FrontiersSustainableCities

Editorial: Technological developments in point of interest recommendation for smart and sustainable cities
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1463102

A sustainability assessment of the modern method of construction in Saudi Arabia
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1439024

By 2030, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) is seeking to increase homeownership to 70%. This has led to a considerable investment in residential construction, with the Housing Ministry establishing a stimulus program to enhance the use of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC). These technologies offer several benefits, including cost and time reduction, improved quality and productivity, and job creation. This study quantitatively analyzes the economic impacts of MMC adaptation on the Saudi economy using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model. It considers incentives to adopt MMC, its technological advancements, and the skills currently available in the Saudi labor market. Moreover, the embodied carbon emissions of MMC are calculated using the Input–Output Life Cycle Assessment (...)

Editorial: New frontiers in evaluation, management, and technologies for sustainable cities
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1462758

Blockchain-enabled transparent traffic enforcement for sustainable road safety in cities
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1426036

With the progress of the times, cars have become an important means of transportation in our lives. However, with new cars of all kinds, road safety issues still cannot be effectively improved. While countries have responded by enforcing traffic laws and using electronic technology to enhance enforcement, challenges still need to be addressed, including blurred images and misjudgments by police agencies, and even exploiting loopholes in traffic enforcement frameworks to evade consequences through bribery or connections. exacerbating an accident and leaving victims and families in the lurch of the aftermath. To solve this problem, we proposed a data traceability law enforcement system based on blockchain and InterPlanetary File System (IPFS). The system ensures rapid traceability and (...)

Designing and implementing a resilient immutability mechanism for enhanced supply chain management in E-healthcare systems
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1403809

Counterfeit drugs pose significant health risks due to their variable efficacy and potential harmful ingredients. To combat this issue, a reliable and secure track-and-trace system is essential for pharmaceutical supply chains. This paper proposes an Immutable and Decentralized Pharma (IDP) model, leveraging blockchain technology to ensure the safe and efficient distribution of medications. The IDP model utilizes smart contracts to record transactions between entities onto a blockchain, enabling end-to-end product tracking and provenance. Experimental results on a polygon blockchain test network demonstrate the feasibility and enhanced security of the IDP model in a collaborative environment. Our solution addresses the challenges of data privacy, openness, and authenticity inherent in (...)

Identifying entry points for adaptive governance in peri-urban Chennai (India): a multi-dimensional, multi-level, and multi-scalar approach
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1368240

Governing transitions have assumed increasing significance in managing change with respect to climate change and rapid periurbanization. In this respect, evidence from sustainability transitions research in South Asia stipulates the need for institutional innovations that are suitable to the governance context, which is characterized by a fuzzy field of “speculative frontiers,” and strong hierarchically structured mechanisms. This paper focuses on Chennai, India to ascertain the potentials of “adaptive governance” in this periurban region of the Global South. We approach this by (a) defining the periurban space from a bio-regional, socio-ecological systems perspective, (b) complementing it with a zonal classification considering disaster and climate change risks, and (c) presenting an (...)

Planning nodes, places, and pedestrian experiences in mountainous cities: an empirical transit station assessment tool
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1448697

IntroductionIn the context of ongoing discussions in Chongqing (China) about urban development strategies for the city’s transit system, this paper introduces an empirical framework for assessing the development of urban transit stations in mountainous cities. Cities in mountainous areas possess unique natural topography, development patterns, cultures, and natural resources, leading to distinct urban development characteristics compared to cities built on plains.MethodsDrawing on the node-place modelling literature, we develop a multidimensional station assessment methodology adapted for mountainous cities. By adding the dimension of pedestrian experience, we propose indicators that represent the unique challenges of accessing stations in such terrains that are not typically reflected (...)

Planning in the age of acceleration: a perspective on digital inclusion in online urban planning meetings
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1392953

In the age of technological acceleration, new digital shifts and the increased use of ICT have changed the ways we work, live, sleep, and shop. Remarkable transformations have left footprints in the planning world as well, with many urban planners harnessing technology to improve and expedite planning processes. This process accelerated further during the COVID pandemic, which forced many planning committees and local governments to conduct public meetings, hearings, and participatory processes remotely in order to allow the planning machine to continue rolling while abiding by social distancing rules. Developments such as this have been part of a broader shift toward the increasing reliance of planning on video-conferencing and other technological innovations. While this new policy (...)

Sustainable urban growth patterns based on environmental fitness
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1382180

This study examines the sustainability of urban growth, described by patterns of environmental fitness. The main assumption is that resource use—energy, materials, electricity, water, fossil fuels, soil, and humans—describes growth patterns whose sustainability can be categorized according to environmental fitness, which is assessed by the availability of environmental resources (characteristics of the environment) and the adaptation of the city to this availability (characteristics of the built environment). The article offers an innovative perspective by proposing a model for categorizing the sustainability of urban growth based on environmental fitness, but also by providing a mean to understand the city as a process and the city as a satisfier of needs. The methodology comprises two (...)

Re-naturalizing the built environment. Plants, architecture, and pedagogy in contemporary green schools
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1397159

This study discusses the essential need of re-naturalizing the built environment, focusing on schools. Leveraging research on the impact of nature on health, children’s development, and learning, we analyze case studies from America, Asia, and Europe with distinct trajectories of interplay between architecture and pedagogy. Using a theoretical framework on plant-architecture relationship, we identify effective re-naturalization solutions in some applications of biophilic design in rural and urban contexts, cautioning against superficial nature incorporations in schools. Our study asserts that technological sustainability is needed but insufficient, emphasizing the necessity of concurrent efforts in architecture and education to create meaningful student-nature (...)

Corrigendum: Use of crowdsourced online surveys to study the impact of architectural and design choices on wellbeing
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1458100

A systematic literature review exploring the nexus between circular economy and communities
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1404279

Circular Economy (CE) studies often focus primarily on technical and economic aspects of the transition process. Recently, some authors have started to enquire the social processes connected to of the CE, often referring to communities. This article provides a Systematic Literature Review on the nexus between CE and community to investigate its features according to the experiences reported in the collected documents. The retrieved corpus has been analyzed recurring to consolidated frameworks, as the R hierarchy, the societal areas challenges identified by the Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda developed by the EU project CICERONE, and to the spectrum of participation provided by the International Association for Public Participation. The participative dynamics found in the (...)

Policy evaluation and performance assessment for sustainable urbanization: a study of selected city corporations in Bangladesh
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1377310

Bangladesh is going through an unprecedented period of urban growth, and its cities are having to deal with rising service, housing, and infrastructural needs. It is critical to comprehend how urban government promotes sustainable development as the nation struggles with the intricacies of urbanization. This study aims to investigate how urban governance impacts sustainable urbanization at the city corporation level in Bangladesh, focusing on Goal 11 of the Sustainable Development Agenda, which is “sustainable cities and communities.” The study selected Rajshahi and Gazipur City Corporations as case studies and employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and descriptive statistics methods to gather data from primary and secondary sources. The findings of the study reveal gaps in urban (...)

The (re)production of health in climate change
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1359930

To date, health in the context of climate change has mainly been considered from a biomedical perspective, whose pathogenic focus on health risks has primarily promoted curative and/or behavioral problem-solving strategies. This article therefore examines health in climate change from a perspective of Urban Public Health and political science, which has received less attention so far. The aim is to address existing constructions of health in climate change and their implications for dealing with the climate crisis, in particular regarding the design of urban environments. In doing so, it adopts a regulation-theoretical approach that allows for a theoretically grounded analysis of health in climate change, taking the triangle of nature, society and the individual as the object of (...)

Mycelium-wood composites as a circular material for building insulation
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1412247

In Europe, buildings account for 40% of the energy consumption and produce 36% of CO2 emissions. Renovation could be a great tool to decarbonize the building stock since it allows for a decrease in the operational energy required for buildings and is less material-consuming than new construction. Further benefits are brought by the usage of bio-based insulation materials that can drastically reduce embodied emissions and transform structures into factual carbon sinks. This study focuses on a particular kind of biogenic material, mycelium-wood composites, consisting of organic matter bound by the root structure of fungal organisms. This innovative insulation material was compared with traditional ones for the renovation of the building stock, with a focus on vertical components like (...)

Climate adaptive solution for artificial turf in cities: integrated rainwater storage and evaporative cooling
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1399858

The number of artificial turf fields in cities has increased due to increased pressure on outside sport facilities caused by a higher population density. Downsides of these fields are changes in thermal conditions and decreased infiltration of rain. Artificial turf can reach very high surface temperatures leading to unfavourable playing conditions and contributing to the urban heat island effect. In this study the possibilities of a subsurface water storage and capillary irrigation system for evaporative cooling of artificial turf based on rainwater capture, storage and reuse are investigated. The system consists of an 85 mm water-retention subbase with capillary columns, a capillary shockpad and a natural infill. First, a laboratory experiment was conducted to test the evaporative (...)

Validating decarbonisation strategies of climate action plans via digital twins: a Limerick case study
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1393798

The European Green Deal (EGD) represents the response of the European Union (EU) to the climate crisis and a strategy to mitigate against climate change and the associated environmental degradation. European Climate Law supports the EGD by setting the legally binding target of climate neutrality for the EU on a time horizon of 2050 and mandates that member states develop and implement their own Climate Action Plans (CAP), which are strategic roadmaps outlining steps to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and adapt to the impacts of climate change. Within the Irish context, the CAP focuses on six specific sectors, three of which, namely the energy grid, the built environment and transportation are considered in this research. This policy proposes the retrofitting of all residential (...)

Urban human needs: conceptual framework to promoting urban city fulfills human desires
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1395980

Cities have been created to meet human needs, but creating sustainable societies has become a major challenge in light of the planners’ broad interest in creating smart cities or giving exclusive priority to the environmental dimension of sustainability. This is one of the goals related to sustainable development (SDGs) and therefore, the human perspective of urbanism is considered a future challenge in achieving (SDGs). The research aims to bridge the gap in previous studies and highlight the integration of human needs in plans for urban human cities. It also aims to create a conceptual framework that leads to a new theory of urban needs by bridging the knowledge gap in previous studies by considering modern numerical analysis tools, Thus, a bibliometric analysis based on the (...)

Promoting sustainable communities through affordable housing. A case study of Beirut, Lebanon
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1308618

Promoting sustainable communities aims at creating both environmentally and socially responsible living environments. This paper explores the role of affordable housing in promoting the long-term sustainability of a community within healthy living conditions by closely examining the relationship between affordable housing, urban development policies, and sustainability, with the capital of Lebanon, Beirut, serving as a case study. The first part of the paper focuses on the current building laws issued in the official newspaper in 2004 using a content analysis methodology to demonstrate the impact of the changes in the laws on the new morphology and social fabric of the city through the creation of a favorable environment for big developers, wealthy property owners, and real estate (...)

Exploring urban spatial heterogeneity and socio-environmental attributes of household greenhouse gas emissions
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1418214

Understanding urban spatial heterogeneity of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from sectoral household consumption is crucial to facilitate moves towards low-carbon cities. In this study, we use Xiamen city of China as a case study to reveal the emission characteristics of household GHG as well as spatial heterogeneity. We conducted a face-to-face questionnaire survey and calculated GHG emissions of districts from household energy consumption, food consumption, transportation, housing, household waste and wastewater treatment. The GHG emissions and the amount of urban residential household consumption shows obvious spatial heterogeneity across districts. Total GHG emissions of Xiamen city were 8.39 Mt. CO2e, and average household and per capita of GHG emissions were 8.11 and 2.72 tCO2e, (...)

For whom the wheels roll: examining the mobility of care in Washington, DC, USA
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1379958

IntroductionInfrastructure regularly supports male pursuits more than women’s. Recent transportation scholarship focuses on this inequity by quantifying the daily travel of women and men for everyday care provision, often termed “the mobility of care.” Care trips include dropping off and picking up family members, accompanying young children and old adults to medical appointments, and acquiring household goods. This study analyzes gendered travel behavior in the National Capital Region of the United States, including Washington, D.C.MethodsThe basis of this study’s analysis is data from the 2017/2018 Regional Travel Survey conducted by the National Capital Region Transportation Planning Board. The survey included records from approximately 16,000 households, 2,000 in Washington, D.C. Our (...)

Evaluating pedestrian facilities for enhancing pedestrian safety in Addis Ababa city
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1412885

Transport demand has been increasing in most third-world countries. However, poorly maintained facilities and poor planning exposed pedestrians to high-traffic accidents. This paper aims to evaluate pedestrian facilities using the pedestrian level of service to enhance pedestrian safety in Addis Ababa. Relevant data was collected through field measurement and direct observation from 13 purposively identified pedestrian sites across the Piyasa to Bole bridge and Megenagna to Torihayloch road corridors. Pedestrian level of service derivation considered capacity, traffic, comfort, safety, and security conditions and their sub-components. The weight of each criterion and sub-factor was decided according to the Saaty scale using the judgment of experts under the analytical hierarchical (...)

Prosperity in progress: a new look at archetypes of successful community development
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1408673

This study navigates the terrain of community development in metropolitan areas across the United States (US), spotlighting the interplay between stakeholder engagement, development success, and distinct types of community development characteristics. While urban centers in US cities experienced disinvestment and urban flight for more than 5 decades, they now experience renewed interest amidst the complexities of rampant urbanization. Gentrification and displacement are some of the critical consequences of urban re-development, which warrants the exploration of the success metrics that turn disinvested communities into thriving ones. Methodologically, archetype analysis is employed to examine 73 case studies reported by the United States Department of Housing & Urban Development (HUD) (...)

Sustainable, resilient, regenerative? The potential of Melbourne’s peri-urban region
▻https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/frsc.2024.1391712

Peri-urban regions offer significant contributions to city regions as landscapes of food production, resources for urban consumption, as well as for biodiversity and nature conservation – a key part of a city region as a socio-ecological, not simply a socioeconomic, space. Consequently, these roles have long been recognized as crucial to objectives of urban sustainability. They are also sites of socio-ecological tensions that relate to urbanization, as well as to the risk or hazard profile of locations undergoing social change. Whether sustainability, or resilience, in socio-ecological systems is a sufficient goal is increasingly under question. Seeking regenerative city regions, and in particular peri-urban landscapes requires reconsiderations of the relationships between policy, and (...)