Survey of Portulacaceae family flora in Taif, Saudi Arabia

The presence of weeds in areas of agricultural activities is a hinderance to the development of these activities. It is important to take advantage of the vast open spaces suitable for agriculture and provide food security for humans, and also it is an important indicator for determining the feasibility of growing crops, benefiting from yield and determining the percentage of loss, clearing fields through agricultural practices, that protect crops from weed attack and agricultural practice method must be followed that will reduce weed presence. This study was conducted during the years 2018 to 2020 to evaluate Portulacaceae of Flora in the Taif area in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia at different altitudes (Area 1 =1700 m, Area 2 =1500 m, Area 3 =1500 m, Area 4 =500 m ِ Area 5 = 2200 m, and Area 6 = 2200 m). The results show that there were 2,816 individuals of Portulaca oleracea weed, with the highest density found in A 1, followed by A 2, while in A 5 and A 6, no weeds were recorded. The highest density of weeds were in the Pomegranate fields, followed by Grape fields. The lowest density was found in A man field. The results of this study will help to take the necessary measures to combat weeds and its management in areas of agricultural activity, while more studies are needed to survey the ecology of weeds of Taif in The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.

The Central Arizona Conservation Alliance Programs: Use of Social Media and App-Supported Community Science for Landscape-Scale Habitat Restoration, Governance Support, and Community Resilience-Building

Land managers are currently faced with a nexus of challenges, both ecological and social, when trying to govern natural open spaces. While social media has led to many challenges for effective land management and governance, the technology has the potential to support key activities related to habitat restoration, awareness-raising for policy changes, and increased community resilience as the impacts of increased use and climate change become more apparent. Through the use of a case study examining the work of the Central Arizona Conservation Alliance’s social media ambassadorship and its app-supported community science projects, we examine the potential and realized positive impact that technology such as social media and smartphone apps can create for land managers and surrounding communities.

Open defecation: risk factors for adverse outcomes in Indonesia

The increasing number of Indonesian population has caused serious issue of open defecation. Indonesia ranks the second large of open defecation prevalence in the world, after India. Human’s excrement was disposed in trench, drain, terrace, grassland, backwoods, forest, river, lake or other open spaces, thus, contaminates the water system. Open defecation can lead to the increasing risk of transmission of water-boene diseases of child morbidity in Indonesia. This study aimed at exploring different socio-economic and demographic factors of Indonesians who practice open defecation. Data were obtained from 49,627 female respondents of the 2017 Indonesia Demographic and Health Survey. The data were examined utilizing descriptive and logistic regression. The results reveal that the practice of open defecation is significantly influenced by place of residence, household’s wealth quintile, and household’s water supply. The findings suggest the needs for toilet construction and water supply sustainability in public area as well as in poor neighbourhood to eliminate open defecation in the country.

Experience Them, Love Them, Protect Them—Has the Pandemic Changed People’s Perception of Urban and Suburban Green Spaces and Their Conservation Targets?

Public green and open spaces fulfil various social, ecological, economic, and aesthetic roles, which complement each another, but can also compete with one another. COVID-19 pandemic catalysed multiple societal changes, including citizens’ perception, needs and expectations posed towards urban green spaces. This article discusses the extent to which the temporally and geographically changed patterns of experiencing these natural spaces also influenced users’ perception and behaviour as well as their appreciation of the conservation areas. The study is based upon two surveys carried out in the greater metropolitan region of Vienna, the capital city of Austria. A quantitative survey (representative online panel) among Viennese population (n=1012), as well as qualitive interviews with experts responsible for conservation areas, administrators of federal parks, along with NGOs representatives were carried out in spring and summer 2021. Our study shows the changed use of urban and suburban large green spaces and conservation areas: first, from the perspective of those responsible for the areas as well as the visitors. Both perspectives supplement one another. They highlight also changed perception of urban citizens towards green spaces during COVID-19 pandemic. An increased importance of time spent in nature (68%) and possibility to visit large green areas (67%) was reported by Viennese citizens. Also, higher recognition of green spaces located close to home was observed among 69% of the respondents. Thus, the presented study contributes to the ongoing international discussion on the transition of societal needs and its effects on urban green spaces induced by the pandemic. Presented results deliver solid arguments highlighting the need of urgent transformation towards a more sustainable, resilient and healthy urban space.

STRATEGIC PLANNING FOR OPTIMIZING FLORA PARKS IN SURABAYA BASED ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Public Green Open Space is one of the important components for managing the city. The Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Service in terms of providing public green open space, namely the Flora Park. Flora Park is one of the parks in Surabaya that has the potential to fulfill community rights arising from the presence of public spaces, this can be seen from its strategic location and diversity of facilities. In achieving the optimization of the Flora Park, the Surabaya City Government has explained in the Strategic Plan (RENSTRA) of the Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Service for 2016-2021, namely through the Green Open Space Management Program which includes activities for the arrangement of green open spaces, maintenance, and procurement of park and trail facilities. Green, and Maintenance and Procurement of Recreational Park Facilities and Infrastructure. Therefore, researchers chose the focus of strategic planning carried out by the Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Service.This study aims to identify, identify and analyze the strategic planning carried out by the Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Service in optimizing the Flora Park based on sustainable development in the city of Surabaya and to analyze the driving factors and inhibiting factors of strategic planning in the optimization of the Flora Park in the city of Surabaya. The type of research used in the preparation of this research is descriptive research with a qualitative approach.The results of this study indicate that the strategic planning in optimizing the Flora Park carried out by the Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Service has been running quite smoothly. The strategy of the Surabaya City Cleanliness and Green Open Space Service in optimizing the Public Flora Park based on sustainable development is following the 3 pillars contained in sustainable development which include social-based strategies, economic-based strategies, and environment-based strategies. The driving factor in optimizing the Flora Park in Surabaya is having institutions or organizations involved in optimizing the Flora Park in Surabaya, green open space management programs, having human resources, very high community participation, and collaboration with the private sector. While the inhibiting factor that can affect the success of the optimization of the Flora Park in Surabaya is limited funds for the implementation of activities.

Re-Envisioning Urban Open Spaces

Cities are expanding rapidly, and the impact of dense human-oriented urban systems on ecosystems is both direct (conversion of natural land cover to urban footprint) and indirect. Human settlements are more complex than any other ecosystems as they meet human socio-ecological needs and support local biodiversity. The open spaces of a city with rich cultural character and biodiversity have become important elements of urban design, where urban systems can be planned to coexist with local biodiversity without disturbing the ecosystem. With the need to redefine urban footprint as an ecologically rich urban environment, this chapter addresses the definition of urban open space and questions the coexistence of humans and biodiversity in urban open spaces.

A Methodological Approach for Creating Urban Commons of Wellness in Public Open Spaces in the City of Chania

To investigate the wellbeing factor within the urban context, the authors developed a methodological process for understanding and recreating the term “wellness” focusing on the public open spaces of the city. Using as case study the city of Chania, this research firstly proposes the assessment of four well-being indicators in specific areas of the city linking their effect on people's disposition and then uses the generated data for the redesign of public open spaces in terms of strengthening urban prosperity, with a comprehensive six-step methodology that combines participatory processes and methods based on GIS technologies. This chapter is structured into three main sections as follows: the first section elaborates on the research questions and justification of methods used, the second proceeds with the analysis of the proposed methodology while the third section highlights its overall assessment. Finally, some concluding remarks are expressed for further research.