scholarly journals The persistence of ancient settlements and urban sustainability

2021 ◽  
Vol 118 (20) ◽  
pp. e2018155118
Author(s):  
Michael E. Smith ◽  
José Lobo ◽  
Matthew A. Peeples ◽  
Abigail M. York ◽  
Benjamin W. Stanley ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Research Effort ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Settlement System ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
Extensive Documentation ◽  
Scientific Foundation ◽  
The Many

We propose a dedicated research effort on the determinants of settlement persistence in the ancient world, with the potential to significantly advance the scientific understanding of urban sustainability today. Settlements (cities, towns, villages) are locations with two key attributes: They frame human interactions and activities in space, and they are where people dwell or live. Sustainability, in this case, focuses on the capacity of structures and functions of a settlement system (geography, demography, institutions) to provide for continuity of safe habitation. The 7,000-y-old experience of urbanism, as revealed by archaeology and history, includes many instances of settlements and settlement systems enduring, adapting to, or generating environmental, institutional, and technological changes. The field of urban sustainability lacks a firm scientific foundation for understanding the long durée, relying instead on narratives of collapse informed by limited case studies. We argue for the development of a new interdisciplinary research effort to establish scientific understanding of settlement and settlement system persistence. Such an effort would build upon the many fields that study human settlements to develop new theories and databases from the extensive documentation of ancient and premodern urban systems. A scientific foundation will generate novel insights to advance the field of urban sustainability.

scholarly journals Comparison of Soviet and post-Soviet Russian settlement systems with the US settlement system, 1959-2020

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gennady Grachev
Keyword(s):  
Development Trend ◽  
The United States ◽  
The State ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Settlement System ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Pareto Curve ◽  
Economic Paradigm ◽  
The Us ◽  
Local Average

The lack of discernible changes in the Russian (hereinafter RF) settlement system after the transition from a centrally managed economy to a capitalist economy seems to be contrary to the established view of the exceptional character of capitalist-style settlement systems. To explain this misunderstanding, we compared the state of settlement systems in Russia and in the United States between 1959 and 2020 in this paper. The measures of shape of the Pareto curve were used to quantify the state of the settlement systems: critical exponent, asymmetry coefficient, and Gini coefficient. The study found that the system of settlement in RF territories during the Soviet and post-Soviet periods had the same order and development trend as the system of settlement in US states. The order of urban systems in regions correlates with the local average annual temperatures. The results have led us to conclude that the settlement systems were independent from the economic paradigm.

scholarly journals A Study on the Integration of Resilience and Smart City Concepts in Urban Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 24
Author(s):  
Anastasia Tzioutziou ◽  
Yiannis Xenidis
Keyword(s):  
Smart City ◽  
Research Field ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
City Management ◽  
Urban Resilience ◽  
Continuous Growth ◽  
Management And Development ◽  
The Many ◽  
Development And Management

The continuous growth of cities brings out various concerns for improved development and management of the multifaceted urban systems, including those of resilience and smartness. Despite the many significant efforts in the research field, both notions remain changeable, thus retaining the lack of commonly accepted conceptual and terminological frameworks. The paper’s research goals are to designate the current direct and indirect links in the conceptualizations and research trends of the resilience and smart city frameworks and to prove the potential of the conceptual convergence between them in the context of urban systems. The application of a semi-systematic literature review, including bibliometric evidence and followed by content analysis, has led to the observation that as the resilience discourse opens up to embrace other dimensions, including technology, the smart city research turns its interest to the perspective of urban protection. Therefore, both concepts share the goal for urban sustainability realized through specific capacities and processes and operationalized with the deployment of technology. The paper’s findings suggest that the conceptual and operational foundations of these two concepts could support the emergence of an integrated framework. Such a prospect acknowledges the instrumental role of the smart city approach in the pursuit of urban resilience and unfolds a new model for sustainable city management and development.

scholarly journals Continuous integration in urban social-ecological systems science needs to allow for spacing co-existence

AMBIO ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dagmar Haase
Keyword(s):  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Systems Science ◽  
Ecological Research ◽  
Mutual Relationship ◽  
Continuous Integration ◽  
Social Ecological Systems ◽  
Social Ecological ◽  
Interdisciplinary Journal

AbstractUrbanization brings benefits and burdens to both humans and nature. Cities are key systems for integrated social-ecological research and the interdisciplinary journal of Ambio has published ground-breaking contributions in this field. This reflection piece identifies and discusses integration of the human and natural spheres in urban social-ecological research using the following foundational papers as important milestones: Folke et al. (1997), Ernstson et al. (2010) and Andersson et al. (2014). These papers each take unique approaches that aim to uncover core properties—processes, structures, and actors—of urban systems and set them into mutual relationship. This piece will end with a forward-looking vision for the coming 50 years of urban sustainability and resilience study in Ambio.

Identifying Design Interventions in Cities for Urban Sustainability

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohit Arora ◽  
Felix Raspall ◽  
Arlindo Silva
Keyword(s):  
Built Environment ◽  
Research Methods ◽  
Urban Growth ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Descriptive Study ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Demolition Waste ◽  
Material Reuse

Cities have been the focus of recent sustainability and climate change mitigation efforts primarily because of unprecedented urban growth and ever-increasing resources consumption. A worrying trend has been the ever-decreasing life of buildings in cities because of premature building obsolescence. Premature building obsolescence has been cited as the major driver of demolition waste which accounts for more than 40% of total waste generated annually. This waste stream poses a bigger challenge as the pressure on natural resources increases with urban growth. A traditional way of looking at the urban sustainability has been from the perspective of the environmental sciences and waste management methods. Analyzing urban areas with design science perspectives could provide novel insights to improve existing resource consumption patterns and transform sustainability growth in cities. This study focuses on the problem of demolition waste arising from the premature building obsolescence in cities. It applies a design research methodology framework for identifying existing problems associated with demolition waste and generating strategies to transform cities into more sustainable urban systems. In the problem clarification phase, a detailed literature review was supported with stakeholder’s interviews to identify the state-of-art for building demolition process and demolition waste. Research was further extended to descriptive study-I phase to carry out a demolition case study and generate support tools to enable transformation in the existing scenario for achieving a desired state. Singapore, a dense city state of South-East Asia has been taken as a case study in this research. Results show that applying design research methods could help open-up a new dimension to solve urban sustainability challenge for built environment. It highlights that material reuse could lead to significant improvement in the built environment sustainability but the challenge associated with realization of material reuse practice needs to be addressed. Descriptive study-I concludes with the strategies on creating a reuse market through entrepreneurial innovation and an alternative material supply chain of secondary materials for regional housing demand. These results highlight the role of design research methods for tackling complex systems level problems in cities.

scholarly journals The Many Faces of Astrocytes in Alzheimer's Disease

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael D. Monterey ◽  
Haichao Wei ◽  
Xizi Wu ◽  
Jia Qian Wu
Keyword(s):  
Alzheimer’S Disease ◽  
Alzheimer's Disease ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Reactive Astrocytes ◽  
Sequencing Technologies ◽  
Recent Developments ◽  
Current Therapies ◽  
Pathological Development ◽  
The Many

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease and is the most common cause of dementia in an aging population. The majority of research effort has focused on the role of neurons in neurodegeneration and current therapies have limited ability to slow disease progression. Recently more attention has been given to the role of astrocytes in the process of neurodegeneration. Specifically, reactive astrocytes have both advantageous and adverse effects during neurodegeneration. The ability to isolate and depict astrocyte phenotype has been challenging. However, with the recent development of single-cell sequencing technologies researchers are provided with the resource to delineate specific biomarkers associated with reactive astrocytes in AD. In this review, we will focus on the role of astrocytes in normal conditions and the pathological development of AD. We will further review recent developments in the understanding of astrocyte heterogeneity and associated biomarkers. A better understanding of astrocyte contributions and phenotypic changes in AD can ultimately lead to more effective therapeutic targets.

scholarly journals Smart Urban Planning: Evaluating Urban Logistics Performance of Innovative Solutions and Sustainable Policies in the Venice Lagoon—the Results of a Case Study

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (17) ◽  
pp. 4580 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marco Mazzarino ◽  
Lucio Rubini
Keyword(s):  
Urban Planning ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Urban Sustainability ◽  
Venice Lagoon ◽  
Urban Transport ◽  
Urban Systems ◽  
Transport Capacity ◽  
Urban Network ◽  
Urban Freight

Currently, remarkable gaps of operational, social and environmental efficiency and overall sub-optimization of the logistics and mobility systems exist in urban areas. There is then the need to promote and assess innovative transport solutions and policy-making within SUMPs (Sustainable Urban Mobility Plans) to deal with such critical issues in order to improve urban sustainability. The paper focuses on the case study of the Venice Lagoon, where islands—despite representing a relevant feature of urban planning—face a tremendous lack of accessibility, depopulation, social cohesion and they turn out to be poorly connected. By developing an original scenario-building methodological framework and performing data collection activities, the purpose of the paper consists of assessing the feasibility of a mixed passenger and freight transport system —sometimes called cargo hitching. Mixed passenger and freight systems/cargo hitching are considered as an innovative framework based on the integration of freight and passenger urban systems and resources to optimize the existing transport capacity, and thus, urban sustainability. Results show that the overall existing urban transport capacity can accommodate urban freight flows on main connections in the Lagoon. The reduction in spare public transport capacity, as well as in the number (and type) of circulating freight boats show—in various scenarios—the degree of optimization of the resulting urban network configuration and the positive impacts on urban sustainability. This paves the way for the regulatory framework to adopt proposed solutions.

scholarly journals “Clean out of the map”: Knowing and doubting space at India’s high imperial frontiers

2017 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-36 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thomas Simpson
Keyword(s):  
Nineteenth Century ◽  
Spatial Data ◽  
Scientific Understanding ◽  
Breaking Point ◽  
British India ◽  
Multiple Agents ◽  
Colonial India ◽  
Embodied Experiences ◽  
Instruments And Techniques ◽  
The Many

During the second half of the nineteenth century, land frontiers became areas of unique significance for surveyors in colonial India. These regions were understood to provide the most stringent tests for the men, instruments, and techniques that collectively constituted spatial data and representations. In many instances, however, the severity of the challenges that India’s frontiers afforded stretched practices in the field and in the survey office beyond breaking point. Far from producing supposedly unequivocal maps, many involved in frontier surveying acknowledged that their work was problematic, partial, and prone to contrary readings. They increasingly came to construe frontiers as spaces that exceeded scientific understanding, and resorted to descriptions that emphasized fantastical and disorienting embodied experiences. Through examining the many crises and multiple agents of frontier mapping in British India, this article argues that colonial surveying and its outputs were less assured and more convoluted than previous histories have acknowledged.

Dogs

2020 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Lived Experiences ◽  
Domestic Dogs ◽  
Archaeological Research ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
The Past ◽  
Theoretical Approaches ◽  
The World ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Many ◽  
The Relationship

The relationship between humans and dogs has garnered considerable attention within archaeological research around the world. Investigations into the lived experiences of domestic dogs have proven to be an intellectually productive avenue for better understanding humanity in the past. This book examines the human-canine connection by moving beyond asking when, why, or how the dog was domesticated. While these questions are fundamental, beyond them lies a rich and textured history of humans maintaining a bond with another species through cooperation and companionship over thousands of years. Diverse techniques and theoretical approaches are used by authors in this volume to investigate the many ways dogs were conceptualized by their human counterparts in terms of both their value and social standing within a variety of human cultures across space and time. In this way, this book contributes a better understanding of the human-canine bond while also participating in broader anthropological discussions about how human interactions with domesticated animals shape their practices and worldviews.

Typology of Russia municipalities by economic specialization and status in settlement systems

2019 ◽  
pp. 42-52
Author(s):  
A. A. Romashina
Keyword(s):  
Social Economic ◽  
Careful Consideration ◽  
Settlement System ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
Spatial Policy ◽  
Research Task ◽  
The Russian Federation ◽  
Methodological Approaches ◽  
Economic Specialization ◽  
Municipal Level

The article is about methodological approaches to the typology of municipalities of the Russian Federation based on the microstatistics level. The typology is carried out according to two criteria: type of settlement system and specialization of the economy. One of the research task is to analyze the approaches to the delimitation of urban agglomerations for better understanding of their role in the settlement system. As a result, each municipality got type: characteristics of its social, economic and spatial development. Supposals about factors influencing on socio-economic development pathway are given in the article. The uneven intraregional development requires careful consideration of territory’s characteristics for successful management of their socio-economic growth. Focus of spatial policy on the municipal level allows to respond to the specifics and potential of territories for the development and implementation of effective federal and regional spatial policies, increase its evidence and give additional opportunities for evaluating its results.

scholarly journals THE AGGLOMERATIONS OF THE ANNALISTIC OVRUCH VOLOST

2020 ◽  
Vol 35 (2) ◽  
pp. 58-75
Author(s):  
A. P. Tomashevskyi
Keyword(s):  
Material Culture ◽  
Middle Ages ◽  
Settlement System ◽  
Archaeological Heritage ◽  
Settlement Systems ◽  
The Status ◽  
Functional Features ◽  
Definition Of ◽  
High Degree ◽  
Demographic Potential

The unique phenomenon of the chronicle Ovruch volost — agglomerations and agglomeration areas including the largest in the region and not directly related to fortified chronicle settlements is analyzed in the paper. The high degree of archaeological exploration of the Ovruch volost made it possible to identify and determine the seven largest and, correspondingly, the most inhabited settlements which can be considered the agglomerations in the course of studying and reconstructing the settlement system. Some of these powerful complexes of sites (Ovruch, Norinsk, Gorodets) have already been specially analyzed in some papers. This work presents the results of study of three largest distinguished agglomerations — Naogryany-Khluplyany-Pokalyov, Khotin and Orlov-Fosni-Biduny. The last two ones were discovered and examined just recently and are one of the most important discoveries of the Ovruch project which changed the views on the main features of the settlement system of the Ovruch volost and its unique features. The description of these complexes, their spatial and geographical structure, and paleonatural background are proposed. The internal planigraphic structure, area and configuration of the constituent parts of the agglomerations, their position and importance in the general and local settlement systems are analyzed. The features of material culture and the functional features of each of the studied agglomerations are determined separately. Indicators of the presence of the most important social and economic spheres of life of the agglomeration population are determined. Based on the synthetic analysis, the estimated sociopolitical and geo-strategic importance, economic and environmental specialization of these points and their likely demographic potential are determined. The totality of the ascertained characteristics of the agglomerations determines their place and importance in the Ovruch volost, and wider — within the borders of Rus. The brief discussion regarding the atypical nature of such a phenomenon in the Old Rus Middle Ages is presented, and effective approaches to its explanation are determined. The discovery of such agglomeration formations changes the existing views on the status and hierarchy of Old Rus settlements, the definition of Old Rus cities and their typology. The important role and importance of the application of geographical approaches and methods for the study and comprehension of socioeconomic and physical-geographical research of the phenomenon of Old Rus agglomerations is postulated. The urgent tasks of the special advanced study and preservation of agglomeration complexes as unique objects of historical and archaeological heritage are determined.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document