The urban heat island effect is considered one of the main causes of global warming and is contributing to increasing temperatures in the urban United States. This phenomenon enhances the intensity of summer heat waves and the risk to public health due to increased exposure to extreme thermal conditions. Characteristics of spatial development patterns can significantly affect urban temperature because they are related to the arrangement of development and land surface materials, which are crucial elements needed to determine land surface temperature. While previous studies revealed that the effect of the urban heat island varies depending on different land use types and surface characteristics, few have considered the overall development patterns of urban form. I address this under-studied aspect of heat hazards by analyzing the relationship between spatial development pattern and urban heat island effect across a sample of 353 metropolitan regions of the U.S. Specifically, I employ a series of landscape metrics to measure urban development patterns using a national land cover dataset from the U.S. Geological Survey. Linear regression models are used to statistically isolate the effect of different spatial development patterns on increasing the urban heat island effect while controlling for multiple contextual variables including built-environment, environmental, and demographic characteristics. The result of this study showed that the daytime mean surface urban heat island effect (4.04˚F) is higher than that of nighttime (2.41˚F). Ecological context (i.e. Ecoregions) has proved to be a statistically significant modulator that helps to explain the spatial distribution of the urban heat island effect. Regarding the main research question of this study, the results indicate that specific categories of urban development pattern including density, continuity, and clustering are statistically associated with increasing the urban heat island effect. This initial evidence suggests that the overall development patterns are an important issue to consider when mitigating the adverse impacts related to the urban heat island effect. In addition, when contextual heat contributors are held constant, the intensity of the urban heat island effect can differ depending on the configuration of development in urban areas. This study can be used as a starting point for a comprehensive approach to both spatial land development and hazard-resistant planning by providing alternative ways of measuring and modeling spatial development patterns.

This thesis presents evidence that income polarization is accompanied by increasing social-spatial disparities between areas of the city that were developed in different societal contexts, with different planning approaches, and that have different land use and transportation dynamics. An analysis of the social structure of the Toronto Metropolitan Area finds indications of widespread gentrification in the inner city, socioeconomic decline in the postwar suburbs, and sustained household affluence in the ever expanding outermost suburbs of the metropolitan area. It is argued that, as a political and social endeavor that is embedded in broader development regimes, urban planning influences social-spatial polarization to the extent that it influences urban form.

What are the essential characteristics that constitute historic American neighbor- hoods? Do current regulations promote developments that exhibit these essential characteristics? In this thesis I analyze two historic neighborhoods in an effort to un- cover their architectonic principles. By identifying the key components that comprise these places, we can critically analyze whether regulations, such as Historic Preserva- tion Ordinances and the SmartCode, are adequately designed to govern development practices of residential neighborhoods.

Public transportation policy plays a significant role in facilitating ridership as well as travel modes, economic activities, and environmental aspects. Seoul has experienced rapid urbanization. Also, high density developments and uncontrolled land use gave rise to extensive urban sprawl in the Seoul Metropolitan Areas (SMA). Due to increased use of private vehicles, which created serious traffic congestion, the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) has reformed public transportation policies-introduced bus transportation reform (BTR) in 2004 and reformed fare and ticketing structures in 2009. This research focuses on the relationships between socioeconomic characteristics and commuting patterns by applying smart card data that includes individual travel behaviors during commuting periods. Among regression results, average commuting times are significantly associated with the proportion of population with lower levels of education and the number of public transit stations. These results appear to support the idea that the lower educated people in each district tend to have longer commuting times. Also, the greater availability of public transit stations contributes to shorter commuting times. Finally, analyzing commuting times seems to be important for determining demographic movement as well as locational advantages in certain regions of Seoul based on public transportation policies.

This thesis studies the theories, scientific evidence and spatial relationships within urban form to determine means and deviations that developments can use to determine the resiliency of urban form within a given location. Resiliency within urban form functions as modulations around a morphological mean. Rather than replicate the mean, resilient cities modulate with low standard deviations around the mean. As a result, while many look aesthetically different, resilient cities are structurally more similar than dissimilar. Cities can use this information to inform their projects on a schematic design level to determine if they are improving their urban form or if they are deviating from the resilient mean.

This dissertation investigates the transformative possibilities inherent in a contemporary urban artefact in Jeppestown, a significant historical suburb dating back to the settlement of early prospectors who sought a precious yellow metal beneath the red earth of a treeless veld. On this veld today stands the City of Johannesburg. The Johannesburg metropolis is scarred by the intersection of differences between those who have inhabited its streets. It has endured these differences and become a part of them through the multiple generations of its lifetime. Jeppestown or Jeppe to its residents, endures today with latent markings of apartheid as a transitional industrial buffer area west of the Johannesburg Central Business District (CBD). Jeppe exists today as a piece of this narrative and is one of the longest threads in the chronology of the habitation of the greater Johannesburg city. Imminent threats of gentrification and signs of poorly considered urban renewal schemes aimed at the transformation of public space in Jeppe provoke the following questions: What is the potential role of Jeppe within the greater metropolis? And how could the transformation of urban form in this context, through the act of design, begin to transform its potential value, meaning and significance as a place of belonging and becoming – to both those who currently inhabit it and the greater population of the fluctuating metropolis that surrounds it? The proposed intervention is situated in the vicinity of Jeppe market and train station. It forms a part of an investigative framework of architectural and landscape interventions along a regenerative urban spine that connects the station square to Gilfillan Park (Jeppe Park). The objective of the framework is defined as the conditional amplification of extant rituals, negotiated territories and lives & deaths through the introduction of responsive and constructive spatial interventions and the reconciliation of these with the existing fabric. Jeppestown is the subject of this inquiry and intervention, yet its post-apartheid predisposition in the urban context is not exclusive. The intention of the study through design is to postulate and identify a manner of working within the means of the architectural discipline, that itself is aligned with the endeavour of fostering an approach toward place making in the contemporary South African metropolis. This text serves as a record of events that have unfolded through the thoughts, actions and adopted processes for the design and investigation of a transformative urban artefact manifested as a social club in Jeppestown, Johannesburg. / Dissertation (MArch(Prof))--University of Pretoria, 2014. / Architecture / MArch(Prof) / Unrestricted

The increasing challenges caused by non-renewable energy in regard to climate change, the increased flux of migration to urban areas, and the undeniable impact of human activities on these phenomena have given rise to a wide range of scientific work analysing the relationship between urban form and energy. Pioneering research in this field shows a link between the density of cities and their energy consumption. While concerns surrounding sustainable urbanism have grown, urban thinking has evolved, and the interdependence between planning and mobility, and planning and building are increasingly being explored beyond the traditional ways in which they have been considered in isolation. Environmentally conscious design of dense urban forms is thus at the heart of sustainable urbanism. This research uses the concept of urban form to explain the city as a spatial phenomenon. Urban form is proposed as an analytical lens through which the contributions of design characteristics are revealed, for an energy-efficient urban planning policy.Although the link between urban form and energy performance is clearly established, research is lacking on the influence of spatial organization on energy saving in cities from efficient urban fabrics. The urban scale dimension of research on energy consumption attracts much less interest than that of the building, which is very present within the literature. Therefore, the research question was formulated as follows: “How can urban form and energy performance be connected to meet the increasingly unique and changing expectations or needs of places and populations?”. In this regard, the approach adopted in this research is a methodological contribution to knowledge.To answer this question, a research framework was developed with several research methods were employed to answer a set of sub-questions. The first –“What are the links between urban form and energy consumption?”– should be seen as exploratory questions to form a complete picture of the problem. It is answered through a combination of literature review and analysis of urban form elements. The second sub-question –“How can urban form indicators be integrated into the decision-making process for an energy-efficient urban planning policy?– is a fundamental question and is theoretically answered by a literature review and through the development of a theoretical framework. The third sub-question –“What are the links between socio-economic variables, transport infrastructure energy consumption and urban form?”– is the first of three questions that structure the empirical research. It resulted in a statistical data analysis for the selected case area, i.e. the Brussels-Capital Region. The fourth sub-question –“ What are the links between building geometry and solar gains?”– is answered with the analysis of a 3D simulation model of a district area in renovation. The last sub-question –“What are the design priorities required to reduce urban energy use?”– led to the development of a conclusion at multiple scales of urban form analysis. After introducing the topic, the research question and the research framework in the first chapter, chapters 2 to 6 respectively respond to each of the sub-questions. To answer the first sub-question, a historical analysis of the relationship between energy and urban form is presented in chapter 2. The discipline of urban form study in the fields of architecture urbanism and geography introduced four main schools of thought and three main approaches to analyse the urban form during the period 1960-2018. These schools support the viability of urban form analysis as an instrument for planning, as it makes us consider how urban form design affects the energy usage of the city. At the same time, urban planners need to consider the urban not to be simply a set of data, but a subject of inquiry that depends on an assumed initial definition and conceptualisation.In chapter 3, the methodological aspects used in this research are detailed and give an answer to the second sub-question. Four complementary systems of urban form elements are highlighted and connected to the energy indicators identified in the literature review. The scale of analysis for each of the urban form elements is also presented in this chapter with argumentation and detailed definition of the urban indicators. At the same time, the econometric statistical analysis is developed and explain the potential of; correlation, cointegration and causality analysis in building an efficient urban planning policy. In chapter 4, the Brussels-Capital Region mobility data for a 26 years period (1990-2016) are statistically analysed. The link between urban form indicators, transport and socio-economic indicators show the importance of road length development on increasing energy consumption in transport for the region. It also highlights the need for policy planning more inclined to take the “time” into consideration to be able to support future energy-efficient policy measure. In chapter 5, the analysis of the relationships between urban form and energy is scaled down to the street and building scales. A solar analysis is conducted on two different urban form models (the closed block and the open block). The results point to the importance of urban planning design considering open space an object of inquiry rather than simply leftover space between buildings. It is also reasserting the need for 3D model analyses in the preliminary stages of the conception of the technical specifications provided by the region for each project. Finally, in the chapter 6, the applicability and merits of the theoretical framework are first reflected upon. Next, the newly gained insights about the processes behind urban form and energy nexus are presented. Then, an answer is given to the main research question in the form of recommendations. These recommendations are based on the idea that the study of urban form development could be used as a powerful tool for crafting urban regulation guidelines and practices for a more integrated, sustainable urbanism. / Doctorat en Art de bâtir et urbanisme (Polytechnique) / info:eu-repo/semantics/nonPublished

This research study aims to determine the impact of urban form on social sustainability. Definitions of urban form vary in the literature. One of the definitions describe urban form as spaces that enhance the sense of community, healthy communities and place attachment, while promoting environmental mitigation and adaption measures (Eizenberg & Jabareen, 2017). Likewise, social sustainability has not been clearly defined and universally understood and as a result its importance has been compromised (Vallance, Perkins & Dixon, 2011). This study of urban form also includes testing the success of the process of implementation, with the aim of providing evidence with regards to its success in the shaping of urban form. Important implementation processes of urban form include: planning processes, policies, processes of collaboration and partnership between different agencies, local participation, financial incentives, tax incentives and investment (Burton, Jenks & Williams, 2003). The case study of the research includes two contrasting housing developments that are at opposite ends of the housing spectrum. Masiphumelele, an informal settlement, and Lake Michelle, an Eco-Estate. Both these housing developments are situated between the areas of Noordhoek, Fish Hoek and Sun Valley in the City of Cape Town. This research project makes use of a multidisciplinary approach. Due to the spatial and social nature of the research, methods from both Geography and Urban Design were used. Qualitative methods were used, including interviews, field observation, volunteer work at an NGO, and spatial mapping. The research study finds that urban form does have an impact on social sustainability. The findings reveal that the measure of social sustainability is a result of firstly, the type of urban form. Secondly, it is a result of the nature of the implementation process of urban form. Third, it is a result of the residents’ response to the urban form. Social sustainability is thus not predictable, but the relationship between urban form and social sustainability is predictable. Both high-density and low-density urban forms have positive and negative results, depending on the specific context. Furthermore, the selected criteria with which to define both urban form and social sustainability will have an impact on the relationship between the two. Thus, calling for a uniform definition of both urban form and social sustainability, and the need for a context-specific approach to the design of urban form.

With over 300 years serving as a traffic route it is no wonder that Hornsgatan has the role of a major ‘artery’ in today’s Stockholm. This thesis will analyze and investigate how the street environment on Hornsgatan is affecting the people spending time on the street, and how a better street life and street quality can be brought out when it comes to enhance the social aspects for the street and its people. Through methods such as observations of the street and interviews with business owners, the case study of Hornsgatan have been based upon some theories by famous theorists when it comes to improving streets (and urban life) in cities, e.g.; Appleyard (1981), Jacobs (1993) and Gehl (2010). The results from the case study and the interviews show that Hornsgatan have both factors of what a ‘good’ and socially sustainable street should have; mix-use, the presence of people and social activities, active ground floors and different traffic modes, and factors that contribute to a less attractive street life; the heavy traffic, lack of places to sit, lack of greenery and lack of social activities for/between people. To reply the question if Hornsgatan is a ‘good’ and socially sustainable street or not, the answer is both yes and no. As Appleyard (1981) states, “[…] there is no single perfect street […]” (Appleyard 1981, p. 245). Instead each street and its situation are unique. However, with guidelines and aspects for how a street can be improved, at least some help can be brought out for its improvements. / Urban Form and Social Behaviour Research Project

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