Search results for " cities"
showing 10 items of 195 documents
Correlation of wood-based components and dewatering properties of waste activated sludge from pulp and paper industry.
2010
Large amounts of wet sludge are produced annually in municipal and industrial wastewater treatment. Already in pulp and paper industry, more than ten million tons of primary sludge, waste activated sludge, and de-inking sludge is generated. Waste activated sludge contains large quantities of bound water, which is difficult to dewater. Low water content would be a matter of high calorific value in incineration but it also has effects on the volume and the quality of the matter to be handled in sludge disposal. In this research waste activated sludges from different pulp and paper mills were chemically characterised and dewatered. Correlations of chemical composition and dewatering properties…
Culture, communication and cooperation: the three Cs for a proactive creative city
2009
The network of European Union creative cities is a powerful new configuration of dynamic, innovative and action-oriented cities, able to transform the space using their network of cultural heritage and activities. From a vision in which the more competitive cities are those able to attract the creative class must go to a vision in which the city becomes generates creativity, presents itself as a powerful incubator of economies based on creativity, culture, research and artistic production. The cities will have to invest in the experience economy, strengthening their identity. The Creative City 3.0, therefore, is an active tension, that requires a long-term vision ability, and calls us to ac…
Ethics and Politics of the Built Environment: Gardens of the Anthropocene
2017
This book is a reflection on the role of gardens in our thinking about our environments, and on the role of urban gardening in our acting and for our environments. More generally, it is an exploration of the ethical and political station of individuals in the Anthropocene - this new epoch in which the Earth is being remade by human activity. The book argues that, in the new epoch, urban gardens and gardening are to become 1) conceptual models for reflecting on the human station within the wider workings of things; 2) contexts and practices of stewardship that enable the fulfillment of individual moral obligations against important global challenges - including food security, climate change,…
Virtues for the Anthropocene
2015
The paper discusses some difficulties that life in Anthropocene poses to our ethical thinking. It describes the sort of ethical task that individuals find themselves confronting when dealing with the planetary environmental quandaries that characterise the new epoch. It then asks what, given the situation, would count as environmentally virtuous ways of looking at and going about our lives, and how relevant virtues can be developed. It is argued that the practice of gardening is distinctively conducive to that objective. Finally, some garden virtues that will be of special importance in the Anthropocene, but have so far been largely neglected by environmental ethicists, are listed and descr…
Reviving the lost spaces under urban highways and bridges: an empirical study
2019
Purpose The fast development of urban movement infrastructures has created neglected urban places in cities. This study aims to provide users’ preferences for designing lost spaces that are a by-product of elevated urban highways (UHs) and bridges to develop a conceptual model for better environmental design. Design/methodology/approach This research is conducted by a combination of both qualitative and quantitative methods. In the first phase, to explore the citizen’s environmental preferences based on the Q-sort technique and in-depth interviews, the ideas of 50 users were considered up to data saturation. The preferences of people for designs under urban bridges were extracted by conten…
Special Issue “Smart Urban Lighting Systems”
2020
The design and operation of multifunctional infrastructures for public lighting as well as their impact on the urban environment and citizens’ life is today of great interest. The cost of energy for public lighting is often an issue for the budget of municipalities. Furthermore, researchers’ and designers’ attention is increasingly focused on aspects of public lighting not directly valuable through economic factors. Starting from the “quality” of the light environment, looking at citizens’ visual comfort, the light has to be considered as an instrument to improve the urban context and objects therein (including buildings). Indeed, urban degradation (lack of infrastructures, maintenance, ser…
Short-Term Effects of Air Pollution on Cardiovascular Hospitalizations in the Pisan Longitudinal Study
2021
Air pollution effects on cardiovascular hospitalizations in small urban/suburban areas have been scantly investigated. Such effects were assessed among the participants in the analytical epidemiological survey carried out in Pisa and Cascina, Tuscany, Italy (2009–2011). Cardiovascular hospitalizations from 1585 subjects were followed up (2011–2015). Daily mean pollutant concentrations were estimated through random forests at 1 km (particulate matter: PM10, 2011–2015
Building Resilient Smart Cities for Sustainable Urban Tourism in Africa Post-COVID-19 Pandemic
2022
AbstractThis paper contributes to the knowledge by examining the role of smart tourism technologies in destination resilience amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering tourism in the COVID-19 crisis as an emerging stream of research, the study also explores how African cities deployed smart tourism technologies and how effective it has been in creating resilient and safe destinations. Data were collected through a semi-structured online interview from destination managers in Ghana, Kenya, and South Africa. The findings pose critical lessons for city destinations and how they need to transition into smartness to create safe spaces for travellers during and post-COVID-19. Our study makes nove…
Suicide and Ambient Temperature: A Multi-Country Multi-City Study
2019
Background: Previous literature suggests that higher ambient temperature may play a role in increasing the risk of suicide. However, no multi-country study has explored the shape of the association and the role of moderate and extreme heat across different locations. Objectives: We examined the short-term temperature–suicide relationship using daily time-series data collected for 341 locations in 12 countries for periods ranging from 4 to 40 y. Methods: We conducted a two-stage meta-analysis. First, we performed location-specific time-stratified case-crossover analyses to examine the temperature–suicide association for each location. Then, we used a multivariate meta-regression to combine t…
Il Paradigma della Città Fluida
2013
Nella recente crisi globale i poderosi flussi di capitali finanziari, sociali e relazionali che hanno alimentato la riqualificazione urbana nel corso degli ultimi quindici anni non sono più disponibili ad essere intercettati in maniera indiscriminata così come è stato possibile fino a qualche anno fa. Nell'era della crisi strutturale le città più dinamiche non sono più quelle in grado di attrarre progetti urbani iconici ed investitori spinti dal mercato immobiliare o dalla redditività delle attività ricreative, ma quelle città che, a partire dalle loro profonde e diversificate risorse culturali, saranno capaci di attuare una vera e propria “metamorfosi” per usarle come base per la creazione…