Impact of the High Speed Trains on the European Cities Hierarchy

The European space is marked by the recent beginning of the dualism nation-region. In it the cities take on a fundamental role because their success becomes the success of the territories around. Manuel Castell has maintained that the city is the social structure in which any territorial phenomena (from the economical development processes to the relations between classes or ethnic groups, from the public intervention to the financial accumulation) takes on its bigger strength because in it are concentrated the focusing in the territorial transformations. Obvious the cities are not the same, for physical or functional dimension; besides every innovation adds and modifies the relational system previously created. Aim of the paper is to analyse the factors generating the urban hierarchies to the European level and the impact on it of the new high velocity nets. In the first section it is carried out a reading/analysis of the hierarchies in the urban European system, as outlined in a series of studies. The second section analyses the role of the communication infrastructures in the building of the hierarchies and, in the third, is deepen the impact of the building of European high speed network on the fluctuations in the cities hierarchy. The paper asserts that the hierarchy is influenced by the growing of this infrastructure only for the second level positions, while the head positions are not influenced by it. One of the possible conclusion is that in a mature situation as the European territorial system, the urban structure seems to be well organized around poles with a strong persistence. This does not mean that a city could not climb the hierarchies, although this is possible only if a number of preconditions and of support policies are verified and with the remarks that this does not seem to affect the head positions, characterized by large stability.

Chapter Domitian Coast. Rehabilitation’ outlooks of the Northern coast of Campania

Object of the paper is the Domitian Coast, belonging to the North-West of Campania Region, characterized by contrasting factors. The fertility of the soil and the considerable length of an easily accessible and available coastline are threatened by an indiscriminate exploitation of the ground for anthropogenic uses. The paper analyses the Domitian territory and the issues characterizing this particular area on the basis of three categories of elements. The second part indicates the possible intervention policies set up to redevelop this territory

Aspects of Land Take in the Metropolitan Area of Naples

Land take is a phenomenon of great concern nowadays because of the large number of its negative impacts regarding biological, economic and social balance. In Italy, the development of urban and other artificial land has been irreversibly transforming a nonrenewable resource such as soil, regardless the almost constant population rate, with different speed depending of the region considered. The aim of this paper is to analyze the phenomenon in the metropolitan area of Naples, which is an area highly affected by territorial aggression of human matrix. The data used are both by the Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA) Report 2015 on the usage of the land and by ISTAT relating to the resident population up to the 1st of January 2015 and the extension of land for agricultural use (Census 2010). The mathematical combination of this data creates a new indicator that can be referred to as “residual land”; this residual area is of great extension with many different characteristics and it could represent the area where the phenomenon of land take most occurs. The identification, measurement and analysis of “residual land” provide new insights on the evolution of land take and this new indicator can represent a critical element to work on to prevent future land transformation and protect natural and agricultural areas within the Italian context

Osservatorio Normativa Evoluzione della normativa urbanistica: la frammentazione dopo l’omogeneità

Il numero dedicato ai 150 anni dell’unità nazionale vede l’osservatorio normativo strutturato diversamente dal solito. Invece di analizzare alcune norme che fanno capo all’argomento del numero della rivista, l’osservatorio, in questo caso, vuole compiere un approfondimento sull’evoluzione della normativa in campo urbanistico (o, più in generale, nel campo del governo del territorio) segnalando, nel contempo, un rischio grave: il processo di regionalizzazione, prima, e di federalizzazione dello Stato italiano, poi, sta conducendo ad una tale frammentazione della normativa di settore che le diverse Regioni, nonostante il richiamo a principi unitari, ormai ragionano in modo divergente e differenziato in un settore di estrema delicatezza quale quello della gestione del territorio

Cover cropped and tilled table grape vineyard: Data on leaves and stems

Data presented are on mass, length, SPAD and some physiological parameters of leaves and stems in a table grape vineyard of Italia variety grafted onto 1103 Paulsen, covered with a plastic sheet to advance ripening and managed with two soil systems in the Puglia region, South-eastern Italy in 2015 and 2016. The two systems differed for the soil management since in one area of the vineyard a cover crop was used (Trifolium repens L.), whereas in the other area only soil tillage was adopted. The data of the two seasons include: (a) mass of leaves of primary shoot, secondary shoot and opposite the cluster; (b) length of secondary shoots; (c) number of both secondary shoots and leaves of secondary shoots; (d) SPAD values and area of leaves opposite both first and second cluster on the primary shoot; (e) mass of stems of both primary and secondary shoots; and (f) some physiological parameters (Ψstem, temperature, Fv/Fm). The data in this article support and augment information presented in the research article 'Cover crops in the inter-row of a table grape vineyard managed with irrigation sensors: effects on yield, quality and glutamine synthetase activity in leaves' (Sci. Hortic. 281, 2021 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scienta.2021.109963)

Transpiration and calcium accumulation in apricot fruit

The seasonal variation of transpiration rate and accumulation of calcium (Ca) in fruit of apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) are presented. Midday transpiration rate (open system ADC-LCA4) was higher just after fruit-set peaking at about 0.5 mmol m-2 s-1; thereafter it declined and reached the lowest value three weeks later. In parallel, Ca was linearly accumulated within the early four weeks of fruit development reaching 80% of the final content. Afterwards it slowly increased and reached about 6 mg per fruit at harvest time. Results suggest that transpiration decline can be held to account for the early cessation of Ca import into the fruit. Opportunities for field manipulation to increase fruit Ca content are discussed

Multiple Bi-phase Interfaces in a PCM Layer Subject to Periodic Boundary Conditions Characteristic of Building External Walls

Abstract The thermal fields, which form in a PCM layer subject to external and internal loadings that operate on the external wall of buildings, are determined by a physical model that describes conduction in the solid phase and the liquid phase and the phase change of the melting temperature with a thermal balance equation at the bi-phase interface. The system of equations is resolved with a finite difference numerical model that uses a resolution algorithm that provides for the contemporaneous presence of one or more bi-phase interfaces in the layer. The thermal analysis in steady periodic regime conditions by a layer situated in Turin has highlighted that layer behaviour varies monthly in relation to the number and position of the bi-phase interfaces that form in the layer