The role of adaptive capacity in incremental and transformative adaptation in three large U.S. Urban water systems

Urban water systems need to serve increasing numbers of people under a changing climate. Studies of systems facing extreme events, such as drought, can clarify the nature of adaptive capacity and whether this might support incremental (marginal changes) or transformative adaptation (fundamental system shifts) to climate change. We conducted comparative case studies of three major metropolitan water systems in the United States to understand how actions taken in response to drought affected adaptive capacity and whether the adaptive capacity observed in these systems fosters the preconditions needed for transformative adaptation. We find that while there is ample evidence of existing and potential adaptive capacity, this can be either enabled or diminished by the specific actions taken and their cascading effects on other parts of the system. We also find social dimensions, such as public acceptance, learning, trust, and collaboration, to be as critical as physical elements of adaptive capacity in urban water systems. Finally, we suggest that changes in practices initiated during drought, combined with sustained engagement, collaboration, and education, can lead to substantial and long-lasting changes in values around water, a precursor to transformative adaptation.     

湖陆风对滨湖夏季气温和岳阳市城市热岛强度的影响

利用逐日逐时气象资料对岳阳市主城区近年夏季城市热岛强度进行了评估,探讨了东洞庭湖湖陆风对滨湖夏季气温以及城市热岛强度的影响。结果表明：平均气温郊区较城区、滨湖低1.47、1.11 ℃,最低气温郊区较城区、滨湖低1.89、2.03 ℃,最高气温城区较郊区高0.61 ℃、郊区较滨湖高0.63 ℃。白天城区气温高于郊区,郊区气温高于滨湖;夜间城区气温与滨湖基本相当,且明显高于郊区。各区逐时气温变率郊区最大,城区次之,滨湖最小,三者在23:00—次日6:00基本相当且变化较小。城区平均、最高、最低气温分别比郊区高1.47、0.61、1.89 ℃,对应城市热岛强度分别为弱、弱、中等。8:00—19:00城市热岛强度为弱,20:00—次日7:00为中等。滨湖9:00—18:00湖风强,19:00—次日8:00陆风弱。湖陆风与各区气温以及城市热岛强度均极显著相关。夜间城市热岛效应强于白天湖泊冷效应,白天城市热岛效应和夜间湖泊热效应随着站点与滨湖和郊区的距离远近影响强度不同,离滨湖越近的城市站白天受城市热岛效应影响越小,夜间受城市热岛效应影响越大。     

基于复合指数模型的DMSP/OLS夜间灯光影像饱和校正方法

由于OLS传感器航行过程中增益记录和交叉定标的缺失,使得DMSP夜光影像在城市中心出现过度饱和等问题,因此探讨灯光数据去饱和方法在人类活动强度评估和城市时空演化分析等方面具有重要意义。为了解决这一难题,有学者提出使用NDVI修正饱和灯光数据的VANUI指数,为研究灯光数据去饱和提供了简单便捷的思路,然而该指数在部分城市中较难有明显的校正效果。本文在VANUI指数思想的基础上,顾及到人口密度随着郊区到城市中心距离的增加呈现指数型增长,提出了基于复合指数模型校正夜间灯光指数CEANI,为人类活动强度评价等研究提供更准确的结果。研究表明:① 与VANUI相比,CEANI在刻画城市内部饱和区域特征时具有更好的细节,较好地凸显城市内部空间异质性;② 在25组随机样本的相关对比中,CEANI（R²mean=0.79）与辐射定标产品比VANUI（R²mean=0.68）具有更高的相关性;③ 三大城市群中CEANI与常住人口的R²分别为0.767、0.676和0.841,比VANUI（R²分别为0.640、0.553和0.775）分别提高了0.127、0.123、0.066,相较于VANUI,CEANI与常住人口具有更强的相关性,对于人口指标的估算能力更强。     

Drinking water quality in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley: a survey and assessment of selected controlling site characteristics

Water was sampled from over 100 sources in Nepal’s Kathmandu Valley, including municipal taps, dug wells, shallow-aquifer tube wells, deep-aquifer tube wells, and dhunge dharas (or stone spouts, public water sources that capture groundwater or surface water). Information was gathered on user preference and site and well characteristics, and water was examined for indicators of contamination from sewage, agriculture, or industry. Most problematic were total coliform and Escherichia coli bacteria, which were present in 94 and 72% of all the water samples, respectively. Contamination by nitrate, ammonia and heavy metals was more limited; nitrate and ammonia exceeded Nepali guidelines in 11 and 45% of the samples, respectively. Arsenic and mercury exceeded WHO guidelines in 7 and 10% of the samples, respectively, but arsenic never exceeded the less strict Nepali guideline. Significant differences existed in contamination levels between types of sources; dug wells and dhunge dharas, being the shallowest, were the most contaminated by bacteria and nitrate; deep-aquifer tube wells were the most contaminated by arsenic. Whereas E. coli concentrations decreased with depth, iron and ammonia concentrations increased with depth. These relationships account for people choosing to drink water with higher levels of bacterial contamination based on its superior (non-metallic) taste and appearance.     

Monitoring and modelling of urban sprawl using remote sensing and GIS techniques

The concentration of people in densely populated urban areas, especially in developing countries, calls for the use of monitoring systems like remote sensing. Such systems along with spatial analysis techniques like digital image processing and geographical information system (GIS) can be used for the monitoring and planning purposes as these enable the reporting of overall sprawl at a detailed level.     

A look inside the struggle for housing in Buenos Aires,Argentina

Set in the broader context of increasing urban precarity and displacement of the urban poor and working classes, this paper examines the social and collective significance of housing precarity and eviction as it is experienced by Latin American, immigrant families living in informal hotels in Buenos Aires, Argentina. I analyze the internal dynamics, interactions and relationships between residents of informal hotels, the housing organization CIBA (Coordinadora de Inquilinos de Buenos Aires), which fights for housing rights for the poor in the city, and the city government sponsored housing subsidy. I argue that urban precarity severely limits opportunities for collective organization around better housing and political and social change. I show that despite CIBA’s objectives to transform social and political conditions for the poor in Buenos Aires, residents often operate under other assumptions and goals, in part because of the temporal and spatial restraints under which they live. Instead, residents of informal hotels work with CIBA in order to secure access to basic, urgent needs. These different expectations and understandings produce contentious relationships of dependence and subordination that are exacerbated by the eviction process and the city government housing subsidy.     

Modeling urban expansion by using variable weights logistic cellular automata: a case study of Nanjing,China

Simulation models based on cellular automata (CA) are widely used for understanding and simulating complex urban expansion process. Among these models, logistic CA (LCA) is commonly adopted. However, the performance of LCA models is often limited because the fixed coefficients obtained from binary logistic regression do not reflect the spatiotemporal heterogeneity of transition rules. Therefore, we propose a variable weights LCA (VW-LCA) model with dynamic transition rules. The regression coefficients in this VW-LCA model are based on VW by incorporating a genetic algorithm in a conventional LCA. The VW-LCA model and the conventional LCA model were both used to simulate urban expansion in Nanjing, China. The models were calibrated with data for the period 2000–2007 and validated for the period 2007–2013. The results showed that the VW-LCA model performed better than the LCA model in terms of both visual inspection and key indicators. For example, kappa, accuracy of urban land and figure of merit for the simulation results of 2013 increased by 3.26%, 2.96% and 4.44%, respectively. The VW-LCA model performs relatively better compared with other improved LCA models that are suggested in literature.     

VR技术在城市地籍信息系统中的应用

从方便人们应用的角度出发，将虚拟现实技术引入城市地籍信息系统中，首先介绍了虚拟现实技术的系统组成及硬，软件，然后给出了城市三维建模的两种方法，最后列举几个将虚拟现实应用于城市地籍信息系统进行空间分析，查询的例子。     

分形城市引力模型的一般形式和应用方法--关于城市体系空间作用的引力理论探讨

基于分形思想和城市规模-产出关系推导出城市引力模型的一般形式Iij=GijMaiiMajjR-bij,论证了参数a和b的分维性质,并将引力系数定义为Gij=G|Rij,|/(1+Sij),式中Rii为i、j两城市的相关系数,Sij为二者的相似系数,G为量纲转换系数.以长春城镇体系和郑、汴、洛点-轴系统为实例说明了模型的应用方法,并指出了城市引力数值的相对性特征.作者发现,城镇体系各要素的引力之和Fi=∑Iij,在一定时空条件下满足位序-规模法则F(k)=F1K-q(k=1,2,…,n);这也表明,借助引力计算可以揭示城市体系某些隐含的地理规律.     

大城市商业游憩区形成机制研究

该文阐述城市商业游憩区研究的意义 ,论述了城市商业游憩区形成的动力 ,建立了城市商业游憩区动力系统结构模型 ,分析了城市商业游憩区形成机制 ,并对大城市建立商业游憩区提出展望。