Erik Lind, Thomas Prade, Johanna Sjöman Deak, A. Levinsson, H. Sjöman
{"title":"How green is an urban tree? The impact of species selection in reducing the carbon footprint of park trees in Swedish cities","authors":"Erik Lind, Thomas Prade, Johanna Sjöman Deak, A. Levinsson, H. Sjöman","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1182408","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1182408","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction Planting trees in urban areas can mitigate some of the emissions generated in cities by carbon sequestration (annual uptake of CO2 through the process of photosynthesis) and carbon storage (amount of carbon stored in the tree's biomass throughout its lifespan). The aim of this study was to calculate the carbon footprint from nursery production to final establishment of different tree species grown for planting in urban parks in a northern European context. Material and methods The analysis included a cradle-to-gate approach and investigated the amount of carbon the adult trees needed to sequester in order to compensate for initial carbon emissions and which temporal perspectives are of concern. Greenhouse gas emissions were estimated based on an inventory of consumption of fuels, energy, materials and other production inputs during cultivation, delivery, planting and establishment of three different tree species in three different locations in Sweden. The tree species considered in the analysis (Salix alba, Quercus rubra, Pinus sylvestris) were selected due to significant differences in their growth rates. Salix alba is a competitive strategist in resource-rich habitats, and is proficient at converting these resources into vigorous growth. Pinus sylvestris is a pronounced stress strategist with good ability to handle resource-limited habitats, and invests in traits accordingly, resulting in significantly slower development. Quercus rubra has its main distribution in cool and moderately resource-rich habitats, but has relatively high stress tolerance and can be considered intermediate between the other two species in terms of growth rate. Results and discussion The results showed that within 16 years of planting, all species in all three cities, except Pinus sylvestris planted in Umeå, compensated for initial carbon emissions, i.e. showed net absorption of CO2 after emissions from cultivation, delivery, planting and establishment of the trees had been deducted. There was a clear link between the time by which compensation of initial carbon emissions was achieved and growth rate of the different species, with the fast-growing Salix alba showing the best results. The single largest source of emissions among all activities carried out during cultivation, delivery and planting of all species, regardless of the city in which they were planted, was fuel consumption during tree planting.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43681875","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Unsupervised video anomaly detection in UAVs: a new approach based on learning and inference","authors":"Gang Liu, Lisheng Shu, Yuhui Yang, Chen Jin","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1197434","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1197434","url":null,"abstract":"In this paper, an innovative approach to detecting anomalous occurrences in video data without supervision is introduced, leveraging contextual data derived from visual characteristics and effectively addressing the semantic discrepancy that exists between visual information and the interpretation of atypical incidents. Our work incorporates Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to capture video data from a different perspective and to provide a unique set of visual features. Specifically, we put forward a technique for discerning context through scene comprehension, which entails the construction of a spatio-temporal contextual graph to represent various aspects of visual information. These aspects encompass the manifestation of objects, their interrelations within the spatio-temporal domain, and the categorization of the scenes captured by UAVs. To encode context information, we utilize Transformer with message passing for updating the graph's nodes and edges. Furthermore, we have designed a graph-oriented deep Variational Autoencoder (VAE) approach for unsupervised categorization of scenes, enabling the extraction of the spatio-temporal context graph across diverse settings. In conclusion, by utilizing contextual data, we ascertain anomaly scores at the frame-level to identify atypical occurrences. We assessed the efficacy of the suggested approach by employing it on a trio of intricate data collections, specifically, the UCF-Crime, Avenue, and ShanghaiTech datasets, which provided substantial evidence of the method's successful performance.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47304511","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Critical barriers and countermeasures to urban regeneration from the stakeholder perspective: a literature review","authors":"Zhiwei Liao, Menglan Liu","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1115648","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1115648","url":null,"abstract":"Urban renewal involves a wide range of stakeholders with diverse expectations and interests. Conflicts in urban renewal projects arise from intricate relationships among multiple stakeholders, hindering the urban renewal process. With a large amount of current literature examining the barriers, difficulties, and solutions in urban regeneration, a critical review is required to holistically summarize these main concerns and challenges from the stakeholder perspective. Based on 347 journal papers collected from the Web of Science core database, this study investigates the development, trajectory, and tendency of prior studies through a bibliometric analysis. Then, a critical review is documented with eight critical barriers in the economic and social aspects from the stakeholder perspective. To address these issues, this study proposes a strategic framework for value creation, collaborative governance, and benefit sharing. Accordingly, future research agendas are also presented. This study could provide researchers with a systematic understanding of the critical barriers and potential strategies in urban regeneration fields.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-06-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47197250","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Humanistic geography in an indigenous community of Mexico: Santa Catarina Lachatao","authors":"A. C. Garcia-Luna Romero, Angélica Quiroga-Garza","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.968406","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.968406","url":null,"abstract":"Introduction The present study aim was to rethink the geographical reasoning of everyday life toward a new understanding of knowing how to think about space through an interdisciplinary approach, architecture-psychology. This allowed establishing logical relations in spatial and socio-spatial distributions and uses of social phenomena, typical of Santa Catarina Lachatao, an indigenous Mexican community in Sierra Norte Zapoteca. Methods Based on ethnographic qualitative interdisciplinary research methods along with a total of three visits lasting 15 weeks, the daily experience of people and their community in different times and spaces, experiences, perspectives, and prejudices, were studied. The geographical approach (cartographies) reflects the social construction of the spatial components as the basic understanding of the territory from everyday life. In this study we worked on indigenous citizenship and its territory, analyzing, and contrasting social phenomena such as power-subjection, wealth-poverty, and exclusion-inclusion that transversally allow us to reflect and understand some of the characteristics of diversity and territoriality of the indigenous communities in Mexico. Results Characteristics that predominating in indigenous communities was recognized and featured. This was observed in the social production of their public space which evidence intergenerational pride and sense of community and belonging and their commitment to preserve their life project sustaining their space, community, and traditions. The natural rural context emerges from the interplay between the natural landscape and the built environment (in constant expansion). The bodies of water are respected and protected by the community and the original crossings are still preserved as precious resources, just as any other natural element. Landscape takes precedence over the irregular built environment, reflected in the urban trace. Discussion Developing interdisciplinary research -architecture and psychology–allowed studying the community development of a Mexican indigenous community, respectfully approaching diversity and territoriality of Santa Catarina Lachatao, Oaxaca. Societies must be understood in and by means of space. Public policy is crucial to strengthen the autonomy and configuration of indigenous communities, warranting their active participation in the design and evaluation of government programs that favor the sustainable use of their lands and natural resources, as well as the preservation of their values and traditions. The principles of justice are chosen behind a veil of ignorance. John Rawls","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48189306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Robinson R. Low, Darby P. Swayne, Caitlin Magel, J. Israel, P. Levin
{"title":"“At the end of the day, you need to do something”: discourses on prioritization of stormwater solutions","authors":"Robinson R. Low, Darby P. Swayne, Caitlin Magel, J. Israel, P. Levin","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1134126","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1134126","url":null,"abstract":"As urbanization continues to expand in the Puget Sound, Washington, USA region, stormwater management has wide ranging impacts to human and ecosystem health and is therefore fundamental to creating equitable and sustainable cities. This paper brings forward dominant discourses among stormwater experts in regard to which solutions should be implemented in the Puget Sound region and what outcomes would be most beneficial to this ecosystem. We used Q-methodology to investigate differences in prioritization of stormwater solutions currently being considered in the region and explore how emergent perspectives may affect decisions for stormwater management. We chose 29 stormwater solutions falling into three categories: source control, green infrastructure, and gray infrastructure, each leading to different co-benefits and environmental outcomes. The purpose of this study is to better understand which solutions lead to the most efficient and beneficial recovery of the Puget Sound ecosystem. Through centroid extraction analysis, we discovered three discourses that capture different themes, values, and beliefs held by stormwater experts. Within our 21 participants, each shared common stormwater goals: reducing the delivery of toxics to receiving waterways and reducing stormwater quantity. Even with these shared end goals, our participants disagreed on the prioritization and overall outcomes of solution types. Our findings are important to spark discussion between municipalities with differing worldviews and outcomes associated with stormwater management and to highlight multiple benefits associated with solutions and how they can be utilized to support environmental justice.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41929929","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Heidi Paabort, Paul Flynn, Mai Beilmann, Claudia Petrescu
{"title":"Policy responses to real world challenges associated with NEET youth: a scoping review","authors":"Heidi Paabort, Paul Flynn, Mai Beilmann, Claudia Petrescu","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1154464","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1154464","url":null,"abstract":"In the last decades, young people not in education or employment have become the focus of policy-makers worldwide, and there are high political expectations for various intervention initiatives. Despite the global focus, there is currently a lack of systemic knowledge of the factors supporting policy-making. Therefore, using scoping review methodology, a systematic literature overview of research findings in 2013–2021 on young people not in education or employment will be provided. The research revealed five categories to consider from a policy-making perspective: “NEET” as a concept, the heterogeneity of the target group, the impact of policies for young people, possible interventions, and factors influencing young people's coping strategies. Based on analysis, the target group requires applying the holistic principle where the young person is a unique person whose involvement in service creation supports the service's compliance with the actual needs of young people. To support young people, it is important to consider differences within a single social group; the interaction between the different site-based policies; young people's sense of self-perception and autonomy in entering support services; possible coping strategies and the need to provide support in a time and place-based flexible and caring environment through multidisciplinary teams. The study's results support the importance of implementation and the identification of existing opportunities of the EU's reinforced Youth Guarantee guidelines and point to possible future research topics related to the target group.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48415424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Toward urban-rural linkage development: contribution of climate-adaptive agroecology in the lower Chao Phraya River Basin, Thailand","authors":"P. Hongsprabhas","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1146087","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1146087","url":null,"abstract":"This case study proposed a hypothesis on initiating urban-rural co-development using food as a medium to drive the transformation of the food systems and sustainable consumption. The guiding principles of the United Nations Habitat to the water-retention areas under the nature-based solution (NBS) for flood mitigation in Thailand's central region, the main rice-growing area, were applied. This study reviewed the partnerships of primary institutions, namely public, private, and universities, supporting and intertwining with civil society through Thai cultural and social norms after the 1997 economic crisis. The critical aspects included the sufficiency economy (SE) philosophy at the household level as a foundation of national policies. Recent policies and measures on food and nutrition security, alternative farming practices, and incentives to increase sustainable agroecology were prioritized post-COVID-19. This research suggests additional measures enabling agroecology and landscape improvement in rural areas connecting the cities of Ayutthaya and Bangkok to enhance market access for small producers and consumers in rural and urban areas with limited resources. A better community-based adaptation, ecological outcomes, and sustainable social inclusion in flood-prone lowlands could support Thailand's food sovereignty and capacity-building as one of the world's major food exporters under climate extremes.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43660458","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The interface of disasters, sanitation, and poverty in Brazil: a sociological perspective","authors":"N. Valencio, Arthur Valencio, Murilo S. Baptista","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1184532","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1184532","url":null,"abstract":"In Brazil, the high frequency and types of disasters are symptoms of misguided socioenvironmental public policies. While approximately 25% of municipalities decree emergency every year, over 75% of the occurrences are linked to sanitation issues. Such events range from the lack of urban drainage infrastructure to handle large volumes of rainwater to the insufficiency of backup water supply strategies during prolonged drought, both further impacting other precarious infrasystems such as solid waste management and sewage, with the most heavily and extensively affected group being the citizens facing poverty. Therefore, the issues of disaster, sanitation, and poverty are intertwined in Brazil. Using a network science approach, we investigate how the sociological debate is overcoming the fragmented approach about these subthemes and within the disciplinary fields in social sciences by analyzing the connections between the keywords of the open-access research articles from 2003 to 2022 from four databases. This mini review highlights the main contemporary axes between the themes, identifies the potential for tackling the gap at the interface, and clarifies the needs for future studies given the aims of the Sustainable Development Goals.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43770202","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Sameh Al-Shihabi, R. Aydin, A. Hadj-Alouane, Arwa Alshanasi
{"title":"Sustainable technologies, mega-events, and environmental awareness—Lessons from Expo 2020 Dubai","authors":"Sameh Al-Shihabi, R. Aydin, A. Hadj-Alouane, Arwa Alshanasi","doi":"10.3389/frsc.2023.1192295","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.3389/frsc.2023.1192295","url":null,"abstract":"Different sustainable technologies were used in Expo 2020 Dubai to construct the different participating pavilions. Moreover, participating countries in the Expo have presented their state-of-the-art sustainable urban planning, transportation, and energy technologies. The purpose of using and presenting these technologies was to raise the visitors' environmental awareness. Thus, this study first presents a sample of sustainable technologies that were used or presented at the Expo. It then seeks to determine if using and presenting these technologies has fulfilled the Expo goal of raising its visitors' environmental awareness. It also tries to find out which environmental dimension was raised the most. For this purpose, a questionnaire was used to measure environmental awareness before and after visiting Expo 2020 Dubai. Statistically analyzing the responses of 1,108 frequent visitors shows that Expo 2020 Dubai achieved its goal of increasing visitors' environmental awareness, particularly the environmental attitude dimension. The findings also reveal that it is essential to have a point of interest devoted to environmental issues in similar events. This positive impact on the visitors should convince upcoming mega-event planners to follow Expo 2020 Dubai's steps. However, researchers need to develop strategies to raise the willingness to act dimension of environmental awareness.","PeriodicalId":33686,"journal":{"name":"Frontiers in Sustainable Cities","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.8,"publicationDate":"2023-05-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43897228","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}