Visibility Assessment of the Perenye Windpark near the Kőszegi Mountain in Hungary

The visibility assessment of the Perenye Windpark was commissioned in 2009 by the West Transdanubian Authority for Environmental Protection. The plans of the windpark contained 11 turbines situated in an arable area near the small village of Perenye, south of the scenic Kőszegi Mountain and the Írottkő Nature Park. The height of the planned turbines was 179 meters (160 meters tower plus 19 meters rotor height). Ten of them were planned to have 2 MW energy output and one, which was offered by the investors to the local government, 850 kW. The main reason for the visibility assessment was the need to forecast the changes the windpark will most probably induce in the well-appreciated Transdanubian scenery. According to the Environmental Authority’s demand the visibility assessment had to contain a study of the main viewpoints of the area from which the windpark might appear to observers. These viewpoints were defined by the Environmental Authority itself and consisted of the traces of the two major roads running beside the site and a well-known look-out point of the Kőszegi Mountain called Szent Vid Chapel. The settlement areas of the nearby villages were not included in the Authority’s request for assessment and were therefore not considered in detail. As a consequence of the visibility assessment the possible ways of minimizing the visual effects of the windpark through landscape planning methods had to be considered, and recommendations had to be given for new roadside plantings as well as for the ideal coloring of the turbines. As a result of the work the Authority accepted the plans of the windpark on the condition that all assessment driven recommendations are realized by the investor

Characteristics of Winter Urban Heat Island in Budapest at Local and Micro Scale

Most of the urban heat island (UHI) researches focused on the phenomenon in summer. They mainly studied the causes, different functional areas, and possible mitigation measures to reduce the high temperature in urban areas. However, UHI also exists in winter, but there are a limited number of studies on winter UHI. The characteristics and causes of UHI in winter have not been received much attention or consideration yet. This study aims to characterize the UHI feature in winter in Budapest, Hungary, based on the analysis of land surface temperature (LST) in relation to the factors of elevation, slope exposure, residential type, and snow coverage. Five different Landsat images in the winter season were applied to detect the surface temperature; besides, pictures of the thermal camera at a micro-scale were also used. Results showed that UHI intensity was not strong in winter; built-up areas were warmer than other urban areas. Topography was one of the significant factors affecting the surface temperature in winter. The surface temperature of the hills (300 m asl) was lower than that of the lowlands (below 120 m asl). The south-facing slopes and south oriented buildings were warmer than north-facing slopes and buildings oriented to the north. Areas with snow coverage had a lower temperature than no snow coverage areas. These findings could give general guidance for further UHI research, urban planning as well as landscape design

Mapping and Assessment of the Urban Heat Island in Zhengzhou City

The rapid urbanization of Chinese cities has resulted in significant effects to the urban environment and to urban ecological networks. Zhengzhou city, the capital city of Henan province in central China, is characterized by a warm climate and four distinctive seasons, with a dry spring, and a hot and rainy summer. Based on satellite images, we analyzed land surface temperature (LST) and prepared a further assessment. Using LST data, we analyzed the urban heat island (UHI) and its relationship to green space, in order to make suggestions for future urban planning. The results show that urban heat island exists in Zhengzhou city Central Urban area. The mean land surface temperature (MLST) difference between urban and non-urban is significant. In addition, the urban green space reveals a negative relationship with LST. To conclude, we discuss the role of green space in mitigating urban heat island and propose some greenway related strategies for urban landscape planning in Zhengzhou city

Landscape Indicators in Rural Development

Landscape values and landscape potential are the base of rural development. Long-term and balanced utilization of these is possible through sustainable landscape management. The Hungarian rural regions have very diverse characteristics, that is why properly targeted and specified programs, strategies are needed to develop them in an appropriate way. Several planners, researchers and authors emphasized that the first step of sustainable landscape management is landscape-function analysis (De Groot et al., 2010; Herman et al., 2014). Before clustering and typification of rural regions based on the levels of the different landscape functions, it is very important to explore the potential relationships, regularities among these functions

Landscape in the Spatial Planning System of European Countries

Several researches, projects were launched about the varied spatial planning systems of European countries. For example an extensive comparison analysis was carried out by the guidance of the Directorate-General for Regional policy and Cohesion of the European Commission about the spatial policy of the member states (15 members) in 1997. However researches dealing with the state and scope of landscape planning country by country are quite unique. Conflicts of landscape planning and protection differ just mostly because of the different landscape conditions in Europe, but for the way and method how the issues of landscape planning are integrated in the spatial planning systems of European countries have diverse solutions. In our research study we had the following goals: • Exploring the influence of the European integration on the spatial and landscape planning of countries; • Highlighting the main differences of spatial planning system in the countries (system, focus); • Comparison among the forms and mechanisms of integration and implementation of landscape issues and landscape planning in the spatial planning system

City in the park,” Greenway Network Concept of High-Density Cities: Adaptation of Singapore Park Connector Network in Chinese Cities

This paper uses the “Park Connector Network” (PCN) as a model, to analyze Singapore’s experience and to cope with the dramatic increase in population and urbanization, and then to apply this experience to Chinese high-density cities. The research goal is to provide guidance for the adaptation of “City in the Park” in China and the construction of high-density urban green space systems. The concept of “City in the Park” that was born in 2018 in China can be related directly to the “Park Connector Network” model