Participatory Landscape Design and Water Management—A Sustainable Strategy for Renovation of Vernacular Baths and Landscape Protection in Szeklerland, Romania

Szeklerland is a historical-ethnic region located on the eastern border of the Carpathian Basin, in the central region of Romania. In Szeklerland, thanks to its varied topography and a network of small settlements, landscape management is still carried out using traditional methods. Szeklerland is a macro-region rich in natural resources. Among its natural treasures, the mineral water springs with healing properties are of particular importance: around 40 percent of Romania’s mineral water resources are found here. This richness in hydrogeological features is due to the fact that the post-volcanic activities in the young tertiary mountain ranges in the region still produce large quantities of carbon dioxide, which dissolves beneficial minerals from the earth. When dissolved in water, these minerals produce mineral waters that can be used to cure various types of diseases. For centuries, the medicinal properties of the mineral waters of Szeklerland have been regularly used by the local population. In addition to their consumption, small and larger vernacular baths were built in the settlements with medicinal springs, and their regular use led to the development of a traditional, local cold-water bathing culture in the region. However, the vernacular baths were destroyed in the world wars, and their traditional use was abolished by the apparatus of the 20th century communist regime, which had no respect to natural and cultural heritage. After the political change in 1989, the attention of the society turned back to tradition and values. Alongside (or as part of) nature and landscape conservation initiatives, the reinterpretation and restoration of the intangible and practical values of vernacular baths in Szeklerland also began. Over the past decades, the renovation of vernacular baths, which started as a professional–civic initiative, has grown into an independent heritage conservation programme: dozens of vernacular baths have been renovated in Szeklerland over the past twenty years with public participation initiated and led by professionals. In the course of the renovations, baths used by local communities have been rebuilt using nature- and environment-friendly techniques, materials and in a way that they are also related to the physical environment and the mythology of the region. The project has won prestigious awards both in Romania and internationally, and has become a successful and exemplary movement in landscape heritage conservation.

Linking Tree Cover Change to Historical Management Practices in Urban Parks

ContextUrban parks provide critical ecological, health, and social benefits, constituting a substantial proportion of urban tree canopy (UTC) within a given city. As cities set ambitious UTC targets, it is critical to understand the social drivers of UTC changes in parks. ObjectivesWe sought to uncover the feedbacks between social processes, including historical events, and park UTC in a post-industrial city that experienced substantial population loss and urban park disinvestment. Methods Our mixed-methods approach involved quantifying spatiotemporal UTC changes and connecting those changes to historical management practices for three parks in Philadelphia, PA (US). We delineated UTC using aerial imagery between 1959 and 2018, and synthesized information from archival records and semi-structured interviews about historical management practices. ResultsWe found substantial UTC gains between 1959 and 1980, due to both: (a) budget cuts, mowing cessation, and associated unintended forest emergence; and (b) purposeful tree planting and reforestation activities. While some UTC gains were purposeful, others were unintentional and reflect successional processes on unmaintained lands. Contrary to literature suggesting that financial investment would lead to UTC gain, we saw declining UTC following an influx of new funding post-2000 due to construction and ecological restoration. ConclusionsWe found differing pathways leading to convergent outcomes of UTC gains. Across the three parks, differing historical processes and management goals for park landscapes had important ramifications for UTC. Our work suggests that landscape management could benefit from an improved understanding of how historical processes impact land cover.

Cultural landscape management through the application of environmental certifications

Environmental certifications are a tool that aims to measure and evaluate the environmental quality of buildings and their surroundings, with potential collaboration in urban planning. Among the various cultural landscapes that constitute the cities, the historical landscapes can report unique images of urban places, acting as testimonies of the past, which establish connections with the present and serve as reference for the construction of the future. Thus, the need to work the heritage field in sustainable urban management policies is demonstrated. Based on analytical research in the fields of environmental certification and cultural landscape, and documentary research on the Urban-Landscape Set on Avenida Köeler, in the Historic Center of Petrópolis/RJ, the possibility of certifying the set through AQUA/HQE - Neighborhoods was assessed. The aim of this study is to investigate the potential of the environmental certification instrument with regard to the maintenance of historical and cultural values ​​and to the physical conservation of this complex. In addition to meeting the objectives and indicators, the opportunity to establish an urban management program to achieve with excellence the performance of high environmental quality is evident. This study also shows that when analyzing the certification guidelines, as far as the cultural dimension is concerned, a review is needed to better cover the heritage issue, to establish specific guidelines for the conservation of existing landscapes as an incentive to the preservation and promotion of urban quality for current and future generations.

Making Intangibles Tangible: Identifying Manifestations of Cultural Ecosystem Services in a Cultural Landscape

The assessment of cultural ecosystem services (CES) has proved challenging due to their intangible, non-material and invisible characteristics. A number of methods for evaluating CES have been developed, which depend mostly on subjective perceptions and behavior. An objective direction for considering CES is proposed based on the assumption that making use of CES leaves visible manifestations in the physical landscape and human society. The approach developed in this paper attempts to follow this direction by identifying a large amount of manifestations that reflect a wider range of CES types. This approach is applied to a case study of the Weser River in Germany, showing that the local people along the river have benefited from multiple CES of the Weser and created various manifestations of those CES. In the future researches, the identification and documentation of manifestations can be used to map the delivery of CES, to develop indicator systems for CES, to assess heritage value and identity, to indicate spatially explicit preferences on ecosystem characteristics and visual aesthetic qualities, to estimate the economic value of educational and inspirational service, to investigate sense of place, as well as to make better informed landscape management and nature protection.