Explore the vast range of titles available.

Purpose The purpose of this study is to create a methodological approach for identifying priority areas for science and technology (S&T) development and its empirical application within the city of Moscow. This research uncovers a wide range of multicultural and multidisciplinary global trends that will affect the development of major cities in an era of complexity and uncertainty, including the inherent complexity of urban contexts, demographic and socioeconomic trends, as well as scientific and ecological factors. Design/methodology/approach The methodological approach is based on classic foresight instruments. Its novelty lays in the blending of qualitative and quantitative methods specially selected as the most appropriate for the identification of S&T areas in an era of complexity and uncertainty, including horizon scanning, bibliometric analysis, expert surveys and the construction of composite indexes with respect to the scope and resources of the research and the selected object for empirical application – Moscow, which is one of the world’s largest megacities. The analysis was performed for the period of 2009–2018 and expert procedures took place in 2019. Findings As a result, 25 global trends were identified, evaluated and discussed over the course of an expert survey and subsequent expert events. Ten priority areas of S&T development were determined, including 62 technological sub-areas within them and the most important market niches for all identified technological sub-areas, which could be useful for the world’s megacities. The results of this study are illustrated using the construction sector. Based on the conducted research and results, a list of recommendations on S&T policy measures and instruments were suggested, including the creation of the Moscow Innovation Cluster, which by the end of 2023 contained more than 6,000 projects and initiatives, selected using the findings of this investigation. Originality/value This research contributes to the existing literature and research agenda of setting priorities for S&T development and shows how it can be done for a megacity. The blended foresight methodology that was created within the study satisfies the criteria of scientific originality, is repeatable for any interested researcher, is applicable to any other city in the world and demonstrates its high efficiency in empirical application. It could be used for creating new agenda items in S&T policy, setting S&T priorities for a megacity and integrating the results into decision-making processes. This study provides recommendations on the further implementation of the designed methodology and results into a policymaking system. Moreover, the example of the Moscow Innovation Cluster, which was created based on the results of our research, demonstrates these recommendations’ practical significance in real life, which is quite valuable. The limitation of this study is that it is not devoted to urban planning issues directly or the promotion of R&D areas; it is about setting promising S&T priorities in an era of complexity and uncertainty for megacities.

The impact of building morphology on building energy consumption has been extensively studied. However, research on how 3D building morphology affects energy consumption at a macroscopic scale is lacking. In this study, we measured the mean building height (BH), mean building volume (BV), and mean European nearest neighbor distance (MENN) of the city to quantify the 3D building morphology. We then used a spatial regression model to analyze the quantitative impact of urban 3D building morphology on per capita electricity consumption (PCEC). Results indicate that at the macroscopic scale of the city, the BH and the MENN have a significant positive impact on the PCEC, while the BV has a significant negative impact on the PCEC. Moreover, the inclusion of the 3D building morphology greatly improves the model’s ability to explain building energy efficiency, surpassing the impact of traditional economic factors. Considering the 3D building morphology indicators together, buildings with a lower height, a larger volume, and a more compact 3D morphology have greater potential for energy savings and are more conducive to electricity conservation. This study offers valuable insights for the energy-efficient arrangement of buildings.

The long-term accumulated remote sensing data and the emerging cloud-based geospatial processing platform Google Earth Engine (GEE) enable the mining of the spatiotemporal pattern of land-use (LU) functional changes in the contiguous area of large coastal cities. This study proposes a spatiotemporal pattern mining technique for land use function in a large area, which consists of two parts: (1) long-term time series land cover mapping based on the random forest (RF) classification algorithm in the GEE platform and a pixel-by-pixel temporal consistency correction, and (2) spatiotemporal pattern mining based on the constructed spatial temporal cubes (STCs). Specifically, for each LU functional series, we constructed the STC and applied change point detection, time series clustering, and emerging hot spot analysis to mine the spatiotemporal change patterns of LU functions. The study shows that (1) the construction land in the Bohai Sea region from 1990 to 2020 expanded significantly, with the development intensity increasing from 2.08% to 9.77%, having formed a contiguous area of large cities; at the same time, the arable land area decreased significantly, from 57.94% to 47.83%; (2) the emerged construction land experienced three periods: fluctuation, rise, and decline, with 2004 and 2014 being the change points during the period; and (3), the spatial and temporal pattern of the expansion of construction land shows a spatial gradient change in the scale and rate of expansion along the central cities and major axes. This study demonstrates the potential of using long-term time series remote sensing data towards cognizing the generation mechanisms of contiguous coastal big cities.

Today, 370 million people live in cities in earthquake prone areas and 310 million in cities with a high probability of tropical cyclones. By 2050 these numbers are likely to more than double, leading to a greater concentration of hazard risk in many of the world's cities. The authors discuss what sets hazard risk in urban areas apart, summarize estimates of valuation of hazard risk, and discuss implications for individual mitigation and public policy. The main conclusions are that urban agglomeration economies change the cost–benefit calculation of hazard mitigation; that good hazard management is first and foremost good general urban management; and that the public sector must perform better in promoting market-based risk reduction by generating and disseminating credible information on hazard risk in cities.

The migration of the population from large urban centers to green areas in peri-urban areas is a characteristic phenomenon for large metropolises in Central and Eastern Europe, in the context of the accentuation of globalizing flows. Romania is a good example in this regard. The paper analyzes the impact of urban–peri-urban migration in the general context of the demographic decline in this country and the regional differentiations of the dynamics of the depopulation phenomenon. Five regional metropolises with macro-territorial polarization functions were selected as case studies: Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Timișoara, Iași and Constanța. The study aims to carry out a spatio-temporal correlative analysis on the development of the peri-urban areas bordering large cities, in order to fill a gap in the scientific literature on these aspects. It attempts to explain the causes of the atypical trajectories of these localities in the general context of the demographic decline affecting the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, through a complex analysis of the interdependencies between factors, drawing attention to the fragility of these areas in terms of green infrastructure and elaborating a series of forecasts regarding integrated urban–rural development. This paper contributes to the literature on spatial planning and in particular on the post-industrial reconversion of the areas bordering large urban centers, as a result of the phenomena of depopulation and exurbanization. It can serve as a reference for the stage of development of the peri-urban areas of the capital and the main regional metropolises in Romania, cities representative of the urban development trajectories in Central and Eastern Europe.

PurposeLarge cities are and will continue to become important tourism destinations in foreseeable future. Tourists' motives of the present is the prognosis for their future tourists' behavior. In respond to the longstanding critics in city tourism study, the present research aims to examine the underlying motives of tourists visiting large cities and offer insights into fashioning tourism future for visiting large cities. The identified motives inform three distinct implications fashioning tourism future of large cities.Design/methodology/approachA quantitative investigation was performed by surveying city tourists. Measurements on the survey form were derived from both scholarly and grey literature in relation to tourists' motivations. 326 valid questionnaires were netted to attain the study aim. Three-quarters of respondents were from Europe, Australia and Pacific. Descriptive analysis and exploratory factor analysis were conducted to achieve the research aims.FindingsFive underlying motives of tourists visiting large cities were revealed: shopping indulgence, urban commons, city icons, cultural and lifestyle and personal advancement. Mapping the findings with a conceptual scheme depicting tourism product in destination, the author revealed a new dimension, urbanity and offered critical reflection on three implications for the tourism future of large cities.Originality/valueLiterature examining city tourists' motives neglect the context-specific measurements while administering the investigation. The research design embraces the urban-specific measurements in the data collection tool, contributing to deeper understanding on how tourism functions in cities. A new dimension, urbanity, which illustrates tourists' motives exclusive in large cities, was identified. Furthermore, three implications fashioning tourism future of large cities are revealed with the support of empirical evidence.

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.

Given the critical role of urban green space (UGS) in fostering sustainable urban development, there is a growing focus on assessing levels and inequalities in urban green space exposure. However, the integration of UGS with urban development, particularly in the context of China’s unique national conditions, remains underexplored. This study evaluates the adequacy and equity of urban green space provision in 140 Chinese cities (with built-up areas exceeding 100 km2) using metrics such as the percentage of green space, green space exposure, and the Gini coefficient. Additionally, the study investigates the interplay between natural, economic, and social factors and UGS variables, particularly examining the interrelation of urbanization and green sustainable development within the framework of China’s distinctive land finance policy. The findings reveal that most large Chinese cities suffer from inadequate and inequitable green space provisions, with a clear connection between these deficiencies. The study highlights that factors such as favorable natural conditions, economic growth, urbanization, favorable living conditions, and the unique land finance and transfer system in China can enhance urban green space exposure and equality. This research offers valuable insights and evidence for Chinese central and local governments to devise effective and sustainable greening strategies, aiming to attain high-quality urban development.

With the rapid development of urbanization, natural habitats in many parts of the world have been seriously damaged by urban expansion. However, urban expansion is a complex process, and the impacts of different levels of urban expansion on habitats at regional scales and their distance thresholds are still unclear. We conducted a study in Hubei Province, China to evaluate the impacts of the expansion of prefecture-level cities and county towns on the quantity, area, and quality of natural habitats and the critical threshold distances affecting habitats. The results show that, at a regional scale, habitat degradation was driven primarily by the expansion of large numbers of county towns, but the expansion of prefecture-level cities affected habitat degradation over greater distances. Specifically, the impact of county town expansion on habitat first increased and then decreased with greater distance from built-up areas, the threshold distances for habitat quantity and quality being approximately 8 km and 80 km, respectively. The impact of expanding prefecture-level cities on habitat showed a similar nonlinear change with greater distance, but the distance thresholds for habitat quantity and quality rose to approximately 40 km and 130 km, respectively. These findings not only reverse the conventional view that the expansion of large cities dominates habitat degradation, but also draws more attention to the influence of the expansion of numerous small county and towns on habitat, when measured at the regional scale. Understanding the distance threshold of particular spatial impacts can be help to inform spatial decision-making with regards to habitat conservation.

While studies have consistently shown that in the USA, non-Hispanic Blacks (Blacks) have higher diabetes prevalence, complication and death rates than non-Hispanic Whites (Whites), there are no studies that compare disparities in diabetes mortality across the largest US cities. This study presents and compares Black/White age-adjusted diabetes mortality rate ratios (RRs), calculated using national death files and census data, for the 50 most populous US cities. Relationships between city-level diabetes mortality RRs and 12 ecological variables were explored using bivariate correlation analyses. Multivariate analyses were conducted using negative binomial regression to examine how much of the disparity could be explained by these variables. Blacks had statistically significantly higher mortality rates compared to Whites in 39 of the 41 cities included in analyses, with statistically significant rate ratios ranging from 1.57 (95 % CI: 1.33–1.86) in Baltimore to 3.78 (95 % CI: 2.84–5.02) in Washington, DC. Analyses showed that economic inequality was strongly correlated with the diabetes mortality disparity, driven by differences in White poverty levels. This was followed by segregation. Multivariate analyses showed that adjusting for Black/White poverty alone explained 58.5 % of the disparity. Adjusting for Black/White poverty and segregation explained 72.6 % of the disparity. This study emphasizes the role that inequalities in social and economic determinants, rather than for example poverty on its own, play in Black/White diabetes mortality disparities. It also highlights how the magnitude of the disparity and the factors that influence it can vary greatly across cities, underscoring the importance of using local data to identify context specific barriers and develop effective interventions to eliminate health disparities.