scholarly journals Preservation of the Mediterranean Identity: An Intra-City Analysis Towards a Macro-Regional Approach for the Characterisation of Urban Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 3551 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eleni Feleki ◽  
Charisios Achillas ◽  
Christos Vlachokostas ◽  
Alexandra Michailidou ◽  
Leticia Ortega ◽  
...  

Globalisation combined with high urbanisation trends affects not only the traditional pillars of sustainability (environment, society, and economy), but also local identity. Customs and traditions are fading away and alienation is the result of new lifestyles deriving mainly from high interaction between locals and foreigners (focus on tourism). Facing the challenge of characterising urban sustainability, reflection on special characteristics of the urban fabric that are affected (spatial dimension of sustainability) is not always considered. Even though a lot of research is dedicated to the characterisation of urban areas’ sustainability, the element of local, regional, and macro-regional identity seems not to be systematically incorporated. This work attempts to develop and test a methodological framework to identify and prioritise the common symbolic elements that constitute the identity of a group of cities and that need to be sustained. The study focuses on the Euro-Mediterranean region. A survey is addressed to 64 scientists from five cities: Dubrovnik, Genoa, Rhodes, Valencia, and Venice. “Urban structure” is revealed as the most important element that constitutes the “Mediterranean identity”. Moreover, the level of threat deriving from mass tourism on the “Mediterranean identity” is estimated. The survey provides insight into the definition of the spatial dimension of sustainability and the determination/weighting of the case-specific component of an integrated urban sustainability assessment tool.

2020 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 207
Author(s):  
Esteban Henoc Medenou ◽  
Bossima Ivan Koura ◽  
Luc Hippolyte Dossa

<p>Analysis of production systems allows scientists to identify their weaknesses, particularly concerning production practices which require improvements at economic, social, and environmental levels. The present study aimed to characterise rabbit farms in the urban and peri-urban areas of South Benin and assess their sustainability using the DIAMOND method, a multicriteria sustainability assessment tool. Ninety-eight farmers were surveyed and individually interviewed. Categorical principal component and twostep cluster analyses were performed on information collected for a typology of farms. Sustainability scores were generated using the scoring scale of the DIAMOND tool. Five types of rabbit farms were identified as follows: modern extensive polyculture, traditional extensive monoculture, modern extensive monoculture, semi-intensive polyculture, and traditional extensive polyculture. Overall, all the rabbit farms had good scores for the economic sustainability pillar but were socially limited. They were all similar in their economic and environmental performances. In particular, semi-intensive farms were the most socially sustainable, whereas traditional farms (either in polyculture or monoculture) showed the lowest social performances. Furthermore, there were significant differences between farms for criteria relating to consumers’ demands and resource use. Semi-intensive farms responded best to consumers’ demands, whereas the traditional polyculture farm type was the most resource use efficient. Overall, in the urban and peri-urban areas of South Benin, the most sustainable rabbit farms were semi-intensive. Irrespective of farm type, positive coefficients of correlations were recorded among the three pillars of sustainability, being significant between the social and economic pillars on one hand, and between the social and environmental pillars on the other hand. These results suggest that efforts to improve farm social performance would also positively affect their economic and environmental performances and improve overall farm sustainability.</p>


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Job Momoh ◽  
Joseph Chelemu Kangwa ◽  
Chika Udeaja ◽  
Jin Ruoyu ◽  
Rafiu Dimeji Seidu

PurposeDeveloping countries are currently on the verge of adopting principles used in achieving a sustainable urban future. As the urban population increases due to factors like urban–rural migration, increase in birth rate, migration, industrialisation, commercialisation, amongst others, there is a drastic need to adopt sustainability principles within urban spaces. To understand how sustainability can be achieved, there is a need to recognise how developed countries have designed assessment tools that work within their context which can inform how developing countries can work on their assessment tool. Urban neighbourhood sustainability assessment tools are used to reflect on the overall goal of the project and the most important indicators needed to be implemented within the project. Sustainability indicators are used to measure the levels and progress at which sustainability has been implemented within a project based on the data collected and these results can be used to make informed decisions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the development of urban sustainability assessment tool.Design/methodology/approachThis research investigates the techniques utilised in developing an urban sustainability assessment tool Sustainable Composite Cities Environmental Evaluation and Design (SUCCEED-ND) tool within the Nigerian context. The data instrument used includes a questionnaire survey that sampled 50 correspondents, and the results were used to develop an urban assessment tool tailored for the Nigerian countries.FindingsThe findings used social, environmental, economic and planning sustainability dimensions in the design of the assessment tool which composes of 21 core sustainability indicators and 105 indicators to develop SUCCEED-ND tool.Originality/valueThis work developed the first urban sustainability assessment tool for the Nigerian urban environment. The result is meant to evaluate and implement sustainability within existing and proposed neighbourhood development.


2014 ◽  
Vol 2014 ◽  
pp. 1-10 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guilherme Castanheira ◽  
Luís Bragança

This paper analyses the current trends in sustainability assessment. After about 15 years from the launch of sustainability assessment tools, focused on buildings evaluation, the paradigm of sustainability assessment tools is changing from the building scale to the built environment scale. Currently European cities and cities around the world are concerned with sustainable development, as well as its evolution. Cities seek a way to adapt to contemporary changes, in order to meet the required needs and ensure population’s well-being. Considering this, the new generations of sustainability assessment tools are being developed to be used to guide and help cities and urban areas to become more sustainable. Following the trend of the most important sustainability assessment tools, the sustainability assessment toolSBToolPTis also developing its version for assessing the sustainability of the built environment, namely, the urban planning projects and the urban regeneration projects, to be developed in Portugal, theSBToolPT-UP. The application of the methodology to three case studies will demonstrate its feasibility; at the same time this will identify the best practices which will serve as reference for new projects, thereby assisting the development of the tool.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 4749
Author(s):  
Milo Costanza-van den Belt ◽  
Tayanah O’Donnell ◽  
Robert Webb ◽  
Eleanor Robson ◽  
Robert Costanza ◽  
...  

Civil society engagement is important for enabling urban systems transformations that meet community needs. The development of Future Earth Australia’s Sustainable Cities and Regions: A 10-Year Strategy for Urban Systems was underpinned by cross-sectoral workshops in 7 Australian urban areas and interviews with key stakeholders to create a shared vision of both current and desired future urban structure and policy. We then created an online survey to gauge broader community feedback on the vision which emerged from these workshops and interviews, to compare their outcomes with the views of community members who could be directly impacted by urban decision-making. The survey consisted of 35 questions, which were shaped by the issues emerging from the workshops and interviews. The sample was self-selected, and the 641 respondents represented a cross-section of individuals interested in sustainable cities. Our survey results supported and expanded on the major conclusions of FEA’s National workshop and interview processes, including the need to develop transparent and responsive decision-making processes, limit waste and pollution and develop effective housing and transport alternatives with mixed-use neighborhoods and adequate green space.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5722
Author(s):  
Erez Buda ◽  
Dani Broitman ◽  
Daniel Czamanski

The structure of modern cities is characterized by the uneven spatial distribution of people and activities. Contrary to economic theory, it is neither evenly distributed nor entirely monocentric. The observed reality is the result of various feedbacks in the context of the interactions of attraction and repulsion. Heretofore, there is no agreement concerning the means to measuring the dimensions of these interactions, nor the framework for explaining them. We propose a simple model and an associated method for testing the interactions using residential land values. We claim that land values reflect the attractiveness of each location, including its observable and unobservable characteristics. We extract land values from prices of residences by applying a dedicated hedonic model to extensive residential real estate transaction data at a detailed spatial level. The resulting land values reflect the attractiveness of each urban location and are an ideal candidate to measure the degree of centrality or peripherality of each location. Moreover, assessment of land values over time indicates ongoing centralization and peripheralization processes. Using the urban structure of a small and highly urbanized country as a test case, this paper illustrates how the dynamics of the gap between central and peripheral urban areas can be assessed.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 495-501 ◽  
Author(s):  
Salvador Anton Clavé ◽  
Onofre Rullan Salamanca ◽  
José Fernando Vera Rebollo

2007 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 229-240
Author(s):  
Dobrica Jovičić ◽  
Vanja Ivanović

The Mediterranean is grown up as one of the most developed tourist regions on the Earth, but development of mass tourism brought to the big saturation of space, causing environmental problems. As a consequence, today the Mediterranean is faced with a great challenge: how to preserve natural and cultural values as a basis for tourism industry and, in the same time, to keep high reputation on the globalized tourist market. In this work are analyzed the environmental effects of tourism and problems aggravating the concept of the sustainable development. There are also shown the key measures, that can enable development of tourism on a sustainable basis. Particular attention is dedicated to institutional and organizational factors having a crucial role in defining guidelines related to protection and sustainable usage of the Mediterranean Sea with its coastal area.


2014 ◽  
Vol 11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annaliese Calhoun ◽  
Avia Mainor ◽  
Sarah Moreland-Russell ◽  
Ryan C. Maier ◽  
Laura Brossart ◽  
...  

2002 ◽  
Author(s):  

In Madagascar, the prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) is a serious public health problem, particularly among sex workers. A Horizons study conducted in 2000 found approximately two-thirds of female sex workers had an STI, although few were infected with HIV. Since the link between STIs and transmission of HIV has been well established, affordable strategies to manage STIs among sex workers need to be developed. Study investigators also assessed STI management practices in health facilities in two urban areas of Madagascar. Health practitioners were using a syndromic approach, which may be appropriate for managing certain STIs in the general population but is less appropriate for sex workers who may have multiple, often asymptomatic infections. Diagnosing STIs with laboratory tests would make medical visits prohibitively expensive. Researchers developed a risk profile for various STIs based on characteristics of women that present with each STI, such as age, number of partners, symptoms. The investigators hypothesized that a risk assessment tool using these profiles would result in more appropriate and effective STI treatment for sex workers. This summary presents a cost-effectiveness analysis of different strategies to manage STIs among sex workers in Madagascar.


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