Design and implementation of a smart solid waste collection system

Solid waste collection systems are very important in today’s urban environment. The last three decades witnessed the development in urban areas over rural ones in a process called urbanization. Growth of urbanization is much more in developing countries than in the developed countries to the extent that it became a trend characterizing several developed and even least developed countries. Unfortunately, it has been observed that the systems currently used in modern cities do not provide a service of sufficient efficiency and quality, despite their high running costs. As an alternative, a smart solid waste collection system with all subcomponents was developed and applied in a small city in Turkey. In addition to the conventional waste collection systems, this system included smart features and optimization algorithms for route planning. The study presents the design philosophy, feasibility and pilot implementation of a smart solid waste collection system which can be operated with high efficiency at low cost.     

Urbanization process and induced environmental geological hazards in China

Urbanization is a common development trend of countries all over the world, which is a mark of civilization and progress of human beings. The number of urbanization-induced environmental geological hazards has grown steadily in recent years and is receiving increased attention throughout the world. The purpose of this paper is to generalize China’s urbanization process and induced environmental geological hazards. Driving forces and characteristics of urbanization are briefly introduced in this study; specifically, the distribution of urban agglomerations is principally related to water resources, transportation and energy. Common geological hazards and particular ones in mountain city, mining city and coastal city are also summarized. The type and severity of hazards are different due to the differences of natural conditions and various urban functions. Main environmental geological hazards in cities are land subsidence, landslide and seawater intrusion, etc. Accordingly, reasons for these urbanization-induced geological hazards in different type of cities are analyzed and discussed. The research results may provide a clear perspective for urban geological hazard prevention, and suggestions for urban geological hazard control are pointed out.     

Brutal presence or convenient absence: The role of the state in the politics of flooding in informal Accra,Ghana

This paper argues that human vulnerability to flood hazards in urban slums in developing countries is greatly affected by the positioning and activities of their city governments. As a result, the paper explores the central role of city authorities in the production of flood vulnerability in selected informal settlements in Accra, Ghana. Using a case study research design, the study draws on multiple qualitative methods to gather evidence including: document review, focus group discussions, flood victims’ interviews, institutional consultation and field observation. The paper reveals two main positions of state and city authorities in Accra’s perennial floods: first, being present and complicit in informal urbanization through their involvement in the politics of land management in flood prone zones; and second, being absent through their inaction in informal growth in flood-risk areas. To each of these positions of the urban state, there are emerging responses from residents and other non-state actors operating within and outside these informal communities. The paper proposes a re-examination of the current structure and processes of urban governance, state-community engagements and urban citizenship in informal communities.     

Urban renewal in East African port cities: Mombasa's Old Town waterfront

The urban waterfront redevelopment diaspora, formerly confined to advanced countries, is starting to impact upon coastal settlements in former colonial territories. In diverse contexts ranging from postcolonialism and globalization to cultural revival and tourism development, developing countries are seeking to revive their historic port cities. This paper reports on the experience of Mombasa, Kenya, where waterfront redevelopment is a problematic element in the conservation of the historic urban core, and relates local issues to wider policies, relevant literature and experience elsewhere.     

Identifying urban–rural differences in social vulnerability to natural hazards: a case study of China

Identifying and analyzing the urban–rural differences of social vulnerability to natural hazards is imperative to ensure that urbanization develops in a way that lessens the impacts of disasters and generate building resilient livelihoods in China. Using data from the 2000 and 2010 population censuses, this study conducted an assessment of the social vulnerability index (SVI) by applying the projection pursuit cluster model. The temporal and spatial changes of social vulnerability in urban and rural areas were then examined during China’s rapid urbanization period. An index of urban–rural differences in social vulnerability (SVI_D) was derived, and the global and local Moran’s I of the SVI_D were calculated to assess the spatial variation and association between the urban and rural SVI. In order to fully determine the impacts of urbanization in relation to social vulnerability, a spatial autoregressive model and Bivariate Moran’s I between urbanization and SVI were both calculated. The urban and rural SVI both displayed a steadily decreasing trend from 2000 to 2010, although the urban SVI was always larger than the rural SVI in the same year. In 17.5% of the prefectures, the rural SVI was larger than the urban SVI in 2000, but was smaller than the urban SVI in 2010. About 12.6% of the urban areas in the prefectures became less vulnerable than rural areas over the study period, while in more than 51.73% of the prefectures the urban–rural SVI gap decreased over the same period. The SVI_D values in all prefectures had a significantly positive spatial autocorrelation and spatial clusters were apparent. Over time, social vulnerability to natural hazards at the prefecture-level displayed a gathering–scattering pattern across China. Though a regional variation of social vulnerability developed during China’s rapid urbanization, the overall trend was for a steady reduction in social vulnerability in both urban and rural areas.

     

Comparative urbanization project for the Asian pacific region

This short article outlines the objectives, organization, research frame and content areas of a comparative urbanization project which will start in 1981. The project involves a total of nine national teams each of which is composed of three or more experts from the fields of urban geography, city and regional planning, demography, development economics and other related disciplines. One unique feature of the project is that each of the countries covered will be researched on by its own local researchers. And, the organizer tries to get at least one government official involved, in his personal capacity, as a team member, to get better insight and interpretation of official policies and objectives regarding urbanization. The responsible persons of the national teams and the time table of the project have also been included in this article.     

Urban planning and politics in Ghana

Through an analysis of Ghana’s political and administrative structure, which established the basis of urban planning practice, this paper shows how urban planning has failed to create liveable and functional cities in Ghana. This paper uses semi-structured interviews and agency consultations to supplement document reviews and news paper articles to address the dearth of research on the subject in Ghana. Findings show that dominant political elites, with little or no urban planning background, control and dictate urban planning activities resulting in chaotic scenes and urban blight across Ghanaian cities. Analyses here reinforce the growing recognition that urban planning outcomes in Ghana, and most African countries are not shaped by professional practice and do not reflect the aspirations of the community, but instead political elites. Urban planning agencies are left vulnerable as their activities are interfered, dictated and hindered by both traditional and mainstream political elites. This paper advocates for independence of urban planning agencies in the performance of their duties.     

Multivariate analysis of Kenya's urban system

The study analyzes the structure, spatial interaction, and dimension of the post-colonial urban systems of Kenya using component factor analysis and based on selected socio-cultural, economic, and demographic variables. The study identified seven major dimensions of variation accounting for 72.0%. The analysis of the urban spatial variation is compared and intertwined with studies done in other countries to find out the regional variation of the loadings. Finally, a seven-order characteristics of Kenya urban systems is suggested, based on the study. The accurate knowledge of these salient characteristics of Kenya urban sub-systems is important before any viable spatial planning should be implemented.     

Integrating long-term seismic risk changes into improving emergency response and land-use planning: a case study for the Hsinchu City, Taiwan

An increasing number of rapidly growing urban areas in Asia are becoming more vulnerable to seismic hazards in their development process. However, local authorities rarely integrate seismic risk into the procedure of emergency and land-use planning. This article explores the question of whether seismic risks for urban areas are increasing or diminishing over time, while trends such as population growth and land development in hazard-prone areas increase the potential for loss in disasters. The net effects of such urbanization factors are examined through the use of simulation models that estimate building inventory and seismic loss changes. Seismic losses are modeled for a comparative analysis under the same hypothetical earthquake events hitting at different points in a city area’s long-term development. A case study of seismic risk assessments is illustrated by the Hsinchu City, Taiwan. Results of a prospective analysis indicate that, for the same seismic events, overall risk is expected to increase due to a forecast 2.9 % growth in building inventory. This increment in loss is largely attributed to a large amount of initial buildings predicted to be developed into commercial and industrial uses. However, the spatial pattern of risk would change slightly; particularly, the southeastern, eastern, and some older core areas would be the most vulnerable and risky both at current and future time periods. The approach here enables city planners to incorporate seismic risk analysis into predisaster emergency and land-use planning to encourage risk-reduction strategies.     

Perception and knowledge about climate change and health problems: a study in Kolkata Metropolitan Region

In the twenty-first century, land use changes, massive expansion of urbanization, population growth, economic crisis, environmental issues are the main challenges of developing countries. Climate change and its effects on human health are the major concerns for the different age groups of the population. The study delved into the causes associated with climate change and climate change-related myriad health impacts on the study population. This study has used a concurrent mixed-method research design. The quantitative and qualitative data were collected from the study area. Perception and knowledge about climate change and its consequences on health was based on a quantitative approach of Bi-variate analysis and Chi-Square test and Fisher’s exact test; this study also used qualitative data analysis. Study results show that most respondents pointed out that temperature increases throughout the year and 90% of the respondents reported that rainfall pattern has also changed. Similarly, 65% of respondents agreed in their statements in favour of increased natural calamities in this region. The study findings show that more than 40% of population faces dengue fever and 10% of people also suffer from malaria. More than 60% of the urban population suffered from asthma. Similarly, more than 70% of the population also got affected by cold and cough due to weather variability. Focus Group Discussion (FGD) and In-depth interviews of the participants also affirmed the fact that climate variability induced diseases and health problems in Kolkata Metropolitan areas. Urban residents perceived that excessive urbanization contributes to the changes in regional climate and human health. The study will encourage the policy-makers and local government to mitigate adverse health effects driven by climate change in the Kolkata Metropolitan Region.

     

Urbanization induced environmental hazards from breakage hills in the karst geological region of Jinan City,China

Rapid urbanization has profoundly transformed the spatial pattern of urban land use, and the urban hills are facing changes in Jinan City. Urbanization has had and continues to have a negative impact on urban mountain area within city. With the rapid development of Jinan’s urbanization and civilization, urban mountainous environment issues, such as destruction of mountain body, soil and water loss, soil erosion, and degeneration of vegetation, are becoming more serious. These have resulted in the serious natural hazards in the karst mountainous region of Jinan City, i.e. mining landslide, debris flow, and mountain collapse.     

Financialization,totality and planetary urbanization in the Chilean Andes

In a context of planetary urbanization, where vast swathes of the countryside are being enclosed on an ongoing basis in order to support a sprawling urban system, the relationship between finance and land-use change needs to be brought to the forefront. By engaging with Henri Lefebvre’s ideas of levels and totality, this paper draws analytical connections between the financialization of the transnational mining industry and the production of the financialized urban everyday in geographies of extraction. The paper does this by looking at the case of Pascua Lama, a multibillion open-cast mine to be developed in Chile by a major mining company in the context of the current global gold rush. Through this case, I show how a set of strategies pursued by financiers and corporate managers thousands of kilometers away from the extraction site, resulted in fractured spaces of urbanization shaped by socioecological plunder, dispossession and geographically uneven financial landscapes.     

Geographic prospects for large-scale African mammal wildlife conservation

This work assesses current geographic prospects for large-scale conservation of Africa’s mammals on the basis of statistics on wildlife habitat, elephant numbers, political stability and potential for environmental tourism and concludes that these prospects depend on events in a small number of eastern and southern African (core) countries, geographically grouped into a ‘safari-belt’ between South-Africa and Kenya. Additional countries with good potential are connected to this belt. African countries need more global scientific support for their conservation efforts, particularly with respect to ongoing trans-boundary conservation efforts.     

Why data for a political-industrial ecology of cities?

Despite our declared era of ‘Big Data,’ we lack information on the flows of energy, water, and materials that support modern societies. These data are essential to understand how ecologies and the labor of people in far flung places supply urban areas, as well as how these resource flows are used by whom, where, and for what purpose. Like other places, the state of California is struggling with issues of data privacy and access. Water scarcity and the state’s commitments to greenhouse gas emission (GHG) mandates raise the issue of consumption and the unequal burdens that derive from it. These mandates have unveiled the lack of comparable and verifiable data to understand crucial production-consumption dynamics. This paper illustrates how spatially-explicit big data can be harnessed to delineate an urban political-industrial ecology of resource flows. Based on research using address-level energy and water use consumption data for Los Angeles County, the analysis reveals how the region’s wealthy residents use a disproportionate share of the water and energy resources. The paper also identifies structural obstacles to increasing fees and taxes or altering property rights that would reduce this consumption and foster more equitable resource use. This study has implications for theory, method, and policy related to urban sustainability, which is unobtainable without first unraveling the political-industrial ecology of the material basis of urbanization processes.     

Population growth and urbanization in Latin America

The population of Latin America will be increasing by 130 % between 1970 and the year 2000. Due to excessive rural exodus the urban population grows almost twice as fast as the rural does. The urbanization of the subcontinent must be regarded as being the dominant spatial process in Latin America. It results in fundamental changes of the structure and the way of life of the population as well as in the size and character of the settlements. Three case studies (Popayán/Colombia, Sucre/Bolivia and Santiago/Chile) show that a process of westernization can be observed within the analogous to their size, in the course of which the compact structure of the colonial town pattern is succeeded by a sectorially or cellularly arranged cityorganism. From today's point of view a definite judgement on urbanization as a relevant phenomenon of development cannot yet be made. It can be stated, however, that the southern countries of Latin America which have been urbanized the most show distinct signs of a social and economic “take off”.     

中国城市洪涝问题及成因分析

随着经济社会的发展,中国步入城镇化快速发展的阶段,城镇化率已由2000年的36.22%增加到2014年的54.77%。在全球气候变化与快速城镇化背景下,中国城市洪涝灾害日益严重。阐述了全球气候变化及城镇化对城市降水和极端暴雨的影响机制,并从流域产汇流角度分析了城镇化对洪水过程的影响,系统剖析了中国城市洪涝频发的主要原因。在成因分析的基础上,进一步提出了中国城市洪涝防治的应对策略,主要包括:①以低影响开发理念为指导,加强城市基础设施建设,建设海绵城市;②建立城市洪涝立体监测、预报预警和实时调度系统,强化城市洪涝科学决策能力;③健全和完善城市洪涝应急预案,强化应急管理能力,完善灾害救助和恢复机制。     

The impact of economic growth,industrial structure and urbanization on carbon emission intensity in China

China’s macroeconomic policy framework has been determined to ensure steady growth, adjust the industrial structure and advance the socioeconomic reforms in recent years. And urbanization is supposed to be one of the most important socioeconomic reform directions. Meanwhile, China also committed to reduce carbon emissions intensity by 2020, then it should be noted that what kind of impact of these policy orientations on carbon emission intensity. Therefore, based on the historical data from 1978 to 2011, this paper quantitatively studies the impact of China’s economic growth, industrial structure and urbanization on carbon emission intensity. The results indicate that, first, there is long-term cointegrating relationship between carbon emission intensity and other factors. And the increase in the share of tertiary industry [i.e., the ratio of tertiary industry value added to gross domestic product (GDP)] and economic growth (here we use the real GDP per capita) play significant roles in curbing carbon emission intensity, while the promotion of population urbanization (i.e., the share of population living in the urban regions of total population) may lead to carbon emission intensity growth. Second, there exists significant one-way causality running from the urbanization rate and economic growth to carbon emission intensity, respectively. Third, among the three drivers, economic growth proves the main influencing factor of carbon emission intensity changes during the sample period.     

From labour lines to urban living: Health transition in Mauritius

Recently Mauritius has witnessed a rapid urbanization process. In such a small space, with a high population density and an improving economic situation — shifting from an agricultural-based to an industrial one — it is possible nowadays to distinguish the growth of major villages into well-structured urban centres. Contrary to the trend observed in some economically less developed countries (LDCs), health characteristics have veered mostly towards trends exhibited by economically more developed countries (MDCs). This paper will describe briefly the urbanization processes at work in Mauritius and will explore the changing health characteristics and provisions observed in such a small island state. It will try to lay the foundation for comparison with other small island states transcending the MDC/LDS divide.     

Evaluation of water-supply and sanitation options in third world cities: An example from Cali,Colombia

Water supply and sanitation are examined with the objective of describing the evaluation of alternative technologies for providing these services within urban areas of developing countries. First, an overview is given of the Pace of urbanization and the magnitude of the water and sanitation problem. A brief review of various water-supply and sanitation technologies follows, with a discussion of some basic principles involved in their comparison. An empirical study of the situation in Cali, Colombia is then provided as an example, with particular attention given to economic costing and some of its difficulties. The concluding part discusses the role of such analyses in urban planning and policy making, providing specific examples in the areas of low-cost housing, appropriate technology, water conservation, and urban expansion.