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476 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Land-Use Planning for Urban Sprawl Based on the CLUE-S Model: A Case Study of Guangzhou, China

by Linyu Xu, Zhaoxue Li, Huimin Song and Hao Yin

Entropy 2013, 15(9), 3490-3506; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15093490 - 2 Sep 2013

Cited by 51 | Viewed by 8708

Abstract

In recent years, changes in land use resulting from rapid urbanization or urban sprawl have brought about many negative effects to land ecosystems, and have led to entropy increases. This study introduces the novel ideas of a planning regulation coefficient for sustainable land-use [...] Read more.

In recent years, changes in land use resulting from rapid urbanization or urban sprawl have brought about many negative effects to land ecosystems, and have led to entropy increases. This study introduces the novel ideas of a planning regulation coefficient for sustainable land-use planning in order to decrease entropy, combined with the CLUE-S model to predict land-use change. Three scenarios were designed as the basis for land-use projections for Guangzhou, China, in 2015, and the changes in the land ecological service function for each scenario were predicted. The results show that, although the current land-use plan is quite reasonable, it will be necessary to further strengthen the protection of farmland and important ecological service function areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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4076 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Entropy Measures of Street-Network Dispersion: Analysis of Coastal Cities in Brazil and Britain

by Nahid Mohajeri, Jon R. French and Agust Gudmundsson

Entropy 2013, 15(9), 3340-3360; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15093340 - 23 Aug 2013

Cited by 20 | Viewed by 8266

Abstract

Geographical location and landforms of various types have strong effects on the developments of many cities and associated street networks. This study presents new results of landform effects, in particular the geometry of shorelines, on the grid street networks (a total of 10,442 [...] Read more.

Geographical location and landforms of various types have strong effects on the developments of many cities and associated street networks. This study presents new results of landform effects, in particular the geometry of shorelines, on the grid street networks (a total of 10,442 streets) of three Brazilian coastal cities. The results are compared with the street networks of three coastal cities in Britain (a total of 22,002 streets) that have evolved through a more natural “bottom-up” process. Gibbs/Shannon entropy (a measure of dispersion) generally has a positive linear correlation with length ranges and the average lengths of the street, and for the power-law tails in particular. The geometry of the adjacent shorelines has great effect on the spatial orientation of streets in the Brazilian cities but less so for the networks of the British cities. More specifically, the more curved the shoreline, the greater is the dispersion in the street orientation and the greater the associated entropy. The results also show that the length-entropies of the outer parts of the Brazilian cities are generally lower than those of the inner parts, whereas the entropies of outer parts of the British cities are higher than those of the inner parts, indicating dispersion during street-network growth in the British cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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848 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Urban Dynamics, Fractals and Generalized Entropy

by Sara Encarnação, Marcos Gaudiano, Francisco C. Santos, José A. Tenedório and Jorge M. Pacheco

Entropy 2013, 15(7), 2679-2697; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15072679 - 11 Jul 2013

Cited by 16 | Viewed by 6995

Abstract

We explore the relation between the local fractal dimension and the development of the built-up area of the Northern Margin of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (NMAL), for the period between 1960 and 2004. To this end we make use of a Generalized [...] Read more.

We explore the relation between the local fractal dimension and the development of the built-up area of the Northern Margin of the Metropolitan Area of Lisbon (NMAL), for the period between 1960 and 2004. To this end we make use of a Generalized Local Spatial Entropy (GLSE) function based on which urban areas can be classified into five different types. Our analysis of NMAL shows how some of the growth dynamics encountered can be linked to the plethora of social, economic and political changes that have taken place in NMAL (and Portugal), during the last 40 years, allowing for the establishment of urban planning measures to either inhibit or promote sprawl in urban areas. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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1228 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Simple Urban Simulation Atop Complicated Models: Multi-Scale Equation-Free Computing of Sprawl Using Geographic Automata

by Paul M. Torrens, Yannis Kevrekidis, Roger Ghanem and Yu Zou

Entropy 2013, 15(7), 2606-2634; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15072606 - 2 Jul 2013

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 7604

Abstract

Reconciling competing desires to build urban models that can be simple and complicated is something of a grand challenge for urban simulation. It also prompts difficulties in many urban policy situations, such as urban sprawl, where simple, actionable ideas may need to be [...] Read more.

Reconciling competing desires to build urban models that can be simple and complicated is something of a grand challenge for urban simulation. It also prompts difficulties in many urban policy situations, such as urban sprawl, where simple, actionable ideas may need to be considered in the context of the messily complex and complicated urban processes and phenomena that work within cities. In this paper, we present a novel architecture for achieving both simple and complicated realizations of urban sprawl in simulation. Fine-scale simulations of sprawl geography are run using geographic automata to represent the geographical drivers of sprawl in intricate detail and over fine resolutions of space and time. We use Equation-Free computing to deploy population as a coarse observable of sprawl, which can be leveraged to run automata-based models as short-burst experiments within a meta-simulation framework. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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1462 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Spatially-Explicit Bayesian Information Entropy Metrics for Calibrating Landscape Transformation Models

by Kostas Alexandridis and Bryan C. Pijanowski

Entropy 2013, 15(7), 2480-2509; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15072480 - 25 Jun 2013

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 6948

Abstract

Assessing spatial model performance often presents challenges related to the choice and suitability of traditional statistical methods in capturing the true validity and dynamics of the predicted outcomes. The stochastic nature of many of our contemporary spatial models of land use change necessitate [...] Read more.

Assessing spatial model performance often presents challenges related to the choice and suitability of traditional statistical methods in capturing the true validity and dynamics of the predicted outcomes. The stochastic nature of many of our contemporary spatial models of land use change necessitate the testing and development of new and innovative methodologies in statistical spatial assessment. In many cases, spatial model performance depends critically on the spatially-explicit prior distributions, characteristics, availability and prevalence of the variables and factors under study. This study explores the statistical spatial characteristics of statistical model assessment of modeling land use change dynamics in a seven-county study area in South-Eastern Wisconsin during the historical period of 1963–1990. The artificial neural network-based Land Transformation Model (LTM) predictions are used to compare simulated with historical land use transformations in urban/suburban landscapes. We introduce a range of Bayesian information entropy statistical spatial metrics for assessing the model performance across multiple simulation testing runs. Bayesian entropic estimates of model performance are compared against information-theoretic stochastic entropy estimates and theoretically-derived accuracy assessments. We argue for the critical role of informational uncertainty across different scales of spatial resolution in informing spatial landscape model assessment. Our analysis reveals how incorporation of spatial and landscape information asymmetry estimates can improve our stochastic assessments of spatial model predictions. Finally our study shows how spatially-explicit entropic classification accuracy estimates can work closely with dynamic modeling methodologies in improving our scientific understanding of landscape change as a complex adaptive system and process. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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646 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Evaluation of a Low-Carbon City: Method and Application

by Meirong Su, Ronghua Li, Weiwei Lu, Chen Chen, Bin Chen and Zhifeng Yang

Entropy 2013, 15(4), 1171-1185; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15041171 - 27 Mar 2013

Cited by 48 | Viewed by 8882

Abstract

Many cities around the World have established the development objective of becoming a low-carbon city. Evaluation of such a city is important for its progress. A new evaluation framework of urban low-carbon development level is proposed in this paper, which integrates synthetic evaluation [...] Read more.

Many cities around the World have established the development objective of becoming a low-carbon city. Evaluation of such a city is important for its progress. A new evaluation framework of urban low-carbon development level is proposed in this paper, which integrates synthetic evaluation based on a bottom-up idea and analytical diagnosis based on a top-down idea. Further, set pair analysis is combined for synthetic evaluation and analytical diagnosis by comparing urban low-carbon development levels of different cities, through which the comprehensive state of urban low-carbon development level can be obtained and limiting factors identified. Based on the proposed framework and set pair analysis, low-carbon development levels of 12 Chinese cities are compared. Some suggestions are provided, based on results of overall situations of urban low-carbon development level and concrete performances of various factors and specific indicators. We conclude that both synthetic evaluation and analytical diagnosis are important for evaluation of urban low-carbon development level. The proposed framework and method can be widely applied in the evaluation of different cities over a long-term period. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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5973 KiB

Open AccessArticle

New Climatic Indicators for Improving Urban Sprawl: A Case Study of Tehran City

by Abdolazim Ghanghermeh, Gholamreza Roshan, José A. Orosa, José L. Calvo-Rolle and Ángel M. Costa

Entropy 2013, 15(3), 999-1013; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15030999 - 7 Mar 2013

Cited by 37 | Viewed by 7109

Abstract

In the modern world, the fine balance and delicate relationship between human society and the environment in which we exist has been affected by the phenomena of urbanisation and urban development. Today, various environmental factors give rise to horizontal dispersion, spread and growth [...] Read more.

In the modern world, the fine balance and delicate relationship between human society and the environment in which we exist has been affected by the phenomena of urbanisation and urban development. Today, various environmental factors give rise to horizontal dispersion, spread and growth of cities. One of the most important results of this is climatic change which is directly affected by the urban sprawl of every metropolis. The aim of this study is to identify the relationship between the various horizontally distributed components of Tehran city and changes in essential microclimate clusters, by means of the humidex index. Results showed that, when the humidex was calculated for each of the obtained clusters, it was evident that it had increased with time, in parallel with Shannon’s entropy, as a consequence of the average temperature and relative humidity of each cluster. At the same time, results have shown that both temperature and relative humidity of the study area are related with urban sprawl, urbanisation and development, as defined by Shannon’s entropy and, in consequence, with humidex. In consequence, this new concept must be considered in future research works to predict and control urban sprawl and microclimate conditions in cities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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8814 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Quantitative Analysis of Dynamic Behaviours of Rural Areas at Provincial Level Using Public Data of Gross Domestic Product

by Yi Chen, Guangfeng Zhang, Yiyang Li, Yi Ding, Bin Zheng and Qiang Miao

Entropy 2013, 15(1), 10-31; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15010010 - 20 Dec 2012

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 7029

Abstract

A spatial approach that incorporates three economic components and one environmental factor has been developed to evaluate the dynamic behaviours of the rural areas at a provincial level. An artificial fish swarm algorithm with variable population size (AFSAVP) is proposed for the spatial [...] Read more.

A spatial approach that incorporates three economic components and one environmental factor has been developed to evaluate the dynamic behaviours of the rural areas at a provincial level. An artificial fish swarm algorithm with variable population size (AFSAVP) is proposed for the spatial problem. A functional region affecting index θ is employed as a fitness function for the AFSAVP driven optimisation, in which a gross domestic product (GDP) based method is utilised to estimate the CO₂ emission of all provinces. A simulation for the administrative provinces of China has been implemented, and the results have shown that the modelling method based on GDP data can assess the spatial dynamic behaviours and can be taken as an operational tool for the policy planners. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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Review

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361 KiB

Open AccessReview

Entropy in Urban Systems

by Pedro Cabral, Gabriela Augusto, Mussie Tewolde and Yikalo Araya

Entropy 2013, 15(12), 5223-5236; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15125223 - 27 Nov 2013

Cited by 95 | Viewed by 12666

Abstract

Entropy is a useful concept that has been used to describe the structure and behavior of different systems. We summarize its multifaceted character with regard to its implications for urban sprawl, and propose a framework to apply the concept of entropy to urban [...] Read more.

Entropy is a useful concept that has been used to describe the structure and behavior of different systems. We summarize its multifaceted character with regard to its implications for urban sprawl, and propose a framework to apply the concept of entropy to urban sprawl for monitoring and management. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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Other

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408 KiB

Open AccessConcept Paper

Urban Ecosystem Health Assessment and Its Application in Management: A Multi-Scale Perspective

by Meirong Su, Zhifeng Yang, Bin Chen, Gengyuan Liu, Yan Zhang, Lixiao Zhang, Linyu Xu and Yanwei Zhao

Entropy 2013, 15(1), 1-9; https://doi.org/10.3390/e15010001 - 20 Dec 2012

Cited by 14 | Viewed by 11044

Abstract

Urban ecosystem health assessments can be applied extensively in urban management to evaluate the status quo of the urban ecosystem, identify the limiting factors, identify key problems, optimize the scheme and guide ecological regulation. Regarding the multi-layer roles of urban ecosystems, urban ecosystem [...] Read more.

Urban ecosystem health assessments can be applied extensively in urban management to evaluate the status quo of the urban ecosystem, identify the limiting factors, identify key problems, optimize the scheme and guide ecological regulation. Regarding the multi-layer roles of urban ecosystems, urban ecosystem health should be assessed at different scales with each assessment providing a specific reference to urban management from its own viewpoint. Therefore, a novel framework of multi-scale urban ecosystem health assessment is established on global, national, regional and local scales. A demonstration of the framework is shown by using a case study in Guangzhou City, China, where urban ecosystem health assessment is conducted in the order of global, national, regional, and local scales, from macro to micro, and rough to detailed analysis. The new multi-scale framework can be utilized to generate a more comprehensive understanding of urban ecosystem health, more accurate orientation of urban development, and more feasible regulation and management programs when compared with the traditional urban ecosystem health assessment focusing at the local scale. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Entropy and Urban Sprawl)

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