Experience-driven heritage

<p>Within the Wellington region, there are a number of abandoned military fortifications which were designed as a coastal defence system to protect the harbour from Russian attacks in late 19th Century. Changing circumstances have meant that this coastal defence infrastructure network is no longer functional, and this research aims to bring it back to life. The site chosen for this research investigation is Watts Peninsula, which is enjoyed by only a limited number of the wider public who only visit a small part of the site. The great size and topography of the landscape makes it a serious challenge to manage let alone transform. This site therefore seems to be a great opportunity to explore the disciplinary challenge of how to bring coastal military fortification sites back to life? Traditionally, the way to bring coastal sites with abandoned fortifications back to life is by treating them as heritage projects. They are protected and sometimes developed as more or less significant tourist destinations that display the significance of military history and heritage. This approach tends to break up the landscape into key areas, with the minimal path system required to connect up the various heritage items and locations on the site. This typical approach severely limits the range and richness of experiencing potential of a site like Watts Peninsula. This thesis will approach this project by engaging with the countless experiences found within the existing landscape; stepping the normal heritage approach. Topography, slope, vegetation cover, aspect and views were found to produce a great range of effectively separately experienced patches or landscape-experience zones. This thesis sought to understand how the site produced the involuntary types of movement-experiencing that it did and how it differentiated itself into these experience-zones. The types of experiencing that the site produced seemed to have a great deal to do with the interaction of paths/movement through the various mosaic of experience-zones. The aim of the analysis was to discover the actual and potential ways that the site is differentiated into these experience-areas and the actual and potential movement experiences that could allow access to these areas. The design investigation would aim to maximise the number and variety of these movement and experience-zones. The resulting development would aim to spread a complex mosaic-network of experiencing across as much of the site as possible. This network would be intended to develop in a way where the great richness of possible experiences and the mystery of the site are both increased. The project would require significant funds and so a housing scheme on the southern edge of the site seemed the most obvious way to provide income for such a development. The intended housing development was designed to increase the local population who would have access to the site but hopefully in a manner where the housing would not seriously impact on views to, or the experiences and mystery of the site. Overall, the design development would be intended to transform this landscape into a destination for varieties of adventuring, exploring and experiencing on a remarkable landscape. With the help of the housing, the possibility of this being an urban adventuring destination and the network of paths and experiencing could then provide something of a way to make the heritage transformation of the fortifications themselves a viable prospect. The treatment of the fortifications has not been engaged with in this project. So, it can be said that this research has attempted to avoid the normal way that coastal military fortifications tend to be developed and proposed, instead, an experience-driven approach to the site and to heritage.</p>

Experience-driven heritage

<p>Within the Wellington region, there are a number of abandoned military fortifications which were designed as a coastal defence system to protect the harbour from Russian attacks in late 19th Century. Changing circumstances have meant that this coastal defence infrastructure network is no longer functional, and this research aims to bring it back to life. The site chosen for this research investigation is Watts Peninsula, which is enjoyed by only a limited number of the wider public who only visit a small part of the site. The great size and topography of the landscape makes it a serious challenge to manage let alone transform. This site therefore seems to be a great opportunity to explore the disciplinary challenge of how to bring coastal military fortification sites back to life? Traditionally, the way to bring coastal sites with abandoned fortifications back to life is by treating them as heritage projects. They are protected and sometimes developed as more or less significant tourist destinations that display the significance of military history and heritage. This approach tends to break up the landscape into key areas, with the minimal path system required to connect up the various heritage items and locations on the site. This typical approach severely limits the range and richness of experiencing potential of a site like Watts Peninsula. This thesis will approach this project by engaging with the countless experiences found within the existing landscape; stepping the normal heritage approach. Topography, slope, vegetation cover, aspect and views were found to produce a great range of effectively separately experienced patches or landscape-experience zones. This thesis sought to understand how the site produced the involuntary types of movement-experiencing that it did and how it differentiated itself into these experience-zones. The types of experiencing that the site produced seemed to have a great deal to do with the interaction of paths/movement through the various mosaic of experience-zones. The aim of the analysis was to discover the actual and potential ways that the site is differentiated into these experience-areas and the actual and potential movement experiences that could allow access to these areas. The design investigation would aim to maximise the number and variety of these movement and experience-zones. The resulting development would aim to spread a complex mosaic-network of experiencing across as much of the site as possible. This network would be intended to develop in a way where the great richness of possible experiences and the mystery of the site are both increased. The project would require significant funds and so a housing scheme on the southern edge of the site seemed the most obvious way to provide income for such a development. The intended housing development was designed to increase the local population who would have access to the site but hopefully in a manner where the housing would not seriously impact on views to, or the experiences and mystery of the site. Overall, the design development would be intended to transform this landscape into a destination for varieties of adventuring, exploring and experiencing on a remarkable landscape. With the help of the housing, the possibility of this being an urban adventuring destination and the network of paths and experiencing could then provide something of a way to make the heritage transformation of the fortifications themselves a viable prospect. The treatment of the fortifications has not been engaged with in this project. So, it can be said that this research has attempted to avoid the normal way that coastal military fortifications tend to be developed and proposed, instead, an experience-driven approach to the site and to heritage.</p>

Study on the influence of soil moisture and plant roots on slope stability of dump

Under the background of ecological civilization construction and comprehensive promotion of "green mine" construction in China, for the waste dump formed by a large amount of abandoned soil and slag in the process of mineral resource production, it is one of the important contents of mine ecological restoration to restore and reconstruct the ecology, especially the slope vegetation. Based on the origin of the dump, when rainfall or irrigation water infiltrates into the soil, the physical and mechanical properties of slope soil are changed, and the shear strength of soil is continuously reduced, which has a negative impact on the slope stability. In this paper, we take south mining of DaTang open-pit mine as an example, through field investigation and sampling, laboratory analysis and the computer software analysis method, we set up soil shear strength parameters under different soil water content and different depth of plant roots, using the Slope stability of Slope/W module, establishing the model of slope . Based on limit equilibrium theory to calculate the safety factor, it is concluded that under the condition of the bare Slope stability of Slope soil water safety threshold is 14%. The root system of slope vegetation plays an important role in slope stability, in which the effect of leguminous vegetation on slope stability is obviously better than that of gramineous vegetation. When the soil moisture of slope is 20%, the slope stability coefficient can be increased by 7%.

The Effects of Slope Initialization on the Numerical Model Predictions of the Slope-Vegetation-Atmosphere Interaction

Deep slope movements and, eventually, slope failure, have been often interpreted to be due to slope-vegetation-atmosphere interaction on slopes formed of clayey materials in the Italian Southern-Eastern Apennines, as reported in the literature. Such slopes are generally formed of flysch, within which clay is the main lithotype. Such clays are characterized by a disturbed meso-fabric, as an effect of the intense tectonics. The paper presents the results of coupled hydromechanical numerical analyses of the slope-vegetation-atmosphere interaction for a clay slope representative for the geomechanical scenario where such climate-induced deep slope movements have been repeatedly recorded. In the analyses, different model initialization procedures and parameter values were adopted. The comparison of the numerical results with the site data is aimed at assessing the effects of the soil-vegetation-atmosphere interaction taking place in the top strata of the slope, on the stress-strain conditions across the whole slope, and on the slope stability. The comparison between the numerical results of the analyses carried out entailing different initialization stages are intended to evaluate the influence of such a stage on the model predictions. It is found that only when the slope model initialization accounts for the slope loading history, developed over geological time, the numerical predictions get close to the site observations. In such case, the numerical results confirm that deep movements consequent to progressive failure may take place in clay slopes due to the slope-vegetation-atmosphere interaction.

Growth performance of Mission and Kyasuwa grasses (Pennisetum sp.) under different NPK ratios as potential slope cover

The Mission (Pennisetum polystachio) and Kyasuwa (Pennisetum pedicellatum) grasses are common perennial plants found in tropical regions that tolerates low nutrient soils, easily spread by wind and colonization of new areas. It is a great challenge for researchers to select plant species in terms of their performance for vegetation cover to minimize the sloppy soil erosion. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the growth performance of selected Pennisetum sp. namely P. pedicellatum (PPd) and P. polystachio (PPl) under different NPK ratio. The studied species were treated with three different treatments, F1, F2 and NF under greenhouse conditions. Hydroseeding technique was adopted for germination of the selected species in the polybags and periodically monitored for a duration of six months. Parameters measured for the growth performance of the studied species were based on plant height, total biomass and chlorophyll content. After application of the treatment F1 and F2, the soil pH changed to slightly acidic (pH 5.45) while organic content of soil was slightly increased from 3.2% to 3.9%. A similar result was also found in N and P nutrient availability of the soil. Meanwhile, available K decreased from 29.76 mg/kg to 28.41mg/kg (F1) and 23.83 mg/kg (F2) for PPl species. This trend was also observed by the PPd species. The PPd species with F1 and F2 treatments showed higher value of plant height if compared to that of PPl species. In terms of total biomass and chlorophyll content, PPl species treated with both treatments showed higher value than PPd species. Species treated with F1 showed higher value in all growth performance variables (height, dry biomass and chlorophyll content), if compared to that of F2 and NF treatments. These findings discovered Pennisetum polystatchion (PPl species) as a potential biological material that can be used as a slope vegetation cover.

Evaluation of ecological suitability of rural tourism land — a case study of Xi’an city

Ecological suitability evaluation is an important prerequisite for rational distribution of tourism. Take Xi’an as an example, selecting six factors as evaluation indexes: elevation, slope, vegetation coverage, river, landscape quality and traffic. After using RS, GIS techniques and resorting to factor weighted super-position method and obtaining the results. The results show that the most suitable, suitable, basic suitable, unsuitable and unavailable land of Xi’an rural tourism respectively account for 17.5%, 25.4%, 20.63%, 22.12% and 14.35%. According to the distribution pattern of different suitability, the corresponding land use measures are put forward for development of rural tourism in Xi’an city, which provides a theoretical basis for Xi’an to explore the coordinated path of ecological protection and economic development.