Historical Structural Racism in the Built Environment and Physical Health among Residents of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.

Historical structural racism in the built environment contributes to health inequities, yet to date, research has almost exclusively focused on racist policy of redlining. We expand upon this conceptualization of historical structural racism by examining the potential associations of probable blockbusting, urban renewal, and proximity to displacement from freeway construction, along with redlining, to multiple contemporary health measures. Analyses linked historical structural racism, measured continuously at the census-tract level using archival data sources, to present-day residents' physical health measures drawn from publicly accessible records for Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. Outcome measures included average life expectancy and the percentage of residents reporting hypertension, stroke, coronary heart disease, smoking, insufficient sleep, sedentary behavior, and no health insurance coverage. Multiple regression analyses were conducted to examine separate and additive associations between structural racism and physical health measures. Redlining, probable blockbusting, and urban renewal were associated with shorter life expectancy and a higher prevalence of cardiovascular conditions, risky health behaviors, and residents lacking health insurance coverage. Probable blockbusting and urban renewal had the most consistent correlations with all 8 health measures, while freeway displacement was not reliably associated with health. Additive models explained a greater proportion of variance in health than any individual structural racism measure alone. Moreover, probable blockbusting and urban renewal accounted for relatively more variance in health compared to redlining, suggesting that research should consider these other measures in addition to redlining. These preliminary correlational findings underscore the importance of considering multiple aspects of historical structural racism in relation to current health inequities and serve as a starting point for additional research.

Product and process: New York's Model Cities vest-pocket housing and rehabilitation programme.

In January 1966, US President Lyndon Johnson proposed the Model Cities programme to 'improve the quality of urban life' in the nation's poorest areas through comprehensive action and citizen participation. That same month, John Lindsay became mayor of New York with a platform to create a more equitable city. Toward this end, Lindsay's administration rejected earlier urban renewal approaches, prioritizing infill construction on vacant sites and reusing existing buildings, all while including local communities in the planning process. Eugenia Flatow spearheaded this 'vest-pocket and rehabilitation programme' as a 'head start' to future Model Cities funding. As she commissioned Raymond & May, Walter Thabit, Jonas Vizbaras, and Fisher/Jackson with housing plans for Brooklyn, the Bronx, and Harlem, she was acutely aware of the resulting tension between a desired democratic process and the timely delivery of the product. A close reading of archival materials reveals how these planners responded in very different ways to the prompt. The governmental programme had created a space of possibility for rethinking the relationship of product and process in planning through the specificity of housing design. The plans also highlighted the paradox in attempting to effect socio-economic change through housing supply, one that still resonates today.

A hierarchical model of accelerating factors to promote urban renewal and reconstruction of unsafe and old buildings.

The issue of urban renewal is complex and multifaceted. In this study, six specialists in the construction industry were invited to conduct audio interviews, which were compiled into verbatim text. The key phrases were extracted by Grounded theory, and three levels of coding were retrieved. The data were categorized into ten accelerating urban renewal factors in three constructs to establish an Analytic Hierarchy Process framework. Using institutional theory to construct outcomes based on grounded theory, transforming these into specific urban renewal relation issue elements. 113 AHP questionnaires were collected from five types of specialists, including practitioners, professionals, participants in urban renewal, academics, and government staff. The results show that relaxing the plot ratio control and incentives is ranked No. 1 by practitioners, participants in urban renewal, professionals, and academics, indicating that the factor is highly valued by specialists but neglected by government staff. Secondly, practitioners, academics, participants in urban renewal, and professionals identified incentives and rewards for urban renewal and enhancing the trust and credibility of urban renewal projects as crucial factors. However, the government staff showed a different weighting. This indicates that government staff is determined to accelerate urban renewal. Finally, the suggestion of this study is in line with the views of the specialists interviewed, who suggest that the government should hold public hearings regularly and seriously to listen to people and specialists. Only through public hearings can all parties reach a consensus. The government should consolidate the views of all parties to amend or enact a bill on urban renewal that is more in line with the changes of the times, including appropriately relaxing the control of building plot ratio and other accelerating factors, to promote urban renewal in Taiwan.

Coupled and collaborative optimization model of impervious surfaces and drainage systems from the flooding mitigation perspective for urban renewal.

Urban pluvial flooding mitigation is a significant challenge in city development. Many mature methods have been used to reduce the risk of flood. The optimal design of impervious surfaces (ODIS) is an adaptive solution to urban flooding from the perspective of urban renewal planning. However, existing ODIS models are limited because they do not consider the drainage systems. To address this issue, this study proposes an elastic and controllable optimization model based on assumptions about rainstorm and drainage capacity, nondominated sorting genetic algorithm-II (NSGA-II), multivariate linear programming (MLP) and soil conservation service curve number model (SCS-CN) in a case study of the old town of Guangzhou city, China. The model not only coupled the drainage systems, but also collaboratively optimized the impervious surfaces and the drainage systems. The results show that the proposed model achieved an optimized efficiency of 5.70 %, which is more than a tenfold improvement compared to existing ODIS models. The study emphasizes that the optimization of the drainage system should be the focus and the optimization of impervious surfaces should be supplementary, and different flood risk areas require different optimization strategies. Furthermore, transforming impervious surfaces into a "high-low-high" spatial distribution of impervious surface densities is the optimal design solution for impervious surfaces. In general, this study offers a novel perspective and approach to urban flooding mitigation, enabling comprehensive control of flooding from a global perspective.

Effects of landscape on thermal livability at the community scale based on fine-grained geographic information: A case study of Shenzhen.

In the current research, the question of how to modify the microclimate through landscape planning to create a livable thermal environment within a residential community area has not been clarified. Therefore, this study investigated the effects of landscape on thermal livability in 2980 communities in Shenzhen, and obtained the following findings: (1) the proportion of trees and the average building height were key indicators to determine the average land surface temperature (LST) of a community, while the two-dimensional building characteristics, particularly shape, similarity, and patch dominance, were mainly responsible for regulating the spatial distribution of LST within a community; (2) at the community scale, the cooling intensity of buildings was strongest when their average height was around 40-60 m, and cooling effect of trees was most pronounced when their proportion achieved 20 %; and (3) the LST threshold for thermal livability in Shenzhen was around 35 °C. In summer, a higher proportion of trees and grass, as well as buildings with higher average heights, larger volume ratios, and more complex three-dimensional structures were favorable to maintain a livable community thermal environment, while in winter, a lower proportion of trees was more encouraged. In addition, a smaller average sky view factor can achieve a community thermal environment that warm in winter and cool in summer. These results are expected to facilitate urban planners to develop community renewal from the perspective of thermal livability.

Differences in the evolution of urban and rural surface thermal environment and their responses to urban renewal in Shanghai, China.

The rapid and extensive urbanization has profound impacts on urban thermal environment. It is of great significance to comprehensively understand how urbanization affects the evolution of urban thermal environment for urban ecological safety, environmental quality, and residents' health. Based on daily land surface temperature (LST) products of MODIS Aqua satellite in the summer of 2002-2020, we investigated the evolution of urban-rural differences in surface summer thermal environment in Shanghai during 2002-2020 and its response to urban spatial renewal. We used normalized land surface temperature (NLST) and urban heat island ratio index (URI) as the surface thermal environment measurement indicators, by combining vegetation index and impervious surface cove-rage, and used M-K trend analysis and interpretation analysis. The results showed that the linear growth rate of LST in Shanghai was 0.09 ℃·a-1 (2002-2020), and that URI showed a trend of first increasing (2002-2010) and then decreasing (2010-2020). The mean summer LST was generally in the order of urban core>suburban>rural. 1.6% of the areas showed a significant cooling trend, of which 54.0% were distributed in the urban core. 39.5% of the regions showed a significant warming trend, of which 77.6% were distributed in the suburban. In general, there were concentrated significant cooling areas in the highly urbanized urban areas, while there was a significant warming trend in the suburban. The transformation from urban expansion to urban renewal was the main reason for the emergence of concentrated and significant cooling areas in the urban. Nearly 20% of the urban area showed a signi-ficant increase of vegetation coverage. Urban renewal projects such as gathering vegetation or dispersing impervious surfaces in highly urbanized areas are important ways to effectively improve the urban residential thermal environment.

Evaluation of socio-economic-ecological environmental benefits of urban renewal projects based on the coupling coordination degree.

The success of urban renewal projects is attributed to the synergistic development of economic, social, and environmental sustainability. However, people often seek unilateral economic benefits and ignore the coupling and coordination degree of economy-social ecological and environmental benefits. This paper attempts to evaluate the success and sustainability of urban renewal projects based on the coupling coordination degree (CCD) of economic-social-ecological benefits. Firstly, this study relies on a literature review and structural interviews to build a coupling indicator system of economic-social-ecological benefits of urban renewal projects and calculates the weight of evaluation indicators based on the entropy method. Taking 15 urban renewal projects in Guangzhou as objects, this research measures their CCD and explores the coupling relationship. The research results show that (1) among the 60 comprehensive benefit evaluation indicator elements of urban renewal projects, the indicator element with a larger weight is " Education support facilities," the economic benefit indicator element with greater weight is "Regional housing price of renewal areas," and the ecological benefit indicator element with a large weight is "Vitality, and health of the urban landscape, and the characteristics of meeting the needs of residents of all ages." (2) From the project dimension, the evaluation value of the social, economic, and ecological environment benefits of different reconstruction projects have certain differences. From the perspective of the regional dimension, the CCD of comprehensive benefits of urban renewal projects has obvious regional differences. The projects with a high CCD are mostly distributed in the most economically developed regions. The economic and social benefits of the renewal projects located in the economic core of the city center are usually higher, but their eco-environmental benefits are not necessarily the highest. (3) The government should innovate the reconstruction mode of diversified development, improve the public participation mechanism, and build an efficient urban renewal ecosystem. This study concludes that the government should introduce relevant urban renewal policies to provide a theoretical basis and guidance for enterprises to participate in urban renewal projects.

Sustainable brownfield redevelopment and planning: Bibliometric and visual analysis.

Environmental and urban sciences have shown that brownfield problems significantly impact human behavior and the environment. Understanding the sustainable planning and redevelopment of brownfields can help governments and financial partners consider sustainable urban policies a key priority. This study presents a bibliometric analysis of research publications on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields through the Scopus database since 1990. The redevelopment of brownfields has an essential role in urban sustainability, so research trends on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields in previous literature are revealed. To our knowledge, the bibliometric analysis of the term sustainable redevelopment of brownfields is not yet an accentuated field of research. To do this, this study aims to fill this gap by offering a broad overview of the bibliometric analysis of the literature relating to this term. Brownfield and contaminated land are used as keywords in the article titles taken from the Scopus database on September 07, 2021. A total of 7197 scientific articles (Scopus) were reviewed to show how the research on "brownfields or contaminated land" has emerged and developed. Social media analysis (VOSviewer) was used for data visualization, and Harzing's Publish or Perish used for metrics and citation analysis. The results showed an increase in the growth rate of the literature on sustainable brownfield redevelopment since 1990, particularly from 2011 to 2020. Research related to the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields has involved various authors and is published in various languages. There are 160 authors from 126 countries and 160 institutions. China is the largest contributor to this study, followed by the United States and the United Kingdom. The Chemosphere Journal has published the most articles on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields. Although our results also indicate that studies on the sustainable redevelopment of brownfields are mainly carried out in the field of environmental sciences. Some avenues for future research have been analyzed in three directions so that sustainable development can easily be integrated into a brownfield redevelopment project.

Remote sensing identification of green plastic cover in urban built-up areas.

Urban renewal can transform areas that are not adapted to modern urban life, allowing them to redevelop and flourish; however, the renewal process generates many new construction sites, producing environmentally harmful construction dust. The widespread use of urban green plastic cover (GPC) at construction sites and the development of high-resolution satellites have made it possible to extract the spatial distribution of construction sites and provide a basis for environmental protection authorities to protect against dust sources. Existing GPC extraction methods based on remote sensing images are either difficult to obtain the exact boundary of GPC or cannot provide corresponding algorithms according to different application scenarios. In order to determine the distribution of green plastic cover in the built-up area, this paper selects a variety of typical machine learning algorithms to classify the land cover of the test area image and selects K-nearest neighbor as the best machine learning algorithm through accuracy evaluation. Then multiple deep learning methods were used and the top networks with high overall scores were selected by comparing various aspects. Then these networks were used to predict the GPC of the test area image, and the accuracy evaluation results showed that the segmentation accuracy of deep learning was much higher than that of machine learning methods, but it took more time to predict. Therefore, combining different application scenarios, this paper gives the corresponding suggested methods for GPC extraction.

The renew plans of urban thermal environment optimization for traditional districts in Xi'an, China.

During the process of the high-speed urbanization in Chinese cities, the social, economic, and political status and the interaction between each factor have been more focused on urban traditional district renewal. However, the effects on urban microclimate and the residential living conditions in traditional districts are not well discussed, which is strongly related to the living comfort and citizens' well-being. In this study, two typical traditional districts in Xi'an are selected. According to the original situation of building functions and the community characteristics, two renewal plans are proposed by adding vegetation in open spaces (V), and adding vegetation combined with building redevelopment (V&B), in order to balance the living convenience and thermal environment. Via ENVI-met simulation, the effects of the district renewal plans on thermal environment including wind speed, air temperature, and mean radiant temperature are evaluated. This study provides method of environmental evaluation for traditional district renewal, which contributes to sustainable urban planning in historical districts, and provides recommendations for related policy development.

Considerations for an urban health perspective in Chile from the "Quiero Mi Barrio" program

ABSTRACT OBJECTIVES To explore the perceptions of residents regarding their health and well-being in areas of personal and collective life, in relation to the experience of urban transformation originated by the Program for the Recovery of Neighborhoods in Chile "Quiero mi Barrio" (PQMB). METHODS Qualitative study conducted in eight neighborhoods, which were subject to interventions between 2012-2015, located in seven communes of Chile: Arica, Renca, Padre Las Casas, Villarrica, Castro, Ancud. Eighteen focus groups and 27 interviews were conducted between 2018 and 2019. A content analysis was carried out following the social determinants of health approach. RESULTS Material conditions of neighborhood infrastructure and psychosocial determinants were the main emerging and predominant categories in the residents' narratives. The new or improved infrastructure enhances sports and playing practices, as well as contributes to the feeling of safety and to the improvement of walkable spaces, support networks, socialization and dynamization of social organization. However, neglected aspects were visualized. The program had limitations of structural character that operate locally, such as aging, individual lifestyles that limit participation, and contexts of insecurity, especially in neighborhoods victims of drug trafficking. CONCLUSIONS The urban changes originated by the PQMB included improvements in neighborhood infrastructure and in the psychosocial environment, which are perceived by residents as beneficial aspects and promoters of collective wellbeing. However, global phenomena, and those related to the program, limit its scope and have repercussions on the perception of overall wellbeing of the residents in the neighborhoods. To go deeper into how this or other state neighborhood programs may or may not favor equitable access of different social groups, or which works may be better used by the groups, is an aspect that enhances the integral action with other sectors and local actors in the territories.

"Mi vida va a ser mucho mejor de lo que ha sido": estudio cualitativo sobre el vínculo entre regeneración de viviendas sociales, calidad de vida y salud / "My life will be much better than before": a qualitative study on the relationship between renewal of public housing, quality of life, and health / "Minha vida vai ser muito melhor do que antes": estudo qualitativo sobre a relação entre revitalização de moradias populares, qualidade de vida e saúde

El objetivo fue conocer el vínculo entre la vivienda, la salud y la calidad de vida en un contexto de regeneración de viviendas sociales, a partir de las experiencias y percepciones de sus habitantes, indagando en aquellos mecanismos que sostienen este vínculo antes de la regeneración, y en aquellos elementos derivados de la regeneración de la vivienda que se materializan en mejoras en la calidad de vida y potencialmente en la salud. Entre 1980 y los 2000, Chile enfrentó un masivo déficit cuantitativo de vivienda mediante una política que entregó más de 120.000 departamentos de vivienda social de bajo costo. Hoy en día, miles presentan severos problemas de habitabilidad, generando consecuencias negativas para sus habitantes, su salud y bienestar. Buscando dar solución al deterioro de la vivienda y el espacio público, el Ministerio de Vivienda y Urbanismo desarrolló el Programa de Regeneración de Conjuntos Habitacionales. El proyecto RUCAS busca evaluar los efectos del programa en la salud y evidenciar el impacto de intervenciones como éstas en poblaciones vulnerables en Latinoamérica. Se presentan resultados de 8 entrevistas y 2 grupos focales realizados en un conjunto de vivienda social en proceso de intervención en Viña del Mar. Usando análisis de contenido discursivo, los resultados muestran que la mala calidad material de la vivienda se percibe como dañino para la salud. La vivienda regenerada en tanto, promueve la recuperación y re-apropiación de los espacios y sus usos, la sociabilidad, nuevas prácticas saludables, sentimientos positivos y bienestar psicológico, emergiendo el componente psicosocial de la relación de las personas con su vivienda. Se concluye que la regeneración de la vivienda tiene el potencial de beneficiar a la salud física y mental por mecanismos tanto directos, devenidos de la materialidad renovada, como indirectos relacionados con las prácticas y experiencias en el espacio habitado.

The objective was to understand the link between housing, health and quality of life in a context of social housing regeneration, through the experiences and perceptions of its inhabitants, exploring the mechanisms that sustain this link before regeneration, and those elements derived from housing regeneration that result in improvements in quality of life and potentially in health. Between 1980 and the 2000s, Chile faced a massive quantitative housing deficit through a policy that delivered more than 120,000 low-cost social housing apartments. Today, thousands present severe habitability problems, generating negative consequences for their inhabitants, their health and well-being. Seeking to solve the deterioration of housing and neighborhoods, the Chilean Ministry of Housing and Urbanism developed the Housing Complex Regeneration Program. The RUCAS project seeks to evaluate the effects of the program on health and to assess the impact of interventions such as these on vulnerable populations in Latin America. We present results of 8 interviews and 2 focus groups conducted in a social housing complex in process of intervention in Viña del Mar. Using discursive content analysis, results show that the poor material quality of housing is perceived as harmful to health. Regenerated housing, on the other hand, promotes the recovery and re-appropriation of spaces and their uses, sociability, new healthy practices, positive feelings and psychological well-being, bringing to the fore the psychosocial component of people's relationship with their house. It is concluded that housing regeneration has the potential to benefit physical and mental health through both direct mechanisms, derived from the renovated materiality, and indirect mechanisms related to the practices and experiences of the lived space.

O objetivo foi compreender a relação entre habitação, saúde e qualidade de vida em um contexto de regeneração da habitação social, com base nas experiências e percepções de seus habitantes, investigando aqueles mecanismos que sustentam esta relação antes da regeneração, e aqueles elementos derivados da regeneração que se materializam em melhorias na qualidade de vida e potencialmente na saúde. Entre 1980 e os anos 2000, o Chile enfrentou um enorme déficit habitacional quantitativo através de uma política que proporcionou mais de 120.000 moradias sociais de baixo custo. Hoje, milhares apresentam graves problemas de habitabilidade, gerando consequências negativas para seus habitantes, sua saúde e bem-estar. Em busca de uma solução para a deterioração da habitação e seus bairros, o Ministério da Habitação e Urbanismo do Chile desenvolveu o Programa de Regeneração Habitacional. O projeto RUCAS procura avaliar os efeitos do programa sobre a saúde e o impacto de tais intervenções sobre populações vulneráveis na América Latina. São apresentados os resultados de 8 entrevistas e 2 grupos focais realizados em um complexo habitacional social no processo de intervenção em Viña del Mar. Usando análise discursiva de conteúdo, os resultados mostram que a má qualidade do material da habitação é percebida como prejudicial à saúde. A moradia regenerada, por outro lado, promove a recuperação e reapropriação dos espaços e seus usos, a sociabilidade, novas práticas saudáveis, sentimentos positivos e bem-estar psicológico, emergindo o componente psicossocial da relação das pessoas com sua moradia. Conclui-se que a regeneração habitacional tem o potencial de beneficiar a saúde física e mental tanto através de mecanismos diretos, decorrentes da materialidade renovada, como de mecanismos indiretos relacionados às práticas e experiências no espaço vivido.

Evaluation and Analysis of Design Elements for Sustainable Renewal of Urban Vulnerable Spaces.

The sustainable renewal design of urban vulnerable spaces is critical for urban space quality improvement. Taking Zhengzhou and surrounding cities as examples, a cognitive framework of urban vulnerable spaces is constructed. The three types of urban vulnerable spaces are vulnerable population, vulnerable cultural, and vulnerable forgotten spaces. Their sustainable renewal design elements comprise multidimensional factors, such as functional requirement, space organization, activity facility, urban context continuation, and material texture. The design elements for the sustainable update of urban vulnerable spaces are evaluated by grey relation analysis (GRA), and update strategies are proposed. The result shows that (1) vulnerable population spaces were shown to have the highest sensitivity to functional requirements and activity facility design elements, while vulnerable cultural spaces have high relevance to urban context continuation and functional requirement design elements. Furthermore, space organization, activity facility, and urban context continuation design elements all show high relevance and importance in vulnerable forgotten spaces. (2) The update of vulnerable population spaces should be designed to achieve functional communion; vulnerable cultural spaces can be reshaped through urban context implantation, and vulnerable forgotten spaces can use space creation to enhance ecological space continuity, achieving sustainable renewal. The study provides a reference for decision-making for improving urban vulnerable habitats and the sustainable renewal design of atypical urban space types.

To join the rebuild or not? An exploration of the factors influencing the public's intention to participate in urban renewal.

Due to the lack of trust in the builder and indeterminate benefits, it is a struggle for people in Taiwan to make up their minds to participate in urban renewal. This leads to the completion rate of urban renewal of fewer than one ten-thousandth of the new construction needed. This study investigated the perspective on the research variables for people in Taiwan and how those influence their intention to participate in urban renewal. Using the Theory of Planned Behavior, the research framework is designed with the trust of urban renewal project builders and the perceived benefits of public participation as the independent variables. Attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control are the mediating variables, and the general public's intention to participate in urban renewal is the dependent variable. A total of 545 valid questionnaires were collected through the survey. The results showed that the respondents' trust in the builder of the urban renewal project positively and significantly influenced their perceived benefits of the project, and the respondents' trust in the builder significantly influenced their subjective norms. The perceived benefits positively and significantly affected their attitudes and subjective norms, and people's attitudes, subjective norms, and perceived behavioral control positively and significantly affected their intention to participate in urban renewal. People's perceived benefits in urban renewal projects affected their participation intention through attitudes and subjective norms. The variable perceived benefits most strongly influenced people's intention to participate in urban renewal in this study. This study provides practical suggestions for the government and builders to increase people's intention to participate in urban renewal. This study modeled two independent variables, trust in the builder and perceived benefits, under the urban renewal context in Taiwan. In future works, other factors could be included, such as tax incentives, floor area rewards, and fair appraisal.

How to motivate planners to participate in community micro-renewal: An evolutionary game analysis.

In China, grassroots governments have attempted to introduce community planners into community micro-renewal, using their expertise to guide the design and implementation of community micro-renewal. However, issues remain to be studied and resolved, including how to effectively play the community planner role to coordinate multiple parties' interests. This study constructed an evolutionary game model based on the behaviors of multiple subjects with participation by community planners, to establish the payment functions on both sides of the game under different choice strategies; explore evolutionary stabilization strategies by replication dynamic equations; and to analyze the conditions for the multi-party evolutionary game to reach the ideal stable state. The findings: (1) Show that financial subsidies provided by the grassroots government to community planners have a positive effect on the latter's behavioral choices; (2) Illustrate the path of the tripartite evolutionary game among the grassroots government, residents, and community planners to reach ideal stability (incentive, active participation, and positive promotion); and (3) Describe how the project benefits from community planners promoting community micro-renewal can effectively promote their positive behavioral choices.

Neighbourhood Socioeconomic Processes and Dynamics and Healthy Ageing: A Scoping Review.

Elderly citizens are concentrated in urban areas and are particularly affected by the immediate residential environment. Cities are unequal and segregated places, where there is an intensification of urban change processes such as gentrification and displacement. We aimed to understand how neighbourhood socioeconomic processes and dynamics influence older people's health. Three bibliographic databases-PubMed, Web of Science, and Scopus-were used to identify evidence of the influence of neighbourhood socioeconomic deprivation, socio-spatial segregation, urban renewal, and gentrification on healthy ageing. We followed the method of Arksey and O'Malley, Levac and colleagues, the Joanna Briggs Institute, and the PRISMA-ScR. The included studies (n = 122) were published between 2001 and 2021. Most evaluated neighbourhood deprivation (n = 114), followed by gentrification (n = 5), segregation (n = 2), and urban renewal (n = 1). Overall, older people living in deprived neighbourhoods had worse healthy ageing outcomes than their counterparts living in more advantaged neighbourhoods. Older adults pointed out more negative comments than positive ones for gentrification and urban renewal. As to segregation, the direction of the association was not entirely clear. In conclusion, the literature has not extensively analysed the effects of segregation, gentrification, and urban renewal on healthy ageing, and more quantitative and longitudinal studies should be conducted to draw better inferences.

Management system for engineering and decoration waste: An exploratory study in Shenzhen.

Rapid urban development and renewal have caused large amounts of engineering and decoration waste to be produced. These wastes pose serious risks to the environment. Disposal and management of this waste have become problematic. A mean of 11.4 × 106 m3 of engineering and decoration waste will be produced each year in Shenzhen between 2018 and 2035. Engineering and decoration waste are currently mainly sent to landfill, but this requires large amounts of land and can cause serious environmental pollution. There are problems including irregular emissions, a disorderly transportation market, and inadequate disposal facilities, so policies for managing engineering and decoration waste need to be established. In this study, a hybrid approach was used to develop a system for managing the whole engineering and decoration waste system (generation, collection & transportation, and disposal). The system was developed after determining waste emission and disposal requirements through site visits, clarifying problems involved in waste collection and transportation through interviews, identifying suitable management practices in an expert seminar, and developing a management system through desktop surveys. It was found that new buildings produce 0.02-0.04 (m3 waste)/(m2 building) and 0.11-0.13 (m3 decoration waste)/(m2 building) and that emission limits are required. Construction enterprises employ private trucks to transport waste, and illegal dumping occurs. Directed collection and transportation is required. Public welfare requires a mechanism for managing engineering and decoration waste with clear responsibilities. Government-authorized construction and operation should be explored and implemented. A propagable engineering and decoration waste management system is proposed with three management modules, generation, collection & transportation, and disposal, to act as a strategy for improving engineering and decoration waste.

Evaluating the Comprehensive Benefit of Urban Renewal Projects on the Area Scale: An Integrated Method.

Globally, the challenges facing cities regarding urban decay, insufficient urban function, and fragmented urban development are enormous. Under this context, urban renewal provides opportunities to address these challenges and enhance urban sustainability. Thus, promoting urban renewal projects and improving their performance is a global topic. In many circumstances, urban renewal is planned and initiated on the project scale, but on the area scale, overall coordination of the projects can bring about comprehensive benefits to urban areas on a macro view. In practice, it still lacks a systematic evaluation approach to obtain a clear picture of such comprehensive benefits. In academia, the existing research studies are mainly focused on single-project evaluation. An integrated framework that provides a holistic assessment of area-scale project benefits is missing. Few fully consider the coupling coordination benefits between several urban renewal projects from an area-scale perspective. Thus, this paper aims to propose a framework for integrating an indicator evaluation system through a hybrid entropy weight method with Back Propagation (BP) neural network methods to evaluate the comprehensive benefit of urban renewal projects on the area scale, which is the level at which most development area-scale renewal projects take place in a city. The feasibility and effectiveness of this proposed framework are then verified in a case study of Chongqing, China. The results indicate that the proposed method that integrated multi-project characteristics can contribute to a bigger picture of benefit evaluation of urban renewal based on an area scale perspective. This therefore provides not only guidance for urban planners and policymakers to make better decisions, but also new insight for benefit evaluation in the field of urban development.

Research on the spatial layout optimization strategy of Huaihe Road Commercial Block in Hefei city based on space syntax theory.

Commercial block not only serves as a public space for the consumption, entertainment, and recreation of residents but also witnesses the history of urban commercial development. With the urban development and the improvement of people's living standards, most commercial blocks are faced with such problems as traffic congestion, simple commercial form, and unreasonable spatial layout. By taking the commercial block of Huaihe Commercial Pedestrian Street as an example and combining the axis and viewshed analysis method of space syntax theory, this article has analyzed the space and quantified the relevant data to analyze the spatial layout relationships of commercial blocks. As the outcomes, this article summarizes the strategies for optimizing the traffic space, scenic space, and commercial space of commercial blocks, hoping to facilitate the commercial block space layout optimization in the era of stock.

Right Sizing Flint's Infrastructure in the Wake of the Flint Water Crisis Would Constitute an Additional Environmental Injustice.

Right sizing has become an essential talking point in discussing next steps for postindustrial and shrinking cities as they struggle to maintain outdated, outsized infrastructure. Yet the literature has been clear that balancing economic and social objectives must be a key part of the discussion, especially given that historical patterns of disinvestment have disproportionately affected socioeconomically disadvantaged and racial/ethnic minority populations. In this Viewpoint, we illuminate concerns on a recent article published in this journal on right sizing that Flint (MI) should have enacted in the wake of its catastrophic water crisis. We present the nature of decline in Flint, as well as evidence from Flint's recent master plan and its history with urban renewal that demonstrates why recommending such a policy not only goes against common urban planning practice but misses the local context in Flint, which is marked by deep-seated apprehension of the inequitable underpinnings of historical urban planning practice.