Natural and anthropogenic systems as an ecological basis for the formation of an urban landscape

Natural and anthropogenic systems are the result of the transformation of natural systems included in the city boundaries. They form the basis for the formation of the urban landscape and are the centers of action of natural processes. They actively influence the development of urban infrastructure. The city of Naberezhnye Chelny is a large industrial center, the second largest in terms of population (more than 500,000 inhabitants) in the Republic of Tatarstan, which is a part of the Russian Federation. Using this city as an example, the article examines such natural and anthropogenic systems as: river valleys, gully-ravine systems and forest plantations that make up the ecological structure of an urban landscape. They are classified according to the degree of their change as a result of anthropogenic impact. There are revealed peculiarities of their influence on the development of the city’s environment.

Modern Landscape-Technical Structure of Vinnytsia City Territory

Purpose. To identify the peculiarities of the modern landscape-technical structure of the city of Vinnytsia in order to improve the urban environment. Methods: systematization of facts, finding of empirical relationships, analytical and cartographic analysis, cartographic, field researches. Results. Vinnytsia is represented by a residential landscape-technical polysystem. Two landscape-technical urban systems are distinguished within the territory of the city: the residential located on undulating loess heights with gullies and ravines covered by oak-hornbeam forests on gray and light gray soils in past; and the industrial-residential located on a flat-undulating loess plateau with gray forest soils and podzolized black soils covered by hornbeam-oak forests in the past. In the structure of these urban systems there are floodplain water-recreational, slope forestry, watershed-road and watershed-field landscape-anthropogenic mesosystems, watersheds of low-rise residential buildings, sloping of low-rise residential buildings, floodplain-terrace of low-rise residential buildings, floodplain-terrace of medium multi-storey residential buildings, floodplain-terrace of industrial-residential buildings, sloping industrial-warehouse buildings, watershed industrial-warehouse buildings landscape-technical mesosystems, watercourse-hydropower, floodplain-pond fishery and floodplain water-recreational landscape-engineering mesosystems. Conclusion. It was found that landscape-technical mesosystems are dominant in the structure of modern landscapes of Vinnytsia, the smallest areas are under landscape-engineering mesosystems. Landscape-technical mesosystems of low-rise residential buildings are dominant by areas. They predominate also in the structure of landscape-technical mesosystems of Vinnytsia. To improve the urban environment, it is necessary to increase the area with landscape-anthropogenic systems of greenery, especially around rivers, roads and industrial enterprises.

Potentially toxic elements distribution in the contaminated bottom sediments by the industrial genesis within Lower Don river system

The work presents the results of studying the content of potentially toxic elements (Mn, Cu, Zn, Cr, Pb, Ni and Cd) in bottom sediments sampled at monitoring stations in the natural-anthropogenic systems of the Lower Don adjacent to the impact zone of the Novocherkassk Power Plant. The relationship between the content of metals in bottom sediments and their sorption properties is largely determined by the conditions of formation and the type of bottom sediments. Evaluation of the potentially toxic element content in sediments indicated that in particle size fractions (≤ 0.001 mm) could accumulate more than 15 times the levels of Cr and Zn and more than 6 times the levels of Cu, Cd and Ni in comparison to the particle size fractions that are 1.0 mm. Local zones of polyelemental pollution of bottom sediments with respect to Cu, Zn, Pb Cd and Cr were determined. These zones are confined to the geochemical sorption barriers of small watercourses of the power plant.

Disasters as Catalysts for Energy Transition.

: The concept of disaster as a positive force for change seems intuitive, but is covered only occasionally in the energy transition literature. We review disaster risk and recovery literature to assess how these types of transformations may be different, and provide a change pathway within the popular Multi-Level Perspective framework. While incumbent systems are by definition stable (making change difficult), disaster can override these challenges by providing simultaneous disruption at all structure levels. By exceeding the capacity of the regime and its established processes and practices, disaster provides an opportunity to reformat social structures through reconstruction and recovery processes. Importantly, significant disruption has the ability to plasticize the landscape for a short timeframe, with potential change within a finite deviation from existing trends. During this disruptive period, the regime and landscape become co-dependent, with any meso-level void filled by a combination of new and reconstructed fragments, working to restore the stability of the foundation. The new regime must then satisfy the resultant set of socially dictated conditions set by the revised landscape to maintain the new structure. The challenge then is not to be restrained by swift recovery of the previous regime, and to form a new set of conditions to deliver improved outcomes that better balance the needs of natural and anthropogenic systems.

Analysis of the Impact of Built Environment on Coastline Ecosystem Services and Values

The degradation of any ecosystem services (ES) and the benefits human being enjoy from nature freely involve multifaceted processes such as those in built environment. The ecological security and multiple functions of the coastal zone of Dar es Salaam is of paramount importance to the sustainability of its natural and anthropogenic systems. Therefore, permanent/temporary conversion of a piece of land for construction space provisions profoundly affects the functionality and connectedness of nature–anthropogenic ecosystem. This study quantified land use landcover changes from Landsat satellite imageries, then evaluated the changes using recognizable coefficients for ecosystem services values (ESV). Applying Geographical Information System (GIS) techniques, the impacts of built environment on ESV were analysed using land use landcover change (LULCC) transfer matrix, carbon stock dynamics and soil erosion influence on soil fauna. The results revealed expansive BE from 10.6 percent in 1995 to 22.8 percent in 2016. Loss of forest by 64.5 percent in the study period explained the declining total ESV by 56.1 percent and per capita recreation potential by 2.3 percent. Similarly, decreasing forest cover led to high carbon dioxide emission, notably, the 353.24 t CO2 ha-1 yr-1 in the period between 1995 and 2005. Furthermore, in 1995 bushland experienced high soil erosion while in 2016 built environment displayed a similar trend as the rest of the land use landcover (LULC) classes. From geospatial analysis, the southern area displayed significant vegetation cover change as compared to the built environment dominant in the northern section of Dar es Salaam coastline. Initiative to reducing built environment by 1 percent saves forest loss by 5.28 percent and carbon sequestration at a tune of 28.95 t CO2 ha-1 yr-1; hence improves ecological services values by 4.60 percent.

ABOUT THE PROBLEM OF THE MEASURABILITY STATES OF COMPLEX SYSTEMS

Recently, there have been prerequisites for expanding the scope of application of formalized models in the social sciences and humanities, but the problem of measurability or quantitative assessment of many concepts in social sciences and humanities is still poorly understood. The purpose of this article is to formulate general principles of integrated assessment, which would be distinguished by the use of an objective approach when creating measurement procedures in relation to the states of complex systems. It is assumed that on the basis of the selected measures of similarity, it is possible to construct a measurement scale for comparing states with each other. The main measurement principles used are the law of corresponding states and the two-point method, which consists in constructing a linear reference process on two states of the reference object. In the proposed method, the main object of measurement and modeling is the state of the system, which is determined, on the one hand, by properties, and, on the other hand, by complex measures related to the entire group of observed objects as a whole. This makes it possible to establish the relationship between the parameters of the properties of objects in the form of equations of state, for which, on the basis of the selected measures of similarity, a measuring scale is constructed for the relative comparison of states with each other. Using specific examples for socio-economic and natural-anthropogenic systems, the process of developing such procedures, which differ in the use of an objective approach to measurements, is illustrated. The use of geometric, probabilistic and empirical measures of similarity in measuring the states of complex systems is demonstrated. In general, the proposed approach can be used for complex measurements in both socio-economic and humanitarian sciences.

A Methodology to Assess Land Use Development, Flooding, and Wetland Change as Indicators of Coastal Vulnerability

Coastal areas around the world are becoming increasingly urban, which has increased stress to both natural and anthropogenic systems. In the United States, 52% of the population lives along the coast, and North Carolina is in the top 10 fastest growing states. Within North Carolina, the southeastern coast is the fastest growing region in the state. Therefore, this research has developed a methodology that investigates the complex relationship between urbanization, land cover change, and potential flood risk and tested the approach in a rapidly urbanizing region. A variety of data, including satellite (PlanetScope) and airborne imagery (NAIP and Lidar) and vector data (C-CAP, FEMA floodplains, and building permits), were used to assess changes through space and time. The techniques consisted of (1) matrix change analysis, (2) a new approach to analyzing shorelines by computing adjacency statistics for changes in wetland and urban development, and (3) calculating risk using a fishnet, or tessellation, where hexagons of equal size (15 ha) were ranked into high, medium, and low risk and comparing these results with the amount of urbanization. As other research has shown, there was a significant relationship between residential development and wetland loss. Where urban development has yet to occur, most of the remaining area is at risk to flooding. Importantly, the combined methods used in this study have identified at-risk areas and places where wetlands have migrated/transgressed in relationship to urban development. The combination of techniques developed here has resulted in data that local government planners are using to evaluate current development regulations and incorporating into the new long-range plan for the County that will include smart growth and identification of risk. Additionally, results from this study area are being utilized in an application to the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Community Response System which will provide residents with lower flood insurance costs.