On the study of the effects of sea views, greenery views and personal characteristics on noise annoyance perception at homes

Noise annoyance has caused significant adverse impacts on human beings and numerous efforts have been spent on mitigating annoyance problems. Natural greenery has been shown to be able to moderate annoyance problems at home but this conclusion was drawn without properly controlling the potential confounding factors. Furthermore, few have explored the moderation effect of a sea view. Accordingly, this study formulated a multivariate model to examine the impacts of natural views as well as personal characteristics on annoyance perception. A housing estate was selected in Hong Kong as the survey site for which some of the residents were exposed to greenery views, sea views, or both from their homes. Eight hundred and sixty-one responses were collected via questionnaire surveys and analyzed using an ordered logit model. The results suggest that both a greenery view and a sea view can moderate annoyance responses. Several individual’s personal characteristics are found to affect individuals’ annoyance perception. The duration of time spent daily at home is shown to have an influence on the moderation impact exerted by a greenery view, while the age of an individual is shown to have an influence on noise moderation effect exerted by a sea view.Department of Building Services Engineerin

Assessing land-use and transport integration via a spatial composite indexing model

Achieving sustainable urban development is identified as one ultimate goal of many contemporary planning endeavours and has become central to formulation of urban planning policies. Within this concept, land-use and transport integration is highlighted as one of the most important and attainable policy objectives. In many cities, integration is embraced as an integral part of local development plans, and a number of key integration principles are identified. However, the lack of available evaluation methods to measure extent of urban sustainability levels prevents successful implementation of these principles. This paper introduces a new indicator-based spatial composite indexing model developed to measure sustainability performance of urban settings by taking into account land-use and transport integration principles. Model indicators are chosen via a thorough selection process in line with key principles of land-use and transport integration. These indicators are grouped into categories and themes according to their topical relevance. These indicators are then aggregated to form a spatial composite index to portray an overview of the sustainability performance of the pilot study area used for model demonstration. The study results revealed that the model is a practical instrument for evaluating success of local integration policies and visualizing sustainability performance of built environments and useful in both identifying problematic areas as well as formulating policy interventions

Protecting water quality in urban estuaries: Australian case studies

Estuaries provide important environmental, social, cultural, and economic services. The provision of these services is often negatively impacted by urban development within the catchment and along shorelines, most notably through habitat loss and alteration of hydrological and sedimentation regimes influencing system structure and function. Mitigating the effects of urban development on estuaries provides a great challenge for managers, particularly when considering the diversity of estuaries and catchment characteristics. The management of urban stormwater is a challenging issue where no single solution is apparent but requires varied approaches. Using three distinctly different Australian estuaries, this chapter presents an account of combined management plans, restoration, monitoring/research, and education efforts used in addressing and managing the issues of urban pressures on water quality surrounding Port Jackson, Gold Coast Broadwater, and the Ross River estuary. Although the case study estuaries significantly vary according to rainfall seasonality and intensity, population density, and catchment size, a survey of implemented protection and management initiatives, illustrates a consistent theme of management practices across the case studies: (1) catchment/estuary management policies and plans including stormwater quality improvement device initiative practices; (2) low impact and purpose-designed development options including water-sensitive urban design options, including specific design adaptations required for effective operation in varying climatic zones and catchment conditions; (3) restoration programs; (4) water quality monitoring programs; (5) research activities; and (6) stakeholder and community education campaigns. The best management outcomes for urbanized estuaries require implementation of catchment-based management plans that are supported by clear objectives regarding ecosystem services and regional challenges