Living in a fringe environment: three Late Roman settlements in the Kharga Oasis (Egypt's Western Desert)

This article presents a comparative analysis of three Late Roman sites located at the northern outskirts of the Kharga Oasis in Egypt's Western Desert: Umm al-Dabadib, Ayn al-Labakha, and the Gib/Sumayra Complex. These were part of the district of the Oasis Magna, which included the oases of Dakhla and Kharga. An analysis of their layout, including both shape and extent, is followed by an evaluation of their absolute and relative positions. These data are then compared to the administrative and historical contexts within which the three sites flourished. Both administrative and economic aspects are considered, as well as the presence of the army. The complex picture that emerges suggests that these three sites played several roles at the same time and were part of a large-scale strategic design that encompassed not only the Kharga Oasis but the entire Western Desert

Placing land cover preferences by users on the map: Bridging the gaps of landscape preference surveys and spatial pattern analysis in order to inform planning and policy

Landscapes provide several public goods, which, because they offer social, environmental and economic benefits, have become the focus of policy interest. Land cover patterns, being dynamic landscape components, are essential in delivering public goods. Public goods based on the social demand, such as recreation & landscape appreciation, have been progressively more acknowledged in environmental management as amenity demands steadily increase throughout Europe. As a result, there is a huge body of literature reporting landscape preferences both by the general public and of specific user groups in relation to multiple aspects of European landscapes. However, this empirical work has been revealing enormous challenges to be integrated into landscape planning and policy. This work offers two innovative outputs. One is to progress on gathering user group´s preferred land cover patterns, using in an innovative way, a non spatial model that is meaningful for respondents. The other is to map the preferences by different users into land cover pattern maps in one Alentejo municipality in order to assess the extent to which a certain landscape is likely to meet a specific social demand. Finally, the challenges for integrating the findings of this study into landscape planning and policy are discussed. The other is to relate the preferences expressed by the different users, to the Land Cover Patterns in one Alentejo municipality, to assess the extent to which a certain spatialized landscape has likelihood to meet a specific social demand

An agricultural system in a hostile environment: the Late Roman site of Umm al-Dabadib - Kharga Oasis (Egypt)

Funded by an ERC consolidator Grant, focuses on archaeological and environmental methodology used to investigate a chain of Late Roman fortified settlements of the Kharga Oasis, located in Egypt’s Western Desert, that in the Fourth Century AD represented a portion of the southern boundary of the Roman empire. The best-preserved site is Umm al-Dabadib containing the virtually intact remains of an imposing settlement with a vast and elaborated agricultural system. The site fully represents the struggle between man and environment on a knife edge. Ancient Roman centuriatio (field division), subterranean aqueducts (qanat), covered conduits, open-air canals, outlines of fields are studied using a combination of classic and innovative investigation techniques (3D survey, archaeological excavations of the built-up area and the agricultural system, archaeobotanical analyses, ceramic studies, analyses of satellite images)

Evoluzione del paesaggio agrario e naturale della Penisola Sorrentina negli ultimi 60 anni/Evolution of agricultural and natural landscape of the Sorrento Peninsula in the last 60 years.

This paper presents a study case focused on the dynamics of the structural components of the Sorrentine Peninsula/Amalfi Coast land-scape, from 1958 to 2014, a multi-functional area unique and full of history. Like most of the coastal areas of the Campania region, this landscape has been profoundly altered by human action within just 60 years. From 1958 to 2014 urban areas, despite the small space available (in less than 2 km you go from the coastline to the top of the rise at 1400 m asl), increased by an average of 200%, with a trend that records progressive and almost continuous sprawl of small housing units in rural areas. The latter, once fragmented and incorporated into the urban fabric, tend quickly to lose their primary function arranging in this way, to an higher degree of urbanization. It is quite interesting to note that despite such uncontrolled urban-ization, the rural areas still account for over 83% of the territory. They keep also at least 50% of high value environmental quality indexes such as the HNVFF (High Nature Value Farmland Forestry). The characterization of high nature value farmland and forestry in terms of biodiversity, high-quality products and cultural stratification, offers the legislator a powerful planning tool inclusive of both socio-economic and ecological components. HNVFF indexes can be used in the contingent valuation procedures in which, by a participatory mech-anism based on interviews, it is possible to assess the perception and degree of appreciation of a specific landscape, to take actions to manage and enhance rural activities in areas with a very high aesthetic value

A multivariate approach for mapping fire ignition risk: the example of the National Park of Cilento (Southern Italy)

Recent advances in fire management led landscape managers to adopt an integrated fire fighting strategy in which fire suppression is supported by prevention actions and by knowledge of local fire history and ecology. In this framework, an accurate evaluation of fire ignition risk and its environmental drivers constitutes a basic step toward the optimization of fire management measures. In this paper, we propose a multivariate method for identifying and spatially portraying fire ignition risk across a complex and heterogeneous landscape such as the National Park of Cilento, Vallo di Diano, and Alburni (southern Italy). The proposed approach consists first in calculating the fire selectivity of several landscape features that are usually related to fire ignition, such as land cover or topography. Next, the fire selectivity values of single landscape features are combined with multivariate segmentation tools. The resulting fire risk map may constitute a valuable tool for optimizing fire prevention strategies and for efficiently allocating fire fighting resources

Una fase storica nuova per i paesaggi italiani / New interpretative scenarios for the evolution of Italian landscapes

The analysis of the historical series 1990-2018 of the European territorial data base Corine Land Cover suggests new interpretative keys for the understanding of land cover dynamics in Italian landscapes. A new evolutionary phase of the Italian landscapes is outlined, characterized by the lack of guiding processes, and by a complex territorial metabolism, which requires new and appropriate landscape policies

La fotografia come bene documentale per il paesaggio. La piattaforma WEB Topotheque

Le fotografie sono sempre state e sono oggetti complessi. Il loro potere di catturare la nostra attenzione non sta tanto nell’immagine diretta che passa all’interno di un obiettivo fotografico, ma nella capacità di incarnare contenuti accumulati nell’immagine stessa. Le fotografie dei paesaggi contemporanei fanno cogliere l’essenza dell’attuale, ma diventano con il tempo una fonte privilegiata che testimonia il denso patrimonio culturale e storico di una popolazione. L’inventario dei beni storico-artistici e naturali della Campania è un esempio dello sforzo fatto per strutturare una fonte iconografica volta a migliorare la conoscenza e la consapevolezza della profondità culturale e della biodiversità dei paesaggi campani. Si tratta di un archivio prodotto nell’arco di 34 anni (dal 1969 al 2003) da Angerio Filangieri: un archivio di studio e di ricerca riguardante i beni storicoartistici e naturali della regione Campania, costituito da più di 75.000 elementi tra fotografie, negativi fotografici, documenti, mappe e libri. Per rendere l’archivio maggiormente fruibile sia a specialisti che a persone non necessariamente impegnate in studi scientifici, il Centro Museale Musei delle Scienze Agrarie dell'Università di Napoli Federico II (attuale ente custode dell'archivio), ha stretto una collaborazione con il Dipartimento di Scienze Umanistiche (DSU) della stessa Università Federico II, per valorizzare l'archivo all'interno dell'ICARUS-International Centre for Archival Research un Network costituito da 160 istituzioni di 30 paesi europei più Canada e Stati Uniti, che ha come scopo la digitalizzazione, l’interpretazione, e la condivisione on line della documentazione presente negli archivi storici, nelle biblioteche, nei musei scientifici e non. Da questa premessa è stata avviata una proficua collaborazione che ha come scopo la digitalizzazione e la condivisione del materiale presente nell’archivio fotografico e documentale di Angerio Filangieri e la sua pubblicazione sulla Piattaforma WEB Topotheque (https://musa-filangieri.topothek.at/