Yi-Ya Hsu

Current studies often present environmental and climate migration in three ways: in an environmentally deterministic way, as an adaptation strategy or as a ‘wicked’ phenomenon. This bibliometric and thematic analysis analysed 147 studies from January 2015 until August 2020 on environmental migration in the Greater Mekong Subregion and the Ganges‐Brahmaputra Delta Region (India and Bangladesh) to determine to what extent dominant discourses on environmental migration and mobilities have moved away from environmental determinism. Results of this study suggest that most analysed studies, which clearly framed environmental migration, tend to remain rather environmentally deterministic. Further, the spatial level of analysis in the studies, whether it was local or non‐local, did not correspond to different theoretical and conceptual approaches to environmental migration. While 17.0% of the studies presented environmental migration as a form of adaptation, relevant discussions on the concepts of resilience, vulnerability and adaptation were largely lacking. This is problematic as recent global studies on environmental migration are increasingly adopting the adaptation paradigm. Additionally, relatively few studies have adopted more critical or pluralistic approaches to human mobility, climate change and adaptation. Lastly, studies on Bangladesh were more often presenting climate change as a primary driver of migration than studies in other localities within the study region.

Urban studies have gradually expanded their vision from horizontal to volumetric dimensions, responding to the growing compactness and density of cities. Though land use study has a long history, the study of urban space use from a volumetric perspective remains limited. However, vertical spatial difference is as substantial as horizontal spatial variance, especially in mixed-use developments. Addressing this, the research analyses 3D floor space use dynamics in the City of Sydney between 2007, 2012, and 2017 using ArcGIS Pro and visualising results with Plotly. Utilising Voxel Automata and Markov transition logic in Netlogo3D, we simulate potential future 3D urban structures. The model transforms floor spaces into voxels, assigns varying transition probabilities to voxels based on self-state, and applies the influence of neighbourhood state. The research underscores the challenges in developing varied transition probabilities for different floors, revealing the complexity of modelling 3D space use dynamics. The findings provide a more realistic understanding of the complex urban system and cities’ volumetric development. Additionally, the utilised 3D visualisation method can extend its utility beyond floor usage types to other spatial variables. Consequently, the research highlights the importance of 3D system thinking in future urban growth and expansion studies, and suggests more precise transition rules for modelling specific time points, benefiting future smart governance.

Co‐working spaces have emerged as cost‐effective office space management solutions for workers from diverse industries who share space, which generates cost savings and facilitates networking opportunities. Past studies have mainly focused on needs for and benefits of co‐working spaces and range in emphasis from design preferences to potential social and economic impacts. However, limited attention has been given to the temporal clustering and geographical distribution patterns of co‐working spaces. This study examines the spatial distribution patterns of co‐working spaces establishments in terms of building floor plans. We discern the subcategory of ‘co‐working office space’ from the floor space and employment survey data, spanning 2007, 2012, and 2017 as collected by the City of Sydney, a municipal government in Australia. Both co‐working offices offered by conventional enterprises and co‐working providers are identified, and the spatial associations between co‐working spaces and their relationships with industry composition are analysed. Using establishment analysis, three co‐working spaces are identified: (1) dedicated co‐working enterprises providing office service and well‐design spaces; (2) conventional office rental enterprises diversifying into co‐working style office; and (3) standard enterprises converting fixed office spaces to co‐working office configurations. The spatial analysis reveals an outward diffusion of co‐working spaces from the centre of Sydney CBD, which is of importance in geographical research focused on urban, social, and economic change.

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted our daily lives worldwide. For instance, pandemic-prevention policies restrict people’s mobility, which causes problems in accessing urban greenspaces. Indeed, unequal access to urban greenspace has been accentuated during the most stringent lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Amid such challenging circumstances, there has been a growing attention placed on Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 11.7, which has brought opportunities for urgent action. In this paper, we applied the Gini coefficient to our analysis of unequal access to urban greenspaces across all urban planning areas in six special municipalities in Taiwan. Moreover, we also conducted comparative analyses between the Gini coefficient and other socio-economic factors. The results show that approximately 63.98% of the urban planning area suffers from unequal access to greenspaces. In addition, urban greenspace provision and household income show significant positive correlations with the Gini coefficient, which reflects Taiwan’s environmental injustice. Furthermore, these findings can help city planners and decision-makers evaluate levels of equality in each urban planning area and decide which priority areas should be improved. Finally, this study can also be used as a reference for decision-makers to realise SDG 11.7 in the post-pandemic era.

During times of stress and social pressure, urban green space provides social, cultural, and economic resources that help individuals and communities cope. Green space accessibility is, therefore, an important indicator related to people’s health and welfare. However, green space accessibility is not even throughout urban areas, with some areas better served with green space than others. Green space patterning is, therefore, a major environmental justice challenge. This research uses GIS approaches to analyze and understand urban green space access of urban communities in the Australian metropolitan areas of Adelaide, Melbourne, Sydney, and Brisbane. We calculate indicators to describe green space access in relation to different green space patterns within different metropolitan zones, including the inner urban, suburban, and peri urban. We use the best available open data from the Australian census of 2017 to calculate green space accessibility. Our results describe the relationship between population density and green space distribution and patterning in the four metropolitan areas. We find that even cities which are generally thought of as liveable have considerable environmental justice challenges and inequity and must improve green space access to address environmental inequity. We also find that a range type of measures can be used to better understand green space accessibility. Accessibility varies greatly both within metropolitan areas and also from city to city. Through improving our understanding of the green space accessibility characteristics of Australian metropolitan areas, the result of this study supports the future planning of more just and equal green cities.

Post-1980s, early-developed historical cities attempted to reverse the dilemma of urban modern development and the preservation of historical textures. Culture-led urban development then emerged as a strategy to highlight the advantages of historical cities. However, study that propose practical evaluation framework that integrate culture, historical texture, and relevant resources is less. Furthermore, cultural resources, their characteristics, and their development potential are rarely considered under spatial scales. Therefore, we aim to conduct a spatial potential evaluation framework for culture-led urban development (CLUD), shedding light on the characteristics of the historical and cultural environment and their relevance to social and economic factors. Recent studies suggest that culture-led urban development should focus more on the balance between local cultural context and development planning content, to achieve long-term sustainable development. Consequently, we applied the concept of adaptive development, which emphasizes locally appropriate assess, particularly at a regional level. In this research, a spatial multi-criteria evaluation (SMCE) model was developed for the decision-making process, which can contain multiple aspects of the urban environment and related resources. We apply the established framework to Tainan City, due to its rich cultural resources, high cultural participation and intensive support from the government. The results were calculated in different spatial units in response to various purposes. The findings are divided into several zones performing various objectives that are appropriate for specific places. The outcome demonstrates the possibility of development cooperation within the study region. In the future, the framework and the processes can be applied to evaluate other regions to enable more comprehensive understanding before policy inputs.