Abstract: Since humans are day active primates the differences between day and night seem to be so deeply rooted that a holistic, integrative view of the 24 hours cycle of the city is far from being established. Notwithstanding all the topical talking about the 24/7 city, the analysis of cities and their governance focuses mainly on the day, even if we witness an increasing “colonization of the world after dark” (Melbin, 1987). This extension of activity into the night is producing a growing number of conflicts.
Keywords: Planning; Society; Sustainability; Conservation
Abstract: This paper presents a comparative study of differences in energy consumption while applying 2004 and 2014 releases of the CEN/TR 13201 standard for lighting designs. Street lighting optimal design and its optimization is discussed. To provide a reliable comparison, optimal designs for a given representative set of streets were calculated. The optimization was performed by newly developed software. As a test bed, a set of streets was selected with varying physical and traffic characteristics. The energy consumption was measured on the same set of streets both statically, which assumed the same lighting levels throughout night, and with a dynamic control, which adjusted lighting based on traffic intensity. For experiments with the dynamic control, one year of traffic intensity data were used. The findings confirm increased economical impact of dynamic control for the 2014 standard, which results in significant energy saving.
Abstract: With increasing focus on more nuanced aspects of quality of life, the phenomenon of urban visual pollution has been progressively gaining attention from researchers and policy makers, especially in the developed world. However, the subjectivity and complexity of assessing visual pollution in urban settings remain a challenge, especially given the lack of robust and reliable methods for quantification of visual pollution. This paper presents a novel systematic approach for the development of a robust Visual Pollution Assessment (VPA) tool. A key feature of our methodology is explicit and systematic incorporation of expert and public opinion for listing and ranking Visual Pollution Objects (VPOs). Moreover, our methodology deploys established empirical complex decision-making techniques to address the challenge of subjectivity in weighting the impact of individual VPOs. The resultant VPA tool uses close-ended options to capture the presence and characteristics of various VPOs on a given node. Based on these inputs, it calculates a point based visual pollution scorecard for the observation point. The performance of the VPA tool has been extensively tested and verified at various locations in Pakistan. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first such tool, both in terms of quantitative robustness and broad coverage of VPOs. Our VPA tool will help regulators in assessing and charting visual pollution in a consistent and objective manner. It will also help policy makers by providing an empirical basis for gathering evidence; hence facilitating evidence-based and evidence-driven policy strategies, which are likely to have significant impact, especially in the developing countries.
Keywords: Planning
Abstract: In this study, an obstruction lights controlling (OLC) system based on a Terma SCANTER 5000 radar has been installed at a test centre for large wind turbines. The objective of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of the OLC system and to improve this efficiency by introducing new technological features. Once the first assessment had been carried out, new software with improved tracking functionalities was installed to the radar. With the new software, a second assessment was made to compare the new performance to the old one. To analyse the tracks, geographic information system (GIS) tools have been used. A new MATLAB script was developed to automate the assessment as well as to gather data on the tracks. These data sets were used to improve the system performance by introducing a radar cross section (RCS)/speed filter. The outcome of the study is a filter that can be implemented on the radar system to improve the efficiency of the system and reduce the time that obstruction lights need to be on for by 62.59%, without compromising the integrity of the system.
Keywords: Lighting; Public Safety; Planning
Abstract: A substantial body of research on natural quiet and natural darkness in national
parks, and protected areas more broadly, has been reported in the scientific and professional literature in recent years. However, this literature is widely scattered over many academic and professional journals that cover both the natural and social sciences. To help integrate and synthesize this body of work, we surveyed this diverse literature and collected representative examples in a book (Manning et al. 2018). We conclude our book with a series of principles
that we have distilled to help guide park managers to protect natural quiet and natural darkness. This paper presents those principles.
Much of our book focuses on national parks in the United States, and in the remainder of this paper the phrase “the national parks” refers to them. But we feel that the principles we have derived from our review of the scientific and professional literature on natural quiet and natural darkness apply equally well to a variety of parks and protected areas in the United States and elsewhere.
Natural quiet is generally defined as the sounds of nature uninterrupted by human-caused noise, and natural darkness is darkness unaffected by human-caused light. It is important to note that natural quiet and natural darkness do not necessarily mean absolute quiet or darkness, as the natural world often generates sounds of its own (e.g., birds calling, wind blowing,
rivers rushing) and has sources of illumination (e.g., the glow of celestial bodies and the fluorescence of some plants and animals).
parks, and protected areas more broadly, has been reported in the scientific and professional literature in recent years. However, this literature is widely scattered over many academic and professional journals that cover both the natural and social sciences. To help integrate and synthesize this body of work, we surveyed this diverse literature and collected representative examples in a book (Manning et al. 2018). We conclude our book with a series of principles
that we have distilled to help guide park managers to protect natural quiet and natural darkness. This paper presents those principles.
Much of our book focuses on national parks in the United States, and in the remainder of this paper the phrase “the national parks” refers to them. But we feel that the principles we have derived from our review of the scientific and professional literature on natural quiet and natural darkness apply equally well to a variety of parks and protected areas in the United States and elsewhere.
Natural quiet is generally defined as the sounds of nature uninterrupted by human-caused noise, and natural darkness is darkness unaffected by human-caused light. It is important to note that natural quiet and natural darkness do not necessarily mean absolute quiet or darkness, as the natural world often generates sounds of its own (e.g., birds calling, wind blowing,
rivers rushing) and has sources of illumination (e.g., the glow of celestial bodies and the fluorescence of some plants and animals).
Keywords: Conservation; Planning; Regulation
