Blue Spaces as Social Spaces: Measuring the Uses and Values of Urban Waterfronts

Due to a combination of climate change-driven threats and economic opportunities, cities across the world are investing billions of dollars in waterfront infrastructure and coastal restoration. Urban planners and park managers are often tasked with designing and programming blue spaces to maximize ecosystem services (ES) for local users. However, it is not always clear which ES are most valued, and by whom. Thus, the design of urban waterfronts presents challenges in identifying how communities engage with these spaces and how new planning might alter such uses if not accounted for. This paper describes a Rapid Social Assessment (RSA) methodology that has been piloted in the NYC metropolitan area to successfully ground community engagement and planning in an understanding of how urban blue spaces are currently used. This methodology can be coupled with other types of data collection for a better characterization of the coupled human-natural dynamics of these spaces, and can be adapted to coastal, lake, and riparian waterfronts globally

Hydrogeology of the Pearl River Delta, southern China

The study describes the hydrogeological setting of the Pearl River Delta, a sub-tropical area of southern China encompassing the metropolises of Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau. In the last 40 years, a booming economy and a population of about 60 million has increased water demand satisfied by a huge system of dams and reservoirs. Aquifers in the studied area are underutilized and only a few recent studies have addressed hydrogeological characterization at a local scale. Understanding groundwater dynamics of the Pearl River Delta is important for developing additional water supplies, understanding and mitigating groundwater pollution, and for implementing ‘Sponge City' concepts. Via a collection of data from literature and field surveys, the hydrogeological setting of the area is synthetized and represented through thematic maps, cross sections and a hydro-stratigraphic column. Hydrogeological conceptual models are developed that describe the groundwater dynamics in urban and rural areas within the Pearl River Delta

Influence of soundscape in the experience of an urban area: a case study in Rome

Over the last years several studies have demonstrated how the same environment can lead to different perceptual outcomes if the surrounding sounds change. Soundscape studies promote a user-centred approach for the characterization and management of acoustic environments in cities. There are several available protocols to gather perceptual data about how people experience the soundscapes in urban areas, and the most common tool is the “soundwalk”, a procedure where a group of people walks and stops at given locations in order to assess the acoustic environment, using some sound-related attributes (e.g., calm, pleasant, vibrant, chaotic, etc.). This research aims at evaluating the influence that different acoustic conditions together with specific environmental ones can induce on the pedestrians’ perception. In particular, the analysis was carried out within an artistically significant and culturally relevant urban district characterized by different traffic conditions, such as the archaeological area of the Colosseum in Rome. For this purpose, a soundwalk combined with a sound levels measurement campaign was organised in the archaeological area outside the Colosseum, during daytime and night time conditions, with a group of students applying the Method A of the ISO/TS 12913-2:2018, which addresses soundscape data collection. The results show how the correlations between the subjective responses and the measured data are significant and they can vary if the surrounding changes, both in terms of acoustical characteristics and environmental ones

Environment, Health and Wealth: Towards an Analysis of Municipal Solid Waste Management in Ota, Ogun State, Nigeria

The management of municipal solid waste is one of the challenges facing the developing countries because governments, institutions, and private sectors have given solid waste management low priority and ignoring the implication it has on the general public. This is characterized by inefficient collection methods, insufficient coverage of the collection system and improper disposal. This paper presents the current solid waste management method adopted in Ado-Odo Ota local government and its associated challenges. Four locations (Iganmode area, Joju area, Ota market and toll gate area) were selected. These sites are points where the waste bins are located. A field work that involves the characterization and types of the waste generated, and frequency of collection from each site was carried out. A representative sample of 280 kg was used for the waste characterization and the result shows that about 64% of the wastes are recyclable with lots of organic waste that comprises of food and agricultural waste which can be used as compost. The only dump site in Ota was visited in order to obtain useful information concerning the present state of solid waste management. The study revealed that there is presently no investment made to the existing development plan to introduce a modern waste management system. The study suggests new approach that could be used by institutions and government agencies for municipal solid waste management to achieve sustainable and effective sanitation

Sensitivity and Uncertainty Analyses of an Urban Forest Structure and Function Model

Urban forest models can quantify forest structure and benefits, and are frequently employed in decision-making. This dissertation first reviewed case studies of urban forest modeling practices over the past two-decades, compared the similarities and differences among different models, and summarized the current trends and gaps in the field of urban forest modeling. One gap is the lack of uncertainty assessments for model output. To address this gap, this dissertation performed sensitivity and uncertainty analyses for a popular urban forest model, i-Tree Eco. Based on a case study in New York City, the sensitivity analyses found that the most important input variables are genus for isoprene and monoterpene emissions, DBH for carbon estimators, and leaf area index, temperature, and photosynthetically active radiation for dry deposition estimators. The uncertainty analyses addressed uncertainties associated with the entire i-Tree Eco modeling process, from input data collection, to the characterization of urban tree structure, to the subsequent estimators of the ecosystem services of urban trees. Uncertainty magnitudes were quantified by employing bootstrap and Monte Carlo simulations, and the three sources of uncertainty, input, model, and sampling, were aggregated to derive an estimator of total uncertainty. Through case studies in 16 cities across the United States, the average magnitude of total uncertainty across the 16 cities was 12.4% for leaf area, 12.4% for leaf biomass, 13.5% for carbon storage, 11.1% for carbon sequestration, 40.7% for isoprene emissions, and 25.0% for monoterpene emissions. For leaf and carbon estimators, the total uncertainty is primarily driven by sampling uncertainty, while the magnitudes of sampling, input and model uncertainty are similar across the 16 study cities. In contrast, input, sampling, and model uncertainties all contribute similarly to the total uncertainty for isoprene and monoterpene emission estimators, and there are larger variations in these three sources of uncertainty across the 16 study cities. To reduce overall uncertainty, future studies should develop more accurate urban-, local-, and species-specific allometric relationships, improve the spatial representation of meteorological variables, develop more extensive and accurate local-scale measurements to calibrate and verify models, and improve sampling strategies

Characterization and analysis of metropolitan freight patterns in Medellin, Colombia

This paper seeks to pilot test a novel way to collect freight and service activity data and analyze the collected data in the metropolitan area of Medellin, Colombia. This research collects data using a multi-layer and multi-actor approach that includes surveys to receivers, suppliers, carriers, and truck drivers. The data are used by the authors to describe the overall freight patterns in the area of study and to show lessons learned. The data collection resulted in 2947 establishments (4.4% of the total establishments in the city), a cordon survey of 2950 commercial vehicles (17% of the total vehicle volume) accessing the urban area, and carrier interviews to ten companies and 130 truck drivers. The results indicate that a total of 33,274 metric tons/day enter the study area, 35,240 tons/day leave the area; while 7000 tons/day are distributed in the study area. In terms of freight trips, 6600 trips/day enter the study zone and 6600 trips/day leave it. The data collection effort enabled the analyses of freight generation patterns. The freight surveys used in the study complement each other, and provided a good depiction of the freight movements in urban areas. It was found that in the Medellin Metropolitan Area, freight-intensive sector establishments generates, on average, significantly more cargo (freight attraction plus production) than the service-intensive sectors. The analyses of the surveys allow the decision makers to understand the nature of the cargo and the generation patterns in different type of establishments. This characterization of the freight patterns is vital for the forecasting of the behavior of the cargo and it is the main input to perform freight demand modeling for city planning, especially for developing countries, where there are too many budget constraints

Monitoring and evaluation of Terni (Central Italy) air quality through spatially resolved analyses

A study of spatial variability of PM10 elemental components was conducted in Terni city (Central Italy), situated in an intramountain depression characterized by the presence of several particulate matter emission sources. The meteorological conditions of Terni basin limit the dispersion and enhance the accumulation of the atmospheric pollutants. Thanks to the utilization of new samplers (Smart Sampler), used for the first time and working in parallel at 23 sampling sites, spatially resolved data were obtained. Localizations of the samplers were chosen in order to evaluate the impact of different local PM10 sources. Chemical composition of the samples was determined in combination with a chemical fractioning procedure, that allowed us to discriminate watersoluble and residual fractions of analyzed elements in which proved to be a valuable approach for increasing selectivity of elements as source tracers. Spatial variability of elements underlined the contribution of local emission sources and the different dispersion capacity of each element. Terni city resulted to be an ideal area to test and validate a new experimental method for the acquisition of spatially resolved data providing the possibility to properly evaluate the spatial variability of PM10 and its chemical components

Evaluación de la planta de tratamiento de desechos sólidos del sector Panpatin, Santa Cruz La Laguna, Sololá.

The evaluation of the solid waste treatment plant of the Panpatin sector, located in the urban area of Santa Cruz La Laguna, was necessary because the entry of inorganic waste exceeds its capacity and its management implies high expenditure for the town council. It began with a characterization of solid waste, contemplating what enters the treatment plant, calculating the per capita production, density, volumes of waste entering the plant and percentage of collection coverage in the urban area. With the data obtained, the environmental indicators of solid waste were acquired based on what was established in the solid waste characterization manual of the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources. The volumes of the waste entering the plant were calculated, separating into recyclable, organic and inorganic materials, followed by measuring the different areas of the plant to make a comparison of volumes and the time it would take for them to saturate. The results indicated that the total volumes of waste entering the plant are not greater than those of its capacity, however the area of inorganic wastes exceed its capacity by 32.5%, this is mainly due to the lack of separation of the waste from the source and within the same plant, this results in the mixing of recyclable, organic and inorganic materials in that area

Development of organic fertilizers from food market waste and urban gardening by composting in Ecuador

Currently, the management of urban waste streams in developing countries is not optimized yet, and in many cases these wastes are disposed untreated in open dumps. This fact causes serious environmental and health problems due to the presence of contaminants and pathogens. Frequently, the use of specific low-cost strategies reduces the total amount of wastes. These strategies are mainly associated to the identification, separate collection and composting of specific organic waste streams, such as vegetable and fruit refuses from food markets and urban gardening activities. Concretely, in the Chimborazo Region (Ecuador), more than 80% of municipal solid waste is dumped into environment due to the lack of an efficient waste management strategy. Therefore, the aim of this study was to develop a demonstration project at field scale in this region to evaluate the feasibility of implanting the composting technology not only for the management of the organic waste fluxes from food market and gardening activities to be scaled-up in other developing regions, but also to obtain an end-product with a commercial value as organic fertilizer. Three co-composting mixtures were prepared using market wastes mixed with pruning of trees and ornamental palms as bulking agents. Two piles were created using different proportions of market waste and prunings of trees and ornamental palms: pile 1 (50:33:17) with a C/N ratio 25; pile 2: (60:30:10) with C/N ratio 24 and pile 3 (75:0:25) with C/N ratio 33), prepared with market waste and prunings of ornamental palm. Throughout the process, the temperature of the mixtures was monitored and organic matter evolution was determined using thermogravimetric and chemical techniques. Additionally, physico-chemical, chemical and agronomic parameters were determined to evaluate compost quality. The results obtained indicated that all the piles showed a suitable development of the composting process, with a significant organic matter decomposition, reached in a shorter period of time in pile 3. At the end of the process, all the composts showed absence of phytotoxicity and suitable agronomic properties for their use as organic fertilizers. This reflects the viability of the proposed alternative to be scaled-up in developing areas, not only to manage and recycle urban waste fluxes, but also to obtain organic fertilizers, including added value in economic terms related to nutrient contents.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version