•Design optimization for a residential apartment community center is presented.•The co-simulation process using TRNSYS-MATLAB is introduced.•Hourly simulations are carried out for designing a real ...zero-energy building.•The proposed method is effective to reduce costs while increasing energy yield.
Renewable energy systems (RESs) in urban areas must meet high energy demands with a limited space and satisfy the institutional requirements to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This study derives the RES design options that covers all building loads, meet the institutional requirements, and minimize the initial investment cost for a community center in an urban residential apartment complex. To achieve this, a multi-objective optimization method was employed. TRNSYS was used for the RES system analysis, and the main design variables of the RES were optimized using the developed tool. The Pareto solutions were obtained by differentiation of the initial design and they were derived through optimization. The optimal solutions required an initial investment cost that was 13.5–20.9% less than the initial designs and yielded an RES generation 5.2–24.4% higher than the initial designs. Therefore, they can sufficiently meet the institutional requirements.
When large shares of electric vehicles are adopted, local electricity grids face new challenges associated with managing peak loads emerging from charging. Smart charging has been proposed as a way ...of addressing this challenge. To date, experiences of such combinations of technology mainly stem from pilot and demonstration projects, often organized as part of the research, innovation, and development initiatives. The paper explores local efforts to implement such technologies in four urban residential communities in Norway, where the technologies are needed for local electricity grids to keep up with the rapid uptake of electric vehicles. The authors study how the influx of electric vehicles enables new forms of material politics and new forms of engagement with the electricity grid. Their findings illustrate how the influx of EVs and the related response in urban residential communities often transforms very local democratic processes and actors into key sites and intermediaries of energy transitions. Through such processes, decisions are made about how to develop both the grid and the community through the mobilization of "smart" technologies. A further finding is that the influx of EVs might function as a conduit for the development of what the authors call electricity grid sensitivity.
This paper investigates neighbourhood characteristics related to an individual's likelihood of getting the first COVID-19 vaccination and implementing official recommendations for the three-shot ...vaccination regime. We use full population-geocoded microdata for Sweden to measure important individual-level attributes and the marginalisation of their residential communities in terms of ethnicity, education and income. The findings show that the likelihood of getting vaccinated and obtaining all three recommended vaccine doses decrease for individuals residing in neighbourhoods with larger shares of marginalised residents. The effects also appear to be more pronounced if the individual themself belongs to a marginalised group.
This work explores the influence of social connections on young people’s political knowledge. Extending previous research on individual and interpersonal predictors of political learning, the study ...examines relational characteristics and their role in informed citizenship. Factors expected to affect social contagion in political behavior include conversation content, interaction frequency, relational closeness, mutual communication partners, and shared ideology. The analyses were based on longitudinal network data from 13 residential student communities. The study found evidence consistent with social contagion. The political knowledge of participants was predicted by the knowledge of their strong social ties. Political discussants were not as influential as high-frequency general conversation partners. These findings have important implications for research exploring social influence on political behavior. They signal that the contacts we tend to identify as political are not necessarily the ones that matter most in shaping our opinions and attitudes.
International land use planners tend to focus on walkability that could shape both residential behaviors and health outcomes. Understanding the relationships among community deprivation, walkability, ...and health outcomes will provide insights into appropriate land use planning that supports public health promotion. This paper develops a revised Walk Score tool for measuring community walkability in China. Under the original Walk Score methodological framework, (1) 6 principle amenities (19 items) and their weight (utilization frequency) are first selected by expert panel evaluation and questionnaire survey; (2) a tolerance time approach is then employed to determine the decay function, and the walking travel time from community to each amenity is calculated by using the Baidu Map; and (3) three pedestrian characteristic factors (intersection density, block length, and slope) are considered to adjust the score. We apply the proposed methodology to the case of Shenzhen and discover great variations in walkability among the 8117 communities within it. The high–high clusters are located in the central blocks, while the low–low clusters emerge in the outskirts. Using spatial regression, we observe significant negative associations between community walkability and three health indicators (cardiopathy, hypertension, and liver cancer). It suggests that better health outcomes would be observed in more walkable communities. We further find that children concentrated and socioeconomically disadvantaged communities exhibit lower walkability. These results evidence the significant social inequalities in walkability among the communities of Shenzhen. Path analysis identifies complex linkages among community deprivation, walkability, and public health. For cadiopathy and hypertension, three categories of significant paths are identified: (1) residents in deprived community have worse health outcomes due to lower walkability; (2) poorer health outcomes occur in deprived communities as a result of higher PM2.5 exposure; and (3) less walkable communities are exposed to greater PM2.5 concentration and deprived communities are generally characterized by lower walkability and consequently have worse health outcomes. We argue that social inequalities in walkability should attract the attention of land use planners. In order to address this pressing issue, three areas should be given priorities in future land use planning: (1) adopting urban form-based zoning schemes; (2) economic inputs for streetscape improvements; and (3) formulating affordable and low-renting housing policies. Findings of this case should generate more generalized knowledge that enhances public health promotion within the land use planning context.
The literature on segregation is focused on the residential domain considered from a static perspective. In contrast, the purpose of our study is to examine temporal variations in the overall degree ...and spatial pattern of activity-space-based social segregation around the clock on weekday and at weekend in the central urban area of Beijing, China. Drawing on location-based service (LBS) big data, we measure the level of activity-space-based segregation at each hour of a weekday and a weekend day between groups of people who differ from each other in relation to formal educational achievements. Their comparisons with the segregation in major life domains such as residence and workplace are also made. At the global level, the extent of activity-space-based segregation fluctuates around the clock, with less segregation during the daytime than at night and less segregation on the weekend day than on the weekday. The segregation degrees for all groups are in descending order workplace segregation, residential segregation, and out-of-home non-employment segregation. At the local level, the highly segregated units centralize to city center in the morning and decentralize to suburban areas in the evening. The spatial segregation patterns at various times of the day change to a much greater extent on the weekday than during the weekend day, especially for employment centers and large-scale residential communities. Lastly, a spatial unit classification framework of real-time activity-space-based segregation is proposed to integrate multiple kinds of information pertaining to the segregation level and the dominant group in a given area at a given time with the extent and trend of the temporal variation identified presented as a concise map useful both to advancing further research and guiding policy formulation.
Informal care, or care provided by family and friends, is the most common form of care received by community-dwelling older adults with functional limitations. However, less is known about informal ...care provision within residential care settings including residential care facilities (for example, assisted living) and nursing homes. Using data from the Health and Retirement Study (2016) and the National Health and Aging Trends Study (2015), we found that informal care was common among older adults with functional limitations, whether they lived in the community, a residential care facility, or a nursing home. The hours of informal care provided were also nontrivial across all settings. This evidence suggests that informal caregiving and some of the associated burdens do not end when a person transitions from the community to residential care or a nursing home setting. It also points to the large role that families play in the care and well-being of these residents, which is especially important considering the recent visitor bans during the COVID-19 epidemic. Family members are an invisible workforce in nursing homes and residential care facilities, providing considerable front-line work for their loved ones. Providers and policy makers could improve the lives of both the residents and their caregivers by acknowledging, incorporating, and supporting this workforce.
The regeneration of old residential areas in China is facing a complex trap involving all kinds of stakeholders. On the one hand, ambiguous property rights, huge infrastructure investment arrears, ...and strict urban planning regulations make it challenging for market forces and social capital to enter the field of regeneration of old residential areas. On the other hand, the lack of an effective urban governance and social mobilization system leads to governance failures in the regeneration process. To break out of the above traps theoretically and practically, we construct an analytical framework called the Urban Regeneration Engine Model, in which the city government and the urban regeneration operator act as dual engines of urban regeneration. This dual engine drives the increase in social capital in the regeneration process and promotes the participation of the government, enterprises, residents, social organizations, and financial institutions. The positive feedback that comes from social capital increase further diversifies the fundraising sources, reduces the governance cost, and promotes the sustainable development of the community. Taking the Jinsong Community, one of the earliest residential communities in Beijing after the reform and opening up, as an example, this paper shows that the Urban Regeneration Engine Model provides a feasible and effective model for the regeneration of old residential areas in China and other developing countries facing similar problems.
•We construct an analytical framework called Urban Regeneration Engine Model (UREM).•We provide a perspective on social capital as the driving force of sustainable regeneration for old residential areas.•The city government and the urban regeneration operator act as dual engines in the UREM.•UREM promotes the participation of various social stakeholders by increasing social capital in the community.
Old residential communities are integral parts of urban areas, with their environmental quality affecting residents’ well-being. Spontaneous informal spaces (SIS) often emerge within these ...communities. These are predominantly crafted by the elderly using discarded materials and negatively impact the environmental quality of communities. Understanding SIS emergence patterns is vital for enhancing the environmental quality of old communities; however, methodologies fall short in terms of the quantification of these emergence patterns. This study introduces a groundbreaking approach, merging drone oblique photography technology with space syntax theory, to thoroughly analyze SIS types, functions, and determinants in five Tianjin communities. Utilizing drones and the Depthmap space syntax tool, we captured SIS characteristics and constructed topological models of residences and traffic patterns. We further explored the intrinsic relationships between architectural layout, road traffic, and SIS characteristics via clustering algorithms and multivariate correlation analysis. Our results reveal that architectural layout and road traffic play decisive roles in shaping SIS. Highly accessible regions predominantly feature social-type SIS, while secluded or less trafficked zones lean towards private-type SIS. Highlighting the elderly’s essential needs for greenery, interaction, and basic amenities, our findings offer valuable insights into the revitalization of outdoor spaces in aging communities, into the fostering of urban sustainability and into the nurturing of a balanced relationship between humans and their surroundings.
PDF
