How we know where we are in the smart city: Excerpts from conversations in Amsterdam (Netherlands)

In smart cities data from and about residents is captured in high volumes and through a variety of channels and devices. Some of these devices are part of the built environment, such as CCTV cameras or wireless sensors, capturing data as we pass by them. Other data flows within the digital sphere through our use of social media or text messages, for instance. How these data become combined and used, and by whom, is mostly unknown to the individuals who are both producers and users of digital data. This raises many questions about the social and spatial ordering of the city and its people. Spatial references of our past or current locations, places of residence and work, our movements through the city are deeply embedded into the data streams and databases of the smart city. Through integration of data from various sources, much can be known about our movements as well as social associations within physical space. At the same time, the spaces that we experience and live in increasingly take their shape across the digital and physical realms of life. In focus groups in 2015 in Amsterdam we discussed with citizen groups how they perceive of, enact and articulate the types of spaces and spatial references that emerge through diverse digital data flows. Through the analysis we are especially interested to understand how these articulations of digital and physical spaces interlink; and how the notions of public and private space may shift or intertwine in the processes that characterize smart urbanism from the perspective of citizens. The research represents some of the first empirical work exploring the emotionalconnections of residents to their digital city

From greening the climate-adaptive city to green climate gentrification? Civic perceptions of short-lived benefits and exclusionary protection in Boston, Philadelphia, Amsterdam and Barcelona

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MMunicipal governments are increasingly promoting green climate-adaptive infrastructure projects to address climate threats and impacts while maximizing multiple socio-environmental benefits. Although these strategies are repeatedly advanced as "win-win" solutions for all, recent literature has drawn attention to numerous negative effects, especially the displacement and exclusion of vulnerable social groups, pointing at yet another layer of climate injustice. In this article, we focus our analysis on the experienced and/or perceived negative social effects of greening interventions for climate adaptation on historically marginalized groups through a cross-case qualitative comparison of four neighborhoods in North American and European cities (Boston, Philadelphia, Amsterdam and Barcelona). Interviews conducted among a diverse sample of civic groups related to each neighborhood reveal that most respondents highly value green resilient infrastructures for their socio-environmental benefits. However, unless these green interventions are implemented alongside policies that guarantee equitable outcomes for all, then civic respondents mostly identify negative social impacts on marginalized residents, making those benefits short-lived. Most prominent negative impacts include physical displacement and the related threat of more displacement together with risks that new (green) real estate developments and resilient greening will remain exclusionary for marginalized groups. Such similar findings across different socio-political contexts point to the need for bolder policies that guarantee that investments in green climate adaptation interventions secure both environmental and social benefits in underinvested and environmentally neglected neighborhoods and mitigate the negative impacts of such interventions, namely sociocultural and physical displacement and overall exclusionary climate protection

School greening : right or privilege? examining urban nature within and around primary schools through an equity lens

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MA mounting body of research shows strong positive associations between urban nature and child well-being, including benefits related to mental and physical health. However, there is also evidence that children are spending less time in natural environments than previous generations, especially those living in deprived neighborhoods. To date, most studies analyzing children's (unequal) exposure or access to urban green and blue spaces focus on residential metrics while a school-based perspective, also an essential part of children's daily experience, is still understudied. The overall goal of this research is to assess spatially the amount and main components of green infrastructure within and around a sample of primary schools (n = 324) in the city of Barcelona, Spain, and to examine the equity implications of its distributional patterns. A multi-method approach based on GIS, correlation and cluster analyses, and an online survey, is used to identify these patterns of inequity according to three main dimensions: socio-demographic disparities across neighborhoods; school type (public, charter and private); and the frequency of outdoor educational activities organized by schools. Results show that schools located in the wealthiest neighborhoods are generally greener, but inequities are not observed for school surrounding green infrastructure indicators such as access to public green spaces or between public and charter schools. Survey results also indicate that greener schools generally organize more nature-based outdoor activities than those with less exposure to urban nature. In the light of these findings, we contend that multiple indicators of green infrastructure and different dimensions of equity should be considered to improve justice in the implementation of school-based re-naturing and outdoor educational programs

No tots els parcs urbans creen benestar relacional en els nens i nenes

Un estudi de dos parcs de Barcelona que han tingut diferents impactes en les habilitats socials dels nens mostra la importància de considerar les estructures socials en la planificació de nous parcs i espais urbans de joc. Aquesta investigació busca ressaltar els vincles entre les formes dominants de reurbanitzacions "verdes" que tenen lloc a les ciutats i les qüestions de justícia ambiental urbana, i els desafiaments i possibilitats que aquestes impliquen per aconseguir espais urbans més justos i ecològics.Un estudio de dos parques de Barcelona que han tenido diferentes impactos en las habilidades sociales de los niños muestra la importancia de considerar las estructuras sociales en la planificación de nuevos parques y espacios urbanos de juego. Esta investigación busca resaltar los vínculos entre las formas dominantes de reurbanizaciones "verdes" que tienen lugar en ciudades y las cuestiones de justicia ambiental urbana, y los desafíos y posibilidades que estas implican para conseguir espacios urbanos más justos y ecológicos.A study of two parks in Barcelona that have had very different impacts on children's social skills shows the importance of considering social structures in the planning of new parks and urban play spaces. This research seeks to highlight the linkages between the dominant forms of "green" redevelopments taking place in cities and questions of urban environmental justice, and the challenges and possibilities these imply for more just and ecological urban spaces

Urban green grabbing : Residential real estate developers discourse and practice in gentrifying Global North neighborhoods

Altres ajuts: Acord transformatiu CRUE-CSICUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MIn the movement towards building greener and more sustainable cities, real estate developers are increasingly embracing not only green building construction but broader strategies and action related to urban greening. To date, their motivations and role in this broader urban greening dynamic remains underexplored, yet essential to dissect how greening is sustained and real estate development legitimized in revitalizing neighborhoods. With an eye to better understand green urban capitalist development processes underway amidst financialized nature and urban growth, and the equity impacts they entail, we explore residential real estate developers urban greening discourses and practices. Through a novel dataset of 42 interviews with private and non-profit residential real estate developers in 15 mid-sized American, Western European and Canadian cities, we uncover three differentiated but interconnected discourses around (i) financial benefits, (ii) consumer- or investor-driven demand and (iii) social dimensions behind developers' interest in urban greening. We argue that developers embark on urban green grabbing through "green" discursive and material value appropriation and rent extraction strategies. Urban green grabbing is conceptually useful in depicting who benefits and how/when developers extract additional rent, surplus value, social capital and/or prestige from locating new residential projects adjacent to new or up-and-coming green amenities. Our work contributes to debates about urban greening's perceived position as a value-producing and rent-extracting good from both a political economy and political ecology perspectiv

GlSch: Observation plan scheduler for the GLORIA telescope network

[EN] This paper proposes the design and development of a telescope network scheduler for the GLORIA telescope network. This telescope network, which main objective is helping users to get involved in astronomy research, is composed by 18 heterogeneous telescopes located in different countries. These telescopes are managed by the scheduler to execute the observations requested by the users. A key module of this scheduler is the telescope decision algorithm which objective is to avoid serving an observation to a telescope that cannot execute it. This paper proposes two different algorithms: the first one is based on weather forecast, and the other one is based on fuzzy logic. Both algorithms were deployed and used into the GLORIA network, an analysis of the results and a performance comparative between both algorithm are shown in this paper. As well, the scheduler architecture based on a hybrid distributed-centralised schema is detailed.[ES] Este artículo propone el diseño y desarrollo de un planificador para la red de telescopios GLORIA. Esta red, cuyo principal objetivo es acercar los ciudadanos a la astronomía, está formada por 18 telescopios ubicados en cuatro continentes. Parte de la gestión de esta red se lleva a cabo por el planificador, que se encarga de recibir peticiones de observación de usuarios de usuarios y enviárselas a uno de los telescopios de la red. Para esto, necesita un algoritmo que decida el mejor telescopio, evitando ofrecer una petición a un telescopio que finalmente no pueda ejecutarla. Este artículo presenta dos algoritmos de decisión: el primero se basa únicamente en la predicción meteorológica, y el segundo emplea lógica difusa e información de cada telescopio. Ambos algoritmos fueron implantados en la red GLORIA. Los resultados obtenidos, así como una comparativa del rendimiento de ambos se presenta en este artículo. Así mismo, se detalla la arquitectura del planificador basada en una estructura híbrida distribuida-centralizada.Este trabajo ha sido realizado parcialmente gracias al proyecto GLORIA. GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for e-Science (GLORIA) es un proyecto financiado por la Unión Europea bajo el Séptimo Programa Marco (FP7/2007-2012) bajo la concesión número 283783.López Casado, C.; Pérez Del Pulgar Mancebo, CJ.; Muñoz Martínez, VF.; Castro Tirado, A. (2018). GlSch: Planificación de Observaciones en la red de Telescopios GLORIA. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática industrial. 15(3):339-350. https://doi.org/10.4995/riai.2018.8640OJS339350153Andújar Márquez, J., Mateo Sanguino, T., 1 2010. Diseño de Laboratorios Virtuales y/o Remotos. Un Caso Práctico. Revista Iberoamericana de Automática e Informática Industrial RIAI 7 (1), 64-72. DOI:10.1016/S1697-7912(10)70009-1Arregui, J. P., Tejo, J. A., Linares López, C., Borrajo, D., 2012. Steps towards and operational sensor network planning for space surveillance. In: Proceedings of the SpaceOps. DOI:10.2514/6.2012-1294728Bakos, G., Gaspar, 2016. Finding and Characterizing a Large and Diverse Population of Transiting Exoplanets with HATSouth in Support of NASA Space Missions. NASA Proposal #16-XRP16-70.Beskin, G., Bad'in, V., Biryukov, A., et al., 7 2005. FAVOR (FAst Variability Optical Registration) - A Two-telescope Complex for Detection and Investigation of Short Optical Transients. Il Nuovo Cimento, 751-754. DOI:10.1393/ncc/i2005-10146-9Bigongiari, C., Consortium, C., 2016. The Cherenkov Telescope Array. Nuclear and Particle Physics Proceedings 279, 174-181. DOI:10.1016/j.nuclphysbps.2016.10.025Boër, M., Klotz, A., Laugier, R., et al., 2017. TAROT: a network for space surveillance and tracking operations. 7th European Conference on Space Debris ESA/ESOC.Castro-Tirado, A. J., Jelínek, M., Gorosabel, J., et al., 2012. Building the BOOTES world-wide Network of Robotic telescopes. Astronomical Society of India Conference Series, Vol. 7, 2012, p. 313-320 7, 313-320.Castro-Tirado, A. J., Sánchez Moreno, F. M., Pérez del Pulgar, C., et al., 2014.The GLObal Robotic telescopes Intelligent Array for E-Science (GLORIA). Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica 45, 104-109.Castro-Tirado, A. J., Soldán, J., Bernas, M., et al., 9 1999. The Burst Observerand Optical Transient Exploring System (BOOTES). Astronomy and Astrophysics Supplement Series 138 (3), 583-585. DOI:10.1051/aas:1999362Delgado, F., Reuter, M. A., 7 2016. The LSST Scheduler from design to construction. SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation, 991013.DOI:10.1117/12.2233630Denny, R., 2011. A Web-Remote/Robotic/Scheduled Astronomical Data Acquisition System. In: Telescopes from Afar Conference. p. 47.Ducci, L., Covino, S., Doroshenko, V., Mereghetti, S., Santangelo, A., Sasa-ki, M., 11 2016. Optical and near-infrared photometric monitoring of the transient X-ray binary A0538 with REM. Astronomy and Astrophysics 595,A103. DOI:10.1051/0004-6361/201629236Falomo, R., Fantinel, D., Uslenghi, M., 9 2011. AETC: Advanced Exposure Time Calculator. In: Tescher, A. G. (Ed.), Applications of Digital Image Processing XXXIV. International Society for Optics and Photonics, pp.813523-. DOI:10.1117/12.913304Gresham, K. C., Palma, C., Polsgrove, D. E., Chun, F. K., Della-Rose, D. J.,Tippets, R. D., 2016. Education and outreach using the falcon telescope network. Acta Astronautica 129, 130-134. DOI:10.1016/j.actaastro.2016.09.006Hamuy, M., Pignata, G., Maza, J., et al., 2012. The CHilean Automatic Supernova sEarch. Memorie della Societa Astronomica Italiana 83, 388-392.Jelínek, M., Castro-Tirado, A. J., Cunnie, R., et al., 2016. A decade of GRB follow-up by BOOTES in Spain (2003-2013). Advances in Astronomy.Karpov, S., Beskin, G., Biryukov, A., et al., 2016. Mini-Mega-TORTORA wide-field monitoring system with sub-second temporal resolution: first year of operation. IV Workshop on Robotic Autonomous Observatories (Eds. María Dolores Caballero-García, Shasi B. Pandey, David Hiriart & AlbertoJ. Castro-Tirado) Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astroísica (Serie de Conferencias) Vol. 48, pp. 91-96 (2016) 48, 91-96.Kubánek, P., 7 2016. Status, upgrades, and advances of RTS2: the open source astronomical observatory manager. In: Chiozzi, G., Guzman, J. C. (Eds.),SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation. International Society for Optics and Photonics, p. 99132U.DOI:10.1117/12.2232555Lampoudi, S., Saunders, E., Eastman, J., 2015. An integer linear programming solution to the telescope network scheduling problem. In: International Conference on Operations Research and Enterprise Systems.Mankiewicz, L., Batsch, T., Castro-Tirado, A., et al., 2014. Pi of the Sky full system and the new telescope. III Workshop on Robotic Autonomous Observatories (Eds. Juan C. Tello, Alberto Riva, David Hiriart & Alberto J. Castro-Tirado) Revista Mexicana de Astronomía y Astrofísica (Serie de Conferenias) Vol. 45, pp. 7-11 (2014) 45, 7-11.myweather2, 2017. Free weather API - XML weather and JSON weather feed for global locations. URL:http://www.myweather2.comNekola, M., Hudec, R., Jelínek, M., Kubánek, P., Štrobl, J., Polášek, C., 2010. BART: The Czech Autonomous Observatory. Advances in Astronomy 2010,1-5. DOI:10.1155/2010/103986Ocaña, F., Ibarra, A., Racero, E., Montero, A., Doubek, J., Ruiz, V., 7 2016. First results of the Test-Bed Telescopes (TBT) project: Cebreros telescope commissioning. In: Hall, H. J., Gilmozzi, R., Marshall, H. K. (Eds.), SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation. p. 990666. DOI:10.1117/12.2233142Ottinger, J., Linwood, J., Minter, D., 2014. Beginning Hibernate 3rd, 3rd Edition. Apress Berkely, CA, USA.Panetta, M. P., 2016. The EEE Project: An extended network of muon telescopes for the study of cosmic rays. Nuclear Instruments and Methods in Physics Research Section A: Accelerators, Spectrometers, Detectors and Associated Equipment 824, 642-643. DOI:10.1016/j.nima.2015.10.073Pickles, A., Hjelstrom, A., Boroson, T., et al., 8 2014. LCOGT network observatory operations. In: Peck, A. B., Benn, C. R., Seaman, R. L. (Eds.), SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation. p. 914912. DOI:10.1117/12.2055215Racero, E., Ocaña, F., Ponz, D., 2015. Towards an autonomous telescope system: the Test-Bed Telescope project. Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics, 828-833.Saunders, E. S., Lampoudi, S., Lister, T. A., Norbury, M., Walker, Z., 8 2014. Novel scheduling approaches in the era of multi-telescope networks. In: Peck, A. B., Benn, C. R., Seaman, R. L. (Eds.), SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation. p. 91490E. DOI:10.1117/12.2056642Sky-Map, 2017.Sky-Map. URL:http://www.sky-map.org/Solar, M., Michelon, P., Avarias, J., Garces, M., 2016. A scheduling model forastronomy. Astronomy and Computing 15, 90-104. DOI:10.1016/j.ascom.2016.02.005Sosnowska, D., Ouadahi, A., Buchschacher, N., Weber, L., Pepe, F., 2014.Using Heuristic Algorithms to Optimize Observing Target Sequences. In: Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XXIII. Vol. 485. p. 73.Trillas, E., Eciolaza, L., 2015. Fuzzy Logic. Springer International Publishing.DOI:10.1007/978-3-319-14203-6Volgenau, N., Boroson, T., 7 2016. Two years of LCOGT operations: the challenges of a global observatory. In: Peck, A. B., Seaman, R. L., Benn, C. R.(Eds.), SPIE Astronomical Telescopes+ Instrumentation. International Society for Optics and Photonics, p. 99101C. DOI:10.1117/12.2233830Wang, F., Deng, H., Guo, L., Ji, K., 7 2010. A Survey on Scientific-Workflow Techniques for E-science in Astronomy. In: 2010 International Forum on In-formation Technology and Applications. IEEE, pp. 417-420. DOI:10.1109/IFITA.2010.210Ye, Q.-Z., 2011. Forecasting Cloud Cover and Atmospheric Seeing for Astronomical Observing: Application and Evaluation of the Global Forecast System. Publications of the Astronomical Society of the Pacific 123, 113.Zimmer, P., McGraw, J., Ackermann, M., 2015. Real-Time Optical Surveillance of LEO/MEO with Small Telescopes. Proceedings of the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference, held in Wailea, Maui, Hawaii, September 15-18, 2014, Ed.: S. Ryan, The Maui Economic Development Board, id.103

Residential Proximity to Urban Play Spaces and Childhood Overweight and Obesity in Barcelona, Spain: A Population-Based Longitudinal Study

Altres ajuts: La Marató de TV3, 201621-30Findings on the relationship between play spaces and childhood overweight and obesity are mixed and scarce. This study aimed to investigate the associations between residential proximity to play spaces and the risk of childhood overweight or obesity and potential effect modifiers. This longitudinal study included children living in the city of Barcelona identified in an electronic primary healthcare record database between 2011 and 2018 (N = 75,608). Overweight and obesity were defined according to the WHO standards and we used 300 m network buffers to assess residential proximity to play spaces. We calculated the risk of developing overweight or obesity using Cox proportional hazard models. A share of 29.4% of the study population developed overweight or obesity, but we did not find consistent associations between play space indicators and overweight or obesity. We did not find any consistent sign of effect modification by sex, and only some indications of the modifying role of area socioeconomic status and level of exposure. Although it is not possible to draw clear conclusions from our study, we call for cities to continue increasing and improving urban play spaces with an equitable, healthy, and child-friendly perspectiv

Accesibilidad en el transporte público colectivo urbano: Una oportunidad para las TIC's

The paper provides an insight of the state of the art on trip chaining accessibility when using public transport. A field study was carried out in Malaga, as a part of a broader research about trip experience for disabled and older users. Results show the existence of frequent and unusual barriers along the complete chain. Conclusions, based on references, illustrate how ICT solutions emerge as an opportunity for public transport accessibility improvement.El presente artículo proporciona una aproximación al estado del arte de la accesibilidad en la cadena de viaje para desplazamientos mediante transporte público colectivo urbano. Como parte de una investigación más amplia sobre la experiencia de viaje para usuarios mayoresy personas con discapacidad fue llevado a cabo un estudio empírico en la ciudad de Málaga. Los resultados ponen en evidencia barreras habituales e inhabituales a lo largo de toda la cadena. Se concluye, apoyado en referencias, que la implantación de soluciones TIC´s supone una oportunidad de mejora para la accesibilidad a los sistemas de transporte

Gentrification and health in two global cities : a call to identify impacts for socially-vulnerable residents

Unidad de excelencia María de Maeztu MdM-2015-0552In global cities, the impacts of gentrification on the lives and well-being of socially vulnerable residents have occupied political agendas. Yet to date, research on how gentrification affects a multiplicity of health outcomes has remained scarce. While much of the nascent quantitative research helps to identify associations between gentrification and determined health outcomes, it tends to draw from static datasets collected for other studies to draw a posteriori and non-longitudinal conclusions. There is little attention in traditional public health research to purposely understand the health impacts of the complex, multi-layered, and rapid change produced by gentrification. Moreover, few studies examine the pathways and socio-spatial dynamics of the association between gentrification and health. In response, we use qualitative data collected in Boston and Barcelona to comprehensively identify how the health and well-being of long-term residents may be affected by gentrification and to call for new multi-methods research. In this initial assessment, we find a range of potential detrimental factors and potential pathways associated with gentrification, including individual-level physical and mental health outcomes such as obesity, asthma, chronic stress, and depression; neighborhood-level health determinants such as safety and new drug-dealing/use; and institutional-level health determinants such as healthcare precarity and worsened school conditions

Diseño mecánico de un asistente robótico camarógrafo con aprendizaje cognitivo

[Resumen] Este artículo describe el diseño mecánico y la arquitectura cognitiva de un asistente robótico camarógrafo que combina las ventajas de los dispositivos intra-abdominales y la navegación autónoma. El asistente robótico está compuesto por un robot cámara intra-abdominal con acople magnético y con dos grados de libertad. La inteligencia del robot se basa en una arquitectura cognitiva basada en memoria a largo plazo para almacenar el conocimiento del robot y capacidades de aprendizaje para mejorar el comportamiento del mismo. La estrategia de navegación del robot cámara combina un control reactivo basado en el seguimiento del instrumental quirúrgico; junto con un control proactivo basado en comportamientos predefinidos dependientes del estado actual de la tarea. Tanto la arquitectura cognitiva como el diseño mecánico han sido validados con una serie de experimentos que se detallan en el artículo. Previamente, todo el diseño e implementación son descritos