Land

The Fifth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate change (IPCC) shows that climate change poses severe risks to the Belt and Road region and could cut future crop production. Identifying the positions and features of hotspots, which refer to regions with severe yield loss at 1.5 °C global warming, is the key to developing proper mitigation and adaptation policies to ensure regional food security. This study examined yield loss hotspots of four crops (maize, rice, soybean and wheat) at 1.5 °C global warming under RCP8.5. Yield data were derived from simulations of multiple climate-crop model ensembles from the Inter-Sectoral Impact Model Intercomparison Project (ISI-MIP). Hotspots were identified by setting a threshold of the 10th percentile of crop yields during the reference period (1986–2005). To quantify the likelihood of crop yield loss hotspots within multi-model ensembles, the agreement of model combinations for hotspots was calculated for each crop at the grid scale with 0.5° × 0.5° spatial resolution. Results revealed spatial heterogeneity of cultivation structure and hotspot likelihood for four crops. The four crops’ production of SA (South Asia) and SEA (Southeast Asia) accounts for more than 40% of the total production in the Belt and Road region, roughly four times the amount produced in CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) and NEA (Northeast Asia). Besides, the hotspots likelihood of maize, rice and soybean is generally larger in SA/SEA than that in CEE/NEA which means the risk of yield reduction is higher in the current main agricultural area. According to IPCC’s classification rules for likelihood, four crops’ hotspot patterns were displayed under the 1.5 °C global warming. As the highest-yielding crop, maize shows the largest proportion of “likely” hotspots (hotspot likelihood > 66%), which is about 6.48%, accounting for more than four times that of the other three crops. In addition, four crops’ hotspots are mainly distributed in SEA and SA. Overall, SEA and SA are vulnerable subregions and maize is the vulnerable crop of the Belt and Road region. Our results could provide information on target areas where mitigation or adaptations are needed to reduce the adverse influence of climate change in the agricultural system.

Human populations and their use of land have reshaped landscapes for thousands of years, creating the anthropogenic biomes (anthromes) that now cover most of the terrestrial biosphere. Here we introduce the first global reconstruction and mapping of anthromes and their changes across the 12,000-year interval from 10,000 BCE to 2015 CE; the Anthromes 12K dataset. Anthromes were mapped using gridded global estimates of human population density and land use from the History of the Global Environment database (HYDE version 3.2) by a classification procedure similar to that used for prior anthrome maps. Anthromes 12K maps generally agreed with prior anthrome maps for the same time periods, though significant differences were observed, including a substantial reduction in Rangelands anthromes in 2000 CE but with increases before that time. Differences between maps resulted largely from improvements in HYDE’s representation of land use, including pastures and rangelands, compared with the HYDE 3.1 input data used in prior anthromes maps. The larger extent of early land use in Anthromes 12K also agrees more closely with empirical assessments than prior anthrome maps; the result of an evidence-based paradigm shift in characterizing the history of Earth’s transformation through land use, from a mostly recent large-scale conversion of uninhabited wildlands, to a long-term trend of increasingly intensive transformation and use of already inhabited and used landscapes. The spatial history of anthropogenic changes depicted in Anthromes 12K remain to be validated, especially for earlier time periods. Nevertheless, Anthromes 12K is a major advance over all prior anthrome datasets and provides a new platform for assessing the long-term environmental consequences of human transformation of the terrestrial biosphere.

Landscape multifunctionality is increasingly recognized as an important aspect in sustainability and developmental debates. Yet, how and why a multifunctional landscape configuration develops over time has not been sufficiently studied. Here we present the geoarchaeological investigation of the Santa Mariña de Augas Santas site, in northwestern Spain. We focus on the role of religious practice, and of its interplay with productive strategies, in landscape transformation. A geochemical, mineralogical, and geochronological characterization of the pedo-sedimentary record (including XRF, EA-IRMS, XRD, OSL and 14C measurements) allowed to characterize catchment scale sedimentation processes in relation to agricultural activities. The geographical and chronological coincidence of production functions with documented religious activities demonstrate that both aspects shared geographical spaces during the last millennium. Current landscape multifunctionality at Santa Mariña is thus not the final outcome of a specific evolution, but an essential aspect of traditional land use strategies through history and a driver of change. This work highlights the need of a long-term study of the processes of landscape configuration when assessing the sustainability of traditional productive systems.

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Land use changes often lead to soil erosion, land degradation, and environmental deterioration. However, little is known about just how much humans accelerate erosion compared to natural background rates in non-agricultural settings, despite its importance to knowing the magnitude of soil degradation. The lack of understanding of anthropogenic acceleration is especially true for arid regions. Thus, we used 10Be catchment averaged denudation rates (CADRs) to obtain natural rates of soil erosion in and around the Phoenix metropolitan region, Arizona, United States. We then measured the acceleration of soil erosion by grazing, wildfire, and urban construction by comparing CADRs to erosion rates for the same watersheds, finding that: (i) grazing sometimes can increase sediment yields by up to 2.3–2.6x, (ii) human-set wildfires increased sediment yields by up to 9.7–10.4x, (iii) after some post-fire vegetation recovered, sediment yield was then up to 4.2–4.5x the background yield, (iv) construction increased sediment yields by up to 5.0–5.6x, and (v) the sealing of urban surfaces led to one-tenth to one-half of the background sediment yields. The acceleration of erosion at the urban–rural interface in arid lands highlights the need for sustainable management of arid-region soils.

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For the first time in human history, over half of the world’s population lives in urban areas. This rapid growth makes cities more vulnerable, increasing the need to monitor urban dynamics and its sustainability. The aim of this work is to examine the spatial extent of urban areas, to identify the urban–rural continuum, to understand urbanization processes, and to monitor Sustainable Development Goal 11. In this paper, we apply the methodology developed by the European Commission-Joint Research Center for the classification of the degree of urbanization of the Italian territory, using the ISPRA land consumption map and the ISTAT population data. The analysis shows that the availability of detailed and updated spatialized population data is essential to calculate SDG indicator 11.3.1, which assesses the ratio of land consumption rate to population growth rate. Three new indicators are also proposed to describe the main trends in urban sprawl, analyzing the spatial distribution of land consumption in terms of infill and settlement dispersion. The research shows good results in identifying class boundaries and describing the Italian urbanized landscape, highlighting the need for more detailed spatialized demographic data. The classification obtained lends itself to a variety of applications, such as monitoring land consumption, settlement dynamics, or the urban heat islands, and assessing the presence and state of green infrastructures in the urban context, driving the development of policies in urban areas toward sustainable choices focused on urban regeneration.

Enhancing the spatio-temporal dynamic monitoring of the construction land of emerging major cities provides the basis for understanding the effects of human activities on the earth’s ecological environment changes, which is regarded as an important way to improve human wellbeing and to achieve the UN SDGs. This paper, which uses Nanning as an example, adopts 30 m annual remote sensing land cover datasets from 1990–2021 to elaborately analyze the temporal evolution and spatial expansion of construction land and to evaluate the sustainable development level based on SDG 11.3.1. The conclusions of this paper are as follows: (1) For Nanning City, during 1990–2021, construction land area increased from 54.77 km2 to 326.33 km2—a nearly five-fold increase. Spreading expansion and finger-like expansion along roads played a leading role during the development of the construction land in Nanning. Liangqing and Yongning are the future directions of urban development. The LCRPGR of Nanning declined with one peak period around 1995, and the LCRPGR was relatively stable with a high intensity of land use. (2) For the other emerging major cities, continuous long duration data are more suitable for urban construction land monitoring compared with traditional sparse time-series monitoring. The rich information derived from continuous long duration data can help decision makers to formulate and implement more comprehensive measures. The research paradigm adopted in this study can be applied in other cities. The newly developed urban districts will have foreseeable high sustainable development risks, and urban development strategies at the international, national, and urban levels could reduce those risks and promote the realization of UN SDGs from different angles and with different intensities.

The Peloponnese, a province of the Byzantine Empire in the 11th and 12th centuries, was divided into three distinct political entities after 1204: the Frankish Principality of Achaia, the Venetian colonies of Modon and Coron, and the Byzantine lands in the southeast. The number and size of cities in the Peloponnese during the 11th and 12th centuries expanded, and the establishment of the new political entities of the 13th century did not hinder the development of its urban centers. New urban centers appeared, and the dynamics of the old urban centers witnessed a major shift. The focus of this paper is on port towns, since the majority of the available data derive from them, and aims to investigate the economic centrality of the port towns in the Peloponnese in the context of their environs, economic activities, and their position in the eastern Mediterranean exchange system. The theoretical framework is based on concepts of network theory, centrality, and economic complexity, as well as on a thorough evaluation of the material and textual evidence. In doing so, the economic profile of each central place is reconstructed, as well as a comparison between them.

Recent work at the early Shang period type site in Panlongcheng, Hubei Province, China, provides a new understanding of changes in the landscape and water environment over time. In the past few decades, the research at this site has obtained important results and shown progress in many aspects, but few scholars have discussed the geomorphological environment of Panlongcheng, especially the water environment. Researchers have long believed that the present-day environment and landscape of Panlongcheng are no different than during the early Shang period. However, recent archaeological discoveries indicate that there may still be some cultural remains underwater. Therefore, we used a combination of underwater surveys, drilling and digital mapping to expand our knowledge of the landscape of Panlongcheng during the early Shang period. This included mapping the lake basin using single-beam echo sounders and drilling to preliminarily observe the stratum and collect samples from underwater. We also conducted radiocarbon dating on the samples collected from the bottom of the lake. The results suggest that there might not have been a lake during the early Shang period. Therefore, the landscape and environment of Panlongcheng and other related issues should be reexamined. In addition, we hope the methods used in this study can provide a reference for related archaeological work in shallow water areas in inland China.

Changsha kilns were exported to more than 20 countries and regions and were an essential part of the culture in the central Yangtze River during the late Holocene. Reconstructing the hydrological landform and sedimentary history of its surrounding areas (Shizhu) is significant for further constraining any links between regional paleoenvironmental change and the human−land relationship in the lager river valley. To examine paleo−hydrological and provenance evolution, the rare earth element (REE) and trace element ratio from the Shizhuping (SZP) section were analyzed. The SZP section records the paleo−hydrological evolution over 1300 years: river network cutting plain landscape—Shizhu Lake—river floodplain—Shizhu Lake reformation—Shizhu flat. This section was labeled as stages IV to I, respectively. The deposition of stages IV was wind and dust accumulation during the Last Glacial. The provenance of stages III (1288–1094 a.BP) was wasted from the ceramic production process. The layer of stage II (1094–380 a.BP) was in two parts. In stage II−2 (1094–890 a.BP), provenance was dominated by granite. Sedimentary rocks became the source of stage II−1 (890–380 a.BP). In stages I (380 a.BP–), the primary material sources were anthropogenic bedding and weathering erosion deposits around the slope. During the Medieval Warm Period, the climate was warm and humid, and the rising water level of the Xiangjiang River led to the emergence of lakes in the Shizhu area. The migration of northern China into Changsha kiln brought new technology and labor. In the late Five Dynasties, the climate turned dry, and the falling water level of the Xiangjiang River caused Changsha kiln to lose its commercial wharf.

The accurate estimation of the impact of urban form on CO2 emissions is essential for the proposal of effective low-carbon spatial planning strategies. However, few studies have focused on the relationship between urban form and CO2 emissions in small and medium-sized cities, and it is especially unclear whether the relationship varies across cities with different socioeconomic characteristics. This study took 132 small and medium-sized cities in the Yangtze River Delta in China to explore how urban form affects CO2 emissions, considering the socioeconomic factors of industrial structure, population density, and economic development level. First, nighttime light data (DMSP-OLS and NPP-VIIRS) and provincial energy data were used to calculate CO2 emissions. Second, four landscape metrics were used to quantify the compactness and complexity of the urban form based on Chinese urban land-use data. Finally, panel data models were established to analyze whether and how different socioeconomic factors impacted the relationship between urban form and CO2 emissions. The results showed that the three socioeconomic factors mentioned above all had obvious influences on the relationship between urban form and per capita CO2 emissions in small and medium-sized cities. The effect of compactness on per-capita CO2 emissions increased with a rise in the proportion of the tertiary industry, population density, and per-capita GDP. However, compactness shows no effects on per-capita CO2 emissions in industrial cities and low-development-level cities. The effect of complexity on per-capita CO2 emissions only increased with the rise in population density. The results may support decision-makers in small and medium-sized cities to propose accurate, comprehensive, and differentiated plans for CO2 emission control and reduction.

The intensive pollution of vast areas after the Chernobyl accident, especially in the territories of Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus, has not only become a serious environmental issue, but also presents wide methodological opportunities for studying the functioning of natural systems. The proposed work is a generalization of the results of studies on the migration of 137Cs in the runoff of river sediments, which were carried out in the basin of the Upa River for over 30 years after the accident. This basin is one of the most radioactively contaminated and studied in Central Russia. Over the past three decades, under the conditions of the decreasing snowmelt runoff in the spring and reduced share of cultivated land over the post-Soviet period, the intensity of the 137Cs transfer has decreased. The 137Cs deposit losses associated with erosion activities do not exceed a few percent. Most of the mobilized sediments and sediment-associated radionuclides accumulate in dry valleys or artificial reservoirs. With a general reduction in the durations of floods, rivers have become the predominant channels for the transfer of sediment yield and particulate pollutants. The exploration of the vertical distribution of the 137Cs in the accumulative strata makes it possible to identify the changes in the sediment budgets of the rivers and their radioecological consequences.

Many irrigation ponds in Fukushima Prefecture were decontaminated due to the contamination of radiocesium released from Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. To evaluate the impact of decontamination on 137Cs dynamics in an urban pond in Koriyama City, Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, temporal changes in 137Cs concentrations in bottom sediments and pond water were investigated before and after bottom-sediment removal. Post-decontamination, 137Cs inventories in bottom sediments decreased by 46–89%. 137Cs inventories in bottom sediments were relatively high in fine sediments before decontamination, and were also high at points near the water inlet after decontamination. Following decontamination, the mean 137Cs concentration in suspended solids (SS) and the mean dissolved 137Cs concentration in pond water decreased by 52% and 5%, respectively. Even after decontamination, the normalized 137Cs concentrations in SS and in water, which were calculated by dividing the 137Cs concentrations by the mean 137Cs inventories in each area, were higher than those in rivers, dam reservoirs, and ponds elsewhere in Fukushima. The positive correlations between δ15N values, an indicator of the source contribution to bottom sediments, and 137Cs concentrations in the upper 5 cm of bottom sediments after decontamination implied that SS from urban areas gradually increased the 137Cs inventories in the pond. The results underline the importance of secondary inputs of 137Cs from highly urbanized catchments.

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In the present investigation, we study the influence of conventual foundations on the origin of the urban layout of two of the first cities in the Spanish colonization of America: Santo Domingo (1502) and Panama Viejo (1519), examples of early colonial urbanism. Starting with cartography and historical bibliography, as well as recent studies on their urban evolution and using Geographic Information Systems (GIS) for graphic representation, a comparative study is carried out between both cities divided into stages of urban expansion until their consolidation (or disappearance in the case of Panama in 1671). We have been able to verify how, in Santo Domingo, the religious orders settled on the outskirts of the city, marking the axes of expansion as an instrument of control and consolidation of an urban layout closer to the idea of a grid, which will materialize more precisely in later cities. Meanwhile, in Panama Viejo, the city was formed longitudinally on the streets occupied by the convents, which served as the main axes that defined the urban design of the city. This article aims to demonstrate the importance of the role of religious power in the formation of the cities presented here.

The middle and lower Ganges Valley constitute an important part of the Asian economic and cultural corridor. Multicultural exchanges have had a profound impact on the development of historic cities and towns in the region. Considering the towns and cities of the middle and lower Ganges Valley from the 16th to the mid-18th century, this paper integrates the network theory and the centrifugal and centripetal force theory to explain how factors and forces have driven the spatial evolution of the regional urban system. By extracting spatiotemporal data from multiple sources, using the historical map translation method and spatial calculations based on GIS (Geographical Information System), the spatial pattern evolution of the city networks in this historical period is analyzed. The results show that centripetal and centrifugal forces that are generated by different driving factors combined to produce city networks in the middle and lower Ganges Valley from the 16th to the mid-18th century, forming a polycentric “axis network” spatial pattern with a stable and unified overall structure and dynamic and diverse local structures. The paper also argues that constant cultural and socioeconomic communication between the middle and lower Ganges Valley and the East is the key reason for the continuous expansion of the network.

The expansion of urban areas and the growth of the urban population are challenges faced by different territorial administrations across the world. In this context, the objective of this document is to analyze land occupation and the distribution of land uses in Bogotá and 17 municipalities. Therefore, a methodology is proposed in which an accessibility indicator models the spatial structure of the territory based on employment concentrations (the sum of the number of jobs weighted by the distance between each pair of municipalities). Then, the analysis of land use is carried out using a multinomial model, with the accessibility indicator as its principal explanatory variable. In such a way, it is possible to estimate the effects associated with the location decisions of economic agents in the territory. The results will enable policy makers to identify location and relocation patterns; we found evidence of a greater probability of commercial uses within urban areas and a relocation of industrial activity towards rural areas in some municipalities.

Innovation is widely regarded as a key factor for the economic development and competitiveness of companies and countries. It is, therefore, widely considered a policy instrument in various sectors, such as agriculture. In this sector, agricultural innovation is seen as a systemic and interactive phenomenon, which is the result of interactions between innovators and knowledge-generating organisations, as well as social and economic aspects of the context. This paper studies the social structures of multi-actor partnerships involved in interactive innovation processes in agricultural innovation systems, analysing the type of actors involved and the roles they play in the innovation process. For this purpose, 17 case studies were analysed in the framework of the Liaison project, an H2020 project, using social network analysis (SNA) and descriptive statistics. The results show that the studied multi-actor partnerships have been mostly funded by outside sources of funding, highlighting European funds. The innovation networks have a heterogeneous composition, but when we analyse the frequency of interactions there is a tendency to establish greater interaction between organisations that are of the same type. In the “core” of innovation networks, research entities and farmers are central actors with the main role of technician expert and case study field workers, respectively.

Long-term anthropogenic land use and land cover changes (LULCCs) are regarded as an important component of past global change. The past 300 years have witnessed dramatic changes in LULCC in China, and this has resulted in the large-scale conversion of natural vegetation to agricultural landscapes. Studies of past LULCC in China have mainly focused on cropland and forest; however, estimates of grassland cover remain rare due to the scarcity of grassland-related historical documents. Based on a qualitative analysis of trends in grassland cover in China and their driving forces, we devised different reconstruction methods for grassland cover in eastern and western China and then developed a 10 km database of grassland cover in China for the past 300 years. The grassland area in western China decreased from 295.54 × 106 ha in 1700 to 269.78 × 106 ha in 2000 due to the increase in population and cropland, especially in northeastern China (Heilongjiang, Jilin, and Liaoning), Gan-Ning, and Xinjiang. In eastern China, grassland is degraded secondary vegetation characterized by shrub grassland and meadow grassland, which is scattered in the hills and mountains; its area increased from 7.30 × 106 ha in 1700 to 16.43 × 106 ha in 1950 due to the increase in the degraded land caused by deforestation.

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In 1783, an event that has gone down in history as the great seismic crisis in Calabria began, during which two major earthquakes occurred, affecting the Calabrian ridge from the Strait to the north. Between 6 and 7 February in Scilla a tsunami occurred that caused the greatest number of victims in Italy: 1500 people. The mechanism that triggered the tsunami was the detachment of a ridge of rock due to a violent earthquake that affected the area; this detachment caused a subaerial landslide which, by sliding, then deposited the rock on the seabed a few kilometers from the coast, immediately generating the tsunami event. The objective of this study is to perform numerical simulations for tsunami events that occurred in history and use models that perform the propagation of a tsunami, using the best possible bathymetric and topographic data and the historical data to compare the validity of the results. In this way, one can obtain the validation of a model that can be used to simulate possible events of this magnitude on the Calabrian coasts and therefore be able to develop a reliable early warning tsunami system; it also has the advantage of perfectly combining computational burdens and the validity of results.

Dynamics of arable and pastoral farming systems in Scotland over the period 1867–2020 are documented using time series analysis methods, including for nonlinear dynamical systems. Results show arable and pastoral farming, at a national scale, are dynamic over a range of timescales, with medium- and short-term dynamics associated with endogenous system forces and exogenous factors, respectively. Medium-term dynamics provide evidence of endogenous systems-level feedbacks between farming sectors responding to change in world and national cereal prices as an economic driver, and act to dampen impacts of exogenous shocks and events (weather, disease). Regime shifts are identified in national cereal prices. Results show change and dynamics as emergent properties of system interactions. Changes in dynamics and strength of endogenous dampening over the duration of the study are associated with dynamical changes from major governmental policy decisions that altered the boundary conditions for interdependencies of arable and pastoral farming.

Reconstruction of historical deforestation helps to understand the dynamics of forest cover change and provides a basis for the further study of human-nature interactions over the long term. Significant agriculture-driven deforestation occurred in the 18th century in China due to its socio-cultural transformation. To understand this deforestation during the 18th century, we took typical counties in western Hunan as a case study area and reconstructed the settlements’ expansion and densification as indicators of socio-cultural factors. We then reconstructed the agricultural land expansion and agriculture-driven deforestation based on these settlements. The results showed that the agricultural land area increased by 40.4% from the early to the late 18th century, while the proportion of forest area covering the region decreased from 78.0% to 69.1%. Meanwhile, agriculture-driven deforestation mainly unfolded in the eastern and western parts of the region at relatively low elevation in the early 18th century, and this mainly happened in the middle of the region lying at relatively high elevation in the late 18th century. This study’s results provide an improved spatial resolution for the reconstruction of historical land use/cover change, thus enabling insights to be gained from a more detailed spatiotemporal pattern of historical deforestation trends. This study helps to understand the anthropogenic land cover change on a larger spatiotemporal scale through a regional case study.

Particularly in countries with an agrarian economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has brought hardships faced by farmers into sharp focus. One of the most badly hit countries was India. This study aims to bring to light the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the livelihoods of farmers in three farming systems (coffee farming, Kole wetland paddy farming, and homestead farming) in the southern Indian state of Kerala. We collected the data using telephone interviews and studied the impacts (economic, social, institutional) of the pandemic on the selected farming systems, the responses of farmers (short and long term) to these impacts, and the ability of farmers to secure their livelihoods (by analyzing resilience capacities and transforming structures and processes of the farming systems). The methodological framework used was developed based on the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach and the Resilience Framework. We found significant impacts on the three studied farming systems due to COVID-19. As the impacts, responses, and ability to secure livelihoods varied across the three farming systems, we concluded that there is not a single solution that could be prescribed for all farming systems and that each land use system must be treated individually.

The purpose of this study is to explore the aspects of “gentrification” and “degentrification” other than economic factors. To this end, this study focused on the gentrification situations occurring before and after the COVID-19 pandemic in the Itaewon area, South Korea, by using semantic network analysis. We analyzed news articles on the gentrification phenomenon in the Itaewon area reported in South Korea. As a result, gentrification in the Itaewon area is divided into four stages. The first stage of gentrification (2010~2014) is initial stage of gentrification. Gentrification stage 2 (2015~2017) is the period of commercialization as a gentrification growth stage. The first stage of degentrification (2018~2019) is the maturation period of gentrification. The second stage of degentrification (2019~30 June 2020) is the period of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results confirm the existing theoretical frameworks while building a more nuanced definition through operationalizing gentrification and degentrification. As with the etymology of the term, the degentrification phenomenon can only be revealed when the gentrification phenomenon is prominently displayed. This study has an implication in that it tried to phenomenologically examine the specific phenomenon of the next stage of gentrification through the term “degentrification”.

The equalization of urban public service facilities is important to the daily lives of urban residents. Spatial quantification of the supply and demand of public service facilities can reveal relationships between supply and demand agents and provide a foundation for the planning of urban public service facilities. This study proposed a comprehensive framework to assess the current state of supply (accessibility of facilities) and demand (population carrying pressure) of various public services in cities and determine patterns between different public service facilities. This framework contains three elements: (a) multi-scale spatial quantification of the matching of supply and demand, (b) spatial matching of supply and demand, and (c) spatial clustering analysis of the supply and demand balance. This study analyzed 19 major cities in China from a supply and demand perspective and examined implications for matching the supply and demand of public service facilities. The results indicated that education service facilities had the most appropriate supply and demand relationship. Areas where public service facilities had a good matching of supply and demand demonstrated a strong pattern of clustering. There were significant differences in the level of matching of the supply and demand of public service facilities among various regions in China. The limitations of the framework and future directions are discussed.

This article analyzes the impact of the end of the COVID-19 lockdown on the number of rescues in natural areas in Catalonia (Spain) during July and August 2020. We compared the figures for 2020 with those corresponding to the same period in 2016–2019, including their temporal and spatial distributions. Our findings show that the number of rescues undertaken by the Catalan Fire Department in July and August 2020 increased significantly compared to the same summer period in the four previous years (+39.7%). The daily averages increased for both weekends and weekdays in 2020, with 7.5 and 3.9 rescues per day, respectively. The greatest increase corresponded to rescue operations conducted at low altitudes (up to 500 m ASL) and areas with no specific protection status near to populated places. Natural areas were perceived safer than, for example, coastal destinations in terms of the risk of COVID-19 contagion, and they experienced a growth in visitors during the first summer of the pandemic. One consequence of this was an increase in emergency service activity to rescue people in natural areas. This research adds new evidence of the multiple indirect effects of the reconfiguration of mobilities in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Our findings could be of interest to emergency service managers, managers of protected natural areas, and public authorities.

The relationship between physical activity and green spaces has been widely researched, but less so when comparing physical activity in different environments. This study investigates the variations in physical activity across six environments (nature, park, urban, home, sportsground and indoor venue) and how it was influenced by lockdown governed during the COVID-19 pandemic. Data were collected from 1161 participants using an online survey conducted in spring 2021 in Slovenia. The results show that 95.5% of respondents are somewhat physically active, mostly in nature and at home. Respondents found natural shade, trees, secure access to and secure use of green spaces most important, recreational routes most encouraging, and bad smells and crowdedness most discouraging for outdoor physical activity. During the lockdown, 80% of people maintained or increased their physical activity. Regression analysis showed significant differences in preference for green space characteristics and levels of physical activity in different environments. Several sociodemographic and living environment characteristics also appeared significant. Our research findings underline the importance of considering a variety of environments when exploring preferences for physical activity. They also provide scientific evidence and justification for recommendations in planning and policy-making to encourage outdoor physical activity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity for us to rethink the relationship between humans and the environment. However, few studies have examined the association between environmental attitudes, motivations, wellbeing, and quality of life in the context of urban green areas before and after the outbreak of COVID-19. This paper investigated the interrelationships among these variables based on data collected in 2019 (before COVID-19) and 2021 (after COVID-19). The results show that the 2021 sample differed significantly from the 2019 sample in environmental attitudes. Respondents after the outbreak with the belief in “humans with nature” were more likely to use urban green areas for being “close to nature” than pre-pandemic respondents. In addition, stronger belief in “humans over nature” led to stronger desire for “social interactions” in 2021 than in 2019, implying a close relationship between people’s perception of humankind’s ability to control nature during the pandemic and their desire to interact with people in urban green areas. The study also found that there may be a pent-up satisfaction among urban dwellers after the COVID-19 outbreak.

The COVID-19 pandemic did not only impact all spheres of life but came abruptly to redefine our understanding of the urban-scape. With changing user-values and user-needs, there is a renewed realisation of the importance of the human-scape and how human capital, social issues, and liveability considerations will progressively lead urban development discussions. The urban-scape risk is far more complex and fragile than previously anticipated, with the future of the city centre dependent on our ability to successfully manage the transition from an urban-scape to a human-scape. This research employed a narrative review methodology to reflect on COVID-19 trends that will shape future city centres, based on expert contributions pertaining to (1) the community sector, (2) the public sector, and (3) the private sector within the Sydney Metropolitan area of Australia. The research highlighted the changing human-scape needs and associated impacts of (1) changing movement patterns, (2) changing social infrastructure, and (3) increasing multifunctionality, which will be crucial factors in shaping attractive (future) city centres. The research contributes to the notion that future city centres will embrace and prioritise the human-scape in a response to ‘build back better’, and accordingly, identified how the human-scape can be articulated in broader spatial planning approaches to create attractive future city centres.

Considering the emerging challenges posed by the spread of COVID-19, this study was designed to evaluate citizens’ perceptions of the role of urban green areas in the era of COVID-19 in Greece. The evaluation was based on the implementation of an electronic questionnaire survey through the Google Forms platform, which was conducted nationwide. The survey was conducted in 2020 and 735 responses were collected in total based on 14 structured questions. Among the key findings of the study, of notable importance is that citizens considered urban green areas as an important means of improving public health, while citizens were willing to accept an increase of EUR1 to EUR20 in their municipal taxes for improving the services offered by the urban green areas. Results indicate that in a period of both climatic and public health crises, healthy and green urban environments can play a seminal role for alleviating and mitigating different challenges and impacts, while at the same time ensuring sustainability of urban ecosystems. A certain necessity arises for investigating the socioeconomic importance of urban green areas both from an ecosystemic and public health perspective considering the novel challenges of COVID-19 to public policy and decision making.

Given its intensity, rapid spread, geographic reach and multiple waves of infections, the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020/21 became a major global disruptor with a truly cross-sectoral impact, surpassing even the 1918/19 influenza epidemic. Public health measures designed to contain the spread of the disease saw the cessation of international travel as well as the establishment of border closures between and within countries. The social and economic impact was considerable. This paper examines the effects of the public health measures of “ring-fencing” and of prolonged closures of the state border between New South Wales and Victoria (Australia), placing the events of 2020/21 into the context of the historic and contemporary trajectories of the border between the two states. It shows that while border closures as public-health measures had occurred in the past, their social and economic impact had been comparatively negligible due to low cross-border community integration. Concerted efforts since the mid-1970s have led to effective and close integration of employment and services, with over a quarter of the resident population of the two border towns commuting daily across the state lines. As a result, border closures and state-based lockdown directives caused significant social disruption and considerable economic cost to families and the community as a whole. One of the lessons of the 2020/21 pandemic will be to either re-evaluate the wisdom of a close social and economic integration of border communities, which would be a backwards step, or to future-proof these communities by developing strategies, effectively public health management plans, to avoid a repeat when the next pandemic strikes.

Due to the heterogeneity among households across locations, predicting the impacts of stay-at-home mitigation and lockdown strategies for COVID-19 control is crucial. In this study, we quantitatively assessed the effects of the Namibia government’s lockdown control measures on food insecurity in urban informal settlements with a focus on Windhoek, Namibia. We developed three types of conditional regression models to predict food insecurity prevalence (FIP) scenarios incorporating household frequency of food purchase (FFP) as the impacting factor, based on the Hungry Cities Food Matrix. Empirical data were derived from the 2017 African Food Security Urban Network (AFSUN) Windhoek study and applied univariate probit and bivariate partial observability models to postulate the relation between food insecurity and FFP within the context of stay-at-home disease mitigation strategy. The findings showed that FFP was positively correlated with the prevalence of food insecurity (r = 0.057, 95% CI: 0.0394, 0.085). Daily purchases portrayed a survivalist behaviour and were associated with increased food insecurity (coeff = 0.076, p = 0.05). Only those who were purchasing food twice monthly were significantly associated with reduced food insecurity (coeff = −0.201, p = 0.001). Those households in informal settlements were severely impacted by food insecurity (coeff = 0.909, p-value = 0.007). We conclude that public health compliance should precede with cash or food support to poor households in balance with the need for long-term placement of control measures to fully contain COVID-19 or related infectious diseases.

The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted everyone in urban areas. Some of these impacts in the United States have negatively affected People of Color more than their White counterparts. Using Seattle, Washington as a case study, we investigated whether inequitable effects appear in residents’ interactions with urban nature (such as urban green space). Using a 48-question instrument, 300 residents were surveyed, equally divided across four racial/ethnic groups: Asian, Black and African American, Latino/a/x, and White. Results showed that during the span of about 6 months after the onset of the pandemic, Black and Latino residents experienced a significant loss of time in urban nature, while Asian and White residents did not. The implications of these findings, including inequities in the potential buffering effects of urban nature against COVID-19 and the future of urban nature conservation, are discussed. Multiple variables were tested for association with the changes to time spent in urban nature, including themes of exclusion from urban nature spaces found throughout the existing literature. Findings show that decreases in time spent in urban nature among Black and Latino residents may be associated with their feeling as though they did not belong in urban nature. We provide recommendations based on these findings for how government agencies can promote more equitable access to urban nature during the pandemic and beyond. The results of this study have implications that extend beyond the US and are relevant to the international scholarly literature of inequities and urban nature interaction during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We investigated how the perceived quality of natural spaces influenced levels of visitation and felt benefits during the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia via a nationally representative online and telephone survey conducted on 12–26 October (Social Research Centre’s Life in AustraliaTM panel aged > 18 years, 78.8% response, n = 3043). Our sample was restricted to those with complete information (n = 2940). Likert scale responses to 18 statements regarding the quality of local natural spaces that participants preferred to visit were classified into eight quality domains: access; aesthetics; amenities; facilities; incivilities; potential usage; safety; and social. These domains were then summed into an overall nature quality score (mean = 5.8, range = 0–16). Associations between these quality variables and a range of nature visitation and felt benefits were tested using weighted multilevel models, adjusted for demographic and socioeconomic confounders. Compared with participants in the lowest perceived nature quality quintile, those in the highest quality quintile had higher odds of spending at least 2 h in their preferred local nature space in the past week (Odds Ratio [OR] = 3.40; 95% Confidence Interval [95%CI] = 2.38–4.86), of visiting their preferred nature space almost every day in the past four weeks (OR = 3.90; 2.77–5.47), and of reporting increased levels of nature visitation in comparison with before the COVID-19 pandemic (OR = 3.90; 2.54–6.00). Participants in the highest versus lowest perceived nature quality quintile also reported higher odds of feeling their visits to nature enabled them to take solace and respite during the pandemic (OR = 9.49; 6.73–13.39), to keep connected with their communities (OR = 5.30; 3.46–8.11), and to exercise more often than they did before the pandemic (OR = 3.88; 2.57–5.86). Further analyses of each quality domain indicated time in and frequency of visiting nature spaces were most affected by potential usage and safety (time in nature was also influenced by the level of amenity). Feelings of connection and solace were most affected by potential usage and social domains. Exercise was most influenced by potential usage, social and access domains. In conclusion, evidence reported in this study indicates that visits to nature and various health-related benefits associated with it during the COVID-19 pandemic were highly contingent upon numerous qualities of green and blue spaces.

We selected the COVID-19 outbreak in the state of Oregon, USA as a system for developing a general geographically nuanced epidemiological forecasting model that balances simplicity, realism, and accessibility. Using the life history simulator HexSim, we inserted a mathematical SIRD disease model into a spatially explicit framework, creating a distributed array of linked compartment models. Our spatial model introduced few additional parameters, but casting the SIRD equations into a geographic setting significantly altered the system’s emergent dynamics. Relative to the non-spatial model, our simple spatial model better replicated the record of observed infection rates in Oregon. We also observed that estimates of vaccination efficacy drawn from the non-spatial model tended to be higher than those obtained from models that incorporate geographic variation. Our spatially explicit SIRD simulations of COVID-19 in Oregon suggest that modest additions of spatial complexity can bring considerable realism to a traditional disease model.

The response of African countries immediately after the COVID-19 pandemic declaration was rapid and appropriate, with low infections and mortality rates until June 2020. Severe lock-down measures were effective in Africa; however, the reduction in the amount of natural experience influences the quality of life in modern society. This study is conducted as an international comparative study in five African countries on changes in the perception of health recovery and outdoor activities in urban forests during the COVID-19 pandemic. An online survey was conducted with 430 respondents to investigate the relationships between COVID-19 stress, indoor activity, appreciation of greenspaces, perception of health recovery, and use of greenspaces. A structural equation model was used for analysis. The visit frequency and staying time in urban forests after lock-down dramatically decreased, raising concerns about nature-deficit disorder across the target countries after the end of the pandemic. This study confirmed urban dwellers’ desire for natural experiences and health recovery during the pandemic and predicts an explosive increase in urban forest utilization after the pandemic has ended.

This paper examines the relationship between the rapid growth of online food purchasing and household food security during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China using the city of Nanjing as a case study. The paper presents the results of an online survey of 968 households in Nanjing in March 2020 focused on their food purchasing behavior and levels of food security during the early weeks of the pandemic. While online food purchasing has increased rapidly in many countries during the COVID-19 pandemic, little research attention has been paid to the relationship between online food purchasing and household food security. This paper provides detailed insights into this relationship in China. The medium- and longer-term food security and other consequences of the pandemic pivot to online food purchasing are a fertile area for future research in China and elsewhere.

This paper examines the debate over the place of “companion animal” public space in China’s cities. With the COVID-19 outbreak, this debate has entered a new phase, where the social response to the outbreak may have fundamentally changed the public’s use and perception of “companion animal” public and pseudo-public space. This paper combines quantitative and qualitative analysis of posts and comments on two of China’s largest social media platforms with a big data approach, based on a case study in Beijing, China. There were statistically significant differences in the perception and use of “companion animal” public spaces and pseudo-public spaces before and after the pandemic. We attribute the impact of the pandemic on “companion animal” spaces to three pathways: changes in opportunity, changes in ability, and changes in motivation. We found that the pandemic led to an increase in the amount of time available to some people but a decrease in the amount of “companion animal” public space available due to the pandemic closure. In addition, the use of “companion animal” public spaces in pseudo-public spaces declined, while those located within the open urban green space on the city’s outskirts stood out after the outbreak. With the normalisation of the pandemic, there will be new challenges for the development and operation of companion-animal-related public spaces in cities, which will be the next focus of research. In addition, governments and social media should work together to promote and support sustainable animal ethical practices to better respond to the crisis. These findings will help complement the urban services system and guide future planning, design, and evaluation of related spaces.

Urgent biophilia describes the conscious desire of humans to seek interactions with nature during periods of stress. This study examines the changes in frequency and reason for visiting urban green spaces by residents of Wellington, New Zealand, to determine whether resident behavior during a stressful period exemplifies the principles of urgent biophilia. The COVID-19 pandemic and resulting lockdowns were used as the study period due to the significant physical and mental health stressors they triggered. Pedestrian and cyclist counters located in key urban green spaces in Wellington were used to collect data on visits pre- and post-pandemic. Two surveys were used to assess residents’ reasons for visiting urban green spaces during lockdowns. Increased green space visits were seen during the strictest lockdowns, though there was some variation in visits depending on the location of the green space. The most frequently reported reason for visiting green spaces during lockdown was mental wellbeing, followed by recreation. These results suggest that Wellington residents used urban green spaces as a coping mechanism during stressful lockdown periods for wellbeing benefits, exemplifying the principles of urgent biophilia. Urban planners and policymakers must consider and implement urban green infrastructure as a public health resource.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, campuses are closed, and many schools are forced to transition to online instruction. There are many problems in landscape architecture education during the pandemic such as students’ decreased attention, poor self-regulation, low proactivity, and difficulty in grading. In addition, situational effects are required for landscape architecture education, but online education lacks the necessary case scenarios for courses during the pandemic. In order to solve these problems, the present study adopted a more accessible, and interactive spherical video-based immersive virtual reality (SV-IVR) approach, developed a landscape architecture SV-IVR learning system, and conducted a quasi-experimental study to examine its effectiveness. The results indicated that the experimental group students showed more positive results in their learning achievements, learning attitudes, and self-regulation than the control group. Besides, it was found that students required more time to develop their self-efficacy and that this system would not have an effect on students’ cognitive load.

The major global pressures of rapid urbanization and urban growth are being compounded by climate impacts, resulting in increased vulnerability for urban dwellers, with these vulnerabilities exacerbated during the COVID-19 pandemic. Much of this is concentrated in urban and peri-urban areas where urban development spreads into hazard-prone areas. Often, this development is dominated by poor-quality homes in informal settlements or slums with poor tenure security. Lessons from a resilience-building project in the Pacific shows that a fit-for-purpose (FFP) approach to land administration can provide solutions by increasing the number of households with security of tenure, and consequently, improving resilience outcomes as informal settlements grow. This paper specifically discusses the influence of FFP land administration on reducing vulnerabilities to external shocks, such as climate change and COVID-19. It proposes ways to be better manage urban growth through the responsible governance of land tenure rights and more effective land-use planning to improve resilience to multiple shocks and stresses, hence, delivering improved access to safe land and shelter. Land administration systems can contribute to enhanced resilience to the shocks of climate extremes and pandemics by improving tenure security and enhancing land-use planning controls. It is argued that climate change adaptation and disaster risk reduction need to be better mainstreamed into two major elements of land governance: (i) securing and safeguarding of land rights, and (ii) planning and control of land use.