Welcome to the ECOCITY 2022 Interactive Programme

Abstract Body

The ecosystem provides varieties of services including provisioning, regulating, supporting and cultural services. Growing evidence of the use of ecosystem services in climate change adaptation has witnessed a renewed interest among researchers, practitioners, and policymakers in ecosystem-based adaptation (EbA) especially after the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment in 2005. Now EbA has appeared as an important dimension in adaptation research. In Bangladesh, although people have been adopting various techniques of EbA for a long, only sporadic attempts have been observed to analyze EbAs from a resilience perspective. Those researches although provide valuable narratives about the EbAs adopted at local levels, however, lack analytic rigor. Moreover, there is a clear lack of research that addresses the issues and challenges that EbA encounters to build resilience in the Peri-urban coastal Community in Bangladesh.

This paper offers a systemic review of works on EbAs in coastal Bangladesh. While the papes looks like a standalone analytical document on the state of the art of adoption of EbAs in Peri-urban coastal Bangladesh, yet it offers a comprehensive analytical insight on opportunities and challenges to adoption of EbA in Peri-urban coastal Bangladesh. Accordingly, this paper first presents a succinct review of the impacts of climate change on the Peri-urban coastal ecosystem and livelihood. Second, it has analyzed various forms of EbA adopted in Peri-urban coastal Bangladesh from a resilient perspective. EbAs are most commonly used in Peri-urban coastal agriculture, fisheries, forestry and settlement which are linked to cropping practice, soil and nutrient management, water management, erosion control and food and livelihood security. Third, it has examined a suit of factors ranging from bio-physical, socio, economic and institutional that hinders the mass adoption of EbAs in the Peri-urban coastal context. Finally, it came up with some policy suggestions to institutionalize the EbAs for building resilient Peri-urban coastal communities in the changing context of climate. The policy implication of the research is- in line with the findings interventions are to be taken without further delay to make EbAs work to enhance coastal resiliency in Bangladesh.

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Ports have always been evolving to satisfy the new or changing demands of stakeholders. In this unstable world, ports as dynamic and ever-increasing complex systems are developed under a high degree of uncertainty. Furthermore, unpredictable events (e.g., the COVID-19 pandemic) have significant impacts on the port’s ecosystem. Consequently, the surrounding community, particularly in port cities, can be highly affected by unexpected changes.

To ensure the functionality of the ports through adaptation to different requirements, dealing with uncertainty, and improving flexibility should be accounted for in the planning process. Therefore, this study presents a structured framework to deal with uncertainties in the port planning process. To develop the framework, stakeholder analysis, different methods of addressing uncertain developments, and SWOT analysis are used. To devise flexibility, effective actions including mitigating, hedging, shaping, and seizing actions are incorporated in the plan. These actions either manage vulnerabilities or seize opportunities, and are aimed at protecting the plan against failures and moving it toward its success. The framework was developed for the Ports of Isafjordur Network in Iceland. The network is the third busiest port of call for cruise ships in Iceland with a considerable increase in the number of cruise calls in the last few years. Furthermore, fishing and aquaculture activities are the mainstays of the port network.

The results show that aquaculture and cruise activities create the main uncertainties for the port network. In the middle-term horizon, the port network is confronted with multiple vulnerabilities due to a lack of infrastructure and land in the port network to satisfy the demands of the increasing number of port users. The reduction in landside accessibility and deterioration of port-city relations can be handled by effective and efficient use of land, improving the living environment, and optimal distribution and decentralization of port activities in the port network. The adaptive nature of the plan results in a flexible port that allows the port and city to jointly evolve.

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Given the objectives of the United Nations Development Agenda for 2030, which refer to the sustainable principles of a circular economy, there is an urgent need to improve the built environment's performance. Existing buildings and urban infrastructure must be preserved and improved to reduce their environmental impact, in line with the need to reverse climate change and reduce the occurrence of natural disasters. Architecture is often discussed in terms of what buildings look like from the outside. But the way buildings and cities work have much more to do with how they shape and limit urban spaces; it is essential to identify what is wrong with today's built environment. This article aims to study and define strategies that promote urban rehabilitation in Beira, Mozambique, taking into account local climatic, architectural, and social issues, and contextualizing its importance with global climate changes, emphasizing energy efficiency, water efficiency, and Waste Management. Currently, the city of Beira is one of the African cities most vulnerable to climate change, where the most recent occurrences were cyclone “IDAI” in 2019, one of the most devastating since there are records in the southern hemisphere with winds that reached 200 km / h, also the tropical storm “Chalane” and cyclone “Eloise” in 2021. Beira importance in Mozambique commercial context, and even in Africa, is recognized for its strategic location and existing connections, where the port is essential in developing the urban structure. It is necessary to incorporate current strategies to achieve sustainable growth. The city must be reorganized, restored, and set in a structured and resilient way, considering the new urban trends based on climate change. It is intended to develop rehabilitation strategies in the areas of requalification of resilient urban spaces, thermal comfort of buildings, energy, water supply, and sewage; these made it possible to establish the expected improvements resulting from the action to be taken and exploring community and individual strategies.

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In high-density urban environments, integrated mixed-use buildings are increasingly taking the form of vertical extensions of urban spaces on the ground, where circulation, land uses, open spaces, ecological networks, and human activities are distributed both laterally and vertically in a dynamic relationship. The complex interactions of extensions of landscape spaces into the vertical dimension with those on the ground level, their impact on patterns of human movement in the city, their contribution to a more liveable high-density urban environment, and their scalability are currently not well understood.

A Complexity Science-based approach to the analysis of landscape spaces can be extended to these large inter-connected multi-occupancy vertically integrated buildings to systematically determine and evaluate the underlying patterns of spatial and social networks that unfold as space and users interact. The emergent patterns of movement and space use can inform the future design of vertically integrated urban space and its aesthetic, social, cultural, and economic performances.

This study presents the results of a post-occupancy case study of a vertically integrated mixed-use building in Singapore. This paper argues that studying high-density vertically integrated buildings using user-generated data can contribute to a better understanding of the socio-spatial qualities of the built environment. The advent of affordable and efficient technologies like low-energy Bluetooth (BLE) devices combined with smartphone sensors allow for the tracking and localising of building users within complex multi-level integrated spatial configurations. An analysis of the resulting real-world data produces evidence of how (1) integrated public and common spaces in the building are used, (2) how they influence user behaviour and movement patterns, and (3) how they impact social interactions and user activities over time.

The paper further explores the influence of the spatial layout of landscape spaces on user behaviour and movement patterns and the impact on social interactions and user activities over time. The paper finally discusses this research methodology's potential to evaluate the vertically distributed green open spaces' performance and inform future planning and design of effective integrated landscape spaces in high-density urban environments.

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Urban form as the geometrical shape of an urban area or neighborhood consists of several parameters and variables.Height and shape of the buildings, the street width and orientation, the space between the buildings and the urban topography and vegetation are the main elements of the urban geometry.Urban form can affect ventilation potential by causing flow turbulences around and at top of buildings which results in higher wind velocity.The air velocity is either increased or decreased by building blocks and the solar energy is trapped in the urban canyons formed by buildings on both sides of the streets.The positioning of adjacent buildings on streets and main streets of various widths on the right and left leads to the formation of "urban valleys" that direct the wind.In cases where buildings prevent air flow in hot climates, the comfort conditions of people moving in the city or outdoors are affected, and people/buildings in the interior have difficulty in making use of passive cooling facilities. Pedestrian comfort level is greatly affected by the temperature,the relative humidity and the wind speed in urban canyons.Appropriate wind levels for the pedestrians increase the comfort in the cities situated in hot areas.Conversely, the high wind levels may also cause discomfort for the pedestrians in the cases where the wind speed is over the comfort and danger levels.Especially in the urban areas the wind flows is not always laminar or parallel to the surface due to the urban morphology (buildings and topography) where the friction forces causes the wind flow in a turbulent way. The duration and the intensity of the turbulence may also cause discomfort.The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of the dense structure of the city (building orientation and forms, street orientations...).The aim is to answer the questions on the relation of the prevailing wind and the wind behaviour in the built-up area. This is a multidisciplinary study between the urban architecture and urban physics. The data collection analysis and its interpretation is the numerical part of the study.

Abstract Body

Being confronted with increasing and expanding urbanization and the loss of natural green spaces, our living environment is threatened more and more by the effects of global climate change. Cities and municipalities will play a pivotal role in responding to climate change, specifically with regard to climate adaptation. Nature-based solutions and green infrastructure could contribute to climate adaptation goals, while simultaneously delivering a wide range of co-benefits to society. In this study a discrete choice experiment was conducted with local decision makers in Flemish municipalities to reveal crucial factors in the decision process of green infrastructure projects. Flanders counts as one of the most densely built regions in Europe, stressing the urgency to understand local spatial decision factors to guarantee green space. 568 decision makers active in the local administration in 235 Flemish municipalities (78%) participated in the choice experiment. The sample includes individuals with political mandates (mayors, aldermen, councillors) and non-politically appointed functions (e.g. CEOs, financial directors, environmental and sustainability officers). The choice design is composed of 10 unforced choice sets, existing of two choice alternatives for a hypothetical neighbourhood park and a status-quo option. Every choice alternative exists of five attributes: investment cost, maintenance cost, deferred investment, recreational value and climate impact. [SVP1] Results indicate that local governments’ decisions on green infrastructure are highly cost-driven and rarely consider the full range of benefits. Moreover, economic benefits of green infrastructure are seldomly included as a decision criterion. Further, results indicate that reducing the uncertainty of greening projects’ impact would highly benefit the chances of increased uptake in later decision stages. The results can be used to inform higher authorities on the pathways to facilitate investments in green space and overcoming barriers towards informed decision-making.

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Background

Despite the benefits of health literacy in promoting health-seeking behavior, much knowledge is yet to be unraveled about health literacy in urban and rural environments amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria. This study, therefore, aimed to describe COVID-19 health literacy in urban and rural environments in Nigeria.

Methods

A descriptive cross-sectional design was used to enroll 691 respondents from households in rural and urban environments in South-west Nigeria using a multi-stage sampling technique. Data were collected using an interviewer-administered questionnaire between 1^st and 9^th October 2020. Nine questions were asked on respondents’ health literacy, each arranged on a scale of “1” implying “very difficult” to “7” implying “very easy’. Using Bloom’s cut-off set at 80%, we defined good health literacy as cumulative scores greater than or equal to 50 points, and poor health literacy as scores below 50 points. Bivariate chi-square tests were conducted on respondents’ COVID-19 health literacy. Multivariate logistic analysis was performed on significant variables. Statistical significance levels were set at p<0.05.

Results

The respondents’ mean age was 29.93±10.66 years, and 352 (50.9%) were males. Overall, 229 (45.8%) individuals had good COVID-19 health literacy. Among them, 143 (62.4%) individuals living in the urban environments had good COVID-19 health literacy compared to 86 (37.6%) living in the rural environments (ᵡ²= 4.062, p=0.044). Also, 31 (33.3%) in the first wealth quintile had good COVID-19 health literacy (ᵡ²=10.459, p=0.033). Respondents below 20 years had two times odds of good COVID-19 health literacy (OR= 2.304, 95% CI=1.316-4.034, p=0.004). Also, respondents aged 21-29 years had three times odds of good COVID-19 health literacy (OR=2.587, 95% CI=1.559-4.293, p=<0.001).

Conclusion

Residents of rural environments in Nigeria are at a disadvantage for poor COVID-19 health literacy. In a bid to ensure a healthy city, strategies to ensure equity in the dissemination of health-related information across urban and rural environments in Nigeria need to be implemented. COVID-19 information package should be clearly presented. Improved political commitment is required to ensure the healthy state of urban and rural environments residents in Nigeria.

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Wood-burning pollution is a severe problem in southern Chile, where every winter, people are exposed to adverse weather conditions and unhealthy ambient fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) concentrations. Chilean southern cities are characterized by having low temperatures during winter months, regularly dropping below 0 ºC in addition with windy and rainy periods in between. These climatic conditions generate a strong need for heating among their inhabitants, which is primarily covered by firewood.Urban air quality is a major concern for health and environmental authorities, but public awareness campaigns tend to focus on outdoor hazards. Therefore, our understanding of how residents are exposed and perceive air pollution risks and temperature in their homes remains incomplete. This study explores the ability of participants to perceive indoor air quality and temperature. We collected data on 81 households, combining perceptions of air quality with objective measurements of PM_2.5 and ºC through indoor air quality sensors. Also, residents’ evaluations of indoor air quality and temperature were systematically compared to external inspectors’ evaluations in order to examine the home halo effect. The results of this study show that residents tended to overestimate indoor air quality and temperature in their homes in comparison with objetive data and external inspectors. We discuss how our data supported the existence of a home halo effect, but also point out the possibility that individuals’ ability to perceive indoor air quality and temperature spaces is limited by other factors, such as sensory capacity, habituation, media coverage, among others.

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Long-haul travels represent a significant contributor of CO_2e in the atmosphere (Durbarry & Seetanah, 2015). However, research has not addressed yet the exploration of the personal and situational factors that lead to the selection of unsustainable modes of transport for such long trips (De Angelis et al., 2020), hence boosting clean energies for this type of journeys.

The present study explored personal and situational factors as possible antecedents of travel mode selection for long-distance travels. Among these the most relevant are the biospheric values, namely the extent to which “people judge phenomena on the basis of costs or benefits to ecosystems or the biosphere” (Stern & Dietz, 1994, p. 70), service satisfaction, travel distance, and the geographic location of departure and arrival.

A sample of 700 students and alumni of the Erasmus+ population responded to an online survey measuring attitudes, modal choice, and travel distance and determining departure and arrival location. The research design is cross-sectional and a moderated logistic regression was used for analyzing the data.

Results highlight how biospheric values, travel distance, and the geographic location of departure and arrival are significant antecedents of travel mode selection for long-haul travels. The sustainability of the selected modes of travel are associated with the here considered values, but situational factors moderate such association.

The cross-sectional design precludes causality or chronological order of changes.

Thus, the present paper provides valuable knowledge on which factors to consider when promoting sustainable long-haul travels is the aim. Also, it provides unique insights for more accurate CO_2e estimations, when the incidence of behavioural factors are included in such computations.

Although, long-haul travels represent a significant contributor of CO_2e in the atmosphere (Durbarry & Seetanah, 2015), the study of personal and situational factors that lead to the selection of unsustainable modes of transport remains unexplored (De Angelis et al., 2020). The present study analyses both personal and situational factors and provides the scientific community with relevant findings to promote more sustainable long-haul trips.

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Tackling the climate crisis represents an essential goal of the global society. Promoting sustainable commuting represents a valuable contribution in this regard, and organisations could act as frontrunners in tackling this challenge. Accordingly, the conceptualisation and measurement of how organisational environments contribute to sustainable commuting become relevant. This study aims to conceptualise and operationalise the new construct of Organizational Climate for Sustainable Commuting (OCSC) and validate the OCSC scale both in Italian and English. Data were gathered in an Italian university, 8542 participants responded to the Italian version and 224 participants to the English one. The validation of both versions was based on exploratory factor analyses, confirmatory factor analyses, reliability analyses, and aggregation indices analyses. Convergent and discriminant validity, correlation analyses, internal construct validity, and evidence of criterion-related validity were applied to validate the scales further. The results confirmed a unidimensional structure for both versions of the tool and indicated satisfactory reliability. Aggregation of the scores to the departmental level was justified and significant positive correlations between OCSC and other sustainability-related variables were found. Internal construct validity, convergent validity and concurrent validity were tested. Evidence for discriminant validity was provided only for the Italian version. The OCSC scale was proven to be a valid and reliable measurement. The English version has shown to be reliable and valid only at the individual level. The proposed concept and its related scales offer a new perspective and measure to be used when promoting sustainable commuting is the objective.