Urban Dynamics and Emergence of New Centers in the Dakar Region (Senegal)

Due to the status of the Dakar region as the former capital of AOF (French West Africa) and current capital of the Republic of Senegal, it is home to a very large part of the population and most of the socio-economic, administrative and cultural activities on a very small area of the country (0.28%). This situation makes it a very attractive region and subject to strong land pressure. The objective of this article is to study past and current urban dynamics as well as changes in natural spaces, in order to identify new urban centers. The methodological approach consists in analyzing satellite images to understand the evolution of different forms of spatial occupation in the Dakar region, and to study population movement flows and urban forms in order to reveal new urban centers. The results of the study show that the Dakar urban space is characterized by diverse forms which express a heterogeneous set of spaces. They also revealed the emergence of new clusters between 1986 and 2016, notably Ngor, Grand Yoff, Parcelles Assainies in the North-West, and Keur Massar and the North of the communes of Rufisque in the eastern part of the Dakar region.

Urban Economic Cluster Template and Its Dynamics of Beijing,China

Economic clusters have been a central focus of current urban and regional research, policies and practices. However, a methodology to identify and analyze policy-relevant economic cluster dynamics is still not well developed. Based on input-output(I-O) data of 1987, 1992, 1997, 2002 and 2007 of Beijing, this article presents an adapted principle component analysis for identifying the evolution of local economic cluster patterns. This research addresses the changes of economic interaction of industries with complementary and common activities over time. The identified clusters provide an insight into the reality of economic development in a diversifying urban economy: the increasing importance of services and the growing interaction between service and manufacturing industries. Our method therefore provides the analysts with a better understanding of the emergence, disappearance and development of economic clusters citywide. The results could be used to assist monitoring urban economic development and designing more practical urban economic strategies.

Urban Heat Island： Dynamic Simulation, Assessment and Measuring Mitigation in Cities of Extreme Dry Weather

Increasing urbanization in the cities of northern Mexico reflects a general trend to increased temperatures, so it is likely that heat waves amplify the frequency and intensity in urban centers, mainly located in arid and semiarid as Mexicali city with extremely arid climate, very hot in summer and cold and rainy in winter. Mexicali, Baja California, Mexico is located at N32°38＇ and W115°20＇. The urban area is expanded over 14,890 hectares, with a population rise the 689,775. In the last four decades has experienced an accelerated industrial growth and mismatched land uses, for example： most of the industrial parks were established before the 1980 in what was the outskirts of the city, but nowadays practically are inside of the urban area contributing to the increase the urban temperature. The heat islands profile shows that are intensified in industrial areas as well as trade and services. The preliminary scenarios of climate change for Mexicali indicate that for the decade of 2080 the temperature will increase between 4.2℃ and 4.4℃. This paper addresses in a simulation context, an industrial and commercial city sector and their ability to implement urban heat island mitigation strategies. The simulation of this process requires several spatial analysis tools and specific knowledge about the processes that increase urban temperatures. In this work, only land use, land cover and buildings are considered. The proposed method takes into account the actual spatial organization to analyze trends for the proposed growth areas.

The Two Faces of Urbanity： Exploring Global and Local Values---Two Urban Studios in Taksim Square and along the Shores of the Golden Horn in Istanbul

Since the 18th century, the irritating but also fascinating scenes of urbanity--a complex phenomenon with cultural, social, political, economic, temporal, spatial, functional, and formal dimensions--have been described in literary works. Many seemingly opposite facts, such as individuality/society, freedom/loneliness/socialization, anonymity/strangeness/identity/belonging, diversity/chaos/segregation, indifferent city-dweller/initiative citizenship, have been revealed through literary works, travel and utopian writing, urban theories, scientific studies, manifestos, and newspaper articles. On the one hand, there are those who advocate a life outside the city because they consider the problems produced by the city and the phenomenon of density which they perceive merely in quantitative terms, as unsolvable problems. On the other hand, there are those who see the production of loose urban fabric as a solution or those who accept the （seemingly） opposite facts of urbanity as positive values and therefore support city life. All of these ideas are still as actual today as they were in the past. We are often unable to use our citizen rights to the city, to encounter different classes （social/etlmic/religious）, to experience heterogeneity as an aspect inherent in city life and in the route of our daily life--following the orders of the capitalist system mainly organized around work--and we are often drawn into the same districts on the same paths. Our perception of our urban environments may get monotonous and shallow, but the irritating yet fascinating features of the first big cities still exist and may be grasped and brought into consciousness. Throughout their architectural education, especially in urban design studios, students can be encouraged to investigate the rhythm of their daily life, the conditions of their urban environments, and discovering the city as an intellectual and sensual programme, so that the phenomenon of urbanity can be grasped not just on formal, but on various other dimensions as well. This study focuses on the process and outcomes of two urban studios located in Taksim Square and along the shores of the Golden Horn in Istanhul. Taking the multidimensional content of urbanity into account, acquired theoretically through literary works and studies on urban planning and its history, the main aim of these studios has been the phenomenological understanding of the dynamic content of urbanity by the students. Through creative analysis of permanent/temporary spaces engendered by the diversity of user profiles and actions discovered on phenomenological excursions, students examine the qualitative values of density and global and local dynamics. We believe that designing spaces as ＂prototypes＂ helps highlight the multidimensional content of urbanity. The present study aims not only to highlight the multidimensional content of urbanity, but also to encourage its discussion in architectural design education and to emphasize the positive contribution of theoretical readings and phenomenological studies to urban design studios. The present study also aims to emphasize the beneficial correlation of global and local dynamics as the two faces of urbanity; important more than ever for the big cities of the 21 st century if we advocate for a vivid and resilient city life and citizens.

On the Dynamics of Rural Urbanization in the Pearl River Delta

This article focuses on the dynamics of rural urbanization in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) as well as the factors in-fluencing rural urbanization, points out the problems in the process and puts forward some solutions.

Dynamic simulation of urban water metabolism under water environmental carrying capacity restrictions

A revised concept for urban water metabolism （UWM） is presented in this study to address the inadequacies in current research on UWM and the problems associated with the traditional urban water metabolic process. Feedback loops can be analyzed to increase the water environmental carrying capacity （WECC） of the new urban water metabolism system （UWMS） over that of a traditional UWMS. An analysis of the feedback loops of an UWMS was used to construct a system dynamics （SD） model for the system under a WECC restriction. Water metabolic processes were simulated for different scenarios using the Tongzhou District in Beijing as an example. The results for the newly developed UWM case showed that a water environment of Tongzhou District could support a population of 1.1926 × 106, an irrigation area of 375.521 km2, a livestock of 0.7732 × 106, and an industrial value added of ￥193.14 × 109 （i.e. about US$28.285 × 109） in 2020. A sensitivity analysis showed that the WECC could be improved to some extent by constructing new sewage treatment facilities or by expanding the current sewage treatment facilities, using reclaimed water and improving the water circulation system.

On the Dynamic Model of the Development of Urban Business Center System

The static model applied nowadays in the planning of urban business center systemin China can no longer meet the requirements of modern urban construction. The authoradopted the dynamic model to study the activity pattern of the Nanjing residents who didshopping in the business center and as well the development law of the center itself, hop-ing to find out an effective planning approach for business center system.