Transport planning and public health have been intertwined historically. The health impact of public transport services, such as social exclusion, is a widely discussed research topic. Social exclusion is a paramount concern for older adults’ health in the wake of emerging global challenges. However, there remains a significant research gap on how psychosocial barriers faced by older adults in using public transport services influence the social exclusion behavior. The present research provides empirical evidence and shows the impact of certain psychosocial barriers of public transportation on older adults’ social exclusion. A total of 243 Pakistani older adults (aged 60–89 years old) voluntarily participated in this cross-sectional study. The participants provided self-reports on their psychosocial barriers (including perceived norms, attitude, personal ability, habits, neighborhood social constraints, and intention) and the corresponding social exclusion. Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) was utilized for the data analysis. The structural path model supported the significant associations between psychosocial barriers and social exclusion. Except for perceived descriptive norms, all other psychosocial barriers predicted older adults’ social exclusion. The research portrays the significance of the psychosocial factors to examine social exclusion and offers practical implications for urban and transport planners. The concerned policymakers can use the research findings to develop age-sensitive, socially sustainable, and healthy cities.

In recent decades, the percentage of women working outside their homes has ascended in many developing countries depicts the needs on the understanding of how women travel daily. Many claims, public transportation facilities, and infrastructure related to it do not consider the needs of women travelers but fit men's standards. As a result, many face difficulties became dependent on men for traveling or facing safety-related issues that deter them to use public transportation independently. Thus, this study is to identify factors of public transportation usage among women users in Kuala Lumpur. The study has able to identify three main attributes in public transportation usage factors that influence women users. Using the Structural Equation Modelling (SEM) researchers have found that situational attributes have a larger influence on public transportation frequency, in the use of public transportation and surrounding condition of the public transportation in the mode choice decisions of their travel preferences.

No abstract

Urban growth is a worldwide phenomenon, and urbanisation is increasing rapidly, particularly in developing countries. The high pace of unmanaged urbanisation and consequent low-density urban sprawl poses severe challenges to most big cities globally. Such growth features are primarily contributing to haphazard changes in land uses, leading to agricultural loss. This research adopts an integrated approach to analysing the urban growth patterns in Sialkot, Pakistan. It utilises Landsat satellite data and examines the change of land use and land cover (LULC) over 28 years (1990 -2018). It estimates the agricultural area converted into built-up area during this time frame. Moreover, a spatiotemporal saturation analysis is also performed to analyse the nature of urban growth further. This change analysis is then compared to urban growth strategies introduced under previous urban master plans. The results indicate that the built-up area of Sialkot city has increased from 2,786.49 ha (28.89%) to 7,191.63 ha (74.56%) during the years 1990 -2018. In comparison, the agriculture area has reduced from 69.5% to 24.84%. Similarly, the saturation value has decreased from 0.85 to 0.75, depicting the city is moving towards urban sprawl. The policy review and interview results indicate a lack of focus toward implementation of urban master plans, which has contributed to ribbon development in Sialkot. The study provides recommendations for concerned urban planning authorities to control urban sprawl in Sialkot.

The quality of cultural resources in influencing the distinctiveness of a place is rooted in its tangible and intangible features or collectively known as character-defining elements. While it is undeniable that a place is noticeable and regarded as meaningful due to its cultural heritage values, it is important to know where these significances lie or reside in, along with its current importance to the local community. Nevertheless, there is no single definitive list of the elements that is made available to date. Therefore, this research attempts to explore the key features of a place that can contribute to the unique character of a town and substantially drive the subsequent conservation process. A questionnaire survey was conducted in Taiping, a small town in the state of Perak to identify the key elements that define the overall value of a place, particularly shophouses buildings. Tangible and intangible features were identified as the character-defining elements of shophouses that are worthy of being preserved and maintained. The paper concludes to an interesting result where an intangible characterdefining element is the most important feature that characterised the shophouses in the town.