Temporal Dynamics of the Driving Factors of Urban Landscape Change of Addis Ababa During the Past Three Decades

2017 ◽  
Vol 61 (1) ◽  
pp. 132-146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meskerem Zewdie ◽  
Hailu Worku ◽  
Amare Bantider
Author(s):  
Raffaello Furlan ◽  
Brian R. Sinclair

AbstractIn the past decade, Doha has witnessed fast-urban growth, an increased population rate, and an over-reliance on the automobile as the main mode of urban transportation. These factors caused social and environmental problems related to (1) the loss of a compact urban pattern, (2) an increased level of air pollution (3) high traffic congestions and (4) increasing landscape fragmentation. In consideration of such concerns, The State of Qatar invested large funds into the urban landscape development of Doha, as envisioned by Qatar National Vision 2030. As a result, in the past five years various parks and/or green areas, such MIA Park, a major public green space located around the Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), were planned and developed within metropolitan Doha. The authors argue that this park is currently facing issues and challenges related to (1) accessibility to/from the neighboring districts, and (2) connectivity to/from the neighboring parks. Therefore, this research study aims at assessing the existing conditions of MIA Park, at considering the broader city context and, at recommending strategies for implementing MIA Park’s green network system. It approached the investigative challenge using a multi-pronged comprehensive methodology, that deployed focus groups, semi-structured interviews and a comprehensive network analysis based on graph theory. The findings, revealed through these hybrid research tactics, allowed the researchers to generate a framework to enhance accessibility and connectivity of MIA Park through a green network system, planned at inter-related neighborhood-scale and city-scale levels. While the research examines most notably a single case, it is advocated that the proposed framework represents not just an optional feature pertaining to the case in Doha, but a valuable reference for the sustainable master planning of future cities in the State of Qatar and across the GCC. The paper proffers numerous key contributions, including the critical exploration of manufactured landscapes in Doha Qatar and the delineation of broadly applicable environmental design strategies to improve the fabric and livability of cities.


2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 415-422 ◽  
Author(s):  
Guofu Liang ◽  
Shengyan Ding

Botany ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 92 (7) ◽  
pp. 485-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristen M. Kaczynski ◽  
David J. Cooper ◽  
William R. Jacobi

Drought has caused large-scale plant mortality in ecosystems around the globe. Most diebacks have affected upland forest species. In the past two decades, a large-scale decline of riparian willows (Salix L.) has occurred in Rocky Mountain National Park, Colorado. We examined whether climatic or biotic factors drive and maintain the willow community decline. We compared annual growth and dieback of willows inside and outside of 14-year-old ungulate exclosures and measured groundwater depth and predawn xylem pressures of stems as indicators of drought stress. We also performed an aerial photo analysis to determine the temporal dynamics of the decline. Aerial photo analysis indicated willow decline occurred between 2001 and 2005 and was best explained by an increase in moose population and a decrease in peak stream flows. A new mechanism for willow stem dieback was identified, initiated by red-naped sapsucker wounding willow bark. Wounds became infected with fungus that girdled the stem. DNA analyses confirmed Valsa sordida (Cytospora chrysosperma) as the lethal fungus. Captured sapsuckers had V. sordida spores on feet and beaks identifying them as one possible vector of spread. Predawn xylem pressure potentials remained high through the growing season on all study willows regardless of depth to ground water. Our results indicate that additional mechanisms may be involved in tall willow decline.


Author(s):  
Cristina-Iolanda Filipoaia ◽  
Mihai Deju

During more than six centuries of existence, Bacău benefited both from the favourable socio-economic and political context, and from the interrelationships with the other communities, from the harmonious combination of these two elements resulting both the growth and development of the locality and the position in the local and regional hierarchy. The main beneficiaries of the progress made were of course the inhabitants, the city representing a living environment for them, as well as the essential factor in the functional dynamics and in the urban landscape. Giving meaning to the past, we must recognize that each community that contributed to the development of Bacău has its own history, Bacău becoming the trustee of the communities ‘history entirety, which in perfect communion with Romanians defined the complex identity of the locality. The Jewish community is no exception, whose collaboration with Romanians for over two centuries has contributed to increasing the economic level of development of the locality since the second half of the 18th century.


Author(s):  
Valentyna Bohatyrets ◽  
Liubov Melnychuk

Nowadays, in the age of massive spatial transformations in the built environment, cities witness a new type of development, different in size, scale and momentum that has been thriving since late 20th century. Diverse transformation of historic cities under modernisation has led to concerns in terms of the space and time continuity disintegration and the preservation of historic cities. In a similar approach, we can state that city and city space do not only consist of present, they also consist of the past; they include the transformations, relations, values, struggles and tensions of the past. As it could be defined, space is the history itself. Currently, we would like to display how Chernivtsi cultural and architectural heritage is perceived and maintained in the course of its evolution. Noteworthy, Chernivtsi city is speculated a condensed human existence and vibes, with public urban space and its ascriptions are its historical archives and sacred memory. Throughout the history, CHERNIVTSI’s urban landscape has changed, while preserving its unique and distinctive spirit of diversity, multifacetedness and tolerance. The city squares of the Austrian, Romanian and Soviet epochs were crammed with statuary of royal elites and air of aristocracy, soviet leaders and a shade of patriotic obsession, symbolic animals and sacred piety – that eventually shaped its unique “Bukovynian supranational identity”. Keywords: Chernivtsi, cultural memory, memory studies, monuments, squares, identity.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Hannah Borenstein

This paper considers the ways in which these new GPS watches becoming commonplace among Ethiopian athletes are changing how women professional athletes in Ethiopia (who have the potential to bring in substantial earnings in Ethiopia) are monitored by husbands, coaches, agents, and sponsors. In the past 2-3 years, however, digital self-tracking devices (DSTDs) have come close to replacing shoes as the most sought after training aid. Watches – that track pacing, kilometers, miles, steps, caloric output, elevation gain, and heart rate – are bought and brought home from international competitions and gifted by agents, managers, and fans from abroad. Some sponsored athletes’ data are even instantaneously transferred to Nike laboratories in Portland after they finish practice in Addis Ababa. Drawing on participant observation and interviews, the paper address the new pressures and working conditions that this type of monitoring can introduce by considering how husbands, brothers, coaches, and agents – all men (Ethiopian, European, American, etc.) –  monitor these devices and reflect or change existing the gendered dynamics of working in elite sport. It asks: What are the working implications of this new kind of monitoring? How do they intersect and contest gendered norms that exist through and outside of sport and surveillance studies? And how does this impact conceptions of the body both within and outside of professional athletics?


Author(s):  
Maria Rita Pinto ◽  
Serena Viola ◽  
Katia Fabbricatti ◽  
Maria Giovanna Pacifico

<p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpFirst">Often in the past, the great disasters (environmental calamities, earthquakes, epidemics) activated unexpressed energies, triggering transformations of the built environment, able to give rise unexpected conditions of economic, cultural and social development. The fragility of settlement systems in the face of unexpected threats brings out the need for a new planning, changing our gaze on the city.</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpMiddle">The new framework of needs drawn by the pandemic and the renewed sensitivity towards the combination of health – sustainability, rekindle the spotlight on inner areas. These emerged as "reservoirs of resilience", areas to look at, in order to reach an eco-systemic balance.</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpMiddle">The aim of the paper is to return an experience of adaptive reuse of the Historical Urban Landscape in an inner area of Southern Italy, where the needs of health and safety of the community are integrated with the transmission of the built heritage to future generations. The goal is the promotion of inclusive prosperity scenarios, towards the so-called "new normality".</p><p class="Abstracttext-VITRUVIOCxSpLast">Starting from an in-depth literature review on the cases of pandemics in history and the strategies implemented, the research identifies health security requirements at the scale of the Historical Urban Landscape and design solutions aimed at reactivating lost synergies between communities and places.</p>


2016 ◽  
Vol 75 (4) ◽  
pp. 447-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ayala Levin

In the 1960s, Addis Ababa experienced a construction boom, spurred by its new international stature as the seat of both the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa and the Organization of African Unity. Working closely with Emperor Haile Selassie, expatriate architects played a major role in shaping the Ethiopian capital as a symbol of an African modernity in continuity with tradition. Haile Selassie's Imperial Modernity: Expatriate Architects and the Shaping of Addis Ababa examines how a distinct Ethiopian modernity was negotiated through various borrowings from the past, including Italian colonial planning, both at the scale of the individual building and at the scale of the city. Focusing on public buildings designed by Italian Eritrean Arturo Mezzedimi, French Henri Chomette, and the partnership of Israeli Zalman Enav and Ethiopian Michael Tedros, Ayala Levin critically explores how international architects confronted the challenges of mediating Haile Selassie's vision of an imperial modernity.


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