Abstracts:The introduction of mass transit technologies is increasingly viewed as a feasible solution to mitigate urban traffic congestion in fast growing Indian cities. The type of transit technology selection for a particular city is dilemmatic as it depends on various factors like the population density and growth rate of the city, travel behavior of passengers, existing transit service characteristics, etc. This study attempts to provide a scientific tool for such decisions by developing a mathematical model to determine a feasible transit technology [Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) or Metro] for many-to-many travel demand for a city. A social welfare function is formulated and is optimized with respect to station spacing, headway, and fare for different levels of population densities and the transit technology. By comparing the current population density to the critical population density (population density at which the social welfare is equal for both BRT and Metro transit technology), the model estimates the time step for the city to introduce the transit in the future. By taking population density as the input, it can be observed that for low-population-density cities, the social welfare of the BRT technology is higher than the Metro and the optimal number of stations for the transit technologies will decrease with an increase in population density.

Abstracts:In Turkey, the satisfaction of households with their neighborhoods has never been an explicit concern of policymakers. Multistory apartment buildings dominate the urban environment, and they lack, in most cases, any significant social and physical infrastructure. This has raised questions of how the neighborhood satisfaction of households can be measured and understood. This study investigates the neighborhood satisfaction of households in apartment buildings in the case of urban Ankara. The Ankara Survey reveals that households are mostly satisfied (68%) with their neighborhoods, while the results of a multivariate analysis pinpoint locational concerns are the leading factor in neighborhood satisfaction in Ankara, with no socioeconomic factors emerging as significant. Among the sociodemographic variables, only tenure displays significant results. The study concludes that the dual consumption/investment role of housing for owner-occupiers differentiates their satisfaction levels. Furthermore, where environs and dwellings offer similar spatial attributes to both tenants and owner-occupiers, the households’ individual perceptions become a more determining factor.

Abstracts:This article explores the use of evolutionary genetic algorithms to predict scenarios of urban vertical growth in large urban centers. Tokyo’s Minato Ward is used as a case study because it has been one of the fastest growing skylines over the last 20 years. This study uses a genetic algorithm that simulates the vertical urban growth of Minato Ward to make predictions from pre-established inputted parameters. The algorithm estimates not only the number of future high-rise buildings but also the specific areas in the ward that are more likely to accommodate new high-rise developments in the future. The evolutionary model results are compared with ongoing high-rise developments in order to evaluate the accuracy of the genetic algorithm in simulating future vertical urban growth. The results of this study show that the use of genetic evolutionary computation is a promising way to predict scenarios of vertical urban growth in terms of location as well as the number of future buildings.

Abstracts:Electric vehicles play a key role in strategic development plans of urban regions in Europe because they are seen as a promising technology to promote environmental quality, livability, and sustainability. Studies on electric mobility mostly concentrate on battery electric cars and disregard hybrid technologies which could address the weakness of range limitations. Therefore, this paper studies the impact of extended range electric vehicle (EREV) solutions on travel behavior, energy demand, environment, and overall sustainable development in the greater Stuttgart region in Germany. An integrated large-scale simulation approach merging different models is applied for future scenarios in 2025. The results show that with EREVs (1) most travel patterns can be fulfilled, (2) the impact on electricity generation is marginal, and (3) there is a high potential to reduce local emissions in areas with high traffic density. Overall, electric mobility is evaluated as one component toward sustainable development in the study area. This study demonstrates the complexity of the topic and highlights the importance of addressing this issue with a multidisciplinary approach.

Abstracts:The Bucharest Metropolitan Area (BMA) is witnessing rapid urban growth under the form of urban sprawl, which leads to a continuous expansion of the city over wider territories beyond its outskirts. The relationship between urban growth and proximity explanatory driving factors is one of the most important in understanding and forecasting the spatial and temporal dynamics of sprawl. Thus, the current study only considers distance variables in explaining the process of urban growth and identifying areas most propitious to future urban development. The authors used spatial data extracted from Landsat satellite images and map imagery software using geographical information system (GIS) techniques resulting in five thematic maps—built-up areas, roads, forests, water bodies, and major commercial centers—for two periods: 1990–2002 (${\mathrm{T}}_1$) and 2002–2015 (${\mathrm{T}}_2$). In order to identify and quantify urban growth, binary logistic regression was performed to identify empirical relationships between a binary dependent (urban growth) variable and nine independent variables: distance to Bucharest, nearest urban centers, nearest major roads, secondary roads, nearest road junction, existing built-up areas, major commercial centers, forested areas, and water bodies (water courses and lakes). Modeling results demonstrate that urban growth in the BMA has been mainly triggered by transportation networks (both major and secondary) and the proximity of existing built-up areas, whereas natural features (e.g., rivers, lakes, forests) have had no significant influence on urban growth processes, especially after 2002. Therefore, future growth is more likely to occur in areas that have good accessibility and connectivity to the transportation network and in areas close to the existing built-up areas, mainly within localities neighboring the city of Bucharest.

Abstracts:Spatial-development policies in India have aimed to achieve balanced regional development. However, these attempts have had limited success, as development is still concentrated in certain large urban areas. For that reason, sustainably accommodating the country’s projected population increase remains a challenge. Taking the Delhi National Capital Region (NCR) as a case study and utilizing digitized tehsil boundaries and transport networks from regional plans, along with the recently released 2011 census enumeration, this paper investigates both recent settlement developments and the influence of the transport infrastructure on balanced regional development. The results reveal that population growth is concentrated in and around Delhi. A positive relationship has been established between the provision of major road infrastructure and employment growth in the peripheral areas. According to current trends, reducing disparities will require a mix of top-down and bottom-up approaches to enforce infrastructure-integrated spatial development and to strengthen the regional and local authorities to facilitate plan formulation and implementation.

Abstracts:This article focuses on the procedure for city planning in relation to public parks. Using the example of the City of Prague, the article first describes the methodology for the creation of the new land use plan, namely in terms of the arrangement of parks and important forested areas within the city. The hierarchy of parks, the lack of parks arising from population density, and the accessibility of parks for city residents are examined. The article also describes a newly developed comprehensive method for the assessment of areas of so-called urban jungles that are currently unused and are potentially suitable as new parks. The main objective of both parts is to find, assess, and recommend suitable areas for construction of new parks so that their location corresponds to people’s needs yet complements the composition of the city. The research predominantly showed a local rather than global lack of parks, localized in particular on the right, less rugged, bank of the Vltava in areas of the eastern periphery of the city with a lower population density.

Abstracts:Coastal areas are highly populated because people place considerable value on the coast for many reasons, namely aesthetic, naturalistic, and utilitarian. The physical manifestation of modernity in communities stimulates the privatization of these areas, contributing to social isolation. The term gated community is a term privileged among planners, politicians, developers, and society. It refers to the residential area where entrance is constrained by walls, fences, and gates, which causes the exclusion of public access to services such as the natural landscape of coasts, parks, and sport facilities within. Darya-Kenar and Khezer-Shahr coastal gated communities in the north of Iran were built in the 1960s by the government and are now luxury places for residential and recreational activities. This research aims to define the causes of and consequences for social well-being from gating in a coastal tourist area and explains the challenges of an exclusive public shoreline. The enclosed nature of the gated communities, which restricts public access to the shoreline inside the gates, raises the issue of social segregation in the region. The participatory and collective rationality for decision making in gated communities has increased social cohesion and caused explicit local determination for maintenance of the privatized public shoreline. But for the public sector, with its centralized manner and monopoly power, public goals are difficult to meet due to their inefficient organizational structures and the lack of public knowledge and information considering environmental values. As a result of uncontrolled increased development, limited funding, insufficient percipience of inhabitants about the concept of public access to the shoreline, and the prioritization of organizational interests over public ones, public policy cannot effectively encourage its implementation without sufficient political will, adequate regulatory enforcement, and organizational capacities.

Abstracts:Building on self-reports of a sample of 336 residents who have often experienced a shift from low to high density living in Tehran, this study tests a hypothesis suggesting that, in the context of attempts to escape and restore from chronic noise, contact load, and the sense of encapsulation, a compact city might increase discretionary car travel. Findings support the hypothesis as these density stressors increased the car travel time of 30–48% of respondents by at least 7–24% for escape and restoration. This appears to offset the trip-reduction benefit of higher density living. If a 5% reduction is assumed in car travel distance in the sample districts in the context of density, and, under the optimistic scenario, that the time-distance ratio is 1 in high density areas, this finding feeds into the conclusion that high density might have had no positive effect on, or even increased to a limited degree, the overall time of car travel. Caution is, however, advised in the direct application of these findings because of sample and literature adaptation limitations.