Living on Past Glories and Future Dreams The Effects of Depopulation on Early Modern Urban Development in the Former Castle Town of Kanazawa

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 263-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeremy Phillipps

AbstractDepopulation of urban areas is a serious issue in twenty-first century Japan, as shown by the recent large-scale amalgamation of municipalities and programmes to combat declining central city areas. However, this is not the first time depopulation has had a significant effect on urban development: the decline in castle towns after the Meiji Restoration of 1868 had profound effects on both urban form and development concepts. Kanazawa, once one of the largest cities in Japan, suffered from an initial and long-lasting drop and then a more insidious decline as its Japan Sea coast location cut it off from the bulk of industrial and trade development. This article uses a two-fold approach to examine depopulation: first, an examination of the physical effects of depopulation based on statistical analysis of pre-war land registers shows the patterns of decline and regrowth throughout the modern period. Second, the impact of depopulation on the city's image of itself is examined through period documents such as council records and local newspapers. The need to regain status through population rank became an overarching goal of the urban leaders, and formed the basis of Kanazawa's reactions to the modern era and eventually towards imperialism.

1988 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Church

An urban development corporation was established in London Docklands in 1981. Recently, central government has announced its intention to set up similar organisations elsewhere in Britain, and, therefore, a review of the impact of the London Docklands' initiative is appropriate. In this paper I outline the impact of the urban development corporation, in terms of economic regeneration and of the effect on local unemployment. It is argued that demand-led economic regeneration, based on the redevelopment of derelict land, has changed the nature of the local economy, although as yet it has not had any significant effect on the numbers of jobs in the local economy, because of continued decline in existing industries and because of pressures on firms to relocate. Local unemployment has gone on increasing, and evidence is presented to show that labour-market adjustment mechanisms and recruitment patterns severely limit the impact of economic regeneration on unemployment in Docklands. Even major developments, such as the proposed office complex on Canary Wharf, will have only a relatively small effect on local unemployment. Local labour-market intervention has been slow to occur, limited in its aims, and uncoordinated. Urban development corporations are useful policy devices for the encouragement of large-scale land redevelopment, but in their present form they do not represent a complete solution to the economic and employment problems of depressed urban areas.


2013 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 623-628 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Gartley ◽  
P. Valeh ◽  
R. de Lange ◽  
S. DiCarlo ◽  
A. Viscusi ◽  
...  

Médecins Sans Frontières-Operational Centre Amsterdam piloted the distribution of household disinfection kits (HDKs) and health promotion sessions for cholera prevention in households of patients admitted to their cholera treatment centres in Carrefour, Port au Prince, Haiti, between December 2010 and February 2011. We conducted a follow-up survey with 208 recipient households to determine the uptake and use of the kits and understanding of the health promotion messages. In 61% of surveyed households, a caregiver had been the recipient of the HDK and 57.7% of households had received the HDKs after the discharge of the patient. Among surveyed households, 97.6% stated they had used the contents of the HDK after receiving it, with 75% of these reporting using five or more items, with the two most popular items being chlorine and soap. A significant (p < 0.05) increase in self-reported use items in the HDK was observed in households that received kits after 24 January 2011 when the education messages were strengthened. To our knowledge, this is the first time it has been demonstrated that during a large-scale cholera outbreak, the distribution of simple kits, with readily available cleaning products and materials, combined with health promotion is easy, feasible, and valued by the target population.


Toxics ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Baptiste Languille ◽  
Valérie Gros ◽  
Bonnaire Nicolas ◽  
Cécile Honoré ◽  
Anne Kaufmann ◽  
...  

Portable sensors have emerged as a promising solution for personal exposure (PE) measurement. For the first time in Île-de-France, PE to black carbon (BC), particulate matter (PM), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) was quantified based on three field campaigns involving 37 volunteers from the general public wearing the sensors all day long for a week. This successful deployment demonstrated its ability to quantify PE on a large scale, in various environments (from dense urban to suburban, indoor and outdoor) and in all seasons. The impact of the visited environments was investigated. The proximity to road traffic (for BC and NO2), as well as cooking activities and tobacco smoke (for PM), made significant contributions to total exposure (up to 34%, 26%, and 44%, respectively), even though the time spent in these environments was short. Finally, even if ambient outdoor levels played a role in PE, the prominent impact of the different environments suggests that traditional ambient monitoring stations is not a proper surrogate for PE quantification.


Author(s):  
D.V. Budianskyi

The characteristic features of I. Kavaleridze’s drama is considered in the article. It is noted that there are signs of the artist’s individuality, attraction to expressionist forms, artistic techniques characteristic for the art of sculpture: symbolism, monumentality, hyperbole. I. Kavaleridze was well versed in the drama laws, understood the specifics of the stage events construction, had a large arsenal of literary means, thanks to which the characters’ monologues and dialogues were extremely expressive and colorful. In his work, he implemented original solutions that were ahead of time. Therefore, many of the artist’s ideas and achievements received due recognition only after his death. I. Kavaleridze’s creative heritage covers a wide range of both purely artistic and general philosophical problems. Among them the formation of the era of modernism and its features in the Ukrainian art of the early XX century, the impact of revolutionary ideas on the work of the 1920s, the role of spiritual leaders of the Ukrainian people T. Shevchenko and G. Skovoroda in the formation of national consciousness, political and ideological pressure on figurative art language and the formation of a socialist-realist canon, etc. The analysis of the productions of I. Kavalerizde’s plays “The First Furrow” and “Gregory and Paraskeva” on the stage of the Mykhailo Shchepkin Sumy Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy in 1970-1972. The article notes that these plays were staged in Sumy for the first time in the history of Ukrainian theater. The premiere of “The First Furrow” (the play was called “Old Men”) took place on March 19, 1970. The figure of the national genius Hryhoriy Skov oroda was als o embodied for the first time on t he stage in Sumy in th e play “Hryhoriy and Paraskeva”. It premiered on October 21, 1972. I. Rybchynsky, Honored Artist of the USSR, performed the production. Creating generalized historical outlines of people’s life, features of life at that time, depicting psychological portraits of people in various, sometimes-dramatic collisions, in the productions of I. Kavaleridze’s plays on the Sumy stage the emphasis was on universal values such as virtue, love. The main character was the Ukrainian people, who nurtured such large-scale historical figures, gave them strength and wisdom for great achievements. Based on publications in periodicals of that time, memoirs of Ukrainian directors, the peculiarities of the director’s interpretation, stenographic and musical design of these plays on the Sumy stage are considered. Considerable attention is paid to the analysis of acting works in I. Kavaleridze’s plays. In particular, the peculiarities of the actor’s embodiment of the image of the national genius Hryhoriy Skovoroda on the stage are presented. It is noted that I. Kavaleridze’s plays, created in a difficult political, social and ideological context, are rightly considered to be highly artistic works of Ukrainian drama. Their staging was carried out on various theatrical stages, including Mykhailo Shchepkin Sumy Theater of Drama and Musical Comedy is an important page of national theatrical art.


Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 810 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antonio Barragán-Escandón ◽  
Esteban Zalamea-León ◽  
Julio Terrados-Cepeda

Previous research has assessed the potential of solar energy against possible demand; however, the sustainability issues associated with the use of large-scale photovoltaic deployment in urban areas have not been jointly established. In this paper, the impact of photovoltaic energy in the total urban energy mix is estimated using a series of indicators that consider the economic, environmental and social dimensions. These indicators have been previously applied at the country level; the main contribution of this research is applying them at the urban level to the city of Cuenca, Ecuador. Cuenca is close to the equatorial line and at a high altitude, enabling this area to reach the maximum self-supply index because of the high irradiation levels and reduced demand. The solar potential was estimated using a simple methodology that applies several indexes that were proven reliable in a local context considering this particular sun path. The results demonstrate that the solar potential can meet the electric power demand of this city, and only the indicator related to employment is positive and substantially affected. The indicators related to the price of energy, emissions and fossil fuel dependency do not change significantly, unless a fuel-to-electricity transport system conversions take place.


Author(s):  
Martin Fleischmann ◽  
Ombretta Romice ◽  
Sergio Porta

Unprecedented urbanisation processes characterise the Great Acceleration, urging urban researchers to make sense of data analysis in support of evidence-based and large-scale decision-making. Urban morphologists are no exception since the impact of urban form on fundamental natural and social patterns (equity, prosperity and resource consumption’s efficiency) is now fully acknowledged. However, urban morphology is still far from offering a comprehensive and reliable framework for quantitative analysis. Despite remarkable progress since its emergence in the late 1950s, the discipline still exhibits significant terminological inconsistencies with regards to the definition of the fundamental components of urban form, which prevents the establishment of objective models for measuring it. In this article, we present a study of existing methods for measuring urban form, with a focus on terminological inconsistencies, and propose a systematic and comprehensive framework to classify urban form characters, where ‘urban form character’ stands for a characteristic (or feature) of one kind of urban form that distinguishes it from another kind. In particular, we introduce the Index of Elements that allows for a univocal and non-interpretive description of urban form characters. Based on such Index of Elements, we develop a systematic classification of urban form according to six categories (dimension, shape, spatial distribution, intensity, connectivity and diversity) and three conceptual scales (small, medium, large) based on two definitions of scale (extent and grain). This framework is then applied to identify and organise the urban form characters adopted in available literature to date. The resulting classification of urban form characters reveals clear gaps in existing research, in particular, in relation to the spatial distribution and diversity characters. The proposed framework reduces the current inconsistencies of urban morphology research, paving the way to enhanced methods of urban form systematic and quantitative analysis at a global scale.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 959 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanwei Sun ◽  
Chao Gao ◽  
Jialin Li ◽  
Run Wang ◽  
Jian Liu

It is widely acknowledged that urban form significantly affects urban thermal environment, which is a key element to adapt and mitigate extreme high temperature weather in high-density urban areas. However, few studies have discussed the impact of physical urban form features on the land surface temperature (LST) from a perspective of comprehensive urban spatial structures. This study used the ordinary least-squares regression (OLS) and random forest regression (RF) to distinguish the relative contributions of urban form metrics on LST at three observation scales. Results of this study indicate that more than 90% of the LST variations were explained by selected urban form metrics using RF. Effects of the magnitude and direction of urban form metrics on LST varied with the changes of seasons and observation scales. Overall, building morphology and urban ecological infrastructure had dominant effects on LST variations in high-density urban centers. Urban green space and water bodies demonstrated stronger cooling effects, especially in summer. Building density (BD) exhibited significant positive effects on LST, whereas the floor area ratio (FAR) showed a negative influence on LST. The results can be applied to investigate and implement urban thermal environment mitigation planning for city managers and planners.


Sensors ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (5) ◽  
pp. 1024 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ashraf Abdelkarim ◽  
Ahmed Gaber ◽  
Ahmed Youssef ◽  
Biswajeet Pradhan

This study deals with the use of remote sensing (RS), geographic information systems (GISs), hydrologic modeling (water modeling system, WMS), and hydraulic modeling (Hydrologic Engineering Center River Analysis System, HEC-RAS) to evaluate the impact of flash flood hazards on the sustainable urban development of Tabuk City, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Determining the impact of flood hazards on the urban area and developing alternatives for protection and prevention measures were the main aims of this work. Tabuk City is exposed to frequent flash flooding due to its location along the outlets of five major wadis. These wadis frequently carry flash floods, seriously impacting the urban areas of the city. WMS and HEC-HMS models and RS data were used to determine the paths and morphological characteristics of the wadis, the hydrographic flow of different drainage basins, flow rates and volumes, and the expansion of agricultural and urban areas from 1998 to 2018. Finally, hydraulic modeling of the HEC-RAS program was applied to delineate the urban areas that could be inundated with floodwater. Ultimately, the most suitable remedial measures are proposed to protect the future sustainable urban development of Tabuk City from flood hazards. This approach is rarely used in the KSA. We propose a novel method that could help decision-makers and planners in determining inundated flood zones before planning future urban and agricultural development in the KSA.


2020 ◽  
Vol 20 (17) ◽  
pp. 10667-10686
Author(s):  
Martin O. P. Ramacher ◽  
Lin Tang ◽  
Jana Moldanová ◽  
Volker Matthias ◽  
Matthias Karl ◽  
...  

Abstract. Shipping is an important source of air pollutants, from the global to the local scale. Ships emit substantial amounts of sulfur dioxides, nitrogen dioxides, and particulate matter in the vicinity of coasts, threatening the health of the coastal population, especially in harbour cities. Reductions in emissions due to shipping have been targeted by several regulations. Nevertheless, effects of these regulations come into force with temporal delays, global ship traffic is expected to grow in the future, and other land-based anthropogenic emissions might decrease. Thus, it is necessary to investigate combined impacts to identify the impact of shipping activities on air quality, population exposure, and health effects in the future. We investigated the future effect of shipping emissions on air quality and related health effects considering different scenarios of the development of shipping under current regional trends of economic growth and already decided regulations in the Gothenburg urban area in 2040. Additionally, we investigated the impact of a large-scale implementation of shore electricity in the Port of Gothenburg. For this purpose, we established a one-way nested chemistry transport modelling (CTM) system from the global to the urban scale, to calculate pollutant concentrations, population-weighted concentrations, and health effects related to NO2, PM2.5, and O3. The simulated concentrations of NO2 and PM2.5 in future scenarios for the year 2040 are in general very low with up to 4 ppb for NO2 and up to 3.5 µg m−3 PM2.5 in the urban areas which are not close to the port area. From 2012 the simulated overall exposure to PM2.5 decreased by approximately 30 % in simulated future scenarios; for NO2 the decrease was over 60 %. The simulated concentrations of O3 increased from the year 2012 to 2040 by about 20 %. In general, the contributions of local shipping emissions in 2040 focus on the harbour area but to some extent also influence the rest of the city domain. The simulated impact of onshore electricity implementation for shipping in 2040 shows reductions for NO2 in the port of up to 30 %, while increasing O3 of up to 3 %. Implementation of onshore electricity for ships at berth leads to additional local reduction potentials of up to 3 % for PM2.5 and 12 % for SO2 in the port area. All future scenarios show substantial decreases in population-weighted exposure and health-effect impacts.


2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 678
Author(s):  
Yu Gao ◽  
Dongqi Sun ◽  
Jingxiang Zhang

The global outbreak of the COVID-19 epidemic has caused a considerable impact on humans, which expresses the urgency and importance of studying its impacts. Previous studies either frequently use aggregated research methods of statistic data or stay during COVID-19. The afterward impacts of COVID-19 on human behaviors need to be explored further. This article carries out a non-aggregated study methodology in human geography based on big data from social media comments and takes Nanjing, China, as the research case to explore the afterward impact of the COVID-19 epidemic on the spatial behavior of urban tourists. Precisely, we propose the methodology covers two main aspects regarding travel contact trajectory and spatial trajectory. In contact trajectory, we explore three indicators—Connection Strength, Degree Centrality, and Betweenness Centrality—of the collected attractions. Then, in spatial trajectory, we input the results from contact trajectory into ArcGIS by using the Orientation–Destination Model and Standard Deviation Ellipse to explore the influences on the spatial pattern. By setting up comparative groups for the three periods of before, during, and after the COVID-19 in Nanjing, this study found that, in the post-epidemic era, (1) the spatial behavior of urban tourists showed a state of overall contraction; (2) the objects of contraction changed from urban architectural attractions to urban natural attractions; (3) the form of contraction presents concentric circles with the central city (Old City of Nanjing) as the core; (4) the direction of contraction heads to the large-scale natural landscape in the central city, which highlights the importance of green open spaces in the post-epidemic era.


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