Cities around the world face urban heat island problems due to urban development. For example, the number of high-rise buildings keeps increasing. Available studies argue whether high-rise buildings increase or decrease the land surface temperature (LST). This study analyzed the relationship between LST and building height using open-source satellite datasets in six areas, namely Tokyo, Beijing, Jakarta, Los Angeles, New York, and Chicago. The LST data were derived from Landsat 8. The building height data were derived by subtracting Shuttle Radar Topography Mission (SRTM) data from Advanced Land Observing Satellite (ALOS). The results showed that building height had a negative relationship with LST in every study area. High-rise buildings consistently tended to have lower LST compared to low-rise buildings regardless of the cities analyzed. A higher LST variability was observed in low-rise buildings area.

Near-surface concentrations of atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) have been measured intensively for monitoring the concentration trends of the gas species closely related to climate change. Since 2007, the Ibaraki University group has conducted point observations based on Stevenson screens at 11 locations in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Although such a network study can provide valuable observation records, the data are affected by various factors in the surrounding environment, including the topography, distance to wide water bodies, surface coverage, traffic, and other anthropogenic emissions. The method of differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) is capable of monitoring the CO2 concentration along the optical path of several hundred meters to several kilometers. In this work, we exploit the DOAS approach to obtain regionally averaged data, which are compared with the data from both the fixed-point and drone observations. The total optical path lengths are 160 – 180 m, while the path heights are 1.5 –10 m above ground. As an initial step of the study, two DOAS paths are set up within the university campus where we can readily control the land cover type underneath the measurement path. The results indicate the agreement of trends from the three different observation methods within the range of ±30 ppm, with the influence of vegetation uptake of CO2 during the daytime.

Nigeria’s land use pattern is undergoing various modifications stemming from the changing demographic and economic characteristics, resulting in various environmental problems. As the land use system continues to experience rapid modifications, we need to investigate how the historical and future land use patterns may impact Nigeria’s sustainable use of its land resources. In this paper, we explored the characteristics of land use change and simulated future land use demand by combining system dynamics and the Future Land Use Simulation (FLUS) models. We simulated future land use demand from 2020 to 2040 under three developmental (business-as-usual (BAU), market-oriented and conservation) scenarios. The results of the scenarios show that under the BAU scenario, cultivated areas increased rapidly from 42.5% in 2020 (baseline) to 57.8% in 2040. However, in the market-oriented and conservation scenarios, cultivated land is anticipated to be 52.3% and 44.3% respectively in 2040, highlighting how varying socio-economic and land use policies affect land use change. Based on the predicted scenarios in 2040, we gained insight into how socio-economic changes affect land use patterns, which would aid in the development, optimisation, and prioritising of areas where the utmost focus is needed to reduce environmental degradation and ensure sustainable growth and development.

Employing the Index of Perceived Community Resilience (IPCR), this paper measures resilience levels of two relocated communities in the aftermath of volcanic eruptions in Indonesia. Study results revealed that in general these communities had strong and increased resilience, in contrast to previous studies that suggested in most cases the relocation process could have negative impacts on affected communities. It is likely that the good practice of community-led relocation, the collective decision for relocation, preservation of key characteristics of the original community and the strong cultural value of gotong-royong resulted in our study communities' robust resilience. However, results further indicated a great difference in resilience levels between the two communities' studied, an unexpected result given their similarities. This difference confirmed previous findings indicating the major influence of context on overall resilience. Surprisingly, despite their high resilience, these communities expected to receive permission to return to their old hamlets that had been classified as high risk and so prohibited for settlement. Results of this study amplify previous findings suggesting that planning for disasters and disaster recovery must be based on conceptual, theoretical and intervention models that acknowledge place and temporal specificity in the level or intensity of local resilience.

In considering Eco-DRR, it is important to use resources and disaster prevention techniques that make the most of the unique ecosystems of each region. The purpose of this study was to analyze the changes in the water network and its management methods since the Meiji period in Minamikomatsu, Otsu City, located at the foot of Mt. Hira. Based on a literature survey of maps and documents stored in Minamikomatsu, interviews, and field surveys, a water network map was created for each period, and the changes in the management of the water network and issues related to disaster prevention were analyzed. As a result, we were able to confirm the traditional wisdom and techniques of water use and drainage by controlling water intake. On the other hand, the system of water network management has changed with the development of government, agriculture, tourism, and residential areas, and integrated management has become difficult. In addition, changes in the shape and flow of waterways and their disappearance have impeded and fragmented the flow in downstream areas, creating problems for disaster prevention. In the future, it will be important to secure and regenerate the continuity of water networks for watershed basin water control, and to establish a comprehensive water network management system.

Japanese rivers and lakes have rich and distinctive fishing traditions, forming a variety of cultures and landscapes. In this study, to examine the characteristics of the traditional fishing that has remained and the scenery of fishing operations, we studied 30 typical inland water traditional fishing. We collected the information of traditional fishing (water environment location, fishing elements, related traditional culture and scenery of fishing operation) to collect statistics and conducted a database analysis of traditional fishing. The results of this analysis showed that the inheritance of traditional fishing methods has become a significant problem and has a strong positive correlation with related traditional culture. In addition, we categorized the fishing operations into four types according to a cluster analysis.

This study focuses on features of the Eight Views of Ram City paintings from Song to Qing dynasty by using the scale-invariant feature transform algorithm. The 40 paintings of the Eight Views were transformed into key points and divided into 3 groups with the cluster analysis method. Combined with the landscape elements classification, it can be found that the combination relationship between landscape elements. As a result, mountain plants integrated with buildings in the Song and Ming dynasties, while the mountains separated by other elements in the Yuan dynasty, early Qing dynasty, and late Qing dynasty. When depicting the lives of citizens, all landscape elements were, often, closely combined in the drawings.

This study focuses on the scenic features of the Ryukyu Kingdom based on 115 scenic poems in Ryukyu Poetry of a Conferred Envoy written by XuBaoguang. It is divided into 6 subgroups by text mining method and formed a Co-occurrence network about the Ryukyu Kingdom scenery. And as a result, Group A reflects the hierarchical characteristics about the selection of buildings sites and the architectural scenic features about stone-making techniques. Group B reflects the influence of cultural exchange by highlighting the characteristics of the dangerous and changeable marine climate. Group C focuses on the scenery of social activities among officials. Group D reflects the benefits and challenges of scenery construction in the island environment. Group E focuses on the scenery around the Engaku-ji temple, the spatial composition of this area which represents secular kingship and various religious thoughts. Group F based on the realistic marine scenery to convey author’s personal view.

This study analyzed the association between neighborhood environment and physical activities (such as exercise and walking) among middle-aged and elderly participants, aged 45–74 years, residing in Kanagawa, Chiba, and Saitama prefectures in Japan in April 2021, when the second state of emergency in response to the COVID-19 pandemic was lifted. It was found that seeing people being active in the neighborhood was related to physical activity. In addition, among people aged 65–74 years, attractive scenery in the vicinity was related to physical activity. Alternatively, no statistically significant relationship was apparent between physical activity and the presence of good access to public transport. The findings of this study not only provide information for preventing secondary harm to health due to infectious diseases, but also provide important suggestions for post-COVID community development.

This study intends to identify conditions that determine the characteristics of donors who allocate a larger share of Official Development Assistance (ODA) to climate change mitigation (mitigation ODA) following the adoption of the Paris Agreement. The study uses fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis (fsQCA) which allows us to examine necessary and sufficient conditions for donors who provide a larger share of mitigation ODA. Results of the study suggest that a combination of donor characteristics (stronger climate change commitments and better governance or larger economy) is part of the sufficient conditions for donors who provide a larger share of mitigation ODA. The results, which include a combination without economic scale (a combination of stronger climate change commitments and better governance), suggest that a larger share of mitigation ODA may not be a luxury action. The results provide theoretical positive prospects for the goal of financial mobilization under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change both from Non Annex II countries (developing countries) and the US which currently provides a smaller share of mitigation ODA.