Narrow Results

The access to public open spaces (POSs) has been catching the attention of urban planners and architects alike to inject dynamism into their design so as to bring life back into the static structures they have or about to create. POSs are not just green spaces existing between buildings, but spaces to host events, grounds for physical exercise, as well as rehabilitation workout places for patients discharged from the hospitals. In China, 44.6% of the country, mostly located in high latitude and altitude areas, accessibility to POSs is often hampered by bad weather. In this paper, we reported on an ethnography process from the point of view of pedestrians walking in the cold to experience the accessibility to POSs using Global Position System (GPS) mobile phones carried in their pockets, as a biosensor, to study the behaviors of pedestrians on the move, so as to identify the access points for possible urban redevelopment, where weatherproof linkways could be put in place to facilitate and encourage people to venture out into the open during winter months. In the course of our research, we undertook a case study in the central districts of Harbin that includes Nangang, Daoli, Daowai and Xiangfang districts, during the winter months (from December 2015 to June 2016), enduring an average monthly temperature of $-14^{\circ }$C, to ethnography, the pattern of pedestrians walking in the cold. The results confirm our hypothesis that harsh cold environment and the extreme climate conditions have discouraged the access to POSs. At the same time, the data collected have also helped us to pinpoint access points where weatherproof link way could be provided to facilitate and encourage people to travel by foot during winter months.

The 2020 COVID-19 outbreak has caused significant disruption to economic and social systems. New York City, as the United States’ largest city and among the nation’s most densely populated, was an early epicenter of the crisis. Modifications to the design, planning and operations of the city’s public realm have been important components of the city’s overall response to mitigate the effects of the pandemic while also facilitating economic recovery and providing social, educational, and recreational opportunities for city residents. This commentary provides an overview of New York City’s urban design responses to COVID-19, highlighting some of the successes and limitations of the city’s programs. We conclude by arguing that, in order to be effective, short-term crisis response efforts such as these must eventually be turned into government policies that not only address immediate urgent crises but also begin to facilitate durable long-term recovery and address longstanding systemic inequalities and vulnerabilities.

Future resilient cities need to integrate increasing density with the development of urban infrastructure and systems, especially natural and green systems. In Singapore’s post-Independence history, urban green spaces have evolved from leftover manicured grassy areas to biodiverse spaces with recreational areas and facilities. Singapore has recognized the need to provide varying access to the public to protect the more natural areas from too much public access. In urban green spaces, different areas have varying access depending on the scale and significance of the natural habitat. This paper uses Spatial Network Analysis — or the study of topological spatial relationships — to inform the planning and design of varying levels of access in urban green spaces in Singapore. It investigates the influence of spatial configuration of urban green spaces on pedestrian movement, by studying two types of urban green spaces in Singapore: one-north Park and Jurong Lakeside Garden. In both cases, the research utilizes weighted Spatial Network Analysis using sDNA, an analytical tool, to gain insights into the correlations between spatial connectivity and pedestrian movement distribution patterns. Empirical quantitative data are collected using infrared-sensor devices and manual pedestrian count and activity mapping. The methodology can provide the basis for the future planning and design of pedestrian infrastructure in urban green spaces in Singapore, and other high-density cities.

Urban Design Climate Workshops (UDCW) are underway to focus on urban heat stress adaptation integrated with flooding resiliency and greenhouse gas emission mitigation. Integrated Climate Mitigation and Climate Adaptation prioritizes mitigation strategies that yield concurrent adaptive benefits over those that do not. On the one hand, dense, compact urban forms that mix land use and support mass transit reduce the carbon footprint. On the other hand, these dense urban districts can be configured to reduce the impact of urban heat and storms due to the changing climate while enhancing quality of life.

The main purpose of this research is to reveal that the shape grammar (SG) is a visual descriptive and an automatic design grammar. It also is an analytical tool for the study of urban morphology and a design tool for urban plan. This research reviews the international researches on the SG at the level of urban design. Specifically, we discussed on three important aspects of a rule generation, a scheme design, and evaluation methods of shape grammar. To analyze, define, and organize what changes scholars’ concerns, SG can be used as part of flexible urban design methods to meet the existing requirements and needs in urban and built environments. Finally, we introduce the application examples and future potential research of the Grammar Rules (GR) in the urban design configuration scheme of the hot spring town of Yangmingshan National Park in Taipei City.

Cities are an important carrier of human civilization. However, the energy consumption and carbon emissions in cities are causing a series of environmental and ecological problems. We explored the urban design for low-carbon and energy efficiency as our great pioneering work and how man and nature can live in social and economic harmony and progress. At first, this paper analyzes the urban energy consumption structure and influencing factors in current China, and then proposes urban design strategies for lowcarbon and energy conservation from three aspects of urban spatial structure, building energy consumption and transportation energy consumption.

Urban spaces represent the arena where sustainability principles challenge traditional design approaches and tools at most. Urban design needs to be re-conceptualized in order to respond to the sustainability challenge and at the same time, to keep a solid anchorage to local context identities and local cultures.

Many indicators have been identified and organized in diverse design guidelines or evaluation methodologies in order to address sustainability in urban design (examples: Neighborhood LEED, PLACE3). These design guides or assessment methodologies are all managing the sustainability issue from specific points of view: the energy and the livability issues are two relevant examples. Indicators are used as they were independent from each-other thus making their interdependency ineffective on the design process.

This paper discusses the use of sustainability indicators in urban design. After a survey on existing urban design guidelines and evaluation methodologies, the paper discusses the criticality of interdependency among indicators in urban design. The core of the paper presents an innovative application of the Analytic Network Process (ANP) to a selected set of indicators as a methodological opportunity to make indicators interdependency operational. Finally, a case study is presented related to the regeneration of a social housing neighborhood in the city of Milan where the assessment process has been considered as integral part of the design process and used to identify design opportunities.