Social Sciences

Abstract: Metropolitan regions have become the dominant spatial form of urbanisation in the twenty-first century, yet their governance structures remain poorly aligned with the functional dynamics that sustain them. Among these dynamics, mobility plays a central but paradoxical role: while it structures daily life, economic integration and territorial cohesion, it is still predominantly treated as a sectoral transport policy rather than as a core public function of metropolitan governance. This article reframes mobility as a Public Function of Common Interest (FPIC) and examines how its institutional recognition, or absence, shapes metropolitan governance and sustainability outcomes. Drawing on a comparative mixed-methods analysis of Greater London and two Brazilian metropolitan regions (Porto Alegre and Serra Gaúcha), the study develops an analytical framework linking mobility, governance capacity and metropolitan sustainability. The findings demonstrate that differences in mobility outcomes are less a function of economic development or technological capacity than of institutional design, coordination mechanisms and governance continuity. By positioning mobility as an organising principle of metropolitan governance, the article advances international debates on sustainable urban regions and offers a transferable analytical framework for metropolitan policy and planning.

Abstract: Research on urban heat adaptation remains concentrated on metropolitan contexts, addressing only marginally the other settlement forms that characterise an intermediate Italy, whose extent reaches 69.4% of the national territory. For these settlements, still scarcely investigated by urban climate research, developing a survey methodology able to correlate temperature and morphology in detail takes on a specific scientific value: the possibility of reading a limited number of morphologically representative situations in depth and, by typological analogy, referring the results to portions of the city not directly surveyed but morphologically similar. This study proposes and tests such an approach in Crema (Lombardy, Italy), through five UAV-based thermal transects (approximately 400×50 m each) surveyed on 26 June 2025, sampling as many representative morphological conditions of the city: historic fabric, commercial strip, residential settlement along the Serio river, and production areas. The results show that apparent surface temperature follows the morphological and material configuration of the fabric more than its functional land use. An exploratory comparison with Landsat 8 satellite data, conducted to empirically test the logic of typological-analogy extension, shows a weak direct correspondence between the two sources, attributable to the well-known distinction between surface and canopy-layer urban heat island; typological classification instead proves internally consistent when tested on satellite data alone extended to multiple points across the city, a finding that makes plausible, without demonstrating it, the extension of the method to the scale of UAV survey. The study therefore proposes the thermal transect as a diagnostic tool proportionate to the scale of intermediate cities, and identifies systematic multiscale verification as the research direction needed to consolidate these preliminary results.

Abstract: The quality of life (QoL) in social housing can be affected by many spatial and urban design features. Nevertheless, those are included in assessment models without a common quantitative model for their implementation. Therefore, a mathematical model for assessment of the contribution of spatial and urban design to QoL in Iraqi social housing was proposed. The developed model included five main indicators concerning accessibility, social sustainability and density, road network efficiency, safety and security and urban identity and social interaction. Indicator weights were estimated based on assessments by experts and residents, with indicator values normalized to a 0–1 scale. The proposed model was implemented for evaluation of three residential complexes in Mosul, Iraq. The weighting procedure involved 220 households and a multidisciplinary panel of 20 experts. The indicator with the highest integrated weight was social sustainability and urban density. Accessibility to basic facilities followed with the next highest weight. QoL estimated by the model was equal to 0.32 for Al-Khadraa, 0.42 for Al-Hadbaa and 0.50 for Al-Shurooq. The developed model produced the same ranking as the independent OPQoL assessments. The sensitivity analysis showed that ranking did not change under 50:50, 60:40 and 40:60 expert-resident weighting scenarios.

Abstract: The transition to occupancy-responsive building energy management is one of the most consequential and least-understood energy transitions in the commercial built environment. This systematic review traces how Occupancy Planning Management (OPM) technologies have co-evolved with organisational practices and regulatory regimes over four decades, from 1980s CAD platforms through IoT sensor networks to AI-enabled autonomous control, and examines why technical capability has repeatedly failed to translate into measurable energy performance gains. A PRISMA 2020-aligned search across six databases yielded 103 sources (72 peer-reviewed; 31 AACODS-appraised grey literature). Bibliometric analysis identifies three citation clusters: building energy performance, facility management strategy, and AI-driven occupancy prediction. Drawing on IEA EBC Annexes 53, 66, 79, and 95, the review demonstrates that occupancy-responsive HVAC control can reduce energy use substantially, but that the accuracy ceiling of demand-responsive building management is determined as much by behavioural model quality as by sensor hardware, a finding with direct implications for decarbonisation investment. An original Socio-Technical Co-Evolution Framework explains why energy transitions in OPM succeed only when technological capability, organisational paradigm, and socio-regulatory context align simultaneously, accounting for patterns that technology-centred adoption models cannot. A governance quadrant for privacy-preserving occupancy sensing, a standardised four-level occupancy lexicon, and a prioritised ten-gap research agenda complete the practical contribution.

Abstract: Urban regeneration increasingly uses tourism scenario activation to renew heritage, public space and local economies. Yet the production of urban attractiveness can intensify tourism gentrification, commercial reorientation and the erosion of ordinary urban life. This integrative review synthesises research across urban regeneration, touristification, tourism gentrification, place branding, speculative and platform urbanism, liveability, publicness and collaborative governance. Through a problem-driven comparison of these literatures, it formalises touristic desirability as the relational and institutionally organised value logic through which anticipated visitor-oriented attention, experience and value shape what becomes visible, investable, programmable and materially actionable. It develops urban cohabitation as an evaluative criterion for whether tourism-led regeneration sustains heterogeneous forms of residence, use, livelihood, memory and collective agency. The review identifies four operations of desirability and eight interdependent conditions of cohabitation, then translates their relationship into governance principles centred on anticipation, shared urban capacities, alignment of value, voice and responsibility, and sustained public and collective direction. It concludes that regeneration becomes inclusive when becoming more visitor-oriented strengthens, rather than narrows, the conditions through which cities remain inhabitable, plural and collectively governable.

Abstract: Urban sustainability is often studied through separate lenses of mobility, public space, climate resilience, heritage, and smart-city technology, leaving limited understanding of how residents prioritize these dimensions when they must make explicit trade-offs. This study develops a discrete choice experiment to identify the urban future people would choose when alternative transformation pathways are presented simultaneously. The design comprises six attributes—urban form and public space, mobility and access, street safety, green and climate infrastructure, heritage and local identity, and smart urban services—together with a monthly household cost. Using face-to-face survey data from 400 respondents comprising 3,200 choice situations and 9,600 alternative observations, preferences were estimated with a panel mixed logit model, followed by relative-importance, willingness-to-pay, and scenario-simulation analyses. Street safety emerged as the strongest driver of choice, accounting for 27.9% of total preference importance, followed by mobility and access (17.8%) and green/climate infrastructure (15.9%). Monthly willingness to pay was highest for a one-level improvement in street safety (PKR 1,158), while smart urban services received the lowest valuation (PKR 489). Scenario simulation showed that the Integrated City captured 53.9% of predicted choices, substantially exceeding the Mobility City, Green City, Smart City, and Status Quo alternatives. The study contributes an integrated, resident-centred framework for evaluating urban transformation across place, movement, and transition, demonstrating that desirable urban futures are shaped less by technological sophistication alone than by the combined provision of safety, accessibility, environmental quality, and everyday urban value.

Abstract: Analytical categories traditionally used to describe urban complexity—boundaries, fragmentation, segregation, enclaves—tend to portray spatial divisions as stable entities, privileging discontinuity over the relational processes through which it is produced. This limitation is particularly evident in cities marked by prolonged political instability, overlapping governance, or accelerated transformation. This article proposes the socio-spatial interface as a relational analytical framework that reframes rather than replaces the notion of boundary, understood as a configuration through which spatial forms, everyday practices, institutional arrangements, power relations, and historical conditions interact. Drawing on Lefebvre, Massey, de Certeau, and Bourdieu, and adopting a situated epistemology informed by Wittgenstein and Rancière, the article develops a four-dimensional methodological framework—institutional arrangements, material configurations, everyday practices and mobilities, and representations/memories/affects—derived from a doctoral fieldwork combining institutional documents, observation, a mobility questionnaire, in-depth interviews, and mental mapping. The framework is applied to three emblematic interfaces in Beirut—Chiyah–Aïn el-Remmaneh, Furn el-Chebbak, and Ghobeiry—showing how the same relational structure produces markedly different configurations of separation, hybridity, and negotiated proximity. The article contributes a situated approach to territorial analysis capable of informing architectural and urban design without reducing urban complexity to fixed spatial classifications.

Abstract: This research aims to help design artifacts that better fit their users, to promote their well-being. In urban spaces, well-being is affected by physical factors (such as the air quality) and by mental factors (the feeling the space affords its users). Focusing on mental well-being, a growing body of research focuses on the visual experience of urban spaces, and specifically on the aspect of visual impression. Studies of visual impression seek to link visual features of spaces to linguistic descriptions used by their users (e.g., referring to a space as “inviting”). Such works can be used to identify relations between visual features and our experience of space that are potentially generalizable, and thus useful for designing. However, as an emerging subfield, the study of visual impression of urban spaces is currently fragmented and would benefit from syntheses of the work done to date. Here, we systematically review studies of visual impression in urban settings, and or-ganize these across three dimensions: (1) purpose, (2) method and (3) findings. We identify research gaps in the field, challenges, and potential paths for moving forward.

Abstract: Urban regeneration has become a central focus in global urban studies, increasingly linked to the dual imperatives of sustainability and urban resilience. According to Christopher Alexander's theories of living structure and pattern language, traditional built environments emerge through progressive adaptation rather than top-down design. Moreover, historic urban fabrics evolve through continuous refinement of spatial solutions that simultaneously respond to environmental, functional, and social needs. Therefore, this study situates urban regeneration within a theoretical framework that recognizes traditional settlements as complex adaptive systems rather than static heritage.Chinese urban villages (Chengzhongcun) and Spanish Suelo Urbano no Consolidado (SUNC, Unconsolidated Urban Land) areas represent two contrasting forms of urban socio-spatial systems engulfed by urban expansion—both characterized by dense, historically rooted morphologies and incomplete infrastructure. Whereas Chinese urban villages transition from a demolition–reconstruction model, which Alexander would critique as disrupting the evolutionary processes that generate coherent urban fabrics, to more sustainable regeneration approaches, this study compares Beijing's Cuigezhuang with Málaga's El Perchel through spatial analysis and stakeholder surveys.The research evaluates how differing planning systems foster or constrain sustainable development and social, spatial, and institutional resilience in regeneration processes. Findings demonstrate that Spain's incremental, participatory approach—anchored in Planes Especiales de Reforma Interior (PERI, special plans for inner urban renewal) and land readjustment (equitable distribution of costs and benefits) mechanisms—significantly outperforms China's state-led demolition-based model in supporting long-term sustainability, heritage integrity, community cohesion, and spatial continuity. Spain's legally embedded participation and in situ rehabilitation strategies offer transferable lessons for China's evolving sustainable and resilience-oriented regeneration paradigm.

Abstract: The physical environment of a neighborhood and its ambient population density appears to be closely related, but this relationship is difficult to measure quantitatively. A previous study addressed this challenge by developing a baseline machine learning model capable of estimating Average Hourly Ambient Population Density (AHAPD) from neighborhood physical environment features, achieving 75.9% accuracy. This study compares the performance of the baseline model with collective human intuition and AI models in estimating AHAPD at the neighborhood level. A 29-section questionnaire was used to evaluate the performance of the three respondent types across three metrics: accuracy, reasoning, and confidence. In total, 100 response sets were analysed, comprising 94 human responses, five responses from vision-capable AI models, and one output from the previously trained XGBoost baseline model. The results show that the ML baseline model, trained on a relatively small dataset using 16 input features, outperformed the average human score and the average score of five selected commercially available AI models, while achieving accuracy comparable to the average human with domain expertise. The study concludes with case studies and discussion of differences in reasoning behavior, confidence levels, and the strengths and weaknesses of each respondent type.

Abstract: The large-scale withdrawal of military forces from urban areas represents one of the most significant drivers of land-use change in post-socialist Central and Eastern Europe. Based on a national database of former military sites in Hungary, this study investigates the changes in the residential population and social environment of these sites as an outcome of brownfield regeneration. The research combines statistical data analysis of occupational status for the census years 2001, 2011, and 2022 with qualitative methods, including semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted across four case study locations in three Hungarian second-tier cities. The findings reveal three active governance configurations producing distinct social trajectories: social exclusion under market dominance, social mix under sustained municipal involvement, and gentrification in a transitional model where the state eventually withdraws. Ultimately, the study concludes that the social outcomes of military brownfield regeneration are primarily determined by the governance dynamic between municipal authorities and private market actors rather than site attributes alone. Consequently, early and sustained municipal engagement remains the key factor for achieving socially balanced regeneration outcomes.

Abstract: Dense urban settlements often depend on streets, thresholds, and residual spaces to support mobility, livelihoods, social interaction, and environmental adaptation. This study examines how street morphology, everyday public-space use, and climatic conditions interact within a compact urban settlement. An integrated single-case research design combined urban-context mapping, land-use analysis, historical building-footprint comparison, hourly activity mapping, social-interaction mapping, architectural sections, field observation, photographic documentation, and seasonal environmental interpretation. The findings show that the settlement benefits from proximity to major transport routes and urban services, but internal accessibility is constrained by narrow lanes, limited outward connections, fragmented pedestrian conditions, and uneven building–street interfaces. Incremental consolidation between 2000 and 2022 reduced open space and increased reliance on streets, thresholds, courtyards, and rooftops for movement, domestic activities, livelihood practices, and social interaction. Activity concentrations were strongest near mixed-use frontages, intersections, public facilities, and visible thresholds. Dense building arrangements provided useful shade but also restricted ventilation and intensified moisture retention. Standing water, inadequate drainage, exposed utilities, and waste accumulation further reduced environmental quality. The study concludes that context-sensitive upgrading should prioritize pedestrian continuity, drainage improvement, safer utilities, shaded social nodes, and protection of mixed-use livelihoods while retaining the settlement’s established socio-spatial structure.

Abstract: Aggregate livability indices consistently rank Fargo, North Dakota among the most livable small-to-mid-sized U.S. cities, yet city-level scores obscure whether favorable average performance reflects equitable neighborhood-level access to essential amenities. This study conducts the first tract-level spatial accessibility analysis in Fargo, examining road network-based access to grocery stores, healthcare facilities, and parks across all 38 census tracts using road network-based nearest-facility assignment, a Composite Accessibility Index (CAI), and Gini coefficients. Results reveal that despite strong aggregate rankings, approximately 9,700 residents (8.0% of the study-area population of 121,219) reside in the bottom composite accessibility quartile. Healthcare exhibits the greatest inequality (Gini = 0.093); the worst-served peripheral tract records a CAI of 0, with network distances ranging from 6.9 to 7.8 miles across all three amenity types simultaneously. A sensitivity analysis confirms robustness across threshold choices. These findings indicate that substantial intra-urban disparities can persist within highly ranked cities, arguing for spatially disaggregated, equity-oriented livability scoring.

Abstract: FOREST is thus not only a research-through-design prototype for organizing courtyard-scale heat experience into public evidence, but a hazard-governance interface framework as well. Working with a small set of anonymized resident- contributed prototype materials, supplemented by illustrative scenario materials where needed, FOREST specifies how courtyard-scale heat experience can be organized into evidence cards with time windows, location anchors, trigger conditions, experienced consequences, and uncertainty tags. FOREST is the prototype figure in this paper through which courtyard heat experience can be taken seriously as public evidence. I do not claim that the paper reports a completed long-term deployment, much less that it proves improved community-scale heat adaptation outcomes. Its contribution lies in formalizing an evidentiary grammar that combines small-scale anonymized prototype materials with a Freiburg/Vauban-related contextual design scenario derived from public and secondary sources, while specifying a deployment-and-evaluation pathway for future community testing. The prototype keeps everyday exposure, microclimate difference, care labor, and disagreement available for screening, review, citation, and feedback, while avoiding the claim that these materials already demonstrate completed community deployment, governance uptake, or improved adaptation outcomes.

Abstract: This study examines correlates of preferred future work arrangements among adult residents of the Roanoke Metropolitan Statistical Area, Virginia, a mid-sized U.S. metropolitan region. It focuses on whether remote-work preference varies by sociodemographic characteristics, pandemic-era work-from-home experience, occupational perceptions, and attitudes toward physical interaction. Data were collected through a cross-sectional online survey administered in 2023, during the post-acute pandemic period. After excluding incomplete responses, duplicates, respondents younger than 18 years, cases without verifiable adult eligibility, and cases without verified residence in the study area, the final analytical sample included 636 respondents. Analyses included chi-square tests, Spearman rank correlations, a Stuart–Maxwell test of marginal homogeneity, and an adjusted multinomial logistic regression model. Among respondents with valid preference data, 63.8% preferred fully remote work. Among paired current-preferred cases, preferred arrangements differed significantly from current arrangements, with 87.0% of respondents reporting a directional change preferring movement toward a more remote arrangement. Preferred future work arrangement was significantly associated with age, education, earnings, marital status, housing tenure, perceived work-from-home efficiency, occupational remote-work perceptions, and physical-interaction importance; gender was not significant. Findings indicate substantial but socially differentiated remote-work preference, with implications for workforce planning in mid-sized metropolitan regions.

Abstract: Economic development is a multidimensional process influenced by factors such as economic performance, human capital, urbanization, labor market conditions, and the distribution of economic outcomes. This study develops multidimensional rankings of economic prosperity and distributional outcomes for all 77 Thai provinces using the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to the Ideal Solution (TOPSIS). Using 2024 provincial economic statistics from the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) and Thailand’s Labor Force Survey (LFS), the analysis evaluates provincial development across multiple dimensions. The results reveal an exceptionally high degree of urban primacy, with Bangkok substantially outperforming all other provinces. Beyond the capital city itself, high levels of prosperity are concentrated in the neighboring provinces of the Bangkok Metropolitan Region and the Eastern Seaboard industrial corridor, while Phuket represents an alternative tourism-led pathway to prosperity. Favorable distributional outcomes also tend to be concentrated within this metropolitan-industrial corridor, whereas less favorable outcomes are more common in the North and Northeast. Robustness tests indicate that prosperity rankings are highly persistent over time, whereas distributional outcomes exhibit somewhat lower temporal stability. Overall, the study demonstrates the value of multidimensional ranking approaches for understanding urban–regional disparities in Thailand.

Abstract: The World Health Organization (WHO) highlights the need of equitable hospital allocation and accessibility in achieving universal health coverage (WHO, 2023). Nigeria has several healthcare providers, both public and private, who provide healthcare services. As of November 2024, Nigeria had 51022 healthcare facilities spread throughout all 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory. The need for spatial analysis of health care facility location and accessibility has become increasingly important owing to rapid population growth and persistent inequalities in healthcare delivery. This study employs geospatial analysis to assess the distribution, accessibility, and spatial clustering of 51,022 health facilities across Nigeria using the GRID3 National Health Facilities Database. We integrated health facility data with state-level population estimates and administrative boundaries in QGIS. Spatial analyses included choropleth mapping of facility density, calculation of facility-to-population ratios per 100,000 people, 5-kilometer buffer analysis for geographic coverage, and Global Moran's I statistic for spatial autocorrelation assessment. The analysis revealed 88% of facilities are primary level, with only 10.3% secondary and 0.9% tertiary facilities. Facility-to-population ratios ranged from 9 to 59 per 100,000 people across states. States in the South-East (Cross-River, Ebonyi) demonstrated the highest facility to population ratios (37-59 per 100,000), while northwestern and northeastern states showed significantly lower ratios (9-14 per 100,000). Global Moran's I revealed statistically significant positive spatial autocorrelation (I = 0.352, z = 3.63, p = 0.003), confirming non-random geographic clustering of health facility distribution. Buffer analysis identified substantial underserved populations, particularly in northern Nigeria, with pronounced gaps between facility coverage zones.

Abstract: Urban green spaces are increasingly recognized as multifunctional cooling infrastructure for climate resilience, environmental health, and spatial equity. However, the potential contributions of green spaces depends not only on their location, but also on whether their cooling benefits are realized and aligned with heat-sensitive demand. This study develops a spatially explicit cooling-service framework to examine green-space cooling supply, thermal regulation, human-relevant thermal pressure, and cooling-service mismatch across 1,385 census tracts in Maryland, USA. A Landscape Cooling Supply Index (LCSI) was constructed from vegetation coverage, tree canopy, park provision, water-area proportion, impervious surface, and road infrastructure indicators. Fixed-effects regression models were used to test associations between LCSI and multiple thermal outcomes, including land surface temperature, Heat Index, extreme hot days, and an integrated Human-Relevant Thermal Pressure Index (HTPI). XGBoost and SHAP were applied to identify nonlinear contributions of green, blue, and gray components to thermal pressure. A Heat-sensitive Cooling Demand Index was then developed to classify cooling supply-demand mismatch. Results show that stronger cooling supply is significantly associated with lower surface and human-relevant thermal pressure. Explainable GeoAI results identify overall vegetation coverage as the dominant green component, while water-area proportion and road-related gray infrastructure also play important roles. The mismatch analysis identifies 433 census tracts, or 31.3% of all Maryland tracts, as low-supply–high-demand priority areas. This study provides a tract-level framework for targeting green-space cooling interventions where climate exposure, environmental health vulnerability, and cooling-service inequity converge.

Abstract: This study examines the StudyFAB, a Third Space project in Schweinfurt, Germany, as a case study for inner-city revitalization through comparative analysis. Facing challenges from declining pedestrian traffic and rising vacancies due to online shopping, the research investigates StudyFAB's measurable impact on marketplace foot traffic, perceived quality of stay, and user engagement, benchmarked against established Third Spaces like Utopiastadt Wuppertal and CityLAB Berlin. The central research question asks whether targeted social innovation hubs foster city revitalization. A mixed-methods approach combines pedestrian counts, standardized PHINEO impact metrics, StudyFAB usage data, and surveys across Users, Non-Aware Users, and the unfamiliar Non-Users to test hypotheses on foot traffic, perceptions, participation, and inclusion effects.Findings reveal that while StudyFAB did not significantly impact overall city-wide pedestrian frequency due to spatial limitations. it generated strong effects within its target groups—increased inner-city visits, improved city image perception, high satisfaction (Net Promoter Score), and measurable participation compared to peer projects' qualitative impact logics. Complementing Utopiastadt's neighborhood activation and CityLAB's governance focus, StudyFAB demonstrates niche efficacy through quantitative user-level evidence.The comparative perspective underscores Third Spaces as complementary urban transformation tools, suggesting integrated strategies combining social, cultural, educational, and commercial revitalization. Future research should address long-term scalability, sustainable funding, and cross-project transfer effects for policymakers and urban planners.

Abstract: Across the post-Soviet space, the disappearance and commercialisation of traditional public realms have shifted everyday social life toward privately owned, publicly used environments. This study examines whether and how contemporary shopping malls function as quasi-public spaces and “third places” in Almaty, Kazakhstan’s largest city. Drawing on Oldenburg’s third-place theory and debates on the privatisation of the public realm, a mixed-methods design combined a visitor questionnaire (n = 412) across five malls, 40 hours of behavioural mapping, and 30 semi-structured interviews with visitors and mall managers. Results indicate that, beyond consumption, malls host substantial non-commercial sociability: 56.4% of respondents reported visiting primarily for dining, leisure, or meeting others rather than shopping, and the majority agreed that malls feel comfortable and broadly accessible. At the same time, only a minority unambiguously regarded the mall as a “public space”, and perceptions of inclusiveness varied significantly with age, income, and mode of arrival. Malls thus operate as conditional and negotiated third places whose publicness is real but managed. The paper argues that recognising malls as de facto social infrastructure has direct implications for socially sustainable urban planning in rapidly transforming Central Asian cities, and outlines design and policy measures to strengthen genuine inclusiveness.