Exploring the relationship between the COVID-19 pandemic and changes in travel behaviour: A qualitative study

During the COVID-19 crisis, a series of measures were taken to restrict travel and social activities outside the home in order to curb the pandemic and ameliorate its negative effects. These unprecedented measures have had a profound impact on the number and purposes of trips and modes of travel. In China, although the pandemic is now generally under control and transport availability has returned to nearly normal, the extent of the changes in travel behaviour wrought during and after the pandemic still remains unclear. Therefore, the aim of this paper is to investigate the differences in individual travel behaviours during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, using Huzhou as an example. Semi-structured interviews were used to examine the influence of COVID-19 on the travel behaviour and perceptions of different groups. The results indicate that, initially, travel demand was greatly reduced. Second, decreased travel reduced participation in activities, which can have adverse effects on people’s health as well as their subjective well-being. Third, the degree and duration of such impacts varied from person to person. Students, lower income cohorts, groups living in small communities with insufficient green spaces, and those working in tourism, catering, informal businesses and transport-related sectors were more vulnerable than others. Policymakers, urban and transport planners should therefore pay attention to the social inequities that arise from unequal access to transport and heterogeneity between individuals. Additionally, public transport systems require further development to promote social cohesion

A spatially explicit approach for analysing the landscape pattern of urban vegetation using remotely sensed data and its impacts on urban surface temperature.

Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.The landscape pattern of urban green spaces and vegetation plays a significant role in supplying essential benefits and ecological services including sequestering and storing carbon, purification of air and water, regulating climate and providing recreational opportunities. However, due to the negative impacts of land cover change and rapid rates of urbanization, vegetation in an urban landscape typically becomes isolated and highly heterogeneous in space and time, relative to non-urban landscapes or natural areas. This research aimed to develop a spatially explicit approach based on remotely sensed data to quantify and monitor vegetation fragmentation and landscape structure of urban vegetation over time and its related impacts on the urban thermal environment using Harare metropolitan city in Zimbabwe as a case study. Specifically, multi-temporal Sentinel 2, Landsat 8 and Aster data were used in achieving the above objectives. Results based on the forest fragmentation model showed that the patch vegetation conditions, which represents the highest and severe vegetation fragmentation level, were dominant across the landscape, followed by edge, transition and perforated, whilst the core vegetation covered a small portion of the city. The decrease of large, connected and contiguous vegetation to a more scattered and fragmented vegetated patches was common across the city but more dominant in the heavily built-up areas of western, eastern and the southern parts of the city, indicating the significant impact of urban development. The small, isolated and scattered vegetation patches were associated with low positive and negative spatial autocorrelation of Local Indicators of Spatial Association (LISA) indices. On the other hand, the more homogeneous (clustered) vegetation was associated with high positive spatial autocorrelation in the northern part of Harare metropolitan city. Furthermore, the study showed that clustered, highly connected vegetation produces stronger cooling effects than dispersed, isolated and smaller patches of vegetation. Overall, spatial explicit approach and tools including the forest fragmentation model and LISA indices could play a significant role in landscape ecology with significant implications for conservation and restoration efforts based on the delineation of spatially explicit clusters of high or low vegetation cover, core or patch or edge vegetation conditions

Multiple Roles for Landscape Ecology in Future Farming Systems

This book is a printed edition of the Special Issue “Multiple Roles for Landscape Ecology in Future Farming Systems” that was published in Land. This book aims to inspire landscape ecologists to explore theories and practical tools that can assist in the planning, design, modification, and development of new farming landscapes with the best environmental, economic, and social outcomes in mind. It is also hoped that it will contribute toward developing land systems and land management practices for specific landscapes that meet the goals of increased nutritious food production in the face of market and climatic variability whilst reducing environmental impacts and enhancing natural capital and assisting to drive and support the transformative changes in the socioeconomic and environmental systems of rural areas required for future food production