Melissa R. Allen-Dumas, Levi T. Sweet-Breu, Christa M. Brelsford, Linying Wang, Joshua R. New, Brett C. Bass
{"title":"Sensitivity of mesoscale modeling to urban morphological feature inputs and implications for characterizing urban sustainability","authors":"Melissa R. Allen-Dumas, Levi T. Sweet-Breu, Christa M. Brelsford, Linying Wang, Joshua R. New, Brett C. Bass","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00185-6","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00185-6","url":null,"abstract":"We examine the differences in meteorological output from the Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) model run at 270 m horizontal resolution using 10 m, 100 m and 1 km resolution 3D neighborhood morphological inputs and with no morphological inputs. We find that the spatial variability in temperature, humidity, and other meteorological variables across the city can vary with the resolution and the coverage of the 3D urban morphological input, and that larger differences occur between simulations run without 3D morphological input and those run with some type of 3D morphology. We also find that the inclusion of input-building-defined roughness length calculations would improve simulation results further. We show that these inputs produce different patterns of heat wave spatial heterogeneity across the city of Washington, DC. These findings suggest that understanding neighborhood level urban sustainability under extreme heat waves, especially for vulnerable neighborhoods, requires attention to the representation of surface terrain in numerical weather models.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-12-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00185-6.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142762962","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Lucy Szaboova, W. Neil Adger, Ricardo Safra de Campos, Tasneem Siddiqui, Mohammad Rashed Alam Bhuiyan, Tamim Billah, Mahmudol Hasan Rocky
{"title":"Promoting sustainable cities through creating social empathy between new urban populations and planners","authors":"Lucy Szaboova, W. Neil Adger, Ricardo Safra de Campos, Tasneem Siddiqui, Mohammad Rashed Alam Bhuiyan, Tamim Billah, Mahmudol Hasan Rocky","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00189-2","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00189-2","url":null,"abstract":"New migrant populations in rapidly growing cities globally are often socially and politically marginalized, limiting their potential to contribute to the positive transformation of urban futures. Such marginalisation can potentially be overcome through deliberate efforts to build empathy between groups. Here we apply insights on empathic action to planning processes with the aim of diversifying planning processes to provide plural perspectives on risk and sustainability and giving marginalised groups opportunities to shape key decisions. We report on action research to examine whether empathic connection between urban planners and new migrant populations leads to processes that enhance and integrate new voices and perspectives. The intervention involved photo-elicitation interviews, focus groups and perspective exchange workshops over eighteen months of intensive engagement in Chattogram, Bangladesh. The findings demonstrate that empathy for diverse social groups has practical implications for sustainability where individuals have agency and feel empowered to enhance each other’s wellbeing.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00189-2.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142758085","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Urban-rural digitalization evolves from divide to inclusion: empirical evidence from China","authors":"Chuanglin Fang, Zehui Chen, Xia Liao, Biao Sun, Lingyu Meng","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00187-4","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00187-4","url":null,"abstract":"Global digitalization leads to a new digital inequality, jointly faced by urban and rural areas. Diagnosing these digital challenges and seeking common coping strategies are crucial in the digital era. Yet, the state of Urban-Rural Digitalization (URD) remains ambiguous, and effective solutions are still lacking. Here we propose an integrative approach and introduce a novel Development-Gap-Integration framework to assess URD. Utilizing authoritative data from official government sources and institutes, we conduct a comprehensive analysis of 30 provinces in China from 2000 to 2020. Our findings depict a transformative journey of URD, evolving from divide to inclusion. The increasing integration accompanies by advancing development and diminishing gaps. However, we identify three significant challenges: 1) high development coinciding with high gaps, 2) inadequate integration of digital applications, and 3) widening disparity between provinces. Thus, we suggest tailored policy recommendations focused on urban-rural integration, enhancing digital literacy, and promoting regional coordinated development.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-16"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00187-4.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142737650","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"How will ai transform urban observing, sensing, imaging, and mapping?","authors":"Qihao Weng, Zhiwei Li, Yinxia Cao, Xiaoyan Lu, Paolo Gamba, Xiaoxiang Zhu, Yonghao Xu, Fan Zhang, Rongjun Qin, Micheal. Y. Yang, Peifeng Ma, Wei Huang, Tiangang Yin, Qiming Zheng, Yuhan Zhou, Greg Asner","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00188-3","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00188-3","url":null,"abstract":"Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) and Earth observation (EO) have transformed urban studies. This paper provides a commentary on how the AI-EO integration offers advancements in urban studies and applications. We conclude that AI will provide a deeper interpretation and autonomous identification of urban issues and the creation of customized urban designs. Open issues remain, especially in integrating diverse geospatial big data, data security, and developing a general analytical framework.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-9"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00188-3.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142737640","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Post construction infrastructural adaptation of social practices in Dhaka’s under flyover spaces","authors":"Srijon Barua, Hirohide Kobayashi","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00181-w","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00181-w","url":null,"abstract":"Transportation infrastructures often impose a rigid and controlled formation over the organic dynamism of urban areas. This blend of infrastructure and urban context redefines transportation systems beyond their purely functional roles, creating opportunities for new land uses, social interactions in the spaces beneath them. The management and adaptation of these urban void spaces under elevated infrastructure can become either assets or liabilities, particularly under the unique conditions prevalent in the Global South Megacities. Using participatory action research datasets and zoning models, this study explores the spatial relationships between physical infrastructure and its contextually accommodating opportunities. This article highlights how the squatter community under the Tejgaon-Nabisco Flyover in Dhaka, Bangladesh, autonomously organizes and utilizes these spaces, fostering adaptive place-making and developing local economic practices supported by the flyover’s structural elements.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00181-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142636992","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Shijuan Chen, Katie Lund, Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Karen C. Seto
{"title":"More extremely hot days, more heat exposure and fewer cooling options for people of color in Connecticut, U.S.","authors":"Shijuan Chen, Katie Lund, Colleen Murphy-Dunning, Karen C. Seto","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00186-5","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00186-5","url":null,"abstract":"It is well-documented that people of color in the U.S. are disproportionately exposed to extreme urban heat. However, most studies have focused on large cities for one point in time, and less is known about how heat exposure changes over time in smaller cities. Here, we present a study of the changing nature of urban heat exposure and cooling strategies for ten cities in Connecticut in the U.S. Our results show that people of color experience more heat exposure and fewer adaptation strategies. They experienced higher overall temperatures, more extremely hot days, and larger increases in heat exposure. Also, they have lower air conditioning ownership rates and lower tree cover. Taken together, the results indicate that people of color are not only exposed to higher temperatures but also disproportionately exposed to increasing temperatures over time. With lower heat adaptation capacity, people of color are more vulnerable to increasing urban heat.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-11"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-11-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00186-5.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142565998","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Stakeholders’ perceptions of and willingness to pay for circular economy in the construction sector","authors":"Juliana Berglund-Brown, Akrisht Pandey, Fabio Duarte, Raquel Ganitsky, Randy Kirchain, Siqi Zheng","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00182-9","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00182-9","url":null,"abstract":"Adopting Circular Economy practices in the construction industry can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions. However, many barriers exist to adoption, and current perceptions of and willingness to pay for circularity have yet to be quantified. This study seeks to understand the various perceptions of circularity in the construction industry, characterize uncertainties and risks, and identify economic incentives and opportunities that could accelerate circular adoption via an industry survey of three stakeholder groups. 58 stakeholders filled out part of the survey, and 42 stakeholders completed the majority of questions. Real estate developers are willing to pay an average premium of 10% for construction costs if there’s a minimum embodied carbon reduction of 53%. Design and construction professionals and material suppliers were also surveyed. Reasons for adopting circular practices were primarily driven by client, design team, and net zero goals. The results of this survey begin to characterize the economic landscape of what is needed for a circular transition in the built environment.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-10"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00182-9.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142519172","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Angela Greco, Brian van Laar, Hilde Remøy, Vincent Gruis
{"title":"Accelerating circularity systemically: three directions for impactful research","authors":"Angela Greco, Brian van Laar, Hilde Remøy, Vincent Gruis","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00183-8","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00183-8","url":null,"abstract":"Over the past two decades, research promoting a sustainable built environment has pioneered new horizons to accelerate the transition to a circular economy. Yet, these efforts are suffering from a significant theory-practice divide. This article offers three interconnected research themes to bridge this gap: 1. Distinguishing circularity practices across spatial and time scales; 2. Redesigning the value of design and its process; and 3. Learning from sister transitions for acceleration.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-3"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00183-8.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142487190","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Francesca Rubiconto, Sol Maria Halleck Vega, Eveline S. van Leeuwen
{"title":"Cross-scale consumption-based simulation models can promote sustainable metropolitan food systems","authors":"Francesca Rubiconto, Sol Maria Halleck Vega, Eveline S. van Leeuwen","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00184-7","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00184-7","url":null,"abstract":"Due to the length and complexity of supply chains, changes in food consumption patterns in one metropolitan region can transform production patterns in other sectors and countries. Therefore, they cause complex synergies and trade-offs between environmental and socioeconomic goals at the local and global level. We argue that the dissemination of cross-scale consumption-based simulation models is crucial to investigate these complex multilevel effects and promote sustainable food systems.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-7"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00184-7.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142415393","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Multi-sectoral efforts are required for decarbonising the building sector: a case in Hong Kong","authors":"Yihan Wang, Wei Pan","doi":"10.1038/s42949-024-00180-x","DOIUrl":"10.1038/s42949-024-00180-x","url":null,"abstract":"Decarbonising the building sector involves collaborative efforts from multiple sectors. Previous studies only focused on carbon mitigation within individual measures, impeding the interconnections within various stages, contributing sectors, and measures. We propose an innovative “stage-sector-measure” framework for evaluating the carbon mitigation effects of the building sector and apply it to Hong Kong. Results show carbon emissions of Hong Kong’s building sector will decrease by 84.4% in 2050. Electricity is the most significant contributing sector, accounting for 71.8% of accumulative mitigation effects of Hong Kong’s building sector. Regarding measures, cleaner production of concrete and steel represents 62.9% of mitigation effects in material production stage, while alternative fuel mix and carbon capture and storage account for 42.2–87.7% of those in other stages. By clarifying the relationships among the stages, contributing sectors, and measures, we identify the mitigation mechanism of the building sector and reveal the significance of multi-sectoral efforts in its decarbonisation.","PeriodicalId":74322,"journal":{"name":"npj urban sustainability","volume":" ","pages":"1-12"},"PeriodicalIF":9.1,"publicationDate":"2024-10-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.nature.com/articles/s42949-024-00180-x.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142415424","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}