses’. In fact, he more than most is accredited with introducing one of the most disruptive technologies to have changed the way we live in cities (Vlaskovits, 2011;Walsh, 2017). Ford did not invent the motor car, nor was he the first

This study examines path flows for road networks. Path flows sum individual route choices from individual travelers, associated with specific path objective. We estimate these flows for each cost factor of auto travel: time, safety, emission, and monetary costs, as well as their composite, internal and full cost of travel. For each factor, we find the route with the minimum cumulative cost. We further

Cellular automata have found extensive applications in the modelling of urban systems. Calculations in cellular automata models are based on cell centroids and therefore cellular automata models are sensitive to the choices of cell size and shape. While the effect of cell size for urban simulation has been studied, discussions on the effect of cell shape on urban cellular automata models have been

Space syntax is an influential framework for quantifying the relationship between environmental geometry and human behavior. Although many studies report high syntactic–behavioral correlations, previous pedestrian data were collected at low spatiotemporal resolutions, and data transformations and sampling strategies vary widely; here, we systematically test the robustness of space syntax’s predictive

The World experiences a significant growth in population coupled with fast urbanization processes particularly in the Southern hemisphere, which puts an enormous pressure on cities, giving rise to numerous social, infrastructural, ecological, and urban problems. In this context, the formal sector is often unable to provide adequate housing for this growing population who resorts to self-help processes

Virtual reality environments have created new opportunities for visualizing social spaces in three dimensions, which enable addition of a vertical dimension. This creates a topographical landscape based on socio-economic characteristics of the urban system. Quantification of the socio-economic disparities between city pairs in relation to the spatial distances is the social topography slope, where

In an era of data-driven smart cities, the possibility of using crowdsourced big data to support evidence-based planning and decision-making remains a challenge. Along with the increased availability and potential utility of crowdsourced data, there is a clear need to assess the validity of these data in order to determine their appropriate use for planning and management. Moreover, with growth and

Understanding and learning the characteristics of network paths has been of particular interest for decades and has led to several successful applications. Such analysis becomes challenging for urban networks as their size and complexity are significantly higher compared to other networks. The state-of-the-art machine learning techniques allow us to detect hidden patterns and, thus, infer the features

Since there has been a huge amount of transport infrastructure projects being proposed, planned and constructed over the past decades in China, this article aims to reveal the substantial dynamics of China’s rapid development of urban mega-projects. It analyzes Nantong’s metro project to use it as a case study – how it was being justified, approved and implemented, and what were the key driving forces

Compact urban form has been applied as a strategy to reduce the loss of green space that occurs from development, but the impact of this policy on the provision of green space still presents many uncertainties. This research investigated the statistical relationship between urban form indicators and the loss of vegetation biomass to understand the response of quality green space provision to changes

Alcohol outlet density and alcohol-related harms are an internationally reported phenomenon. There are multiple methods described in the literature to measure alcohol outlet density, but with very little commentary on the geographical underpinnings of the methods. In this paper, we present a framework to help practitioners and researchers choose the most appropriate spatial method of measuring alcohol

Residential choice behaviour is a complex process underpinned by both housing market restrictions and individual preferences, which are partly conscious and partly tacit knowledge. Due to several limitations, common survey methods cannot sufficiently tap into such tacit knowledge. Thus, this paper introduces an advanced knowledge elicitation process called SilverKnETs and combines it with data mining

In this study, we propose a cost-effective method for tranquillity mapping using multi-criteria analysis and open geospatial data. We apply this method in an extended zone around a major Greek highway trespassing areas of high natural value. Composite criteria are developed through analytic functions and geostatistical methods to reflect either barriers or enablers of tranquillity. The results indicate

Air pollution bears severe health and environmental impacts and is of increasing concern to urban planners but densification strategies have ambiguous impacts. We analyse how households’ aversion to generating and being exposed to traffic pollution at the residential place and during their commute influences emerging urban structures and how these structures in turn affect pollution exposure and the

This paper makes the case for agent-based modelling as a route to unlocking the potential of existing buildings to reduce energy demand and contribute to achieving carbon reduction targets. The construction of a model to simulate this system requires significant innovation in data collection and handling. The need to focus on ‘middle actors’ in construction – specifically the tradesmen who carry out

Land-use change models that accurately replicate the complex dynamics of land development provide vital information for urban planning and policy. These models require both detailed data and advanced statistical methods. Many factors influence land-use change decisions, such as parcel characteristics, accessibility to activities, and current and historical neighborhood conditions. Therefore, spatial

This paper explores the impact of different distance metrics on collinearity in local regression models such as geographically weighted regression. Using a case study of house price data collected in Hà Nội, Vietnam, and by fully varying both power and rotation parameters to create different Minkowski distances, the analysis shows that local collinearity can be both negatively and positively affected

Space syntax analysis of the city as a movement economy has made major contributions to our understanding of the spatial structure of cities, particularly the importance of a mapping of network integration in relation to density, functional mix and streetlife vitality. It has focused attention of urban researchers onto the importance of the relations between the sociality and spatiality of the city

To address the effects of increasing homeless populations, planners must understand the size and distribution of their homeless populations, as well as how information and resources are diffused throughout homeless communities. Currently, there is limited publicly available information on the homeless population, e.g. the estimates of the homeless, gathered annually by the US Housing & Urban Development

Walking is a form of active transportation with numerous benefits, including better health outcomes, lower environmental impacts and stronger communities. Understanding built environmental associations with walking behavior is a key step towards identifying design features that support walking. Human mobility data available through GPS receivers and cell phones, combined with high resolution walkability

Life-space is a promising method for estimating older adults' functional status. However, traditional life-space measures are costly and time consuming because they often rely on active subject participation. This study assesses the feasibility of using the global positioning system (GPS) function of smart phones to generate life-space indicators. We first evaluated the location accuracy of smart phone

Rural - urban inequalities in health and access to health care have long been of concern in health-policy formulation. Understanding these inequalities is critically important in efforts to plan a more effective geographical distribution of public health resources and programs. Socially and ethnically diverse populations are likely to exhibit different rural - urban gradients in health and well-being

"In this study the author seeks to find whether changes in urban vegetation can be linked to urban social changes by using Detroit [Michigan] as a case study. Demographic trends in Detroit are analyzed in light of the increasing greenness in the city detected by recent satellite images. Robust relationships between greenness change and demographic factors associated with urban decay (population decline

The development is explained of a technique to generate 'modeled' surfaces of census-type socioeconomic survey data that offer the potential to overcome many of the problems inherent in the analysis and presentation of such data in conventional area-based form. Potential benefits of the modeled surfaces include a level of resolution that arguably can provide a more finely focused spatial basis for