The specification of sustainable urban transport strategies

Transport strategies have been developed for nine European cities to achieve optimum performance in terms of a range of objective functions. The functions selected represent economic efficiency, sustainability and a combination of these. The strategies have been based on combinations of a standard set of policy instruments, including public transport infrastructure, frequency and fares, road capacity increases, low cost road pricing and parking charges. The optimisation method is described, and results presented. The reactions of city authorities to the proposed strategies are discussed and implications for transport policy outlined.     

Virtual Garden Computer Program for use in Exploring the Elements of Biodiversity People Want in Cities

Urban ecology is emerging as an integrative science that explores the interactions of people and biodiversity in cities. Interdisciplinary research requires the creation of new tools that allow the investigation of relations between people and biodiversity. It has been established that access to green spaces or nature benefits city dwellers, but the role of species diversity in providing psychological benefits remains poorly studied. We developed a user‐friendly 3‐dimensional computer program (Virtual Garden [ www.tinyurl.com/3DVirtualGarden ]) that allows people to design their own public or private green spaces with 95 biotic and abiotic features. Virtual Garden allows researchers to explore what elements of biodiversity people would like to have in their nearby green spaces while accounting for other functions that people value in urban green spaces. In 2011, 732 participants used our Virtual Garden program to design their ideal small public garden. On average gardens contained 5 different animals, 8 flowers, and 5 woody plant species. Although the mathematical distribution of flower and woody plant richness (i.e., number of species per garden) appeared to be similar to what would be expected by random selection of features, 30% of participants did not place any animal species in their gardens. Among those who placed animals in their gardens, 94% selected colorful species (e.g., ladybug [Coccinella septempunctata], Great Tit [Parus major], and goldfish), 53% selected herptiles or large mammals, and 67% selected non‐native species. Older participants with a higher level of education and participants with a greater concern for nature designed gardens with relatively higher species richness and more native species. If cities are to be planned for the mutual benefit of people and biodiversity and to provide people meaningful experiences with urban nature, it is important to investigate people's relations with biodiversity further. Virtual Garden offers a standardized tool with which to explore these relations in different environments, cultures, and countries. It can also be used by stakeholders (e.g., city planners) to consider people's opinions of local design. Programa de Computadora de Jardín Virtual para Uso en la Exploración de los Elementos de Biodiversidad que la Gente Desea en las Ciudades     

Permeability of Roads to Movement of Scrubland Lizards and Small Mammals

A primary objective of road ecology is to understand and predict how roads affect connectivity of wildlife populations. Road avoidance behavior can fragment populations, whereas lack of road avoidance can result in high mortality due to wildlife‐vehicle collisions. Many small animal species focus their activities to particular microhabitats within their larger habitat. We sought to assess how different types of roads affect the movement of small vertebrates and to explore whether responses to roads may be predictable on the basis of animal life history or microhabitat preferences preferences. We tracked the movements of fluorescently marked animals at 24 sites distributed among 3 road types: low‐use dirt, low‐use secondary paved, and rural 2‐lane highway. Most data we collected were on the San Diego pocket mouse (Chaetodipus fallax), cactus mouse (Peromyscus eremicus), western fence lizard (Sceloporus occidentalis), orange‐throated whiptail (Aspidoscelis hyperythra), Dulzura kangaroo rat (Dipodomys simulans) (dirt, secondary paved), and deer mouse (Peromyscus maniculatus) (highway only). San Diego pocket mice and cactus mice moved onto dirt roads but not onto a low‐use paved road of similar width or onto the highway, indicating they avoid paved road substrate. Both lizard species moved onto the dirt and secondary paved roads but avoided the rural 2‐lane rural highway, indicating they may avoid noise, vibration, or visual disturbance from a steady flow of traffic. Kangaroo rats did not avoid the dirt or secondary paved roads. Overall, dirt and secondary roads were more permeable to species that prefer to forage or bask in open areas of their habitat, rather than under the cover of rocks or shrubs. However, all study species avoided the rural 2‐lane highway. Our results suggest that microhabitat use preferences and road substrate help predict species responses to low‐use roads, but roads with heavy traffic may deter movement of a much wider range of small animal species.     

Assessment of metal contamination in soil banks of the Rhumel wadi (Northeast Algeria)

Levels of six trace metals were assessed in bank soils of the Rhumel wadi (Northeast Algeria) and their association with soil properties was investigated. Samples were collected at 10 sites. The soils are neutral to moderately alkaline, have high contents of carbonate, and are low in organic carbon and clay. Mean metal concentrations are 1.1 (Cd), 63 (Cr), 20 (Cu), 26 (Ni), 31 (Pb), and 98 (Zn) mg kg^?1. The Cd, Cu, Pb, and Zn contents in soil from sites closest to Constantine City were higher than in uncontaminated soils worldwide, indicating accumulation due to human activities (residential, industrial, and agricultural). Statistical analyses (correlation and principal component analysis) demonstrated that Cd, Pb, and Zn are of anthropogenic origin in the urban areas, whereas Cr and Cu enrichment in some situations is caused by industrial activities, while Ni was geogenic.     

Integrated environmental assessment: an urban perspective

１　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＵｒｂａｎａｒｅａｓｔｈｒｏｕｇｈｏｕｔｔｈｅｗｏｒｌｄａｒｅｉｎｃｒｅａｓｉｎｇｌｙａｆｏｃｕｓｏｆｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｃｏｎｃｅｒｎ．Ｔｈｅｙａｒｅｐｌａｃｅｓｏｆｉｎｔｅｎｓｅａｎｄｇｒｏｗｉｎｇｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃａｃｔｉｖｉｔｙ．Ｉｎｒｅｓｐｏｎｓｅ，ｕｒｂａｎｐｏｐｕｌａｔｉｏｎｓａｒｅｇｒｏｗｉｎｇｒａｐｉｄｌｙ．Ｉｔｉｓｅｓｔｉｍａｔｅｄｔｈａｔ，ｂｙ２０００，ｍｏｒｅｔｈａｎｈａｌｆｔｈｅｗｏｒｌｄ○ｓｐｏｐｕｌａｔｉｏｎｗｉｌｌｌｉｖｅｉｎｔｏｗ…     

Integrated assessment of urban environment in China

１　ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＩｎｔｅｇｒａｔｅｄｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌａｓｓｅｓｓｍｅｎｔ（ＩＥＡ）ｉｓａｆｕｎｄａｍｅｎｔａｌｍｅａｎｓｆｏｒｃｏｍｐｒｅｈｅｎｓｉｖｅｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｍａｎａｇｅｍｅｎｔａｎｄｆｏｒｃｏｏｒｄｉｎａｔｉｎｇｔｈｅｒｅｌａｔｉｏｎｓｈｉｐｂｅｔｗｅｅｎｅｃｏｎｏｍｉｃｄｅｖｅｌｏｐｍｅｎｔａｎｄｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｐｒｏｔｅｃｔｉｏｎ．ＩＥＡａｉｍｓｔｏｉｄｅｎｔｉｆｙｔｈｅｍａｉｎｅｎｖｉｒｏｎｍｅｎｔａｌｐｒｏｂｌｅｍｓｉｎａｒｅｇｉｏｎ…     

The common language of space: a way of looking at the social,economic and environmental functioning of cities on a common basis

１　ＳｏｍｅｑｕｅｓｔｉｏｎｓａｎｄａｎｓｗｅｒｓａｂｏｕｔｃｏｍｐｌｅｘｉｔｙＴｈｅｆｉｒｓｔｓｅｎｔｅｎｃｅｉｎａｎｙｄｉｓｃｕｓｓｉｏｎａｂｏｕｔｔｈｅｓｃｉｅｎｃｅｏｆｃｉｔｉｅｓｕｓｕａｌｌｙｃｏｎｔａｉｎｓｔｈｅｗｏｒｄ“ｃｏｍｐｌｅｘｉｔｙ”．Ｏｎｅｏｆｔｈｅｍｏｓｔｏｂｖｉｏｕｓｆｏｒｍｓｔｈｉｓｔａｋｅｓｉｓｔｈｅｓｈｅｅｒｐｈｙｓｉｃａｌａｎｄｓｐａｔｉａｌｃｏｍｐｌｅｘｉｔｙｏｆｔｈｅｃｉｔｙａｓａｎｏｂｊｅｃｔ．Ｔｈｅｒｅｉｓ,ｈｏｗｅｖｅｒ,ｉｎｍｏｓｔｕｒｂａｎｒｅｓ…     

Random walk modeling of wake dispersion for the exhaust tower of an underground tunnel in urban area

ＩｎｔｒｏｄｕｃｔｉｏｎＲｅｃｅｎｔｌｙ，ｓｏｍｅｉｎｓｔａｌｌａｔｉｏｎｓｗｉｔｈｓｐｅｃｉａｌｃｏｎｓｔｒｕｃｔｉｏｎｆｏｒｅｘｔｒａｃｔｉｎｇｃｏｎｔａｍｉｎａｎｔｇａｓ，ｓｕｃｈａｓａｎｅｘｈａｕｓｔｔｏｗｅｒｏｆｔｈｅｕｎｄｅｒｇｒｏｕｎｄｔｕｎｎｅｌ，ｅｔｃ．ｗｅｒｅｓｅｔｕｐｉｎｕｒｂａｎａｎｄｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｉａｌｃｏｍｐｌｅｘａｒｅａｓ．Ｔｈｅｅｆｆｅｃｔｓｏｆｔｈｅｓｅｃｏｎｓｔｒｕｃｔｉｏｎｓｏｎｔｈｅｆｌｏｗａｎｄｔｈｅｒｅｂｙｏｎｔｈｅｌｏｃａｌｄｉｓｐｅｒｓｉｏｎｏｆｔ…     

探索环境影响变迁的新途径─—混沌分析

论述了混沌现象与基本特征，提出把混沌分析方法引入环境科学中，探索环境现象变化的新途径。重点简述混沌现象在环境影响的变迁的实例，环境混沌系统控制的基本思路和混沌分析相空间预测方法。     

城市土地利用下的植物物种资源特征分析

根据对前联邦德国卡尔斯鲁厄市城市自生植被的调查资料,分析了城市植物区系的特征及其与人类活动影响的关系。结论为：①城市植物区系在优势科组成和生态特征方面与其所在地区自然植被明显不同,并在城市之间表现出较大的相似性；②人类活动和城市热岛效应对城市植物区系及其生态特征的作用明显；③城市土地利用和城市绿地管理对许多物种的生存构成威胁