Showing papers on "Metropolitan area published in 2021"
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic, fiscal, social and political fallout on cities and metropolitan regions in the US.
Abstract: This paper examines the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic and its related economic, fiscal, social and political fallout on cities and metropolitan regions. We assess the effect of the pandemic on ur...
188 citations
TL;DR: Food consumption patterns for major food groups seemed to stay the same for the majority of participants, but a large share indicated that they had been snacking more since the beginning of the pandemic which was offset by a sharp decline in fast food consumption.
Abstract: We conducted an online consumer survey in May 2020 in two major metropolitan areas in the United States to investigate food shopping behaviors and consumption during the pandemic lockdown caused by COVID-19. The results of this study parallel many of the headlines in the popular press at the time. We found that about three-quarters of respondents were simply buying the food they could get due to out of stock situations and about half the participants bought more food than usual. As a result of foodservice closures, consumers indicated purchasing more groceries than normal. Consumers attempted to avoid shopping in stores, relying heavily on grocery delivery and pick-up services during the beginning of the pandemic when no clear rules were in place. Results show a 255% increase in the number of households that use grocery pickup as a shopping method and a 158% increase in households that utilize grocery delivery services. The spike in pickup and delivery program participation can be explained by consumers fearing COVID-19 and feeling unsafe. Food consumption patterns for major food groups seemed to stay the same for the majority of participants, but a large share indicated that they had been snacking more since the beginning of the pandemic which was offset by a sharp decline in fast food consumption.
164 citations
TL;DR: This research employed a multi-method approach comprised of 106 interviews with thought leaders and two stakeholder workshops to construct the history, ecosystem, state of the industry, and potential evolution of Urban air mobility.
Abstract: Since the early 20th century, inventors have conceptualized “plane cars” and other urban aerial transportation. Emerging innovations in electrification, automation, and other technologies are enabling new opportunities for on-demand air mobility, business models, and aircraft design. Urban air mobility (UAM) envisions a safe, sustainable, affordable, and accessible air transportation system for passenger mobility, goods delivery, and emergency services within or traversing metropolitan areas. This research employed a multi-method approach comprised of 106 interviews with thought leaders and two stakeholder workshops to construct the history, ecosystem, state of the industry, and potential evolution of UAM. The history, current developments, and anticipated milestones of UAM can be classified into six phases: 1) “flying car” concepts from the early 1910s to 1950s, 2) early UAM operations using scheduled helicopter services from the 1950s to 1980s, 3) re-emergence of on-demand services starting in the 2010s, 4) corridor services using vertical take-off and landing (VTOL) envisioned for the 2020s, 5) hub and spoke services, and 6) point-to-point services. In the future, UAM could face several barriers to growth and mainstreaming, such as the existing regulatory environment; community acceptance; and concerns about safety, noise, social equity, and environmental impacts. UAM also could be limited by infrastructure and airspace management needs, as well as business model constraints. The paper concludes with recommendations for future research on sustainability, social and economic impacts, airspace integration, and other topics.
99 citations
TL;DR: The degree of urbanisation is a new definition of cities, towns and semi-dense areas, and rural areas endorsed by the United Nations Statistical Commission as discussed by the authors, which is used to classify cities and towns as rural areas in Africa and Asia and as urban areas in other parts of the world.
85 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, a combined cellular automata and Markov chain model was applied to simulate land-use/land-cover change and predict the future state of urban ecological security in Kolkata metropolitan area.
83 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors examined the potential changes in residential location choice in a scenario where shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are a popular mode of travel in the Atlanta metropolitan area.
Abstract: This study examines the potential changes in residential location choice in a scenario where shared autonomous vehicles (SAVs) are a popular mode of travel in the Atlanta metropolitan area. This hy...
68 citations
25 Mar 2021
TL;DR: The authors investigated how the HOLC policy administered 80 years ago may relate to present-day tree canopy at the neighborhood level, finding that areas formerly graded D, which were mostly inhabited by racial and ethnic minorities, have on average ~23% tree canopy cover today.
Abstract: Redlining was a racially discriminatory housing policy established by the federal government’s Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) during the 1930s. For decades, redlining limited access to homeownership and wealth creation among racial minorities, contributing to a host of adverse social outcomes, including high unemployment, poverty, and residential vacancy, that persist today. While the multigenerational socioeconomic impacts of redlining are increasingly understood, the impacts on urban environments and ecosystems remain unclear. To begin to address this gap, we investigated how the HOLC policy administered 80 years ago may relate to present-day tree canopy at the neighborhood level. Urban trees provide many ecosystem services, mitigate the urban heat island effect, and may improve quality of life in cities. In our prior research in Baltimore, MD, we discovered that redlining policy influenced the location and allocation of trees and parks. Our analysis of 37 metropolitan areas here shows that areas formerly graded D, which were mostly inhabited by racial and ethnic minorities, have on average ~23% tree canopy cover today. Areas formerly graded A, characterized by U.S.-born white populations living in newer housing stock, had nearly twice as much tree canopy (~43%). Results are consistent across small and large metropolitan regions. The ranking system used by Home Owners’ Loan Corporation to assess loan risk in the 1930s parallels the rank order of average percent tree canopy cover today.
64 citations
TL;DR: In their bid to combine economic growth with efficiency gains, environmental improvements, and more positive images, Polish cities have embraced Smart City (SC) strategies as discussed by the authors, but critics of SC urge caution.
58 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors developed a framework for analyzing urban vitality in developing countries using Ho Chi Minh City and Shanghai as cases, and analyzed its spatial pattern by using the projection pursuit model based on three dimensions of human activity, built environment, and their linkage.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the perceptions and behaviors of tourists before and during COVID-19 in the municipality of Porto, the main area of the Porto Metropolitan Area, in Portugal.
Abstract: The COVID-19 pandemic outbreak (in early 2020) has dictated significant changes in society and territories by anticipating trends, changing priorities, and creating challenges, which are manifested in the territories. These are influenced by the levels of economic, cultural, and social restructuring, in the measures implemented by public administration or in attempts to redefine strategies for tourism destinations. This paper examines the perceptions and behaviors of tourists before and during COVID-19 in the municipality of Porto, the main area of the Porto Metropolitan Area, in Portugal. Research was based on the application of a questionnaire survey, probing the sensitivity of tourists to the crisis in the decision-making of daily routines, as well as future travel plans in the presence of a serious health concern. A total of 417 surveys were collected in the summers of 2019 and 2020. In addition to descriptive statistics, this paper also includes the results of the analysis of explanatory factors, being a reference for future studies. There were significant changes in the use of public space and the way tourist visits are handled, namely: (i) the concentration of visiting time (shorter visit than usual in certain tourist profiles); (ii) spatially limited visiting areas; and (iii) the ability to attract standard tourists from certain countries where tighter lockdown rules were imposed. Main implications of this study are reflected in the challenges that are imposed on the local agenda, where traditional problems are added to the responsibilities in crisis management and the ability to establish a third order of intervention in tourism.
54 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors show that the COVID-19 pandemic brought house price and rent declines in city centers, and price increases away from the center, thereby flattening the bid-rent curve in most U.S. metropolitan areas.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors study the shape of Los Angeles metropolitan area with a permanent increase in working from home and find three important effects: (1) jobs move to the core of the city, while residents move to its periphery.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors presented a method to delineate metropolitan areas in the entire world and assess their population trends, based on a probabilistic approach and the use of population and travel impedance gridded data across the globe.
TL;DR: The results reveal that the spread of COVID-19 from the capital city São Paulo—its epicenter in Brazil—is directly associated with the availability of highways within the expanded metropolitan area of SBrazil, and the UV radiation provided by sunlight might contribute to depletion of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.
Abstract: The new coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 has infected more than 14 million people worldwide so far. Brazil is currently the second leading country in number of cases of COVID-19, while Sao Paulo state accounts for 20% of total confirmed cases in Brazil. The aim of this study was to assess environmental and social factors influencing the spread of SARS-CoV-2 in the expanded metropolitan area of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Firstly, a spatial analysis was conducted to provide insights into the spread of COVID-19 within the expanded metropolitan area. Moreover, Spearman correlation test and sensitivity analysis were performed to assess social indicators and environmental conditions which possibly influence the incidence of COVID-19. Our results reveal that the spread of COVID-19 from the capital city Sao Paulo-its epicenter in Brazil-is directly associated with the availability of highways within the expanded metropolitan area of Sao Paulo. As for social aspects, COVID-19 infection rate was found to be both positively correlated with population density, and negatively correlated with social isolation rate, hence indicating that social distancing has been effective in reducing the COVID-19 transmission. Finally, COVID-19 infection rate was found to be inversely correlated with both temperature and UV radiation. Together with recent literature our study suggests that the UV radiation provided by sunlight might contribute to depletion of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity.
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss the effectiveness, efficiency, and feasibility of city strategic plans for establishing a public charging infrastructure network to encourage the uptake and use of electric vehicles (EVs) as one means to address these challenges.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors describe the tendencies of urban physical expansion over the last four decades in the Jakarta megacity and portray the pattern of changes in the total population and population density along the Jakarta-Bandung urban corridor.
TL;DR: In this article, the spatial distributions of skills in Brazil, China, and India were analyzed using satellite images and the authors concluded that agglomeration is also skill-biased in these countries.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors empirically examined the crucial nexus between urban agglomerations and environmental degradation in top ten cities in the world from 1960Q1 to 2014Q4 and found that excessive levels of urban concentration in big cities cause environmental degradation, which could be attributed to extreme population density, overcrowding, traffic congestion and extensive demand for energy consumption.
Abstract: The rapid urbanization growth has not only improved the living standards of people but also raised concerns for environmental sustainability over the globe. In this regard, the issue of excessive urban concentration or over-agglomeration in metropolitan areas is nowadays the prime concern for urban planning and building energy-efficient and eco-friendly infrastructures. In response to rising interest in the dynamic linkage between urban concentration and environment, the current research empirically examines the crucial nexus between urban agglomerations and environmental degradation in top ten urban agglomerated countries in the world from 1960Q1 to 2014Q4. The current research is the pioneer empirical work in the area of urbanization by applying recently developed and innovative methods of quantile-on-quantile (QQ) approach and quantile Granger causality in relatively less explored area of urban agglomeration at the cross-country level. Our mainstream findings indicate that urban agglomeration has a strong positive effect on CO2 emissions in most of our sample countries, and this effect is more pronounced in higher quantiles of respective variables. These results imply that excessive levels of urban concentration in big cities cause environmental degradation, which could be attributed to extreme population density, overcrowding, traffic congestion and extensive demand for energy consumption. However, some countries such as Israel, Paraguay and Columbia exhibit overall declining and negative trends about the relationship between urban agglomerations and CO2 emissions. Moreover, quantile Granger causality results confirm the previous findings of QQ regression and verify the existence of bidirectional causal nexus between urban agglomerations and CO2 emissions in the majority of the lower, middle and upper quantiles in our selected top ten countries except for Kuwait. However, the unidirectional causal relationship also exists for several countries for extreme lower, middle and extremely higher quantiles. Our findings extend the previous work on agglomeration-environment nexus by determining the asymmetric magnitude of linkage between these two variables demanding cautious and individual-focused policies for urban planning and environmental sustainability.
TL;DR: In this article, the results of ongoing research to detect SARS-CoV-2 RNA in aerosol in different hospital facilities (indoor environments) and public spaces (outdoor environments) of a metropolitan center in Brazil were presented.
TL;DR: The evaluation indicated that MSW in Greek cities have reduced over the last years, suggesting a steady downward trend, which could be considered consistent with that of the per capita incomes in Greece due to the extended economic austerity, while at the same time the recycling indicator seems to optimize.
Abstract: Human activities are considered among the main producers of any kind of pollution. This paper, through a Driver-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) model analyses, focuses on the evaluation and assessment of the existing practices, procedures, and results obtained in order to determine whether the municipal solid waste (MSW) management implemented in three major Greek municipalities in the greater urban area of Attica, namely the municipalities of Nea Smirni, Vyronas, and Piraeus, could be considered viable and sustainable. The evaluation indicated that MSW in Greek cities have reduced over the last years, also suggesting a steady downward trend, which could be considered consistent with that of the per capita incomes in Greece due to the extended economic austerity, while at the same time the recycling indicator seems to optimize. The results are very useful for policymakers and local authorities towards taking actions related to the targets set from the circular economy strategies as well as the targets set from United Nation Development Program and the European Green Deal Strategy.
TL;DR: Over time, rural geography and social isolation may not provide sustainable protection to rural residents from the pandemic, and rural areas need to be proactive and develop prevention strategies and response plans to manage and control the spread of COVID-19.
Abstract: PURPOSE: The United States has experienced a surge of COVID-19 cases and deaths. Regardless of the overall increase in the prevalence and mortality, there are disagreements about the consequences of exposure and contracting COVID-19, specifically in rural areas. Rural areas have inherent characteristics that increase their vulnerability to contracting COVID-19. The objective of this study was to investigate the differences in death rates from COVID-19 between urban and rural areas in the United States. METHODS: This study used county-level data. The data set consisted of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths along with county-level demographics. The sample consisted of all counties in the 50 US states and DC. Counties were designated as metropolitan, micropolitan, and rural. A zero-inflated negative binomial regression was used to estimate county-level number of deaths conditional on contracting COVID-19. The study focused on COVID-19-related mortality from February 10, 2020, to June 12, 2020. FINDINGS: After controlling for county-level characteristics, the rate of COVID-19 deaths was 70.3% (P < .001) for rural counties and 53.4% (P < .001) for micropolitan counties, both significantly lower than metropolitan counties during the study time period. CONCLUSION: Over time, rural geography and social isolation may not provide sustainable protection to rural residents from the pandemic. The slow progression provides rural areas additional time and opportunity to learn from the experiences in urban areas that were most affected. Rural areas need to be proactive and develop prevention strategies and response plans to manage and control the spread of COVID-19.
TL;DR: This paper considers three large-scale urban development projects from the perspective of their distinctive “business models”, including their place in achieving wider strategic objectives at national and metropolitan scales, their agile and often bespoke institutional configurations, and their different forms of financing, taxation and land value capture.
TL;DR: The disproportionately high rates of both infections and deaths among racial and ethnic minorities (especially Blacks and Hispanics) in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic are consistent with the conclusion that structural inequality can produce lethal consequences.
Abstract: The disproportionately high rates of both infections and deaths among racial and ethnic minorities (especially Blacks and Hispanics) in the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic are consistent with the conclusion that structural inequality can produce lethal consequences However, the nature of this structural inequality in relation to COVID-19 is poorly understood Here, we hypothesized that two structural features, racial residential segregation and income inequality, of metropolitan areas in the United States have contributed to health-compromising conditions, which, in turn, have increased COVID-19 fatalities; moreover, that these two features, when combined, may be particularly lethal To test this hypothesis, we examined the growth rate of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in an early 30-day period of the outbreak in the counties located in each of the 100 largest metropolitan areas in the United States The growth curves for cases and deaths were steeper in counties located in metropolitan areas where Blacks and Hispanics are residentially segregated from Whites Moreover, the effect of racial residential segregation was augmented by income inequality within each county These data strongly suggest that racial and economic disparities have caused a greater death toll during the current pandemic We draw policy implications for making virus-resilient cities free from such consequences
TL;DR: The results of this study showed that GBDT and RF have higher predictive power than ANN, indicating that tree-based ensemble methods are an effective technique for LUC prediction.
Abstract: This study compares the performance of gradient boosting decision tree (GBDT), artificial neural networks (ANNs), and random forests (RF) methods in LUC modeling in the Seoul metropolitan area. The...
TL;DR: In this article, a literature review and three case studies that review policies and practices for the transformation of city ecosystems mostly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic are presented, including the central business district, the transport ecosystem, and the tourism-hospitality ecosystem.
Abstract: Fundamental principles of modern cities and urban planning are challenged during the COVID-19 pandemic, such as the advantages of large city size, high density, mass transport, free use of public space, unrestricted individual mobility in cities. These principles shaped the development of cities and metropolitan areas for more than a century, but currently, there are signs that they have turned from advantage to liability. Cities Public authorities and private organisations responded to the COVID-19 crisis with a variety of policies and business practices. These countermeasures codify a valuable experience and can offer lessons about how cities can tackle another grand challenge, this of climate change. Do the measures taken during the COVID-19 crisis represent a temporal adjustment to the current health crisis? Or do they open new ways towards a new type of urban development more effective in times of environmental and health crises? We address these questions through literature review and three case studies that review policies and practices for the transformation of city ecosystems mostly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic: (a) the central business district, (b) the transport ecosystem, and (c) the tourism–hospitality ecosystem. We assess whether the measures implemented in these ecosystems shape new policy and planning models for higher readiness of cities towards grand challenges, and how, based on this experience, cities should be organized to tackle the grand challenge of environmental sustainability and climate change.
TL;DR: The US Department of Transportation requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOsman et al. as discussed by the authors ) to consider social equity in their plans and projects in accordance with civil rights-related laws.
Abstract: The US Department of Transportation requires metropolitan planning organizations (MPOs) to consider social equity in their plans and projects in accordance with civil rights–related laws. In this p...
TL;DR: In this article, the authors assess the current building materials stored in the existing buildings and C&DW generation, composition and management, by means of public databases, i-Tree Canopy software and SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors developed an integrated spatial analysis approach to investigate the impacts of COVID-19 on multi-dimensional Urban Water Consumption Patterns (UWCPs) with the aim of forecasting the water demand.
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper proposed a strategy for and a conceptualization of the development and utilization of urban underground space, based on a review, it is concluded that the future exploitation of underground space will reflect the following trends: sustainability, integration, deep exploitation, ecologicalization, informatization and humanization.
TL;DR: In this article, the authors used an extended Spatial Durbin Model and county-level panel data to estimate the effectiveness of a pilot scheme of regional economic integration on land-use-related carbon emissions applied in the Wuhan metropolitan area.