Emerging strategies for regeneration of historic urban sites:a systematic literature review

The importance and effectiveness of adaptive reuse as an alternative to the demolition of cultural heritage is well-studied. However, increasing demand in cities to redevelop larger scale urban historic sites requires new strategies to benefit from their inherent values. This paper focuses on strategies of regeneration for historic urban sites. The paper presents a systematic literature review of 45 papers, with case studies geographically concentrated in Europe and Asia, and a focus on residential, commercial, and industrial areas. From the case studies, 46 different regeneration strategies have been deduced. The various strategies are, via content analysis, dissected into a select number of drivers to find commonalities. These key drivers are user participation, top-down, genius loci, sustainability, and conversion. Based on the reflections of the reviewed authors, a performance evaluation assesses the outcomes of these strategies. Further data analysis is conducted at the level of individual drivers as well as their combinations to deduce the most positive-evaluated strategies. Findings show that genius loci contributes to the most positive-evaluated strategies, while top-down driven strategies contribute to the most negative-evaluated strategies. Furthermore, strategies are assessed positively when three or more drivers are considered regardless of their combination. This paper acts as a starting point for further research into the formation of regeneration strategies and into the specific drivers and their combinations or underlying relations. Moreover, it can be of contribution to the practice, to support decision makers and urban planners in developing the appropriate regeneration strategy for historic urban sites

Construction of International Cooperation strategies: An inquiry into the learning experience

The present research is the product of a collection of primary information in the context of the formulation of the International Cooperation strategy of the Municipality of Pasto, for the purpose of determining the path of construction of this process, its impact and challenges and, above all, the learning achieved through the participatory formulation of the International Cooperation strategy. The methodology of the research is of a qualitative interpretative study, which allowed to rebuild from the sight of actors the participatory formulation of the strategy of International Cooperation, rescuing the importance of participation in all levels, recognizing the team working and the generation of partnerships, trust and commitment in the pursuit of strengthening and sustainability of the process of internationalization of the Municipality. Finally, the research concluded with a series of reflections concerning the formulation of strategies for International Cooperation

Construction of International Cooperation strategies: An inquiry into the learning experience

The present research is the product of a collection of primary information in the context of the formulation of the International Cooperation strategy of the Municipality of Pasto, for the purpose of determining the path of construction of this process, its impact and challenges and, above all, the learning achieved through the participatory formulation of the International Cooperation strategy. The methodology of the research is of a qualitative interpretative study, which allowed to rebuild from the sight of actors the participatory formulation of the strategy of International Cooperation, rescuing the importance of participation in all levels, recognizing the team working and the generation of partnerships, trust and commitment in the pursuit of strengthening and sustainability of the process of internationalization of the Municipality. Finally, the research concluded with a series of reflections concerning the formulation of strategies for International Cooperation

Strategies to reduce the environmental impact of an aluminium pressure die casting plant: A scenario analysis

This study explores a model (MIKADO) to analyse scenarios for the reduction of the environmental impact of an aluminium die casting plant. Our model calculates the potential to reduce emissions, and the costs associated with implementation of reduction options. In an earlier paper [Neto, B., Kroeze, C., Hordijk, L., Costa, C., 2008. Modelling the environmental impact Of all aluminium pressure die casting company and options for control. Environmental Modelling & Software 23 (2) 147-168] we included the model description and explored the model by applying it to a plant in which no reduction options are assumed to be implemented (so-called zero case, reflecting the current practice in the plant). Here, we perform a systematic analysis of reduction options. We analysed seven types of reduction strategies, assuming the simultaneous implementation of different reduction options. These strategies are analysed with respect to their potential to reduce emissions, environmental impact and costs associated with the implementation of options. These strategies were found to differ largely in their potential to reduce the environmental impact of the plant (10-87%), as well as in the costs associated with the implementation of options (-268 to +277 k(sic)/ year). We were able to define I I strategies, reducing the overall environmental impact by more than 50%. Of these, two have net negative costs, indicating that the company may in fact earn money through their implementation. (C) 2008 Elsevier Ltd. All fights reserved

Pirate, the development of an autonomous gas distribution system inspection robot

A consortium of four companies is developing an autonomous inspection system for small diameter, low pressure gas distribution mains. Such a system could eventually replace the current practice of leak survey and improve the assessment of the quality of the mains, being able to investigate the mains from the inside and very closely. A complete system consisting of small robotic platforms, docking stations for battery recharging and data communication, and entrance locks is envisioned. The logistics of such a system seem feasible, although the technological challenge is daunting. Besides the development cost the other major parameter determining the cost of the system is the allowed maximum distance between docking stations. Preliminary analysis of the business case show that a robotic platform driving at a speed of 0.2 km/h and an availability of 50% would earn 160 000 € annually, being the value of its inspection results. This justifies a serious attempt for further evaluation of the vision

Using wind-direction-dependent differences between model calculations and field measurements as indicator for the inaccuracy of emission inventories

In forward air quality modelling, an emission inventory is used as input into an atmospheric dispersion model to calculate atmospheric concentrations of the pollutant. Differences between calculated concentrations and concentrations found by atmospheric measurements can be used as an indicator for the inaccuracy of the emission inventory used in the calculations. The problem with comparing calculated and observed concentrations is that it is not easy to pinpoint the emission inventory as a single cause for the differences. One of the reasons for this is that inaccuracies exist in the model, both in measurements and in the inventory. In this paper, we argue that when wind-direction-dependent differences at several measurement stations in different countries point towards a specific region, the emission estimate for that specific region is the likely cause for the differences between modelled and observed concentrations. We have applied this methodology to study the inaccuracies of a European SO2 emissions inventory for 1994, by plotting the calculated SO2 concentrations from a long term ozone simulation model with SO2 concentrations measured in the EMEP network. The results show that we were able to identify inaccuracies in the emission inventory for several areas within Europe. These areas include Sachsen/Brandenburg (Germany), Central England and the Western part of the Russian Federation. Although this type of analysis is accompanied with several limitations, it could provide the emission inventory community with a relatively simple technique to identify inaccuracies in the emission inventory