ObjectiveThe implementation of the strategy for ecological conservation and high-quality development in the Yellow River Basin signifies a new phase of “systematic governance” in China’s ecological civilization efforts. Concurrently, numerous historical legacy issues make mine restoration an urgent priority. Building resilience, as the primary approach to addressing ecological risks and fostering inclusive growth, serves as an effective means to assess and resolve the complex challenges associated with the restoration of historical legacy mines (mine areas). This research aims to bridge this gap by investigating the relationship between ecological restoration strategies and system resilience under both acute and chronic disturbance, thereby enhancing decision-making for ecological restoration in key areas of the Yellow River Basin and to promote harmonious coexistence between humans and the Earth.MethodsThis research uses system dynamics modelling to establish casual relationships between historical mine restoration and the individual subsystems of society, economy, and ecology. By analyzing sample data from Sanmenxia City from 2015 to 2022, including survey and statistical data, the research quantitatively evaluates the impact of three restoration modes — ecological reconstruction, assisted regeneration, and natural recovery — on the resilience of ecological, economic, and social subsystems. Based on relevant research and policy regulations, two scenarios — acute shock and chronic shock — are developed to identify optimal strategies for enhancing resilience in each subsystem. In addition, a policy intervention strategy — balanced synergistic development — is analyzed to assess its impact on subsystem resilience.Results 1) Restoration mode efficacy: Under acute and chronic disturbances, ecological reconstruction has the most significant positive impact on the resilience of all three subsystems (ecological, economic, and social subsystems), followed by assisted regeneration, while natural recovery has the weakest impact. It is believed that the greater the intensity of intervention, the greater the positive impact on system resilience. 2) Policy intervention outcomes: Under chronic shock conditions, the strategy ranking from strongest to weakest ecological response capacity is balanced coordination > ecological reconstruction > no intervention. Under acute shock conditions, ecological resilience levels gradually decrease across the three strategies of ecological reconstruction, balanced coordination, and no intervention. The balanced coordination strategy demonstrates strong effects in enhancing resilience across all subsystems and is more likely to achieve a collaborative enhancement effect in composite system resilience. 3) Temporal and scenario-specific optimization: In 2023, the Sanmenxia composite system barely achieved a coordinated state, highlighting the necessity of strengthening the coupling of the three subsystems to effectively implement the ecological restoration strategy for historical legacy mines (mine areas) and enhance the resilience of the composite system. The simulation results reveal that prior to 2027, the resilience of the composite system under the balanced coordination strategy is slightly higher than that of the ecological reconstruction model. However, starting from 2027, the ecological reconstruction model begins to outperform the balanced coordination strategy and maintains this advantage until 2035. This also underscores that ecological restoration should be based on the coordinated unity of the composite system, prioritizing economic development while also balancing ecological and social benefits, so as to achieve sustainable use of resources and promote sustainable development.ConclusionsThis research provides a critical theoretical and practical link between ecological restoration of historical legacy mines (mine areas) and the resilience of the “ecological – economic – social” composite system. Key contributions include: A framework for quantifying resilience responses to restoration strategies, addressing a gap in existing resilience theory. Empirical validation confirms that ecological restoration is the most effective restoration mode for enhancing multi-dimensional resilience, particularly in highly disturbed contexts. Policy recommendations: Advocate selecting restoration strategies based on specific contexts — balancing development with restoration to achieve gradual system adaptation or intensive reconstruction to meet urgent restoration needs. These findings provide actionable guidance for policymakers to align restoration objectives with broader socio-ecological resilience goals, ultimately promoting sustainable post-mining regional development.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Architectural drawing and design
Londres Primavera, de Teresa Clara Martínez, es una obra narrativa y visual que explora la fusión entre lo natural y lo urbano en Londres a través de la observación repetida de un jardín suburbano. La autora transforma este espacio cotidiano en un microcosmos donde se reflejan las tensiones entre quietud y movimiento, presencia y ausencia, artificialidad y naturaleza. Con un enfoque que combina dibujo y palabra, Martínez propone una forma radical de atención y asombro, similar a la mirada de Rachel Carson. El libro no impone una narrativa, sino que construye una red de observaciones sensibles y fragmentadas que conforman una visión coral de la ciudad. La edición cuida el equilibrio entre imagen y texto, creando atmósferas y silencios que invitan a reflexionar. En este contexto, los elementos naturales adquieren cualidades arquitectónicas, y viceversa, disolviendo los límites tradicionales entre ambos. Londres Primavera es una invitación a habitar el mundo con mirada pausada y poética.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Anthropology
Gabriel Schvarsberg, André Luís Paiva Gonçalves de Oliveira e Silva, Emanuela Alves da Rocha
Como enfrentar a hegemonia das paisagens carrocêntricas que caracterizam as cidades periféricas no Antropoceno? Diante da urgência que as tragédias socioambientais colocam para buscar respostas adaptativas nas cidades, o artigo investiga, a partir do caso de Petrópolis - RJ, como a forma construída da cidade, herdada de ciclos de modernização que orientaram o processo de urbanização desde sua fundação, apresenta-se hoje como obstáculo à formulação de medidas de adaptação às emergências climáticas. A partir de uma reflexão sobre as mudanças epistemológicas que os debates em torno do Antropoceno podem produzir na práxis do Planejamento Urbano e do chamado de Donna Haraway para imaginar outros mundos como exercício fundamental no enfrentamento da crise civilizatória atual, propõe-se a hipótese de uma mobilidade pós-antropocênica, que corresponda a um urbanismo menos antropocêntrico na relação entre ruas e rios. Apresentando três estudos desenvolvidos em atividades de ensino e extensão, o trabalho sugere cinco pistas preliminares a esta hipótese, propondo uma abordagem ecomorfológica como resposta ao modelo de cidades cosmofóbicas em um caminho de investigação que aposta no potencial político do projeto como especulação fabulativa articulando desenho urbano, linguagens de comunicação, ativismo e a necessidade de se disputar imaginários.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
Con el avance urbano mundial generado por la globalización de la economía, de todos los sistemas posibles de acceso a la vivienda en nuestra sociedad, el de la vivienda como «mercancía» prevalece, aunque no exclusivo. En este artículo proponemos una revisión del «mercado de vivienda urbano» en la ciudad contemporánea, especialmente lo sucedido desde 1990 hasta 2020. Creemos necesario abordar sus rasgos identitarios, la disposición de los agentes económicos y su relación en la estructura de fabricación de viviendas, así como la interacción de comercialización y la incidencia del mercado como proceso de transformaciones de materialidades inmobiliarias. Con el propósito de colaborar en la comprensión de tal objeto, se realiza una revisión de antecedentes de distintos autores.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Architectural drawing and design
Since their origins, our cities have been conceived and are still imagined and planned according to cultural and urban schemes that reproduce geometries complicit with the patriarchal and neoliberal system. City governments assume a central role in this process through the promotion of corporate policies and rules, on the one hand, and exclusionary urban planning projects on the other. In both cases, the ideal user of the city remains the white, cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied man or, otherwise, households which reproduce the cisheteropatriarchal norm. After tracing the approaches of some authors who have analysed and problematised the issue of contemporary urban space through the lens of a intersectional perspective, the case study of CHEAP, a Bolognese urban art collective that, through the practice of poster art, questions the normativisation of public space, will be presented.
Architectural drawing and design, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Como se conforma um projecto de arquitectura? Qual é o papel do princípio compositivo no processo de um projecto? Como se deduz um princípio compositivo da problemática projectual? De que modo este princípio organizador da forma, que contém todo o desenvolvimento morfológico potencial, define os elementos que entram na composição, o seu comportamento e a sua relação com os outros elementos?; De que modo contribui para a coerência das partes individuais no todo e fazê-las permanecer dentro da mesma família formal?; como se desenvolve morfologicamente um princípio compositivo até chegar à composição final? e como se avalia e valora um princípio compositivo? Estas são as questões principais abortadas neste ensaio que trata o princípio compositivo dentro do processo de projecto arquitectónico.
Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying, Anthropology
Jeeno Soa George, Saikat Kumar Paul, Richa Dhawale
The high share of impermeable surfaces in cities modifies the terrain characteristics that facilitate natural water flow and balance. The street network, an impervious surface on its own, is also the impetus for developing other impervious surfaces by facilitating access. The purpose of this work is to assess the interconnectedness between the underlying structural lines of the terrain and the street network for making informed decisions on locating green infrastructure to maintain water balance. For this purpose, the work measures the spatio-structural similarity between the co-located networks, assesses the variation of the measure with city size and relation to an indicator of water balance. Cross-sectional analysis is performed across a large sample of cities of varying sizes to extract generalized patterns of spatial structure and variations to size. The larger cities have low index values of spatio-structural similarity ranging between –0.2 and 0.2. The low index values for larger cities relate to the emergence of small-world properties in large street networks for functional efficiency and large street networks' web-like shape. Next, the paper identifies two zones based on the interconnectedness of the roads and the terrain. The spatial extent of a zone based on points where the arterial road intersects higher orders of drainage channels and ridgelines is associated with the number of above-normal wet conditions (SPEI ≥ 2.0) with the r-value of –0.30 at a p-value of 0.05. In summary, spatial statistics on spatial network data are helpful to extract trends inherent in the multi-layered network structure of cities to provide informed solutions. The policymakers and planners can use the spatial co-location patterns between street and terrain to make data-driven decisions to locate interventions for a nature-based resilient city.
The social distancing does represent an oxymoron: how can there be distancing if what characterizes the very sociality is the proximity between individuals, and generally living beings? Comparable to living dead space (Todd R.W., 2007) or more notorious “still life” or “natura morta”, the paradox remains unsolved: how can something like nature that is impregnated with life, be dead?
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
With a population of more than 120 million people, most Mexican cities suffer from socioeconomic inequalities and these are worsened by spatial inequalities resulting from their urban form and structure. A number of studies have been published looking at limited public services and how this may affect those on lower incomes in Mexico. However, very few studies have used spatial accessibility as a means of explaining urban inequalities and informing city planning. Spatial accessibility is defined as the measurable geographical access from residential locations to destinations for services and public goods. This paper investigates the potential of a spatial accessibility index to provide evidence for making location/planning decisions that benefit the largest number of residents. To achieve this aim, we combine three geographical secondary data sets with geospatial analysis. First, two important urban public services, i.e. health and education, are located, and catchment areas are then generated according to their respective sizes. For the second set, the integration values of each city at metropolitan and district scales are calculated using Space Syntax to observe how its configuration may influence the distribution of activities and the way the inhabitants live and move. The third set is demographic data from the 2010 national census of Population and Housing, analysed at the residential block level. This paper focuses on the results of combining two accessibility indices (cumulative opportunities and Space Syntax’s integration value) that examine the degree to which the lack of a basic public service could be associated with the spatial segregation of an area to provide evidence (comprehensible by decision-makers) for making location and planning decisions that benefit the largest number of residents.
Our human relationship with coyote is old, sometimes magical but lately polarized and complex. Archeological evidence shows coyote (Canis latrans) displayed ubiquitous distribution across the continent for over 1 million years (Wang, Tedford and Antón, 2010). Through this, coyote has witnessed the rise and fall of iconic species, such as the woolly mammoth (Mammuthus primigenius), dire wolf (C. dirus), among others that migrated to this continent during the Pleistocene ice age (Wang, Tedford and Antón, 2010). Given human tenure on the North American continent is commonly believed to be less than 15,000 years, it is not surprising that coyote holds a pivotal and revered, magical role in many aboriginal stories: Coyote is creator, trickster, and shape-shifter (Alexander and Quinn, 2012).
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Climate change is a reality. Rainwater is essential to our survival. However, with intensification of the already highly modified environment of the city and rising temperatures, more frequent intense rainfall is affecting not only water quality but also basic quality of life. Sustainable drainage is not only the solution but a fundamental philosophy to do with nurturing our sense of identity and re-connection with nature. It offers the potential for transforming the way we read the urban environment, and also the potential for re-thinking what infrastructure means, how engineering interfaces with community, and the great opportunity for landscape architects to step up to the challenge.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
This paper explores some relations between food, landscape and space, in the Emilia Romagna region. It concern especially food cultures, which assumed new meanings in the last decades, as some foodstuffs were considered cultural heritage, expression of culture and knowledge in a given space. The Emilia Romagna can be an interesting example to discuss these matters, because it has the largest number of traditional products designated as PDO and PGI by European Union. For more close consideration to the geographical relation, and the challenges for sustainability, we will concentrate within the area of Parma province, in western part of the region.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
Secondo la sociologa urbana Elisabetta Forni, vivere in una città che non offre stimoli ambientali, sociali e ludici può produrre effetti gravi nelle fasce di popolazione giovane, come l’apatia, la dipendenza emotiva e psicologica dagli adulti e dal gruppo dei pari, la mancanza di autonomia e altri disagi. Questi tratti aumentano la possibilità di sviluppare personalità aggressive e comportamenti violenti. I disagi e le sofferenze dei bambini e degli adolescenti sono una testimonianza di quella che J. Galtung definisce la dimensione strutturale della violenza urbana.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying
El modo de expansión urbana del Área Metropolitana de Caracas (AMC) ha resultado en una fuerte segregación residencial según los ingresos y, paralelamente, en condiciones inequitativas de movilidad y accesibilidad. La desregulación y privatización del transporte colectivo dio lugar a un sector desorganizado y desarticulado. Las fuertes inversiones en infraestructuras de transporte público en las últimas décadas, como Metro o Metrocable, no han tenido los efectos esperados para reducir los graves impactos negativos (costos externos) del modelo (accidentalidad, congestión de tráfico, contaminación atmosférica y acústica), ni la exclusión social. En este artículo se estudian las características del modelo de movilidad del AMC en el contexto metropolitano latinoamericano, y los efectos indeseados que provoca, mediante las últimas aportaciones teóricas y datos estadísticos disponibles. Se concluye exponiendo algunas propuestas para avanzar hacia la movilidad urbana sostenible.<br>The mode ofurban expansion in Caracas Metropolitan Area (CMA) has caused high levels of residential segregation and, at the same time, unequal conditions related to urban mobility and accessibility. Deregulation and privatization of the collective transport induced the emergence ofa disorganized and disarticulated sector The big investments in public transport infrastructures, such as the subway or Metrocable, did not have the expected effects to reduce the social exclusion or the negative impacts ofthe model (traffic congestion, accidents, pollution). In this work we will analyze the mobility model combined with the expansion model of the CMA, through the study of the features of the mobility model and its undesired effects within the Latin-American context. We will use the available statistical data and the last theoretical contributions. Finally, we willputforward some proposals to achieve sustainable urban mobility.
Architecture, Aesthetics of cities. City planning and beautifying