Planning and Design in Urban Development, consuming large Resources entailing many variables giving numerous solutions with large variations in resource-efficiency indicators, is a problem-solving process (Mitchell WJ. Computer-aided architectural design. New York: Petrocelli/Charter; 1977) involving search through numerous potential solutions to select a particular solution that meets a specif...

Theory, approach and the tools of transect model have recently turned into one of the fundamental maxims of urban design and planning in the urbanization systems in Europe, the United States and more recently the middle-east, its fundamentals are based on reaching the sustainable development patterns in urban areas. A general accordance regarding the operationalizability of this theory and appr...

Measuring the comparative sustainability levels of cities, regions, institutions and projects is an essential procedure in creating sustainable urban futures. This paper introduces a new urban sustainability assessment model: ―The Sustainable Infrastructure, Land-use, Environment and Transport Model (SILENT)‖. The SILENT Model is an advanced geographic information system and indicator-based com...

Urban logistics is a field that studies the best solutions for urban freight distribution with high environmental objectives. However, most actions are started by public authorities without taking into account the impacts of the new organizational schemas in the existing distribution enterprises’ organization. This chapter proposes a conceptual framework for urban green logistics planning and e...

Introduction Common practices in current urban logistics planning in Scandinavia and the UK, and the degree to which SUTP (Sustainable Urban Transport Plan), SUMP (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) and SULP (Sustainable Urban Logistics Plans) guidelines are used, are examined in this paper. Methods A systematic literature review identifies relevant studies based on predefined inclusion criteria...

In disaster studies, vulnerability is used to denote “the susceptibility or potential for harm to social, infrastructural, economic and ecological systems” (Pine, 2009, 136). As the nodes of critical systems of human artefacts, urban areas are vulnerable to natural hazards, and suffer losses from disasters. The vulnerability of urban areas is triggered by historical, social, political and physi...

The scholarly thrust of urban planning is its use of, as well as its contribution to, social science. As a discipline bordering with civil engineering, furthermore, urban planning has always carried also an important cross-disciplinary message beyond social science. Yet the association of urban planning with humanistic disciplines and the fine arts has been undervalued or ignored altogether. At...

Accurate and timely information about land use and land cover (LULC) and its changes in urban areas are crucial for urban land management decision-making, ecosystem monitoring and urban planning. Also, monitoring and representation of urban sprawl and its effects on the LULC patterns and hydrological processes of an urbanized watershed is an essential part of water resource planning and managem...

Urban planning, in particular on protected landscape areas, demands an increasing role of public participation within the frame of the efficiency of sustainable planning process. The development of urban planning actions in Protected Landscape areas, as Sintra-Cascais Natural Park, should perform a methodological process that is structured over distinct sequential stages, providing the developm...

Technological innovation has provided enhanced capacity for knowledge building, for connection and for improved infrastructure planning in the development of the modern city. In parallel to the building of technology supported urban planning and design capacity, a debate has emerged around the need to maximise citizen participation in urban planning. The role of identity, culture and social con...