Sign in to use this feature.

Years

Between: -

Subjects

remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline
remove_circle_outline

Journals

Article Types

Countries / Regions

Search Results (14)

Search Parameters:
Keywords = liveable urban landscapes

Order results
Result details
Results per page
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:
16 pages, 6037 KiB  
Article
Evolution Pattern of Blue–Green Space in New Urban Districts and Its Driving Factors: A Case Study of Zhengdong New District in China
by Yanhe Niu, Sheng Jiao, Shaozhen Tang, Xi Tang and Jingwen Yin
Water 2023, 15(13), 2417; https://doi.org/10.3390/w15132417 - 29 Jun 2023
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2806
Abstract
Understanding the spatial–temporal evolution of the blue–green space (BGS) is crucial for urban planning and ecological security protection. However, the evolutionary patterns and driving factors of the BGS in new urban districts remain unclear. Based on the classical qualitative models, “patch–corridor–matrix” and “sustainability [...] Read more.
Understanding the spatial–temporal evolution of the blue–green space (BGS) is crucial for urban planning and ecological security protection. However, the evolutionary patterns and driving factors of the BGS in new urban districts remain unclear. Based on the classical qualitative models, “patch–corridor–matrix” and “sustainability prism”, this study adopted the land use transition matrix and landscape index to quantify evolution patterns, and Pearson correlation and geographical detector analysis methods to reveal the driving factors. Taking Zhengdong New District as a case study, the results indicated the following: (1) The BGS rate was reduced by 35% from 2003 to 2021, with the most significant decrease in cultivated lands. (2) The evolution pattern of BGS alternated sequentially among ecological, disorderly, and balanced states. Among them, urban green spaces tended towards a more stable and aggregated state. Other BGSs became more fragmented and discontinuous. (3) The “sustainability prism” model consists of four driving factors, including social economy, rainwater safety, ecological liveability, and physical geography. (4) Socioeconomic factors significantly decreased the BGS, as indicated by the correlation coefficients of −0.988 and −0.978 between built-up areas and population and gross domestic products, respectively. Physical geographic factors played weak roles in the evolution of the BGS. Meanwhile, rainwater safety and ecological liveability positively affected the BGS. Full article
(This article belongs to the Topic Urban Land Use and Spatial Analysis)
Show Figures

Figure 1

33 pages, 26031 KiB  
Article
Space Accessibility and Equity of Urban Green Space
by Bo-Xun Huang, Wen-Ying Li, Wen-Juan Ma and Hua Xiao
Land 2023, 12(4), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/land12040766 - 28 Mar 2023
Cited by 26 | Viewed by 8345
Abstract
Urban green space is an essential form of infrastructure for cities, providing a significant spatial guarantee for sustainable urban development, an essential ecological, social, and cultural function, and an important symbol of urban modernisation and civilisation. However, with the development of cities, urban [...] Read more.
Urban green space is an essential form of infrastructure for cities, providing a significant spatial guarantee for sustainable urban development, an essential ecological, social, and cultural function, and an important symbol of urban modernisation and civilisation. However, with the development of cities, urban problems are becoming more serious, such as the increase in impervious surfaces and urban heat islands and the decrease in urban green space and liveability. Therefore, this study integrates the theories and methods of landscape ecology and spatial syntax with GIS technology to construct a comprehensive model for examining the spatial accessibility of green spaces based on remote images and landscape pattern indices, using Fuzhou City as the study area. The study then incorporates demographic variables to explore the characteristics of an equitable distribution of urban green space at the street scale. The results show that the accessibility of green space in the urban areas of Fuzhou decreases from the centre to the periphery. From north to south, there is a trend of ‘low-high-low’, with the northern region exhibiting the lowest accessibility, followed by the southeastern region, and then the western region. In terms of spatial equity in green space, Fuzhou has a more significant share of surplus green space provision, both in terms of the number of streets and area. This shows that the surplus of green space in Fuzhou is greater than the deficit and that the distribution of space is fair. We hope this study will not only help people gain a deeper understanding of green space but also provide a reference for their rational planning and management, thereby improving the accessibility and equity of urban green space as well as their quality and configuration. We also expect it to provide valuable theoretical and technical support for the planning of ecological functions and sustainable development. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Regeneration and Local Development)
Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 9193 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Complete Streets Design Criteria and Case Study in Naples, Italy
by Alfonso Montella, Salvatore Chiaradonna, Alessandro Claudi de Saint Mihiel, Gord Lovegrove, Pietro Nunziante and Maria Rella Riccardi
Sustainability 2022, 14(20), 13142; https://doi.org/10.3390/su142013142 - 13 Oct 2022
Cited by 17 | Viewed by 6314
Abstract
Background: A growing number of communities are re-discovering the value of their streets as important public spaces for many aspects of daily life, creating the need for a transformation in the quality of those streets. An emerging concept of ‘complete streets’ is to [...] Read more.
Background: A growing number of communities are re-discovering the value of their streets as important public spaces for many aspects of daily life, creating the need for a transformation in the quality of those streets. An emerging concept of ‘complete streets’ is to accommodate all users of the transportation system. Methods: In this paper, we present sustainable complete streets design criteria that integrate complete streets by adding socio-environmental design criteria related to the aesthetics, environment, liveability, and safety. To help set priorities, identify the street design features, and create intuitive multimodal networks throughout the city, we have defined a list of the general and specific criteria to be addressed for sustainable complete streets. Results: The proposed design criteria provide a street network with improvements in its aesthetics, to recover the historical urban character and realize historical area planning goals; the environment, to increase the permeable surfaces, reduce the heat island effect, and to absorb traffic-related air pollution; the liveability, to create a public space destination in the urban landscape; and safety, to improve the safety of all road users. The design scenarios proposed in the study were conceived to help practitioners to consider these context-based uses and design accordingly by gaining knowledge from past experiences to benefit future projects. Conclusions: The case study of the urban rehabilitation of the “Mostra d’Oltremare” area and its cultural and architectural assets in Naples, Italy, highlights the practical application of the proposed criteria and the possibility of using these criteria in other urban contexts. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 828 KiB  
Review
The ‘Bush Capital’—A Review of 100+ Years of Integrative Spatio-Temporal Planning for a City in the Landscape and Nature in the City
by A. Jasmyn J. Lynch
Land 2022, 11(2), 169; https://doi.org/10.3390/land11020169 - 21 Jan 2022
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 3549
Abstract
Over approximately 100 years, the Australian capital, Canberra, has evolved in association with the predominant values, vision and cultural relationships of people to the area. The location and design of the city derived from a formal intention to integrate nature and culture for [...] Read more.
Over approximately 100 years, the Australian capital, Canberra, has evolved in association with the predominant values, vision and cultural relationships of people to the area. The location and design of the city derived from a formal intention to integrate nature and culture for the benefit and edification of residents and in symbolisation of the city’s importance as the seat of national decision-making and legislature. Established on a native grassland surrounded by wooded hills and ridges, and with nearby confluences of rivers as security of water supply, the city’s landscape was transformed through centralised planning and implementation of Garden City and City Beautiful constructs to become one of the world’s most liveable regions. Twentieth-century expansion of the city’s suburbs, tree streetscapes and gardens progressed with varying emphasis on exotic versus native species, and contemporary programs aim to increase urban tree canopy cover to 30%. Yet, there is increasing acknowledgement of the landscape’s rich history of culture–nature interactions extending back at least 25,000 years. Indicators are evident in human modification of tree-dominated ecosystems, the overlapping ways in which people related to elemental landscape features, and a continuity of valuing particular sites for ceremonies, social activities and human movement. With projected steady population growth, climate change, and associated impacts on the environment and natural resources, contemporary planning must be innovative and integrative to ensure ecologically sustainable development. Strong visionary leadership is needed to develop a landscape policy that encompasses key natural assets including threatened woodlands and mature native trees for their intrinsic values and as habitat for threatened fauna, cultural landscape values such as forested montane and ridge areas, and heritage and protected trees. From pre-European to current times, planning, modification and management of environmental and ecosystem values has been integral to enabling local people to sustain themselves. The next challenge is to create clarity about the future of this cultural landscape and enhance the community’s attachment to and stewardship of the city and its landscape. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Forest Ecosystems: Protection and Restoration)
Show Figures

Figure 1

24 pages, 5434 KiB  
Article
Assessing Ecosystem and Urban Services for Landscape Suitability Mapping
by Sara Antognelli and Marco Vizzari
Appl. Sci. 2021, 11(17), 8232; https://doi.org/10.3390/app11178232 - 5 Sep 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2528
Abstract
Ecosystem services (ES) and urban services (US) can comparably improve human well-being. Models for integrating ES and US with unexpressed and objective needs of defined groups of stakeholders may prove helpful for supporting decisions in landscape planning and management. In fact, they could [...] Read more.
Ecosystem services (ES) and urban services (US) can comparably improve human well-being. Models for integrating ES and US with unexpressed and objective needs of defined groups of stakeholders may prove helpful for supporting decisions in landscape planning and management. In fact, they could be applied for highlighting landscape areas with different characteristics in terms of services provided. From this base, a suitability spatial assessment model (SUSAM) was developed and applied in a study area considering different verisimilar scenarios that policy makers could analyse. Each scenario is based on the prioritization of a set of services considering a defined group of stakeholders. Consistent and comparable ES and US indices of spatial benefiting areas (SBA) of services were calculated using GIS spatialization techniques. These indices were aggregated hierarchically with the relevance of services according to a spatial multicriteria decision analysis (S-MCDA). Results include maps for each scenario showing detailed spatial indices of suitability that integrate the local availability of SBA of ES and US, along with their relevance. The results were compared with known landscape classes identified in previous studies, which made it possible to interpret the spatial variation of suitability in the light of known landscape features. A complete sensitivity analysis was performed to test the sensitiveness of the model’s outputs to variations of judgements and their resistance to the indicators’ variation. The application of the model demonstrated its effectiveness in a landscape suitability assessment. At the same time, the sensitivity analysis and helping to understand the model behaviour in the different landscape classes also suggested possible solutions for simplifying the whole methodology. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

20 pages, 3363 KiB  
Article
Spatio-Temporal Patterns of Tree Diversity and Distribution in Urban Resettlement Areas for Displaced Farmers
by Chunping Xie, C. Y. Jim, Xiangui Yi, Dawei Liu and Xu Guo
Forests 2021, 12(6), 766; https://doi.org/10.3390/f12060766 - 10 Jun 2021
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 3584
Abstract
Resettlement residential areas (RRAs) are a unique product of China’s urbanisation process. Their greening environment is critical to the quality of life and liveable green neighbourhood of the displaced farmers. Our study aimed to (1) interpret the species composition of the landscape trees [...] Read more.
Resettlement residential areas (RRAs) are a unique product of China’s urbanisation process. Their greening environment is critical to the quality of life and liveable green neighbourhood of the displaced farmers. Our study aimed to (1) interpret the species composition of the landscape trees and their contributions to urban biodiversity in RRAs, and (2) elucidate the structural changes in the tree composition in the last 20 years. Twenty selected RRAs in Changzhou, Jiangsu Province, China, were divided into three categories by completion year. We assessed tree species composition, floristic diversity, tree dimensions, importance value, RRA characteristics, and greening management. The sampled sites accommodated 741 stems and 52 species belonging to 25 families. The three most abundant species were Cinnamomum camphora, Osmanthus fragrans, and Magnolia grandiflora, constituting 45.75% of all trees. The importance values revealed a changing tree planting pattern over time, with persistent domination by a few species. The oldest sites did not harbour the largest trees due to long-term mismanagement and mistreatment by residents. Compared with other housing types and cities, the tree count, importance value, and diversity in RRAs were low. The species diversity was not correlated with RRA completion time, distance from the city centre, and RRA area. The trees were in poor shape with limited trunk diameter and tree height and suffered from frequent and drastic pruning. Residents with lingering farmer mentality commonly exploited the vegetation and green spaces indiscriminately as natural resources. The greenery management could be overhauled by increasing tree number, native species, species diversity, and tree-care quality and engaging residents in a collaborative and participatory mode for a joint maintenance endeavour. The findings offer a scientific basis to improve or design RRA green spaces. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Landscape and Urban Planning-Sustainable Forest Development)
Show Figures

Figure 1

22 pages, 8459 KiB  
Article
Living Heritage in the Urban Landscape. Case Study of the Budapest World Heritage Site Andrássy Avenue
by Kinga Szilágyi, Chaima Lahmar, Camila Andressa Pereira Rosa and Krisztina Szabó
Sustainability 2021, 13(9), 4699; https://doi.org/10.3390/su13094699 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 4642
Abstract
Historic allées and urban avenues reflect a far-sighted and forward-thinking design attitude. These compositions are the living witnesses of olden times, suggesting permanence. However, the 20th century’s urban development severely damaged the environment, therefore hundred-year-old mature trees are relatively rare among city avenues’ [...] Read more.
Historic allées and urban avenues reflect a far-sighted and forward-thinking design attitude. These compositions are the living witnesses of olden times, suggesting permanence. However, the 20th century’s urban development severely damaged the environment, therefore hundred-year-old mature trees are relatively rare among city avenues’ stands. Due to the deteriorated habitat conditions, replantation may be necessary from time to time. However, there are a large number of replanted allées and urban avenues considered historical monuments, according to the relevant international literature in urban and living heritage’s preservation. The renewal often results in planting a different, urban tolerant taxon, as seen in several examples reviewed. Nevertheless, the allée remains an essential urban structural element, though often with a changed character. The Budapest Andrássy Avenue, a city and nature connection defined in the late 19th century’s urban landscape planning, aimed to offer a splendid link between city core and nature in Városliget Public Park. The 19–20th century’s history and urban development are well documented in Hungarian and several English publications, though current tree stock stand and linear urban green infrastructure as part of the urban landscape need a detailed survey. The site analyses ran in 2020–early 2021 created a basis for assessing the allées and the whole avenue as an urban ecosystem and a valuable case study of contemporary heritage protection problems. Andrassy Avenue, the unique urban fabric, architecture, and promenades have been a world heritage monument of cultural value since 2002. The allées became endangered despite reconstruction type maintenance efforts. The presented survey analyses the living heritage’s former renewal programs and underlines the necessity of new reconstruction concepts in urban heritage protection. We hypothesize that urban green infrastructure development, the main issue in the 21st century to improve the urban ecological system and human liveability, may support heritage protection. The Budapest World Heritage Site is worthwhile for a complex renewal where the urban green ecosystem supply and liveable, pedestrian-friendly urban open space system are at the forefront to recall the once glorious, socially and aesthetically attractive avenue. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

21 pages, 3168 KiB  
Review
A Review of Urban Ecosystem Services Research in Southeast Asia
by Karen T. Lourdes, Chris N. Gibbins, Perrine Hamel, Ruzana Sanusi, Badrul Azhar and Alex M. Lechner
Land 2021, 10(1), 40; https://doi.org/10.3390/land10010040 - 5 Jan 2021
Cited by 41 | Viewed by 9822
Abstract
Urban blue-green spaces hold immense potential for supporting the sustainability and liveability of cities through the provision of urban ecosystem services (UES). However, research on UES in the Global South has not been reviewed as systematically as in the Global North. In Southeast [...] Read more.
Urban blue-green spaces hold immense potential for supporting the sustainability and liveability of cities through the provision of urban ecosystem services (UES). However, research on UES in the Global South has not been reviewed as systematically as in the Global North. In Southeast Asia, the nature and extent of the biases, imbalances and gaps in UES research are unclear. We address this issue by conducting a systematic review of UES research in Southeast Asia over the last twenty years. Our findings draw attention to the unequal distribution of UES research within the region, and highlight common services, scales and features studied, as well as methods undertaken in UES research. We found that while studies tend to assess regulating and cultural UES at a landscape scale, few studies examined interactions between services by assessing synergies and tradeoffs. Moreover, the bias in research towards megacities in the region may overlook less-developed nations, rural areas, and peri-urban regions and their unique perspectives and preferences towards UES management. We discuss the challenges and considerations for integrating and conducting research on UES in Southeast Asia based on its unique and diverse socio-cultural characteristics. We conclude our review by highlighting aspects of UES research that need more attention in order to support land use planning and decision-making in Southeast Asia. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Ecosystem Services II: Toward a Sustainable Future)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

20 pages, 7630 KiB  
Article
The Improvement of the Comfort of Public Spaces as a Local Initiative in Coping with Climate Change
by Milena Vukmirovic, Suzana Gavrilovic and Dalibor Stojanovic
Sustainability 2019, 11(23), 6546; https://doi.org/10.3390/su11236546 - 20 Nov 2019
Cited by 45 | Viewed by 9444
Abstract
Being the vital element of successful cities, public spaces play an important role in achieving sustainable development goals and in coping with climate change. The new urban agenda considers public spaces indispensable for sustaining the productivity of cities, social cohesion and inclusion, civic [...] Read more.
Being the vital element of successful cities, public spaces play an important role in achieving sustainable development goals and in coping with climate change. The new urban agenda considers public spaces indispensable for sustaining the productivity of cities, social cohesion and inclusion, civic identity, and quality of life. Accordingly, there is no doubt about the importance of public spaces, while their quality is generated through the symbiosis of various elements. On the basis of normative theories of urban design, several public space design frameworks have been established in order to define what makes a good public place. Such a framework for public space quality evaluation is developed and tested at the Chair for Planning and Design in Landscape Architecture at the University of Belgrade—Faculty of Forestry. The framework covers six criteria which illuminate key aspects of public spaces: safety and security, accessibility, legibility, comfort, inspiration and sensitivity and liveability. In this research, special attention is paid to the criteria of comfort analysed on two scale levels in Belgrade, Serbia. In the past, Belgrade was affected by extreme weather events that caused serious and sometimes disastrous consequences. The most pronounced challenges among them are heat waves in summer that, due to the shortage of vegetation combined with the proliferation of tarmac and concrete surfaces and reduced air ventilation, particularly threaten the densely populated central municipalities of Stari Grad, Savski Venac and Vracar. The first scale level covers the analysis of the public space network and the degree of establishment of green infrastructure in Lower Dorcol quartier, which is located in the Municipality of Stari Grad, using quantitative and qualitative indicators and GIS (Geographic Information System) digital tools. The aim of this study is to observe the actual state of the public space network and to define a future scenario of its development in line with climate change challenges. Jevrejska Street, as an element of the above-mentioned public space network, is the subject of the next phase of the research. The study on this scale level will cover qualitative and quantitative analysis of public space elements such as paving, urban equipment, greenery, lighting, water facilities, etc. Next to that, by using the ENVI Met platform, the actual and proposed improvement of the street will be explored. The final part of this research will include a discussion about the research methodology used in order to improve the public space design process and to point out the need for the careful consideration of comfort as an important aspect of good public space. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainability in the Built Environment and Climate Change)
Show Figures

Figure 1

27 pages, 6695 KiB  
Article
Exploring a Stakeholder Based Urban Densification and Greening Agenda for Rotterdam Inner City—Accelerating the Transition to a Liveable Low Carbon City
by Nico Tillie, Judith Borsboom-van Beurden, Duzan Doepel and Martin Aarts
Sustainability 2018, 10(6), 1927; https://doi.org/10.3390/su10061927 - 8 Jun 2018
Cited by 18 | Viewed by 7699
Abstract
Work on a liveable low carbon city has often been approached in a technocratic way, not linking to other disciplines and urban practices at a large scale. This paper explores a stakeholder based urban agenda for a more liveable low carbon city by [...] Read more.
Work on a liveable low carbon city has often been approached in a technocratic way, not linking to other disciplines and urban practices at a large scale. This paper explores a stakeholder based urban agenda for a more liveable low carbon city by densifying and greening with the case study of Rotterdam inner city. Rotterdam presents a unique European case with a modernistic inner city. Like many North American cities, the inner city for a long time mainly served as a business or shopping district with few inhabitants and few synergetic links between flows, urban functions, and areas. In line with other cities, Rotterdam aims to reduce carbon emissions and provide a high quality of life. To address this, the hypothesis ‘densifying and greening leads to a more sustainable inner city’, was tested and applied with stakeholders using transition management combined with urban data, modelling, and design. With sustainability indicators, geographic information system (GIS) mapping, and urban models, a baseline study was completed and expected outcomes were described and, where possible, validated in reality. The outcomes confirmed the stated hypothesis and showed that linking design, GIS mapping, and city data to transition management proved successful. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

19 pages, 40713 KiB  
Article
Heading in the Right Direction? Investigating Walkability in Galway City, Ireland
by Mike Hynes and Eibhlín Seoighthe
Urban Sci. 2018, 2(2), 31; https://doi.org/10.3390/urbansci2020031 - 9 Apr 2018
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 8149
Abstract
As cities and towns worldwide strive to improve quality of life for citizens, debates centred on mobility are at the forefront of transportation policy thinking and urban design and planning. The automobile radically transformed cities, not always for the better, and the transport [...] Read more.
As cities and towns worldwide strive to improve quality of life for citizens, debates centred on mobility are at the forefront of transportation policy thinking and urban design and planning. The automobile radically transformed cities, not always for the better, and the transport paradigm espoused over previous decades has primarily focussed on cars. This is still largely evident, driven by policymakers and key decisionmakers using forecasting and transportation and economic models that justify such car-centric planning. However, it is now clear that this approach of increasing automobility is unsustainable. Urban planners across the world are coming to a similar conclusion; they are better off with fewer cars, and a new vision is required, which sees people embracing active and sustainable transportation and sharing public space, information, and new innovative services to make cities more attractive and liveable. Walkability is the measure of how pleasant an area is for walking. By promoting and encouraging people to walk more, we achieve the benefits of better personal health and safer, more convivial neighbourhoods and communities. Making cities more walkable involves incorporating features into urban landscapes that make walking an agreeable experience and bringing a range of necessary and interesting destinations within walking distances of homes and workplaces. Using data from the Mobilities and Liveability in Galway project, this paper seeks a richer understanding of issues relating to existing topographies of walkability and the barriers and pressures that exist with regards to the further development of walking in the city—a healthy and pleasurable way of getting about. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 3765 KiB  
Article
Accessibility of Water-Related Cultural Ecosystem Services through Public Transport—A Model for Planning Support in the Stockholm Region
by Zahra Kalantari, Sara Khoshkar, Helena Falk, Vladimir Cvetkovic and Ulla Mörtberg
Sustainability 2017, 9(3), 346; https://doi.org/10.3390/su9030346 - 26 Feb 2017
Cited by 11 | Viewed by 6174
Abstract
Planning for sustainable cities involves supporting compact, energy-efficient urban form as well as maintaining attractive and liveable urban landscapes. Attractive cities depend highly on services provided by ecosystems, especially cultural ecosystem services (ES), which give direct benefits to urban citizens. Therefore, access to [...] Read more.
Planning for sustainable cities involves supporting compact, energy-efficient urban form as well as maintaining attractive and liveable urban landscapes. Attractive cities depend highly on services provided by ecosystems, especially cultural ecosystem services (ES), which give direct benefits to urban citizens. Therefore, access to a diversity of urban functions and publicly available ES by walking and public transport should be considered when planning for sustainable cities. This could be facilitated by user-friendly planning support models. The aim of this study was to develop a GIS-based model for assessing accessibility to ES, more specifically, water-related cultural ecosystem services (WCES), via walking and public transport, with input from stakeholders. The model was applied to the Stockholm region in Sweden. Travel times and census data were used to derive measures and maps of accessibility to prioritised WCES in the region, today and in urbanisation scenarios for 2050. The results showed how access to WCES varied spatially within the region. The number of potential visitors to different WCES sites now and in the future urbanisation scenarios was estimated, and areas in need for future development of the public transport system as well as WCES were identified. The GIS-based accessibility model has potential to be used as planning support in urban planning. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Sustainability and Planning Support Systems)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 3513 KiB  
Article
Sustainable Urban Biophilia: The Case of Greenskins for Urban Density
by Grant Revell and Martin Anda
Sustainability 2014, 6(8), 5423-5438; https://doi.org/10.3390/su6085423 - 19 Aug 2014
Cited by 21 | Viewed by 16837
Abstract
Green infrastructure ameliorates the urban heat island effect, contributes positively to liveability and enables sustainability in higher density urban environments. Greenskins (living architectures) are a more specific form of green infrastructure, including green walls and green roofs, for dense urban areas. These offer [...] Read more.
Green infrastructure ameliorates the urban heat island effect, contributes positively to liveability and enables sustainability in higher density urban environments. Greenskins (living architectures) are a more specific form of green infrastructure, including green walls and green roofs, for dense urban areas. These offer a new approach for sustainable urban biophilia and some forms can be built using the ecological design principles of constructed wetlands. The paper compares findings from two urban centres in warm Mediterranean climates. In general from Adelaide, South Australia and more specifically from university collaborative projects on particular technical and social parameters necessary to sustain Greenskins in dense urban conditions in Fremantle, Western Australia. Results from trials of a prototype greywater Greenskin using vertical constructed wetland cells are reported. Through an experimental investigation of designing living green walls in urban Fremantle, this paper challenges the conventional “triple-bottom-line” approach to sustainable dense urban systems by addressing the greater aesthetic needs of sustainability and its thinking. Here landscape aesthetics looks to the collaborative fields of urban design, environmental engineering and landscape architecture to design new urban biophilic experiences and restorative landscapes for regenerative cultural pleasure, ecological responsibility, environmental stewardship and intellectual gain. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Density and Sustainability)
Show Figures

Graphical abstract

14 pages, 579 KiB  
Article
An Application for Regional Coastal Erosion Processes in Urban Areas: A Case Study of the Golden Horseshoe in Canada
by Eric Vaz and Lisa Bowman
Land 2013, 2(4), 595-608; https://doi.org/10.3390/land2040595 - 13 Nov 2013
Cited by 23 | Viewed by 10388
Abstract
Urban growth has had unprecedented consequences on environmental sustainability and anthropogenic activity. The eroding coastlines throughout the world are subject to the massive expansion of urban areas and the accountability of sustainable hinterland landscapes. The Golden Horseshoe is Canada’s fastest growing region extending [...] Read more.
Urban growth has had unprecedented consequences on environmental sustainability and anthropogenic activity. The eroding coastlines throughout the world are subject to the massive expansion of urban areas and the accountability of sustainable hinterland landscapes. The Golden Horseshoe is Canada’s fastest growing region extending from the Niagara Peninsula and one of the most active economic regions in North America. This paper adopts a combined assessment of land use change and transitions in the coastal stretches of the Greater Golden Horseshoe. Comprising the urban expansion of the region between 1990 and 2011, an integrated assessment was carried out to: (i) detect changes in coastal lines along Lake Ontario; (ii) derive land use changes along the coast through spatial accounting matrices; and (iii) integrate climate change data for a combined assessment of future erosion loci. Visible erosion was found between the decade of 1990 and 2000, while certain areas have shown coastal recession in the southern region. The maximum recession was found to be 30 m, with an increasing urban sprawl of 19.8% between 1990 and 2000. A combined temperature increase of 2 °C over the coming decades brings the increase in urban heat islands leading to the importance of combined land policies to mitigate the common problem of erosion in vulnerable urban stretches and liveability concerning spatial resilience of growing urban regions in North America. Full article
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop