An emergy evaluation of a medieval water management system: The case of the underground "Bottini" in Siena (Italy)

In the middle ages, Siena had a high population density and had to face the problem of water supply within the city walls for housing, crafts, industrial activities and fire risks. With this aim, a series of underground drifts, namely "Bottini", was built at the beginning of the 13th century and achieved a total length of 25 km in the 14th century. Bottini have been capturing rain water and conducting it from the countryside to the fountains in the city centre for centuries. Brick pavements and other structures, such as brick vaults (where necessary), guaranteed water clearness and allowed a special team of workers, "bottinieri", to move throughout the tunnels for management and maintenance. Bottini still bring 9.5 l/s of clear water. Currently water is only used to fill the fountains and is then wasted. Based on statistics on water use, we argued that the activity of maintaining Bottini is not only a good practice for the conservation of a precious cultural heritage, but could also be potentially an opportunity for improving urban ecology. In this paper, we propose to investigate the environmental impact of water use comparing Bottini with a contemporary water management system. In particular, an "emergy evaluation" was developed for providing information about the sustainability of water use, both nowadays and in the past. Preliminary results showed that Bottini have a much lower environmental impact and can be potentially reused by withdrawing water and using it for some activities - such as irrigation of gardens and playgrounds, street washing and sanitary use - within the historical centre of Siena

Response of male and female domestic chicks to change in the number (quantity) of imprinting objects

When facing two sets of imprinting objects of different numerousness, domestic chicks prefer to approach the larger one. Given that choice for familiar and novel stimuli in imprinting situations is known to be affected by the sex of the animals, we investigated how male and female domestic chicks divide the time spent in the proximity of a familiar versus an unfamiliar number of objects, and how animals interact (by pecking) with these objects. We confirmed that chicks discriminate among the different numerousnesses, but we also showed that females and males behave differently, depending on the degree of familiarity of the objects. When objects in the testing sets were all familiar, females equally explored both sets and pecked at all objects individually. Males instead selectively approached the familiar numerousness and pecked more at it. When both testing sets comprised familiar as well as novel objects, both males and females approached the larger numerousness of familiar objects. However, chicks directed all their pecks toward the novel object within the set. Differences in the behavior of males and females can be accounted for in terms of sex difference in the motivation to reinstate social contact with the familiar objects and to explore novel ones, likely associated with the ecology and the social structure of the species before domestication

Modelling the net environmental and economic impacts of urban nature-based solutions by combining ecosystem services, system dynamics and life cycle thinking: An application to urban forests

Nature-based solutions (NBS) are gaining relevance as sustainable urban actions because of their potential to provide multiple benefits in the form of ecosystem services (ES), and thus mitigate urban challenges. This paper presents an original semi-dynamic modelling framework that simultaneously considers i) ES supply and demand dynamics, ii) negative environmental impacts, externalities, and financial costs derived from NBS, and iii) life cycle NBS impacts beyond the use phase. Compared to other models, it also aims to be valuable for urban planning actions at site level, i.e., for evaluating the net impacts of specific urban NBS projects. To validate the modelling framework, a proof-of-concept model for urban forests is developed and tested for a case study in Madrid (Spain). The modelling framework is split in two interrelated parts: foreground (dynamic modelling) and background (static modelling). In the foreground, the environmental impacts derived from the use phase of an NBS project are quantified considering its spatio-temporal dynamism, by making use of system dynamics. In the background, the environmental impacts derived from the rest of the life cycle phases of the NBS are quantified making use of steady state life cycle impact assessment. The net economic impact of the NBS project, considering both financial values and externalities, is eventually calculated in the background encompassing all the life cycle phases. Results from the case study illustrate how planning, design, and management decisions over the entire life cycle of an urban forest can influence the net environmental and economic performance of this type of NBS. A discussion is provided to inform on how the modelling framework can help moving beyond the state-of-the-art, and how the derived model can be used for sustainability assessments of urban NBS projects

Nexus between nature-based solutions, ecosystem services and urban challenges

Nature-based Solutions (NBS) are increasingly promoted to support sustainable and resilient urban planning. However, design and planning urban NBS targeted at the needs of the local context require knowledge about the causal relationships between NBS, ecosystem services (ES) and urban challenges (UC) This paper aims at contributing to this knowledge, by systematically identifying nexuses (i.e. qualitative links) between UC, ES and NBS, and describing plausible causal relationships. A conceptual UC-ES-NBS criteria framework was built, and used to guide a two-step systematic literature review on current UC and on the supply of ES by urban NBS. This was followed by a non-systematic literature review, which complemented the previous one by unveiling knowledge gaps on the biophysical and social processes and attributes on which specific ES classes depend. The non-systematic review was also used to identify additional NBS. The UC review identified 18 UC and 58 sub-challenges, and illustrated which UC were more studied, according to the type of literature and environmental and socio-economic attributes of urban contexts. The ES review led to the development of an urban NBS classification, and supported the identification of UC-ES and ES-NBS nexuses, which were analysed and classified into four groups of causal relationship. For the nexuses identified as direct plausible causal relationship, the main processes and attributes on which the supply of specific ES depend were pointed out. Relationships between UC, ES, NBS, processes, and attributes were represented in the form of network diagrams. Our results can be used to support urban policies aimed at mainstreaming NBS and as a basis to further understand UC-ES-NBS relationships

Assessing habitat loss, fragmentation and ecological connectivity in Luxembourg to support spatial planning

The increasing global population requires new infrastructure and urban development, and these land use changes have an impact on habitats and their ecological connectivity. To anticipate and minimise these impacts, environmental and urban planners require tools and methods that they can use at early planning stages. This paper investigates and selects landscape ecology techniques that can be used by planners to assess the effects in terms of changes in habitat loss, fragmentation and ecological connectivity due to expected land use changes. The selected techniques were tested in Luxembourg. Twelve landscape metrics, four connectivity indices, and one connectivity model were selected based on their straightforwardness, widespread application, and accessibility. Land cover maps and proposed areas of urban development up to 2030 were used as input data, together with adapted resistance surfaces from previous studies and a matrix of presence/absence for six target species. The combined analysis reveals a trend of increasing habitat fragmentation and loss of habitats, as well as a reduction of ecological connectivity with regard to all the targeted species, and suggests that this trend will likely continue in the near future. The selected landscape metrics, connectivity indices, the connectivity model and the software used to run them makes the abovementioned techniques easy to use by non-experts, and their combination helps to reduce some of the limitations of each individual technique. Both aspects might be useful in order to mainstream the use of landscape ecology techniques in spatial planning processes

Linking land use inventories to biodiversity impact assessment methods

There is generally a mismatch in the land use classification of life cycle inventory (LCI) databases and life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methods. This mismatch can hinder the proper assessment of land use impacts on biodiversity. To facilitate such assessments, we matched the land use classes of two global LCIA methods to five widely used LCI databases, one LCI nomenclature, and one multi-regional input-output database. In unclear cases, we assumed the worst case. Assumptions were especially necessary for unspecified land use intensity classes. We conclude with recommendations for LCI database and LCIA method developers.Industrial Ecolog

Transformation tools enabling the implementation of nature-based solutions for creating a resourceful circular city

The linear pattern of production-consumption-disposal of cities around the world will continue to increase the emission of pollutants and stocks of waste, as well as to impact on the irreversible deterioration of non-renewable stocks of raw materials. A transition towards a circular pattern proposed by the concept of ‘Circular Cities’ is gaining momentum. As part of this urban transition, the emergent use of Nature-based Solutions (NBS) intends to shift public opinion and utilize technology to mitigate the urban environmental impact. In this paper, an analysis of the current research and practical investments for implementing NBS under the umbrella of Circular Cities is conducted. A combined appraisal of the latest literature and a survey of ongoing and completed National-European research and development projects provides an overview of the current enabling tools, methodologies, and initiatives for public engagement. It also identifies and describes the links between facilitators and barriers with respect to existing policies and regulations, public awareness and engagement, and scientific and technological instruments. The paper concludes introducing the most promising methods, physical and digital technologies that may lead the way to Sustainable Circular Cities. The results of this research provide useful insight for citizens, scientists, practitioners, investors, policy makers, and strategists to channel efforts on switching from a linear to a circular thinking for the future of cities

Processing Ordinality and Quantity: The Case of Developmental Dyscalculia

In contrast to quantity processing, up to date, the nature of ordinality has received little attention from researchers despite the fact that both quantity and ordinality are embodied in numerical information. Here we ask if there are two separate core systems that lie at the foundations of numerical cognition: (1) the traditionally and well accepted numerical magnitude system but also (2) core system for representing ordinal information. We report two novel experiments of ordinal processing that explored the relation between ordinal and numerical information processing in typically developing adults and adults with developmental dyscalculia (DD). Participants made “ordered” or “non-ordered” judgments about 3 groups of dots (non-symbolic numerical stimuli; in Experiment 1) and 3 numbers (symbolic task: Experiment 2). In contrast to previous findings and arguments about quantity deficit in DD participants, when quantity and ordinality are dissociated (as in the current tasks), DD participants exhibited a normal ratio effect in the non-symbolic ordinal task. They did not show, however, the ordinality effect. Ordinality effect in DD appeared only when area and density were randomized, but only in the descending direction. In the symbolic task, the ordinality effect was modulated by ratio and direction in both groups. These findings suggest that there might be two separate cognitive representations of ordinal and quantity information and that linguistic knowledge may facilitate estimation of ordinal information