Search results for "Environmental Planning"
showing 10 items of 357 documents
Design and use of a Facebook 4 Urban Facelifts
2015
The renewal of the 'urban look' (Urban Facelift) could play a crucial role for the development of the whole city. This study will analyse the case of the Palermo port area, which is considered as the 'face' of the city. Sicily is indeed an island, and therefore, because of its natural and infrastructural features, the sea is still its main connection with the world. For this reason, urban renovation in the city of Palermo has begun first with its coastal area. The tested methodology combines future urban faces with the present–state evaluation criteria by involving different stakeholders. Then, the urban faces are associated with possible and suitable future scenarios. In this way, an Urban…
Municipal Climate Change Adaptation GOVERNANCE in Latvia: ApproachING Cross-sectorial and Multi–instrumental understanding
2021
Climate change adaptation being one of today’s main challenges on global agenda do affect people worldwide, but even though most decisions regarding climate change governance are made at the international or national level, the implementation of these decisions in most cases takes place at the local level. Municipal climate change adaptation research project in Latvia was carried out with special emphases on main stakeholder understanding, preparedness and communication factors using several complementary research methods – case study research in Salacgriva coastal municipality, sociological surveys with both Salacgriva town households / inhabitants (home visits / questionnaires) and also n…
Land degradation a matter of attitude? A case study from southern Transylvania (Romania)
2016
A better public perception and knowledge on land degradation increases the individual and collective responsibility in land use and land management. Based on interviews, this paper presents results of evaluation of public perception and attitude towards degrading phenomena in the central part of Romania, an area prone to geomorphologic processes, with different land uses and a high proportion of degraded land. The research reveals natural causes, improper land use, categories of land owned, socio-economic causes and involvement of institutions as key aspects of public perception. Our research could be useful in the identification and design of measures in regional planning to attract popula…
Perfluorinated Compounds in Food: A Global Perspective
2011
Perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) are resistant to breakdown and are turning up in unexpected places around the world, becoming emerging food contaminants. Although these chemicals have been used in countless products since the 1950s, they have been subject to little control until now. There is still an insufficient knowledge of their sources, occurrence, and hazards for food safety decision making. This article provides a comprehensive review of the food contamination levels and dietary intake risks posed by PFCs, as well as the specific methods developed for their determination. It is based on the evaluation of the published literature between 2004 and the beginning of 2010, with special em…
The perception of abandoned farmland by local people and experts: Landscape value and perspectives on future land use
2013
Abstract Abandonment of agricultural land is a common feature of areas undergoing a range of urbanisation and marginalisation processes across Europe and beyond. This is also the case in Latvia, particularly in the period since 1990, when after regaining independence from the Soviet Union land was restored to its previous owners or their descendants. Many of these people have moved to cities and lack the interest in or the necessary capital for starting farming enterprises. As a result, large areas of land were abandoned, leading to spontaneous afforestation and with associated changes in landscape structure, ecological function and aesthetic value. While there has been an increase in resea…
Google Earth geo-education resources: A transnational approach from Ireland, Iceland, Finland, and Norway
2012
The Northern Environmental Education Development (NEED) project was a transnational geo-education resource development initiative cooperated by four European countries: Ireland, Finland, Norway, and Iceland. NEED supported the development of novel geological information resources, and the establishment of geoeducation networks in the four project regions. An analysis of the national geography and science curriculum in each region was conducted. This analysis identifi ed which geographic learning skills were common to each curriculum. The development of innovative geographic information system (GIS) resources to help support the development of geographic skills was considered a potentially v…
Transitions to sustainability in small islands: combining foresight scenarios with multi-criteria analysis to develop viable sustainability strategie…
2018
Islands face similar challenges for sustainability as continental areas, but their geographic situation conditions their options for development. However, thanks to their clear geographic boundarie...
Public Policies to Promote Sustainable Transports : Lessons from Valencia
2021
Bicycling appears in the literature on urban mobility as a more sustainable transportation mode for future transportation, based on empirical evidence of the potential benefits of bicycling on the environment, society, and health. In this context, public interventions to promote and maintain bicycling as a sustainable practice and its positive effects are salient. This article reviews different cycling policies with respect to cycling facilities present in the literature and compares them with a case study in Valencia (Spain). We collected information on the public policies implemented in Valencia and the traffic intensity in bike lanes over detecting loops distributed around the city. The …
Environmental Sustainability Approaches and Positive Energy Districts: A Literature Review
2021
During the last decade, increasing attention has been paid to the emerging concept of Positive Energy Districts (PED) with the aim of pushing the transition to clean energy, but further research efforts are needed to identify design approaches optimized from the point of view of sustainable development. In this context, this literature review is placed, with a specific focus on environmental sustainability within innovative and eco-sustainable districts. The findings show that some sustainability aspects such as sustainable food, urban heat islands mitigation and co-impacts, e.g., green gentrification, are not adequately assessed, while fragmented thinking limits the potential of circularit…
Solar Thermoelectric Power Landscapes in Spain
2015
Solar thermoelectric energy has developed in spectacular fashion over the last decade in Spain. The appearance of solar power stations using this technology is changing the landscape in many rural areas, as windfarms and photo-voltaic power stations have done since the end of the 1990s. We begin by presenting the different factors and processes that have facilitated the rapid deployment of this technology. We then go on to make a conceptualization of solar thermoelectric landscapes, by analysing the different kinds of landscape created by these technologies, and we present a map of these new landscapes in Spain. After that, we highlight the tensions and conflicts identified in the different…