Article
Plant Sciences
Shan Yin, Wendy Y. Chen, Chunjiang Liu
Summary: Urban forests offer various ecosystem services, with a growing focus on their role in improving public health by reducing mental stress and providing attractive spaces for physical activities, especially in the context of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and the urgent need for post-pandemic urban transformation towards healthier cities. This communication summarizes existing empirical evidence on the connection between urban forests and public health maintenance and improvement, highlights three underlying mechanisms (physiological, psychological, and immunological pathways), and outlines practical implications for the establishment and management of urban forests as a strategy for planning healthy cities.
URBAN FORESTRY & URBAN GREENING
(2023)
Article
Public, Environmental & Occupational Health
Margarita Triguero-Mas, Isabelle Anguelovski, Helen V. S. Cole
Summary: The COVID-19 pandemic crisis has highlighted the importance of caring tasks in addressing social inequities and environmental injustices. A proposed 'just ecofeminist healthy cities' research approach aims to improve human health standards by focusing on socially underprivileged residents, while recognizing the interconnectedness of human health with environment and non-human animals.
JOURNAL OF EPIDEMIOLOGY AND COMMUNITY HEALTH
(2022)
Article
Urban Studies
Sierra Woodruff, Ann O' M. Bowman, Bryce Hannibal, Garett Sansom, Kent Portney
Summary: Resilience has become an important concept in urban governance, but the actual policies and programs adopted by cities vary greatly. Different cities have different interpretations and strategies for resilience, with varying levels of attention given to social vulnerability and climate change impacts.
Article
Urban Studies
Marie-Christine Therrien, Julie-Maude Normandin, Shona Paterson, Mark Pelling
Summary: Urban resilience has become a significant public policy objective, with local authorities playing a key role in the implementation process. Urban civil servants are faced with the challenge of transitioning from stovepipe administration to collaborative networks focused on preparedness and vulnerability reduction. Efforts in cities like London and Montreal to integrate crisis management priorities with long-term planning, particularly in response to climate change, serve as catalysts for transforming governance mechanisms.
Review
Environmental Sciences
Cathryn Tonne, Linda Adair, Deepti Adlakha, Isabelle Anguelovski, Kristine Belesova, Maximilian Berger, Christa Brelsford, Payam Dadvand, Asya Dimitrova, Billie Giles-Corti, Andreas Heinz, Nassim Mehran, Mark Nieuwenhuijsen, Francois Pelletier, Otavio Ranzani, Marianne Rodenstein, Diego Rybski, Sahar Samavati, David Satterthwaite, Jonas Schoendorf, Dirk Schreckenberg, Joerg Stollmann, Hannes Taubenboeck, Geetam Tiwari, Bert van Wee, Mazda Adli
Summary: This paper elaborates on the multiple links between urban sustainability and human health, while mapping research gaps in the interface of health and urban sustainability sciences. The need for new research approaches to study complex urban systems and their links with health is highlighted, along with specific actions to promote health through sustainable urban development. Effective governance and equity-driven planning are emphasized as critical in progress towards sustainable, healthy, and just urban development.
ENVIRONMENT INTERNATIONAL
(2021)
Article
Environmental Sciences
Edoardo Croci, Benedetta Lucchitta, Tania Molteni
Summary: The Covenant of Mayors aims to support cities in reducing CO2 emissions, with cities in the sample planning to reduce emissions mainly in the Building and Transport sectors through the implementation of management and organization, infrastructure construction, and awareness-raising policies.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Sean Bradley, Israa H. Mahmoud, Alessandro Arlati
Summary: This article discusses the implementation of Nature-based Solutions in socially disadvantaged neighborhoods through Urban Living Labs in London, Milan, and Hamburg under the CLEVER Cities Horizon 2020 framework. The study aims to identify governance frameworks that are integrated, collaborative, and adaptive, in order to achieve innovation in governance structures in cities. It also analyzes the dynamic models of collaborative governance at different points in time.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Tara Vanli
Summary: Smart cities are gaining popularity worldwide as a means to achieve sustainable urban development, but there is limited evidence on their impact on urban sustainability. This study examines the concept of smart complementarity and investigates whether the governance of smart complementarities positively affects sustainability. The findings suggest that while smart city initiatives have improved economic sustainability, they have compromised environmental and social sustainability.
ENVIRONMENT DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY
(2023)
Article
Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology
Xiaoyong Xiao, Chao Xie
Summary: This study examines the impact of the smart city construction model on big data and rational planning theory, and finds that smart city construction can significantly promote regional economic growth, with improving residents' media literacy playing a crucial role in unleashing the vitality of smart city development.
ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY & INNOVATION
(2021)
Article
Urban Studies
Qiao Li, Lian Liu, Zhiwei Guo, Pandi Vijayakumar, Farhad Taghizadeh-Hesary, Keping Yu
Summary: This paper proposes a smart assessment and forecasting framework for the healthy development index in urban cities (HDI-UC). It combines a previous assessment model with Gaussian process regression to directly forecast future HDI-UC values. The framework is validated using real-world statistical data from China, showing acceptable prediction error.
Article
Environmental Studies
Richard Crisp, David Waite, Anne Green, Ceri Hughes, Ruth Lupton, Danny MacKinnon, Andy Pike
Summary: Crises such as the 2008 global financial crisis, COVID-19 pandemic, and climate emergency are sparking discussions about economic development approaches in urban settings. This paper critically assesses five alternative policy responses to urban economic change, namely inclusive growth, the wellbeing economy, community wealth building, doughnut economics, and the foundational economy. It compares their visions, mechanisms for change, and implementation scales, highlighting their potential to achieve transformative change in urban communities but also the need for ongoing scrutiny and evaluation.
Article
Urban Studies
Subina Shrestha, Havard Haarstad
Summary: Sustainable urban logistics is crucial for achieving urban sustainability goals. The European Union (EU) set an ambitious target of CO2-free urban logistics by 2030, but its influence on national and local policymaking is not clear.
Article
Environmental Studies
Wei Zhang, Xinxin Zhang, Guangdong Wu
Summary: Urban renewal is a crucial strategic choice for promoting urban development, involving multiple stakeholders with complex interests that need to be coordinated. Using a social network method to construct a network model can effectively analyze urban renewal issues, with the study emphasizing the importance of collaborative relationships among multiple entities for successful urban renewal outcomes.
Article
Green & Sustainable Science & Technology
Jose A. Puppim de Oliveira, Abubakari Ahmed
Summary: Urban agriculture provides significant potential for innovation in developing countries, but faces challenges such as land competition and lack of policy guidance. This article examines governance roles in improving sustainability benefits of urban agriculture in Accra, Ghana, identifying problems and potential solutions. Issues could be addressed through removing perverse incentives, conflicting regulations, and providing secure land tenure and technical support.
JOURNAL OF CLEANER PRODUCTION
(2021)
Editorial Material
Energy & Fuels
Paola Clerici Maestosi
Summary: This Special Issue introduces contemporary research on Smart Cities and Positive Energy Districts, highlighting the variety of research within this field and the challenges of sustainable urban development. The focus is on how stakeholders and Municipalities are addressing these challenges and the overview of the Horizon Europe RD&I program on sustainable urban areas.