Identity of Urban Spaces: Assessment and Evaluation

As a major symbol of civilization,the city was built by man for his security and comfort.It is not only a settlement,but also an urban development which has been identified with the spirit that has been breathed into the community.Urban identity which is also known as collective identity,has gained meaning through the content of objective manifestation and the creation of flashbacks,citizens’memories and mental associations.That is what makes urban dwellers become citizens.Although the identity of the city is a result of civic culture,it still has an influence on the process of citizenship and can also be a reason for developing criteria related to the participation and assessment of its inhabitants.According to the view that identity is a set of traits and characteristics that distinguishes the dignity of a person and a society from other individuals and communities,a city becomes characterized and independent by adhering to these criteria.Despite the importance of identity as one of the richest qualitative aspects of urban life that gives meaning and fulfilment to the human quiddity,this complicated and expanded concept has still not been seriously considered,especially in relation to urban spaces.In fact,identity in architecture and urban spaces has recently diminished,since the main focus lies on building spaces for optimized profit and not for high quality living areas.In this research paper,parameters affecting urban identity are evaluated,and strategies and guidelines to promote these parameters are finally presented.

Butterfly taxonomic and functional diversity in the urban green spaces of Hefei city

Urbanization has profound impacts on ecological environments. Green spaces are a vital component of urban ecosystems and play a crucial role in maintaining ecological balance and enhancing sustainability. This study aimed to investigate the community composition characteristics of butterflies in urban green spaces within the context of rapid urbanization. Simultaneously, it explored the status and differences in butterfly taxonomic diversity, functional diversity, and functional traits among different types of urban green spaces, regions, and urban gradients to provide relevant insights for further improving urban green space quality and promoting biodiversity conservation. We conducted a year-long survey of 80 green spaces across different urban regions and ring roads within Hefei City, Anhui Province, with monthly sampling intervals over 187 transects. A total of 4822 butterflies, belonging to 5 families, 17 subfamilies, 40 genera, and 55 species were identified. The species richness, Shannon, Simpson, functional richness, and Rao's quadratic entropy indices of butterflies in urban park green spaces were all significantly higher than those in residential and street green spaces(P < 0.05). Differences in butterfly diversity and functional traits among different urban regions and ring roads were relatively minor, and small-sized, multivoltine, and long flying duration butterflies dominated urban green spaces. Overall, these spaces offer more favorable habitats for butterflies. However, some residential green spaces and street green spaces demonstrate potential for butterfly conservation.

Optimization Transmission Theory and Technical Pathways that Describe Multiscale Urban Agglomeration Spaces

Urban agglomerations are spatial entities that promote the development of ‘new urbanization' processes within China. In this context, the concept of ‘multiscale urban agglomeration spaces' encompasses three linked levels: macroscale urban agglomerations, mesoscale cities, and microscale urban centers. Applying a series of multidisciplinary integrated research methods drawn from geography, urban planning, and architecture, this paper reveals two intensive utilization laws that can be generalized to apply to multiscale urban agglomeration spaces, top-to-bottom ‘positive transmission' linkage and inside-to-outside ‘negative transmission' movement. This paper also proposes optimization transmission theory and policy decision technical pathways that can be applied to these three urban agglomeration spatial scales. Specific technical pathways of transmission include intensive expansion and simulated decision-making in macroscale urban agglomerations, ecology, production, and living space intensive layout and dynamic decision-making in mesoscale cities, and four cores(i.e., ‘single, ring, axis, and pole core') progressive linkage and intensive optimization decision-making in microscale urban centers. The theory and technical pathways proposed in this paper solve the technical problem of optimization and provide intensive methods that can be applied not only at the individual level but also at multiple scales in urban agglomeration spaces. This study also advances a series of comprehensive technical solutions that can be applied to both compact and smart growth cities as well as to urban agglomerations. Solid theoretical support is provided for the optimization of Chinese land development, urbanization, agricultural development, and ecological security.

Factors influencing the concentration of negative air ions during the year in forests and urban green spaces of the Dapeng Peninsula in Shenzhen, China

Negative air ions(NAIs)benefit the mental and physical health of humans,but rapid urbanization can decrease the abundance of NAIs.Quantifying the spatial and seasonal distribution of NAIs and determining the factors that infl uence the concentration during urbanization is thus essential.In the present study of a typical developing urban district in southern China,negative air ion concentrations(NAICs)in 60 forests sites and 30 urban green spaces were quantifi ed on seven consecutive days in each of the four seasons.Large seasonal variations in NAIC were revealed in forests and urban green spaces with trough values in summer.NAIC progressively decreased from forests to urban green spaces and was infl uenced by local land morphology,vegetation characteristics,and climatic factors.The vast,heavily vegetated northeastern region was the richest area for NAIs,whereas the narrow central region(urbanized area)was the poorest,implying dramatic impacts of urbanization on the spatial distribution of NAIs.The relationship between air temperature and NAIC was better fi tted with a quadratic equation than a linear equation.Moreover,the NAIC was more sensitive to local morphology in urban green spaces than in urban forests,indicating the vulnerability of NAIs in urbanized areas.Therefore,the appropriate design of local urban morphology is critical.

SPATIAL GRADIENT ANALYSIS OF URBAN GREEN SPACES COMBINED WITH LANDSCAPE METRICS IN JINAN CITY OF CHINA

Urban green spaces have been arisen growing concern responded to the social and environmental costs of urban sprawl. A wide range of planning and policies has been and/or will be designed to protect urban green spaces and optimize their spatial pattern. A better design or planning of urban green space can make a major contribution to quality of environment and urban life, and furthermore can decide whether we can have a sustainable development in the urban area. Information about the status quo of urban green spaces can help planners design more effectively. However, how to quantify and capture such information will be the essential question we face. In this paper, to quantify the urban green space, a new method comprising gradient analysis, landscape metrics and GIS was developed through a case of Jinan City. The results demonstrate: 1) the gradient analysis is a valid and reliable instrument to quantify the urban green space spatial pattern precisely; 2) using moving window, explicit landscape metrics were spatially realized. Compared with quantifying metrics in the entire landscape, it would be better to link pattern with process and establish an important basis for analyzing the ecological and socioeconomic functions of green spaces.

Evaluation method of the ecological benefits of urban green spaces and application conditions

The importance of ecological benefit analyses about green space systems has been widely discussed on the basis of a perceived bias towards the landscaping effect of green spaces to be built in urban areas as opposed to the perception of comprehensive ecological benefits of designed plant communities. Given the basic principle of ecological benefit analyses and evaluation methods widely applied today, the methodology to calculate ecological benefits and to model the expansion of urban green spaces by CITY- green 5.0 and its conditions for application were explored. We propose that aerial images can be substituted by AutoCAD graphics of a green space containing detailed information of plant dispositions by digitizing the key features during the working process in order to evaluate the ecological benefits quickly and to offer proper guidance to the establishment of small scale green spaces in urban areas. The theoretical foundation, potential application range and prospects for extension of the method are introduced by using the analysis of ecological benefits of the green spaces on the campus of Southwest Forestry College, Kunming, as an example.

Genius Loci of Urban Public Spaces: A Case Study of Daihu Lake Landscape Planning in New Shouzhan District, Changle City, Fujian Province

Connotations of genius loci of urban public spaces were explored, geographical position and composition of Daihu landscape design in New Shouzhan District, Changle City, Fujian Province was introduced. Design concepts, layouts and patterns were summarized by combining with geographical and cultural conditions of the study area. Functional zoning of Daihu landscape design was analyzed, human-centered site planning stressed to realize functions of new urban public spaces, regression of cultural and humanistic properties of these spaces, so as to provide diverse options for the future construction of urban public spaces.

Urban Public Spaces and Design of Historical and Cultural Buildings——Series II of Urban Public Space Design

This paper summarized concept and role of urban public space, highlighted its role in emotional exchange, cultural exchange, and business communication, and the significance of showing inside image of the city in terms of morality and residents' quality. Combining with design of historical and cultural buildings, the paper explored the forms of historical and cultural buildings in urban public spaces from the perspectives of administration square, religious square, cultural square and commercial street, so as to design "human-concerned" urban public spaces that meet human needs and reflect personality of the city.

Application of Drought-resistant Varieties in Urban Green Spaces

As the connotations of urban green spaces and urban eco-green spaces have been more realized,drought-resistant green spaces have become a unique development trend,and drought-resistant flowers have been more applied in green spaces.This paper summarized characteristics of drought-resistant flowers,foreign and domestic researches in this field,advantages and disadvantages of their application in urban green spaces,and proposed key directions of the future researches.

Evaluation and Promotion of the Service Capacity of Urban Public Open Spaces Based on Improving Accessibility:A Case Study of Shenyang City,China

The service capacity of urban public open spaces is an important indicator of the justness and soundness of the allocation of public space resources,such as parks and green spaces,in the process of urban development.Improving the service capacity of urban public open spaces is conductive to healthy,sustainable urban development.In this study,taking Shengyang City,China as a case study,a Gaussian-based two-step floating catchment area method(2 SFCA)is used to calculate an accessibility index and identify residential areas with a poor accessibility to urban public open spaces.Then,a particle swarm algorithm(PSA)is used to optimize the locations of new open space developments.Finally,the optimization results are verified using the analytic network process(ANP).The results show that the service capacity of public open spaces in the center of Shenyang City(covering six districts)is relatively low and exhibits an uneven spatial distribution.In the service scope of the existing urban public open spaces,the accessibility for 48.6%of the residential estates is moderately poor or poor.The layout is optimized when the number of optimization points is set to 8.These points are mainly located in old town areas such as the Tiexi,Huanggu,and Dadong districts.The optimization increases the green space area accessible by motor vehicles(60 min),bicycles(60 min),and walking(30 min)by 4.67%,5.38%,and 8.03%of the study area,respectively.Finally,green space planning recommendations are offered from two perspectives:spatial layout and transport system optimization.

Utilisation of green urban space for food sufficiency and the realisation of the sustainable development goals-UK stakeholders perspective

The exponential growth of food demand due to the increasing global population has the potential to seriously threaten the quality and quantity of food supplies due to climate change.This study explores the utilisation of green urban spaces for achieving food self-sufficiency by investigating the extent to which sustainable urban farms could be used to reduce the consumption of imported produce in the UK.It also examines urban farming stakeholders'perspective on how food self-sufficiency can help realise the SDGs especially SDG 2(Zero hunger)and SDG 13(Climate action).The study adopts a mixed method approach through a survey with 115 respondents and semi-structured interviews conducted with 12 respondents from 4 different urban farming stakeholder groups.The findings of this study presented a strong correlation between stakeholders who had concerns about where their food came from and the carbon footprint of imported produce.The research shows that,urban farms will no doubt play a vital role in the future of food security in our cities/communities and that the SDGs could be realised through sustainable urban farms implemented within the relevant planning regulations/policies.

Measuring urban thermal environment from accessibility-based perspective:A case study in a populous city

Understanding the spatial interaction among residents,cooling service,and heat risk area in complex urban areas is conducive to developing targeted management.However,traditional urban thermal environment assessments typically relied on simple linear integration of associated indicators,often neglecting the spatial interaction effect.To explore the spatial interaction among the three elements,this study proposes an accessibility-based urban thermal environment assessment framework.Using Zhengzhou,a rapidly urbanizing city,as an example,remotely sensed images from three periods(2010,2015 and 2020)were applied to extract urban green space(UGS)and hot island area(HIA).An improved two-step floating catchment area(2SFCA)method and bivariate local Moran’s I were employed to explore whether residents’clustering locations are more likely to access cooling service or to be exposed to heat risk.The results demonstrate that the UGS in the city has been expanding,whereas the HIA shrank within the inner city in 2015 and then increased in 2020.Even though the urban thermal environment may have improved in the last decade,the spatial interaction among the residents,cooling service and heat risk area could be exacerbated.Spatial autocorrelation shows an increase in locations that are disadvantageous for resident congregation.Even when sufficient cooling services were provided,residents in these areas could still be exposed to high heat risk.The developed urban thermal environment framework provides a novel insight into the residents’heat risk exposure and cooling service accessibility,and the findings could assist urban planners in targeting the improvement of extra heat exposure risk locations.

Bibliometric analysis of research challenges and trends in urban underground space

The utilization and development of urban underground space play a crucial role in optimizing the layout of civic architecture and enhancing the urban ecological environment,which contributes toward increasing the overall carrying capacity and promoting sustainable development in megacities.To delve into the research progress of urban underground space,knowledge maps were created using the information visualization software VOSviewer.The literature was systematically extracted from three prominent databases,namely,Web of Science,Scopus,and China National Knowledge Infrastructure.According to the bibliometric analysis of the co-citation and core words co-occurrence,the trends and challenges of research on urban underground space were identified.As highlighted by the results obtained,it still remains highly challenging to achieve interdisciplinary collaboration in urban underground space research;the research trends of urban underground space consist of collaborative planning and whole life cycle sustainable development,multisource geological data informatization and resource evaluation,infrastructure design optimization,and intelligent construction.The knowledge map,drawn using bibliometric methods,offers a quantitative analysis of literature retrieval across various levels.It is recognized as an essential tool for exploring and identifying challenges and trends in urban underground space.

Exploration of Child-friendly Urban Park Design Strategies Based on Child Behavioral Psychology

By studying the behavioral psychology and needs of children,this paper analyzes the essence of child-friendly parks from the perspective of children,and discusses the design principles and key points of child-friendly parks,so as to provide a practical basis for the construction of child-friendly cities.

Diversity and Application of Herbaceous Flowers in Urban Road Greening in Hefei City

In urban road greening,the planting of ground cover flowers is essential,and herbaceous flowers are an important part.Through the investigation on the diversity of herbaceous flowers in urban road green spaces of Hefei City,the types,colors,application frequency and planting of herbaceous flowers in urban road green spaces were statistically analyzed,and the application forms of herbaceous flowers in the road greening of Hefei City were studied.The characteristics and problems of herbaceous flowers in the road greening of Hefei City were found,and some development suggestions were put forward.

Research on the Application and Development of Digital Media Art in Urban Public Space Design

Digital media art is an emerging art form that combines digital technology and media art.It has huge potential to bring innovation to urban public spaces and provide them with vibrant artistic experiences.This article analyzes the design significance and value of digital media art in urban public space,its various forms of application in urban public space design,and the innovative ideas and paths that digital media art can take in urban public space to guide the future.The application and innovative methods of digital media art in urban public space design provide certain theoretical and practical references for urban planners and designers.

Microclimate in Hot Dry Damascus： The Influence of the Urban Environment on Human Perception

There is a broad recognition that microclimatic conditions contribute to the quality of life in cities. A favorable microclimate has a positive influence on both commercial and social activities. The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between the human being and the surrounding thermal environment in terms of thermal acceptability, physical quality of the place, emotional state and the usage of the urban space in hot dry Damascus, Syria. The study is based on questionnaire surveys during the summer and winter in six locations with different microclimates. It is shown that the urban design plays a significant role in improving the microclimate, especially during the summer. The study also illustrates that when people＇s thermal perception is within the thermally acceptable range （i.e., slightly cool, comfortable and slightly warm） they experience the urban design as significantly more beautiful and more pleasant than during thermally unacceptable conditions. The results indicate that there is an interactive relationship between the urban design and humans＇ emotional state. Our findings suggest that a new perspective is needed for determining urban microclimate requirements and incorporating them into the urban design process to enhance the thermal environment in outdoor urban spaces in Damascus.

The Culture of Resilience： Providing Solutions for Urban Space Vulnerability to Recurrent Unfavourable Climatic Phenomena

Urban spaces vulnerable to recurrent adverse climatic phenomena present specific, consecutive problems, requiring a reflective view of their socio-spatial reality. This article presents a case study about the towns of Amadora, Greater Lisbon, and Petr6polis, Rio de Janeiro State, Brazil, which, originally, bore a common Portuguese urbanistic praxis. Their urban contexts are characterized by the occurrence of extreme risks of flooding and landslides caused by intense rainfall. Both places feature aggravation of the risks due to accelerated urban growth and disorderly land occupation. From the phenomenological perspective, what happens to the human being leads to fruitful and/or dramatic experiences. The important point is that there occurs learning for favourable action, with solutions for each individual and for ＂the other＂. Thus, it is proposed to qualitatively analyse, with a posture that values the community experience and urban practices of the towns that contribute to the development of the culture of resilience which promotes practices of prevention, precaution and vigilance founded on the experience of communities that have been exposed. Besides this, it is intended to verify challenges in the implementation of public policies aimed at sustainable urban development, those that contemplate, among others： risk management action to deal with natural disasters.

The Symbolic Expression in the Material Form in Public Spaces

The article explores the topic of symbolic expression in the physical elements that form urban public spaces.It is done by giving an overview and analysing spaces that hold a widely-recognised symbolic value.The author discusses the means of encoding and perceiving meanings in the spacial composition,physical form and materials of its elements,and other aspects that influence the sensory or psychological perception of the observer.At the same time,different theoretical approaches to the perception of space are discussed,addressing not only architectural theory but also the ideas proposed in the fields of philosophy,fenomenology and cultural studies.

Analysis of problems in urban green space system planning in China

This paper discusses the major problems in urban green space system （UGSS） planning at both general and special planning levels in China. At general planning level, the problems of the UGSS are mainly from the ignorance in the characteristics of urban nature spaces and the limitation factors of the urban planning system. Great importance is attached to the green spaces in the built area of city, but the green spaces in surrounding areas of the city is unnoticed. Furthermore, because the area of UGSS planning is strictly limited by the administrative zoning, the green space system loses its integrity and rationality in spatial patterns. The schedules of urban development planning mismatched the paces and progresses of the ecological restoration cycles. At special plan level, the problem of the UGSS in China is that the green spaces quantity was over emphasized but the rationality of their layouts is neglected.. Meanwhile, the requirement of the spatial structures and the green spaces layouts to balance between the urban development and the natural ecological environments is often ignored. With regard to the layouts in the UGSS planning practices, the existing problems are the compromising to the existing land-uses, the ＇filling in＇ approach to plan green spaces and an over-emphasis on the layout patterns.