The West’s Water—Multiple Uses, Conflicting Values, Interconnected Fates

AbstractAmmonia and sodium hydroxide are two important inorganic bases which served as the basis or precursors of other compounds with multiple uses. Some of their derived salts, i. e. ammonium nitrate, are of the paramount importance for daily life. Others salts, such as lithium carbonate, are gaining a primary role in the development of smart technologies, i. e. E-cars. This chapter described developments in the production of these useful compounds: ammonia, sodium and potassium hydroxides, related salts, i. e. ammonium nitrate, sodium and potassium carbonates, and finally, lithium carbonate.

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A multiplicity of prek(s): Enacting a socionatural mosaic in the Cambodian upper Mekong delta

Environment and Planning E Nature and Space ◽

10.1177/25148486211026835 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 251484862110268

Author(s):

Jean-Philippe Venot ◽

Casper B Jensen

Keyword(s):

Science And Technology Studies ◽

Agricultural Development ◽

Mekong Delta ◽

Mosaic Landscape ◽

Water Research ◽

Rice Intensification ◽

Multiple Uses ◽

Human Actors ◽

Irrigation Infrastructure ◽

Passive Object

In Khmer, the word prek designates a connection between things. In Kandal province in Cambodia, preks crisscross the landscape, connecting rivers with floodplains, supporting rich ecologies and a variety of livelihoods. Drawing on science and technology studies (STS) and critical water research, this paper explores prek(s) as a multiplicity. Rather than taking the prek as a passive object around which various practices occur, we examine how prek(s) are enacted as ontologically different: as irrigation infrastructure, as pathway to rice intensification, as device for Cambodian state-making, and as climate-friendly agricultural development. After analyzing interference patterns between enactments and their scale-making effects in- and outside the Mekong floodplains, we make explicit our own ontological politics. Focused on sustaining multiple uses and ecosystems, “our” prek is a socionatural mosaic landscape where many human and more-than-human actors and practices can coexist. This ontological politics, we suggest, has implications for planetary environmental knowledges and delta management far beyond Kandal’s landscape.

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The Adaptive Reuse of Cultural Heritage in European Circular City Plans: A Systematic Review

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su13052889 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 13 (5) ◽

pp. 2889

Author(s):

Gillian Foster ◽

Ruba Saleh

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Cultural Heritage ◽

Circular Economy ◽

Socioeconomic Development ◽

Urban Landscape ◽

Adaptive Reuse ◽

Creative Cities ◽

European Cities ◽

Heritage Buildings ◽

Multiple Uses

A new movement in urban environmental policy, the circular economy (CE), aims to change how Europeans consume and produce materials and energy. Cities are taking up the CE challenge. This research inquires whether the infant CE programs in European cities include cultural heritage and adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (ARCH) buildings. ARCH buildings exemplify the central principal of the CE, which is a temporally long service life with multiple uses for several generations of users. In addition, culture and cultural heritage buildings are established drivers of socioeconomic development, urban landscape, and identity. Hypothetically, cultural heritage and adaptive reuse of cultural heritage (ARCH) buildings should be prominently included in European cities’ CE programs, particularly those cities that are highly ranked on the 2019 European Cultural and Creative Cities Monitor (Monitor). To test this hypothesis, this study creates a novel dataset that profiles the existing circular city plans of 190 European cities included in the Monitor’s ranking. Contrary to the hypothesis, just seven percent of cities in the dataset include cultural heritage. European cities are missing an opportunity to achieve their CE goals and preserve their unique identities as embodied in the built environment.

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