Neighbourhood Walkability Assessment in Tianjin, China: Needs to be Analyzed from a Complex System Perspective

Walkability is one of the key guiding frameworks for practitioners to design vibrant and healthy neighborhoods through urban planning interventions, especially in current circumstances where concernsover chronic diseases, obesity and apathetic neighborhoods are growing. The objective of this research is to develop a walkability index, with considerations of the uniqueness of the neighborhood built environment, life style, planning framework and requirement of Chinese cities, and apply it to Tianjin. The results show an uneven distribution pattern of the walkability. Further, the influence of the neighborhood’s location is identifiable, the closer it is to the city commercial center, the higher the walkability score is. The results indicate that the neighborhood walkability varies with both the built environment within it and its location within the whole city, which calls for more cross-scale analysis

Road traffic safety management of visual pollution by outdoor advertisements

Visual pollution is a type of pollution that hinders the ability of the one to enjoy the view. The visual pollution can caused from many sources such as haze and lighting features. However, the most common and critical source of visual pollution is in the form of advertising especially in urban areas are signboards and billboards. Multiple studies have shown that excessive advertising in term of signboard and billboard can brought harmful effects to the public. The aim of this study is to analyze the impact of visual pollution caused by outdoor advertisements in Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur and Selangor. To fulfill this aim, three main objectives were developed. First, to study the policy and rules that governed the billboards and signboards installation, to determine the public perception on the visual pollution in term of billboards and signboards and finally is to propose the solutions to minimize the visual pollution and increase public awareness on the visual pollution. Two types of survey were conducted, which are interview and questionnaire distribution. Five respondents were randomly picked to determine their understanding on visual pollution by short interview session method. Based on the interview session, most of the interviewee was unfamiliar with visual pollution concept. This shows that the public level of awareness on visual pollution are still low compared to other types of pollution. A total of fifty visual type questionnaires that consists of three picture questions were dispersed. Based on the questionnaire result, most of the respondents from public believed that having large amount which is more than four number of billboards and signboards in a same area could cause the most visual pollution to the public. In addition, electronic billboard is also believed to cause higher visual pollution to the public compared to the conventional billboard. Nevertheless, billboard cause the most eye discomfort and distraction especially during night time from the public perception. The policy and rules that governed the billboards and signboards installation are studied in this research. The guideline for the installation of signboard and billboard was found to be not detailed which causing improper management and ultimately lead to visual pollution

Measuring Visual Pollution Threshold along Kuala Lumpur Historic Shopping District Streets Using Cumulative Area Analysis

Visual pollution significantly affects public appreciation of the urban environment. Sources of visual pollution such as wastes, energy infrastructures, and advertising boards can cause discomfort towards one\u27s ability to enjoy a scene or view. Although visual pollution is prevalent in the urban environment, less is known regarding public acceptance and tolerance towards different levels of pollution. Therefore, from our point of view, determining the threshold level of visual pollution is essential in achieving visual quality in the urban environment. In this research, we have chosen a popular urban street in Kuala Lumpur as a case study to help us understand how people respond towards visual pollution within a historic shopping district. The study employed cumulative area analysis and photo booklet survey, and it was tested with students in the landscape architecture program at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Results show that the respondents have higher tolerance towards the level of visual pollution than what we had anticipated. Although we have thought that landscape architecture students should be more sensitive towards visual pollution, regular exposure towards pollutants in the urban environment probably has increased their level of tolerance. Nevertheless, this study has provided us with insight on demographic variables such as gender, education level and residential location, which may be meaningful for future research in identifying visual pollution threshold among the public in cities

A Hybrid Tool for Visual Pollution Assessment in Urban Environments

With increasing focus on more nuanced aspects of quality of life, the phenomenon of urban visual pollution has been progressively gaining attention from researchers and policy makers, especially in the developed world. However, the subjectivity and complexity of assessing visual pollution in urban settings remain a challenge, especially given the lack of robust and reliable methods for quantification of visual pollution. This paper presents a novel systematic approach for the development of a robust Visual Pollution Assessment (VPA) tool. A key feature of our methodology is explicit and systematic incorporation of expert and public opinion for listing and ranking Visual Pollution Objects (VPOs). Moreover, our methodology deploys established empirical complex decision-making techniques to address the challenge of subjectivity in weighting the impact of individual VPOs. The resultant VPA tool uses close-ended options to capture the presence and characteristics of various VPOs on a given node. Based on these inputs, it calculates a point based visual pollution scorecard for the observation point. The performance of the VPA tool has been extensively tested and verified at various locations in Pakistan. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such tool, both in terms of quantitative robustness and broad coverage of VPOs. Our VPA tool will help regulators in assessing and charting visual pollution in a consistent and objective manner. It will also help policy makers by providing an empirical basis for gathering evidence; hence facilitating evidence-based and evidence-driven policy strategies, which are likely to have significant impact, especially in the developing countries

Methodologies in Identification, Analysis, and Measurement of Visual Pollution: The Case Study of Intramuros

The problem of visual pollution in the Philippines has been increasingly evident, and people are becoming aware of it. But to create effective solutions, a deep understanding of the problem should first be established. This paper was aimed to identify, analyze, and measure the visual pollution present in Intramuros, a heritage city in the Philippines that encapsulates the Philippine colonial architecture in the 1890s. The site is known for its preservation of its city image but also modern landscape changes. To achieve the goal, the application of the Indirect and Direct Method of Landscape Evaluation was executed. These methods led to two results: (1) the identification of components— which are landscape attributes and indicators, that make up a visual landscape; and (2) the understanding of how it is perceived by the observer through a survey and interviews, which are quantified by ratings. To further understand the relationship of indicators and ratings with each other, a series of correlational studies was done. This resulted to the establishment of Disturbance, Stewardship, and Image Rating as the primary descriptors of visual pollution. A weighted average formula was then established, which quantified the visual pollution of Intramuros through indicator values and response ratings. It was concluded that visual pollution in Intramuros, through research-based methodology, can be identified, analyzed, and measured. Specific viewpoints in the district were identified as unacceptably visually-polluted. Magallanes St. cor. Victoria St. in Intramuros had the highest VP Score at -4.886. Elements that contributed to visual pollution were also identified

Visual pollution phenomena and sensitivity of residences in heritage city centers Case of: Old district of Manama city, Kingdom of Bahrain

Image of the ancient cities across the Arab region has been changed. The urbanization progress and their subsequent urban changes are of rapid acceleration, due to the population increase in the named cities; affecting the encompassed old districts in many respects. The mentioned changes are forked into two main branches; controlled and uncontrolled. On one side, the controlled category abide by the urban regulations in terms of the visual representation of the old districts. On the other side, the uncontrolled counterpart breaches these regulations and their logical assumptions ending up in many urban problems in general and visual pollution in particular.  The research methodology is staked on both of the data collection and theoretical background about the old district in Manama City, whereas thorough historic background of the city and analytical studies of the selected data and questionnaire is carried out. The Questionnaire design had been started by September 2017 along with a review of prior planning studies and reports relevant to the long-range growth and development of the City. Questions were designed to survey public opinion on specific visual pollution issues and principles. Although there were a few open-ended questions, the majority were closed-ended taking the form of yes/no, multiple-choice, or rating scales. Questions went through several renditions based on intra- and interdepartmental review before being presented. Ending the research by concluding the results and adding recommendation

Mitigating Urban Visual Pollution through a Multistakeholder Spatial Decision Support System to Optimize Locational Potential of Billboards

Urban visual pollution is increasingly affecting the built-up areas of the rapidly urbanizing planet. Outdoor advertisements are the key visual pollution objects affecting the visual pollution index and revenue generation potential of a place. Current practices of uninformed and uncontrolled outdoor advertising (especially billboards) impairs effective control of visual pollution in developing countries. Improving this can result in over 20% reduction of visual pollution. This article presents a spatial decision support system (SDSS) to facilitate all the stakeholders (development control authorities, advertisers, billboard owners, and the public) in balancing the optimal positioning of billboards under the governing regulations. In terms of its technical implementation, SDSS is based on well-known geospatial open source technologies and uses an analytical hierarchy process AHP-inspired approach in spatial decision-making. It can help users through its category-specific user interface to identify potential sites to position new billboards and the selection of boards from existing sites based on a wide variety of characteristics. The observations of all stakeholders have been recorded through panel feedback to assess the system’s initial effectiveness. The proposed system has been found functional in identifying hot spots for the focused management and exploration of the best suitable sites for new billboards. So, it helps the advertising agencies, urban authorities, and city councils in better planning and management of existing billboard locations to optimize revenue and improve urban aesthetics. The system can be replicated in other countries irrespective of spatial boundaries by incorporating jurisdictional rules and regulations

Subvertising - Conceptualization, Motivation, and Outcomes

There is an exponential increase in events involving subvertising both online and in the real world. Though popular media are increasingly discussing the topic, there are gaps in the academic literature on subvertising, as it is very limited. The purpose of this study was therefore to close these gaps by investigating the conceptualization of subvertising, the motivation for engaging in subvertising, and the outcomes of it, both for subvertisers themselves and for those that are targeted. The study was carried out using a qualitative inductive approach, in which grounded theory was used to obtain and interpret data. The data was gathered from secondary data, as news articles and YouTube videos were collected from popular media. A thematic narrative analysis was used to get an understanding of “what” rather than “how”, and to focus on the themes around which articles are told (Reissman, 2008). The data collected was coded according to Gioia’s methodology. This helped the authors generate categories and subcategories that were used to answer the research questions. The findings of the study revealed that the conceptualization of subvertising can be explained by the definition, target, type, defense, and evolution. The motivation for engaging in subvertising can be explained by the environment, inclusion and diversity, capitalism, and social. Lastly, the public, government, and corporate helped explain the outcomes of subvertising. The intergenerational justice theory was used to support these findings, as it can be linked to the underlying reasons for subvertising. The study presents five theoretical implications where the authors discuss how they are contributing to the literature on the topic, and consider five practical implications they are providing to subvertisers and other activists, corporations, governments, and the public in general. This study is of great novelty because it is filling the gaps in the existing literature on subvertising because of its comprehensiveness that looks at the conceptualization, the motives, and outcomes. It provides a clear definition that separates subvertising from other similar concepts by specifying its boundary conditions, which have previously been vague