Mapping ecosystem services in urban and peri-urban areas.A systematic review

Urban and peri-urban ecosystems are subjected to an intense impact.The demand for ecosystem services(ES)is higher in these areas.Nevertheless,despite the anthropogenic pressures,urban and peri-urban ecosystems supply important ES.Mapping is a crucial exercise to understand ES dynamics in these environments better.This work aims to systematically review mapping ES in urban and peri-urban areas studies,following the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-alpha Methods.A total of 207 studies were selected.The results show increased work between 2011 and 2023,mainly conducted in Europe and China.Most work were developed in urban areas and did not follow an established ES classification.Most studies focused on the ES supply dimension,the regulation and maintenance section.Regarding provisioning ES,most studies focused on Cultivating terrestrial plants for nutrition,regulating and maintainin g Atmospheric composition and conditions,and for cultural ES on Physical and experiential interactions with the natural environment.Quantitative methods were mostly applied following Indicator-based(secondary data:biophysical,socio-economic)models.Very few work validated the outputs.Several studies forecasted ES,primarily based on land use changes using CA-Markov approaches.This study provides an overview of the most mapped urban and peri-urban ES globally,the areas where more studies need to be conducted,and the methods developed.

Metropolitan Housing Development in Urban Fringe Areas-A Case Study of Three Metropolitan Cities of South Africa: Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni and Tshwane

Purpose:The metropolitan cities of Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane play an important role in the economy of the Gauteng province in South Africa.The region constitutes to 22.4 percent of the total population of South Africa and has a strong presence and contributes in areas of manufacturing sector,financial and business services,retail and wholesale trade,etc.The rapid urban population,increase in the informal settlements and socio-economic opportunities has resulted in considerable urban sprawl in and around the urban fringe areas of these metropolitan cities.The urban fringe areas of these metros often come under the influence of rapid urbanization process and pressures.Coupled with the economical and potential land dynamics and lack of priority of spatial development guidelines,these areas attract rapid and haphazard development from communities and developers.Research Design/Methodology:This research is based on a qualitative approach through a comprehensive literature review that included content analysis of key documents on housing sector such as IDPs(Integrated Development Plans),Municipal Annual Reports,Growth Development Strategies,and among other sectoral documents on housing sector.Some of the key priority issues considered in the housing sector included:eradication of housing backlogs,spatial restructuring of housing,provision of choice in terms of location,tenure and housing typology.Findings:The current paper discusses the approaches of metropolitan housing development processes in three metropolitan cities of South Africa from Gauteng region,namely:Johannesburg,Ekurhuleni and Tshwane.The paper discusses the existing housing sectoral scenario along with the fringe areas in three cities with focus on:formal and informal settlements,housing segregation and the backlogs,current institutional arrangements,role of public private participation,and scope for alternate mechanisms.The paper concludes in discussion on sustainable development options for housing development in urban fringe areas.

Delineation of urban growth boundary based on FLUS model under the perspective of land use evaluation in hilly mountainous areas

With rapid economic development,the size of urban land in China is expanding dramatically.The Urban Growth Boundary(UGB)is an expandable spatial boundary for urban construction in a certain period in order to control the urban sprawl.Reasonable delineation of UGB can inhibit the disorderly spread of urban space and guide the normal development of the city.It is of practical significance for the construction of green urban space.The study utilizes GIS technology to establish a land construction suitability evaluation system for Nankang city,which is experiencing rapid urban expansion,and outlines the preliminary UGB under the future land use simulation(FLUS)model.At the same time,considering the coupled coordination of"Production-Living-Ecological Space",and based on the suitability evaluation,we revised the preliminary UGB by combining the advantages of the patch-generating land use simulation(PLUS)model and the convex hull model to delineate the final UGB.The results show that:1)the comprehensive score of the evaluation of the suitability of the construction of land from high to low shows the distribution of the center of the city to the surrounding circle type spread,the center of the city has the highest suitability score.The results of convex hull model show that the urban expansion type of Nankang is epitaxial.In the future,the urban expansion will mainly occur in the northern part of the city.The PLUS model predicts an increase of 3359.97 hm^(2)of construction land in Nankang by 2035,of which 2022.97 hm^(2)is urban construction land.2)The FLUS model has a prediction accuracy of 86.3%and delineates a preliminary UGB area of 9215.07 hm^(2).3)We used the results of the construction suitability evaluation,PLUS model simulation results,and convex hull model predictions to revise the originally delineated UGB.The final delineated UGB area is 8895.67 hm^(2)and it is capable of meeting the future development of the study area.The results of the delineation can promote sustainable urban development,and the delineation methodology can provide a reference basis for the preparation of territorial spatial planning.

Exploring well-being disparities between urban and rural areas:A case study in the Stavropol Territory,Russia

Rural areas are crucial for a country’s sustainable economy.New strategies are needed to develop rural areas to improve the well-being of rural population and generate new job opportunities.This is especially important in countries where agricultural production accounts for a significant share of the gross product,such as Russia.In this study,we identified the key indicators of satisfaction and differences between rural and urban citizens based on their social,economic,and environmental backgrounds,and determined whether there are well-being disparities between rural and urban areas in the Stavropol Territory,Russia.We collected primary data through a survey based on the European Social Survey framework to investigate the potential differences between rural and urban areas.By computing the regional well-being index using principal component analysis,we found that there was no statistically significant difference in well-being between rural and urban areas.Results of key indicators showed that rural residents felt psychologically more comfortable and safer,assessed their family relationships better,and adhered more to traditions and customs.However,urban residents showed better economic and social conditions(e.g.,infrastructures,medical care,education,and Internet access).The results of this study imply that we can better understand the local needs,advantages,and unique qualities,thereby gaining insight into the effectiveness of government programs.Policy-makers and local authorities can consider targeted interventions based on the findings of this study and strive to enhance the well-being of both urban and rural residents.

Hard life for sons in the nest?Sex-dependent offspring mortality in Great Tits in urban and forest areas

Sex-biased mortality can occur in birds during development,for example due to sexual differences in energy requirement and/or environmental sensitivity,or the effects of sex hormones or sex differences in the expression of mutations linked to sex chromosomes.The extent of sex-bias in mortality may also be related to environmental conditions that influence offspring development and survival.Urban areas often provide poorer conditions for nestling development resulting in higher offspring mortality compared to natural areas,which may accelerate sex differences in offspring mortality in cities.To test this hypothesis,we examined the sex ratio of dead offspring in Great Tits(Parus major),using 427 samples of unhatched eggs and dead nestlings collected in two urban and two forest sites between 2013 and 2019.The ratio of males in the whole sample of dead offspring(56.9%)was significantly higher than expected by an 1:1 ratio,and the strongest sex biases were detected in urban areas(57.6%males)and in young nestlings(<14 days old,59.0%males).However,the sex ratios of dead offspring did not differ significantly among study sites and between offspring developmental stages.29.3%of unhatched eggs contained a visible embryo,and the proportion of embryo-containing unhatched eggs did not differ significantly between urban and forest study sites.These results suggest male-biased offspring mortality in Great Tits,and highlight the need of large datasets to detect subtle differences between habitats and developmental stages.

Urbanity mapping reveals the complexity,diffuseness,diversity,and connectivity of urbanized areas

There are urgent calls for new approaches to map the global urban conditions of complexity,diffuseness,diversity,and connectivity.However,existing methods mostly focus on mapping urbanized areas as bio physical entities.Here,based on the continuum of urbanity framework,we developed an approach for cross-scale urbanity map-ping from town to city and urban megaregion with different spatial resolutions using the Google Earth Engine.This approach was developed based on multi-source remote sensing data,Points of Interest-Open Street Map(POIs-OSM)big data,and the random forest regression model.This approach is scale-independent and revealed significant spatial variations in urbanity,underscoring differences in urbanization patterns across megaregions and between urban and rural areas.Urbanity was observed transcending traditional urban boundaries,diffusing into rural settlements within non-urban locales.The finding of urbanity in rural communities far from urban areas challenges the gradient theory of urban-rural development and distribution.By mapping livelihoods,lifestyles,and connectivity simultaneously,urbanity maps present a more comprehensive characterization of the complex-ity,diffuseness,diversity,and connectivity of urbanized areas than that by land cover or population density alone.It helps enhance the understanding of urbanization beyond biophysical form.This approach can provide a multifaceted understanding of urbanization,and thereby insights on urban and regional sustainability.

Urban growth scenario projection using heuristic cellular automata in arid areas considering the drought impact

Arid areas with low precipitation and sparse vegetation typically yield compact urban pattern,and drought directly impacts urban site selection,growth processes,and future scenarios.Spatial simulation and projection based on cellular automata(CA)models is important to achieve sustainable urban development in arid areas.We developed a new CA model using bat algorithm(BA)named bat algorithm-probability-of-occurrence-cellular automata(BA-POO-CA)model by considering drought constraint to accurately delineate urban growth patterns and project future scenarios of Urumqi City and its surrounding areas,located in Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region,China.We calibrated the BA-POO-CA model for the drought-prone study area with 2000 and 2010 data and validated the model with 2010 and 2020 data,and finally projected its urban scenarios in 2030.The results showed that BA-POO-CA model yielded overall accuracy of 97.70%and figure-of-merits(FOMs)of 35.50%in 2010,and 97.70%and 26.70%in 2020,respectively.The inclusion of drought intensity factor improved the performance of BA-POO-CA model in terms of FOMs,with increases of 5.50%in 2010 and 7.90%in 2020 than the model excluding drought intensity factor.This suggested that the urban growth of Urumqi City was affected by drought,and therefore taking drought intensity factor into account would contribute to simulation accuracy.The BA-POO-CA model including drought intensity factor was used to project two possible scenarios(i.e.,business-as-usual(BAU)scenario and ecological scenario)in 2030.In the BAU scenario,the urban growth dominated mainly in urban fringe areas,especially in the northern part of Toutunhe District,Xinshi District,and Midong District.Using exceptional and extreme drought areas as a spatial constraint,the urban growth was mainly concentrated in the"main urban areas-Changji-Hutubi"corridor urban pattern in the ecological scenario.The results of this research can help to adjust urban planning and development policies.Our model is readily applicable to simulating urban growth and future scenarios in global arid areas such as Northwest China and Africa.

Agricultural intensity for sustainable regional development:A case study in peri-urban areas of Karawang Regency,Indonesia

Peri-urban areas are playing an increasingly crucial role in the agricultural development and intensification in Indonesia.Peri-urban agriculture is highly vulnerable to change compared with urban and rural agriculture,due to its location in transitional areas.Indicators of peri-urban agricultural intensity can help guide regional development.In this study,we assessed the sustainability of peri-urban areas based on agricultural intensity in Karawang Regency,Indonesia.We developed a village-based index to assess the region’s agricultural intensity by rescaling the village agriculture index(VAI)and combining the local sustainability index(LSI)with factor analysis.Since the unit of analysis is the village,we modified the LSI to the village sustainability index(VSI).In addition,we also developed a logical matrix analysis to determine the level of agricultural sustainability(LoAS)of each village.The combined results of the three indices(VAI,VSI,and LoAS)generated information about agricultural sustainability.The results indicated that peri-urban villages with high agricultural intensity tended to exhibit low levels of social welfare,economic development,and disaster risk.Moreover,high agricultural intensity did not necessarily ensure the prosperity of the people.Instead,there was the economic disparity among the villages in the study area.Encouraging diversity of agricultural intensity seems to be more critical than promoting agricultural intensity itself.Overall,this study highlights the distinctive characteristics and dynamic of peri-urban areas.New approaches,variables,and information regarding the combination of agricultural intensity and sustainability need to be developed as valuable tools for regional planning.

Persistent alterations in gray matter in COVID-19 patients experiencing sleep disturbances:a 3-month longitudinal study

Sleep disturbances are among the most prevalent neuropsychiatric symptoms in individuals who have recovered from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infections.Previous studies have demonstrated abnormal brain structures in patients with sleep disturbances who have recovered from coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19).However,neuroimaging studies on sleep disturbances caused by COVID-19 are scarce,and existing studies have primarily focused on the long-term effects of the virus,with minimal acute phase data.As a result,little is known about the pathophysiology of sleep disturbances in the acute phase of COVID-19.To address this issue,we designed a longitudinal study to investigate whether alterations in brain structure occur during the acute phase of infection,and verified the results using 3-month follow-up data.A total of 26 COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances(aged 51.5±13.57 years,8 women and 18 men),27 COVID-19 patients without sleep disturbances(aged 47.33±15.98 years,9 women and 18 men),and 31 age-and gender-matched healthy controls(aged 49.19±17.51 years,9 women and 22 men)were included in this study.Eleven COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances were included in a longitudinal analysis.We found that COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances exhibited brain structural changes in almost all brain lobes.The cortical thicknesses of the left pars opercularis and left precuneus were significantly negatively correlated with Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index scores.Additionally,we observed changes in the volume of the hippocampus and its subfield regions in COVID-19 patients compared with the healthy controls.The 3-month follow-up data revealed indices of altered cerebral structure(cortical thickness,cortical grey matter volume,and cortical surface area)in the frontal-parietal cortex compared with the baseline in COVID-19 patients with sleep disturbances.Our findings indicate that the sleep disturbances patients had altered morphology in the cortical and hippocampal structures during the acute phase of infection and persistent changes in cortical regions at 3 months post-infection.These data improve our understanding of the pathophysiology of sleep disturbances caused by COVID-19.

Strategies for Introducing Energy Saving Idea into Residential Planning and Design in Urban and Rural Areas of China

Currently,energy saving design has been conducted on single building but not on the whole residential community in urban and rural areas.So,the paper has proposed energy saving measures for residential planning from the perspective of site selection and layout of buildings.Specific measures are as follows.Firstly,buildings should be constructed on the sunny side and leeside;secondly,buildings on the south should be lower than those on the north;the east side of the building should be open while the west side should be closed;thirdly,climate protection unit should be set;fourthly,buildings should be of northsouth direction primarily,and the main room should be set on the east side and the assistant rooms or passage on the west side in the buildings of east-west direction;fifthly,it should select compact and wellarranged households and the units should not be combined in point and dislocation and jointing.

Development Mode for the Characteristic Urbanization of Rural Areas in Heilongjiang Province

By analyzing the urbanization of rural areas in Heilongjiang Province,the authors pointed out the existing problems:insufficient motive power of its subjects,low construction level,less prominent functional features of townlets,low scale merits,low efficiency of resource distribution and so on.According to the classification of its townlets,the following 4 modes were given for the rural urbanization of Heilongjiang:A.Motivated by Ecological Construction.It is to solve population problems through ecological migrants,enhance infrastructure construction of townlets,strengthen their capacity of concentrating and absorbing resources;B.Motivated by featured agriculture.It is to develop featured industries on the basis of featured resources with market as the orientation,create a favorable exterior development environment for featured agriculture with the help of government;C.Based on Competitive Tourist Products.It is to coordinate the development of tourism and townlets through scientific planning,design competitive tourism projects and build famous tourism towns;D.Driven by Trade and Processing Industry.It is to promote the capacity of these towns in developing foreign trade,improve policy environment and trade facilities.All these 4 modes are proposed on the basis of actual conditions to give more choices for the characteristic urbanization of its rural areas.

Study on Urban Construction Land Suitability Evaluation in Southwestern Mountainous Areas of Yunnan Province Based on the Strategy of "Protecting Farmland in Flatland Areas and Constructing Mountainous Cities" : A Case in Lianghe County

According to the particularity of towns＇ construction in the southwestern mountainous areas of Yunnan Province, this study has built constructive land suit- ability evaluation index system which is different to flat area. Then this study deter- mined single evaluation factors index and comprehensive suitability index using ＂ex- treme conditions method＂ and ＂suitability index method＂, and analyzed and assessed the constructive land suitability on each evaluation unit polygons and its suitability level by using GIS software. Taking Lianghe County of Dehong Dai-Jingpo Au- tonomous Prefecture as an example to evaluate land suitability in Lianghe County＇s main towns around the gentle slope, the results show, in the evaluation area, the area of land suitable for construction and unsuitable for construction respectively ac- count 73.58% and 26.42%. And first-class, second and third-class of land suitable for construction should be composited at the ratio of about 11：49：40. The suitability evaluation index system and method developed in this paper is applicable for evalu- ating the construction land suitability in mountainous areas of southwest Yunnan Province, and will provide theoretical and technical support for land policy measures which strengthen the protection of farmland and promote the scientific development of urbanization in Yunnan Province and even similar mountainous areas of the whole China.

The Study on Protection and Construction Mode of Urban Ecologically Sensitive Areas

The paper had analyzed the necessity and feasibility for the protection and utilization of urban ecologically sensitive areas, proposed planning urban ecologically sensitive areas reasonably and combining ecological protection with development construction. Guiding the healthy and ordered development of urban spaces was the key part and important approach to realize ecological cities. The guiding thought for development construction of ecological cities had been discussed, which was conducting laddered development according to the location and coverage of urban ecologically sensitive areas and protection grades of these sensitive areas. Then, it had proposed four kinds of protection and construction modes, which were tourism leisure green lands, relevant expositions, industrial areas and new city groups, and which had been analyzed by combining with successful cases, so as to provide feasible win-win development strategies of ecology and economy for the planning of urban ecologically sensitive areas in the future.

Study on Conceptual Planning of Group Landscapes in Urban Core Areas—A Case Study of Conceptual Landscape Planning of the Core Area in Shuangsong Group,Wanzhou District of Chongqing City,China

The planning site was divided into a spatial structure of"one center,one corridor,two axes,two belts and three communities"and traffic system designed to a 3-grade road system of"artery,secondary artery and by-pass".Meanwhile,a 3-ring structure of the planning site was constructed:diffusion waterfront landscape belt,waterfront pathway and core eco-green island.Finally,the planning concepts for major ecological constructions were given.This study tried to explore the group eco-landscape pattern in urban core areas so as to provide a strategic instruction for the regional sustainable development.

Investigation of English learning strategy employed by senior middle school students in Zhanjiang City： A comparison of students from urban and rural areas

After a review of learning strategy research in China and abroad, this paper made an investigation on the differences in use of learning strategies reported by urban and rural students from four middle schools in Zhanjiang city. The investigation revealed the following findings： urban students employ cognitive and social strategies more frequently than rural students; urban students reported a wider range of strategies compared with their rural peers; urban students of intermediate achievements employ more social strategies than their rural peers, while rural students use affective strategy significantly more often; urban and rural students reported different patterns of gender difference.

GIS-Based Landscape Planning of Urban Parks in Mountainous Areas——Using Aoshan Park of Jianyang City as a Case Study

The concept,characteristics and features of park in mountainous areas as well as the significance of its planning were introduced in this study.Taking Aoshan Park in Jianyang City for an example,this study started from general situation of the project site and the base,carried out the single-factor analysis with the help of GIS,built a DEM (Digital Elevation Model) by using AutoCAD,and then formed a spatial database for analyzing the elevation,slope and aspect of landforms in Aoshan Park,finally obtained the overall planning strategy for such complicated landforms,that is,a modern urban park in mountainous areas with excellent ecological and social benefits.By elaborating detailed landscape planning of Aoshan Park,including planning concept,spatial sequence of landscapes,organization of roads and scenic routes,the expectation of taking such urban parks into the urban green space system was proposed.

Characterization of Air Pollution in Urban Areas of Yangtze River Delta,China

The hallmark of development in the Yangtze River Delta(YRD) of East China has been sprawling urbanization. However, air pollution is a significant problem in these urban areas. In this paper, we investigated and analyzed the air pollution index(API) in four cities(Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou and Ningbo) in the YRD from 2001 to 2012. We attempted to empirically examine the relationship between meteorological factors and air quality in the urban areas of the YRD. According to the monitoring data, the API in Shanghai, Nanjing, Hangzhou slightly declined and that in Ningbo increased over the study period. We analyzed the inter-annual, seasonal, and monthly variations of API, from which we found that the air quality had different temporal changes in the four cities. It was indicated that air quality was poor in winter and spring and best in summer. Furthermore, different weather conditions affected air quality level. The wind direction was considered as an important and influential factor to air pollution, which has an impact on the accumulating or cleaning processes of pollutants. The air quality was influenced by the different wind directions that varied with seasons and cities.

Multi-source Data-driven Identification of Urban Functional Areas:A Case of Shenyang,China

Urban functional area(UFA)is a core scientific issue affecting urban sustainability.The current knowledge gap is mainly reflected in the lack of multi-scale quantitative interpretation methods from the perspective of human-land interaction.In this paper,based on multi-source big data include 250 m×250 m resolution cell phone data,1.81×105 Points of Interest(POI)data and administrative boundary data,we built a UFA identification method and demonstrated empirically in Shenyang City,China.We argue that the method we built can effectively identify multi-scale multi-type UFAs based on human activity and further reveal the spatial correlation between urban facilities and human activity.The empirical study suggests that the employment functional zones in Shenyang City are more concentrated in central cities than other single functional zones.There are more mix functional areas in the central city areas,while the planned industrial new cities need to develop comprehensive functions in Shenyang.UFAs have scale effects and human-land interaction patterns.We suggest that city decision makers should apply multi-sources big data to measure urban functional service in a more refined manner from a supply-demand perspective.

Research on the Harmonious Development of New Rural Communities under the Perspective of Balancing Urban and Rural Areas

On the basis of offering a definition of New Rural Communities (NRCs), the paper analyzes the values of New Rural Communities and argues that the construction of NRCs is able to contribute to the enhancement of the comprehensive agricultural production capability as well as the development of social productivity. Meanwhile the incomes of the rural residents can be boosted, which denotes the realization of a harmonious society where the achievements of China's reform and development are shared by each citizen. Moreover, the construction of NRCs facilitates the economization of land use and thus improves the overall living standard of the residents, while helping to cut the administrative cost and promote democracy at the primary level. This paper also points out various problems arising during the construction of NRCS in China: blindly following suit in accordance with the modes of the urban communities; lack of funds, which leads to the absence of the supporting mechanisms of NRCs; vague positioning and the ensuing shortage of impetus for continued development. Finally, the paper raises the corresponding measures and suggestions: first, based on reality, make overall planning and scientific arrangement; second, the government should play the dominant role while respecting the principal position of the rural residents and introducing the market mechanism; third, increase science and technology input and attach equal importance to economic and social benefits; fourth, broaden fund-raising channels while completing the supervision mechanism.

Contrasting Characteristics of the Surface Energy Balance between the Urban and Rural Areas of Beijing

A direct comparison of urban and rural surface energy balances, as well as a variety of other variables including incoming shortwave/longwave radiation and aerosol optical depth, is conducted for the Beijing metropolitan area. The results indicate that, overall, the urban area receives a smaller amount of incoming shortwave radiation but a larger amount of incoming longwave radiation. However, comparisons in the aerosol optical depth and cloud fraction at the two locations suggest that neither aerosol optical depth nor cloud fraction alone can explain the difference in the incoming shortwave radiation. The urban–rural differences in the incoming longwave radiation are unlikely to be caused by the presence of more abundant greenhouse gases over the urban area, as suggested by some previous studies, given that water vapor is the most dominant greenhouse gas and precipitable water is found to be less in urban areas. The higher incoming longwave radiation observed over the urban area is mostly likely due to the higher temperatures of the ambient air. The urban area is also found to always produce higher sensible heat fluxes and lower latent heat fluxes in the growing season. Furthermore, the urban area is associated with a larger amount of available energy（the sum of sensible and latent heat fluxes） than the rural area, except in May and October when evapotranspiration in the rural area significantly exceeds that in the urban area. This study provides observational evidence of urban–rural contrasts in relevant energy-balance components that plausibly arise from urban–rural differences in atmospheric and land-surface conditions.