This open access book provides in-depth insights into participatory research and planning by presenting practical examples of its use. In particular, it describes theoretical and methodological aspects of participatory research and planning, as well as the implementation of participatory processes in fields such as transport planning, cultural heritage management, environmental planning and post-earthquake recovery. Further, it compares participatory planning experiences from different territorial levels – from the macro-regional, e.g. Southeastern Europe, Mediterranean or European...

This book explores demographic changes in Functional Urban Areas (FUAs) in Poland since 1990. Functional Urban Areas, introduced by ESPON, refer to functional territorial units that can be defined as travel-to-work-area, representing strong integration between urban cores and their immediate hinterland. The functional urban area consists of a city plus its commuting zone. It fills a significant gap in the academic literature by providing a deep and thorough analysis of the process of population change in Polish FUAs over the past 30 years. In particular, this empirical research...

This book focuses on the strict orthodox Jewish (Haredi) community, which comprises many sects whose communal identity plays a central role in everyday life and spatial organization. The research reveals and analyses powerful mechanisms of residential segregation acting at the apartment-, building- and near-neighbourhood levels. Identifying the main engines of spontaneous and organised neighbourhood change and evaluating the difficulties of liberalism dealing with non-autonomous individuals in the housing market sheds light on similar processes occurring in other city centres with...

This book examines examples of contemporary situation of historic regions in the Middle East and its broader geographic context connected to the historic trade routes, offering cross-disciplinary and cross-sectoral perspectives. The region is home to ancient settlements and early human endeavors to form cities, and across the region historic urban historic features, such as ancient city centers, still exist alongside contemporary ones. Many of those historic regions are along the Silk Roads. However, the urban continuity that once existed over generations in the physical and social...

This book highlights Belgrade, reviewing its recent and historical developments and emphasizing its major ongoing planning projects. The book is divided into eight chapters. The first, entitled The urban, political and socioeconomic rise and fall of Belgrade through its history, introduces the reader to the city, and is followed by a chapter on Belgrade’s urban plans through history. The book continues with a chapter on one of the major urban projects in the former Yugoslavia, the construction of New Belgrade, its development and results, entitled New...

The book comprehensively investigates the relationship between critical urban form and fabric parameters and urban microclimate in the high-rise urban environment that prevails in Asian megacities such as Shanghai. It helps readers gain a deeper understanding of climate-responsive urban design strategies and tactics for effectively mitigating the negative impacts of deteriorating urban thermal environments on pedestrian thermal comfort, outdoor air quality and building energy consumption. It also reviews the latest advances in urban climate research, with a focus on the challenges in terms...

This book presents cross-national insights into spatial fragmentation in post-socialist cities in Europe. Trying to rethink the heritage of the last 30 years of transformation and grasp current processes taking urban units of various categories as examples, the book exemplifies typical or unique causes of political, social and ethnic disintegration of cities in Central and Eastern Europe. Presenting spatial studies into different cases of conflict in a cross-national context, the authors apply concepts of contested and divided cities, urban geopolitics, cultural atavism, contested...