Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Usine urbaine'

Dans la seconde moitié du XIXè siècle, la banlieue parisienne a été touchée par un brutal développement de l'industrie. Sous une forte pression démographique, le proche quart Nord-Est s'est urbanisé, hors des structures d'aménagement ou d'organisation du territoire. Nombre d'industries pratiquaient des activités dites classées, relevant de la réglementation instituée le 15 octobre 1810. Ce régime légal, en vigueur pendant plus de 150 ans, a été mis en oeuvre d'une manière très spécifique dans le département de la Seine. L'Etat et les autorités préfectorales l'utilisèrent afin dé́vacuer fonctions insalubres ou encombrantes de la capitale. Les ambitions de la ville se réalisèrent au détriment de sa périphérie, notamment de Saint-Denis, Aubervilliers, Saint-Ouen et Pantin. L'arrivée massive d'usines insalubres a bouleversé les espaces du quart Nord-Est. A partir de 1880, la banlieue a protesté contre cette situation. Sa détermination s'accompgna de la prise de conscience de son identité
In the second half of the 19th century, the inner parisian suburb has been touched by a brutal development of industry. Under the weight of a strong demographic pressure, the inner north-east outskirt got violently urbanized, without physical planing or territorial organization. A large part of suburbanite industries produced classified goods coming under regulation established by the 15th october 1810 decree. This regulation has been enforcing for more than hundred fifty years. This regulation has been implemented in a specific way in the department of Seine. State and departmental authorities used it in order to discharge insalubrius activities and undesirable productions out of the capital. Prestigious parisian ambitions came true to the detriment of inner suburb. The north-east quarter received all kinds of productions needed by Paris and saw it landscape changing gradually. The inner suburb has been reacting to the situation little by little and denouncing it since 1880

La demande de biens manufacturés ne cesse de croitre en zones urbaines, en particulier en raison de l'évolution rapide et continue de la population urbaine. Mais aujourd’hui, la plupart des usines se situent hors des zones urbaines, voire hors de nos frontières, entrainant des problématiques de transport et limitant la circularité des biens. Dans ce contexte, le concept d'usines urbaines a été introduit en 2016. Il propose un modèle d'usine située à l'intérieur des zones urbaines qui exploite les ressources et les parties prenantes locales pour créer de la valeur de manière soutenable.Cette thèse vise à proposer une méthode pour améliorer la soutenabilité des usines urbaines.Pour cela, nous avons tout d’abord proposé une méthode de caractérisation des usines urbaine au travers d’une revue systématique de la littérature et d’études de cas, que nous avons confronté à un modèle de chaîne de valeur. Des variables clés ont été identifiées et utilisées pour caractériser les modèles d’usines urbaines soutenables. La méthode de caractérisation a été testée dans la zone urbaine de Grenoble en considérant 46 usines urbaines. Une analyse en composantes principales des variables a ainsi permis de dégager 16 profils d’usines urbaines à Grenoble.Nous avons ensuite proposé une base de données de bonnes pratiques, afin d’amener à des solutions d’usines urbaines qui pourront mieux valoriser les déchets urbains au travers de stratégies circulaires. Nous avons ainsi proposé une méthode de conception pour la circularité basée sur les principes de la conception systémique, et couvrant diverses stratégies circulaires. Des ateliers ont été mis en place pour tester la méthode de conception. Un cas d’étude sur une usine urbaine à Grenoble a été présentée dans cette thèse pour illustrer la contribution de la méthode à améliorer sa soutenabilité.Afin de valoriser cette démarche et de diffuser le concept d’usine urbaine soutenable, nous avons mis en place un jeu de rôle que nous avons testé avec des élèves ingénieurs
The demand for manufactured goods continues to grow in urban areas, particularly due to the rapid and continuous evolution of the urban population. However, today, most factories are located outside urban areas, and sometimes even beyond national borders, leading to transportation issues and limiting the circularity of goods. In this context, the concept of urban factories was introduced in 2016. It proposes a model of factories located inside urban areas that leverage local resources and stakeholders to create value in a sustainable way.This thesis aims to propose a method to improve the sustainability of urban factories.To achieve this, we first proposed a characterization method for urban factories through a systematic literature review and case studies, which we confronted with a value chain model. Key variables were identified and used to characterize sustainable urban factory models. The characterization method was tested in the urban area of Grenoble, with the participation of 46 urban factories. Principal component analysis of the variables revealed 16 profiles of urban factories in Grenoble.We then proposed a database of best practices to lead to solutions for urban factories that can better valorize urban waste through circular strategies. We introduced a circularity design method based on the principles of systemic design, that covers various circular strategies. Workshops were conducted to test the design method. A case study on an urban factory in Grenoble was presented in this thesis to illustrate the contribution of the method to improving its sustainability.To promote this approach and disseminate the concept of sustainable urban factories, we implemented a roleplay approach that was tested with engineering students

La rénovation urbaine de Pointe-à-Pitre (1961-1981) fut l'une des plus vastes jamais menée en France entre 1961 et 1981 et la première programmée en outre-mer. Elle avait pour but de répondre à la crise du logement et de réhabiliter des quartiers de cases insalubres qui s'étaient étendus de façon non maîtrisée sur des marécages situés autour de la ville. Cette rénovation urbaine ne fut pas simplement une opération d'aménagement car elle servit de front pionnier et de laboratoire aux acteurs de la composition urbaine en outre-mer par la mise en place d'organismes publics à qui l'État confia une compétence fonctionnelle pour aménager le territoire. A cette occasion furent introduits en Guadeloupe, une nouvelle architecture et un nouvel urbanisme retlet de la modernité
Urban renewal of Pointe-à-Pitre (1961-1981) was one of the 1argcstever conducted in France during the years (1961- . 1981) and the fust programmed overseas territories. 1'0 respond to the housing crisis and renovate parts of unhealthy ceUsthat had spread in an uncontroUed manner on wetlands located around the city it was intended to. Urban renewal was not simply a development operations because it served as a frontier laboratory and the actors of the urban composition overseas by sctting up public bodies to which the State gave a functional competence develop the territory. On this occasion were introduced in Guadeloupe, a new architecture and new urbanism reflection of modernity

L’incinération des ordures ménagères est un problème d'actualité. Elle s'effectue dans des usines spécialisées (UIOM) capables de réceptionner de nombreux camions qui déversent des déchets dans une fosse avant leur incinération dans des fours. Le pontier est l'ouvrier chargé d'organiser l'accueil des camions ainsi que l'alimentation des fours. Le but de cette thèse est l'étude de l'automatisation d'un tel poste. Nous nous sommes intéressés aux différents problèmes scientifiques que pose une telle réalisation, notamment le système de perception d'un tel automate. Dans ce mémoire, nous abordons trois points importants et innovants qui ont en commun d'avoir trait à la vision par ordinateur. La cartographie d'une fosse UIOM avec des contraintes de volume et de temps d'obtention, la surveillance des trémies de fours via un écran relié à une camera de surveillance, l'estimation du pouvoir calorifique des déchets présents dans la fosse par analyse de texture

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O trabalho aborda as implicações socioeconômicas no espaço urbano do município de Barreiros, Pernambuco, a partir da atividade sucroalcooleira desenvolvida pela sua principal indústria, a Usina Central Barreiros, considerando tanto seu período de funcionamento quanto os anos posteriores ao seu fechamento. A pesquisa caracteriza-se como um estudo de caso baseado no método materialista dialético sendo realizada a partir da análise de dados obtidos por meio de documentação indireta através de pesquisa documental em leis e da pesquisa bibliográfica em livros, artigos, periódicos, monografias, dissertações, teses, documentos e sites oficiais de órgãos governamentais, assim como a partir da análise baseada em documentação direta obtida em visita ao município e por meio da realização de entrevistas com os moradores da zona urbana. Como resultado constata-se que a atividade açucareira durante grande parte do século XX mostrou-se de extrema importância para o ritmo econômico e social de Barreiros sendo responsável, contraditoriamente, pelas mais importantes transformações e permanências observadas no espaço urbano e na vida de seus habitantes. Conclui-se que a atividade imprimiu significativas mudanças no espaço urbano municipal, sobretudo no âmbito das edificações e no cotidiano de seus habitantes influenciando diretamente tanto a qualidade quanto o ritmo de vida destes. Com o encerramento das atividades da indústria sucroalcooleira associada a demais alterações relacionadas ao contexto estadual e mesmo nacional o município vem apresentando no espaço urbano importante modificação em sua estrutura socioeconômica.

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Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)
Para atender a demanda energética de um país em desenvolvimento como o Brasil, considerando a sua diversidade regional, uma das alternativas é implantar várias usinas hidrelétricas de médio e grande porte para a produção de energia limpa e renovável. A implantação da usina de Itaipu foi necessária para cobrir o déficit de produção de energia no país. Porém a implantação e a operação da usina causam significativos impactos de natureza socioambiental. Na década de 70, o município de Foz do Iguaçu não estava preparado para receber a massa trabalhadora para a construção da usina. Sem infraestrutura e planejamento urbano, Foz do Iguaçu foi extremamente impactada com o elevado crescimento demográfico e alto índice de urbanização. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivos realizar levantamento histórico da implantação da usina hidrelétrica de Itaipu, avaliar a formação da cidade com base na dinâmica populacional e avaliar a expansão da malha urbana, considerando o período de 1960 a 2007. Durante o período de 1960 a 2007, o município de Foz do Iguaçu passou por grandes transformações tais como: redução da área territorial em 14,91 %, crescimento populacional na ordem de 920,12 % e crescimento da malha urbana 10.520,00 %. Por outro lado o município recebeu da Itaipu compensações financeiras na ordem de US$ 190,54 milhões Em face dos atuais problemas que o município vem enfrentando na área social, como favelização crescente, elevados índices de violência e déficit de moradia e alto índice de desemprego. Impactos socioambientais podem ser minimizados se aplicado ferramentas adequadas de gestão publica nos municípios situados na área do entorno do reservatório
To reach the energy demands of a developing country, an alternative is to implant several large production hydroelectric plants for the production of clean and renewable energy, such as Itaipu hydroelectric plant. The construction of this plant caused significant environmental and social impacts in the Western region of Paraná State, mainly in the Foz do Iguazu County. In the 1970’s, the city was not prepared to receive the large numbers of workers for the plant’s construction, which arrive in Foz do Iguazu from different regions of Brazil. Without infrastructure and urban planning, the town of Foz do Iguazu was highly impacted due to the elevated population growth and the high rate of urbanization. Therefore, this thesis has as main goals to undertake a historical survey of implementation of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, to analyze the population growth and the expansion of the urban area of the Foz do Iguazu town considering the period between 1960 and 2007. During this period, Foz do Iguazu County has suffered several changes such as: reduction of its surface area of 14,91%, population growth of 920,12% and growth of urban area of 10.520,00 %. On the other hand, the county has received financial compensation in the order of US$ 263 million. Despite receiving these funds, the county has been facing problems in the social area, such as growing slums, high levels of violence, large housing deficit and high unemployment rate. Social impacts can be minimized if applied appropriate tools for managing public administration in the counties situated around the reservoir

Orientador: Silvio Jorge Coelho Simões
Coorientador: Isabel Cristina de Barros Trannin
Banca: Pedro Magalhães Sobrinho
Banca: Luiz Roberto Carrocci
Banca: Sueli Yoshinaga Pereira
Banca: Marcelo dos Santos Targa
Resumo: Para atender a demanda energética de um país em desenvolvimento como o Brasil, considerando a sua diversidade regional, uma das alternativas é implantar várias usinas hidrelétricas de médio e grande porte para a produção de energia limpa e renovável. A implantação da usina de Itaipu foi necessária para cobrir o déficit de produção de energia no país. Porém a implantação e a operação da usina causam significativos impactos de natureza socioambiental. Na década de 70, o município de Foz do Iguaçu não estava preparado para receber a massa trabalhadora para a construção da usina. Sem infraestrutura e planejamento urbano, Foz do Iguaçu foi extremamente impactada com o elevado crescimento demográfico e alto índice de urbanização. Neste contexto, este trabalho tem como objetivos realizar levantamento histórico da implantação da usina hidrelétrica de Itaipu, avaliar a formação da cidade com base na dinâmica populacional e avaliar a expansão da malha urbana, considerando o período de 1960 a 2007. Durante o período de 1960 a 2007, o município de Foz do Iguaçu passou por grandes transformações tais como: redução da área territorial em 14,91 %, crescimento populacional na ordem de 920,12 % e crescimento da malha urbana 10.520,00 %. Por outro lado o município recebeu da Itaipu compensações financeiras na ordem de US$ 190,54 milhões Em face dos atuais problemas que o município vem enfrentando na área social, como favelização crescente, elevados índices de violência e déficit de moradia e alto índice de desemprego. Impactos socioambientais podem ser minimizados se aplicado ferramentas adequadas de gestão publica nos municípios situados na área do entorno do reservatório
Abstract: To reach the energy demands of a developing country, an alternative is to implant several large production hydroelectric plants for the production of clean and renewable energy, such as Itaipu hydroelectric plant. The construction of this plant caused significant environmental and social impacts in the Western region of Paraná State, mainly in the Foz do Iguazu County. In the 1970's, the city was not prepared to receive the large numbers of workers for the plant's construction, which arrive in Foz do Iguazu from different regions of Brazil. Without infrastructure and urban planning, the town of Foz do Iguazu was highly impacted due to the elevated population growth and the high rate of urbanization. Therefore, this thesis has as main goals to undertake a historical survey of implementation of the Itaipu hydroelectric plant, to analyze the population growth and the expansion of the urban area of the Foz do Iguazu town considering the period between 1960 and 2007. During this period, Foz do Iguazu County has suffered several changes such as: reduction of its surface area of 14,91%, population growth of 920,12% and growth of urban area of 10.520,00 %. On the other hand, the county has received financial compensation in the order of US$ 263 million. Despite receiving these funds, the county has been facing problems in the social area, such as growing slums, high levels of violence, large housing deficit and high unemployment rate. Social impacts can be minimized if applied appropriate tools for managing public administration in the counties situated around the reservoir
Doutor

L’urbanisation croissante fait émerger des enjeux sociétaux et environnementaux relatifs à la pollution atmosphérique et au microclimat urbain. La compréhension des phénomènes physiques de transport de quantité de mouvement, de chaleur et de masse entre la canopée urbaine et la couche limite atmosphérique est primordiale pour évaluer et anticiper les impacts négatifs de l’urbanisation. Les processus turbulents spécifiques à la couche limite urbaine sont étudiés par une approche de simulation des grandes échelles, dans une configuration urbaine représentée par un arrangement de cubes en quinconce. Le modèle de sous-maille de type Smagorinsky dynamique est implémenté pour mieux prendre en compte l’hétérogénéité de l’écoulement et les retours d’énergie des petites vers les grandes structures. Le nombre de Reynolds basé sur la hauteur du domaine et la vitesse de l’écoulement libre est de 50000. L’écoulement est résolu dans les sous-couches visqueuses et le maillage est raffiné dans la canopée. Le domaine est composé de 28 millions de cellules. Les résultats sont comparés à la littérature et aux données récentes obtenues dans la soufflerie du LHEEA. Chaque contribution au bilan d’énergie cinétique turbulente est calculée directement en tout point. Cette information, rare dans la littérature, permet d’étudier les processus dans la sous couche rugueuse. Grâce à ces résultats 3D, l’organisation complexe de l’écoulement moyen (recirculations, vorticité, points singuliers) est analysée en relation avec la production de turbulence. Enfin, une simulation où les obstacles sont remplacés par une force de traînée équivalente est réalisée à des fins d’évaluation de cette approche
The rapid development of urbanization raises social and environmental challenges related to air pollution and urban climate. Understanding the physical processes of momentum, heat, and mass exchanges between the urban canopy and the atmospheric boundary-layer is a key to assess,predict and prevent negative impacts of urbanization. The turbulent processes occurring in the urban boundary-layer are investigated using computational fluid dynamics (CFD). The unsteady flow over an urban-like canopy modelled by a staggered arrangement of cubes is simulated using large eddy simulation (LES). Considering the highspatial and temporal in homogeneity of the flow, a dynamic Smagorinsky subgrid-scale model is implemented in the code to allow energyback scatter from small to large scales. The Reynolds number based on the domain height and free-stream velocity is 50000. The near-wall viscous sub-layers are resolved and the grid is refined in the canopy resulting in about 28 million grid cells. LES results are assessed by comparison with literature and data recently acquired in the wind tunnel of the LHEEA. The turbulent kinetic energy budget in which all contributions are independently computed is investigated. These rarely available data are used to analyse the turbulent processes in the urban canopy. By taking advantage of the three-dimensionality of the simulated flow, the complex 3D time-averaged organization of the flow (recirculation, vorticesor singular points) is analyzed in relation with production of turbulence. Finally a drag approach where obstacles are replaced by an equivalent drag force is implemented in the same domain and results are compared to obstacle-resolved data

Cette thèse de doctorat s’intéresse au suivi de trajectoire basé sur la perception visuelle et la localisation en milieu urbain. L'approche proposée comprend deux systèmes. Le premier concerne la perception de l'environnement. Cette tâche est effectuée en utilisant des techniques d'apprentissage profond pour extraire automatiquement les caractéristiques visuelles 2D et utiliser ces derniers pour apprendre à distinguer les différents objets dans les scénarios de conduite. Trois techniques d'apprentissage approfondi sont adoptées : la segmentation sémantique pour assigner chaque pixel d’une image à une classe, la segmentation d'instance pour identifier les instances séparées de la même classe et la classification d'image pour reconnaître davantage les étiquettes spécifiques des instances. Ici, notre système considère 15 classes d'objets et reconnaît les panneaux de signalisation. Le deuxième système fait référence au suivi de chemin numérisé. Dans un premier temps, le véhicule équipé enregistre d'abord l'itinéraire avec un système de vision stéréo et un récepteur GPS (étape d'apprentissage ou numérisation du chemin). Ensuite, le système proposé analyse hors ligne la trajectoire GPS et identifie exactement les emplacements des courbes dangereuses (brusques) et les limitation de vitesse via les données visuelles. Enfin, une fois que le véhicule est capable de se localiser lui-même durant la phase de suivi de chemin, le module de contrôle du véhicule piloté avec notre algorithme de négociation de vitesse, prend en compte les informations extraites et calcule la vitesse idéale à exécuter. Grâce aux résultats expérimentaux des deux systèmes, nous prouvons que le premier est capable de détecter et de reconnaître précisément les objets d'intérêt dans les scénarios urbains, tandis que le suivi de trajectoire réduit significativement les erreurs latérales entre le trajet appris et le trajet parcouru. Nous soutenons que la fusion des deux systèmes améliorera le suivi de chemin pour prévenir les accidents ou assurer la conduite autonome
This PhD thesis focuses on developing a path tracking approach based on visual perception and localization in urban environments. The proposed approach comprises two systems. The first one concerns environment perception. This task is carried out using deep learning techniques to automatically extract 2D visual features and use them to learn in order to distinguish the different objects in the driving scenarios. Three deep learning techniques are adopted: semantic segmentation to assign each image pixel to a class, instance segmentation to identify separated instances of the same class and, image classification to further recognize the specific labels of the instances. Here our system segments 15 object classes and performs traffic sign recognition. The second system refers to path tracking. In order to follow a path, the equipped vehicle first travels and records the route with a stereo vision system and a GPS receiver (learning step). The proposed system analyses off-line the GPS path and identifies exactly the locations of dangerous (sharp) curves and speed limits. Later after the vehicle is able to localize itself, the vehicle control module together with our speed negotiation algorithm, takes into account the information extracted and computes the ideal speed to execute. Through experimental results of both systems, we prove that, the first one is capable to detect and recognize precisely objects of interest in urban scenarios, while the path tracking one reduces significantly the lateral errors between the learned and traveled path. We argue that the fusion of both systems will ameliorate the tracking approach for preventing accidents or implementing autonomous driving

Nous étudions dans cette thèse le problème de reconstruction 3D multi-vue à partir d’une séquence d’images au sol acquises dans des environnements urbains ainsi que la prise en compte d’a priori permettant la préservation de la structure sous-jacente de la géométrie 3D observée, ainsi que le passage à l’échelle de tels processus de reconstruction qui est intrinsèquement délicat dans le contexte de l’imagerie urbaine. Bien que ces deux axes aient été traités de manière extensive dans la littérature, les méthodes de reconstruction 3D structurée souffrent d’une complexité en temps de calculs restreignant significativement leur intérêt. D’autre part, les approches de reconstruction 3D large échelle produisent généralement une géométrie simplifiée, perdant ainsi des éléments de structures qui sont importants dans le contexte urbain. L’objectif de cette thèse est de concilier les avantages des approches de reconstruction 3D structurée à celles des méthodes rapides produisant une géométrie simplifiée. Pour ce faire, nous présentons “Patchwork Stereo”, un framework qui combine stéréoscopie photométrique utilisant une poignée d’images issues de points de vue éloignés, et un nuage de point épars. Notre méthode intègre une analyse simultanée 2D-3D réalisant une extraction robuste de plans 3D ainsi qu’une segmentation d’images top-down structurée et repose sur une optimisation par champs de Markov aléatoires. Les contributions présentées sont évaluées via des expériences quantitatives et qualitatives sur des données d’imagerie urbaine complexes illustrant des performances tant quant à la fidélité structurelle des reconstructions 3D que du passage à l’échelle
In this thesis, we address the problem of 3D reconstruction from a sequence of calibrated street-level photographs with a simultaneous focus on scalability and the use of structure priors in Multi-View Stereo (MVS).While both aspects have been studied broadly, existing scalable MVS approaches do not handle well the ubiquitous structural regularities, yet simple, of man-made environments. On the other hand, structure-aware 3D reconstruction methods are slow and scale poorly with the size of the input sequences and/or may even require additional restrictive information. The goal of this thesis is to reconcile scalability and structure awareness within common MVS grounds using soft, generic priors which encourage : (i) piecewise planarity, (ii) alignment of objects boundaries with image gradients and (iii) with vanishing directions (VDs), and (iv) objects co-planarity. To do so, we present the novel “Patchwork Stereo” framework which integrates photometric stereo from a handful of wide-baseline views and a sparse 3D point cloud combining robust 3D plane extraction and top-down image partitioning from a unified 2D-3D analysis in a principled Markov Random Field energy minimization. We evaluate our contributions quantitatively and qualitatively on challenging urban datasets and illustrate results which are at least on par with state-of-the-art methods in terms of geometric structure, but achieved in several orders of magnitude faster paving the way for photo-realistic city-scale modeling

This thesis was aimed at studying the existing methods for origin-destination(OD) estimation problem and developing a new algorithm which provideshigher promise.The performance was evaluated on a simulated data-set for Stockholmcity. Data for this study were obtained with the help of G. Fl ̈otter ̈od fromDepartment of Transport Science in KTH. Information minimizing approachand entropy maximizing approach, which are the state-of-art methods intransport field were modified to implement. Several existing algorithms insignal processing field, such as BP/BPDN, OMP and SP, were implementedand analyzed. A recently proposed algorithm calld OMP + was described.Then a more effective method SP + with better reconstruction performancein sparse signal processing area was proposed in this report.By numerical experiments, it was concluded that the methods in signalprocessing field could deal with OD estimation problem well. Hopefully thisthesis could make a contribution to opening the door to another field andintroducing methods of that universe, as well as developing a new algorithmwith robust results and small computation cost.

1. Всеобщая история архитектуры. Гл. 3: Итоги развития итальянской архитектуры в XV-XVI вв. М., 1967. 2. Линч К. Современная форма в градостроительстве. M., 1986. 3. Мазаев Г. В. Прогнозирование вероятностного развития градостроительных систем : учеб. пособие. Екатеринбург. 2005. 4. Шубенков М. В. Структурные закономерности архитектурного формообразования. М., 2006.
The round shape has a natural township and city, which was a lot built in the history of mankind. For the construction of defensive structures circle is the most economical form. In the territories where the landscape allowed, the cities sought to round outlines, even the presence of a hill of rivers or riverand were not for the form of a circle obstacle. Like the rings in trees, as well as in historical development round city increases the ring residential quarters, protective and social buildings. Round form was associated with the minimum length of the city walls, which significantly saves the effort on their erection. A circulate shape is very simple to create on the terrain with one rather long rope. This form is readily achieved, which also speaks of its economic effectiveness.

A construção dos grandes empreendimentos hidrelétricos no Brasil, desde o último quartel do século XX, está relacionada diretamente ao seu processo de industrialização que, a partir do aludido século, foi impactado pela crise petrolífera dos anos 70 do século passado, quando o governo resolveu investir em outras fontes energéticas alternativas, dentre elas, a implantação de usinas hidrelétricas de grande porte em praticamente todas as regiões brasileiras. Com a implantação dessas grandes centrais hidrelétricas nas regiões Sul e Nordeste, num primeiro momento, e a realização de estudos para o aproveitamento hidráulico de outras bacias hidrográficas localizadas principalmente na região Norte do Brasil, surge, também em escala regional, o Movimento dos Atingidos por Barragens (MAB), constituído por inúmeras comunidades ribeirinhas que foram desterritorializadas de seus modos de subsistências em função da construção dos empreendimentos hidrelétricos de grande porte. Descrever e analisar os impactos socioeconômicos do processo sociopolítico das compensações financeiras das comunidades ribeirinhas atingidas pela Usina Hidrelétrica de Estreito (UHE), um dos grandes empreendimentos patrocinados pelo governo brasileiro, constitui o principal objetivo desta pesquisa. A usina hidrelétrica de Estreito, foco deste estudo de caso, está situada na cidade de Estreito, no Sul do Estado do Maranhão. A partir da aplicação de questionários para uma caracterização socioeconômica das comunidades atingidas, buscamos entender até que ponto suas representações sociais, políticas, econômicas e culturais podem ter influenciado no processo indenizatório. Através da interpretação dos dados, percebeu-se que a posição relativa dos indivíduos das comunidades analisadas, apoiada nos capitais acima mencionados, econômico, político, social e cultural, não influenciou nas compensações, considerando que o Consórcio Estreito Energia (CESTE) optou por uma compensação baseada no título fundiário da terra.
The construction of large hydroelectric projects in Brazil from the last quarter of the twentieth century is directly related to the process of industrialization, from the aforementioned century, will be impacted by the oil crisis of the 70s of last century, when the government decides to invest in alternative sources of energy and, among them, the implementation of large hydropower plants in virtually all regions of Brazil. With the implementation of these large hydroelectric power plants in the south and northeast, at first, and studies for the hydroelectric plants of other watersheds located mainly in the north of Brazil, appears also on a regional scale, the Movement of People Affected by Dams (MAB) consisting of numerous coastal communities that were dispossessed of their means of livelihood due to the construction of large hydroelectric projects. Describe and analyze the socioeconomic impacts the sociopolitical process of financial compensation of coastal communities affected by HPP Strait, one of the major projects sponsored by the Brazilian government is the main objective of this research. The hydroelectric plant Narrow focus of this case study is located in the city of Strait in the south of Maranhão. From the questionnaires for a socioeconomic characterization of the affected communities, we seek to understand the extent to which their representations social, political, economic and cultural might have influenced the compensation process. Through the interpretation of the data, it was noticed that the relative position of individuals in the communities analyzed, supported in capital economic, political, social and cultural, not influenced in compensation, whereas the Strait Energy Consortium (CESTE), opted for compensation-patrimonial territory.

Multitemporal SAR images have been increasingly used for the detection of different types of environmental changes. The detection of urban changes using SAR images is complicated due to the complex mixture of the urban environment and the special characteristics of SAR images, for example, the existence of speckle. This thesis investigates urban change detection using multitemporal SAR images with the following specific objectives: (1) to investigate unsupervised change detection, (2) to investigate effective methods for reduction of the speckle effect in change detection, (3) to investigate spatio-contextual change detection, (4) to investigate object-based unsupervised change detection, and (5) to investigate a new technique for object-based change image generation. Beijing and Shanghai, the largest cities in China, were selected as study areas. Multitemporal SAR images acquired by ERS-2 SAR and ENVISAT ASAR sensors were used for pixel-based change detection. For the object-based approaches, TerraSAR-X images were used. In Paper I, the unsupervised detection of urban change was investigated using the Kittler-Illingworth algorithm. A modified ratio operator that combines positive and negative changes was used to construct the change image. Four density function models were tested and compared. Among them, the log-normal and Nakagami ratio models achieved the best results. Despite the good performance of the algorithm, the obtained results suffer from the loss of fine geometric detail in general. This was a consequence of the use of local adaptive filters for speckle suppression. Paper II addresses this problem using the nonlocal means (NLM) denoising algorithm for speckle suppression and detail preservation. In this algorithm, denoising was achieved through a moving weighted average. The weights are a function of the similarity of small image patches defined around each pixel in the image. To decrease the computational complexity, principle component analysis (PCA) was used to reduce the dimensionality of the neighbourhood feature vectors. Simple methods to estimate the number of significant PCA components to be retained for weights computation and the required noise variance were proposed. The experimental results showed that the NLM algorithm successfully suppressed speckle effects, while preserving fine geometric detail in the scene. The analysis also indicates that filtering the change image instead of the individual SAR images was effective in terms of the quality of the results and the time needed to carry out the computation. The Markov random field (MRF) change detection algorithm showed limited capacity to simultaneously maintain fine geometric detail in urban areas and combat the effect of speckle. To overcome this problem, Paper III utilizes the NLM theory to define a nonlocal constraint on pixels class-labels. The iterated conditional mode (ICM) scheme for the optimization of the MRF criterion function is extended to include a new step that maximizes the nonlocal probability model. Compared with the traditional MRF algorithm, the experimental results showed that the proposed algorithm was superior in preserving fine structural detail, effective in reducing the effect of speckle, less sensitive to the value of the contextual parameter, and less affected by the quality of the initial change map. Paper IV investigates object-based unsupervised change detection using very high resolution TerraSAR-X images over urban areas. Three algorithms, i.e., Kittler-Illingworth, Otsu, and outlier detection, were tested and compared. The multitemporal images were segmented using multidate segmentation strategy. The analysis reveals that the three algorithms achieved similar accuracies. The achieved accuracies were very close to the maximum possible, given the modified ratio image as an input. This maximum, however, was not very high. This was attributed, partially, to the low capacity of the modified ratio image to accentuate the difference between changed and unchanged areas. Consequently, Paper V proposes a new object-based change image generation technique. The strong intensity variations associated with high resolution and speckle effects render object mean intensity unreliable feature. The modified ratio image is, therefore, less efficient in emphasizing the contrast between the classes. An alternative representation of the change data was proposed. To measure the intensity of change at the object in isolation of disturbances caused by strong intensity variations and speckle effects, two techniques based on the Fourier transform and the Wavelet transform of the change signal were developed. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of the result show that improved change detection accuracies can be obtained by classifying the proposed change variables.

QC 20150529

Master of Landscape Architecture
Landscape Architecture/Regional and Community Planning
Mary C. Kingery-Page
Literature shows that walkable neighborhoods have the potential to significantly decrease the carbon footprint of cities by lessening the need to drive, as well as providing many health, economic, and social benefits to society. The goal of this research, therefore, was to devise a practical strategy to create walkable places in the car-oriented city of Wichita, Kansas. A necessary component of this strategy is an “urban triage,” described by Jeff Speck in Walkable City as identifying streets with the most existing potential and concentrating limited resources to their improvement (2012, 254). This report employed an urban triage of Wichita at two scales based on three central characteristics of walkability: urban fabric, dense street network and connectivity. Comparing block length and link to node ratio, I built a case for downtown, which is organized on a traditional grid of streets, over a typical shopping district organized around the more modern hierarchical pattern of streets. Within downtown, I further narrowed the study area primarily based on urban fabric, the degree to which streets are enclosed by buildings. I created a method to measure urban fabric, using aerial imagery and street views, taking into account the consistency of the street wall, height of buildings and foreground. The strongest complete corridor, in terms of urban fabric, and three potential links between that corridor and downtown’s largest event space, became the study area for further analysis. A rubric, based on characteristics of walkability extrapolated from literature, served as the instrument to measure the attributes of each block in the study area. Each attribute, as well as the characteristics that they create, yielded a map, contrasting strong and weak blocks. This analysis provided the detailed information necessary to create an informed conceptual strategy to resolve these weaknesses. Selective building infill resolved gaps in the urban fabric, road diets and improved crossings restored modal balance to the street, and a new pedestrian corridor completed a broken street and activated an existing park.

Acoustic recording has recently been identified as an effective tool for monitoring biodiversity and ecosystem health. This study used a novel approach to visually and statistically model the sounds produced within an ecosystem across space and time to identify hot spots and hot moments of biodiversity activity. It was demonstrated that biodiversity can be successfully measured through an integrated approach of ecoacoustic monitoring and highlights the potential to inform future ecological urban design decisions and conservation planning strategies.

Problems of land use and occupation in urban areas may prevent the infiltration of water, thus increasing runoff. Bioretention techniques are solutions, which are emerging from the hydrology field to mitigate the consequences of increasing urbanization, including, flooding and contamination of rivers. The general objective of this research is to study the general efficiency of combined Compensatory Techniques (CT) with detention and bioretention control of diffuse pollutants from an urban drainage system. Specific objectives are defined in each chapter and relates to sizing and to the bioretention systems of modeling and monitoring, located in southeastern Brazil, São Paulo – São Carlos. The first chapter presents the general introduction of the thesis, the objectives and research hypotheses, as well as, the description of the general methodology for the thesis construction and the goals related to each chapter. The second chapter discusses the scope and some limitations of the classifications of terms frequently used in the theme of sustainable urban drainage. This chapter, in a way, approaches the other chapters, which composes this thesis, by providing them comprehensive database of references. The third chapter presents the design criteria used for the construction of experimental bioretention system and compares the design with the model HEC – HMS - Hydrologic Engineering Center - Hydrologic Modeling System. The fourth chapter talks about some criteria to identify areas for building bioretention systems and presents the GIS - Geographic Information System and ecohydrology indicators, in this characterization, considering the quantity and quality aspects in the urban drainage. The fifth chapter shows the use of PCSWMM model (Personal Computer Stormwater Management Model) to simulate future scenarios, assuming progressive modular expansion of CTs, modeling efficiency in qualitative and quantitative aspects diffuse pollution for scenarios 2015, 2025, 2050, 2100. The conclusion of this research is that compensatory techniques can be used not only to assess the impacts of diffuse pollution stemmed from urban drainage system, but as a contribution to the sustainability of watersheds and to mitigation of extremes risks derived by increased urban drainage demand.
Problemas decorrentes do uso e ocupação do solo em áreas urbanas podem dificultar a infiltração da água, aumentando o escoamento superficial. Técnicas de bioretenção são soluções decorrentes do campo da hidrologia para mitigar as consequências resultantes da crescente urbanização, entre elas, enchentes e contaminação de rios. O objetivo geral da pesquisa é estudar a eficiência generalizada de Técnicas Compensatórias (TCs) experimentais, adaptáveis combinadas de detenção e bioretenção para controle da poluição difusa da drenagem urbana. Objetivos específicos são definidos em cada capítulo e relacionam-se com o dimensionamento e monitoramento de modelagem de sistema de bioretenção, localizado no Sudeste do Brasil, São Paulo – São Carlos. O Primeiro capítulo apresenta a introdução geral da tese, objetivos e hipóteses, bem como, descreve a metodologia geral para construção da tese e relação dos objetivos com os respectivos capítulos. O Segundo capítulo discute os alcances e limitações de nomenclaturas sobre termos frequentemente utilizados na temática drenagem urbana sustentável. Este capítulo de certa forma aporta os demais capítulos que compõe esta tese, por propiciar vasto banco de dados referenciais. O Terceiro capítulo apresenta os critérios de dimensionamento utilizados para a construção de um sistema de bioretenção experimental e uma comparação com o dimensionamento com o modelo HEC – HMS - Hydrologic Engineering Center - Hydrologic Modeling System. O Quarto capítulo discorre sobre critérios de escolha de áreas propicias para a construção de sistemas de bioretenção usando Sistemas de Informações Geográficas para a caracterização de áreas, utilizando indicadores ecohidrológicos, considerando os aspectos de quantidade e de qualidade na drenagem urbana. O Quinto capítulo demonstra o uso do modelo PCSWMM – Personal Computer Stormwater Management Model, na simulação de cenários futuros assumindo expansões modulares progressivas da TC, modelando a eficiência para os aspectos qualitativos e quantitativos da poluição difusa para os 2015, 2025, 2050, 2100. Conclui-se com esta pesquisa que técnicas compensatórias podem ser empregadas não só para avaliação dos impactos da poluição difusa provindos da drenagem urbana, mas como forma de contribuir com a sustentabilidade de bacias hidrográficas e para mitigação de riscos de extremos advindos do aumento da demanda de drenagem urbana.

This creative project was proposed to develop a GIS model for transportation planning purposes with the ARC/INFO software. The urban street network in the GIS model was based on urban arterial systems in the city of Muncie, Indiana. The model was also expected to demonstrate the applicability of GIS technology in transportation planning. Several transportation planning techniques were tested with the model which included road and traffic data inventory, optimum pathing, road capacity analysis, traffic shift study modeling, and graphic presentation. The case study was targeted on road capacity analysis of urban arterial network as well as study of alternative traffic route for the urban route of State Road 32 in Muncie. The project began with an discussion of GIS technology, GIS application in planning, and ARC/INFO software programs. Then an urban street information model was developed in form of digital network in the computer database which could perform the functions of data inventory, spatial traffic analysis, and mapping manipulation. Finally the case studies were performed to demonstrate the application of this GIS network model. The findings and analysis results generated by GIS operation were used to evaluate the traffic conditions as well as to determine the feasibility of alternative route for State Road tables, ARC/INFO macro programs, traffic maps, and print-out of analysis results.
Department of Urban Planning

La contaminación ambiental es uno de los principales problemas que afecta a nuestro planeta. El crecimiento industrial y los aglomerados urbanos, entre otros, están contribuyendo a que dicho problema se diversifique y se cronifique. La presencia de contaminantes ambientales en niveles elevados afecta la salud humana, siendo la calidad del aire y los niveles de ruido ejemplos de factores que pueden causar efectos negativos en las personas tanto psicológicamente como fisiológicamente. Sin embargo, la ubiquidad de los microcomputadores, y el aumento de los sensores incorporados en nuestros smartphones, han hecho posible la aparición de nuevas estrategias para medir dicha contaminación. Así, el Mobile Crowdsensing se ha convertido en un nuevo paradigma mediante el cual los teléfonos inteligentes emergen como tecnología habilitadora, y cuya adopción generalizada proporciona un enorme potencial para su crecimiento, permitiendo operar a gran escala, y con unos costes asumibles para la sociedad. A través del crowdsensing, los teléfonos inteligentes pueden convertirse en unidades de detección flexibles y multiuso que, a través de los sensores integrados en dichos dispositivos, o combinados con nuevos sensores, permiten monitorizar regiones de interés con una buena granularidad tanto espacial como temporal. En esta tesis nos centramos en el diseño de soluciones de crowdsensing usando smartphones donde abordamos problemas de contaminación ambiental, específicamente del ruido y de la contaminación del aire. Con este objetivo, se estudian, en primer lugar, las propuestas de crowdsensing que han surgido en los últimos años. Los resultados de nuestro estudio demuestran que todavía hay mucha heterogeneidad en términos de tecnologías utilizadas y métodos de implementación, aunque los diseños modulares en el cliente y en el servidor parecen ser dominantes. Con respecto a la contaminación del aire, proponemos una arquitectura que permita medir la contaminación del aire, concretamente del ozono, dentro de entornos urbanos. Nuestra propuesta utiliza smartphones como centro de la arquitectura, siendo estos dispositivos los encargados de leer los datos de un sensor móvil externo, y de luego enviar dichos datos a un servidor central para su procesamiento y tratamiento. Los resultados obtenidos demuestran que la orientación del sensor y el período de muestreo, dentro de ciertos límites, tienen muy poca influencia en los datos capturados. Con respecto a la contaminación acústica, proponemos una arquitectura para medir los niveles de ruido en entornos urbanos basada en crowdsensing, y cuya característica principal es que no requiere intervención del usuario. En esta tesis detallamos aspectos tales como la calibración de los smartphones, la calidad de las medidas obtenidas, el instante de muestreo, el diseño del servidor, y la interacción cliente-servidor. Además, hemos validado nuestra solución en escenarios reales para demostrar el potencial de la solución alcanzada. Los resultados experimentales muestran que, con nuestra propuesta, es posible medir niveles de ruido en diferentes zonas urbanas o rurales con un grado de precisión comparable al de los dispositivos profesionales, todo ello sin requerir intervención del usuario, y con un consumo reducido en cuanto a recursos del sistema. En general, las diferentes contribuciones de esta tesis doctoral ofrecen un punto de partida para nuevos desarrollos, ofreciendo estrategias de calibración y algoritmos eficientes de cara a realizar medidas representativas. Además, una importante ventaja de nuestra propuesta es que puede ser implementada de forma directa tanto en instituciones públicas como no gubernamentales en poco tiempo, ya que utiliza tecnología accesible y soluciones basadas en código abierto.
La contaminació ambiental és un dels principals problemes que afecten el nostre planeta. El creixement industrial i els aglomerats urbans, entre altres, estan contribuint al fet que aquest problema es diversifique i es cronifique. La presència de contaminants ambientals en nivells elevats afecta la salut humana, sent la qualitat de l'aire i els nivells de soroll exemples de factors que poden causar efectes negatius en les persones, tant psicològicament com fisiològicament. No obstant això, la ubiqüitat de les microcomputadores i l'augment dels sensors incorporats als nostres telèfons intel·ligents han fet possible l'aparició de noves estratègies per a mesurar aquesta contaminació. Així, el mobile crowdsensing s'ha convertit en un nou paradigma mitjançant el qual els telèfons intel·ligents emergeixen com a tecnologia habilitadora, i l'adopció generalitzada d'aquest proporciona un enorme potencial per al seu creixement, ja que permet operar a gran escala i amb uns costos assumibles per a la societat. A través del crowdsensing, els telèfons intel·ligents poden convertir-se en unitats de detecció flexibles i multiús que, a través dels sensors integrats en els esmentats dispositius, o combinats amb nous sensors, permeten monitoritzar regions d'interès amb una bona granularitat, tant espacial com temporal. En aquesta tesi ens centrem en el disseny de solucions de crowdsensing usant telèfons intel·ligents, on abordem problemes de contaminació ambiental, específicament del soroll i de la contaminació de l'aire. Amb aquest objectiu, s'estudien, en primer lloc, les propostes de crowdsensing que han sorgit en els últims anys. Els resultats del nostre estudi demostren que encara hi ha molta heterogeneïtat en termes de tecnologies utilitzades i mètodes d'implementació, encara que els dissenys modulars en el client i en el servidor semblen ser dominants. Pel que fa a la contaminació de l'aire, proposem una arquitectura que permeta mesurar la contaminació d'aquest, concretament de l'ozó, dins d'entorns urbans. La nostra proposta utilitza telèfons intel·ligents com a centre de l'arquitectura, sent aquests dispositius els encarregats de llegir les dades d'un sensor mòbil extern, i d'enviar després aquestes dades a un servidor central per al seu processament i tractament. Els resultats obtinguts demostren que l'orientació del sensor i el període de mostratge, dins de certs límits, tenen molt poca influència en les dades capturades. Pel que fa a la contaminació acústica, proposem una arquitectura per a mesurar els nivells de soroll en entorns urbans basada en crowdsensing, i la característica principal de la qual és que no requereix intervenció de la persona usuària. En aquesta tesi detallem aspectes com ara el calibratge dels telèfons intel·ligents, la qualitat de les mesures obtingudes, l'instant de mostratge, el disseny del servidor i la interacció client-servidor. A més, hem validat la nostra solució en escenaris reals per a demostrar el potencial de la solució assolida. Els resultats experimentals mostren que, amb la nostra proposta, és possible mesurar nivells de soroll en diferents zones urbanes o rurals amb un grau de precisió comparable al dels dispositius professionals, tot això sense requerir intervenció de l'usuari o usuària, i amb un consum reduït quant a recursos del sistema. En general, les diferents contribucions d'aquesta tesi doctoral ofereixen un punt de partida per a nous desenvolupaments, i ofereixen estratègies de calibratge i algorismes eficients amb vista a realitzar mesures representatives. A més, un important avantatge de la nostra proposta és que pot ser implementada de forma directa tant en institucions públiques com no governamentals en poc de temps, ja que utilitza tecnologia accessible i solucions basades en el codi obert.
Environmental pollution is one of the main problems that affect our planet. Industrial growth and urban agglomerations, among others, are contributing to the diversification and chronification of this problem. The presence of environmental pollutants at high levels affect human health, with air quality and noise levels being examples of factors that can cause negative effects on people both psychologically and physiologically. Traditionally, environmental pollution is measured through monitoring centers, which are usually fixed and have a high cost. However, the ubiquity of microcomputers and the increase in the number of sensors embedded in our smartphones, have paved the way for the appearance of new strategies to measure such pollution. Thus, Mobile Crowdsensing has become a new paradigm through which smartphones emerge as an enabling technology, and whose widespread adoption provides enormous potential for growth, allowing large-scale operations, and with costs acceptable to our society. Through crowdsensing, smartphones can become flexible and multipurpose detection units that, through the sensors integrated into these devices, or combined with new sensors, allow monitoring regions of interest with good spatial and temporal granularity. In this thesis, we focus on the design of crowdsensing solutions using smartphones. We deal with environmental pollution problems, specifically noise and air pollution. With this objective, the crowdsensing proposals that have emerged in recent years are studied in the first place. The results of our study show that there is still a lot of heterogeneity in terms of technologies used and implementation methods, although modular designs at both client and server seem to be dominant. Concerning air pollution, we propose an architecture that allows measuring air pollution, specifically ozone, in urban environments. Our proposal uses smartphones as the center of the architecture, being these devices responsible for reading the data obtained by an external mobile sensor, and then sending such data to a central server for processing and analysis. In this proposal, several problems have been analyzed with regard to the orientation of the external sensor and the sampling time, and the proposed solution has been validated in real scenarios. The results obtained show that the orientation of the sensor and the sampling period, within certain limits, have very little influence on the captured data. Also, by comparing the heat maps generated by our solution with the data from the existing monitoring stations in the city of Valencia, we demonstrate that our approach is capable of providing greater data granularity. Concerning noise pollution, we propose an architecture to measure noise levels in urban environments based on crowdsensing, and whose main characteristic is that it does not require user intervention. In this thesis, we detail aspects such as the calibration of smartphones, the quality of the measurements obtained, the sampling instant, the server design, and the client-server interaction. Besides, we have validated our solution in real scenarios to demonstrate the potential of the proposed solution. Experimental results show that, with our proposal, it is possible to measure noise levels in different urban or rural areas with a degree of precision comparable to that of professional devices, all without requiring the intervention of the user, and with reduced consumption of system resources. In general, the different contributions of this doctoral thesis provide a starting point for new developments, offering efficient calibration strategies and algorithms to make representative measurements. Besides, a significant advantage of our proposal is that it can be implemented straightforwardly by both public and non-governmental institutions in a short time, as it relies on accessible technology and open source software
Zamora Mero, WJ. (2018). Crowdsensing solutions for urban pollution monitoring using smartphones [Tesis doctoral no publicada]. Universitat Politècnica de València. https://doi.org/10.4995/Thesis/10251/115483
TESIS

Many calamities in history like hurricanes, tornado and flooding are proof to the large scale impact they cause to the life and economy. Computer simulation and GIS helps in modeling a real world scenario, which assists in evacuation planning, damage assessment, assistance and reconstruction. For achieving computer simulation and modeling there is a need for accurate classification of ground objects. One of the most significant aspects of this research is that it achieves improved classification for regions within which light detection and ranging (LiDAR) has low spatial resolution. This thesis describes a method for accurate classification of bare ground, water body, roads, vegetation, and structures using LiDAR data and aerial Infrared imagery. The most basic step for any terrain modeling application is filtering which is classification of ground and non-ground points. We present an integrated systematic method that makes classification of terrain and non-terrain points effective. Our filtering method uses the geometric feature of the triangle meshes created from LiDAR samples and calculate the confidence for every point. Geometric homogenous blocks and confidence are derived from TIN model and gridded LiDAR samples. The results from two representations are used in a classifier to determine if the block belongs ground or otherwise. Another important step is detection of water body, which is based on the LiDAR sample density of the region. Objects like tress and bare ground are characterized by the geometric features present in the LiDAR and the color features in the infrared imagery. These features are fed into a SVM classifier which detects bare-ground in the given region. Similarly trees are extracted using another trained SVM classifier. Once we obtain bare-grounds and trees, roads are extracted by removing the bare grounds. Structures are identified by the properties of non-ground segments. Experiments were conducted using LiDAR samples and Infrared imagery from the city of New Orleans. We evaluated the influence of different parameters to the classification. Water bodies were extracted successfully using density measures. Experiments showed that fusion of geometric properties and confidence levels resulted into efficient classification of ground and non-ground regions. Classification of vegetation using SVM was promising and effective using the features like height variation, HSV, angle etc. It is demonstrated that our methods successfully classified the region by using LiDAR data in a complex urban area with high-rise buildings.

Aviation is one of the earliest application of the Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS). Since the early days of the Global Positioning System (GPS), satellite navigation has been an essential part of the aviation industry. Being a particular mean of transport, which usually involves a large number of human lives, civil aviation always requires a high level of reliability from the navigation system. Such requirement brings about the concept of integrity, which concerns about the consistency and reliability of a navigation system, is defined as the capability of the system to provide timely warning when it should not be used for navigation. The concept of integrity allows the standardization of guidance systems' performance, with the utmost purpose of keeping safety for every flight. The concept of integrity has gained interests in other GNSS applications as well, especially in those that also require high reliability from the navigation solution, such as Intelligent Transport System (ITS), railways. This leads to the necessity to adapt the integrity monitoring techniques, in particular the Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring (RAIM) algorithms, to use in working conditions other than the typical airport areas, such as urban environment. As a matter of fact, adaptation of RAIM algorithms to urban environment requires a throughout analysis of the environmental difference of the working condition as well as the requirement of the intended applications. This thesis focuses on developing a Kalman filter-based Advanced RAIM (ARAIM) algorithm for urban environment, which is an adaptation of the conventional ARAIM algorithm for civil aviation. ARAIM algorithm is considered the next generation of RAIM, aiming at providing higher integrity performance for more stringent phase of flight. The first step is to survey the necessary changes to adapt ARAIM algorithm to urban scenario. Experimental study highlights the prerequisite of finding a noise model to represents the signal noise level in urban area. After a suitable noise model was found after a comparative study, the KF-based ARAIM algorithm was developed. This method evaluates the separation of state correction using different subsets of measurement to detect abnormalities as well as potential faulty satellites for exclusion. The proposed method was also validated using simulation and real data. Performance analysis results show that the proposed algorithm can effectively follows the changes of signal quality which is expected to occur frequently when moving in urban environment, confirming its suitability for integrity monitoring in urban environment.

The objective of this licentiate thesis is to develop novel algorithms and improve existing methods for urban land cover mapping and urban extent extraction using multi-temporal remote sensing imagery. Past studies have demonstrated that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) have very good properties for the analysis of urban areas, the synergy of SAR and optical data is advantageous for various applications. The specific objectives of this research are: 1. To develop a novel edge-aware region-growing and -merging algorithm, KTH-SEG, for effective segmentation of SAR and optical data for urban land cover mapping; 2. To evaluate the synergistic effects of multi-temporal ENVISAT ASAR and HJ-1B multi-spectral data for urban land cover mapping; 3. To improve the robustness of an existing method for urban extent extraction by adding effective pre- and post-processing. ENVISAT ASAR data and the Chinese HJ-1B multispectral , as well as TerraSAR-X data were used in this research. For objectives 1 and 2 two main study areas were chosen, Beijing and Shanghai, China. For both sites a number of multitemporal ENVISAT ASAR (30m C-band) scenes with varying image characteristics were selected during the vegetated season of 2009. For Shanghai TerraSAR-X strip-map images at 3m resolution X-band) were acquired for a similar period in 2010 to also evaluate high resolution X-band SAR for urban land cover mapping. Ten  major landcover classes were extracted including high density built-up, low density built-up, bare field, low vegetation, forest, golf course, grass, water, airport runway and major road. For Objective 3, eleven globally distributed study areas where chosen, Berlin, Beijing, Jakarta, Lagos, Lombardia (northern Italy), Mexico City, Mumbai, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, Stockholm and Sydney. For all cities ENVISAT ASAR imagery was acquired and for cities in or close to mountains even SRTM digital elevation data. The methodology of this thesis includes two major components, KTH-SEG and KTH-Pavia Urban Extractor. KTH-SEG is an edge aware region-growing and -merging algorithm that utilizes both the benefit of finding local high frequency changes as well as determining robustly homogeneous areas of a low frequency in local change. The post-segmentation classification is performed using support vector machines. KTH-SEG was evaluated using multitemporal, multi-angle, dual-polarization ASAR data and multispectral HJ-1B data as well as TerraSAR-X data. The KTH-Pavia urban extractor is a processing chain. It includes: Geometrical corrections, contrast enhancement, builtup area extraction using spatial stastistics and GLCM texture features, logical operator based fusion and DEM based mountain masking. For urban land cover classification using multitemporal ENVISAT ASAR data, the results showed that KTH-SEG achieved an overall accuracy of almost 80% (0.77 Kappa ) for the 10 urban land cover classes both Beijign and Shanghai, compared to eCognition results of 75% (0.71 Kappa) In particular the detection of small linear features with respect to the image resolution such as roads in 30m resolved data went well with 83% user accuracy from KTH-SEG versus 57% user accuracy using the segments derived from eCognition. The other urban classes which in particular in SAR imagery are characterized by a high degree of heterogeneity were classified superiorly by KTH-SEG. ECognition in general performed better on vegetation classes such as grass, low vegetation and forest which are usually more homogeneous. It is was also found that the combination of ASAR and HJ-1B optical data was beneficial, increasing the final classification accuracy by at least 10% compared to ASAR or HJ-1B data alone. The results also further confirmed that a higher diversity of SAR type images is more important for the urban classification outcome. However, this is not the case when classifying high resolution TerraSAR-X strip-map imagery. Here the different image characteristics of different look angles, and orbit orientation created more confusion mainly due to the different layover and foreshortening effects on larger buildings. The TerraSAR-X results showed also that accurate urban classification can be achieved using high resolution SAR data alone with almost 84% for  eight classes around the Shanghai international Airport (high and low density built-up were not separated as well as roads and runways). For urban extent extraction, the results demonstrated that built-up areas can be effectively extracted using a single ENVISAT ASAR image in 10 global cities reaching overall accuracies around 85%, compared to 75% of MODIS urban class and 73% GlobCover Urban class. Multitemporal ASAR can improve the urban extraction results by 5-10% in Beijing. Mountain masking applied in Mumbai and Rio de Janeiro increased the accuracy by 3-5%.The research performed in  this thesis has contributed to the remote sensing community by providing algorithms and methods for both extracting urban areas and identifying urban land cover in a more detailed fashion.

QC 20140625

La recherche effectuée dans cette thèse concerne le domaine de la conduite urbaine sûre, en utilisant des méthodes de fusion de capteurs et d'apprentissage par renforcement pour la perception et le contrôle des véhicules autonomes (VA). L'évolution généralisée des technologies d'apprentissage automatique ont principalement propulsé la prolifération des véhicules autonomes ces dernières années. Cependant, des progrès substantiels sont nécessaires avant d'atteindre une adoption généralisée par le grand public. Pour accomplir son automatisation, les véhicules autonomes nécessitent l'intégration d'une série de capteurs coûteux (e.g. caméras, radars, LiDAR et capteurs à ultrasons). En plus de leur fardeau financier, ces capteurs présentent une sensibilité aux variations telles que la météo, une limitation non partagée par les conducteurs humains qui peuvent naviguer dans des conditions diverses en se fiant à une vision frontale simple. Par ailleurs, l'avènement des algorithmes neuronaux de prise de décision constitue l'intelligence fondamentale des véhicules autonomes. Les solutions d'apprentissage profond par renforcement, facilitant l'apprentissage de la politique du conducteur de bout en bout, ont trouvé application dans des scénarios de conduite élémentaires, englobant des tâches telles que le maintien dans la voie, le contrôle de la direction et la gestion de l'accélération. Cependant, il s'avère que ces algorithmes sont coûteux en temps d'exécution et nécessitent de large ensembles de données pour un entraînement efficace. De plus, la sécurité doit être prise en compte tout au long des phases de développement et de déploiement des véhicules autonomes.La première contribution de cette thèse améliore la localisation des véhicules en fusionnant les mesures des capteurs GPS et IMU avec une adaptation d'un filtre de Kalman, ES-EKF, et une réduction du bruit des mesures IMU. L'algorithme est déployé et testé en utilisant des données de vérité terrain sur un microcontrôleur. La deuxième contribution propose l'algorithme DPPO-IL (Dynamic Proximal Policy Optimization with Imitation Learning), conçu pour faciliter le stationnement automatisé en accordant une attention toute particulière à la sécurité. Cet algorithme apprend à exécuter des manœuvres de stationnement optimales tout en naviguant entre des d'obstacles statiques et dynamiques grâce à un entraînement complet intégrant des données simulées et réelles. La troisième contribution est un framework de conduite urbaine de bout en bout appelé guided hierarchical reinforcement Learning (GHRL). Il intègre des données de vision et de localisation ainsi que des démonstrations d'experts exprimées avec des règles ASP (Answer Set Programming) pour guider la politique d'exploration de l'apprentissage par renforcement hiérarchique et accélérer la convergence de l'algorithme. Lorsqu'une situation critique se produit, le système s'appuie également sur des règles liées à la sécurité pour faire des choix judicieux dans des conditions imprévisibles ou dangereuses. GHRL est évalué sur le jeu de données NoCrash du simulateur Carla et les résultats montrent qu'en incorporant des règles logiques, GHRL obtient de meilleures performances que les algorithmes de l'état de l'art
The research conducted in this thesis is centered on the domain of safe urban driving, employing sensor fusion and reinforcement learning methodologies for the perception and control of autonomous vehicles (AV). The evolution and widespread integration of machine learning technologies have primarily propelled the proliferation of autonomous vehicles in recent years. However, substantial progress is requisite before achieving widespread adoption by the general populace. To accomplish its automation, autonomous vehicles necessitate the integration of an array of costly sensors, including cameras, radars, LiDARs, and ultrasonic sensors. In addition to their financial burden, these sensors exhibit susceptibility to environmental variables such as weather, a limitation not shared by human drivers who can navigate diverse conditions with a reliance on simple frontal vision. Moreover, the advent of decision-making neural network algorithms constitutes the core intelligence of autonomous vehicles. Deep Reinforcement Learning solutions, facilitating end-to-end driver policy learning, have found application in elementary driving scenarios, encompassing tasks like lane-keeping, steering control, and acceleration management. However, these algorithms demand substantial time and extensive datasets for effective training. In addition, safety must be considered throughout the development and deployment phases of autonomous vehicles.The first contribution of this thesis improves vehicle localization by fusing data from GPS and IMU sensors with an adaptation of a Kalman filter, ES-EKF, and a reduction of noise in IMU measurements.This method excels in urban environments marked by signal obstructions and elevated noise levels, effectively mitigating the adverse impact of noise in IMU sensor measurements, thereby maintaining localization accuracy and robustness. The algorithm is deployed and tested employing ground truth data on an embedded microcontroller. The second contribution introduces the DPPO-IL (Dynamic Proximal Policy Optimization with Imitation Learning) algorithm, designed to facilitate end-to-end automated parking while maintaining a steadfast focus on safety. This algorithm acquires proficiency in executing optimal parking maneuvers while navigating static and dynamic obstacles through exhaustive training incorporating simulated and real-world data.The third contribution is an end-to-end urban driving framework called GHRL. It incorporates vision and localization data and expert demonstrations expressed in the Answer Set Programming (ASP) rules to guide the hierarchical reinforcement learning (HRL) exploration policy and speed up the learning algorithm's convergence. When a critical situation occurs, the system relies on safety rules, which empower it to make prudent choices amidst unpredictable or hazardous conditions. GHRL is evaluated on the Carla NoCrash benchmark, and the results show that by incorporating logical rules, GHRL achieved better performance over state-of-the-art algorithms

This thesis addresses the challenging problems in creating 3D photorealistic building models using mobile LiDAR and images. We focus on ground-based sensing techniques, consisting of two stages. In the first stage, I present two new methods using either images or mobile LiDAR data alone for 3D urban modeling. The limitations of using each data alone are discussed, which leads to the sensor fusion research in the next phase. In the second stage, I introduce methodologies to maximize the synergy by fusing images and mobile LIDAR for upsampling range data towards the goal of generating 3D photorealistic urban models. There are fundamental research challenges involved in each stage of this work. In the first stage, I address the ill-posed problem of how much 3D information we can infer from single images. Proposed is a new model-based approach to 3D building reconstruction from single images. This method does not require model-to-image projection and readjustment procedures as existing methods do, and is more accurate than vanishing point based methods. On the LiDAR data side, I present an automatic approach to window detection from mobile LiDAR data. Proposed is a combination of bottom-up and top-down scheme to extract building facades followed by a robust window detection algorithm. In the second stage, I address the {\it virtual sensor} problem, and provide an alternative solution to "NAVTEQ TRUE" technology. To do so, I first address the multi-modal registration problem. Our algorithm automatically processes LiDAR data and panoramic images collected over a metropolitan scale. It is the first example we are aware of that validates mutual information registration in a large-scale context. Then I address the problem of upsampling. Proposed is a new method incorporating LiDAR point visibility information to upsample mobile LiDAR data using panoramic images. A new point visibility computation method based on multi-resolution depth maps generated from a Quadrilateralized Spherical Cube mapping is presented. For the interpolation, I present a new interpolation scheme that uses ray casting methods incorporating constraints from color information in spherical images to upsample sparse LiDAR points. The experiments demonstrate the improvement of the upsampling by using the color information from the images. In summary, we propose a set of algorithms for urban 3D modeling using mobile LiDAR and images. These techniques are useful not only for real-world applications such as urban 3D modeling, but also for an alternative solution to "NAVTEQ TRUE".
Cette thèse s'intéresse au défi de la modélisation de bâtiments 3D photoréalistes en utilisant la photographie et la télémétrie par laser (LiDAR) mobile. Nous traiterons des techniques d'acquisition au sol en deux étapes. Dans la première étape, je vais présenter deux méthodes utilisant seulement la photographie ou le LiDAR mobile pour la modélisation urbaine 3D. Les limites de chaque type de données utilisé indépendamment sont discutés; ce qui mènera à la fusion des deux techniques d'acquisitions par la suite. Dans la seconde étape, j'introduis des méthodologies pour maximiser la synergie en fusionnant les images photographique et le LiDAR mobile afin de suréchantillonner les données télémétriques dans le but de générer des modèles 3D urbains photoréalistes.Il existe plusieurs défis de recherche fondamentale associés à chaque niveau de cette thèse. Dans la première étape, j'adresse le problème mal posé de définir la quantité d'information 3D qui peut être inférée à partir d'une seule image. Une nouvelle approche de modélisation est proposée afin de reconstruire un modèle 3D de bâtiment à partir d'une seule image. Contrairement aux autres méthodes, cette méthode ne requiert pas de projeter un modèle sur une image ou d'autres procédures d'ajustement. La méthode proposée est également plus précise que les méthodes se basant sur les points de fuites. À-propos des données LiDAR, je présente une approche automatique de détection de fenêtres sur des données LiDAR mobile. Je propose d'utiliser une combinaison d'approche ascendante et descendante pour l'extraction de la façade d'un bâtiment, suivi d'une méthode robuste de détection de fenêtres. Dans la deuxième étape, j'adresse le problème des capteurs virtuelles et propose une solution alternative à la technologie « NAVTEQ TRUE ». Pour ce faire, j'adresse en premier le problème du recalage multimodal. Notre algorithme traite automatiquement des données LiDAR et des images panoramiques obtenues sur une échelle métropolitaine. À notre connaissance, c'est le premier exemple qui valide l'enregistrement d'informationsmutuelles sur une grande échelle. Par la suite, j'adresse le problème du suréchantillonnage. Une nouvelle méthode de suréchantillonnage est proposée pour des données de LiDAR mobile utilisant des images panoramiques et incorporant l'information de visibilité du LiDAR. Une nouvelle méthode de calcul de visibilités est présentée, qui se base sur des cartes de profondeurs multirésolutions générées à partir d'une application « Quadrilaterized Spherical Cube ». Pour interpoler les données, j'utilise un tracé de rayons qui incorpore des contraintes sur la couleurs d'images sphériques afin de suréchantillonner les données spatiales sporadiques du LiDAR. Les expérimentations démontrent que la méthode de suréchantillonnage est amélioré en utilisant l'information provenant de la couleur des images. En résumé, nous proposons un ensemble d'algorithme pour la modélisation urbaine 3D utilisant du LiDAR mobile et la photographie. Ces techniques sont utiles à la fois pour des applications du monde réel, telle que la modélisation urbaine 3D, et comme alternative à la technologie « NAVTEQ TRUE ».

Thesis: S.M., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Urban Studies and Planning, 2016.
This electronic version was submitted by the student author. The certified thesis is available in the Institute Archives and Special Collections.
Cataloged from student-submitted PDF version of thesis.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 109-111).
This thesis uses electricity consumption data from household and enterprise-level smart meters in County B, Country A, and Turin, Italy, to explore temporal and geographic variations in urban energy consumption and thus urban activity. A central question is whether electricity consumption patterns vary between different economic sectors, across space, and between different days of the week and times of year. This data shows clearly that Country A activity patterns are roughly similar across all seven days of the week, whereas Italian electricity consumption declines markedly on weekends, particularly Sundays. In general, and particularly in Italy, this thesis shows strong seasonality to electricity consumption, with clearly identifiable seasons and high correlation in consumption patterns within each season. This thesis focuses on user type variation in Country A, where although certain patterns are more widespread in some sectors than others, there is significant overlap between pairs of sectors. Hence this thesis is able only to classify land use between residential and industrial sectors, and is unable to classify land use to a meaningful degree of accuracy by analyzing electricity consumption. It is, however, possible to detect geographic variation: urban and industrial centers consume a higher percentage of their electricity on weekdays and during regular work hours than rural areas. In addition, the impact of various special occurrences on urban behavior is probed. This thesis provides measurement of the impact of various holidays on economic activity, using electricity consumption as a proxy. Large (industrial) consumers are generally much more sensitive to holidays than small (residential) consumers are, except during the summer months in Italy. In general, consumption declines on a single holiday are highly correlated with consumption declines on other holidays. Furthermore, using observations at 15-minute intervals, I attempt to measure the short-term behavior shifts caused by daylight savings time's start and finish.
by Saul Kriger Wilson.
S.M.

Dynamic urban models embody current theories about how urban systems evolve. To explore the consequences of this theory for a particular urban system requires an urban simulation because the theories are necessarily complicated to deal with the nonlinearity and complexity found in urban systems. Making sense of this output is challenging and in this thesis we explore using interactive visualisation and participation in a simulation to help a user interpret this output. Seven different simulation models are developed and explored using this methodology and applied to present day Greater London and South Yorkshire and the historical United States.

High spatial resolution imagery can be a very significant source of detailed land cover and land use data necessary for better urban planning and management, which is becoming increasingly important due to the growing human population. However, traditional methods, based on spectral data, used to extract this information from remote sensing imagery have proven to be unsuitable for high-resolution images. Spatial data, or texture, has been widely investigated as a supplement to spectral data for the analysis of complex urban scenes. However, the application of these techniques on high spatial resolution imagery, such as those obtained by the IKONOS satellites, has yet to be studied. This research, therefore, focuses on the extraction of texture features through the use of the Grey Level Co-occurrence Matrix texture analysis technique, which are then combined with the spectral data in the Maximum Likelihood Classification approach, as a method for obtaining more accurate urban land cover and land use information from high spatial resolution IKONOS imagery. In this study, classifications were done using three datasets: a spatial dataset consisting of three texture channels (Mean, Homogeneity and Dissimilarity), a spectral dataset consisting of four spectral channels (Red, Green, Blue and N-IR), and a combination dataset (spatial and spectral). The results show that the spatial dataset produced an overall classification accuracy of 73.5%. The spectral dataset produced a slightly higher overall classification accuracy of 78.9%, an increase over the spatial dataset of 5.4%. The combination dataset produced the highest overall classification accuracy of 86.1%, which is an increase of 7.2% over the spectral dataset. These results demonstrate great potential for the contribution of texture and high-resolution images in deriving more accurate and detailed urban information.

The paper evaluates nature-based solutions for a retrofitting proposal for the combined regeneration, climate adaptation, and green space management of the industrial area Gåsebäck in Helsingborg, Sweden. The objective of this study was to evaluate options for how Gåsebäck could be sustainably regenerated and developed, while providing additional security against future negative effects of climate change, through the implementation of nature-based solutions. The methods used were unstructured interviews, literature study, thematic data analysis, and scoping review. Some urban societal challenges the area is facing were identified as Urban regeneration, Climate adaptation, and Green space management. The suggested NBSs to address these challenges are phytoremediation, mycoremediation, street trees and bushes, green walls, green roofs, flower beds, permeable surfaces, roadside greenery, rain gardens, de-culvertation and pocket parks. Examples of how the identified nature-based solutions can be retrofitted to block Italien are installing green walls on the old fire station for noise and pollution abatement, biodiversity increase, climate regulation, and enhancement of green elements; green roofs on various buildings for e.g. water management, increased biodiversity and green elements; street trees and bushes along the streets Södergatan and Malmöleden/Gåsebäcksvägen for noise and pollution abatement, water management, biodiversity increase, and enhancement of green elements; site specific installation or pocket park with phyto- or mycoremediation; flower beds and roadside traffic to increase attractiveness; and rain gardens and permeable surfaces for water management.

20180620

Urban dynamics at regional scales has been increasingly important for economics, policies, and land use planning, and monitoring regional scale urban dynamics has become an urgent need in recent years. This study illustrated the use of time series nighttime light (NTL) data from the United States Air Force Defense Meteorological Satellites Program/Operational Linescan System (DMSP/OLS) to delineate urban boundaries and tracked three key urban changes: land cover change, population growth and GDP growth within Virginia. NTL data from different years were inter-calibrated to be comparable by using linear regression model and Pseudo Invariant Features (PIFs) method. Urban patches were delineated by applying thresholding techniques based on digital number (DN) values extracted from DMSP/OLS imagery. Compounded Night Light Index (CNLI) values were calculated to help estimate GDP, and these processes were applied in a time series from 2000 to 2010. Spatial patterns of DN change and the variation of CNLI indicate that human activities were increasing during the 10 years in Virginia. Accuracy of the results was confirmed using ancillary data sources from the U.S. Census and NLCD imagery.
Master of Science
Urban areas concentrate built environment, population, and economic activities, therefore, generating urban sprawl is a simultaneous result of land-use change, economic growth, population growth and so on. Remote sensing has been used to map urban sprawl within individual cities for a long time, while there has been less research focused on regional scale urban dynamics. However, the regional scale urban dynamics for economics, formulating policies, and land use planning has been increasingly important, and monitoring regional scale urban dynamics has become an urgent need in recent years. Here, we illustrated the use of multi-temporal United States Air Force Satellites data to help monitor urban sprawls by delineating urban patches and we measured a variety of urban changes, such as urban population growth and land cover change within Virginia based on the delineation. For doing so, digital number values, which measures the brightness of satellite imagery, were extracted and other relative index values were calculated based on digital number values, and these processes were applied in a time series from 2000 to 2010. Spatial patterns of digital number values change and the variation of another light index values indicate that human activities were increasing during the 10 years in Virginia.

Today, more than half of the world population is living in cities, which has been doubled in the last 50 years. The reason for that attraction is not only economical, but also security, education, and health. While people migrate to cities to reach improved life conditions, several issues raised by the increasing population. Recent studies have shown the importance of ethnic and cultural diversity of urban population to encourage tolerance, and to foster creativity and economic growth. Facing the urban growth challenges, we search for the key formulas to obtain healthy societies under the light of new type of data sources, such as mobile phone usage datasets. To this end, first we build up a tool to identify security related incidents from a country, which unstable political conditions held. Then we trace the formulas of healthy societies with examples from both developing and developed countries. We check the individual interaction and communication pattern effects (bridging and bonding) for the existence of social capital. Then we analyze aggregated ethnic diversity, and associate segregation scores with census data, and different ethnic groups preferences to move in the city, existence of any pattern for specific nation. The current studies are mainly hypothetical, with the absence of large scale real life data sources. This thesis aims to provide an insight to policy makers for building healthy societies, for the benefit of urban well-being.

Today, more than half of the world population is living in cities, which has been doubled in the last 50 years. The reason for that attraction is not only economical, but also security, education, and health. While people migrate to cities to reach improved life conditions, several issues raised by the increasing population. Recent studies have shown the importance of ethnic and cultural diversity of urban population to encourage tolerance, and to foster creativity and economic growth. Facing the urban growth challenges, we search for the key formulas to obtain healthy societies under the light of new type of data sources, such as mobile phone usage datasets. To this end, first we build up a tool to identify security related incidents from a country, which unstable political conditions held. Then we trace the formulas of healthy societies with examples from both developing and developed countries. We check the individual interaction and communication pattern effects (bridging and bonding) for the existence of social capital. Then we analyze aggregated ethnic diversity, and associate segregation scores with census data, and different ethnic groups preferences to move in the city, existence of any pattern for specific nation. The current studies are mainly hypothetical, with the absence of large scale real life data sources. This thesis aims to provide an insight to policy makers for building healthy societies, for the benefit of urban well-being.

Urban areas are known to have different climatic conditions than their rural counterparts including higher temperatures, greater wind speeds, and increased precipitation otherwise known as urban heat islands, urban wind, and urban precipitation. These phenomena are all caused by the design and form of the city. Large amounts of impervious surface area, obtrusive buildings, and a lack of vegetation in the urban landscape all contribute to these problems. Landscape architects have the potential to mitigate urban heat islands, urban wind, and urban precipitation by understanding what causes these phenomena and knowing a few key principles by which to mitigate them.

Parking lots can cover up to half of the land area in cities and offer a great opportunity to correct urban climate problems. This thesis looks at current United States parking lot ordinances to determine if and how well principles of designing with climate have been incorporated. Guidelines are then given to help in the construction of a parking lot ordinance that aims to ameliorate the city's mesoclimate. A design is then created that shows how these parking lot guidelines could be incorporated into a functional, aesthetically pleasing parking lot.
Master of Landscape Architecture

This thesis demonstrates how architectural design can be used to help alleviate the current environmental crisis, using a radical sustainable approach that integrates high density living and farming activities within the context of suburban planning. In South Africa, population growth and urbanisation have led to low-rise low-density buildings invading . bio diversity nodes, valuable arable land, and natural reserves on the periphery of cities. Not only are the infrastructural costs of servicing these low-density suburbs very high, but the pollution caused by daily commuting to and from the workplace has lasting environmental consequences. Continuing deforestation is needed to create new arable land; at the same time, ploughing and shipping within the agricultural sector make a significant contribution to global pollution, while up to 70% of potable water is lost through evaporation during irrigation. The architectural approach on which this thesis is based, integrates the usually separate components of living and farming, into a single closed high-rise entity, called the Living Tower. Taking a cue from ecosystem dynamics, a Living Tower model was developed to mimics the natural process whereby the waste of one entity becomes the food of another, creating an efficient cyclical flow of resources. In this way, renewable resources comprise the heart of the life-giving and life-sustaining Tower. Analysis of earlier designs based on similar principles is used to identify key elements of the Living Tower. These include amongst other integrated stacked greenhouses, evaporative coolers, an anaerobic digester, a central atrium design and a living machine (eco restorer). Living Tower models of differing heights are compared and evaluated in terms of their sustainability and efficiency. A thirty storey Living Tower is shown to provide the optimal solution to the core environmental issues considered, including the renewal of natural resources and the reclaiming of arable land. The corresponding diagrams, calculations and graphs illustrate the potential impact on both nature and society of a thirty storey Living Tower. This innovative design solution focuses on shaping the landscape with contextual reference in order for the Tower to 'grow' out of the hills and include a variety of mixed used programs in the form of living, working and playing to enhance social interaction. Through the design solutions the Living Tower successfully combines higher living densities and an ecologically friendly lifestyle in a structure that is economically viable, aesthetically pleasing, and therefore using architecture for sustainable future growth.

L'agricultura urbana està florint al voltant de les ciutats del món desenvolupat com a resposta a l’augment de població urbana, la creixent conscienciació ambiental entorn el sistema industrial d'aliments i la necessitat d'abordar problemàtiques socials. Aquests nous sistemes de producció local d’aliments tenen com a objectiu desenvolupar models sostenibles que restableixin les relacions entre productors i consumidors, alhora que impulsen les economies locals i redueixen el transport associat als aliments. D'altra banda, la recent crisi financera i l'expansió dels espais abandonats a les ciutats han revitalitzat els projectes d’agricultura urbana, no només a nivell d'autogestió (és a dir, de forma comunitària o privada), sinó també a nivell comercial. En particular, els nous professionals i els agricultors urbans han trobat en els terrats de la ciutat un espai buit on situar la producció d'aliments, donant lloc al desenvolupament de l'agricultura urbana en coberta. Conseqüentment, granges, hivernacles i jardins han colonitzat les cobertes dels edificis. No obstant, manca una avaluació específica de la potencial implementació i el perfil de sostenibilitat de les diferents formes d’agricultura urbana en coberta, tècniques de cultiu i cultius. En aquest context, la present tesi tracta de respondre a dues preguntes d'investigació "Quin és el potencial de l'agricultura urbana en coberta en termes qualitatius i quantitatius?" i "Quins són els impactes ambientals i els costos econòmics de les diferents formes d’agricultura urbana en coberta?". Amb aquest objectiu, es proposa un marc metodològic i s'analitzen tres casos d'estudi que són experiències pilot de diferents formes d'agricultura urbana en coberta. La producció d'aliments a les ciutats és un sistema complex que implica diversos actors socials, té múltiples escales i afecta les tres dimensions de la sostenibilitat (medi ambient, economia, societat). Per tant, una avaluació exhaustiva ha de combinar diferents disciplines per abordar aquests temes. Aquesta tesi segueix un marc interdisciplinari que inclou (a) investigació qualitativa, per aprofundir en les percepcions dels diferents actors socials relacionats amb l’agricultura urbana i l’agricultura en coberta; (b) sistemes d'informació geogràfica (SIG), per identificar i quantificar les cobertes disponibles i viables per a la implementació de l'agricultura en coberta; (c) l'anàlisi de cicle de vida (ACV), per quantificar les càrregues ambientals dels sistemes d’agricultura en coberta; i (d) l'anàlisi de costos de cicle de vida (ACCV), per quantificar els costos econòmics de l’agricultura en coberta. Aquest marc metodològic permet avaluar l’agricultura urbana en coberta des de l'escala ciutat (per exemple, perspectiva de planificació) a l'escala del sistema (per exemple, productes alimentaris). Una anàlisi de la percepció dels diversos actors socials a través d'entrevistes qualitatives va desvetllar que el desenvolupament de l'agricultura en coberta a Barcelona s'enfronta actualment a algunes limitacions, principalment a causa de la manca de suport d’alguns actors. Les principals barreres per al suport a l'agricultura urbana en coberta són la manca d'una definició comuna de l'agricultura urbana, l'origen específic de l’agricultura urbana a Barcelona i la seva morfologia urbana i la limitada acceptació social d'algunes tècniques de producció d'aliments. No obstant això, els actors socials valoren els beneficis sostenibles (és a dir, ambiental, econòmica i social) vinculada a l'agricultura urbana en coberta, en particular en el context del desenvolupament d'una economia verda local. En termes quantitatius, l'agricultura urbana en coberta mostra un gran potencial per augmentar l’actual producció local d’aliments i reduir les càrregues ambientals del flux d’aliments de la ciutat. Un conjunt de criteris múltiples és necessari per identificar els sostres tècnica i econòmicament viables per a la implementació d'hivernacles en coberta comercials (és a dir, la disponibilitat d'espai, la llum solar, la resistència i la pendent, i els requisits legals i de planificació). Els parcs comercials mostren un major potencial a curt termini (53-98%) que els parcs industrials (8%), a causa d'una arquitectura més resistent, encara que els parcs industrials són de gran interès per a un pla d’implementació d’agricultura urbana en coberta a gran escala a causa de la seva àrea extensa. La potencial aplicació d’hivernacles en coberta integrats, els quals aprofiten els fluxos residuals de l'edifici (és a dir, la calor i CO2 residuals, aigua de pluja), és una forma innovadora d'agricultura en coberta. Els beneficis d’aquests sistemes varien en les regions càlides (per exemple, el Mediterrani), on la producció passiva en hivernacle es pot realitzar, i les regions fredes (per exemple, Països Baixos), on els hivernacles requereixen calefacció. La preferència entre les regions per a l'aplicació d’hivernacles integrats es basa, per tant, en si l’objectiu és augmentar la producció d'aliments (en zones càlides, la productivitat pot augmentar) o reduir les càrregues ambientals (és a dir, en zones fredes, el consum d’energia per calefacció es pot substituir). Des d'una perspectiva de cicle de vida, l’hivernacle en coberta del rooftop greenhouse lab (RTG-Lab) (Bellaterra, Espanya), el jardí comunitari en coberta de Via Gandusio (Bolonya, Itàlia) i un jardí privat en coberta al centre de Barcelona (Espanya) són analitzats. L’agricultura urbana en coberta pot esdevenir una opció ecològica per desenvolupar l'agricultura urbana i els sistemes alimentaris locals a les ciutats. No obstant això, els resultats depenen de la forma d’agricultura en coberta, el tipus de cultiu i el sistema de cultiu. Els projectes pilot avaluats en aquesta tesis mostren unes primeres tendències, que permeten llistar recomanacions per al desenvolupament de l'agricultura en coberta. Pel que fa a la producció d'aliments en hivernacles en coberta, el propi hivernacle és el principal element en els impactes ambientals (41,0-79,5%) i els cost econòmic (64%), com en l'agricultura convencional. Tot i que un hivernacle en coberta té una majors impactes ambientals (entre 17 i 75%) que un hivernacle convencional, la producció de tomàquet en el RTG-Lab a Barcelona va resultar tenir un menor impacte ambientals que un hivernacle convencional, no només en finalitzar la producció (entre 9 i 26% menor) sinó també quan arriba al consumidor (entre 33 i 42% menor). En quant al cost econòmic, tot i que la producció de tomàquets en coberta resulta un 21% més cara, quan es considera tota la cadena de subministrament convencional, es posa de manifest la competitivitat dels hivernacles en coberta com a sistemes de producció local. Pel que fa als jardins en coberta, els consums del cultiu (és a dir, aigua, fertilitzants, energia) tenen el paper més rellevant. El jardí comunitari en coberta empra elements reutilitzats en el seu disseny (per exemple, pallets) i el reg va ser l'etapa més impactant (60-75%). En el jardí privat en coberta, la fertirrigació (entre 33 i 46%) i l'estructura del jardí (entre el 28 i el 35%) van ser els principals contribuents al impacte ambiental. La recol·lecció d'aigua de pluja per al subministrament de la demanda d'aigua dels cultius i la integració d'elements reutilitzats en les estructures de cultiu podria augmentar la sostenibilitat dels jardins en disminuir el consum de recursos del sistema. La comparació de les diferents tècniques de cultiu en el cas d’estudi comunitari va destacar la major eco-eficiència de la producció en sòl, en comparació amb les tècniques hidropòniques (és a dir, la tècnica de pel·lícula de nutrients, sistema flotant). L'avaluació dels diferents cultius va mostrar el mateix patró en els jardins en coberta comunitari i privat. Els cultius amb fruit (per exemple, el tomàquet) tenen uns impactes ambientals més baixos que els cultius de fula (per exemple, el enciam), ja que les productivitats són més altes. No obstant això, aquestes formes d'agricultura en coberta realitzen policultiu, el disseny del qual està habitualment orientat a les hortalisses de fruit, donant lloc a una densitat de plantació més baixa de la que es pot realitzar per cultius de fulla. Un disseny millorat, que dividís el jardí segons cultiu, podria millorar i equilibrar aquestes divergències entre els tipus de cultiu. Aquesta tesi contribueix a la comprensió del procés de desenvolupament d’una agricultura urbana i agricultura urbana en coberta competitiva i sostenible a les ciutats dels països desenvolupats mitjançant l’avenç d'aspectes metodològics i la generació de noves dades sobre el tema. Els mètodes i resultats amplien el coneixement i la comprensió de l'agricultura en coberta, l'agricultura urbana i la producció local d'aliments per tal de donar suport als processos de presa de decisions en el disseny i desenvolupament de futurs projectes d'agricultura en coberta. Futures investigacions haurien de centrar-se en l'avaluació de les percepcions dels actors socials a altres ciutats, focalitzant en aspectes específics com l'acceptació social; en quantificar el potencial de l'agricultura en coberta d’altres àrees urbanes i ciutats; i en avaluar més casos d’estudi i formes d’agricultura urbana en coberta des d'una perspectiva de sostenibilitat, fent especial èmfasi en la integració dels aspectes socials.
La agricultura urbana está floreciendo en las ciudades de países desarrollados como respuesta al aumento de población urbana, la creciente concienciación ambiental sobre el sistema industrial alimentario i la necesidad de resolver ciertas problemáticas sociales. Estos nuevos sistemas de producción local de alimentos tienen como objetivo desarrollar modelos sostenibles que restablezcan las relaciones entre productores y consumidores, a la vez que impulsan las economías locales y reducen el transporte asociado a los alimentos. Por otro lado, la reciente crisis económica y la expansión de espacios abandonados en las ciudades ha revitalizado los proyectos de agricultura urbana, no sólo a nivel de autogestión (comunitario, privado) sino también a nivel comercial. En particular, los nuevos profesionales y agricultores urbanos han encontrado en las terrazas y cubiertas de la ciudad un espacio vacío donde situar la producción de alimentos, dando lugar al desarrollo de la agricultura urbana en cubierta. Consecuentemente, granjas, invernaderos y jardines han colonizado las cubiertas de los edificios. No obstante, una evaluación específica de la potencial implementación y el perfil de sostenibilidad de las diferentes formas de agricultura urbana en cubierta. En este contexto, la presente tesis trata de responder a dos preguntas de investigación: “¿Cuál es el potencial de la agricultura urbana en cubierta en términos cualitativos y cuantitativos?” y “¿Cuáles son los impactos ambientales y los costes económicos de las diferentes formas de agricultura urbana en cubierta?”. Con este objetivo, se propone un marco metodológico y se analizan tres casos de estudio que son pruebas piloto de diferentes formas de agricultura urbana en cubierta. La producción de alimentos en ciudades es un sistema complejo que implica varios actores sociales, tiene múltiples escalas y afecta a las tres dimensiones de la sostenibilidad (medio ambiente, economía y sociedad). Por lo tanto, una evaluación exhaustiva debe combinar varias disciplinas para abordar estos sistemas. Esta tesis sigue un marco interdisciplinar que incluye (a) investigación cualitativa, para profundizar en las percepciones de los diferentes actores sociales relacionados con la agricultura urbana y la agricultura urbana en cubierta; (b) sistemas de información geográfica (SIG), para identificar y cuantificar las cubiertas disponibles y viables para la implementación de la agricultura en cubierta; (c) el análisis de ciclo de vida (ACV), para la cuantificación de los impactos ambientales de los sistemas de agricultura en cubierta; y (d) el análisis de costes de ciclo de vida (ACCV), para cuantificar los costes económicos de la agricultura en cubierta. Este marco metodológico permite evaluar la agricultura urbana en cubierta des de la escala ciudad (por ejemplo, des de la perspectiva de planeamiento) a la escala sistema (por ejemplo, producto alimentario). Un análisis de las percepciones de los distintos actores sociales a través de entrevistas cualitativas desveló que el desarrollo de la agricultura urbana en cubierta en Barcelona se enfrenta actualmente a ciertas limitaciones, principalmente a causa de la falta de apoyo de algunos actores. Las principales barreras son la falta de una definición común de agricultura urbana, el origen específico de la agricultura urbana en Barcelona y su morfología urbana, y la limitada aceptación social de algunas técnicas de cultivo. No obstante, los actores sociales valoran los beneficios sostenibles (ambientales, económicos y sociales) vinculados a la agricultura urbana en cubierta, en particular en el contexto del desarrollo de una economía verde local. En términos cuantitativos, la agricultura urbana en cubierta muestra un gran potencial para aumentar la actual producción local de alimentos y reducir las cargas ambientales del flujo de alimentos de la ciudad. Un conjunto de criterios es necesario para identificar las cubiertas técnica y económicamente viables para la implementación de invernaderos en cubierta comerciales: la disponibilidad de espacio, la luz solar, la resistencia y la pendiente, y los requisitos legales y de planificación. Los parques comerciales muestran un mayor potencial a corto plazo (53 a 98%) que los parques industriales (8%), debido a una arquitectura más resistente, aunque los parques industriales son de gran interés para un plan de implementación de agricultura urbana en cubierta a gran escala debido a su extensa área. La potencial implementación de invernaderos en cubierta integrados, los cuales aprovechan los flujos residuales del edificio (es decir, el calor y CO2 residuales, agua de lluvia), es una forma innovadora de agricultura en cubierta. Los beneficios de estos sistemas varían en las regiones cálidas (por ejemplo, el Mediterráneo), donde la producción pasiva en invernaderos se puede realizar, y las regiones frías (por ejemplo, Países Bajos), donde los invernaderos requieren calefacción. La preferencia entre las regiones para la implementación de invernaderos integrados se basa, por tanto, en si el objetivo es aumentar la producción de alimentos (en zonas cálidas, la productividad puede aumentar) o reducir las cargas ambientales (es decir, en zonas frías, el consumo de energía para calefacción se puede sustituir). Desde una perspectiva de ciclo de vida, la tesis analiza el invernadero en cubierta del Rooftop Greenhouse lab (RTG-Lab) (Bellaterra, España), el jardín comunitario en cubierta de Vía Gandusio (Bolonia, Italia) y un jardín privado en cubierta en el centro de Barcelona (España). La agricultura urbana en cubierta puede ser una opción sostenible para desarrollar la agricultura urbana y los sistemas alimentarios locales en las ciudades. Sin embargo, los resultados dependen de la forma de agricultura en cubierta, el tipo de cultivo y el sistema de cultivo. Los proyectos piloto evaluados en esta tesis muestran unas primeras tendencias, que permiten listar recomendaciones para el desarrollo de la agricultura en cubierta. En cuanto a la producción de alimentos en invernaderos en cubierta, el propio invernadero es el principal elemento en los impactos ambientales (41,0-79,5%) y el coste económico (64%), como en la agricultura convencional. Aunque un invernadero en cubierta tiene mayores impactos ambientales (entre 17 y 75%) que un invernadero convencional, la producción de tomate en el RTG-Lab en Barcelona resultó tener menores impactos ambientales que un invernadero convencional, no sólo en finalizar la producción (entre 9 y 26% menor) sino también cuando llega al consumidor (entre 33 y 42% menor). En cuanto al coste económico, pese a que la producción de tomates en cubierta resulta un 21% más cara, cuando se considera toda la cadena de suministro convencional, se pone de manifiesto la competitividad de los invernaderos en cubierta como sistemas de producción local. En cuanto a los jardines en cubierta, los consumos del cultivo (es decir, agua, fertilizantes, energía) tienen el papel más relevante. El jardín comunitario en cubierta emplea elementos reutilizados en su diseño (por ejemplo, pallets) y el riego fue la etapa más impactante (60-75%). En el jardín privado en cubierta, la fertirrigación (entre 33 y 46%) y la estructura del jardín (entre el 28 y el 35%) fueron los principales contribuyentes al impacto ambiental. La recolección de agua de lluvia para el suministro de la demanda de agua de los cultivos y la integración de elementos reutilizados en las estructuras de cultivo podrían aumentar la sostenibilidad de los jardines al disminuir el consumo de recursos del sistema. La comparación de las diferentes técnicas de cultivo en el caso de estudio comunitario destacó la mayor eco-eficiencia de la producción en suelo, en comparación con las técnicas hidropónicas (es decir, la técnica de película de nutrientes, sistema flotante). La evaluación de los diferentes cultivos mostró el mismo patrón en los jardines en cubierta comunitario y privado. Los cultivos con fruto (por ejemplo, el tomate) tienen unos impactos ambientales más bajos que los cultivos de hoja (por ejemplo, la lechuga), ya que las productividades son más altas. Sin embargo, estas formas de agricultura en cubierta realizan policultivo, cuyo diseño está habitualmente orientado a las hortalizas de fruto dando lugar a una densidad de plantación más baja de la que se puede realizar para cultivos de hoja. Un diseño mejorado, que divide el jardín según cultivos, podría mejorar y equilibrar estas divergencias entre los tipos de cultivo. Esta tesis contribuye a la comprensión del proceso de desarrollo de una agricultura urbana y agricultura urbana en cubierta competitiva y sostenible en las ciudades de los países desarrollados mediante el avance en aspectos metodológicos y la generación de nuevos datos sobre el tema. Los métodos y resultados amplían el conocimiento y la comprensión de la agricultura en cubierta, la agricultura urbana y la producción local de alimentos para dar apoyo a los procesos de toma de decisiones en el diseño y desarrollo de futuros proyectos de agricultura en cubierta. Futuras investigaciones deberían centrarse en la evaluación de las percepciones de los actores sociales en otras ciudades, focalizando en aspectos específicos como la aceptación social; en cuantificar el potencial de la agricultura en cubierta de otras áreas urbanas y ciudades; y en evaluar más casos de estudio y formas de agricultura urbana en cubierta desde una perspectiva de sostenibilidad, haciendo especial énfasis en la integración de los aspectos sociales.
Urban agriculture (UA) is blooming around cities of the developed world as a response to the increasing urban population, the growing environmental awareness of the industrial food system and the need of addressing social gaps. These new local food systems aims to develop sustainable pathways that re-establish the relations between producers and consumers while boosting local economies and minimising food-miles. Furthermore, the recent financial crisis and the spread of vacant lands have revitalised UA projects, not only at the self-managed level (i.e., community, private) but also at the commercial one. In particular, UA practitioners and farmers have found in the roofs of the city a vacant space for placing food production leading to the development of urban rooftop farming (URF). Consequently, rooftop farms, rooftop greenhouses and rooftop gardens have colonized buildings. Nevertheless, specific assessment of the potential implementation and the sustainability performance of different URF forms, cultivation techniques and crops, are necessary. To address these gaps, this dissertation seeks to answer two main research questions “What is the potential of urban rooftop farming in qualitative and quantitative terms?” and “What are the environmental impacts and economic costs of urban rooftop farming systems?”. With this goal, a methodological framework is proposed and three case studies are analysed, which are pilot experiences of different forms of urban rooftop farming. Food production in cities is a complex system that involves several stakeholders, has multiple scales and affects the three dimensions of sustainability (environment, economy, society). Thus, a comprehensive assessment might combine different disciplines to approach such topic. This dissertation follows an interdisciplinary framework that includes (a) qualitative research, to deepen in the perceptions of the different stakeholders related to UA and URF; (b) geographic information systems (GIS), to identify and quantify the available and feasible roofs for implementing rooftop farming; (c) life cycle assessment (LCA), to quantify the environmental burdens of rooftop farming systems; and (d) life cycle costing (LCC), to quantify the economic costs of URF. This framework enables to approach URF from the city scale (e.g., planning perspective) to the system scale (e.g., food products). A stakeholders’ analysis through qualitative interviews unravelled that the development of rooftop farming in Barcelona is currently facing some limitations mainly due to a constrained support from some stakeholders. The main barriers to supporting urban rooftop farming are the lack of a common definition of urban agriculture, the specific origin of UA in Barcelona and its urban morphology and the limited social acceptance of some food production techniques. However, stakeholders valued the sustainability benefits (i.e., environmental, economic and social) linked to urban rooftop farming, particularly in the context of the development of a local green economy. In quantitative terms, urban rooftop farming shows a great potential for increasing the current local production and reducing the environmental burdens of the city’s “foodprint”. A multicriteria set is needed to identify the technically and economically feasible roofs for the implementation of commercial rooftop greenhouses (RTGs) (i.e., availability of space, sunlight, resistance and slope, and legal and planning requirements). Industrial parks and retail parks are here analysed and compared. Retail parks show a greater short-term potential (53-98%) than industrial parks (8%) due to a more resistant architecture, although industrial parks are of great interest for large-scale URF implementation plans due their extensive area. The potential implementation of integrated rooftop greenhouses (i-RTGs) which take advantage from the residual flows from the building (i.e., residual heat and CO2, rainwater) is an innovative way of rooftop farming. Benefits of i-RTGs vary in warm regions (e.g., Mediterranean), where unheated production can be performed, and cold regions (e.g., The Netherlands), where greenhouses requires heating. The preference between regions for implementing i-RTGs is based, thus, on whether the goal is increasing food production (i.e., higher crop yields in warm areas) or reducing environmental burdens (i.e., substitution of energy consumption for heating in cold areas). From a life cycle perspective, the rooftop greenhouse lab (RTG-Lab) (Bellaterra, Spain), the community rooftop garden in Via Gandusio (Bologna, Italy) and a private rooftop garden in the city centre of Barcelona (Spain) are analysed. URF can become an environmentally-friendly option for further develop urban agriculture and local food systems in cities. However, results depend on the type of rooftop farming, the crop and the growing system. The pilot projects assessed in this dissertation unravelled some trends and drawn some recommendations for the development of rooftop farming. Regarding food production in rooftop greenhouses, the greenhouse structure plays a major role in the environmental impacts and the economic costs (41.0-79.5%), as in conventional agriculture. Although the greenhouse structure of RTGs have greater environmental impacts than multi-tunnel greenhouses (between 17 and 75 %), tomatoes from an RTG in Barcelona are more environmentally-friendly not only at the production point (between 9 and 26% lower) but also at the consumer (between 33 and 42 % lower). Although tomato production results in 21% higher cost than conventional tomatoes, the consideration of the entire supply-chain highlights the competitiveness of RTGs as local food systems. Regarding rooftop gardens, crop inputs are the most contributing elements. The community garden employed re-used elements in their design (e.g., pallets) and irrigation was the most contributing stage (60-75%). In the private garden, fertirrigation (between 33 and 46%) and the structure of the garden (between 28 and 35%) (i.e., made of raw wood) were the main contributors. Rainwater harvesting for supplying the water demand of the crops and the integration of re-used elements in the cultivation structures might enhance the sustainability of gardens by decreasing the resources consumption of the system. The comparison of different growing techniques in the community garden highlighted the higher eco-efficiency of soil production, when compared to hydroponic techniques (i.e., nutrient film technique, floating system). The assessment of different crops showed the same pattern in the community and private rooftop gardens. Fruit vegetables have lower environmental burdens than leafy vegetables since they yield better. However, these rooftop farming forms perform polyculture, the design of which is commonly oriented to fruit vegetables, resulting in a low plant density for leafy vegetables. An improved design, which divides the garden, could then improve and balance these divergences among crop types. This dissertation contributes to the comprehension of the development process of competitive and sustainable urban agriculture and urban rooftop farming in cities of developed countries by developing methodological aspects and generating new data on the topic. The methods and results advance in the knowledge and understanding of rooftop farming, urban agriculture and local food in order to support decision-making processes in the design and development of future rooftop farming projects. Future research and strategies might focus on assessing the perceptions of stakeholders in other case studies, while focusing on specific aspects such as social acceptance; quantifying the potential of rooftop farming in other urban areas and cities; and assess more case studies and URF forms from a sustainability perspective, paying particular attention to the integration of the social aspects.

Poor air quality has been projected to be the world’s top cause of environmental premature mortality by 2050 surpassing poor sanitation and dirty water (IGBP / IGAC press release, 2012 ). One of the major challenges of air quality management is how to adequately quantify both the spatial and temporal variations of pollutants for the purpose of implementing necessary mitigation measures. The work described in this thesis aims to address this problem using novel electrochemical based air quality (AQ) sensors. These instruments are shown to provide cost effective, portable, reliable, indicative measurements for urban air quality assessment as well as for personal exposure studies. Three principal pollutants CO, NO and NO2 are simultaneously measured in each unit of the AQ instrument including temperature / RH measurements as well as GPS (for time and position) and GPRS for data transmission. Laboratory studies showed that the electrochemical sensor nodes can be highly sensitive, showing linear response during calibration tests at ppb level (0-160 ppb). The instrumental detection limits were found to be < 4 ppb (CO and NO) and < 1 ppb for NO2 with fast response time equivalent to t90 < 20 s. Several field studies were carried out involving deployment of both the mobile and static electrochemical sensor nodes. Results from some short-term studies in four different cities including Cambridge (UK), London (UK), Valencia (Spain) and Lagos (Nigeria) are presented. The measurements in these cities represent snapshot of the pollution levels, the stark contrast between the pollution level especially CO (mean mixing ratio of 16 ppm over 3 hrs) in Lagos and the other three cities is a reflection of the poor air quality in that part of the world. Results from long-term AQ monitoring using network of 46 static AQ sensors were used to characterise pollution in different environments ranging from urban to semi-urban and rural locations. By coupling meteorological information (wind measurements) with pollution data, pollution sources, and phenomena like the street canyon effect can be studied. Results from the long-term study also revealed that siting of the current fixed monitoring stations can fail to represent the actual air quality distribution and may therefore be unrepresentative. This work has shown the capability of electrochemical based AQ sensors in complementing the existing fixed site monitors thus demonstrating an emerging measurement paradigm for air quality monitoring and regulation, source attribution and human exposure studies.

Though urban forests play a key role in the sustainable development of cities, the environmental stressors faced by urban trees are numerous. City managers rarely have access to information on the condition of urban trees, which impedes both their management and the study of environmental factors that affect their vitality, such as landscape imperviousness. The research presented in this thesis aims to bridge this gap in information. The capacity of airborne light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and hyperspectral imagery to evaluate tree condition in the city of Surrey, British Columbia, Canada, is explored, and its relationship with impervious land cover is investigated. LiDAR was used to estimate two indicators of tree condition: crown density and tree height. Tree heights estimated by LiDAR were well correlated with field measurements (Pearson’s r = 0.927, p < 0.001), while the coefficient of variation of return height was able to predict crown density with an r2 = 0.617 for trees over 8 m. The heights of 1,914 trees across the city were then estimated using LiDAR. To account for the effects of age, species-specific height models were fitted using planting dates recorded by city authorities. The residuals from these models were then used as indicators of tree condition. A 1.0 m resolution classified land cover map (accuracy of 88.6%) was produced for the city, from which landscape imperviousness was then derived. When aggregated to broad-scale 0.5 km2 spatial units, negative relationships (r2 between 0.292 and 0.753) were found between height model residuals and land cover imperviousness. However, this relationship was found to be non-significant when examined at the individual tree level. We conclude that imperviousness does not appear to be a significant driver of tree height variation, with negative broad-scale relationships likely due to correlations with other unmeasured environmental variables associated with the urban-rural gradient. Hyperspectral and LiDAR data proved to be a powerful tool for mapping land cover and imperviousness. The results of this research show that airborne remote sensing is a promising tool for assessing the condition of urban trees and studying the environmental factors that impact their development.
Forestry, Faculty of
Graduate

As virtual reality and interaction possibilities in game technology evolve and become more user-friendly, accessible and cheaper, this technology suddenly gets useful in occupational areas that traditionally have not used them, one being urban planning. By using a game engine and a virtual neighborhood that utilizes procedural generation the user has the option of having a cost-effective, replicable environment with great control from the user.  According to the Broken Windows Theory small differences in appearance can have a big impact on how an urban neighborhood will be perceived. Therefore it would be interesting to investigate how the perception of street scenes is affected by the different aesthetic properties of dirt, graffiti, broken windows, building height and greenery (trees and bushes). By implementing a virtual neighborhood that utilizes procedural generation the basic structure of the neighborhood can stay the same, while separately adjusting the specific properties that are being evaluated. Through surveys and interviews the results show that every one of the chosen properties are very significant except for building height. Generally the more trees that were present, the more safe the neighborhood felt, and the order of significance of dirt, graffiti and broken windows differed between the two evaluation methods.
Då virtual reality och interaktionsmöjligheterna inom spelteknologi utvecklas och blir mer användarvänliga, mer tillgängliga och billigare, blir denna teknik plötsligt användbar inom yrkesområden som traditionellt sett inte har använt dem, där ett exempel är stadsplanering. Genom att använda en spelmotor och en virtuell stadsdel som utnyttjar procedural generation får användaren en kostnadseffektiv, replikerbar miljö med stor kontroll från användaren. Enligt Broken Windows Theory så kan små skillnader i utseende ha en stor inverkan på hur en stadsdel kommer att uppfattas. Därför vore det intressant att undersöka hur synen på virtuella gatscener påverkas av olika estetiska egenskaper som smuts, graffiti, trasiga fönster, bygghöjd, och grönska (träd och buskar). Genom att implementera en virtuell stadsdel som utnyttjar procedural generation kan grundstrukturen vara densamma, medan man separat justerar de specifika egenskaperna som ska utvärderas. Genom enkäter och intervjuer visar resultaten att var och en av de valda egenskaperna är mycket betydande, med undantaget för byggnadshöjd. Generellt så kändes stadsdelen mer säker desto mer träd som fanns, och ordningen av signifikansen för smuts, graffiti, och trasiga fönster skiljde sig mellan enkäterna och intervjuerna.

Travel time is a simple and robust network performance measure that is perceived and well understood by the public and politicians. However, travel time data collection can be costly especially if the analysis area is extensive. This thesis proposes a solution to the problem of limited network sensor coverage caused by insufficient sample size of probe vehicles or inadequate numbers of fixed sensors. The approach makes use of travel time correlation between nearby (neighbour) links to estimate travel times on links with no data using neighbour links travel time data. A framework is proposed that estimates link travel times using available data from neighbouring links. The proposed framework was validated using real-life data from the City of Vancouver, British Columbia. The travel time estimation accuracy was found comparable to the existing literature. The concept of neighbour links travel time estimation was extended and applied at a corridor level. Regression and Non-Parametric (NP) models were developed to estimate travel times of one corridor using data from another corridor. To analyze the impact of the probes’ sample size on the accuracy of the proposed methodology, a case study was undertaken using a VISSIM microsimulation model of downtown Vancouver. The simulation model was calibrated and validated using field traffic volumes and travel time data. The methodology provided reasonable estimation accuracy even using small probe samples. The use of bus travel time data to estimate automobile travel times of neighbour links was explored. The results showed that bus probes data on neighbour links can be useful for estimating link travel times in the absence of vehicle probes. The fusion of vehicle and bus probes data was analyzed. Using transit data for neighbour links travel time estimation was shown to improve the accuracy of estimation at low market penetration levels of passenger probes. However, the significance of transit probe data diminishes with the increase of market penetration level of probe vehicles. Overall, the results of this thesis demonstrate the feasibility of using neighbour links data as an additional source of information that might not have been extensively explored.