BACKGROUND Provision of emergency medical services (EMS) in the rural United States presents a unique challenge. While rural and urban EMS outcomes have been compared, differing urban-rural population characteristics and roles for rural ambulance teams can confound such comparisons. METHODS A year-long study of the prehospital EMS was conducted in rural Richardson County, Nebraska. Data were ...

Fine particulate matter (PM2.5) pollution has become one of the greatest urban issues in China. Studies have shown that PM2.5 pollution is strongly related to the land use pattern at the micro-scale and optimizing the land use pattern has been suggested as an approach to mitigate PM2.5 pollution. However, there are only a few researches analyzing the effect of land use on PM2.5 pollution. This ...

Urban watersheds are often sources of nitrogen (N) to downstream systems, contributing to poor water quality. However, it is unknown which components (e.g., land cover and stormwater infrastructure type) of urban watersheds contribute to N export and which may be sites of retention. In this study we investigated which watershed characteristics control N sourcing, biogeochemical processing of ni...

BACKGROUND The present study aimed to investigate whether there is an association between type of living environment (urban versus rural) and anxiety, depression and psychosis in the Scottish population. METHODS Data were obtained from the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics database on Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and urban-rural classifications for 6505 data zones across Scotland. M...

Background: The present total population study aimed to investigate whether there is an association between type of living environment (urban versus rural) and anxiety, depression and psychosis in the Scottish population. Methods: Data were obtained from the Scottish Neighbourhood Statistics database on Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation and Urban-Rural Classifications for 6505 data zones a...

Urban containment policies, including urban growth boundaries, urban service boundaries and greenbelts, have been extensively discussed worldwide for managing urban growth. This paper focuses on the issues associated with supporting an urban containment plan and its application in China using a planning support system. The background is that the urban containment plan has been enacted as a new ...

Today, cities worldwide are engaged in urban projects and activities in a concerted drive towards sustainable development. However, the concept of “sustainable urban projects” is inherently normative, subjective and ambiguous. Furthermore, the popularity of sustainable urban initiatives does not guarantee that increased pressure on dominant unsustainable urban systems will occur. In this articl...

Pedestrian areas are a type of urban public space, nowadays because of the serious consequencesof car-dependency and ignoring pedestrian needs, a consensus on the importance of walking and the necessity forplanning for pedestrians movement has been formed among urban designers, planners and people. The concernsabout human health and movement in city create a new trend in contemporary urbanism, ...

Urbanization is one of the great challenges of our time and unchecked haphazard urbanization is a serious threat both to the environment and social and economic balance. In order to meet global sustainability targets, rapid urban growth must be channelled into environmentally friendly, sustainable and liveable urban environments. Thus, this special issue focuses on sustainable urban design whic...

Urban spaces are considered as important elements in the urban structure. These spaces are scenes in which the general activities of urban life take place and they are able to provide an opportunity for the development of innovations for the people and to act as a recreational and constructive environment in an urban collection to provide a setting while every human being would need to perceive...