In Latin American cities informal settlements and insecure land tenure are the result of an exclusionary planning and urban management system which fails to provide legal and secure housing for lower-income groups. Against this backdrop, the State implemented land-title and urban regulatory policies, in order to improve the housing conditions of these neighbourhoods and integrate their residents into the legal regime. This paper proposes to address the conflicts implied in the processes of urbanization and regularization of the villas of the city of Buenos Aires during the first government of Rodríguez Larreta (2015-2019). In the official political discourse the urbanization of informal settlements is considered one of the main axes of local management. Within this framework, institutional changes are being carried out, such as the creation of the Ministry of Social and Urban Integration. This regularization processes have raised many conflicts in the interaction between government decision-making and the needs of inhabitants of informal settlement. This conflicts are linked to a) the democratic participation of the inhabitants in the decision-making process at all stages, b) land management policies and domain regularization; c) the modalities and logic of relocation of inhabitants; d) the provision and access to infrastructure services and public spaces; e) the treatment of tenants and other more vulnerable groups. The paper will address three level of analysis: the network of actors linked to the urbanization process, the discrepancy between the official government discourse and the actions and the conflicts during the implementation of the urbanization and regularization policies.

Public open space (POS) is an environmental good which has been approved to have the potential to benefit people from physical, phycological and social aspects. With the intensification of urban development, Privately Owned Public Open Space (POPOS) emerged as a common policy to respond to the widely acknowledged need for more POS in major cities. However, due to the limitations of current policies, developers' unclear understanding of their responsibilities, and the lack of public scrutiny, many POPOS are still in the position of not playing their substantial roles to serve citizens and result in spatial injustice which may further do harm to sustainable development. In the guidance of a proposed conceptual framework, this paper analysed three representative POPOS from the perspective of spatial justice in Hong Kong, a compact city where there exists an increasing lack of POS. We conducted a horizontal comparison between the three different cases from five aspects (i.e. Access and Management, Sociability and Diversity, Demand and Provision, Social Stratum and Information, and Social Inclusion) and critically concludes the characteristics of these unsatisfactory POPOS in Hong Kong. The conclusion would provide theoretical references for the design and management of POPOS in a compact city and might contribute to the perfection of corresponding policies.

The importance of body immune level in the treatment of novel coronavirus pneumonia caused by COVID-2019 has been confirmed. Therefore, normal immune level plays an important role in dealing with acute infectious diseases and long-term health management. Active urban residential public space environment helps human body maintain normal immune level through promoting physical activity and helping keep healthy mood, which is confirmed by large quantities of related studies. However, for a city located in a cold and high latitude area, on one hand, severe cold climate will have an significant impact on people’s immune level itself. For example, low temperature in winter increases the body's metabolic oxygen demand and reduces the activity of immune cells, thus reducing the body's ability to resist pathogenic microorganisms, at the same time, the lower temperature in winter makes the virus more stable, such as influenza virus HIN1, SARS, so infectious diseases happen much more easily in winter. Also, experts point out the novel coronavirus pneumonia is associated with an increase in the relative mortality rate in cold and high latitude area. On the other hand, severe cold climate will have an significant impact on urban residential public space’s promoting utility on people’s immune level. It is mainly manifested in the negative effects on residents' outdoor physical activity participation and emotional psychological cognition through the accessibility of urban built environment, safety and comfort, landscape pleasure, etc. The quantity of literature about relationship between people’s immune level and urban open space under severe cold climate is rare. Based on some qualitative research and in situ measurement methods, the paper will 1) Analysis the cold climate’s negative effects on people’s immune level and urban residential public space, forming a action relationship framework between people’s immune level and urban residential public space under the background of severe cold climate; 2) Develop some empirical research through field survey on climate measurement and structured interview; 3) Based on the empirical research results, advancing some planning strategies on urban residential public space based on immune level improvement; The research results can optimize the relevant planning indicators and design principles, promote the formation of a positive urban residential environment in severe cold area, and provide empirical basis for the urban material space planning from the perspective of immune level improvement in severe cold area.

Participatory planning and design became a crucial element of urban practice. Yet, many different types exist, ranging from linear to multi-dimensional, or from informing-only to citizen-led practices. This paper explores the less conventional approach of storytelling as a planning methodology. The work builds upon storytelling workshops which are carried out as part of the European Union Horizon 2020 funded +CityxChange project, which develops positive energy blocks in seven European cities with a key element on citizen involvement. Further, the paper builds upon the work of Anderson, Davidson, Devos, Gambarato, Sinek, and most importantly, Throgmorton and Van Hulst. Storytelling is the oldest form of communication and was used long before written or visual communication. It is the primary form of historical information being transferred from generation to generation. Despite the multiplicity of media forms today, it still has a crucial role in communicating messages in a variety of fields – ranging from marketing to entertainment and policymaking, among many others. While it has existed for millennia, it was extensively conceptualised over the last decades and is nowadays applied in a more structured form with a variety of underlying research. In principal a “story consists of a collection or body of stories about characters joined in some common problem as fixers (heroes), causes (villains) or harmed (victims) in a temporal trajectory (plot), leading towards resolution within a particular setting or context. It is constituted by the plot, character, and moral of the story. The anticipated goal of a story depends on who is telling and listens to the story, as well as where, why and when it takes place and is perceived. Stories are used across various fields, mostly with the goal to build a narrative which conveys a certain message or builds a common vision. A story starts usually in the past and expands into the future, evolving into a shared goal, justification, or vision for the audience; therefore, generating support for the process and justifying the ways it is implemented and what it results in or what the direct implications and consequences are. Two types of storytelling can be identified: Linear knowledge transfer processes and cyclical processes of knowledge mobilisation. The first describes a linear process from producers to users (storytelling of planning), while the latter focuses on reciprocal exchange to foster co-creation to generate and collect information through the narratives from the community (storytelling as planning). The collective development of narratives through stories can strengthen the communal agency of the citizen while it can be used to improve the perspectives of other stakeholder groups better by collaboratively or independently creating fictitious narratives and stories. This can on highlight potential mismatches between expectation and reality of the needs of the community, while also helping to gain additional insights by choosing a different perspective before advancing to other citizen engagement elements in the planning process. In the project +CityxChange, storytelling is seen as one of the methods and tools for enabling Open Innovation 2.0 inside the project, in exchange with other projects, and in collaboration with, e.g., prospective cities to replicate developed solutions. The paper is structured into the objective behind storytelling in the context of urban planning and the project in particular, its theoretical background, defining the meaning and importance of storytelling in the broader context of urban planning as well as experiences from other fields. This is followed by the scope of storytelling in the +CityxChange project and the objective, approach and outcomes of the storytelling workshops, leading towards a replicable approach to apply storytelling in the planning process.

Cities in mega-deltas of Asia are densely populated economic centres of the region. Decades of government policies and institutional reforms have transformed the local economy from an agricultural-based to a primarily manufacturing-based one. This creates highly uneven spatial development within and beyond the urban fringes, driving migration to areas where capital and investments are concentrated (Seto, 2011). The massive influx of population then puts severe pressure on the already limited healthcare capacities, scarce social resources, and lagging public infrastructure. Cities in mega-deltas of Asia are also confronted with specific ecological issues such as reduced delta aggradation, subsidence though groundwater extraction, increase flood hazard as well as rivers running dry due to damming and water diversion (Chan, et al., 2012). As a result, the rapid socio-environmental transformation witnessed in these economic centres endanger public health in the form of communicable (e.g. malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis, cholera and dengue) and non-communicable diseases (e.g. cancers, diabetes, cardiovascular and chronic respiratory illnesses) as well as environmental violence and injury, which are in turn exacerbated by climate change. In both practice and research, the field of planning has seek to address the aforementioned public health challenges faced by cities in mega-deltas. From water infrastructure provision and flood governance to promoting sustainable transport, this paper contends that such normative approaches have systematically overlooked a key social group—children—when deliberating the processes and outcomes of planning. According to the World Population Prospects, Southern Asia and South-Eastern Asia (i.e. where mega-deltas are geographically located) has 27.9 percent and 25.4 percent of population under the age of 15 respectively (UN, 2019). Furthermore, with children being more vulnerable to environmental risks, creating child friendly cities in mega-deltas of Asia is therefore imperative in addressing the compounded effects of rapid socio-environmental transformation that threatens public health in the very first place. A child friendly city is defined as “any system of local governance committed to fulfilling child rights as articulated in the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is a city or community where the voices, needs, priorities and rights of children are an integral part of public policies, programmes and decisions” (UNICEF, 2018, p. 10). Whilst such a broad policymaking goal does not prescribe the exact role of the planning system nor does it describe the ways in which a locality should be designed for children, the ‘reinstatement’ of children within the urban discourse reflects a professional and scientific recognition of the interdependencies between urban environments and the health of specific social groups. More importantly, as the generation least responsible for climate change, children bear the greatest impact of its effects; their ability to survive, grow, and thrive is directly threatened by extreme weather events and increased environmental degradation (UNICEF, 2015). The aim of this paper is to therefore critically synthesis two distinctive strand of literature—urban adaptive strategies to climate change and child friendly cities—to highlight the conceptual gaps between the global sustainable development policy narrative and the planning of cities in mega-deltas of Asia. And based on findings from the literature review, this paper develops an analytical framework for child friendly mega-delta cities in the age of climate change. The paper then focuses on the uneven spatial development of Dhaka, Bangladesh (Ganges-Brahmaputra-Meghna Delta) and Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam (Mekong Delta), exploring how the analytical framework can be applied to address the gaps in planning policy. Lastly, this paper considers how the COVID-19 pandemic will affect the planning of child friendly cities in mega-deltas.

The Public Spaces of Tomorrow are places that enable young children 0-5 to flourish. Contemporary places support healthy child development. The early years are the foundation for lifelong physical and mental health, wellbeing, and social skills. Designing, planning, and building new public spaces for our babies and toddlers should take into consideration the wellbeing of their caregivers. Engage parents, grandparents, siblings, or pregnant women in the design process provides for the ability to create new types of public spaces. Knowledge of how to do it for wellbeing in specific circumstances, places, social or natural environment is the purpose of the work (for ex. the Covid-19 pandemic is still unfolding but the principle of healthy development or caregiver isn`t changing). Responsibility of local authorities, urban planners, architects, park managers, all people engaged in city planning and functioning, have their role to play. During the collaborative workshop Mentor and Student Research Lab 3 in Poland (Gdańsk University of Technology) numerous investigation and methods were tried to answer research questions on how to resolve problems of designing public spaces of tomorrow. International team of mentor, Ph.D. students, M. Arch. students have been committed all along to research, interview, survey, and instant contact (also in the course of Covid-19 pandemic). The research method contains a discussion of sources. Its organized formula is chronologically and thematically divided provides a quick idea of the topic. The literature review, such as the central theme or organizational pattern of research allows to formulate the answer to the research question. A literature review by the chronological progression of the field (ex. evolution of public spaces for kids) and thematically review approximate to a better understanding of the topic. Review of case studies -thematically divided (classification), interviews with caregivers are included. What are the implications? What is extracted from the current literature review? Where can the discussion take place? It is necessary in itself to raise the topic to the top of the agenda even more critically and to make today's public spaces of tomorrow public. Research results are constantly supplemented with recommendations for planning and designing public spaces (not just playgrounds). Paying attention to the needs of people under 5 years of age and their guardians. The recommendations cover various aspects, from facilitating daily travel to bringing nature closer and incorporating the educational layer. It shows how to plan and design public spaces (not just playgrounds), paying attention to the needs of children under 5 years old and carers. The recommendations cover various aspects, from facilitating daily travel to bringing nature closer and incorporating the educational layer.

A safe commuting environment can promote children to adopt a positive way to get to and from school, increasing their physical activity level and reducing health problems such as obesity. Most of the existing studies on children safety focused on open spaces such as parks and squares, the commuting environment of children needs more attention. And studies focusing on the correlation between built environment and children’s commuting safety are rarely carried out in winter cities. The purpose of this paper is to take Harbin, a winter city of China, as an empirical case to explore the built environment factors affecting pupils’ commuting safety. Urban primary schools in China are built near residential areas. The neighborhood environment is the primary commuting environment for pupils. The current residential areas in China are mainly divided into two categories: open blocks and gated communities. They differ greatly in construction time, location, characteristics of residents and built environment. Therefore, this study is carried out at the neighborhood level, and the two types of residential areas are discussed respectively. This study adopts questionnaire survey, behavior observation and other environmental behavior research methods to explore the relationship between the spatial and temporal behavior characteristics of primary school students and the built environment. And based on the optimized Importance Performance Analysis method (IPA) whose evaluation process was optimized with the Analytic Hierarchy Process(AHP) and Delphi method, this study explores the meeting point and the conflict point between the importance degree and satisfaction degree of commuting security factors from three aspects, which are activity safety, defense security and traffic safety. The results show that the influencing factors of traffic safety have the highest impact on pupils‘ commuting safety, including safety guardrails between motor vehicle lane and non-motor vehicle lane, crossing facilities, etc. In addition, neighborhood relationship and environmental identifiability in defense security aspect also has a high impact. With respect to satisfaction, the satisfaction of the gated communities is higher than that of the open blocks, and there is a large gap between them in the number of landmark nodes and motor vehicle flow, but the satisfaction of open block is higher in neighborhood relationship and street thermal environment. By coupling the importance and satisfaction of influencing factors, the study finds that safety guardrails between motor vehicle lane and non-motor vehicle lane, crossing facilities, pavement width and anti-skid pavement are in urgent need of renovation. Based on the above results, this paper proposes some strategies for residential renewal planning to provide a safe commuting environment for pupils in winter cities, such as planning the time sequence of community updating reasonably, enhancing the local participation degree of community planning and updating, and paying more attention to the street safety design.

With the society and economy of China entering the transition period, people's requirements for urban life show a trend of diversification and high standards. Urban design is no longer limited to physical space but starts to carry out multi-angle and multi-level comprehensive consideration on the social and spatial problems of symbiosis. In this context, the innovative social governance and the quality improvement of urban public space that highlights the role of the public have become hot topics. As the main body of city users, ordinary people entering into the deep and substantial participation from the superficial and symbolic is the only way for urban design to transform from the expert-led "optimal scheme" to the "reasonable scheme" recognized by pluralistic bodies. In the process of western democratic politics, the participation theory that focuses on the construction of microdemocracy is prevalent, and the public participation based on pluralism has become the theoretical basis for the planning participation. In addition, the concept of communicative planning, which emphasizes cooperation and consultation, also enriches the connotation of diverse participation. Due to different systems and awareness, it is difficult to promote public participation under China's national conditions. Community building, the interdisciplinary product of urban design and social governance under neighbourhoods, is regarded as the experimental field for participating in the reform. Therefore, under the current administrative system, laws and regulations, this paper tries to make use of the grass-roots management mode with Chinese characteristics to establish an inclusive multi-participation mechanism. It allows residents of different ages can go deep into the process of community building as unit of family. Meanwhile, by some media, activities and tools that in Chinese style, the public can be encouraged to engage in the design. We hope the bottom-up process of urban design in micro scale can be an effective instrument to reflect the public's will and repair social relations at the same time, while explore and solve urban problems in diverse cooperation.

Public spaces are the locus of activity and interaction in any urban area. Such spaces provide identity to cities, towns or neighborhoods and define the people and culture over there. Inclusiveness is one of the core aspects of livability and is directly associated with Public or Community Spaces. Large population and rapidly expanding urban areas have prompted the need of more inclusivity in public spaces to attain true liveable spaces. The aim of the paper is to discuss the livability of Transgender community at Public spaces in India. The study shows how this community was legally included as ‘Third Gender’ in country’s legislation yet lacks social acceptance and security. It shows the challenges and issues faced by them at public spaces. The community was studied on ethnographic basis to understand their culture, lifestyle and requirements etc. The findings have indicated towards a social stigma from people and insensitivity in designing of civic spaces. The larger objective of the study is also to provide recommendations on the design aspects and interventions in public places to educate common people to increase their inclusiveness towards the Transgender society, through an integrated approach in architecture. Active engagement of multiple communities is the key to socio-economic and socio-cultural growth. In response, communities have to collaborate on working and living environment and incorporates the no gender-limit adaptability for an augmented livability.

The living environment is an important resource for cities to response the challenge of aging population. In order to further implement the Healthy and Active Aging Strategy (WHO, 2007), planners and designers should re-examine the existing living environment from the standpoint of specific groups and think about the rigid practices of traditional planning, such as allocating resources based on administrative divisions, static demographic statistics, and planning indicators. This study attempts to explore a demand-responsive spatial intervention countermeasure through new types of data and technical routes from a professional perspective of urban planning and public services. The study was conducted in Shanghai, 76 senior citizens were asked to take an Android Phone and Fitbit Fitness Ring for 102 consecutive days from September 18 to December 28, 2015. The data generated by experimental equipment was uploaded to the database (SQL) via the Internet in real time, which will be recorded and classified by the system backstage. By collecting and analyzing the trajectory and health data of the older residents, the study attempts to discuss the structural relationship between spatial behavior and behavioral space. 1. The study reveals that even under the highly consistent social and environmental base conditions, there are still significant differences among the elderlies’ daily life activities, mainly including the age and gender differences. This indicates that the elderly-oriented construction and renewal of the built environment should focus on the commonality of elderly groups as well as the applicability and safety of environmental facilities. On top of that, we should pay attention to the differentiated features within the group so as to improve the life quality of elderlies. 2. The findings shows that the decision-making process of elderlies is based on the individual's selective understanding, learning, and organization of external information. The decision-making result is determined not only by the location-born opportunity and environmental constraints, but also the individuals’ cognition of space. 3. As indicated by the study, the behavioral space of elderlies is the area containing all accessible activity sites under spatiotemporal constraints. The patterns of their travel activities are related to the starting point, effective interval, travel time, and the physical conditions of individuals. Through the linkage analysis of different types of trips and target POIs (such as business hours), it is conducive to gaining a deep understanding of the reaction pattern of behaviors to environmental information, the arrangement of the trip chain, and daytime activity sequence. To sum up, the spatial behavior of elderlies is essentially the result of interactions between people and the environment. It means that in an active lifestyle, the environmental stimulation should be fully utilized for elderlies; on the contrary, a negative lifestyle suggests that either the built environment does not provide enough support for elderlies or it is beyond their capability. The lifestyle of elderlies, especially the behaviors and concepts, is formed during their interaction with the physical and social environment. This interaction presents human’s needs and values. It also serves as a medium for people to intervene, understand, and transform the environment. People can seek improvements and strategies through identifying the contradiction between human and the environment.

Demographic growth: a need to focus on school facilities: The demographic growth that the Brussels Region is currently experiencing, coupled with the small size of its territory and the need to strengthen social cohesion, have prompted the Region to take an interest in school facilities. Scattered throughout Brussels, the schools are landmarks in the neighbourhood, daily meeting points between multiple generations. In addition to their educational function, school facilities and their surroundings offer the potential for sharing spaces outside school hours and strengthening social ties within the neighbourhood. Investing in these spaces, creating a child-friendly urban environment helps build a more inclusive society in which children and young people can safely thrive. Therefore, the Brussels Region has developed various action plans to make schools full-fledged partners in urban development within the framework of its Education Plan. Actions for integrated, inclusive and healthy school facilities: The “School Contract” saw the light of day in 2017. Its aim is to improve the school environment and to participate in opening up schools to the neighbourhood in the Region’s vulnerable areas. It is in line with urban development tools such as Neighbourhood Contracts and Urban Renewal Contracts. The School Contract is the result of a participatory process between the Region, a school, and the municipality in which it is located. It also involves neighbourhood associations, residents, school users and managers of public facilities. The School Contract takes shape via a programme of investments and actions to be carried out in and around the school, with a maximum budget of €2.5 million, over a five-year period. This regional support aims to improve the conviviality and safety of the school environment (quality and safe school surroundings, green spaces, etc.) and to open the school to the neighbourhood, for example by promoting access to its facilities (sports hall, playground, etc.) for associations and residents outside school hours. Apart from the granting of direct subsidies, regional tools that raise the general public’s awareness vis-à-vis the issues of schools’ infrastructure quality and their urban integration are being developed. The “school toolbox”, accessible online, provides schools with a one-stop shop to find the regulations and recommendations applicable to school infrastructure projects as well as the available public funding. Reference guides on school facilities and their surroundings are also published. They are co-constructed with stakeholders. Participation is carried out at the school and neighbourhood level, with the people from the school, the inhabitants, but also with institutional actors of the school and regional planning. The “My school, a space of quality "guide makes it possible to assess the quality of a school infrastructure by identifying the strengths and weaknesses of the analysed school, to determine the improvements to be made and to set priorities for action. Quality, a complex concept, is approached through five themes: the school's interior and exterior spaces, building safety, durability, comfort and integration into the city. The Region has also decided to develop a specific “reference guide on the development of school grounds and playgrounds”. These spaces offer opportunities to respond to challenges related to the environment (permeability, biodiversity), the well-being of young people (prevention of violence) and the quality of life of neighbourhoods (when properly developed, these spaces can open up to the neighbourhood and expand the amount of green spaces accessible to the population). Improving the school environment and integrating schools into neighbourhoods helps to create a welcoming and inclusive urban environment. The actions developed by the Brussels Region (public financial support, technical support, awareness-raising tools,) can be reproduced in other cities and on other scales.