Welcome to the ECOCITY 2022 Interactive Programme

Abstract Body

With an increasing attention to the equity in public natural resource distribution, the accessibility of urban parks highlights the standard of access by proximity for building socially just ecocity. Integrating related factors, such as path, land use, income and ethnicity, recent studies have been improved with the transformation of methods from the questionnaire-based qualitative to the GIS-based quantitative. However, in the process of urban planning, the deficiency analysis of park green space distribution mostly based on the simple buffer by bird path could result in a greater assessment error. In this case study, facilitated by the multi-source big data, more specific characteristics of the spatial distribution of urban residents were identified. The improved two-step floating catchment area (2SFCA) method was employed in combined with the network analyst in ArcGIS to evaluate the actual accessibility of park green spaces in Wuxi City, China. The urban districts with low accessibility to park green spaces were mapped as the key areas for equity promotion. Compared with the traditional methods, the spatial fitting degree between service capacity of urban park green spaces and users’ demand was measured more accurately. The study could conduct the layout optimization of urban park green spaces effectively.

Abstract Body

The negative impacts of climate change are increasingly affecting communities resulting in extreme vulnerability. This vulnerability is further intensified by several factors such as rapid urbanisation, informality, and the increased negative environmental impacts such as urban heat island effects.

Informal communities are regarded as extremely vulnerable to increased thermal conditions owing to their land-use practices and associated built forms. The study contributes towards the climate change discourse by exploring interrelationships between heat stress vulnerability and informal communities using Melusi, in the City of Tshwane, as a study area. The primary objective is to investigate the level of heat stress exposure experienced by this informal community and how individuals respond to limit their exposure to heat stress at a household level.

The study will employ a mixed-method research approach wherein both quantitative and qualitative data will be collected to investigate household adaptive capacity in relation to heat stress. A sample size of 357 informal households will be investigated concerning their perceived susceptibility and adaptive capacity to heat stress. Thereafter an observational analysis of 10 households using a structured checklist will be conducted to examine the built form and material use to understand the coping strategies used to limit their exposure to increased thermal conditions.

In terms of findings, the study intends to indicate that the knowledge, attitudes and practices adopted by informal communities influence their level of vulnerability to heat stress. It is anticipated that the results will reveal a correlation between households that make use of behavioural and structural interventions and lower exposure to extreme heat. Thus, highlighting the nature and level of adaptive capacity present in these communities.

In conclusion, the study aims to emphasize the harmful impacts of climate change on vulnerable populations and highlight the importance of micro-scale built environment interventions to mitigate these impacts in informal areas.

Abstract Body

The key elements of livable environment often include attractive public spaces, walkable, mixed use, higher density neighborhoods that support range of green infrastructure and transport, affordable housing, vibrant, exciting, sociable, human-scaled and friendly pedestrian experiences. Issues such as poverty eradication, health resilience, gender equality, employment and sustainable human settlements are conducive in the reduction of inequality within and across urban centers to promote inclusive living habitat.

However, considering that place-based information on elders’ social attributes and place attachment is rare or nonexistent. This article presents the systemic design thinking and prototype framework for optimal dwelling docility for ageing-in-place with the sub-tropic Taipei City in mind. The research concludes that: (1) the resilience process of health and wellbeing must consider people, place and process to attain optimal dwelling; (2) docility criteria incorporate the habitat and environmental enhancement measures, (3) prevailing preference in maintenance of physical space necessitates for stakeholders engaged in improving the ageing-in place community as the core of this study.

Abstract Body

Ecological space management is an important means to maintain regional ecological security and solve the imbalance between regional ecological supply and demand. This paper takes the urban agglomeration of Pearl River Delta as an example, based on the policy goals, public preferences, and expert knowledge of urban agglomeration to comprehensively construct the evaluation system. The initial study of the ecological space management zoning was conducted on the basis of the evaluation of the ecological space quality and ecosystem health. The results showed that the ecological space accounted for 82.8% of the area of the urban agglomeration. The quality of the ecological space was good, but the level of the ecosystem health was low. At the urban scale, the ecological space quality of Zhaoqing and Shenzhen was higher, that of Zhuhai and Zhongshan was lower; the ecosystem health of Huizhou and Zhaoqing was higher, that of Foshan and Zhongshan was lower. Integrated with the quality of ecological space and ecosystem health, the ecological space was divided into key protection area, key restoration area, potential restoration area, and ecological conservation area at the regional scale. The key protected areas accounted for 10.1%, which were the regional ecological source areas. The strictest environmental protection system should be implemented, ecological red line and nature protected area should be delimited, strengthen ecological construction and biodiversity protection, also the construction of ecological connectivity should be strengthened to improve the overall regional ecosystem services. The key restoration areas accounted for 21.6%, mainly focusing on ecological restoration, implementation of ecological projects, and promotion of ecological industry. The potential restoration areas account for 13.1%, mainly focusing on protection and natural recovery, comprehensive conservation and protection and improve the quality of ecological space, and focus on improving the function of ecosystem service. This research could facilitate the decision makers to identify and classify the ecological restoration space and the ecological protection space, and could effectively guide the improvement of the land space planning and the regional ecological environment management system.