scholarly journals The Four Axes of Palermo’s Commerce: a Geographical Perspective

Author(s):  
Giovanni Messina ◽  
Gaetano Sabato

Commercial dynamics within a city represent an excellent observatory desk to study urban transformation processes. These dynamics reflect the verticality and horizontality relational system, but also the exchanges and reciprocation of the cultural and socio-economic relations. From a geographical perspective it is interesting to detect cultural, social and economic changes both permanent and in evolution which constitute the urban pattern and shape its viability. This work originates in 2015 within the PRIN project (Relevant Interest National Project) “Commerce, consumption and the city: practices, planning and governance for urban inclusion, resilience and sustainability” which has studied some relevant commerce dynamics in Italian main cities. Here we focus on the case of Palermo, by analysing four important streets in the city center: via Maqueda, via Ruggero Settimo, viale della Libertà and via Lincoln. They represent significant cut outs of how consumers’ habits have developed in Palermo and have strongly characterized the present urban landscape by establishing a complex network of relations which shape the pattern of the city. By employing both a diacronical and synchronical approach, on one hand we analyse the evolution of the four axes. On the other hand, we illustrate the results of the research carried out by using questionnaires aimed to reveal the present conditions of the shops taking place through the business owners’ perception.

DYNA ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 82 (194) ◽  
pp. 204-213
Author(s):  
Diego Alexander Escobar Garcia ◽  
Camilo Younes-Velosa ◽  
Carlos Alberto Moncada-Aristizábal

Major cities in Colombia are currently generating urban transformation processes that involve the construction of major infrastructures, which mainly look to mitigate the adverse effects of ever-increasing road traffic. In addition, intermediate cities have made great efforts when it comes to urban planning and promote the application of prefeasibility study methodologies to make the appropriate decisions regarding the infrastructures to be built in specific places in the city. This paper discusses the results after applying a prioritization methodology as a comparative tool between two possible road infrastructures in the area of San Marcel in the city of Manizales, Colombia. The best proposal is selected based on the best coverage indicators and variables such as overall construction costs and life span: determined from information generated in traffic simulations.


2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 226-246
Author(s):  
Kalala Ngalamulume

This article shows how French doctors based in Saint-Louis-du-Sénégal, the capital of colonial Senegal, conceptualised the Senegambian region as a diseased environment and Africans as carriers of infectious agents. It explains how perceptions of the hot tropical climate, combined with outbreaks of epidemic diseases and seasonal allergies, were instrumental in the processes of urban transformation through hygienic measures such as waste removal, the closing of cemeteries, and the imposition of new building codes. The article also shows how the stigmatisation of Africans was implicated in the forced removal of the urban poor – firstly from the city centre, and later from the entire city-island. Colonial medical knowledge in Senegal was initially based on the miasma theory, however, germ theory was adopted in the aftermath of the 1900 yellow fever epidemic. Both theories, in relation with racialism, impacted the urban landscape in Saint-Louis, Senegal.


Author(s):  
S. Auquilla ◽  
M. Siguencia

Abstract. Cuenca in Ecuador is a growing city, weak in the face of the changes that the expansion phenomenon implies. The area of El Ejido was the first expansion area of the city with valuable samples of the arrival of modernity in the city. Nowadays, this sector is not exempted from the effects of urban growth and deserves to be managed through a proper management plan for its preservation. Degraded landscapes have been identified, modern heritage architecture shows clear symptoms of abandonment and low maintenance, causing the disappearance of historic buildings. Given these and other problems associated with urban development, Cuenca, like other cities, has taken the initiative of adopting the Recommendation on the Historic Urban Landscape (HUL) adopted by UNESCO in 2011, as a measure to safeguard urban heritage. In 2014, the implementation of this relatively new approach was first initiated in the pilot area of the Historic City Centre of Cuenca. This area was included in the World Heritage List in 1999 based on criteria II, IV, and V.However, aware of the significant heritage values embedded at El Ejido and its close urban and landscape link with the Historical City Center, the aim of this research is the implementation of the HUL’s approach in a specific area located in El Ejido. Due to the clear difference between this sector and the Historical City Center, it is necessary to assess the first methodology used and work on a methodology that can be extrapolated to this sector and further on to other sectors of the city. To obtain the methodology for this area, it is essential to carry out a territorial exploration in cities with similar characteristics to Cuenca that are implementing an approach based on the study of the Historical Urban Landscape Recommendation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (7) ◽  
pp. 1842 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuyi Xie

As a vital historic neighborhood with an indeterminate large-scale planning scheme, Yingping, located in the city center of Xiamen, China, is struggling with poor livability and growing incoherent private additions and renovations that largely undermine the local historic urban landscape. Inspired by Italian typology- and morphology-led planning techniques, this study explores the possible interpretations and implications of their applications in Yingping to address its interconnected, heterogeneous, and stratified urban fabric and planning problems. The research is developed through a two-pronged multi-layered planning framework. Firstly, from the maintenance perspective, five intervention approaches are grouped, with a specific focus on the leading structural elements of the urban fabric—the arcade streets. Secondly, from the morphological view and through the ecological lens, six characterized areas are identified and classified with respective morphological features and crucial planning problems being faced. This framework provides a strategic thematization of corresponding optimizing strategies and suitable guidelines to direct future governmental actions and to support the self-maintenance of local inhabitants toward sustainable development. The study also presents the possibility that such techniques are applicable to the Chinese context and is expected to inspire further research and practices in China and beyond.


DYNA ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (194) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Alexander Escobar Garcia

<p>Major cities in Colombia are currently generating urban transformation processes that involve the construction of major infrastructures, mainly looking to mitigate the adverse effects of the ever- increasing road traffic. In addition, intermediate cities make great efforts when it comes to urban planning thus, promoting the application of prefeasibility study methodologies to make the appropriate decisions regarding the infrastructures to be built in specific places of the city. This paper discusses the results after applying a prioritization methodology as a comparative tool between two possible road infrastructures in the area of San Marcel in the city of Manizales, Colombia. The best proposal is selected based on the best coverage indicators and variables such as overall construction costs and life span which were determined from information generated in traffic simulations.</p>


CEM ◽  
2020 ◽  
pp. 218-238
Author(s):  
Cristiana Vieira ◽  
Ana Catarina Antunes ◽  
Sónia Faria

The present work explores the recognition of the past and present genius loci of three spaces of Porto city center as remaining and transformed representations of spaces with distinct, interconnected and pertinent botanical missions in the nineteenth century landscape of the city. Through the exploration of sources left by the interveners or graphic testimonies of the urban landscape from 1850 to the present day of these (ethno-)botanical spaces, we explore how the interveners and spaces of the Jardim Botânico da Academia Polythecnica do Porto, the Horto-pharmacêutico da Botica da Hospital Real de Santo António and the Horto das Virtudes mutually influenced. On the other hand, it is demonstrated how these spaces determined a time of special interest in botany that would not be repeated in the history of the city and its population.


Author(s):  
Norsidah Ujang

Due to the rapid urbanization rate, the traditional urban environment in developing countries has been constantly replaced by modern structures with standardized images. The urban landscape of Kuala Lumpur city demonstrates a similar pattern, which, arguably, may disrupt the continuity in meaning embedded in people’s associationwith the places. This paper describes the meaning and significance of the traditional shopping districts in the city center of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The researcher conducted face-to-face interviews and field observations to understand the meanings attached to the users’ experience of the traditional shopping streets located in the area. It was also to identify the urban elements that perceived to be important. The results demonstrate that the users translated various meanings of the places. The types and length of engagement, familiarity, cultural characteristics of the users and economic dependency influenced the attachment. The places are meaningful as a reflection of self and group identity thus contribute to the continuity of place identity. 


2013 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 570-589 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diana K. Ter-Ghazaryan

In the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the landscape of Armenia's capital has transformed tremendously. Promoting a new vision for the city, Armenia's political elites have imbued the urban landscape of Yerevan with narratives of modernization, progress and a renewed sense of nationalism. While this new vision is noticeable throughout Yerevan's landscape, it is most apparent in three places in the center of Yerevan - Opera Square, Northern Avenue and Republic Square. These three prominent places represent the vision that the Armenian elites have for the city of Yerevan, while at the same time serving as backdrops for the expression of a critical voice regarding the changing urban landscape from the local residents. These three places are compelling representations of the tensions and struggles that are present in contemporary Armenian society. In this article, I examine the symbols and narratives that Armenia's elites produce and promote in and via these places, and consider the complicated set of reactions from residents that have formed in response.


2001 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-192
Author(s):  
Tara S. Welch

Horace's Satires 1.8 and 1.9 have long interested commentators for the enticing glimpse they provide of the changing Roman cityscape in the 30s BCE In light of the recent problematization of the strict correspondence between the poet Horace and his elaborately constructed satiric persona, locations in the Satires should be read not so much as autobiographical accounts of the poet's movement through the city but rather as functions of other themes and motifs in the Satires. This paper examines the moral and aesthetic encoding of the urban landscape in Horace's Satires Book I.Satires 1.9 and 1.8 reveal that Rome's city center and the gardens of Maecenas constitute an arena for the satirist's indirect meditation about the complex relationship between his poetry and his patron Maecenas. By mapping moral and aesthetic behavior onto these urban areas, Horace comments on the viability of satiric poetry in various social situations and settings. The emerging picture presents the city center —— filled as it is with human vice and folly —— as a place appropriate for satiric poetry, and Maecenas' gardens —— free from competition and ambition —— as a place inimical to it. Thus the gardens of Maecenas present for the satirist a moral and aesthetic problem, and their specter haunts his downtown stroll in Satires 1.9 as much as does the aspirant who dogs his steps. The decorum of patronage requires that Horace show proper subordination to his benefactors. Yet the decorum of satire requires that the poet undermine status, stability, and authority. While professing that status is not an issue in Maecenas' circle, the poems reveal instead that status is always an issue, aected no less by one's physical than one's social position.


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