Search results for "City centre"
showing 10 items of 11 documents
The Wheres and Hows of Residential Choice
2016
International audience; A wide variety of choices and decisions are open to individuals when looking for a place to live: a flat or a house, renting or buying depending on one’s resources and plans; living in a city centre to enjoy its buzz, or in a certain district to have a school close by, or on the outskirts in a more village-like setting; and in this last case, how far from urban centres and major access routes? What ultimately are individuals’ preferences? All these questions presuppose looking at how they perceive and evaluate the urban environment so as to better grasp what it is that leads to residential satisfaction. However, it is not the evaluation or satisfaction in itself that…
Shifting Imageries: Gentrification and the New Touristic Images of the Inner City of Palermo
2021
After the bombings of 1943, the historic centre of Palermo was left with several crumbling buildings and a social situation of some concern. Therefore, over the last sixty years, all kinds of representations of Palermo have revolved around the presence of criminal organizations and the risks of living in the most dangerous areas of the city (including the city centre). These representations started to change around the beginning of the new century when the inner city of Palermo underwent an intense process of redefinition of its territorial identity. Several key factors may be used to explain this process: from traditional economic reasons concerning gentrification and touristification, to …
Protein supplements consumption: a comparative study between the city centre and the suburbs of Palermo, Italy
2014
Background: Protein supplements are extensively used among commercial gym users and athletes. Although demographic information amongst such consumption has been poorly investigated. The aim of this study is to compare protein supplement consumption in commercial gym users, both from the city centre and the suburbs of Palermo, Italy. Methods: A face-to-face questionnaire has been administered to 561 subjects. 207 from the city centre (CC) and 354 from the suburbs (SB) of Palermo, Italy. Protein supplement consumption, frequency of use and association with other dietary supplements has been investigated. Subsequently frequency distribution has been used for demographic assessment. Results: 30…
Definition of Seismic Vulnerability Maps for Civil Protection Systems: The Case of Lampedusa Island
2016
The opportunity to locate and quantify the major criticalities associated to natural catastrophic events on a territory allows to plan adequate strategies and interventions by civil protection bodies involved in local and international emergencies. Seismic risk depends, most of all, on the vulnerability of buildings belonging to the urban areas. For this reason, the definition, by a deep analysis of the territory, of instruments identifying and locating vulnerability, largely favours the activities of institutions appointed to safeguard the safety of citizens. This paper proposes a procedure for the definition of vulnerability maps in terms of vulnerability indexes and critical peak ground …
Housing Affordability in Metropolitan Areas. The Application of a Combination of the Ratio Income and Residual Income Approaches to Two Case Studies …
2017
Housing affordability problems have become more serious over the course of the last few decades and are now also affecting the middle-class, despite the fall in prices on the housing market. This study proposes a methodology to assess threshold-income as an index for measuring housing affordability by applying a combination of the ratio income and residual income approaches. The methodology is applied to two particular areas of Sicily in Italy as case studies consisting of medium-size metropolitan areas located in a less developed European region. The areas have been chosen on the basis of their different territorial structure: a polarized area that comprises a high-density city centre and …
Solution to Urban Air Pollution – Carbon Free Transport
2016
Abstract The analysis of the results of long-term air quality monitoring in Riga is presented, which shows that in city centre throughout the measurement time (2004-2014) according to the guidelines defined by the European Union directives and Latvian laws the limits of small particles PM10 and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) are exceeded. From the nature of appearance of pollution and from the research of morphology and composition of fine dust particles it was concluded that in the city centre where the monitoring was performed the main air pollutants are caused by internal combustion engine vehicles. The measures to reduce air pollution performed by two Action Programs (2004-2009; 2011-2015) of t…
Protein supplementation and dietary behaviours of resistance trained men and women attending commercial gyms: a comparative study between the city ce…
2014
Background: It is anecdotally recognized that commercial gym users assume supplements in order to improve performance or health. However, dietary behaviours of people and athletes attending commercial gyms have been poorly studied. The exact amount and frequency of dietary supplements consumption are still needed to be investigated. The main purpose of this study is to understand the quantity and quality of food intake, as well as dietary supplementation in people attending commercial gyms. Secondly to compare the city centre and the suburbs of Palermo, Italy. Methods: A face-to-face questionnaire was administered to 561 subjects, 207 from the city centre (CC) and 354 from the suburbs (SB) …
TANGIBLE AND INTANGIBLE HERITAGE IN THE MEDITERRANEAN SUSTAINABLE CITY
2013
This contribution is about the enhancement of the tangible and intangible cultural heritage and acknowledgement of environmental sustainability principles. It deals with the relationship between new ways of conceiving urban environments and new strategies for urban regeneration in northern and southern Mediterranean cities. Our main research hypothesis will show how the cultural heritage is now the force for change in Mediterranean cities, and involves stakeholders, craftsmen, local inhabitants and consumers. The case studies of Tunis and Marseille will help to address the issue of the enhancement of historic city centres and the redevelopment of abandoned industrial areas. In Tunis we will…
The vegetation for mitigating the microclimate and designing livable and healthy public spaces in Palermo City Centre
2018
Urban morphology and increasing building density play a key role in the overall heat and energy balance of our cities. The urban environment and CO2 emissions resulting from human activities cause a local increase of temperature, a phenomenon known as Urban Heat Island (UHI). This is also due to the reduction of vegetation in urban areas. The benefits that green spaces have in urban planning have been widely acknowledged. In particular, in temperate and hot contexts, plants help to reduce the extreme summer temperatures, improving people’s outdoor and indoor thermal comfort and, at the same time, reducing the buildings’ energy demand for cooling. The way plants affect urban climates is gene…
Improving on the Development of the Downtown Area as a Direction for the Spatial Policy of Opole
2018
Śródmieście stanowi niezwykle cenny, historycznie ukształtowany obszar zabudowy mieszkaniowo- usługowej. W polityce przestrzennej miasta zbyt mało uwagi poświęca się jednak zachowaniu bądź kształtowaniu odpowiednich warunków życia mieszkańców śródmieść przy jednoczesnym uwzględnieniu i ochronie walorów kompozycyjno-estetycznych. Powszechny chaos w zagospodarowaniu terenów śródmiejskich i brak odpowiednich regulacji w gospodarce przestrzennej prowadzi do powstawania licznych konfliktów i w efekcie do wycofywania się funkcji mieszkaniowej z centrum miasta. Celem artykułu jest zidentyfikowanie problemów występujących w śródmieściu oraz wykazanie, że możliwe jest poprawienie warunków życia mies…