Search Results (17)

Urban Water Systems (UWS) are complex infrastructures that interact with energy, food, ecosystems and socio-political systems, and are under growing pressure from climate change and resource depletion. Planning circular interventions in this context requires system-level analysis to avoid fragmented, siloed decisions. This paper develops the Hydrosocial Resource Urban Nexus (HRUN) framework that integrates hydrosocial thinking with the Water–Energy–Food–Ecosystems (WEFE) nexus to guide UWS design. We conduct a structured literature review and analyse different configurations of circular interventions, mapping their synergies and trade-offs across socioeconomic and environmental functions of hydrosocial systems. The framework is operationalised through a typology of circular interventions based on their circularity purpose (water reuse, resource recovery and reuse, or water-cycle restoration) and management scale (from on-site to centralised), while greening degree (from grey to green infrastructure) and digitalisation (integration of sensors and control systems) are treated as transversal strategies that shape their operational profile. Building on this typology, we construct cause–effect matrices for each intervention type, linking recurring operational patterns to hydrosocial functionalities and revealing associated synergies and trade-offs. Overall, the study advances understanding of how circular interventions with different configurations can strengthen or weaken system resilience and sustainability outcomes. The framework provides a basis for integrated planning and for quantitative and participatory tools that can assess trade-offs and governance effects of different circular design choices, thereby supporting the transition to more resilient and just water systems. Full article

Background/Objective: Lysosomal storage diseases (LSDs) are a group of rare, inborn, metabolic errors characterized by deficiencies in normal lysosomal function and by the intralysosomal accumulation of undegraded substrates, resulting in the damage of multiple organ systems. The spectrum of clinical manifestations is extremely heterogeneous. LSD diagnosis and management still present many issues. Methods: A group of Italian experts and patients’ representatives met to discuss some critical aspects, and among the most impactful are early diagnosis, the transition of the patient from pediatric to adult age, territorial management, and the multidisciplinary approach. Results: Possible solutions to diagnostic delays may be a widespread newborn screening and screening programs on selected populations. The lack of a structured transition process could be helped by the drafting of shared diagnostic and therapeutic care pathways beyond the availability of databases accessible to the different levels that manage a patient. Territorial management could benefit from telemedicine, but a homogeneous diffusion of home therapy, not yet everywhere possible, is essential. A fundamental role is played by the patient associations, which should be increasingly involved in the political choices. It is also crucial to create structured multidisciplinary teams of experts for disease management and comorbidities. A transversal need appears to be greater training on LSDs. In Italy, the “Statement of Udine” was developed to guide further steps towards improvements in inherited metabolic medicine in adults, referencing the experience from the United Kingdom. Conclusions: Much can be done for the early diagnosis and management of LSDs with an effective treatment, but many aspects need improvement for the overall management of the patient. An investment in dedicated resources, formal recognition, and training is needed to address these unmet needs. Full article

Based on evidence collected in a collaborative research project, this article studies the Black Coalition for Rights created in Brazil in 2019. Compared to previous experiences of antiracist struggles in Brazil, the Coalition stands out for its decentralized organization, its ability to convey political content through adequate aesthetic forms, its capillarity in the domestic sphere, and its transnational articulations. Equally striking is its intersectional character understood as both the emphasis on the transversal character of racism and the stress of the interdependent character of social struggles against different forms of inequalities (with regard to gender, race, class, etc.). The Coalition has so far proven to be particularly successful in terms of its mobilization capacity, its public visibility, and its agenda-setting power. According to our preliminary findings, its success can be explained, to a great extent, by its ability to vocalize a broad set of political claims and, consequently, to fill the gap left by other civil society actors demobilized by the far right-wing backlash in Brazil and the pandemic. Since January 2023, in the context of a new progressive government, the Coalition has started facing difficulties in preserving its intersectional and socially encompassing character. Full article

H-BIM paradigms are constituted by 3-D informative contents documenting the current and past state of existing structures. Although the transversal vision and the multidisciplinary interpretation have been attributed to BIM models, in the field of monumental structures, these databases can be organized in different ways depending on the adopted protocol and classifications for the required output of the work. In this manuscript, an H-BIM approach targeted at collecting and providing useful information to execute seismic vulnerability analyses of monumental structures is presented. The BIM modeling followed a protocol based on the following steps: geometrical acquisitions, scan-to-BIM modeling, and informative data collection. The methodology has been applied to the oldest part of Palazzo Vecchio in Florence (IT), an important monumental masonry structure representing the political headquarter of the city since the Middle Ages. The parametric modeling was realized classifying the information according to structural perspectives based on the cognitive steps for the investigation of the existing structures. Finally, a seismic assessment has been realized through a simplified procedure developed for cultural heritage buildings. The outcomes of the evaluation are still part of the collected information of the H-BIM model, as an example of continuous improvement of the available contents of the database. Full article

Scouring around the bridge pier is a natural and complex phenomenon that results in bridge failure. Failure of bridges have potential devastation and public safety and economic loss, which lead to political consequences and environmental impacts. Therefore, it is essential to countermeasure the scour around the bridge pier. This paper studies the effects of four different airfoil-shaped collars (i.e., $b_{c1}$ = 1.5b, $b_{c2}$ = 2.0b, $b_{c3}$ = 2.5b and $b_{c4}$ = 3.0b, where $b_c$ and $b$ are the diameter of the airfoil-shaped collar and pier, respectively) as a scour countermeasure. All the experiments are conducted under clear water conditions with uniform sediment and a constant water depth (y) of 10 cm. Airfoil-shaped collar is placed at four elevations, i.e., bed level, y/4, y/2 and 3y/4 above the sediment bed level. It is observed that the maximum percentages of scour reduction of 86, 100 and 100% occurred due to protection provided by the collar $b_{c2}$, $b_{c3}$ and $b_{c4}$, respectively, at sediment bed level. So, collars $b_{c2}$, $b_{c3}$ and $b_{c4}$ are efficient at the sediment bed level. The profiles of scour hole show that the length of the transverse scour hole is greater than that of the longitudinal one. Numerical investigation of the morphological changes in sediment bed and scour depth contours is developed using the FLOW-3D for the pier with and without the airfoil-shaped collar. Full article

Sustainable development has positioned itself as a fundamental element of a transversal nature, being linked to the energy transition. In this sense, it must be included as a mainstream objective of all actions and strategies developed at the social, academic, business, and political levels. However, to the best of our knowledge, no bibliometric work has been carried out to date to analyze the main contributions to the literature focused on the concepts of renewable energy and sustainable development. The main aim of this paper is to establish the key trends and academic contributions made in the field of renewable energies and sustainable development. For this purpose, a bibliometric and co-citation analysis has been carried out using the Bibliometrix^® tool, an open-source R package. The results show that this is a field of study that has significantly increased its importance in recent years, which is illustrated using different indicators. We conclude that research trends seem to be directed towards managing the transition to a new, more sustainable energy model composed of renewable energy production systems, in addition to the adoption of new technologies to increase the efficiency of products and power transmission systems. In this respect, the transition towards a new, more sustainable energy model seems to be a fundamental step to guarantee the sustainability of human action. Full article

This editorial note provides an extended summary and transversal analysis of ten articles gathered for the 2022 Special Issue on participation in contemporary architecture. The call for contribution circulated in June 2021 attracted papers from Central Europe (n = 8) and North America (n = 2), and presents an overview of ongoing practices and research in participatory architecture in these areas. The Special Issue aimed to study the connections between disciplines and gathered nine empirical cases and one literature review. In this editorial note, we first analyze these contributions to better understand the nature of architecture in participating in the profiles of end-users and project teams, and the scale of the projects. Secondly, we highlight four lessons taken from these practices and studies: we emphasize how participation in architecture (1) emerges and operates in interstitial spaces; (2) often deployed for and with “vulnerable” end-user groups, this “vulnerability” provides power and originality to processes and outcomes; (3) inspirational principles, guides, and frameworks are produced as outcomes; and finally, (4) social architectures are deployed beyond tangible concepts through a multilevel relationship to pedagogy. Finally, we observe that reflections on gender, politics, decoloniality, and disciplinary transfers remain underexplored and need to be explicitly studied and integrated. Full article

Urban areas are increasingly experiencing extreme weather events, especially related to water (e.g., droughts, heatwaves, floods), which are devastatingly impacting infrastructure and human lives. Compact cities, conceived to create more robust, effective, and sustainable environments, are under pressure to increase their resilience by co-producing adaptive strategies mainly focused on the urban public space. However, public space design tends to face environmental challenges without sufficiently exploring their intersection with social issues (citizens living conditions and vulnerability) and political structures (governance). This contribution delves into how urban public space interventions are (not) moving towards achieving urban resilience in an integrated way instead of sectoral. A triple-loop approach has been developed and tested in ten urban public spaces in European compact cities in the last 25 years. The results report how most projects reinforce the social dimension by promoting citizen well-being through new quality standards in public spaces, excluding some citizenry’s vulnerable segments (immigrants, women, and disabled). The political dimension reinforces hard adaptation measures to manage water resources, although increasing attention is put on nature-based solutions, and most projects ensure participation processes. Finally, the environmental dimension is the most transversal by increasing land conversion, ensuring flooding mitigation, and enhancing adaptive capacity. Full article

Surface water availability is a fundamental environmental variable to implement effective climate adaptation and mitigation plans, as expressed by scientific, financial and political stakeholders. Recently published requirements urge the need for homogenised access to long historical records at a global scale, together with the standardised characterisation of the accuracy of observations. While satellite altimeters offer world coverage measurements, existing initiatives and online platforms provide derived water level data. However, these are sparse, particularly in complex topographies. This study introduces a new methodology in two steps (1) teroVIR, a virtual station extractor for a more comprehensive global and automatic monitoring of water bodies, and (2) teroWAT, a multi-mission, interoperable water level processor, for handling all terrain types. L2 and L1 altimetry products are used, with state-of-the-art retracker algorithms in the methodology. The work presents a benchmark between teroVIR and current platforms in West Africa, Kazakhastan and the Arctic: teroVIR shows an unprecedented increase from $55\%$ to $99\%$ in spatial coverage. A large-scale validation of teroWAT results in an average of unbiased root mean square error ubRMSE of $0.638$ m on average for 36 locations in West Africa. Traditional metrics (ubRMSE, median, absolute deviation, Pearson coefficient) disclose significantly better values for teroWAT when compared with existing platforms, of the order of 8 cm and $5\%$ improved respectively in error and correlation. teroWAT shows unprecedented excellent results in the Arctic, using an L1 products-based algorithm instead of L2, reducing the error by almost 4 m on average. To further compare teroWAT with existing methods, a new scoring option, teroSCO, is presented, measuring the quality of the validation of time series transversally and objectively across different strategies. Finally, teroVIR and teroWAT are implemented as platform-agnostic modules and used by flood forecasting and river discharge methods as relevant examples. A review of various applications for miscellaneous end-users is given, tackling the educational challenge raised by the community. Full article

This study aims to synthesize the literature on the top management team (TMT) characteristics influence on environmental disclosures of public organizations and identify recent trends, key themes, influential journals, and authors. Our study recruited 88 research articles on the relationship of TMT characteristics and environmental disclosures from 54 academic journals published from 2010 to 2021 for bibliometric analysis. Our study has identified three influential streams: (1) Role of Politically connections of TMT, good governance in environmental disclosures; (2) Significance of environmental disclosures and performance; and (3) institutional investors and environmental disclosures. Thematic map classifies the TMT characteristics and environmental disclosures relationship themes into four categories: Niche theme (e.g., financial expertise, CFO characteristics, CEO tenure, and board backgrounds); motor themes (e.g., environmental sustainability and climate change); emerging/declining themes (e.g., Environmental disclosure, managerial ownership, and CEO tenure); and basic/transversal themes (e.g., CEO characteristics, upper echelon theory, corporate governance). This study assists academicians, policymakers, managers, and consultants in the corporate sector to understand the role of different dimensions of TMT characteristics regarding environmental disclosures. Our study concludes with important practical implications and future research directions. Full article

La Vía Campesina organisations have identified the area of education and training as a strategic and priority arena of intervention to bring about change in the political-pedagogical perspective. This involves rethinking and redesigning the conventional training processes towards the collective experiences of learning, organisation, exchange and living. With this approach in mind, and based on the experiences and educational contributions made by peasant organisations, this paper presents the systematisation of the Baserritik Mundura experience, analysing and sharing the learning derived from this case study and establishing the integral role of the pedagogic proposal as an axis for systematisation. This analysis, from the logic of the systematisation of processes, promulgates the learnings of this agroecological training experience while exposing both its strengths and weaknesses. We present the learning linked to the pedagogic dimensions that, through a cross-over method, aim to create a multidimensional educational environment which transforms our subjectivities, practices and the beliefs that sustain them. This learning is presented in eight main areas related to: (1) organicity, (2) alternation, (3) the mystical and ludic-cultural dimension, (4) the contents, subjects and teaching team, (5) the proposal as a whole and its perspective of popular education and action research, (6) the transversality of the feminist perspective, (7) linguistic plurality and (8) the pedagogic political support of the process. In addition, we present considerations related to the learning identified in the systematisation itself. On the one hand, we look at the lack of training processes in the official university context related to an alternation system with an organicity linked to the territory, and the need for the practical development of a dynamic of the collective construction of knowledge with a view toward transforming the logics that underpin the existing hegemonic ideologies. On the other hand, we point out the need for a debate regarding the epistemological perspective and integral, experiential and emancipatory pedagogical perspectives. Even with their limitations and challenges, these proposals have great potential to train, organise, politicise, excite and connect people from different fields towards the construction of a fairer, healthier and more sustainable agroecological agri-food system, based on food sovereignty and the everyday lives of people Full article

Local governments are key to establishing public policies linked to the 2030 Agenda. To achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), public innovation is essential, and one of the essential pillars is transversality and partnerships (internal and external). This implies a transformative political, technical, and institutional culture that some authors have called, in the case of Andalusia, Spain, a “culture of solidarity”, as many of the elements of the 2030 Agenda are established within local organizations. This article aims to answer the question: Do Andalusian local authorities have an organizational culture and structure that facilitates the localization of the SDGs? To do so, it analyzes the conditioning factors, facilitators, and barriers that exist in local governments to advance in the mainstreaming of the localization and development processes of the 2030 Agenda in their territories. A study has been carried out on the perception of local technicians and the assessment of their own organization aligned with the 2030 Agenda. The results obtained indicate that local governments in Andalusia have made efforts to establish social actions and policies against poverty. The 2030 Agenda is perceived as an opportunity to transform local entities, with more open, collaborative, transversal, and interconnected institutions. Full article

100% FOREIGN? (100% FREMMED?) is an art project consisting of 250 life stories of individuals who were granted asylum in Denmark between 1956 and 2019. Thus, it can be said to form a collective portrait that inserts citizens of refugee backgrounds into the narrative of the nation, thereby expanding the idea of national identity and culture. 100% FOREIGN? allows us to think of participatory art as a privileged site for the exploration of intersubjective relations and the question of how to “represent” citizens with refugee experience as well as the history and practice of asylum. The conflicting aims and perceptions involved in such representations are many, as suggested by the opening sentence of Hannah Arendt’s 1943 essay “We, Refugees”: “In the first place, we don’t like to be called ‘refugees’”. Using 100% FOREIGN? as an analytical reference point, this article discusses some of the ethical and political implications of representing former refugees. It briefly considers recent Danish immigration and asylum policies to situate the project in its regional European context and argues that, similarly to its neighbouring countries, Denmark can be described as a “postmigrant society” (Foroutan). To frame 100% FOREIGN? theoretically, this article draws on Arendt’s essay, Trinh T. Minh-ha’s concept of speaking nearby, as well as the feminist concept of transversal politics (Meskimmon, Yuval-Davis). It is hoped that this approach will lead to a deeper understanding of what participatory art can bring to the ethical politics of representing refugee experience. Full article

Chilean teachers face the urgent challenge of incorporating environmental and sustainability dimensions into their teaching practices within an economic and social context of extreme neoliberalism, which has an important impact on both teaching practices and hegemonic perspectives on the environment. Therefore, this article explores the motivations that guide the environment-related practices of teachers at Chilean secondary schools. Using a framework of pragmatism and phenomenology, it addresses teachers’ meaning-making through the interpretative axes of their views on the environment and theories of education, addressing the following categories: (1) connection and consciousness; (2) participation and politics; and (3) re-thinking education. The discussion emphasizes the importance of understanding “environmental issues” in context, together with the transversal axis of social change. Teachers’ meaning-making arises from their social and historical context and can be interpreted from the standpoint of traditions of thought originating in Latin America. The article argues that the transgressive element in the studied practices is social change, understood as community action arising from a combination of critical reflection and with an emphasis on the co-production of knowledge in this collective sphere. This is experienced by the teachers as a challenge to their capacity to address the inherent uncertainty of knowledge and the projection of a utopian society as a social right. Full article

México has subsidized and built millions of low-income homes and thousands of subdivisions in the period of 2000–2012. These occupied and expanded urban peripheries far away from work, learn, service, commerce, and recreational amenity centers. These communities had no chance to offer a high quality of life. They were rapidly abandoned and deteriorated physically and socially. Amid the still ongoing crime and violence, inhabitants experienced a loss of trust in their neighbors, a deep sense of insecurity, and consequently reduced public life and activity to a minimum. This article describes and reflects on a project implemented in two neighborhoods of two northern México cities, with the objective of mitigating crime and violence, while recovering public spaces in these communities. The project implemented a hybridized methodology, including Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED), attention to Youth at Risk, and the prevention of Gender Based Violence. All these were integrated transversally with a community participation approach incorporated throughout the project actions. This article reflects on the successes and failures of this pilot project, as demonstrated by differentiated results between a neighborhood located in Chihuahua City and another in the municipality of Guadalupe, within Monterrey’s Metro Area. The lessons learned, include the relevance of local political timing and interests, the importance of accurate and manageable geographic definitions for the areas of implementation, the role of NGOs, the importance of local educational institutions—in particular schools of architecture and the need for community oriented strategic consultants, to appropriately advise local governments in the implementation of projects of this nature. The article demonstrates the effort to make it accessible, and to anticipate the issues and opportunities as many Mexican, and other Latin American countries and cities engage in the spatial and social recovery of public spaces, neighborhoods, communities, and cities after years of high crime and violence. Full article