Exploring the resilience of local detailed plans in the context of car parking at three study areas in the City of Oulu, Finland

Abstract In Finland, based on the Land Use and Building Act, the city has a monopoly in urban planning and design. Through the planning monopoly, the city manages the urban planning process and thus consciously develops the urban structure. Based on the Act, the number of parking spaces stipulated for the property in the local detailed plan and building permit must be provided in connection with the construction work. The obligation of providing a number of parking spaces stipulated in local detailed plans affects the society in many ways. The provision of parking spaces is a key economic factor in construction costs. Car parking is also linked to changes in people’s mobility habits and car ownership. Occupancy rates for obligation parking spaces and other parking spaces vary over time and location. Car parking also impacts urban flood management. Rainwater volumes in condense urban structure can be significant and require heavy technical stormwater management solutions. Urban design is a key action of a city’s competence in terms of preparing for future changes. The number of parking spaces and stormwater management are key tools in urban planning that can be used to define resilience in the northern context of urban planning

Smart Parking System with PlacePod, LoRaWAn IoT sensors and Android app

Abstract Rapid population growth, increased wealth and adaptation to new urban environment norms led to a significant increase in car traffic. This caused significant challenges associated with higher emissions, diminished road safety, and limited parking facilities. Smart parking solutions aim to contribute to this challenge. This paper describes a small-scale smart parking implementation at the University of Oulu parking site using IoT sensors and a mobile app to provide real-time parking information on parking availability. Testing has been conducted to demonstrate the feasibility and soundness of the developed implementation

Does Species Diversity Limit Productivity in Natural Grassland Communities?

Theoretical analyses and experimental studies of synthesized assemblages indicate that under particular circumstances species diversity can enhance community productivity through niche complementarity. It remains unclear whether this process has important effects in mature natural ecosystems where competitive feedbacks and complex environmental influences affect diversity–productivity relationships. In this study, we evaluated diversity–productivity relationships while statistically controlling for environmental influences in 12 natural grassland ecosystems. Because diversity–productivity relationships are conspicuously nonlinear, we developed a nonlinear structural equation modeling (SEM) methodology to separate the effects of diversity on productivity from the effects of productivity on diversity. Meta-analysis was used to summarize the SEM findings across studies. While competitive effects were readily detected, enhancement of production by diversity was not. These results suggest that the influence of small-scale diversity on productivity in mature natural systems is a weak force, both in absolute terms and relative to the effects of other controls on productivity