sustainability and resilience: socio-spatial perspective

Sustainability and resilience have become indispensable parts of the contemporary debate over the built environment. Although recognised as imperatives, the complexity and the variety of interpretations of sustainability and resilience have raised the necessity to again rethink their notion in the context of the built environment and to reframe the state-of-the-art body of knowledge. The book Sustainability and Resilience: Socio-Spatial Perspective so begins with the exploration of the broadest conceptual frame-of-reference of issues related to sustainability, and the re-establishment of the connection between the built environment and the conditions that are vital to its functioning, primarily in relation to energy, land use, climate, and economy. Subsequent discussion on resilience as a term, approach, and philosophy aims to conceptualise an interpretation of key resilience concepts, explain relationships and links among them, and propose the classification of resilience as applicable to the context of urban studies. By studying the processes of transition of the built environment, the book then reveals a coherent formula of ‘thinking sustainability + resilience’ aimed at improving the ability to respond to disruptions and hazards while enhancing human and environmental welfare. The necessity to integrate the two approaches is further accented as a result of a deliberative discourse on the notions of ‘social sustainability’, ‘sustainable community’, and ‘socio-cultural resilience’. The potential of measuring sustainable development and urban sustainability on the basis of defined social, human, and, additionally, natural and economic values is presented though an overview of different wellknown indicators and the identification of a currently relevant tangible framework of sustainable development. Correspondingly, the role of policies and governance is demonstrated on the case of climate-proof cities. In this way, the consideration of approaches to sustainability and resilience of the urban environment is rounded, and the focus of the book is shifted towards an urban/rural dichotomy and the sustainability prospects of identified forms-in-between, and, subsequently, towards the exploration of values, challenges, and the socio-cultural role in achieving sustainability for rural areas. In the final chapters, the book offers several peculiarised socio-spatial perspectives, from defining the path towards more resilient communities and sustainable spaces based on a shared wellbeing, to proposing the approach to define community resilience as an intentional action that aims to respond to, and influence, the course of social and economic change, to deliberating the notion of a ’healthy place’ and questioning its optimal scale in the built environment. The study of sustainability and resilience in this book is concluded by drawing a parallel between environmental, economic, and social determinants of the built environment and the determinants that are relevant to human health and well-being

Fetal ultrasound findings in trisomy 18 at midpregnancy

Trisomy 18 (Edwards' syndrome), a lethal chromosomal aberration, is the second most common autosomal trisomy with an incidence 1: 8000. The aim of this study is to evaluate the sonographic findings in fetuses with trisomy 18. In ten years period (2002-2012) we analyzed fetal blood samples for chromosome abnormalities. Samples were taken by cordocentesis and processed using standard techniques. Sixteen metaphase cells were analyzed for chromosomal constitution in each sample after tripsin-Giemsa banding. A retrospective review of the cytogenetic laboratory database identified all cases of trisomy 18 in ten years period. The prenatal sonographic studies in fetuses at 16 to 22 weeks' gestation, done before invasive testing for the karyotype were reviewed for anatomic findings. From 2100 samples of fetal blood analyzed for chromosomal abnormalities, there were 16 (0,8%) with complete trisomy 18. We found no mosaicism, or partial trisomy 18. The women that carried fetuses with trisomy 18 were 17 to 42 years of age. Four of them were above 35. From 16 fetuses with trisomy 18, 14 (87,5%) had some anomaly detected by ultrasound, and other two were tested because of advanced maternal age. The most common findings in trisomy 18 were intrauterine growth retardation, polyhidramnios and anomalies of central nervous system, in 29% respectively. Multiple anomalies, including central nervous system, hart and gastrointestinal system anomalies, were also frequent (21%). Therapeutic termination of pregnancy was done in all cases after genetic counseling. Screening for chromosomal abnormalities using ultrasound is at utmost importance in cases of nonhereditary aberrations. Detailed ultrasonographic examinations of fetuses will enable health care providers to form the appropriate management plan for each patient

COVID-19 and City Space: Impact and Perspectives

The pandemic of the COVID-19 disease has radically changed human lifestyle and the usage of living space, especially in cities. With the prolongation of the crisis, the effects of COVID-19 on urban spaces are becoming more noticeable, but the definite changes that can inform approaches to future development, planning, and use of urban space have not yet been determined, as evidenced by the research carried out in this study. The research revealed that there exists the consensus in terms of several new guidelines whose application in design can simultaneously increase the resilience of urban environment to future pandemics and improve the overall quality of city life. These presented guidelines show that we may expect in the future a greater integration of nature-based solutions at various scales of the city, i.e., better ventilated, and naturally lit, more spacious, mixed-use, and flexible buildings surrounded by enlarged, multiplied, and multifunctional open spaces that safely receive the users who are carrying out those activities that were moved from the inner to the outer space