Effect of vegetation and waterbody on the garden city concept: an evaluation study using a newly developed city, Putrajaya, Malaysia

The garden city concept was adopted in the development of a new tropical city, Putrajaya, aimed at mitigating the effect of urban thermal modification associated with urbanisation, such as urban heat island (UHI). WRF/Noah/UCM coupled system was used to estimate the urban environment over the area and the individual thermal contributions of natural land use classes (vegetation and waterbody). A control experiment including all land use types describing the urban conditions of Putrajaya city agreed well with the observations in the region. A series of experiments was then conducted, in which vegetation and waterbody were successively replaced with an urban land use type, providing the basis for an assessment of their respective effect on urban thermal mitigation. Surface energy components, 2-m air temperature (T2m) and mixing ratio (Q2m), relative humidity (RH) and UHI intensity (UHII) showed variations for each land use class. Overall, an increase in urban surfaces caused a corresponding increase in the thermal conditions of the city. Conversely, waterbody and vegetation induced a daily reduction of 0.14 and 0.39 °C of T2m, respectively. RH, UHI and T2m also showed variations with urban fractions. A thermal reduction effect of vegetation is visible during mornings and nights, while that of water is minimally shown during daytime. However, during nights and mornings, canopy layer thermal conditions above waterbody remain relatively high, with a rather undesirable effect on the surrounding microclimate, because of its high heat capacity and thermal inertia

How sharing can contribute to more sustainable cities

\ua9 2017 by the authors. Recently, much of the literature on sharing in cities has focused on the sharing economy, in which people use online platforms to share underutilized assets in the marketplace. This view of sharing is too narrow for cities, as it neglects the myriad of ways, reasons, and scales in which citizens share in urban environments. Research presented here by the Liveable Cities team in the form of participant workshops in Lancaster and Birmingham, UK, suggests that a broader approach to understanding sharing in cities is essential. The research also highlighted tools and methods that may be used to help to identify sharing in communities. The paper ends with advice to city stakeholders, such as policymakers, urban planners, and urban designers, who are considering how to enhance sustainability in cities through sharing

Transforming the engineering of cities: 'points of departure' for future visioning

The Transforming the Engineering of Cities Program (TEC), an ambitious 5-year multi-disciplinary research program provided numerous findings related to approaches to the future (short, medium and/or long-term) of planning in cities. In addition to academic papers, a series of white papers were written for a policy audience. Using a literature review approach and narrative content analysis, the white papers were reviewed to identify lessons to inform and equip the profession in crafting urban future. From this analysis, three “points of departure,” starting points for crafting urban futures: 1.‘Re-thinking engineering principles and practice’ 2.‘Re-imagining the function and form of the city itself’ and 3. ‘Understanding of the city as a social system.’ The paper discusses implications of these departure points, strengths and weaknesses of these approaches to projecting and crafting urban futures

Foreign direct investment and participation of developing countries in global value chains: lessons from the last decade

This study investigates how foreign direct investment (FDI) affects the participation of developing countries in global value chains (GVCs). This inquiry is crucial as FDI is seen, at least theoretically, as a means of expediting developing countries’ participation in GVCs in some ways. It provides empirical evidence of this nexus between FDI and GVC using a dynamic panel data model including 43 developing countries (2010–2019). Our results show, among other things, that FDI has a significantly positive effect on the participation of developing countries in GVCs. This is found to be the case regardless of whether the FDI is in the primary, secondary or tertiary sector. However, to benefit fully requires policymakers to strengthen the absorptive capacity of the local labour force (productivity and education level

Using thematic analysis to explore symbolism in transport choice across national cultures

Symbolism, what people believe a transport mode tells others about them within the context of a hierarchical society, has been shown to be a significant driver of transport choice. However, despite the common practice of transferring transport policies between nations, no research has focused on how a mode’s symbolic connotations vary across national cultures and how this may affect individual and group transport choices. This paper describes research which utilised two aspects of the Hofstede cross-cultural indices—power differential, and individualism versus collectivism—to develop and strengthen theory through qualitative deductive thematic analysis. Forty-eight interviewees from four Hofstede cultural clusters were sampled horizontally, across equivalent income, occupational and educational levels, to attempt to lessen socio-demographic distortions. Semi-structured interviews were then undertaken. Interview transcripts were analysed manually using previously derived symbolic transport thematic codes. The significant differences between the Hofstede groups in both the density of thematic coding, and the quotes offered, suggest symbolism may strongly influence the potential outcomes of transport policies transferred between nations possessing significantly different cultural attributes and imperatives. Given this the authors believe there is sound justification for further deductive and inductive analysis on the existing dataset, and the extension of the theory to a broader population within each cultural cluster