Urban sharing in smart cities: the cases of Berlin and London

ABSTRACT

Addressing urban sustainability challenges requires changes in the way systems of provision and services are designed, organised and delivered. In this context, two promising phenomena have gained interest from the academia, the public sector and the media: “smart cities” and “urban sharing”. Smart cities rely on the extensive use of information and communications technology (ICT) to increase efficiencies in urban areas, while urban sharing builds on the collaborative use of idling resources enabled by ICT in densely populated cities. The concepts have many similar features and share common goals, yet cities with smart city agendas often fail to take a stance on urban sharing. Thus, its potentials are going largely unnoticed by local governments. This article addresses this issue by exploring cases of London and Berlin – two ICT-dense cities with clearly articulated smart city agendas and an abundance of sharing platforms. Drawing on urban governance literature, we develop a conceptual framework that specifies the roles that cities assume when governing urban sharing: city as regulator, city as provider, city as enabler and city as consumer. We find that both cities indirectly support urban sharing through smart agenda programmes, which aim to facilitate ICT-enabled technical innovation and emergence of start-ups. However, programmes, strategies, support schemes and regulations aimed directly at urban sharing initiatives are few. We also find that Berlin is sceptical towards urban sharing organisations, while London took more of a collaborative approach. Implications for policy-makers are discussed in the end.     

Comparing urban air quality in Europe in real time a review of existing air quality indices and the proposal of a common alternative

The EU directives on air quality force member states to inform the public on the status of the ambient air quality. The Internet is commonly used for this purpose and often air quality is being presented as an index ranging from good to bad. A review of existing websites and air quality indices shows that the way air quality is interpreted differs considerably. The paper presents a new air quality index. The index is part of a project to develop a website dedicated to comparing air quality in European cities. The common air quality index (CAQI) is not aimed at replacing existing local indices. The CAQI is a set of two indices: one for roadside monitoring sites and one for average city background conditions. Differentiating between roadside and general city conditions is a first step in assuring consistence in the parameters that are being compared.     

城乡结合部垃圾疏散职能的重塑

从生态系统的角度阐述了城市与乡村的物质能量流动关系,指出我国城市生活垃圾产业化进程中,关键的问题是重塑城乡结合部的垃圾疏散职能。通过设计城乡结合部生活垃圾处理系统,重塑了城乡结合部的垃圾疏散职能。     

An analysis of the causes and circumstances of flood disaster deaths

The objective of this paper is to investigate and to improve understanding of the causes and circumstances of flood disaster deaths. A standardised method of classifying flood deaths is proposed and the difficulties associated with comparing and assessing existing information on flood deaths are discussed. Thirteen flood cases from Europe and the United States, resulting in 247 flood disaster fatalities, were analysed and taken as indicative of flood disaster deaths. Approximately two-thirds of the deaths occurred through drowning. Thus, a substantial number of flood disaster fatalities are not related to drowning. Furthermore, males are highly vulnerable to dying in floods and unnecessary risk-taking behaviour contributes significantly to flood disaster deaths. Based on these results, recommendations are made to prevent loss of life in floods. To provide a more solid basis for the formulation of prevention strategies, better systematic recording of flood fatalities is suggested, especially those caused by different types of floods in all countries.     

Influence of combustion-originated dioxins in atmospheric deposition on water quality of an urban river in Japan

Bulk (wet and dry) deposition samples were collected in Saitama Prefecture, Japan throughout a year (February 8, 2012 to February 7, 2013) to estimate the influence of dioxins emitting from waste incinerators on river water quality. The annual deposition flux of dioxins was 3.3 ng-toxic equivalent (TEQ)/m²/year. Source identification using indicative congeners estimated that 82% of dioxin TEQ in the bulk deposition (2.7 ng-TEQ/m²/year) was combustion-originated, indicating that most of the dioxins in the deposition were derived from waste incinerators. In Saitama prefecture the annual flux of combustion-originated dioxins in depositions was apparently consistent with that of dioxin emission into the air from waste incinerators. The TEQ of combustion-originated dioxins in the deposition per rainfall was 2.4 pg-TEQ/L on annual average, exceeding the environmental quality standard (EQS) for water in Japan of 1 pg-TEQ/L. This suggests there is a possibility that dioxins in atmospheric deposition have a significant influence on the water quality of urban rivers which rainwater directly flows into because of many paved areas in the basins. The influence of combustion-originated dioxin in the deposition on the water quality of Ayase River, an urban river heavily polluted with dioxins, was estimated at 0.29 pg-TEQ/L on annual average in 2015. It seems that dioxins in atmospheric deposition from waste incinerators have a significant influence on water quality of some urban rivers via rainwater though the dioxins in the ambient air have achieved the EQS for atmosphere at all monitoring sites in Japan.     

Assessment of column aerosol optical properties using ground-based sun-photometer at urban Harbin, Northeast China

Aerosol plays a key role in determining radiative balance, regional climate and human health. Severe air pollution over Northeast China in recent years urges more comprehensive studies to figure out the adverse effects caused by excessive aerosols. In this study, column aerosol measurements over urban Harbin, a metropolis located at the highest latitude in Northeast China, during May 2016 to March 2017 were conducted using a CIMEL sun-photometer to analyze local aerosol properties and its variation from different aspects. According to the observations, aerosol optical depth at 440 nm (AOD₄₄₀) ranges from 0.07 up to 1.54, and the large variability in both AOD₄₄₀ and Angstrom Exponent (AE_440–870) indicates the frequent change of aerosol types due of different emission sources. Coarse mode particles dominated Harbin during the studying period because of the long-range transported dust and probably the suspended snow crystals in winter. As the wavelength increases, relatively consistent decrease trends of single scattering albedo (SSA) and asymmetry factor (ASY) were observed in spring, autumn, and winter, indicating the presence of absorbing polluted aerosols. Mixed type (MIX) aerosol dominated the study region with a total percentage of 34%, and biomass burning and urban industry (BB/UI), clean continental (CC), and desert dust (DD) aerosols were found to be 31%, 27%, and 8%, respectively. The current work fills up the optical characteristics of aerosols in Harbin, and will contribute to the in-depth understanding of local aerosol variation and regional climate change over Northeast China.     

京津冀城市群环境规制强度与城镇化质量的协调性分析

城镇化与生态环境之间存在复杂的非线性耦合关系,而环境规制作为人类对环境的主动调节行为,能够对城镇化与生态环境间的协调关系产生积极影响。论文以京津冀城市群13个地级以上城市为例,以成本-效益理论和效率-水平理论为基础,分别构建环境规制强度和城镇化质量评价指标体系,结果发现：京津冀城市群环境规制强度和城镇化质量在时空格局上呈现高度吻合,两者均以京津为双峰值点,并向南北两翼梯度递减。之后,采用象限图分类识别方法对京津冀城市群环境规制强度和城镇化质量协调类型进行划分,从而判断两者协调性状况及时空演变特征,结论如下：1）京津冀城市群环境规制在一定程度上促进了城镇化质量的提升,两者相关系数为0.82,但环境规制强度和城镇化质量不协调状态同样显著,两者基本协调的样本数仅占样本总数的13%,说明正处于初级协同阶段;2）京津冀城市群环境规制强度和城镇化质量整体水平偏低,达到高水平的城市仅有北京市和天津市,但两者整体水平增强态势显著,石家庄市、唐山市等次级中心城市,以及秦皇岛市、沧州市等经济较发达城市已由低水平步入中等水平;3）京津冀城市群环境规制强度和城镇化质量协调性呈现圈层状空间格局,主要分为核心圈层、中间圈层和外围圈层3个圈层,且核心圈层协调性优于中间圈层,再优于外围圈层。     

网络系统最佳震灾对策研究：以古交市供水系统为例

以古交市供水管网系统为例,运用网络分析法分析现有网络系统的可靠性,并提出改进措施,为古交市的供水系统提供最佳震灾对策．     

我国水灾的基本特征及成因分析

本文研究了我国水灾的基本特征,分析了水灾形成的主要原因,提出了防御洪灾的措施。     

Impact of urbanisation on soil characteristics

Six forest locations were chosen from urban (U) and semi-urban (SU) zones of Sofia, Bulgaria. Soil profiles characterised for their generic physico-chemical properties: particle size distribution, pH, C-content (%) and N-content (%). From the ratio silt/clay and C/N, significant differences were observed for the Ah horizon in the urban and semi-urban locations. Clay formation appeared to be reduced in this horizon in the urban soils and the C-content is higher in semi-urban soils in comparison with the urban soils. On the base of the results obtained, a reduction of the buffering capability is noted for the topsoil of the urban sites compared to the semi-urban sites.