scholarly journals Application of the City Blueprint Approach in Landlocked Asian Countries: A Case Study of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

Water ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Enkhuur Munkhsuld ◽  
Altansukh Ochir ◽  
Steven Koop ◽  
Kees van Leeuwen ◽  
Taivanbat Batbold
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Waste Water Treatment ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Asian Country ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
World Population ◽  
Infrastructure Maintenance ◽  
The City

Urbanization is a major global development. At present, more than half of the world population lives in urban areas, i.e., cities. One of the fundamental requirements of citizens is safe and sufficient drinking water. The premises for water security are adequate water management and governance. In this study, we determine priorities for Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) and assess the governance capacities of different organizations to address IWRM in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of the landlocked Asian country Mongolia. We apply the City Blueprint Approach (CBA), a diagnosis tool, to assess IWRM in Ulaanbaatar city, Mongolia. The overall score, the Blue City Index (BCI), is 2.3 points for Ulaanbaatar, which categorizes the city as wasteful. Flood risk and economic pressure have a great impact on the water sector in Ulaanbaatar city. In particular, Ulaanbaatar’s waste water treatment (WWT) can be improved. Often, only primary and a small portion of secondary WWT is applied, leading to large-scale pollution. Water consumption and infrastructure leakages are high due to the lack of environmental awareness and infrastructure maintenance. Operation cost recovery is not sufficient to sustain urban water services in Ulaanbaatar. Water governance and more specifically monitoring, evaluation and statutory compliance are among the factors that need to be addressed.

scholarly journals Integrated Urban Water Management and Water Security: A Comparison of Singapore and Hong Kong

Water ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 785 ◽  
Author(s):  
Olivia Jensen ◽  
Sreeja Nair
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Water Security ◽  
Integrated Water Resources Management ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Water Management ◽  
Integrated Urban Water Management ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Integrated Urban Water Management (IUWM) has emerged in the past two decades as a promising approach to the application of Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) principles at the city-level. IUWM is expected to contribute to the achievement of multiple policy objectives, often including increased water security. This paper uses a case-based approach to study the impact of IUWM on water security, focusing on the influence of the level of institutionalization of IUWM within water governance at the city-level. Process tracing is applied to the cases of Singapore and Hong Kong, in which IUWM has been adopted but implementation and outcomes have diverged. We find that the depth of institutionalization, a difference between the two cases identified at the outset, has contributed to the achievement of better water security outcomes in Singapore as it has facilitated the development and implementation of a more far-reaching strategy. A supportive governance framework appears to amplify the impact of IUWM on progress towards water security and other policy targets.

Barriers and levers for implementing sustainable Nature-Based Solutions in cities

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chloé Duffaut ◽  
Nathalie Frascaria-Lacoste ◽  
Pierre-Antoine Versini
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Project Managers ◽  
Global Changes ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Urban Context ◽  
Urban Plan ◽  
Education And Awareness ◽  
Awareness Raising ◽  
The City

<p>Hydro-meteorological risks are increasing and this could be due to global changes. These risks are particularly important in the urban context where most human beings live. Indeed, the impervious surfaces present in cities increase the risk of flooding, for example. Nature-Based Solutions can help to reduce these risks by creating permeable soils or storing water while promoting biodiversity. In this context, it is essential to understand what hinders the development and sustainability of these Nature-based Solutions in the city and what could help to deploy them on a large scale. For this purpose, various professionals working on Nature-Based Solutions in the city in France, were interviewed between 2020 and 2021, both in the academic and operational sectors, or even at the interface between the two: researchers in ecology or hydrology, IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) project manager, project managers at the Regional Biodiversity Agency, director and natural environment manager of a watershed union, agro-economists engineer among others. They were asked what are the barriers and potential opportunities for Nature-Based Solutions implementation and sustainability in city. By analysing their answers, it emerges that the obstacles are more often cultural, political or financial than technical. The potential levers often mentioned are education and awareness-raising at all levels, especially for elected officials and the general public. Regulations such as the PLU (Local Urban Plan) and new funding for more natural spaces in the city also seem to be means of promoting Nature-based Solutions in urban areas. These interviews with diverse professionals directly involved in Nature-Based Solutions in cities allow to give real courses of action to be taken to democratize these Solutions throughout the French territory, or even internationally, and therefore ultimately reduce the risks of hydro-meteorology. This is one of the objectives of the French ANR project EVNATURB (Assessment of ecosystem performance of a renaturation of the urban environment), in which this study has been carried out.</p>

scholarly journals Montanhas em um mundo plano: porque a proximidade ainda importa para a localização da atividade econômica

2009 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 9
Author(s):  
Andrés Rodríguez-Pose ◽  
Riccardo Crescenzi
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
New Economic Geography ◽  
World Population ◽  
Capital Social ◽  
Playing Field ◽  
The World ◽  
Tectonic Forces ◽  
The City ◽  
Innovative Capacity ◽  
Backward And Forward Linkages

Thomas Friedman (2005) argumenta que a expansão do comércio, a internacionalização das firmas, o crescimento acelerado do processo de outsourcing e a possibilidade de conexão em redes a custos cada vez mais baixos estão criando um “mundo plano”: um campo competitivo de condições homogêneas de concorrência no qual os indivíduos têm maior poder e melhores condições de vida. Este artigo desafia essa visão do mundo, argumentando que embora a globalização traga mudanças, oportunidades e desafios, nem todos os territórios têm a mesma capacidade de maximizar os benefícios e as oportunidades e de minimizaras ameaças circundantes. Numerosas forças estão se fundindo no sentido de provocar a emergência de “montanhas” urbanas, onde a riqueza, a atividade econômica e a capacidade de inovação se aglomeram. Estas forças “tectônicas” incluem fatores como a inovação, os transbordamentos, os encadeamentos para trás e para frente nas cadeias produtivas, a dinâmica de especialização versus diversificação, o capital social e comunitário e, por último, mas não menos importante, o “buzz” da cidade. As interações destas forças na proximidade geográfica das grandes áreas urbanas dão forma a uma geografia muito mais complexa da economia mundial e permitem a ascensão de novos players econômicos. Mas esta geografia, ao contrário de ser plana, é repleta de montanhas, em que as grandes aglomerações urbanas representam os picos mais altos. A maioria da população mundial, ao contrário de ter maior poder, permanece mal preparada para encarar estes desafios. Palavras-chave: progresso tecnológico; nova geografia econômica; vantagem competitiva. Abstract: Thomas Friedman (2005) argues that the expansion of trade, the internationalization of firms, the galloping process of outsourcing, and the possibility of networking at increasingly low prices is creating a ‘flat world’: a level playing field where individuals are empowered and better off. This paper challenges this view of the world by arguing that although globalization implies changes, opportunities, and threats, not all territories have the same capacity to maximize the benefits and opportunities and minimize the threats at hand. Numerous forces are coalescing in order to provoke the emergence of urban “mountains” where wealth, economic activity, and innovative capacity agglomerate. These “tectonic” forces include factors such as innovation, spill overs, backward and forward linkages, specialisation vs. diversification dynamics, community and social capital, and, last but not least, the buzz of the city. The interactions of these forces in the close geographical proximity of large urban areas give shape to a much more complex geography of the world economy and allows for new economic players to emerge. But this geography, rather than flat, is full of mountains, with large urban agglomerations representing the highest peaks. The majority of the world population, far from being empowered, remains ill-prepared to face these challenges. Keywords: technological progress; new economic geography; competitive advantage.

scholarly journals Incidence of Photovoltaics in Cities Based on Indicators of Occupancy and Urban Sustainability

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Barragán-Escandón ◽  
Esteban Zalamea-León ◽  
Julio Terrados-Cepeda
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Local Context ◽  
Social Dimensions ◽  
Country Level ◽  
Urban Energy ◽  
Urban Level ◽  
Energy Emissions ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Previous research has assessed the potential of solar energy against possible demand; however, the sustainability issues associated with the use of large-scale photovoltaic deployment in urban areas have not been jointly established. In this paper, the impact of photovoltaic energy in the total urban energy mix is estimated using a series of indicators that consider the economic, environmental and social dimensions. These indicators have been previously applied at the country level; the main contribution of this research is applying them at the urban level to the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is close to the equatorial line and at a high altitude, enabling this area to reach the maximum self-supply index because of the high irradiation levels and reduced demand. The solar potential was estimated using a simple methodology that applies several indexes that were proven reliable in a local context considering this particular sun path. The results demonstrate that the solar potential can meet the electric power demand of this city, and only the indicator related to employment is positive and substantially affected. The indicators related to the price of energy, emissions and fossil fuel dependency do not change significantly, unless a fuel-to-electricity transport system conversions take place.

scholarly journals Mapping Urban Areas Using a Combination of Remote Sensing and Geolocation Data

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (12) ◽  
pp. 1470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nan Xia ◽  
Liang Cheng ◽  
ManChun Li
Keyword(s):  
Remote Sensing ◽  
Land Surface ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
High Spatial Resolution ◽  
Human Life ◽  
Human Movement ◽  
Night Time ◽  
Urban Mapping ◽  
The City

Urban areas are essential to daily human life; however, the urbanization process also brings about problems, especially in China. Urban mapping at large scales relies heavily on remote sensing (RS) data, which cannot capture socioeconomic features well. Geolocation datasets contain patterns of human movement, which are closely related to the extent of urbanization. However, the integration of RS and geolocation data for urban mapping is performed mostly at the city level or finer scales due to the limitations of geolocation datasets. Tencent provides a large-scale location request density (LRD) dataset with a finer temporal resolution, and makes large-scale urban mapping possible. The objective of this study is to combine multi-source features from RS and geolocation datasets to extract information on urban areas at large scales, including night-time lights, vegetation cover, land surface temperature, population density, LRD, accessibility, and road networks. The random forest (RF) classifier is introduced to deal with these high-dimension features on a 0.01 degree grid. High spatial resolution land cover (LC) products and the normalized difference built-up index from Landsat are used to label all of the samples. The RF prediction results are evaluated using validation samples and compared with LC products for four typical cities. The results show that night-time lights and LRD features contributed the most to the urban prediction results. A total of 176,266 km2 of urban areas in China were extracted using the RF classifier, with an overall accuracy of 90.79% and a kappa coefficient of 0.790. Compared with existing LC products, our results are more consistent with the manually interpreted urban boundaries in the four selected cities. Our results reveal the potential of Tencent LRD data for the extraction of large-scale urban areas, and the reliability of the RF classifier based on a combination of RS and geolocation data.

scholarly journals How do green areas influence the temperature of cities? Web map to help local decision making about cities and the climate emergency

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 ◽  
pp. 1-6
Author(s):  
Carla Garcia-Lozano ◽  
Anna Peliova ◽  
Josep Sitjar
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Efficient Manner ◽  
Web Map ◽  
Urban Greenery ◽  
Local Decision ◽  
Local Decision Making ◽  
The City ◽  
Positive Effect

Abstract. The positive effect of urban greenery on the city’s microclimate is well known, as is its ability to reduce the ambient temperature in urban areas. Our results show how the areas with the lowest surface temperature clearly coincide with the vegetated areas in the city of Barcelona. This phenomenon demonstrates the importance of increasing the urban greenery in large compact cities, such as the city of Barcelona, in order to regulate the local temperature and mitigate the effects of global warming on a large scale. The web map presented here can be used as a tool for decision makers to identify the warmest areas in the city of Barcelona and to increase greenery in an efficient manner.

scholarly journals Mid-21st century air quality at the urban scale under the influence of changed climate and emissions: case studies for Paris and Stockholm

2015 ◽  
Vol 15 (19) ◽  
pp. 27041-27085
Author(s):  
K. Markakis ◽  
M. Valari ◽  
M. Engardt ◽  
G. Lacressonnière ◽  
R. Vautard ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Regional Scale ◽  
Influential Factor ◽  
Daily Average ◽  
Pollutant Concentrations ◽  
Emission Projections ◽  
The Impact ◽  
The City

Abstract. Ozone, PM10 and PM2.5 concentrations over Paris, France and Stockholm, Sweden were modeled at 4 and 1 \\unit{km} horizontal resolutions respectively for the present and 2050 periods employing decade-long simulations. We account for large-scale global climate change (RCP-4.5) and fine resolution bottom-up emission projections developed by local experts and quantify their impact on future pollutant concentrations. Moreover, we identify biases related to the implementation of regional scale emission projections over the study areas by comparing modeled pollutant concentrations between the fine and coarse scale simulations. We show that over urban areas with major regional contribution (e.g., the city of Stockholm) the bias due to coarse emission inventory may be significant and lead to policy misclassification. Our results stress the need to better understand the mechanism of bias propagation across the modeling scales in order to design more successful local-scale strategies. We find that the impact of climate change is spatially homogeneous in both regions, implying strong regional influence. The climate benefit for ozone (daily average and maximum) is up to −5 % for Paris and −2 % for Stockholm city. The joined climate benefit on PM2.5 and PM10 in Paris is between −10 and −5 % while for Stockholm we observe mixed trends up to 3 % depending on season and size class. In Stockholm, emission mitigation leads to concentration reductions up to 15 % for daily average and maximum ozone and 20 % for PM and through a sensitivity analysis we show that this response is entirely due to changes in emissions at the regional scale. On the contrary, over the city of Paris (VOC-limited photochemical regime), local mitigation of NOx emissions increases future ozone concentrations due to ozone titration inhibition. This competing trend between the respective roles of emission and climate change, results in an increase in 2050 daily average ozone by 2.5 % in Paris. Climate and not emission change appears to be the most influential factor for maximum ozone concentration over the city of Paris, which may be particularly interesting in a health impact perspective.

Peri-urban territories and rural water community governance in Chile

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Alejandra Duarte Vera ◽  
Julien Vanhulst ◽  
Eduardo Antonio Letelier Araya
Keyword(s):  
Drinking Water ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Water Governance ◽  
Institutional Setting ◽  
Community Governance ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Governance Model ◽  
Urban Territories ◽  
The City

PurposeRural drinking water services in Chile are managed by Rural Drinking Water Associations (RDWAs) with a community governance model. However, urban growth and a neoliberal institutional setting tend to favor market-style governance, both in terms of territorial planning and drinking water supply, placing stress on the community governance model of RDWA. The authors seek to understand these processes and identify the position of RDWA actors facing socio-territorial and environmental transformations experienced in peri-urban sectors of the city of Talca (Chile).Design/methodology/approachThe authors used georeferenced data, participant and non-participant observation and semi-structured interviews. With these data, the authors analyzed the positions and discourses of water governance actors in relation to socio-territorial transformations in the peri-urban areas of the city, as well as for tensions between community and market governance.FindingsThe authors identified a growth tendency of RDWA users around the city of Talca due to a sharp drinking water demand increase in peri-urban territories. As such, the authors describe and contrast RWDA managers and governmental regulators' discourses regarding environmental and socio-territorial transformations. In these discourses, the authors found three critical topics: (1) land liberalization blurring urban territory borders; (2) Law #20998, a poorly financed reform which raises the specter of RDWA privatization, jeopardizing historic community drinking water management; and (3) the consequences of declining community commitment to RDWAs.Practical implicationsOne key implication of these findings is the need to modify RDWA pricing policies to deal with new rural inhabitant lifestyles and drinking water demands and to fulfill water basic needs of rural families, avoiding privatization risks. This change could help not only dealing with growing scarcity during global climate change, but could also provide financial resources to face new technical and administrative requirements of SSR Law.Originality/valueThe originality of the study comes from using a framework of governance tensions applied to water governance in peri-urban areas in a neoliberal institutional setting.

Examining the Effects of Heat Mitigation on the Physical Properties of Urban Green Space and Urban Blue Space: A Case Study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pruthvin Shetty ◽  
Dwarakish g s
Keyword(s):  
Urban Areas ◽  
Research Work ◽  
Landsat 8 ◽  
World Population ◽  
Tier 2 ◽  
Urban Green ◽  
Urban Green Areas ◽  
Green Areas ◽  
Tier 3 ◽  
The City

<p>The smart and sustainable city idea gained momentum in recent years in order to cope with population growth in urban areas and to make the city live. Cities are projected to consume 70% of the world's resources and 66% of the world population by 2050. Most of tier-3 and tier-2 cities will convert to tier-1 city, and we need to identify and protect the urban green spaces. Urban green areas have many esthetic advantages, including environmental benefits such as a fall in city temperature in the summer and absorption of rainwater. Social advantages are such as feelings of happiness and peace. Objective quantification of greenery on its neighbourhood spatial distribution may help identify essential and potential areas. Heterogeneous land uses describe urban areas. Urban heat island (UHI), with high Land surface temperatures (LST), is distinguished by its city development pattern, socioeconomic and anthropogenic activities. The LST is rising rapidly not only in cities but also in tier-3 & tier-2 cities.  Urban green areas, including parks, playgrounds, gardens and areas, such as ponds, pools, lakes and rivers, will contribute to the control of land temperatures in and around the city. Such spaces also lead to the formation of the Urban Cooling Island (UCI), where temperatures are comparatively cooler than surrounding temperatures, because of their shade of the trees and their evapotranspiration. This cooling island formation is referred to as the Park Cooling Island (PCI) impact. The present work aims to describe the effect of urban green and urban blue spaces on LST using a range of data sources with geospatial technologies. Udupi town, which comes under Udupi district, Karnataka, India is a tier-3 city, selected for the present research work. The data used in the study include Landsat 8 temporal satellite images and secondary data, such as field data from various government and semi-government organisations. LST has been measured using the emissivity reference channel algorithm from Landsat 8 thermal bands. Different indices such as Normalized Difference Built-up Index (NDBI), Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), Normalized Difference Water Index NDWI, Land Shape Index (LSI) are determined from images from Landsat 8. The results show that LST exists with high spatial variability and urban green, blue spaces have a stronger influence on LST.</p>

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document