A systemic design application for resources management in urban green spaces

Urban green spaces are often analyzed by the quantity of provided services, the kind of benefits they supply for the community and the human actions that modify the urban ecosystems. Moreover, urban green spaces and green infrastructures can produce important resources, even if these latter are not always considered during the preparation of management plans. To this extent, the Systemic Design can help to show the qualitative aspects of these resources and how they can be managed. Aim of this study is therefore to illustrate how a holistic approach like the Systemic Design can be applied to the management of urban green infrastructure, their ecosystem services and the raw materials and resources useful for the community.With an application to a real case, we will show how a Systemic Design approach is able to state resources' availability in a green urban area with the consequent identification of the area in which these resources can be employed. This identification is the essential prerequisite for the creation of a plan that stress the links among ecosystem services, resources and urban dwellers and the consequent best management practices, with particular emphasis on challenges related to climate changes and increasing urbanization.When necessary, Systemic Design can also provide viable indications to redesign a new context with different fluxes of materials and energy and can contribute to the creation of a set of new activities deeply connected with local green spaces. The final results can be identified in the creation of work tools for administrators and urban designers interested in the integrated management of green infrastructures and the suggestion of a new urban model, with stronger connections between society and territory, for more sustainable and resilient cities

Mangroves degradation: a local perspective on its awareness

Mangroves in Malaysia reside on the coastlines, and the largest areas of mangrove are in the Northern Sabah. Over the past decades, mangrove species have been reported to be disappearing from the globe. It is due to several natural processes that have been inserted to fill the needs of the increased population. These include illegal logging, agriculture activities and urbanisation. In this regards, awareness of the local residents about the problem of mangrove depletion is important to inhibit the problem to prolong further.Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the degree of awareness of local residents on the importance of mangroves in managing environmental quality. Consequently, a questionnaire survey was conducted on 103 respondents to examine their awareness on the subject of mangrove degradation.The respondents were selected randomly among local residents of Kuala Selangor district.It is found that only twenty percent of the total number of respondents are totallyaware of the issue and acted upon it; either taking part in the endeavours made by the government as well as those with the nongovernmental bodies or practicing mangroves replanting at their backyard

Water urbanism in Lagos: A case study of Makoko community

This research aims to establish water urbanism as an adaptable approach toward managing rapid urbanisation challenges in developing coastal cities. This study explores the growth of water urbanism in informal waterfront settlements as an ecological strategy that can be used to develop rich urbanism for coastal cities such as Lagos. Land reclamation techniques, primarily hydraulic sand-filling technology, are employed to create land in Lagos. Historically, land reclamation in Lagos has been utilised to accommodate the city's expanding population by recovering formerly inhospitable marshy or coastal territory. However, this prolonged acceptance has resulted in the elimination of creeks and wetlands throughout the city. While it has proven effective, artificial landscapes frequently require more upkeep than naturally occurring lands, and general degradation of the environment has resulted from poor maintenance. As 70% of the population of Lagos resides in informal settlements, the study argues that informal settlements should be planned and designed as part of the city. As a result of focusing on concerns in Lagos's informal water settlements, we are closer to reducing the effects of rising urbanisation, boosting the city's efficiency, and addressing climate challenges simultaneously. Learning from informal water settlements presents an opportunity to adopt sustainable urban practices that protect the environment and economic growth, enhance the quality of life through housing, and guarantee equitable land that includes the city's waters, better transportation networks, and essential infrastructure jobs. This study intends to illustrate the sustainability of informal water communities for the implementation of water urbanism, a sustainable technique for urban growth and climate action in Lagos

街路景観のビッグデータとコンピューター視覚技術に基づく都市街路の空間知覚と物理的特徴に関する研究

Based on Streetscape big data and computer vision technology,the streets of typical coastal cities Qingdao and Fukuoka were selected as the site to explained the correlation between physical features and the perceptual features of urban streets to evaluation of the quality of street space. Combining the existing evaluation indexes of spatial perception from the expert and the public point of view , the study discussed the influence mechanism of physical parameters and perception. It proposed a method of locating street space design problems in coastal cities. The study not only will reflect the urban landscape current situation ,but also provide the basis to optimize the quality of urban street space design efficiently and large-scale. Moreover, it will promote the scientific development of urban construction and planning.北九州市立大

The role of urban form in sustainability : the case study of a Riyadh city neighbourhood

Ph. D. ThesisThis study seeks to evaluate the current urban form of Riyadh for its performance in sustainability. As the Riyadh plan is based on a modular grid of square super block neighbourhood units (2x2km), which were designed by Doxiadis in the late 1960s, the study is conducted at the neighbourhood level, investigating the role of the urban neighbourhood in sustainability. The city is perceived as a source of social and environmental problems, which are reflected in their urban forms, and sustainable development as a concept has rejuvenated discussions around the city’s form. This research argues that, in a city of neighbourhoods like Riyadh, the sustainability of neighbourhoods is an essential part of urban sustainability. If a city’s neighbourhoods are not sustainable, then that city as a whole will not be sustainable. This study investigates whether Riyadh has been able to achieve this level of sustainability through its neighbourhood-based urban form. This study has adopted a qualitative case study approach to investigate a neighbourhood named Almoroj, examining it according to four main sustainable criteria (Compactness, Climate Related Design, Sustainable Transport, and Diversity) with eight sub-criteria (accessibility, density, thermal comfort, green spaces, variety of travel modes, streets design and connectivity, mixed land use, and variety of housing, demographics and social activities) that highly contribute to achieving a sustainable urban form. The results show that Almoroj is not fully sustainable and self-contained, and some criteria contribute to sustainability more than the others. The scale and independence of a neighbourhood unit are important, but are not enough to generate a sustainable city. While the urban form by itself is a crucial part of the solution, people’s behaviour is also another important factor in the achievement of urban sustainability.King Saud Universit

Rethinking extractive landscapes in cross-border areas

peer reviewedWith the gradual cessation of the extractive industry in Western Europe, the 1990s saw the emergence of an awareness of the spatial and cultural values of abandoned mines and quarries. In the wake of the 'industrial heritage tourism', the 'mining tourism' arose, converting derelict extractive facilities into touristic and recreational attractions. In their attempt at economic regeneration, recycling projects for disused extractive plants have often neglected their relationship with landscape, comprising ecosystems and cultural networks pre-existing, contemporary and successive to mining and quarrying time. Adopting an architectural approach, the research explores the manufactured landscape resulting from the exploitation of underground resources, highlighting the spatial, cultural and ecological continuity between underground, sub-surface and surface. Hence, the 'extractive landscape' emerges as a constantly evolving manifestation of human-nature interactions

Liveability analysis of gated and non-gated low middle income communities in kuala lumpur, Malaysia

The aim of this paper is to examine the liveability conditions in gated and non-gated low middle income communities in Kuala Lumpur where rapid urban growth has led to many disruptions in the urban living environment. Hence, a livability framework was developed with dimensions from housing condition, economic condition, functional environment, social relations and community safety towards achieving the research objectives of – a) to study the liveability level in gated and non-gated communities, b) to compare the level of liveability between gated and non-gated communities, and c) to determine the dimensions and indicators which influence the level of liveability in both communities. Residents’ views were collected through a questionnaire survey which consisted of twenty-four indicators of liveability belonging to five dimensions from three communities in Kuala Lumpur. Two communities belong to non-gated and one community had gated living status. The findings of the research revealed that gated community has a better living conditions compared to the non-gated community. Thus, this research can be used as a turning point to improve the living environment of both gated and non-gated communit