scholarly journals Future-proofing estate landscapes

Bulletin KNOB ◽  
2021 ◽  
pp. 62-74
Author(s):  
Steffen Nijhuis
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Stakeholder Involvement ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Individual Country ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Common Basis ◽  
Economic Exploitation ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Regional Design

Climate change and urbanization have substantial ramifications for the management and protection of cultural-historical landscapes. This is especially true for historical estate landscapes – landscapes whose character is defined by several historical castles, country houses (along with their gardens and parks), and landed estates – where climate change adaptation constitutes a major task. Issues of concern include an excess or shortage of water and changes to vegetation as a result of rising temperatures. That pressure is compounded by increasing urbanization and the associated recreational needs. These landscapes are also susceptible to spatial fragmentation due to urbanization, changes in ownership, changes in function, and so on. Combatting these pressures calls for a future-oriented design approach that deals sensitively with historically valuable landscape characteristics. It involves safeguarding the spatial quality of estate landscapes by striking a new balance between utility value (economic exploitation), amenity value (identity and familiarity), and future value (ecological sustainability). Such is the complexity of the task that a regional perspective is required in order to fully comprehend the cohesion and systemic relations between individual country estates and to develop a common basis for collaboration. This article proposes a landscape-based regional design approach aimed at understanding and designing future-proof estate landscapes. It details a preservation-through-development strategy based on spatial development in sympathy with historical landscapes structures in a process of meaningful stakeholder involvement. Key to this process is collaboration and co-creation with owners, experts, policy advisers and others. Design-based research is employed as a method for addressing the complex spatial tasks facing estate landscapes in an integrated and creative manner. Spatial design, at every level of scale, becomes a instrument for working out development strategies and principles for context-specific landscape formation. But also for highlighting possible solutions that can contribute to the protection and development of historical estate landscapes. In other words, this is not about opposing change or locking up the existing landscape, but about creating new landscape qualities through well-designed new developments. This coincides with a collaborative process in which stakeholders jointly weigh the pros and cons, learn and come up with solutions. The combination of substance, involvement and process makes the landscape-based regional design approach a powerful method for increasing the resilience and adaptability of the estate landscape and in so doing making this landscape future-proof.

Over-Design Versus Redesign As a Response to Future Requirements

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeffrey D. Allen ◽  
Phillip D. Stevenson ◽  
Christopher A. Mattson ◽  
Nile W. Hatch
Keyword(s):  
Development Strategy ◽  
Real World ◽  
Net Present Value ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Development Cost ◽  
Present Value ◽  
Initial Release ◽  
Real World Applications ◽  
Product Development Strategy ◽  
Initial Research

Though little research has been done in the field of over-design as a product development strategy, an over-design approach can help products avoid the issue of premature obsolescence. This paper compares over-design to redesign as approaches to address the emergence of future requirements. Net present value (NPV) analyses of several real world applications are examined from the perspective of manufacturers and customers. This analysis is used to determine the conditions under which an over-design approach provides a greater benefit than a redesign approach. Over-design is found to have a higher net present value than redesign when future requirements occur soon after the initial release, discount rates are low, initial research and development cost or price is high, and when the incremental costs of the future requirements are low.

scholarly journals Landscape Topoedaphic Features Create Refugia from Drought and Insect Disturbance in a Lodgepole and Whitebark Pine Forest

Forests ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 715 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Cartwright
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Mountain Pine Beetle ◽  
Pine Forest ◽  
Boosted Regression Trees ◽  
Pine Forests ◽  
Whitebark Pine ◽  
Insect Outbreaks ◽  
Landscape Characteristics ◽  
Mountain Pine ◽  
Pine Beetle

Droughts and insect outbreaks are primary disturbance processes linking climate change to tree mortality in western North America. Refugia from these disturbances—locations where impacts are less severe relative to the surrounding landscape—may be priorities for conservation, restoration, and monitoring. In this study, hypotheses concerning physical and biological processes supporting refugia were investigated by modelling the landscape controls on disturbance refugia that were identified using remotely sensed vegetation indicators. Refugia were identified at 30-m resolution using anomalies of Landsat-derived Normalized Difference Moisture Index in lodgepole and whitebark pine forests in southern Oregon, USA, in 2001 (a single-year drought with no insect outbreak) and 2009 (during a multi-year drought and severe outbreak of mountain pine beetle). Landscape controls on refugia (topographic, soil, and forest characteristics) were modeled using boosted regression trees. Landscape characteristics better explained and predicted refugia locations in 2009, when forest impacts were greater, than in 2001. Refugia in lodgepole and whitebark pine forests were generally associated with topographically shaded slopes, convergent environments such as valleys, areas of relatively low soil bulk density, and in thinner forest stands. In whitebark pine forest, refugia were associated with riparian areas along headwater streams. Spatial patterns in evapotranspiration, snowmelt dynamics, soil water storage, and drought-tolerance and insect-resistance abilities may help create refugia from drought and mountain pine beetle. Identification of the landscape characteristics supporting refugia can help forest managers target conservation resources in an era of climate-change exacerbation of droughts and insect outbreaks.

scholarly journals Smallholder Farmers’ Vulnerability to Impact of Climate Change in Central Bhutan

2020 ◽  
pp. 286-299
Author(s):  
Pema Rinzin ◽  
Thubten Sonam ◽  
Sangay Tshering ◽  
Purna Prasad Chapagai
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Adaptive Capacity ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
Composite Index ◽  
Climate Impact ◽  
Food Component ◽  
Central Regions ◽  
Framework Approach ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
Impacts Of Climate Change

Climate change carries immense threat to the livelihood and food security of smallholder farmers in Bhutan and it is therefore crucial to enhance their adaptive capacity.  However, building resiliency to climate impact require information on vulnerability of the system of interest. Therefore, this study assessed smallholder farmers’ vulnerability to impacts of climate change and variability in central regions (Bumthang and Trongsa) of Bhutan. Data was collected from 247 randomly selected households by administering a pre-tested survey questionnaire. Data was analyzed using composite index approach (LVI) and IPCC framework approach (LVI-IPCC). The LVI analysis revealed that Bumthang was more vulnerable in terms of Socio-demographic profile (0.55), social networks (0.45), health (0.31) and natural disasters and climate variability (0.47) compared to Trongsa. Whereas, Trongsa was more vulnerable in terms of livelihood strategies (0.31) and water (0.13). Vulnerability score on the food component was same for both the districts (0.27). Overall, Bumthang was more vulnerable compared to Trongsa on both LVI (Bumthang: 0.36, Trongsa: 0.34) and LVI-IPCC (Bumthang: 0.24, Trongsa: 0.13) analysis. The findings could be used for designing micro-level context specific interventions to enhance smallholder farmers’ adaptive capacity to impacts of climate change in central Bhutan.

Transitioning to Low Carbon Mobility

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Debbie Hopkins ◽  
James Higham
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Critical Role ◽  
Ghg Emissions ◽  
Substantial Contribution ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Low Carbon ◽  
The World ◽  
Environmental Transformation ◽  
Context Specific

Since the turn of the 21st Century, the world has experienced unprecedented economic, political, social and environmental transformation. The ‘inconvenient truth’ of climate change is now undeniable; rising temperatures and the increasing frequency and intensity of extreme events have resulted in the loss of lives, livelihoods and habitats as well as straining economies. Increasingly mobile lives are often dependent on high carbon modes of transport, representing a substantial contribution to global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the underlying cause of anthropogenic climate change. With growing demand and rising emissions, the transport sector has a critical role to play in achieving GHG emissions reductions, and stabilising the global climate. Low Carbon Mobility Transitions draws interdisciplinary insights on transport and mobilities, as a vast and complex socio-technical system. It presents 15 chapters and 6 shorter ‘case studies’ covering a diversity of themes and geographic contexts across three thematic sections: People and Place, Structures in Transition, and Innovations for Low Carbon Mobility. The three sections are highly interrelated, and with overlapping, complementing, and challenging themes. The contributions offer critical, often neglected insights into low carbon mobility transitions across the world. In doing so, Low Carbon Mobility Transitions sheds light on the place- and context-specific nature of mobility in a climate constrained world.

A Critical Assessment of Environmental Degeneration and Climate Change

2013 ◽  
pp. 212-229 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Ploberger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Strategic Decision ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
Political Implications ◽  
The Impact

China and its population are confronted with fundamental environmental challenges, as both, environmental degeneration and the impact of climate change, exhibit critical social, economic and political implications for their future development. Among the various environmental challenges China faces, pollution issues, soil erosion, acid rain, and sea-level rise are identified. This variety of environmental issues increases the underling complexity of how best to address these challenges, especially as China’s growth strategy has the potential to exacerbate the negative impact on the environment further. The strategic decision which development strategy China will follow – a ‘growth first and clean up later’ or ‘cleaning up while growing’ – carries serious implications not only for the environmental situation in China itself, but for the global community as well.

A Critical Assessment of Environmental Degeneration and Climate Change

2011 ◽  
pp. 472-491
Author(s):  
Christian Ploberger
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Soil Erosion ◽  
Development Strategy ◽  
Negative Impact ◽  
Critical Assessment ◽  
Growth Strategy ◽  
Environmental Challenges ◽  
International Reputation ◽  
Political Economic ◽  
The Impact

China and its population are confronted with fundamental environmental challenges, as both environmental degeneration and the impact of climate change exhibit critical political, economic, and social implications for their future development. Among the various environmental challenges China faces, this chapter identifies pollution issues, soil erosion, acid rain, and sea-level rise. This variety of environmental issues increases the underling complexity of how best to address these challenges, especially as China’s growth strategy has the potential to exacerbate the negative impact on the environment further. Hence the question which development strategy China will follow–a ‘growth first and clean up later’ or ‘cleaning up while growing’–carries serious implications not only for the environmental situation in China itself, but for the international community as well. It is crucial to recognize that China’s multidimensional environmental challenges also carry critical implications for China’s international reputation.

Farmer-Prioritized Climate-Smart Agriculture Technologies

2020 ◽  
pp. 423-445
Author(s):  
Caroline Mwongera ◽  
Chris M. Mwungu ◽  
Mercy Lungaho ◽  
Steve Twomlow
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Sustainable Development Goals ◽  
Smallholder Farmers ◽  
The Sustainable Development ◽  
Trade Offs ◽  
Development Goals ◽  
Smart Agriculture ◽  
Study Sites ◽  
Context Specific

Climate-smart agriculture (CSA) focuses on productivity, climate-change adaptation, and mitigation, and the potential for developing resilient food production systems that lead to food and income security. Lately, several frameworks and tools have been developed to prioritize context-specific CSA technologies and assess the potential impacts of selected options. This study applied a mixed-method approach, the climate-smart agriculture rapid appraisal (CSA-RA) tool, to evaluate farmers’ preferred CSA technologies and to show how they link to the sustainable development goals (SDGs). The chapter examines prioritized CSA options across diverse study sites. The authors find that the prioritized options align with the food security and livelihood needs of smallholder farmers, and relate to multiple sustainable development goals. Specifically, CSA technologies contribute to SDG1 (end poverty), SDG2 (end hunger and promote sustainable agriculture), SDG13 (combating climate change), and SDG15 (life on land). Limited awareness on the benefits of agriculture technologies and the diversity of outcomes desired by stakeholders’ present challenges and trade-offs for achieving the SDGs. The CSA-RA provides a methodological approach linking locally relevant indicators to the SDG targets.

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