Search Results (19)

Nature-based Solutions (NbS) have emerged as an influential framework in climate and water governance, promoted as cost-effective, resilient, and ecologically sound responses to environmental degradation. This interdisciplinary review critically examines the conceptual foundations, governance models, and systemic risks associated with NbS in urban and coastal water management. While NbS are often presented as sustainable and multifunctional alternatives to grey infrastructure, the literature reveals recurring vulnerabilities—ranging from ecological side effects to socio-political inequities and epistemological overconfidence. Drawing on contemporary case studies and classical environmental thought—from authors such as Virgil, Lucretius, and Seneca—the paper challenges the prevailing assumption that nature-based interventions are inherently beneficial or resilient. Instead, it argues for a reflexive and context-sensitive approach to NbS, one that integrates historical awareness, ethical reflection, and adaptive governance. The review proposes a typology of systemic risks, synthesizes unintended consequences across global examples, and calls for greater integration of environmental humanities into NbS research and policy design. Full article

This research focuses on the impact of smart city technologies on urban tourism, specifically analyzing Amsterdam, Barcelona, and Vienna, while also considering implications for smart tourism development in Belgrade and other Serbian cities. The aim of the study was to examine how smart city technologies contribute to enhancing the efficiency, digital engagement, and sustainability of urban tourism. A representative sample of 1239 tourists was surveyed, with a balanced gender representation and a predominance of younger respondents, indicating that smart tourism initiatives should cater to tech-savvy travelers. The study employed a questionnaire with 31 statements ranked on a five-point Likert scale, and factor analysis and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) identified three key dimensions: smart efficiency, smart travel, and digital enhancement. These factors highlight how smart technologies optimize urban mobility, enhance travel experiences, and improve tourist engagement. The research confirms the initial hypothesis that integrating smart city technologies enhances urban tourism efficiency and sustainability. Additionally, the study adopts a positivist epistemological approach, emphasizing empirical analysis and statistical validation to derive generalizable findings. The results provide valuable insights for policymakers and stakeholders aiming to develop sustainable urban tourism strategies in Serbian cities. Full article

Urban flooding represents a critical socio-ecological challenge exacerbated by climate change and rapid urbanization, with green infrastructure (GI) emerging as a transformative approach to flood management. This study employs an innovative methodological framework integrating the Biblioshiny, CiteSpace, and Orange3 analytical tools to examine research trends and evolutions in GI for urban flooding from 2015 to 2024. The bibliometric analysis of 813 publications reveals a profound epistemological transition from technically oriented approaches toward integrated socio-ecological frameworks. The citation patterns demonstrate increasing scholarly attention on multifunctionality, climate resilience, and governance dimensions, with the United States and China emerging as dominant research hubs. The analysis identifies distinct thematic clusters reflecting the field’s intellectual progression from hydrological engineering paradigms toward systemic conceptualizations that recognize the complex interactions between technical, ecological, and social dimensions. Despite these advancements, persistent knowledge gaps remain regarding longitudinal performance evaluations, governance frameworks for maintenance, and scalar integration from site-specific interventions to watershed-level outcomes. These findings emphasize the need for methodological innovation addressing the temporal dimensions of GI performance and institutional arrangements for its implementation across diverse urban contexts, positioning GI as a critical component of sustainable urban water management amid increasing climatic uncertainty. Full article

This systematic review examines the intersection of systems thinking and learning theory in addressing rural–urban challenges in light of increasing global urbanization. We explore how different dimensions of systems thinking—ontological (how we understand systems) and epistemological (how we think about systems)—align with single-, double-, and triple-loop learning in rural–urban research from 2014 to 2024. Through a rigorous screening process of the peer-reviewed literature, we analyze how theoretical frameworks manifest in research approaches, methodological choices, and learning outcomes. Our findings reveal promising developments and persistent gaps in current approaches, and suggest pathways for more integrated theoretical and methodological frameworks. We also highlight the need for studies that develop knowledge and practices that support collective learning and joint trajectories towards sustainability from a cross-sectorial perspective in rural–urban geographies. This synthesis contributes to discussions on how to effectively address complex challenges at the rural–urban interface while advancing both theoretical understanding and practical application. Full article

Before the Anthropocene, Bedouin communities in Southern Israel were based on a clan structure—a kin-based social network; clans were culturally and socially homogenous communities with a strong authority structure. Work consisted of subsistence activities necessary for physical survival. Group-based authority and cooperative problem solving were adaptive in this ecology. Throughout the Anthropocene, the Bedouin of Southern Israel have had to adapt to diverse urban environments, expanded educational opportunity, and exposure to media emanating from different cultures. Our study explored the implications of these ecological shifts for epistemic thinking by comparing three generations of 60 Bedouin families: adolescent girls, their mothers, and their grandmothers (N = 180). Families were evenly divided among three residence types differing in degree of urbanization and degree of population homogeneity: unrecognized Bedouin villages consisting of single clans; recognized Bedouin villages, towns, or cities, consisting of multiple clans; and ethnically diverse cities. Results: Across the generations, media exposure and formally educated parents have weakened the epistemic authority of family elders, in turn weakening clan identity. Ethnically diverse cities have weakened extended family identity. At the same time, personal knowledge and professional expertise have gained new cultural importance. These changes in epistemology and identity are adaptive in the ecological environments that have multiplied in the Anthropocene era. Local identity was strongest both in diverse cities, with their many attractions, and in unrecognized villages, where the population continues to occupy ancestral lands. Full article

While informal settlements have been extensively studied in the Global South, their counterparts in the Global North remain under-researched, despite their critical role in shaping urban morphology. This paper introduces “Resident-Centered Narrative Mapping”, a framework designed to uncover micro-morphological knowledge through the lived spatial experiences of marginalized residents. By examining the epistemological question “whose morphology?”, this study critiques conventional urban morphological methods, which often disregard spatial practices embedded in the everyday lives of marginalized communities. Focusing on a marginalized lilong settlement in downtown Shanghai, this research work integrates critical cartography with ethnographic fieldwork to develop a micro-morphological mapping process centered on resident narratives. This process, structured around the phases of finding, inscription, and simplification, demonstrates how residents’ daily practices actively shape and reconfigure their built environment. This study offers an alternative perspective to understand the dynamic processes of urban renewal in informal settlements and emphasizes the dialectical relationship between resident-driven spatial practices and the transformation of the urban form. By broadening urban morphology’s methodological framework, this research provides insights into how resident-driven mapping can inform localized regeneration strategies. The findings highlight the potential for marginalized communities to shape urban regeneration policies, advocating for inclusive, resident-centered development. Full article

Analyses of urban hierarchy and scale distribution are crucial in urban research, as they examine the laws of urban development and the functional layout of urban spatial systems. However, previous studies have focused on the macro-spatial distribution of the economy, businesses, and population at the regional level, whereas systematic research on the scale distribution of retail formats in central urban areas is lacking. Therefore, this study investigated the hierarchical scale distribution of retail formats in the top ten cities in China by GDP, using the Public Service Facilities Index Method to define central district boundaries, using scale as an epistemological framework of order and analyzing the spatial distribution patterns of retail formats. The results revealed that the spatial hierarchical scale follows a power law within a certain range; the spatial distribution exhibits stage characteristics, providing a quantitative method for defining retail centres; and the dominant functions, development directions, and morphological characteristics of central districts influence the hierarchical scale distribution of retail formats. Full article

Teachers’ actions in sustainable development are guided by a way of conceiving the environment. This study sought to account for the ideas and experiences of teachers in education for sustainable development in the city of Bogotá, Colombia. Based on a qualitative study with an interpretive approach through an open questionnaire, the aim was to investigate educational proposals developed in institutions on urban environmental sustainability that allow the articulation of SDGs 4 and 11. The results intersect with the proposal of sustainability typologies from the epistemological, axiological, and ontological components. The findings showed that environmental training involves both the understanding of relationships and problems and the proposal of alternatives that allow us to offer new horizons as a possibility to build and promote other ways of being and developing, individually and collectively, in the places we inhabit and that we contribute to the world. This requires rethinking education, strengthening pedagogical proposals, and developing other alternatives to educate ourselves socio-environmentally, to train responsible citizens, and to achieve sustainable societies. Understanding the perceptions and practices of teachers in regard to sustainability can contribute to defining priority lines of research, proposing educational guidelines for teacher training, and guiding the development of public policies for curricular greening from a critical perspective. This makes it possible to promote educational actions to consolidate citizen training. Full article

This paper develops the theory of liminality as a guideline for revitalising disused urban fabrics in historic cities. Since Middle Eastern historic cities exist as a transitional phenomenon, spatial liminality is identified as an epistemological tool for their investigation. This paper sets up a mixed-method approach based on questionnaire surveys and field studies in twelve urban blocks in historic Yazd and Kashan. Using an interpretive historical study, it is verified that, during the premodern eras, spatial liminality has been synonymous with the formation of sense of place/citizenship, mainly generated as a result of the existence of in-between spaces in historic cities, which, in turn, could have facilitated the rites of passage for residents. In a quantitative layer, the correlation between dilapidated abandoned buildings (DABs) (i.e., disused urban fabrics) and sense of place/citizenship is investigated in case studies, which unfolds associations that lack of sense of place amongst local communities could convey to the meaning of spatial liminality. The analysis demonstrates DABs are associated with lack of spatial liminality, contributing to the breakdown of sense of community identification/place. Therefore, DABs need to be reutilized while maintaining their heritage values. The discourse identifies in-between spaces that once facilitated spatial liminality and demonstrates a guideline for revitalising historic cities. This study put forward a theoretical contribution that enables the use of spatial liminality to guide the understanding and management of historic cities. Full article

This essay explores Michel Serres’s “poetic dream of another epistemology” connected to an anti-Cartesian, sensorial view of knowledge. The philosopher alludes to empirical studies from the field of cognitive neuroscience, which have demonstrated that the mind and body are interwoven as part of one integrated entity, in order to propose an alternative epistemological framework for (re-) envisioning the nature of knowledge. The philosopher’s rehabilitation of our senses illustrates that our body is replete with overlapping epistemological channels that bifurcate in all directions. Serres explains how somatic encounters with the universe enable us to constitute a stable sense of self in relation to the larger world. However, he recognizes that there are a plethora of obstacles standing in the way of allowing his epistemological dream to come to fruition. In what he refers to as the Exo-Darwinian, hominescent era, the (post-) modern, urbanized lifestyle affords very little contact with the remainder of the planet. Moreover, Serres laments how climate change has already forever eradicated spaces of meaning that are indispensable as part of an epistemological quest of knowing what and who we are as planetary beings. Full article

This article explores how reconstruction design can be used in urban heritage as an adaptive approach to creating a continuous cultural dynamic for urban regeneration. The case that is studied is the rebuilding project of the Porcelain Tower of Nanjing, well-known to westerners as a splendour of the East. The research strategy stems from the epistemological paradigm of interpretivism and relies mainly on qualitative research methods. The ethic of refashioning a past legacy is discussed by reviewing the relevant theories and documents. It is argued that the rationale for rebuilding heritage should be judged on a case-by-case basis. From the perspective of urban cultural regeneration, rebuilding can be an appropriate solution to reviving heritage within the bounds of authenticity. Respecting the delicate balance between historical significance and contemporary sustainability, urban heritage can sometimes best be served by modern reconstruction. This paper, therefore, identifies the modern Porcelain Tower as an urban landmark that distinguishes Nanjing among Chinese cities and satisfies the cultural demand for sustainable local urban regeneration. Whilst the modern pagoda is not historically inaccurate, its reconstruction was determined without public engagement in a way that emphasises the government’s view of its history and value. Full article

Nature-Based Solutions are defined as infrastructures or systems which are inspired by, supported by, or copied from nature. This biophilic leitmotif has rapidly permeated and been prescribed in many fields, particularly in urban and architectural design, stimulating an invasion of green rhetorics not necessarily founded on genuine ecological performing. In this context, this article explores current gaps in the epistemology and rhetorics of NBS, expanding the field with alternative narratives such as cycle-based design and micro-scalar or process-oriented approaches. The concept of redundancy is here presented as a non-observable, still nature-based principle, already applied in disparate scientific fields such as information theory, cybernetics, or evolutionary biology, and introduced in design fields from a theoretical perspective. Novel applicability of the term will be articulated from design perspectives through various case studies, using a multi-scalar scope and concluding in a tentative taxonomy. Redundancy entails a shift from grammar-based to syntax-based design logics. Morphological redundancy is presented as an upgrade of NBS rhetorics, delivering a more advanced understanding of the hidden choreographies of nature. Full article

An increasing interest has been present in scientific literature and policy making for the links between urban environments and health, as also learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic. Collaboration between urban planning and public health is therefore critical for enhancing the capabilities of a city to promote the well-being of its people. However, what leverage potential for urban health can be found in existing plans, policies, and strategies that address urban health? Starting from the relationship between urban systems and health issues, the purpose of this contribution is to broaden the systemic knowledge of urban systems and health so as to try to figure out the impact potential of local urban governance on public health. Considering the systemic nature of health issues, as defined by the World Health Organisation, this is done through a systems thinking epistemological approach. Urban health proposals are studied and assessed in four European cities (Copenhagen, London, Berlin, and Vienna). Current criticalities are found, starting from the guiding goal of such proposals, yet a systemic approach is suggested aimed at supporting and evaluating lasting and healthy urban planning and management strategies. Full article

After developing a systematic analysis of the vernacular phenomenon in different disciplines, this paper presents a flexible model to understand the multiple factors and the different degrees of vernacularity behind the many processes that lead to the generation of material culture. The conceptual model offers an open, polythetic and integrative approach to the vernacular by assuming that it operates in different dimensions (temporal, socio-political, sociological, locational, epistemological, procedural, economic and functional), and that the many attributes or characteristics included in those dimensions are all relevant but not strictly necessary. The model is intended to facilitate a more methodical and rigorous connection between the vernacular concept and contemporary discourses on sustainability, resilience, globalization, governance, and rural-urban development. In addition, and due to its transdisciplinary character, the model will enable the development of comparative studies within and between a wide range of fields (architecture, landscape studies, design, planning and geography). A prospective analysis of the use of the model in rural landscapes reveals its potential to mediate between the protective approach that has characterized official planning during the last decades and emergent approaches that advocate the reinterpretation of the vernacular as a new form to generate new collective identities and to reconnect people and place. Full article

In the highly-competitive restaurant environment, restaurateurs continually optimize the quality of their offer so that customers leave the restaurant with the intention to return and to tell others about their experience. Authenticity is among the attributes that restaurateurs seek to provide; and a wealth of study has been conducted to understand authenticity in a variety of contexts including ethnic-themed restaurants. However; insufficient attention has been given to non-themed domestic restaurants; which make up a significant proportion of available dining options. This study aimed to explore the role of authenticity as part of the concepts offered by domestic restaurants in Switzerland. Interviews with managers of 30 domestic restaurants were analyzed according to their content and interpreted according to authenticity dimensions identified by Karrebaek and Maegaard (2017) and Coupland and Coupland (2014). The approach of using a framework with four dimensions—“tradition”, “place”, “performance”, and “material”—was a useful epistemological lens to view the construct of authenticity. Participants from country restaurants placed more importance on tradition, while restaurateurs from both country and urban restaurants emphasized the importance of seasonal and regional ingredients and of fitting the restaurant within the cultural and geographical landscape. Managers of domestic restaurants in Switzerland see authenticity as a way of attracting and retaining customers, which can thereby contribute to the economic sustainability of restaurants, although the participants cautioned that customer expectations of sufficient choice can outweigh the added value of authenticity. Authenticity of the product offered by domestic restaurants can also contribute to the sustainability of place by enabling continuity of cultural heritage and traditions. These results provide a basis for future research that could guide restaurateurs’ decisions of how to include authenticity when developing and implementing their concepts for domestic restaurants. Full article