Coupling Relationship of Human Activity and Geographical Environment in Stage-Specific Development of Urban Coastal Zone: A Case Study of Quanzhou Bay, China (1954–2020)

Owing to the development of the social economy, the geographical environment and ocean utilization patterns of urban coastal zones have changed. This change, in turn, has influenced the socio-economic development of urban coastal zones. Based on the Geographic Information System technology, the area, coastline length, and shoreland use function of reclamation areas were obtained from the geographic charts (1954–2020) and remote sensing data (1988–2017) of Quanzhou Bay. In this study, we analyzed the geomorphologic change process and the relationship between land use patterns and economic development in Quanzhou Bay from the perspectives of hydrodynamics, sediments, and human activity. Our results indicated that over the past 70 years, the bay area has reduced by 21.5%. The length of the coastline decreased from 208.36 km in 1959 to 149.11 km in 1988, whereas the shape index of the bay (SIB) decreased from 3.09 to 2.41 during the same period. Between 1988 and 2017, the coastline increased to 162.91 km, causing the SIB to increase to 2.72. The artificial index of the bay increased from 0.28 in 1959 to 0.90 in 2017. The intensity of bay the development (IBD) first increased from 0.27 in 1959 to 0.77 in 2006. During the transition to a more modern society (2006 to present), the IBD slightly decreased to 0.73 in 2017. Affected by human activity, the transformation of the reclaimed land in Quanzhou Bay can be divided into four stages that are closely linked to the economic development in the region. In the early industrialization period, reclaimed land in the region was used for agricultural production, whereas in the mid-industrialization period, it was gradually transformed into a combination of industrial (29.8%) and agricultural (56.1%) lands. In the later period of industrialization, the reclaimed land was gradually converted into urban industrial and port lands. Finally, with further refinement and upgrading of economic and industrial structures, the socio-economic and environmental benefits from coastal reclamation projects have been increasing, whereas the proportion of economic benefits (in the total benefits) has been decreasing. The results of this study can provide decision-making references for the optimization of utilization patterns and the economic development of reclamation lands in coastal areas.

Distribution Strategies of Vascular Plants at the Reclaimed Lands at the Saemangum Sea Dike

The distribution of plant communities in the reclaimed land of the southwestern coasts of South Korea, along with the environmental or plant factors, was studied through canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) and the competitor (C), stress tolerator (S), and ruderal (R) (CSR) ecological strategies. The coastal reclaimed land plants were classified into three plant-factor groups in the CCA biplot diagram. Axis1 was correlated with LS, SLA, CH, and FS. Axis 2 was correlated with LDMC, FP, and LDW. The reclaimed landplants were classified into three soil-factor groups in the CCA biplot diagram. First, the group factor was correlated with SAND. Second, the group factor was distributed according to T-N and TOC. Third, the group factor was distributed according to Salinity content. To clarify the relative significance of competition, stress, and disturbance in the distribution process of plant communities, the CSR distribution model was adopted. Sixteen of the 19 species were allocated to the factors related to the ruderals strategies such as R/CR and CR including R/CSR, SR/CSR, and CR/CSR, and SC strategies. They displayed ruderal and competition adaptation strategies reflecting the ecological environment. Seven species showed R/CR (ruderal/competitor-ruderal) strategies; Aeschno meneindica, Chenopodium album var. centrorubrum, Lolium perenne, Lotus corniculatus var. japonicus, Phragmites communis, Portulaca oleracea, and Soncous brachyotus and 6 species showed CR (competitor-ruderal) strategies; Bidens frondosa, Echinochloa crus-galli, Echino chloaoryzicola, Erigeron canadensis, Fimbristy lislongispica and Setaria viridis. The three species with R-related strategies were Artemisia princeps, Lolium perenne, and Trifolium repens. The distribution patterns of the CCA diagrams and CSR triangles may provide a useful scientific basis for protecting and restoring reclaimed lands and their valuable ecosystem services, from the increasing disturbances.

Estate landscapes in the Netherlands

In the past, country house research was mainly concerned with individual houses and gardens. Yet, as early as the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, so many country houses were being built around the major cities that they came to define the landscape. Genuine estate landscapes took shape along several rivers (Amstel, Vecht), along the inner edge of coastal dunes, and on newly reclaimed land. In the middle of the seventeenth century, the rivers were augmented with a network of barge canals and soon they too were lined by a belt of country houses. The greatest density of country houses was to be found around Amsterdam, but other big cities in the provinces of Holland and Zeeland had their fair share as well. Access was mostly by water, but in some areas, especially in Zeeland, country roads performed this role. The majority of country houses were built on or next to a farm, which generally continued to exist and, in many cases, survived the country house. In a few areas, the evolving density of country houses has been traced in a detailed chronological record. In most cases it reveals progressive growth towards a high point in the first half of the eighteenth century, after which a gradual decline sets in. However, in a number of areas growth was much more rapid, in particular along the River Vecht. Sustained growth was followed by decline. In the final decade of the eighteenth century and the first decade of the nineteenth, large numbers of country houses were demolished and in many instances the land reverted to agriculture production. It appears that the decline set in earlier in Zeeland than in Holland, but regional differences in decline are not yet entirely clear. The second quarter of the nineteenth century saw the construction of a new generation of country houses, especially in the undulating sandy areas of the Utrechtse Heuvelrug and the southern part of the Veluwezoom, where railway lines provided access. The owners of this new crop of country houses laid out their gardens in the English landscape style. They also bought up vast, neighbouring heathlands from local councils or farmers and planted them with trees. As a result, these country houses are quite different in character from those of the earlier period. In the past the concentrations of country houses dominated the landscape and even today, wherever they have survived to a substantial degree they continue to represent an important landscape quality. As such, protection and management should not be confined to individual country houses but should extend to groups of country houses and their interrelationships (in the form of visual axes, for example). In recent years, a number of provinces have already set a good example by formulating policies for country house biotopes and linear estate landscapes.

Isolation and Molecular Characterization of Plant-Growth-Promoting Bacteria and Their Effect on Eggplant (Solanum melongena) Growth

In recent years, the optimum development of land resources has become an important task for ensuring the security of food production in China. Soil microorganisms have been considered to play an important role in conferring soil fertility and productivity. In order to obtain the plant-growth-promoting bacteria in newly reclaimed land, a total of 988 bacterial strains were isolated from nine soil samples collected from different sites in wastelands in Hangzhou (Zhejiang Province, China), a rural mountainous area. Among them, five strains exhibited substantial potential of phosphate solubilization, nitrogen fixation, siderophore production and indole acetic acid production at both pH 5.0 and pH 7.0, and also promoted eggplant growth in immature soil from newly reclaimed land. Furthermore, bacterial strains ZJ62 and ZJ3-12 were identified as Pantoeadispersa and Pantoea ananatis, respectively, while strains ZJ5, ZJ9 and ZJ174 were identified as Burkholderiaarboris, Burkholderia pyrrocinia and Burkholderia pyrrocinia, respectively, based on colony morphology observation and phylogenetic analysis of 16S rDNA and the housekeeping genes sequences. Overall, the result of this study showed that the 5 obtained bacterial strains have a great potential in promoting plant growth in immature soil from newly reclaimed land.

Overlapping Perspectives

<p>All urban sites around the world have their own unique, evolving historical identity. However, this identity can often become obscured, or even lost, over time due to the progressive changes that occur to the transforming urban context. An urban site's evolution may include newly reclaimed land, conflicting grid alignments as new roads are added, new buildings being constructed that fail to reaffirm site identity in relation to existing conditions and historic buildings that become re-purposed with a subsequent loss of their original architectural identity. The site selected for this design research investigation is Queens Wharf in Wellington. Located in the heart of New Zealand's capital city, where land meets sea at the center line of the city's skyline, Queens Wharf occupies one of the most important sites in the capital. However, the principal problem of this site is its lack of coherent place identity. This problem has arisen in relation to five main factors: 1) very large, anonymous new metal shed buildings have been added in poor relationships with historic masonry and timber ones; 2)heritage buildings have been re-purposed, and their interior programmes are no longer represented by their architectural facades; 3) enormous, contemporary, and very unattractive buildings such as the TSB Arena house programmes that change throughout the year, preventing the exterior architecture from providing identity to what is happening within; 4) a confluence of conflicting grids has developed over time at this site; and 5) Queens Wharf's important location at the edge of city and sea near the center line of the city's skyline provides a significant opportunity for this site to act as a visual gateway to the capital city, but this opportunity remains unfulfilled. The thesis proposes that architecture can play an essential role in establishing place identity for Queens Wharf by: 1) implicating historic architectural features into new architectural interventions – so that the historic buildings are fundamentally important to understanding the new and vice versa – by integrating the new and the old in ways that present all the stages of the site’s evolution as important chapters in its overall tale; 2) exposing interior programmes to the outside to establish architectural identity through programmatic visibility; 3) establishing new architectural interventions as 'pivots' to help make sense of conflicting grid alignments; 4) arranging architectural interventions as a framing device and an important liminal threshold between the opposing conditions of land and sea.</p>

Overlapping Perspectives

<p>All urban sites around the world have their own unique, evolving historical identity. However, this identity can often become obscured, or even lost, over time due to the progressive changes that occur to the transforming urban context. An urban site's evolution may include newly reclaimed land, conflicting grid alignments as new roads are added, new buildings being constructed that fail to reaffirm site identity in relation to existing conditions and historic buildings that become re-purposed with a subsequent loss of their original architectural identity. The site selected for this design research investigation is Queens Wharf in Wellington. Located in the heart of New Zealand's capital city, where land meets sea at the center line of the city's skyline, Queens Wharf occupies one of the most important sites in the capital. However, the principal problem of this site is its lack of coherent place identity. This problem has arisen in relation to five main factors: 1) very large, anonymous new metal shed buildings have been added in poor relationships with historic masonry and timber ones; 2)heritage buildings have been re-purposed, and their interior programmes are no longer represented by their architectural facades; 3) enormous, contemporary, and very unattractive buildings such as the TSB Arena house programmes that change throughout the year, preventing the exterior architecture from providing identity to what is happening within; 4) a confluence of conflicting grids has developed over time at this site; and 5) Queens Wharf's important location at the edge of city and sea near the center line of the city's skyline provides a significant opportunity for this site to act as a visual gateway to the capital city, but this opportunity remains unfulfilled. The thesis proposes that architecture can play an essential role in establishing place identity for Queens Wharf by: 1) implicating historic architectural features into new architectural interventions – so that the historic buildings are fundamentally important to understanding the new and vice versa – by integrating the new and the old in ways that present all the stages of the site’s evolution as important chapters in its overall tale; 2) exposing interior programmes to the outside to establish architectural identity through programmatic visibility; 3) establishing new architectural interventions as 'pivots' to help make sense of conflicting grid alignments; 4) arranging architectural interventions as a framing device and an important liminal threshold between the opposing conditions of land and sea.</p>

State of the crop industry of the Republic of Buryatia in the digital age

Agriculture, crop production, analysis, statistics The aim of the study is to assess the state of the crop industry of the Republic of Buryatia and determine the directions of its. The efficiency of use of land resources, production of the main types of crop production, dynamics of crop yields were analyzed; directions of crop production industry development are determined. When preparing the article, methods were applied: comparison, index, relative and average values, graphic, etc., the empirical base is presented by the publications of the Territorial body of the Federal State Statistics Service for the Republic of Buryatia in agriculture, in particular on the crop industry. The results of the study show that the current level of production of crop production does not correspond to the modern needs of the republic. The constraints to the development of the industry are the low level of agricultural culture, frequent droughts, poor technical re-equipment, a small proportion of reclaimed land in the structure of agricultural land and others. Currently, the priority areas in the crop production of Buryatia are the production of feed to meet the needs of the livestock industry and the cultivation of grain crops.

Evaluation of Soil Quality and Maize Growth in Different Profiles of Reclaimed Land with Coal Gangue Filling

Reclaiming subsidence and waterlogged zones caused by coal mining to maintain food and feed supplies is an urgent issue in China. Utilizing coal gangue (CG) as a filling matrix to construct different profiles of reclaimed land in coal mining subsidence has downsides, e.g., due to its low conservative capability of water-fertilizer and crop yield, its lack of quantitative evaluation of soil quality, and its limiting factors of crop growth. Quantifying the soil quality by principal component analysis (PCA), obtaining key soil indicators, and a scoring system can clarify the influence of the profile structure on soil quality and limiting productive factors of soil and ascertain the optimal profile. Soil quality was evaluated by the minimum data set (MDS) of soil quality index (SQI) obtained by PCA in seven different profiles of reclaimed plots constructed in a field with maize planting experiments. The agronomic traits of maize were analyzed and compared. The result shows that the pH value contributed highest in surface SQI value. Maximal and minimal SQI value is 0.57 and 0.18, respectively, the variation of SQI between different profiles reveals it increases with the increase in thickness of overburdens and decreases with the increase in soil interlayer depth of reclaimed land. SQI based on MDS has a correlation coefficient of 0.4280 with maize yield and the same sequence with comprehensive growth of maize in reclaimed plots. Agronomic traits of maize are positively correlated with the nutrient index and SM of the surface soil, and negatively correlated with pH, electrical conductivity (EC), and total salt content (TS). Choosing a thicker surface overburden and control pH of CG preceding filling can effectively augment soil quality and maize growth. This study provides the exploratory means and a scientific basis for the management and improvement of filling reclamation.

The Gateway to the South: Enhancing Connectivity between Port and Town

<p>This thesis explores how issues that have arisen from large scale ferry ports and industrial developments have resulted in disrupting the connectivity to neighbouring townships. It proposes a novel architecturally resolved terminal and ferry port, with a speculative siting in Picton to re-establish a relationship between port and township through connectivity and synergy. Rapid change, growth and master planning within the ferry industry all play a vital role in anticipating land and infrastructural needs. A key interface between a roro (roll-on roll-off) vessel and the shore is essential to ensure optimum traffic flow for fast operation. Due the ferry’s roro service of transporting and carrying vehicles it is common for the main highways to and from the port to bypass a neighbouring township, resulting in fewer tourists visiting the neighbouring town centre. Railway tracks also play a similar role in creating boundaries of segregation between the port and town. In towns where the port is disproportionately large in relation to township, such as Dover in South-East England, Ballygillane, Rosslare Ireland and Picton New Zealand, infrastructural pressures have resulted in an imbalance in hierarchy between the ferry port and the township. It is important to re-establish a relationship between ferry ports and their neighbouring towns to rehabilitate the small township to ensure its place for future use. The thesis investigates architecture’s role in reconciling a large scale ferry terminal with a small township. It asks how architecture, urban design and infrastructure can be applied to a township to enforce connectivity between ferry port and town. This thesis explores the question by proposing a case study design in Picton New Zealand. The relationship that roro ferry terminals have to their local context is impeded by train tracks, rail yards, car parking and marshalling yards. To analyse this large land-use component, the design uses three key functioning scales; Urban, Infrastructure and Architectural. i) Urban: The Urban Design reinforces the connection of the land to the sea. This was achieved by excavating a large portion of reclaimed land. This acknowledges the towns past and history, both topographically and culturally. This was developed into a new marina, bringing the sea edge closer to the township acting as a connection to the terminal and port. (ii) Infrastructure: Functionality and layout is critical, Port infrastructure layouts were studied to determine the most beneficial arrangement. The rail marshalling yards were pushed away from the town centre to eliminate segregation of the township, and the vehicle stacking yards were moved closer to the town to encourage movement between the town and port. (iii) Architectural : The architectural design of the Ferry Terminal uses inspiration from historic narratives and case study analysis from iconic ferry terminals around the world such as Naoshima ferry terminal, White Bay Cruise terminal and Vancouver Cruise terminal. The architectural scale also consists of three other key design elements that enhance the journey from terminal to town a drawbridge, a designed town edge and a redevelopment of the Edwin fox museum. These three structures are positioned on key pathways for community and social interaction. The three scales above identify individual key drivers of each scale in the design. The thesis argues that the introduction of a “new” ferry terminal coupled with a new urban design framework could improve connectivity between the ferry and the township transforming Picton into a more dynamic, economically viable township.</p>