Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic has created worldwide devastation in every sphere of human life. It has led to the economy slowing down and has aggravated life, health, and livelihood vulnerabilities. It spreads across the globe, pene trating indiscriminately through the cities of global north and south and has a greater urban orientation. The physical, social, economic and environmental circumstances determine the susceptibility of an individual, a community or the system to the impact of this pandemic. The degree of vulnerability of any community strongly influences management decisions. The concept of socie tal vulnerability to hazards involves demographic and socio-economic factors that reflect community resilience. This study employed secondary data drawn from different sources, to understand the vulnerability of Aligarh city (India) in the COVID-19 period, the study produced a comprehensive dataset about na tural vulnerability, built-up vulnerability, social vulnerability and economic vulnerability. This study focuses to present a comparative analysis of ward-wise vulnerability in Aligarh city for the COVID-19 pandemic. The study designed proxy variables to measure and compare different levels of vulnerabilities in Aligarh city. The study presented to provide a tool for ward-wise planning and response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Aligarh city. The present study indi cates that the vulnerability index is the outcome of the interaction between phy sical, built-up, social, and economic environment. These environmental con ditions are nterrelated and have some bearing on each other also.

Abstract New pattern urbanization, which is explored and developed in China for im proving urban resilience and reducing urban vulnerability. Urban resilience is a comprehensive ability of a city for dealing with the uncertainty risk disas ters through a combination of urban economy, urban engineering, urban so ciety and urban ecology. When the city system and its subsystems have cer tain resilience in development, it will promote sustainable development. How to assess urban resilience? What is the spatial-temporal law on the develop ment of urban resilience? These answers have an important practical signi ficance for promoting the construction of the modern urbanization and sus tainable development of cities and regions. Based on the above, this study constructed the measurement system on urban resilience, chose 21 cities of Sichuan province in China as a case, and analyzed the spatial-temporal law on the development of urban resilience empirically. The conclusions are as follows: The level of urban resilience was on the rise, and the characteristics of spatial heterogeneity on urban resilience were presented, and the spatial agglomeration degree increased gradually. The resilience of urban economic system, urban engineering system, and urban ecological system revealed a cluster characteristic in Sichuan province, but urban social system was not obvious.

Abstract This study investigates the determinant of economic growth in Rwanda, us ing time series data for the period 1990-2017. These data have been analyzed and interpreted using statistical, analytical, synthetic methods as well as an econometrical approach. The economy of Rwanda represents the research gap about the components and determinants of economic growth as instrument policies to alleviate poverty and rise out production. The objective was to test the trends and relationship between capital formation, foreign direct invest ment and economic growth in Rwanda. This research tested and confirmed the following: gross capital formation and foreign direct investment are the main determinants of economic growth in Rwanda for the period under study. R-square, the overall measure of goodness of fit indicates that the explanatory variables included in the above model explain 89.3% of the variation of the dependent variable (GDP growth) for the long run regression model and 97% for the error correction model. The error correction model shows that the speed back to equilibrium is 86.4% that is when a shock happens in the previous pe riod it decreases by 86% in the current period. This indicates that there is a significant short-run relationship as it was shown by the coefficients of the error correction model which are significant. Based on the existence of a long run co-integrating relationship and the short-run interactions, the researcher tested and confirmed that there was a short-run and long-run positive rela tionship between capital formation, foreign direct investment and economic growth in Rwanda during the research period. The study reveals that capital formation has a significant positive effect on gross domestic product in the long run. The policy-makers should formulate policies by looking at the determinants of growth as they are crucial in the process of economic growth and have a positive remarkable role in the economic acceleration.

Abstract Due to the large scale and the complex cultural structure, the Great Site can be easily affected during the process of city development, which leads to an imbalance and inequality trend from the regional perspective. Based on the research about conservation and utilization of the linear heritage at home and abroad, the theoretical basis and method of heritage corridor planning in the Western Han Dynasty Mausoleums were discussed in this paper. The current research on the heritage corridor is mainly concerning the legacy which is in the linear form itself, such as the Canal and the Wall, etc. There are few studies on constructing the heritage corridor by connecting the heritage points with linear characteristics. Based on the analysis of the basic conditions about the heritage corridor construction, this paper determines the theoretical framework of heritage corridor construction from the aspects of concept connotation, system elements and planning system. Based on the theoretical framework, the planning area was determined through suitability analysis. At the same time, the construction path of the heritage corridor was studied from the three aspects of Patch-Corridor-Matrix. It aims to strengthen the interaction between the Great Site and the surrounding area by the planning, so as to promote the heritage activation, as well as the development of the region.

Abstract This article brings the contemporary thinking and practice of Urban Environmental Management (UEM) to the solution of current environmental problems in Bangkok, Thailand. With a fast-growing population of 17 million, Bangkok is the political, economic and commercial capital, as well as the largest city, of Thailand. It is also one of the most important and polluted cities in Southeast Asia. Such cities face more immediate problems than those in the developed world and have fewer resources to deal with them. The article first considers the context of Bangkok, and then reviews issues of poverty alleviation, industry, transportation, energy, water, sewage and sanitation, and finance. Finally, it proposes a 5-year plan to help alleviate the urban environmental problems of this fascinating city utilizing a real-world database and a limited budget.

Abstract The concept of risk has become widely circulated within the academic communities, and the reason behind this interest is the enormity of Losses and their high cost to humans and their properties. Hence, the reasons for studying these risks and searching for effective solutions emerged to reduce the size of its losses. Risks are divided into several types, including geological hazards such as earthquakes and volcanoes and climate risks such as storms, floods and desertification and geomorphologic hazards such as landslides and sedimentation…And environmental hazards such as air and marine pollution…Social risks such as breaking the family’s union and the emergence of social Disorder. This study comes to approach the problem of the risks associated with transportation and its economic and social costs, through the case of the province of Kalaa Sraghna, the transportation system poses three basic risks: The risk of traffic accidents, which leaves hundreds dead and thousands injured. The natural hazards can also make the roads affected by flooding, and the third risk is the problem of both air and sound pollution due to transportation. Geographical research has become required to provide solutions to these problems. In this context, we have presented a set of suggestions to treat and minimize the impact of these risks, for sustainable transport that satisfies the population’s need for mobility and contributes to territorial development.

Abstract Budget-constrained residential preferences differ from unconstrained residential preferences if residents mentally devalue unaffordable attributes’ levels of available homes in comparison with affordable ones. Budget-constrained and unconstrained utilities of 70 recent-mover respondents in Saskatoon SK in 1987 and 74 inner-city respondents in Windsor ON in 2020 are quantified for 12 generic attributes of homes in conjoint choice experiments. Budget constraints on their utilities for homes’ attributes’ levels are operationalized by superimposing marginal implicit prices from a hedonic housing price model in each city. Residential utilities are then statistically compared both through time and for subsamples within full samples, and losses of utility are predicted. Respondents will experience an approximate one-quarter and one tenth loss of possible utility for a home in Saskatoon and Windsor, respectively, if they cannot afford their unconstrained most preferred attributes’ levels. Losses of utility are predicted even though budget-constrained utilities of subsamples of respondents are higher as hypothesized for affordable levels of four attributes, and lower for unaffordable levels of those attributes. In conclusion, theoretical and practical implications of these predictions of losses of residential utility are discussed for residents, housing providers and policymakers.

Abstract Rapid urbanization, especially in developing countries, means that the worldwide tradition of low-rise housing is giving way to living in urban apartments. This implies huge environmental and sociocultural changes. For sustainability, dense and high-rise cities offer some advantages, but negative aspects too, especially for residential areas and low-income groups. A widespread residential model, in China and elsewhere, is high-rise urban “super blocks”. However, equally high population densities can be achieved in several ways, including quite low-rise, with equal energy efficiency as well as other environmental and social qualities. Building on analyses of some urban blocks in Ningbo, China, we explore current trends and assess options for sustainable living in future urban residential areas. This paper delves into ten key points related to the overarching goals of sustainable and low carboncities. In particular, the arguments support low-dense urban design paradigms against high-rise urban superblocks. By exploring the case of Ningbo, China, we map some existing urban residential typologies and compounds. Through a comparative analysis, the study then focuses on key factors for reconsidering China’s urban residential policies, and towards sustainable city paradigms.

Abstract In a rapidly changing global economy, approaches that rely solely on “nurturing” local resources or “hunting” mobile resources to promote local development are limited and narrowly focused. This article first analyzed the advantages and disadvantages of indigenous and exogenous approaches for local economic development. This article also used an example of Hangzhou’s “Future Sci-Tech City” to demonstrate a balance of both integrated indigenous and exogenous approaches. These findings suggested that a balance of both, an integrated approach would be beneficial to the local economic growth. However, as economic development varies from region to region, local governments have to consider their development context to determine the best way to achieve local economic growth.

Abstract Studies in urban dynamics have focused on population growth, urban sprawl and activities expansion to determine, understand and study the phenomenon of urbanization in the world. The methods used in these studies have explore remotely sense data from Global Positioning Systems (GPS), satellite imagery, aerial and ground photography for interpretation, analysis and explanation of urban land use and land cover evolution. This data is often combined with ground observations and other methods in social sciences to understand urban growth. In this article, data is tapped from temperature differences analysis in multi-date satellite images and combined with population statistics, human activities and infrastructure build up to explain the phenomenon of urbanization. The results of the findings will enrich our knowledge in Urban Geography on approaches and methods used in understanding urbanization and its problems. Drawing on case study material from Yaounde in Cameroon, this article examines how remote sensing techniques can help in understanding urban heat island in Yaounde and its negative outcomes on urban population, activity and the environment. As the study shows, urban growth has a direct relation with temperature increase and an inverse relation with vegetation change. Also, Increase in bare surfaces due to deforestation for development and settlement increases surface temperature and vice versa. Vegetation regulates surface temperature by absorbing energy from solar radiation and remission in the form of latent heat through the process of photosynthesis. Analysis of surface temperature increase through remote sensing techniques, urban land use evolution, determinants and implications of Yaounde heat islands constitute the focus of this paper. The implications of rise in surface temperature and relations with urban growth are important for decision making. This knowledge is essential for urban geography research, new methodological approaches to urbanization and policy.

Abstract According to the IPCC (2021), the vulnerability of the cities to flooding and water scarcity will increase. At the same time, the population of the cities is constantly increasing. That’s why it is very important to strengthen the city resilience through nature based solutions. At present, the Sponge City Concept (SCC) is gaining ground, Sponge Cities technologies are becoming more and more accepted by Chinese city governments, and the first best practices are shared. However, there are still many challenges ahead, which hampe reffective implementation and upscaling. This paper presents some opportunities and constraints based on the assessment of the Sponge Cities Program (SCP) of China (2013-2030). The Chinese Sponge City Program, initiated in 2013 and adopted by 30 pilot cities, is developing solutions to manage urban flood risk, purify storm water, and provide water storage opportunities for future usage. The methodology is based on an extensive literature review, combining aspects of the “Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines”, and the Recursive Content Abstraction (RCA) analytical approach. Analyzing the Chinese experience will be very illustrative for developing countries that have similar vulnerabilities and could be interested in applying the SPI. Key challenges will be to align the sponge city program projects with infrastructure and urban renovation portfolios to affront the substantial investment need and a lack of reliable financing schemes. On this basis, the paper puts forward practical suggestions for the financing of the Sponge Cities.

Abstract This paper reviews the research on quality management of prefabricated buildings at home and abroad. In this paper, the literature reading method is used to summarize the development of prefabricated buildings at home and abroad, the research status of quality management, and the quality management of prefabricated buildings. The conclusion is that the quality management of prefabricated buildings is very necessary. Finally, combined with the development of prefabricated buildings in China, this paper puts forward the conclusion that it is necessary to further study and establish a perfect quality management mechanism in order to better promote prefabricated buildings.

Abstract Driving a transit bus for a Federal Transit Administration Section 5311 agency is a difficult job that requires training and commitment. As such, it is important to hire qualified and competent individuals into these positions. Within the hiring process, starting pay is a major factor in hiring both for drivers and the agency. This paper documents the results from a survey which collected wage data for transit bus drivers in Alabama. The results show that average starting full-time pay for transit bus drivers is lower than that of school bus drivers, other county employees and even fast food workers in the area where the transit service is provided. The paper concludes that starting pay for Alabama’s Section 5311 drivers is below the poverty level for a family of four and this low pay has the potential to make future hiring of qualified and competent bus drivers an issue in the future.

Abstract This article analyses the components of urban household livelihoods in growing cities, using the city of Dodoma in Tanzania as a case study. This article applied trend analysis, principal component analysis and household vulnerability index to examine the trend of urbanisation, vulnerability profile of urban livelihoods, value of livelihood assets owned by urban households, as well as livelihood strategies and outcomes in urban settings. The study was framed within the sustainable livelihoods approach, in which data were collected from 215 households using both probability and non-probability sampling approaches. The results indicate that the average vulnerability profile of urban households is 2.06, which is positive and moderate. About 72.09% of households had a vulnerability index below the average. Wealth index scores revealed that 44% of households are below average in the study area. Urban households’ livelihood strategies employed by most households were urban street vending followed by motorcycle taxi “bodaboda”. On the other hand, the results on livelihoods indicated that 51.6% fall below the middle quintile. The study concludes that the number of urban plots owned, land for urban farming and diversification of income sources had the most significant impact on reducing the impact of the vulnerability. Thus, it is recommended that urban development interventions be more suited to people’s livelihoods.