Search Results (605)

Complete neighbourhoods, places where residents can meet their daily needs on foot, have become a central component of healthy and sustainable urban planning. Yet most assessment frameworks are calibrated for dense metropolitan environments, leaving rural and peri-urban municipalities without operational tools suited to their territorial needs. This article presents MilieuxVie, an open-source, browser-based interactive mapping application developed for the Laurentides health region of Québec (76 municipalities, 11 land-based unorganised territories, 2 indigenous territories and 4 aquatic administrative units; 93 territorial units in total; ~680,000 inhabitants). The tool evaluates the spatial accessibility of 12 service categories drawn from the Vivre en Ville (2026) complete-neighbourhood framework and OpenStreetMap data, using 2026 residential parcels from the provincial property assessment roll as origin points and weighting results by number of dwelling units. Three adaptive radius tiers (dense, intermediate, rural), based on residential dwelling-unit density (dwellings per km² of residentially designated urban land), scale the distance standards to settlement density. Because thresholds are scaled to settlement density, scores express context-relative service proximity rather than a uniform pedestrian standard and should not be read as directly comparable absolute accessibility across rural, peri-urban, and urban settings. A dedicated urban perimeter mode further disaggregates analysis to sub-municipal built-up zones, aligning the tool with Québec’s provincial Government land-use planning guidelines (GLPG). Gap analysis outputs identify which service types fall below the 70% coverage target, helping elected officials and planners identify where to focus further analysis. Results illustrate the scope of accessibility deficits across the region and highlight the analytical limits of uniform distance thresholds when applied beyond metropolitan contexts. Scores differ significantly across different settings (Kruskal–Wallis p = 0.006); the adaptive radius tiers narrow but do not close the structural gap, with rural municipalities scoring significantly lower than dense ones. The tool is freely available and requires no software installation, making it directly deployable by local planning offices. Full article

In 2019, the United Nations’ General Assembly established 2021 to 2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, and ecological restoration should be adopted by the member nations. In 2015, Brazil had already committed to restoring (replanting) twelve million hectares of forests, and this commitment was reaffirmed in the National Plan for the Recovery of Native Vegetation in 2017 and relaunched at COP16 on diversity in 2024. Despite Brazil’s leadership in establishing the Tropical Forests Forever Fund (TFFF) in 2023, which was launched at COP30 in Belem in 2025, the expansion of the agricultural frontier remains the main driver of deforestation in the Amazon/Rain Forest and the Cerrado biomes. This article aims to examine the social and ecological consequences of the capitalist occupation and expansion of the agricultural frontier in the Cerrado. It will also study the counterpoint of the land struggles and initiatives of peasant organizations focused on conservation and restoration as possibilities and perspectives for the social and ecological restoration of the Cerrado landscapes. Based on an interdisciplinary approach, the specialized literature, and official agricultural data, the study shows that, in addition to degrading nature (deforestation, water and soil contamination, and desertification) and threatening the historical ways of life of countryside peoples, the frontier’s expansion blocks possibilities for restoration and hinders initiatives to protect the remaining nature of Brazil’s second-largest biome. On the other hand, resistance to expropriation and appropriation, and struggles for land and territory, have emerged as possibilities for socio-environmental restoration, beyond reforestation and the recovery of destroyed nature, by transforming landscapes, ways of life, and production, and by creating conditions for food sovereignty and sustainability in the countryside. Therefore, agroecological actions by agrarian movements and rural organizations in general, and those of the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MST) in particular, have become emblematic in opposing agrarian extractivism and unsustainable monocrops imposed upon and disseminated throughout the Brazilian Cerrado. Full article

Agricultural ponds are often narrowly reduced to water storage units, purification systems, or biodiversity reservoirs, reflecting a dominant yet incomplete perspective that overlooks their role in rural landscapes. By moving beyond that, this study argues that they should be understood as multifunctional socio-ecological infrastructures embedded within rural territorial dynamics. Their functions extend beyond hydrological and ecological processes to include productive, social, cultural, and landscape-related dimensions. Both utilitarian and aesthetic, agricultural ponds contribute to territorial organisation, support agricultural productivity, sustain rural livelihoods, and shape local socio-ecological interactions. Based on a review of Scopus-indexed literature, this study proposes a reconceptualisation of agricultural ponds through a socio-ecological and landscape perspective. The analysis identifies the main research themes, their evolution, associated functions, and persistent knowledge gaps. Results reveal a fragmented literature, strongly dominated by biophysical approaches that focus on water quality, nutrient cycles, microbial dynamics, and ecosystem processes. Despite increasing methodological sophistication, social and territorial dimensions such as local perceptions, governance systems, practices, and spatial organisation remain marginal. Drawing on empirical illustrations from exploratory investigations of rural villages in Belgium and Poland, the study further highlights the role of agricultural ponds in shaping territorial organisation, identity, and community interactions. These examples demonstrate that pond-related systems are inherently multidimensional and have historically played an underappreciated role in shaping rural landscapes and mediating socio-ecological relationships across scales. Full article

Latin America has experienced rapid evangelical growth, yet this expansion has not produced a stable religious cleavage comparable to those observed in Europe or the United States. This article examines Jair Bolsonaro’s relationship with evangelical electoral support in Brazil, asking how an evangelical voter base emerged around him during his seventh campaign for federal deputy and whether this support endured in the presidential election that brought him to office. It argues that Bolsonaro’s evangelical support should be understood not as the product of a unilateral electoral strategy, but as an adaptive alignment with a broader reconfiguration of Brazil’s political and religious environment. Combining quantitative and qualitative evidence, the study analyzes the territorial distribution of evangelicals and Bolsonaro’s legislative vote in Rio de Janeiro, identifies a shift in support in evangelical-rich municipalities beginning in 2014, examines individual-level voting-intention surveys from the 2018 presidential election, and analyzes Bolsonaro’s parliamentary speeches and social media discourse. The findings show that evangelical support developed through discursive repositioning, ties to religious leaders, moral appeals, and opportunities created by party-system crisis and religious brokerage. The article contributes to debates on cleavages, political incorporation, and conservative representation. Full article

Indigenous knowledge and associated indigenous resource management practices are at the root of sustainable land and marine management. Typically, they point to the necessity of maintaining biodiversity and of ensuring the sustenance of social and economic systems, which benefit the well-being of indigenous communities. Conscious of these core attributes, the Government of Indonesia has enabled formal access for indigenous communities to forests for their livelihoods. Nonetheless, meeting the sustainable development goals through such forest management and conservation in Indonesia is threatened by various competing interests and power imbalances. These lead to the disproportionate conversion of naturally vegetated areas, as well as the inability of communities to benefit from economic opportunities. Moreover, the Government of Indonesia has insufficiently regulated the utilisation of indigenous knowledge to conserve the forest areas. This creates a policy design and implementation gap which is not properly understood or addressed. In this conceptual article, we posit that applying cultural space methodology fills the gaps. This methodology combines cultural space and land administration concepts and connects people to land and marine space. This article discusses how and why using the methodology proves to be effective for agricultural and maritime communities in Indonesia and helps to reform the administration capacities of the territories. It identifies and assesses people and land/marine space relationships by the existence of (1) knowledge, practices, and/or objects that represent the relationship, (2) the social, economic, and environmental function of space for the community, and (3) administration of the forest and conservation areas. The methodology also provides a procedure to convert information on the interrelation of the indigenous community, its cultural space in the forest and conservation areas, and indigenous knowledge into geospatial information and data that represent the cultural space unit as a geographic feature. Full article

Territorial space serves as a common platform for both ecosystem carbon sink functions and socioeconomic functions. Rapid urbanization has intensified the competition between carbon source and carbon sink areas, making the measurement of carbon sink conflicts critical for carbon emission reduction and land use optimization. This study takes Hangzhou as its research area and uses districts and counties as the basic evaluation units. Drawing on three dimensions—spatial carbon emission pressure, spatial carbon sequestration capacity, and spatial instability—the study develops a model to assess the intensity of territorial carbon sink conflicts. It systematically evaluates the conflict intensity across Hangzhou’s 13 districts and counties in 2020 and analyzes land use change from 2010 to 2020. The results indicate that (1) from 2010 to 2020, Hangzhou’s built-up areas expanded to some extent, leading to intensified spatial conflicts between carbon sources and carbon sinks; and (2) in 2020, light and general conflict areas were mainly distributed in outlying counties (e.g., Lin’an, Chun’an); moderate conflict areas were in the urban periphery (e.g., Fuyang, Binjiang); and intense to severe conflict areas were in central urban districts (e.g., Shangcheng, Gongshu, Xiaoshan). Overall, carbon sink conflicts exhibited a concentric pattern of “uncontrolled core—periphery on the verge—distant suburbs under control.” This study provides a scientific basis for mitigating future carbon sink conflicts in Hangzhou and offers a perspective for identifying and managing such conflicts in other rapidly urbanizing regions. Full article

Dengue fever poses an ongoing challenge to global and Colombian public health. Although surveillance microdata are widely available, there remains a gap in converting them into actionable epidemiological intelligence. This study presents a reproducible dataset and analytical resource for transforming routine records into a spatiotemporal framework for territorial risk stratification. To this end, 15 years (2010–2024) of anonymized records from the SIVIGILA in Colombia’s Caribbean region were consolidated, covering 303,801 cases across 197 municipalities. The microdata were aggregated into municipality–year analytical units using seven indicators of magnitude, severity, demographics, and surveillance performance. Subsequently, an unsupervised learning model (K-means) was validated using the Elbow and Silhouette methods. The algorithm consistently identified four heterogeneous epidemiological profiles: high-transmission urban settings, dispersed rural risk municipalities, territories with a pediatric predominance, and clusters of high clinical severity with elevated hospitalization and case fatality rates. In conclusion, this dataset and its methodological framework transform static historical information into an operational tool that facilitates strategic surveillance, the development of interactive dashboards, and the territorial prioritization of evidence-based public health interventions. Full article

Water scarcity in Chile has been exacerbated by a decline in precipitation and an increase in water demand. This has prompted a search for strategies to increase water supply, whether through aquifer recharge or reservoir construction. In this study, aquifer recharge was evaluated through rainwater harvesting systems (RWHS) and direct injection into rural wells in the Ñuble Region. Three wells were selected in the Ñuble Region (Ñiquén, San Carlos, and Coihueco) using hydrogeological and operational criteria. To characterize the hydrogeology of the area, local piezometric data, geophysical surveys using electrical resistivity tomography (ERT), and seismoelectric tests were considered. This enabled the identification of aquifers with water levels between 2.6 and 23 m depth across the different geological units of the territory. The hydrological design was based on a frequency analysis of annual precipitation (1991–2020), which yielded design rainfall values between 442 and 694 mm. The implemented RWHS demonstrated injection capacities between 0.9 and 1.4 L·s⁻¹. The results show that rainwater harvesting combined with direct aquifer recharge represents a viable alternative for improving water security, with potential for territorial scaling through regional public policies. Full article

The Curve Number (CN) remains one of the most widely applied parameters for estimating direct surface runoff. However, its conventional application based on watershed-aggregated tabulated values conceals hydrological variability in regions with contrasting soils and steep topographic gradients. A recurring limitation of distributed CN approaches is the absence of independent hydrological validation; most machine learning models are trained and evaluated against the same SCS-USDA lookup values used to construct the training target, a circular scheme that measures statistical agreement rather than physical credibility. This study develops a reproducible geospatial workflow for distributed CN estimation across continental Ecuador, combining official MAG land use, soil surface texture natural drainage, and topographic slope layers at 1:25,000 scale with a Random Forest regression model at 10 m spatial resolution. The CN reference raster was derived from official geo-pedological layers and independently validated, not against tabulated assumptions, but against observed hydrological behaviour. Field hydraulic characterization across four dominant land cover classes in the Guamote microwatershed (Chimborazo Province), combined with HEC-HMS (US Army Corps of Engineers, Davis, CA, USA) rainfall-runoff modelling over 41 years (1981–2021), confirmed a mean annual discharge of 0.1568 m³ s⁻¹ consistent with the tabulated CN assignments. To our knowledge, this is the first nationally distributed CN map with field-anchored hydrological benchmarking for an Andean country. The Random Forest model achieved an RMSE = 10.4, an R² = 0.42, and an NSE = 0.41, a performance consistent with published field-based CN estimation studies and expected given the inherent scatter of the SCS-USDA method under real-world conditions. Zonal CN comparisons confirmed a mean absolute error below 5 CN units across the Andean highland and Amazon watersheds; the Guamote watershed showed a mean ∆CN below 4 units against the field-calibrated model. Land use and surface texture emerged as the dominant CN predictors, with natural drainage providing critical discrimination in volcanic and poorly drained soil environments. The resulting 10 m national CN map offers a physically grounded, spatially explicit parameterization layer for distributed hydrological modeling and water resources planning across data-scarce Andean and tropical territories, with direct relevance for flood risk screening, irrigation planning, watershed conservation, and climate adaptation under SDG 6, SDG 11, SDG 13 and SDG 15. Full article

Canine distemper virus (CDV), currently classified within the species Morbillivirus canis, is a major vaccine-preventable pathogen of domestic dogs and a wide range of susceptible wildlife species. Still, laboratory-confirmed epidemiological data from Portugal remain scarce. This retrospective study investigated CDV molecular detection in 637 diagnostic samples from dogs with clinical suspicion of canine distemper, received from 190 veterinary medical centres across Portugal between 2013 and 2025. Cerebrospinal fluid, EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood, rectal swabs, and conjunctival swabs were tested for CDV RNA using a reverse transcription real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) assay in a qualitative approach. Overall, 215 submissions were CDV RT-qPCR-positive, corresponding to a positivity of 33.8% (95% confidence interval: 30.2–37.5%). Positivity was not significantly associated with sex, age, or Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics level 2 (NUTS 2) region, but differed significantly according to specimen type, with the highest detection observed in EDTA-anticoagulated whole blood and conjunctival swabs. Mixed-breed dogs were over-represented among submitted samples and positive cases, probably reflecting management, exposure, and vaccination-related factors rather than intrinsic breed susceptibility. The central finding was a pronounced post-2020 decline in CDV RT-qPCR positivity, with very low or absent annual detection between 2021 and 2025. This pattern indicates reduced molecular detection within a passive diagnostic population but should not be interpreted as evidence of national elimination. Continued vaccination and strengthened surveillance at the domestic dog–wildlife interface remain essential. Full article

Digital infrastructure expansion in Europe raises a spatial planning problem: early-stage screening needs to compare regional conditions while also checking whether rankings remain stable when decision priorities change. This study evaluates 24 European Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics level 2 (NUTS-2) regions for geo-distributed data center development. The 2022 decision matrix uses five Eurostat criteria: information and communications technology (ICT) specialists’ share in employment, average hourly labor cost, renewable electricity share, non-household electricity price and population density. Four criteria are national intensive proxies assigned to the selected NUTS-2 regions, while population density is directly observed at the NUTS-2 level. After a log₁₀ transformation of population density and min–max normalization, we compare the weighted sum model (WSM), TOPSIS and VIKOR across four weighting scenarios. We then apply a random-weighting audit based on Stochastic Multicriteria Acceptability Analysis (SMAA) principles, using 10,000 Dirichlet weight draws, followed by a local Dirichlet sensitivity analysis around the Balanced profile. Results show that the most stable high-performing profiles are not limited to the established FLAP-D market reference. Latvija (LV00), Stockholm (SE11), Helsinki-Uusimaa (FI1B), Eesti (EE00) and Área Metropolitana de Lisboa (PT17) form the main high-performing set across stochastic rank metrics, while several mature Western metropolitan regions remain more sensitive to cost and territorial-pressure criteria. The study provides a reproducible spatial decision support framework for macro-regional screening rather than micro-siting. Full article

Ports are often expected to convert external connectivity into wider territorial development, yet the spatial reach of those gains is rarely observed directly around treated projects. This paper traces spatial change around 22geocodable physical port infrastructure projects drawn from a 58-unit African project universe. Local port node intensification is common, but outward diffusion is conditional. The strongest change is concentrated within 0–10 km of the port node, and most projects reinforce existing coastal nodes. When gains extend outward, they appear more clearly in activity and built-space uptake than in population. Node-centered activity intensifies first, followed by wider built-space uptake and land-use reorganization; population absorbs more slowly and less systematically. Outward diffusion is also more likely where local gains connect to stronger inherited or later-reinforced road networks and to an existing settlement skeleton. Overall, port-generated gains often remain concentrated at the coastal node; only where corridor connectivity and an existing settlement skeleton are present do they begin to reorganize nearby settlements. Full article

Urban sustainability is tied to transport sustainability. Limitations of tools for internalization of externalities and distortions of incentives for environmentally friendly behavior of vehicle owners hinder the transition to sustainable urban development. The complexity of accurately assessing pollutants emissions by motor vehicles makes it difficult to internalize the economic damage caused by actual emissions. The purpose of the study is to develop a system for organizing the internalization of damage caused by actual emissions of pollutants by motor vehicles in the territory. For motor vehicles, the power consumption depends on operating conditions and driving style. Effective power affects the volume of exhaust gases, and the quality of the power unit and the efficiency of its management affect the content of pollutants in the exhaust gases. A system of interaction of environmental policy instruments is proposed, which allows for the internalization of economic damage from actual emissions of pollutants from vehicles. The basis of the system is dependencies of the masses of pollutant emissions with vehicle exhaust gases on the actual engine power used. The system assumes the internalization of damage from emissions, joint use of the mechanism of buying and selling rights to pollute the environment (for public and freight transport), and emission payments (for other types of vehicles). The system for accounting for actual emissions will improve the adequacy of comparing alternatives for the movement of passengers and goods, including with electric transport and unmanned systems. The system for ensuring the internalization of damage from actual emissions will reduce distortions and create adequate incentives to reduce damage from emissions. Full article

The article presents a comprehensive methodology for optimizing ground impact zones of spent rocket stages based on the integration of geoinformation analysis, remote sensing of Earth, ballistic modeling, and ecosystem sustainability assessment. An information and analytical system (IAS) has been developed and tested, providing automated selection of environmentally sustainable landing points within acceptable dispersion zones. The methodology includes the use of the NDVI, digital terrain models, soil quality assessments, fire hazard assessments, and environmental damage calculations. For the first time, a system for classifying operational-territorial units according to their level of resilience to man-made impacts has been formed. The results suggest the potential for the reduction of the dangerous impact zone under modeled conditions. The system architecture is designed to be scalable and applicable to other spaceports located in continental regions. The presented methodology contributes to the development of an environmentally oriented approach to aerospace infrastructure management. Full article

Introduction: Professional inland fisheries in Portugal remain poorly characterized despite their ecological, social, and territorial relevance. Objective: The objective of this study is to examine the evolution of the biomass catched by inland professional fisheries and determine its economic value. Methodology: This study examines the evolution of declared biomass between 2012 and 2024 and estimates the market relevance of this activity using official catch declarations submitted to the national licensing authority (ICNF). Records were harmonized by species and water body and subsequently aggregated at hydrographic basin level to identify long-term temporal and spatial patterns. Economic estimation was based on a gross production approach combining declared biomass with species-specific price information collected from retail channels and reports from professional fishermen. Changes in species composition were also analyzed to assess whether the observed trends reflect a broader restructuring of freshwater exploitation. Results: The results show a marked interannual variability and a strong spatial concentration of catches, with a limited number of basins (international rivers) accounting for most reported biomass. They also reveal the increasing prominence of non-native taxa in total catches; particularly, the red swamp crayfish, while native migratory species, although represented by lower volumes, maintain high unit prices and make a relevant contribution to total revenue. This contrast suggests that recent changes in freshwater catches are not merely quantitative, but also structural, with implications for ecological status, the growing dependence of the fishery on invasive species, and the territorial distribution of economic returns. Conclusions: By combining official catch declarations with market-based valuation, this study provides an updated overview of the recent evolution of professional freshwater exploitation in Portugal and offers a useful basis for fishery governance, monitoring programmes, and future discussions on conservation, licensing, and basin-scale management. Full article