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- Flood-induced food insecurity and coping strategies: A gender-based
analysis of agrarian households in South-eastern Nigeria
Abstract: The study addressed flood-induced food insecurity and coping strategies in agrarian South-eastern Nigeria. Data were collected from 400 households in 8 communities. Food (in)security was measured using Household Food Security Survey Module (HFSSM) and 92.8% households were found to be food insecure. The most adopted coping strategies were compromising food quantity and quality namely; skipping meals; reducing meal frequency and reducing meal portion size in descending order. The study revealed a gender-based disparity in coping strategies adopted between female- and male-headed households and this has been linked to income and asset poverty gaps including differential household food insecurity levels. The coping strategies adopted were self-devised strategies that provided short-term means of survival in times of food shortages. Thus, policy measures, such as social security and food safety nets that are sustainable are recommended to reduce vulnerability to flood-induced food insecurity, thereby improving adaptation to help achieve Goal 2 of the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
PubDate: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- The relation of alpine vegetation cover and geomorphic processes in the
Belianske Tatra Mts. (Slovakia)
Abstract: The geomorphic processes in high-mountain environments are crucial and often limiting factors of vegetation development. Studies based on the long-term field monitoring are still scarce, however, thus limiting our understandng to vegetation dynamics and the knowledge needed for effective conservation management. In this paper we interpret results of a 20 years long observation considering the relationship between alpine vegetation and intensity of geomorphic processes in the territory of seven permanent plots in the Belianske Tatra Mts. (Slovakia, Central Europe). In principle, these sites represent a “battle field” for ongoing geomorphic processes and vegetation. They are either gradually occupied by initial stages of ecological succession of vegetation or were occupied in the past with the vegetation being more or less destructed. The field research was combined with data collection for standard phytosociological relèves. Spatial distribution of particular tussocks or individuals on each field was drawn in detail. We observed the share of species and their spatial arrangement in relation to the control sites with uncovered substrate. Special attention was paid to measuring the intensity of geomorphic processes using various methods and carried out three times a year. The CANOCO software was used for quantitative evaluation of the phytosociological relèves data. We applied indirect gradient analysis of principal components (PCA) to find out the variability of vegetation and sites, and the direct gradient analysis (RDA) to explain the diversity of species ad the habitat characteristicsThe geomorphic processes affecting the extreme high-mountain environment were evaluated as the most crucial elements that determine the spatial distribution of vegetation, its particular species or overall nature of coppice fragmentation. The relief and mainly its spatial geomorphic attributes are therefore relevant phenomena of landscape that enable scientists to understand, for example the scale and hierarchy of vegetation arrangement. The relationship of vegetation and the intensity of geomorphic processes can be only considered and generalized on the basis of longtermed research.
PubDate: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Has the geography of deprivation changed in post-reform urban India' A
Look into relative poverty and access to basic services
Abstract: The literature on the concentration of urban poverty has considered two kinds of locations as the pockets of poverty: slums (vs. non-slums) and towns (vs. cities). Moving beyond these binaries in discussing spatial concentration of urban poverty, we have made an intersection of these two kinds of residential locations in the post-reform India using four rounds of data from the National Sample Survey. The proportion of relatively poor households was lower in city slum areas than in towns (both slum and non-slum households). Next, this paper tries to find out the level of basic services availability across these intersectional spatial categories and how public policies respond to existing poverty. Availability of basic services was higher in city slums than in town non-slum households. Across all these urban areas, the poor had a lower access to services than the non-poor, and the gap between them had increased over time. These findings also pose serious concerns on the geographical targeting of poverty alleviation programmes in India and on iniquitous resources allocations for providing basic amenities
PubDate: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Problem-solving procedures in spatially explicit tasks: comparing
procedures with printed and digital cartographic documents
Abstract: The aim of this research study is to compare the procedures for solving geographical problems with printed and digital cartographic products. These documents are used in various areas of society, including regional development or visual communication in the media. A total of 27 probands participated in the research. Individuals were randomly divided into two groups, one group working with a printed atlas and the other with a digital atlas in the same version. Respondents were tested using stationary and wearable eye-trackers while completing a didactic test to determine different levels of map skills. The results of the research showed that although the procedures and the success rate for solving the different tasks did not differ between the two groups of respondents, the differences were mainly in the time needed for the solution and in the satisfaction in the use of a given type of cartographic work.
PubDate: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Using electronic record of sales to support fair budgetary allocations
across Czech municipalities
Abstract: The paper focuses on electronic record of sales, a tool enabling continuous monitoring and control of declared sales of business entities. Such systems have been recently gaining popularity in European countries. The objective of the paper is to analyse the possible use of electronic record of sales for a fairer redistribution of shared taxes according to the place where the taxable income was earned. We do not consider the current situation to be entirely fair, as sales may be realized in the whole territory of the country. However municipalities that help businesses achieve their income are not fairly rewarded for doing so. This usually gives larger municipalities an advantage at the expense of smaller ones. Currently, the tax administration has sufficient technical equipment to be able to identify the place where the revenue was received.
PubDate: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Geospatial and Analytical Hierarchical Process approach for potential
sites of water harvesting in lower Kulsi basin, India
Abstract: Water crisis issues are common in rural and urban areas, which can be tackled honestly by planning and managing existing water resources. The site suitability map is the principal footstep of planning practice for a region’s sustainable surface and groundwater resource development. The paper aims to delineate and suggest suitable sites for water harvesting for sustainable water resource development by taking the lower Kulsi watershed as a study area. Analytical Hierarchical Process (AHP) and Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques are used in the multi-criteria decision-making process to identify a suitability map of water harvesting structures like percolation tanks, check dams, and surface farm ponds on the basin of the specific key factor of each design. About one hundred ninety-six sites are detected from the most suitable category of suitability based on particular criteria and suggestions for sustainable water conservation in the study area.
PubDate: Thu, 15 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Vehicle detection using panchromatic high-resolution satellite images as a
support for urban planning. Case study of Prague’s centre
Abstract: The optical sensors on satellites nowadays provide images covering large areas with a resolution better than 1 meter and with a frequency of more than once a week. This opens up new opportunities to utilize satellite-based information such as periodic monitoring of transport flows and parked vehicles for better transport, urban planning and decision making. Current vehicle detection methods face issues in selection of training data, utilization of augmented data, multivariate classification or complexity of the hardware. The pilot area is located in Prague in the surroundings of the Old Town Square. The WorldView3 panchromatic image with the best available spatial resolution was processed in ENVI, CATALYST Pro and ArcGIS Pro using SVM, KNN, PCA, RT and Faster R-CNN methods. Vehicle detection was relatively successful, above all in open public places with neither shade nor vegetation. The best overall performance was provided by SVM in ENVI, for which the achieved F1 score was 74%. The PCA method provided the worst results with an F1 score of 33%. The other methods achieved F1 scores ranging from 61 to 68%. Although vehicle detection using artificial intelligence on panchromatic images is more challenging than on multispectral images, it shows promising results. The following findings contribute to better design of object-based detection of vehicles in an urban environment and applications of data augmentation.
PubDate: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Using open data to reveal factors of urban susceptibility to natural
hazards and man-made hazards: case of Milan and Sofia
Abstract: Multi-hazard mapping in urban areas is relevant for preventing and mitigating the impact of nature- and human-induced disasters while being a challenging task as different competencies have to be put together. Artificial intelligence models are being increasingly exploited for single-hazard susceptibility mapping, from which multi-hazard maps are ultimately derived. Despite the remarkable performance of these models, their application requires the identification of a list of conditioning factors as well as the collection of relevant data and historical inventories, which may be non-trivial tasks. The objective of this study is twofold. First, based on a review of recent publications, it identifies conditioning factors to be used as an input to machine and deep learning techniques for singlehazard susceptibility mapping. Second, it investigates open datasets describing those factors for two European cities, namely Milan (Italy) and Sofia (Bulgaria) by exploiting local authorities’ databases. Identification of the conditioning factors was carried out through the review of recent publications aiming at hazard mapping with artificial intelligence models. Two indicators were conceived to define the relevance of each factor. A first research result consists of a relevance-sorted list of conditioning factors per hazard as well as a set of open and free access data describing several factors for Milan and Sofia. Based on data availability, a feasibility analysis was carried out to investigate the possibility to model hazard susceptibility for the two case studies as well as for the limit case of a city with no local data available. Results show major differences between Milan and Sofia while pointing out Copernicus services’ datasets as a valuable resource for susceptibility mapping in case of limited local data availability. Achieved outcomes have to be intended as preliminary results, as further details shall be disclosed after the discussion with domain experts.
PubDate: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- The Neighborhood Impact of Industrial Blight: A Path Analysis
Abstract: Historically, industry shaped the space-economy of the American city, a major source of employment opportunity for residents that selected housing nearby or within a convenient or affordable commuting distance. However, the contemporary American city is structurally characterized by abandoned, blighted, vacant industrial properties due to urban expansion, deindustrialization and the suburbanization of both jobs and population. The urban studies literature rarely documents the neighborhood impact of industrial blight akin to studies of residential blight. We determine the proximity-effect of industrial blight on the neighborhood thought of not as an isolated and closed entity, but as a connected and open entity within the city and the region. Unlike studies confined to the property value impact, we determine Pearson correlations of industrial blight and vacancy expansively with the socio-economic and physical characteristics of neighborhoods. We use path analysis to determine direct, indirect, and total neighborhood impact of industrial blight and vacancy. The census block group and parcel-level geographic information system (GIS) provide our principal sources of data. The block group geography contains the neighborhood as a fundamental spatial unit. We determine how the neighborhood impact varies with distance from the blighted, vacant industrial property.
PubDate: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Spatial distribution of military bases and power of interest groups in an
emergent democracy
Abstract: Policies in liberal democracies can never be fully sheltered from the influence of interest groups. This is especially true for the flawed or immature democracies that can be found also in the post-communist world. In this study, we argue that the progress of democratization in Czechia has been accompanied by a growing influence of interest groups (local/regional governments, political parties, industrial corporations) on national defence strategy. Focusing on the spatial policy of military base distribution, the study documents deviations from a rational strategy of restructuring and relocations of military bases declared by the General Staff in the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s in response to a changing geopolitical situation. The content analysis of the interviews with former actors of the defence planning and media analysis showed that one-third of current Czech military bases experienced an influence of interested groups.
PubDate: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Development of Academic Patenting in European Regions – A Large
Scale Analysis
Abstract: In this article, we analyze academic patenting on an unprecedented scale - for 29 European countries. The comprehensive identification phase captures both groups of academic patents, in and outside of the ownership of universities. With stronger patent rights of universities, the share of university-owned patents is increasing faster. Nevertheless, even today, universities own only one third of their patents while the other two thirds remain in the property of individuals and companies. Universities have recently accounted for 13% of regional patent production and compared to firms their contribution to region’s innovation performance remains small. The share of academic patents is higher in Eastern Europe and in regions where innovative companies are lacking, in capital regions, and in regions with a strong tradition in academic patenting. The contribution of universities to the innovation performance of the most innovative regions is relatively small, although there are large differences, and the size of the contribution can vary significantly for similar levels of patent intensity. Given the effects of university research, it has been known since the 1990s that increasing university spending on research is driving innovation on the part of companies and within the region. However, such an effect is limited to high quality research and is most effective in terms of regional policy in poor regions where innovative companies are lacking. In this paper, instead of research expenditure, university patents filed with the EPO represent university research, as other patents are assumed to be a product of companies. We have found that the latter can be predicted by the volume of academic patents.
PubDate: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Effects of Transport Corridor Advancement on Agglomeration and Industrial
Relocation – Dallas Fort Worth (US) case study
Abstract: Cities serve as hubs for various activities that necessitate comprehensive transportation connectivity. This study examines the decadal urban agglomeration patterns from 2001 to 2020 and critically assesses the relationship between freeway developments, industrial relocation, and population density in the DFW (Dallas Fort Worth) metropolitan area. Landsat satellite imageries, US census, and open-source GIS datasets have been utilized in the study. The Maximum Likelihood Classification (MLC) algorithm helped generate the vector database, using which Land Use/Land Cover (LULC) variations were assessed. The calculated overall accuracies of the classified images for 2001, 2011, and 2020 were 93.12%, 91.87%, and 93.12%, respectively. Eventually, buffer generation techniques and summary statistics helped detect potential boom hotspots. Our results indicate that the highway advancement project lures industries, leading to population migration. The LULC variations suggest that the increase in highway infrastructure resulted in a surge in built-up and a decrease in open spaces in District-3 of DFW. From our study, we find that 79.16% of old industries are located near old freeways, while 78.84% of new industries are located near new freeways. Further, our industrial area to road area comparison clearly shows that industrial relocation was driven by transportation advancements over time. Our results also confirm that this relocation of industries fostered a massive population influx during the following decades.
PubDate: Thu, 05 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT
- Assessment of neighborhood sustainability in terms of urban mobility: A
case study in Dhaka City, Bangladesh
Abstract: For achieving sustainable cities, sustainable mobility is one of the key elements. Policymakers around the world are taking different strategies to ensure sustainable urban mobility at the local level. However, sustainable urban mobility assessment at neighborhoods of a developing country received a significant research gap. This study attempts to close this research gap by deriving and comparing neighborhood sustainability based on three indicators: modal share, travel time, and travel cost, in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Using a two-step cluster model, neighborhoods were grouped into three clusters. Study results classified 41 (44.6%) neighborhoods as sustainable, 30 (32.6%) as potentially sustainable, and 21 (22.8%) as unsustainable neighborhoods due to less positive outcomes of sustainable mobility policies. Later, median income and jobs-housing ratio value for different neighborhood types validated the classification result. Findings from this study reveal insights for transport planners, development agencies, policymakers to identify areas where mobility of the residents needs to be improved on a priority basis; advocate further research on comprehensive sustainability assessment at the neighborhood level.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• There is a significant difference in modal share, travel time, and travel cost in neighborhoods.•A traditional neighborhood of the city is comparatively more sustainable than newly developed ones.• Neighborhoods with similar sustainability status tend to be clustered on the city scale.•Median income and jobs-housing ratio can effectively capture the difference in sustainability level in terms of urban mobility.•Sustainable urban mobility assessment can contribute city planning and development process.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- Moving towards repolarisation' The population trajectories of medium-sized
towns in Lower Lombardy, Italy (2010‒2020)
Abstract: Although medium-sized towns are key components in the polycentric structuring of regional spaces, their evolutionary pathways are less clear than those of cities. This paper considers a set of four medium-sized towns with provincial capital status located in the southern zone of Lombardy, on the fringes of a densely urbanised area dominated by Milan. The population trajectories of these towns and their agglomerations (firstand second-belt municipalities) are investigated in the decade from 2010 to 2020, with a descriptive analysis. The research resulted in three main findings: 1) even in a challenging economic climate, the population trends of the towns considered were affected by proximity to the vibrant Milan metropolitan area; 2) all the towns have gone down the route of reurbanisation, but the suburbanisation process is still ongoing and very intense, especially for the Italian population; 3) there are gaps between cores and belts in terms of population distribution by age group and land take intensity, resulting in differing drives for population concentration or deconcentration.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• Medium-sized towns that are more able to “work together as part of a network” enjoy greater population vitality.• Medium-sized towns are not a unitary group: even in an area featuring similar structural characteristics, their evolutionary dynamics differ, calling for place-based policies.• A drive for population deconcentration is under way in agglomerations linked to medium-sized towns, powered by certain population groups, which could adversely affect the quest for a sustainable development model.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- Socio-economic drivers of increasing number of slums in Chile
Abstract: Between 2017 and 2020 the number of households living in slums in Chile has increased by 73.52%, which has led the state to urgently develop housing solutions to reorient public policy in this area. This article contributes to this discussion through an exploratory statistical analysis to identify the socio-economic drivers that best help to explain the formation of slums in Chilean cities. The resulting predictive model is tested in Greater Santiago, the nation’s capital, with good results, validating its usefulness for the design of housing policies. Among the results, low household income and the presence of international immigrants explain an increase in the probability of housing precariousness, while the presence of renters and heads of household with postgraduate degrees decreases this possibility. In addition to the specific scope for the Chilean case, the article shares a methodological strategy that can be replicated in other countries and cities to develop similar diagnoses.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• A predictive model is developed using census data to identify the areas of the city where vulnerability of housing measured by socioeconomic factors may reflect precariousness of housing.• Areas of the city with high rate of international immigrants and/or low-income households tend to predict precariousness of housing.• Areas of the city where households’ heads have postgraduate degrees and/or are tenants tend to have less probability of developing precarious housing.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- Assessing transformations in peri-urban areas using GIS: A case of Pune
city, India
Abstract: The unplanned expansion of cities has become a serious concern in India these days. They exert pressure on the city’s resources, resulting in uncontrolled expansion and unliveable circumstances. As a result, there is a need to design certain techniques to reduce this issue in order to have planned growth both within and outside the city. In this research, the demographic, physical and environmental transformations of the peri-urban areas of Pune City have been analysed using GIS and parameters have been suggested to develop a selection index to help identify the areas having urban traits and suggest separate urban local bodies for their governance and planning.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• Peri-urban regions experience a lot of changes as they transition from rural to urban features, and assessing these changes using GIS is critical for better planning of such areas’ development.• This study provides parameters and creates a selection index to determine if periurban regions have high or low urban traits, and then determines whether those areas should be combined with current municipal boundaries or formed into new urban local bodies using the ArcGIS software.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- Correlation between user activity at different rooftop typologies in
residential buildings in a compact urban context
Abstract: The scarcity of public open space has compelled urbanites to use residential rooftops as an interaction space. In Dhaka, rooftops are used for various social and recreational purposes which has extensively increased due to COVID-19 restrictions. During this period, few rooftops are used frequently while few are less occupied. Hence, the study identifies different variables that impact rooftop activities and finds correlations between them using the Pearson correlation coefficient. The study further shows the direction for accelerating the use of rooftops as an interaction space in residential buildings.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• Rooftops represent important places of public life in Dhaka.• The variables that affect the social and recreational activities of residential rooftop space are analysed.•Statistically significant correlations were found between rooftop occupied by various services and number of activities, floor dampness and number of activities, the rooftop occupied by various services and a comfort zone with a pleasant view, parapet height and number of activities, and parapet height and safety.•The paper sets recommendations for designing and managing rooftop spaces.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- What places bait investments' Urban management stance
Abstract: There are only little doubts that territorial competition related to attracting new investments is getting increasingly severe. This competition is closely connected with the wide spectrum of location factors that bear economic as well as social and environmental dimensions. While some of these factors are barely manageable, majority of them can be actively shaped via policies of different kinds and scales. Not surprisingly, intense differentiation applying to both time and spatial perspectives is concomitant to afore mentioned factors. The main objective of this article consists in the analysis and assessment of location factors and mechanisms offered by the managements of Czech towns to potential investors. At the same time, we will examine which location factors and mechanisms these towns regard as important for individual investors. As it turned out, the investment environment in Czechia cannot be considered entirely standard from international perspective, which subsequently rises transaction costs involved in investment location.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• In nearly one half of investigated Czech towns, there are no systemic standardized procedures how to deal with a new investor.• There are distinct differences between average evaluations of location factors towns consider as important for investment preferences and average evaluations of location factors provided by towns to investors.• When attracting new investors, towns rely primarily on their own endogenous activities. Individual towns should modify their communication with investors during covid/post-covid times.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- Behavioural mapping and online data as tools for socio-spatial analysis of
public spaces – Bratislava, Slovakia waterfront case study
Abstract: Renewal, revitalisation, or reconstruction of public spaces is an inevitable part of the urban dynamics process. However, before any decision of future development is made, it is necessary to be acquainted with the given place. Mapping urban spaces is essential for recognizing the specifics of a certain area, while a relevant analysis should be performed on the basis of multiple data sources. Nonetheless, identification of relevant data sources as well as their limits, which need to be considered, represent challenges in the process. The study aims to highlight the importance of socio-spatial analyses as tools which help to familiarize place makers with public space as well as with the small nuances of its everyday functioning. Relevant online data sources for urban space analysis (Instasights, Strava) and their limits were explored, described, and applied to the area of interest - two banks of the Danube riverfront in Bratislava, Slovakia. The method was supplemented by mapping of human movement and behaviour. The combination of the methods is a relatively fast and simple way to get to know the spatial, social, environmental, aesthetic, and other dimensions of the given space. The interpretation of data illustrates possible outcomes that can be gained through mapping of public spaces before changes or development plans are proposed. Hence, the paper contributes to the repertory of the possible sources of online data that can be used for recognizing the specific characteristics of individual public spaces. This contributes to responsible decision-making about the future of the urban environment, built on data-based arguments.Highlights for public administration, management and planning:• Online data represents a valuable source of city-related information as well as a relevant addition to other mapping methods.• Mapping an area of interest is a necessary step of the data-based planning process and should always precede any development of urban spaces.• A combination of data from various data sources which reflect life in public space can support user-oriented planning and contribute to responsible decision making.
PubDate: Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT
- Moral wrongs, indigeneity and the enactment of farmer-herder conflicts
violence in South-Eastern Nigeria
Abstract: Existing studies of the farmer-herder conflicts (FHCs) in Nigeria have not explored the political ecology of the conflict in South-Eastern Nigeria (SEN). Using the political ecology framework (PEF), the paper examines the nature of the FHCs in Nimbo and Awgu areas in SEN. Data were collected through field observations and in-depth interviews. The paper shows that resource scarcity or reduced farming and grazing spaces did not engender violent FHCs in the study area. Instead, actions of the actors that are perceived to be morally wrong are critical. Allegations of moral transgression such as rape, kidnapping by herders and claims that a herder was used as a sacrifice by villagers triggered the violent episode. The pastoralists are discriminated against on the ground of indigenous belonging only after being alleged to have morally transgressed by kidnapping and raping women. However, on the ground that a herder was allegedly used as a sacrifice, they felt also wronged. While the herders are discriminated against based on their non-belonging in the community because they are not indigenous, they have mount resistance by emphasising their citizenship rights and using force to maintain access to grazing spaces, thereby amplifying the farmer-herder tensions. Thus, while identity has contributed to the FHCs violence, moral wrongs enacted and amplified it. The paper contributes to the literature by arguing that while what triggers FHCs may be moral wrongs, moral transgressions can heighten identity constructions that get implicated in practices of exclusion.
PubDate: Thu, 30 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT
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