Changes in the functional use of urban land have become an important challenge affecting urban structure and sustainable development. An-Najaf City, Iraq, has experienced substantial functional transformation over the past two decades, including residential expansion, commercial growth, industrial development, and the emergence of informal settlements. This study analyzes functional land-use changes in An-Najaf City and predicts future transformation using a Markov chain model. Land-use data for 2005, 2015, and 2025 were obtained from official records, geographic information system (GIS)-based land-use maps, recent satellite imagery, and field verification. Transition probability matrices were constructed for the 2005–2015 and 2015–2025 periods, and the 2015–2025 matrix was used to predict the functional land-use distribution for 2035. The results show that residential and commercial land uses increased substantially from 2005 to 2025, with commercial land recording the largest increase, from 200.30 ha to 2,204.30 ha. Informal settlements were also identified as an important factor affecting urban functional change. Based on the Markov prediction, residential land is projected to increase to approximately 5,204.7 ha by 2035, slum areas to 482.3 ha, and industrial land to 876.4 ha. By contrast, commercial land is projected to decline to approximately 1,816.1 ha, while the “Others” category is expected to decrease to 204.5 ha. Since the prediction is applied within the defined 2025 study boundary, the total land area remains constant, and the results represent internal functional transformation rather than further physical urban expansion. The findings highlight the need for planning policies that control informal settlement growth, manage residential and industrial expansion, protect supporting urban functions, and promote balanced urban development in An-Najaf City.

Many smart city initiatives present technological sophistication as synonymous with urban resilience. This paper challenges that assumption by introducing the concept of the “Digital Mirage”, a condition in which the appearance of smart infrastructure conceals structural dependency on external vendors and foreign-hosted data architectures. The paper proposes a transferable theoretical framework, the Sovereign Oasis model, for Infrastructure Sovereignty in geopolitically isolated exclaves, using the Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan, as the primary illustrative application context. A Most Dissimilar Systems Design (MDSD) comparative analysis across three cases, Aghali Smart Village as a greenfield reference case, Tallinn, Estonia, as a digital sovereignty benchmark, and Nakhchivan City as a legacy retrofit context, is combined with a process-tracing illustration of the smart grid dependency chain. Drawing on theories of high-modernist planning, polycentric governance, and the political nature of technological artefacts, the paper proposes a three-pillar resilience architecture: a Sovereign Tech Stack maintained through distributed community governance; an Edge Computing model ensuring Graceful Degradation upon link severance; and a Participatory Infrastructure Auditing mechanism grounded in local knowledge. Mean Time to Recovery (MTTR) is proposed as the primary metric for future empirical testing. The Sovereign Oasis model is offered as a design template for exclaves and comparably isolated urban contexts where digital infrastructure dependency constitutes a strategic vulnerability.

As globalization deepens and the digital economy advances, Shandong Province, one of China’s major economic regions, is undergoing shifts in its population structure alongside changes in its economic growth drivers. Exploring the impacts of education support, technological progress, and population aging on regional economic development is of great significance for formulating scientific regional economic policies. Based on macro-level data for Shandong Province from 2004 to 2022, this study constructs a double-logarithmic regression model. The ordinary least squares (OLS) method is used to estimate the model parameters, and stepwise regression is applied to address the multicollinearity problem. The empirical results show that fiscal education expenditure is significantly and positively associated with regional gross domestic product (GDP), suggesting that education support may play an important role in promoting regional economic development. Population aging also shows a significant positive association with regional economic development in the corrected model, indicating that the silver economy and the continued utilization of older adults’ human capital may provide new development opportunities. However, the direct effect of technological progress, measured by technology market turnover, is not fully verified in the current model. The findings suggest that Shandong Province should continue to prioritize education development, improve elderly-care industries and flexible retirement mechanisms, and transform demographic challenges into potential drivers of regional development.

This study evaluates the spatial exposure of road infrastructure and road users to nomadic herder–farmer conflicts (HFCs) in Nigeria, focusing on four critical nomadic pastoral corridors (NPCs): Kaduna–Plateau (North West–North Central, NW–NC), Taraba–Benue (North East–North Central, NE–NC), Nasarawa–Benue (North Central–North Central, NC–NC), and Benue–Enugu (North Central–South East, NC–SE). Using geospatial data, the study develops a Road Exposure Index (REI) by integrating road density, population density, and conflict density across local government areas within these NPCs. Kernel density estimation (KDE) was applied in ArcGIS to visualize the spatial distribution of REI values and identify areas of heightened exposure during HFC-affected years. The results reveal substantial variations in REI across the corridors, with tertiary roads in the Benue–Enugu (NC–SE) and Nasarawa–Benue (NC–NC) corridors showing particularly high levels of exposure. These areas are important because they include major food-producing zones, suggesting that HFC-related road exposure may have implications for food accessibility and rural–urban market connectivity. The findings highlight the need for targeted intelligent transport system (ITS) infrastructure and security interventions to improve road monitoring, enhance transport resilience, and reduce mobility risks in conflict-affected corridors in Nigeria.

Efficient spatial allocation of municipal solid waste (MSW) collection infrastructure is essential for improving urban environmental management, service accessibility, and territorial equity in high-density metropolitan areas. In this study, the territorial and operational performance of MSW collection point optimization was assessed through the application of a Christaller-based hexagonal model in Los Olivos District, Lima, Peru. A quantitative, applied research approach was adopted under a comparative cross-sectional and non-experimental design, in which the existing collection configuration was systematically compared with an optimized spatial scenario. The baseline system consisted of 23 temporary accumulation/storage points (K3) distributed under operationally functional but territorially heterogeneous conditions, whereas the optimized configuration comprised 59 proposed K3 points spatially redistributed to enhance accessibility and service uniformity. The optimized network was generated using a regular hexagonal tessellation with a a circumradius of $R$ = 300 m per K3 point, corresponding to a pedestrian service radius/apothem of $\sim$260 m. Each hexagonal service unit covers approximately 0.2338 km$^2$, which was subdivided into 16 analytical zones. Spatial modelling and geostatistical processing were conducted using official cartographic datasets, population density layers, collection route information, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), Euclidean distance matrices, and geometric optimization procedures. Performance was evaluated using key indicators, including primary collection points/containers (K2)–K3 distance, K3–main road distance, estimated collection time, average MSW load per K3 point, population coverage, and territorial coverage. Statistical consistency was assessed using paired Student’s $t$-tests and Wilcoxon signed-rank tests with a significance threshold of 1%. Under the optimized scenario, the average K2–K3 distance was reduced from 413.78 m to 224.38 m, corresponding to a 45.76% reduction. The average MSW load per K3 point decreased by 61.03%, estimated sector-level collection time decreased from 11.50 min to 6.79 min, and territorial coverage increased from approximately 32% to 77%. Population coverage also increased from 33.17% to 78.88%. These findings suggest that the Christaller-based hexagonal model provides a scalable and reproducible spatial planning framework for optimizing MSW collection infrastructure in densely populated urban districts.

Flooding is a recurrent problem in rapidly developing urban districts such as Lokogoma, Abuja, where inadequate drainage, poor land-use planning, and weak infrastructure maintenance increase flood vulnerability. This study assessed the causes, impacts, and effectiveness of existing flood mitigation measures in Lokogoma District, Abuja, Nigeria. A mixed-methods approach was adopted, involving field observation, questionnaire surveys, stakeholder interviews, secondary data review, and geographic information system (GIS)-assisted mapping. A total of 381 questionnaires were administered to residents in flood-prone residential areas, and the data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, mainly frequencies and percentages. The findings show that 79% of respondents had been affected by flooding, while 53.3% reported that flooding occurs frequently. Poor drainage conditions were identified as the leading cause of flooding, accounting for 27.6% of responses, followed by building on waterways and improper planning, each accounting for 22.0%. The major impacts of flooding included disruption of daily activities, economic loss, loss of personal belongings, health issues, property damage, and displacement from homes. Existing mitigation measures included drainage systems, sandbags/barriers, building elevation, flood walls, community education, early warning systems, vegetative barriers, land-use planning, and flood insurance. However, respondents expressed mixed views about their effectiveness, with 44.9% rating the measures as effective or very effective and 39.4% rating them as ineffective or very ineffective. The study concludes that flooding in Lokogoma is driven by inadequate drainage capacity, poor maintenance, improper waste disposal, weak development control, and limited community participation. It recommends upgrading secondary and tertiary drainage systems, improving solid waste management, enforcing land-use and building regulations, conducting regular drainage maintenance, reviewing flood risk assessments, and strengthening public awareness and community participation. These measures can enhance flood resilience and support more sustainable urban development in Lokogoma District.