In 1995 the percentage of U.S. households identifying crime as a neighborhood problem remained about 7%, according to the American Housing Survey. 1 The percentage of households identifying crime as a problem had reached 7.4% in 1991 and was fairly constant afterwards. Somewhat similar to the Nation's general pattern of violent victimization rates, household perceptions of crime as a problem ro...

This study proposes an integrative methodology for the environmental assessment of urban parks. Since most of the studies that investigated the environmental effect of urban parks have focused on only one or two nuisances, a difficulty exists in evaluating the overall influence of urban parks on environmental quality. Moreover, the small number of studies that have tried to suggest methodologic...

Walking being the oldest form of urban transport, and until the advent of major transformationsin transport technology in the nineteenth century, most cities were structured in ways that supported walkability.Today, there is a change in transportation which emphasizes, the traditional pedestrian paths which are increasinglybecoming non-regulated spaces when compared to the urban spaces for auto...

Cities have been invaded by the tools of the capitalist systems which transform the built environment while leaving the scars of this transformation on the societies. The demands of market forces generate new life styles and social contexts reshaped via relations of power and expression of political and economic hegemony. The nature of urban landscape, particularly the condition of public space...

The improper layout of urban public parks leads to the difference between citizens sharing or not sharing this kind of public resource, particularly in the historical districts of mountainous cities in China. The purpose of this study is to explore the spatial equity and quantitative measures of urban public parks’ layouts by building a demand index of socially vulnerable groups sharing public ...

“Urban Pixels” are wireless, solar-powered lighting units for cities that blur the boundary between digital display technology and traditional urban lighting. By combining a renewable energy source with RF communication it is possible to achieve a self-sustaining, distributed display network that can be attached to any building surface and reconfigured with ease. Depending on their configuratio...

Urban planning has received tremendous public attention in the last few years. Energy cost, environmental issues, traffic congestion and the feeling of lack of belonging in the cities are among the factors that have contributed to the development of pedestrian areas. These public spaces provide opportunities for shopping, entertainment, eating facilities and gatherings where people can experien...