Models, Methods, and Metrics to Measure Socioeconomic Resilience

This chapter aims to discuss concepts and methods to measure the landscape resilience of urban systems and test the indicators framework in the Portuguese regional context. The objective is to measure the performance and the direction of the urban changes in different phenomena, as well as to evaluate the level of urban systems preparation for a desired and undesired change adaptability. The approach to these issues is analyzed in the literature, dividing the aforementioned analysis into the resilience of the economic base, of the social structure, and of the urban form. In brief, the chapter meets three objectives: firstly, defining the framework of principles more commonly associated with urban resilience; secondly, providing a selection of indicators that embodies the different proposals of measurement; and thirdly, applying the indicator matrix to two Portuguese case studies (Caldas da Rainha and Évora urban systems).

Contemporary Urbanizations in Public Water Reservoirs

The most important tourism projects since 2005 in Portugal, privately owned and with European funds, were integrated resorts, mostly located in public water reservoirs, as a result of urban policies to encourage the human occupation of the most interior desertified areas. The Alqueva reservoir, although with no visible results, is an emerging paradigm of urban expansion planned for tourism in these areas. This chapter intends to show the importance of the tourism reservoirs, lost with the economic recession, through an analysis of its territorial management tools and a re-focus on innovative urban regeneration and expansion models, using water as a central element of its development.

Assessing Urban Ecosystem Services

By integrating social, ecological, and economic perspectives, the assessment of ecosystem services (ES) provides valuable information for better targeting landscape planning and governance. This chapter summarizes different participatory approaches for assessing ES in urban areas of three countries. In Belo Horizonte (Brazil), a conceptual framework for the vacant lots ES assessment is presented as an attempt to integrate landscape, social, and political dimensions. In Leipzig (Germany), a combination of site surveys, interviews, and remote sensing provides a valuable data set that fostered a comparative study between two forms of urban gardening. In Lisbon (Portugal), the study is based on interviews that offer a social insight into the horticultural parks situation, which in turn demands a better dialogue with the municipality. In general, the studies demonstrate the potential benefits of utilizing the ES assessment approaches on urban landscapes, especially for better understanding the interactions between people and nature in urban sites.

Cultural Landscape

The “cultural landscape” has been a fundamental concept in geography and was first defined as “landscape modified by human activity” by the German geographer Friedrich Ratzel in 1890. It was introduced to American geography in the 1920s by Carl O. Sauer (American geographer). Since the 1960s, the concept has been widely used in human geography, anthropology, environmental management, and other related fields. One of the major factors that contributed to the recent popularity of its use, on a global scale, was the adoption of cultural landscapes in the International Convention for the World Heritage Convention by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in 1992. In this chapter, the basis of this concept, its emergence, and its relationships with other scientific disciplines, particularly geography, will be discussed. Moreover, the place of cultural landscapes within protected areas and UNESCO world heritage sites will be more specifically addressed.

An Ecological Assessment Analysis

This chapter analyzes the case study of Kanlidere watershed in Cyprus to explore a potential “reintroducing” of the river to its surrounding residential communities (and, on a broader level, to society), in an effective protection and restoration approach of the environment. The Kanlidere (Pedios) is Cyprus' longest river where its watershed has considerable importance for the environmental sustainability of Northern Cyprus. There has been waste, vegetation, and other materials accumulated in the riverbed over many years of neglect, which led to thick vegetation growth and water pooling. This chapter examines the site in order to preserve its overall ecological health, facilitating the improvement of the communities in the future.

Industrial Heritage as an Operative Territorial Resource

This chapter addresses the main existing issues concerning industrial heritage as a territorial resource for the revitalization or valorization of functional landscapes (former or existing). It addresses the conceptual framework of cultural landscape and its possibility as a “horizon concept,” as well as an object of intervention according to a territorial dimension. The proposal of “Cultural Landscape of Alentejo Pyrite” based on three mining sites—Lousal, Aljustrel, and São Domingos within the Iberian Pyrite—was designed to be a territorial project for mining landscapes. This is a previous response to an existing demand for operative methodologies that can convey a new paradigm of territorial planning, with emphasis on interdisciplinary and prospect views. It provides a voice to an architectural and urban planning point of view to these particular landscapes.

Time Operations

This chapter proposes four time operations—gleaning, grounding, stimulating, and transmuting—for practicing time within architecture as an expanded field. By exploring the relationships between the future-past-present through folded time as coexistence and lived time, these time operations unfold the ways to make interprojects for cultural landscape adaptability. First, the background that supports this research is presented, namely, why is it relevant and the main references with which this path was made concrete. Second, the meaning of time is defined as a way to understand what time practice is being deepened. Third, each operation is explored by describing the main features and procedures pertaining to gleaning, grounding, stimulating, and transmuting. Fourth, the chapter discussion continues by revealing the relationships between the operations, namely moving beyond the expected linear succession. The chapter concludes with a hypothesis of further future development as well as the main conclusion and key terms.

Indigenous Cultural Knowledge for Therapeutic Landscape Design

The meanings of place and the relationship between place and health have culturally specific dimensions. This is of particular importance for indigenous people and communities as often regarding landscape as part of a circle of life, establishing a holistic perspective about health and wellbeing. The indigenous Māori of Aotearoa/New Zealand contend that their relationship with the land shapes how the cultural, spiritual, emotional, physical, and social wellbeing of people and communities are expressed. Few studies have explored the influence of the cultural beliefs and values on health, in particular the intricate link between land and health. This chapter broadens the understanding of therapeutic landscapes through the exploration of specific cultural dimensions. It contributes to the expanding body of research focusing on the role of therapeutic landscapes and their role in shaping health, through the development of new research methods.

Urban Landscape Quality Management and Monitoring

The issue of the landscape quality or, more precisely, of its goal was addressed in the European Landscape Convention in 2000 to guide the public authorities and the aspirations of the population concerning their characteristics. It also happens regarding the landscape management that leads the authors to a sustainable development preservation, orientating and conciliating the changes that result from the human interaction with the environment. For a research on urban landscapes management, it is proposed a methodological analysis to the case study of Porto (Portugal) with a historical approach to understand how the increasing pressure of tourism is manifested on its image. The main goal is to identify the quality of the landscape and guide its sustainability towards a constant monitoring of images perception.

Construction Information Map

All developing countries face a construction and serious housing problem, with deep economic and social consequences in the landscape. Promoting and implementing effective and rapid initiatives in rural areas to attract the population and keep them in their places of origin can solve this problem endorsing a reduction of the migration to urban areas. A digital research tool was developed with the purpose of illustrating the compatibility of local natural materials with global industrial technology, creating conditions for the development of versatile and locally sustainable building systems in rural areas of Angola. As a product of this research, a new map with construction information serves as a guiding database to support the sustainable architecture and construction project, which flexible structure allowing it to be used (with appropriate adaptation) in other developing countries.