Ecological Planting Imperative: Functional Systems,Not Stylized Ecologies

The ability of landscape architectural projects to mitigate the worst effects of climate change will depend upon designed ecological systems. These systems will be built with plants. Despite the recognition of ecology as an essential driver of landscapes, the professionals of landscape architecture too often lack the knowledge and practical skills to create robust vegetative systems. New approaches and tools are required. This article outlines principles and methods for designing biodiverse plant systems for urban sites. Planting methods that increase species richness, functional diversity, and spatial complexity are emphasized as a way of developing more resilient plantings. Selecting species with similar evolutionary adaptions to stress, disturbance, and competition—as well as creating multi-layered compositions of diverse plant morphologies—allows designers to create compatible, long-lived plant mixes. To balance the increased visual complexity of diverse plant mixes, the article explores design techniques to make plantings more appealing to the public. The strategies explored here are based on the projects, experience, and research of Phyto Studio, a Washington, D.C. based studio. The methods build on work described in the author’s book, Planting in a Post-Wild World, an exploration of how to create designed plant communities.     

Evolving accuracy: A genetic algorithm to improve election night forecasts

In this paper, we apply genetic algorithms to the field of electoral studies. Forecasting election results is one of the most exciting and demanding tasks in the area of market research, especially due to the fact that decisions have to be made within seconds on live television. We show that the proposed method outperforms currently applied approaches and thereby provides an argument to tighten the intersection between computer science and social science, especially political science, further. We scrutinize the performance of our algorithm's runtime behavior to evaluate its applicability in the field. Numerical results with real data from a local election in the Austrian province of Styria from 2010 substantiate the applicability of the proposed approach.     

Barriers and facilitators to following the dietary guidelines for vegetable intake: Follow-up of an intervention to increase vegetable intake

The Dietary Guidelines for Americans (DGA) stress the importance of a diet high in vegetables; however, intake remains low. Recently, we found that self-identified low vegetable consumers ate the recommended daily amounts of vegetables when they were provided gratis but returned to habitual intake when vegetables were no longer supplied. This follow-up study aimed to identify key barriers and facilitators to vegetable consumption and to assess if barriers and facilitators differ between adults who had been provided vegetables in recommended amounts (N = 18) and those who had acted as controls with no vegetables provided (N = 16) during a randomized, controlled trial. Nominal group technique (NGT) sessions were conducted to identify and prioritize perceived barriers and facilitators to following the DGA for vegetables. Responses from all NGT sessions were aggregated and grouped into major themes. Convenience, availability, cost, and knowledge were core facilitators in both groups, while motivation emerged as a facilitator only in the control group. Time, preference, and cost were core barriers in both groups, while availability emerged as a barrier only in the control group and social support a barrier only in the intervention group. The barriers and facilitators identified by the intervention group and the control group from the primary study differed in relative rankings, suggesting that the experience of consuming provided vegetables influenced the strength of the perceived barriers and facilitators. The multi-factorial nature of the identified barriers and facilitators underscores the importance of addressing individual, social, and environmental factors to increase vegetable consumption.     

Energy,exergy and ecological analysis and multiobjective optimization of the hydrogen-fueled Scimitar engine with fixed nozzle geometry

In this study, an energy, exergy and ecological analysis and multiobjective optimization of the Scimitar engine with fixed core nozzle outlet geometry are carried out at hypersonic cruise conditions. A single-objective optimization is performed first, which revealed that overall efficiency and coefficient of ecological performance are maximized with different optimum nozzle outlet areas, and it propounded the need for a multiobjective optimization. The single objective optimization also showed that decreasing the hydrogen fuel mass flow rate and cruise altitude together with increasing the air mass flow rate and cruise speed improve the performance of the engine. Then, the multiobjective optimization is performed with the utopia point method. It is concluded that for fuel and air mass flow rates of 3.99 kg/s and 178.6 kg/s, respectively, and cruise speed and altitude of Ma = 5.2 and 22 km, respectively, the optimum core nozzle outlet area is 4.00 m², when equal weight factors are used for overall efficiency and coefficient of ecological performance. A comparison with the base scenario results showed that the overall efficiency has increased from 55.1% to 57.3%, and the engine size is reduced from 5.38 m² to 4.00 m² with the multiobjective optimization.     

藏族风情自驾旅游区概念规划——以四川松潘县林坡村为例

四川省甘(孜)—阿(坝)民族地区自然环境优美,民族文化浓郁,旅游资源丰富,近年来吸引了大批自驾游客。甘(孜)—阿(坝)地区松潘县川主寺镇林坡村基于生态和少数民族特色村寨保护的理念,围绕区域"硬资源"(自然景观)和"软资源"(民族特色风情)来构建旅游发展格局,形成了民族特色鲜明、生态可持续发展的体验式自驾旅游区。     

土地利用规划的范式转变——基于生态伦理的横断面规划思想的引介

横断面规划的思想源于广阔的区域性议题及可持续发展理念,是应对生态环境问题的一种综合性的规划方法。横断面规划的基础是地理景观,地理景观反映了人与自然的关系,城乡横断面表现了人与自然关系的梯度。基于横断面的形态分类体现了人地关系的刻度,将发展目标转译为某一种形态实质是规定某一种具体的人地关系,是生态伦理价值的具体表现。以横断面分区取代功能分区,把规划调查、分析、设计和开发控制有效地整合在一起,实现了土地利用规划的范式转变。     

城市滨水空间生态系统服务供需匹配的空间智慧

当前生态系统服务空间性研究大多在区域或城市尺度上开展,风景园林生态实践的指导性较为有限,研究聚焦场地尺度,旨在从生态系统服务供需视角看待城市滨水空间的发展与规划设计实践。在已有生态系统服务供需方面文献爬梳的基础上,提出影响需求的三大因素及其需求类型的划分方法,甄别影响城市滨水空间生态系统服务供给能力的核心指标,选取上海苏州河市区段进行实证研究,采取田野调查法、文献研究法,并基于GIS进行需求目标与供给能力的空间制图。通过拟合分析比对创新性地提出指导城市滨水空间生态实践的三大空间智慧:1)基于需求目标研判制定发展策略的空间智慧;2)分段分类型供给满足存量更新需求的空间智慧;3)生态系统服务供需平衡转向匹配的空间智慧,为城市滨水空间的生态实践提出理论依据、评价标准及技术支撑。     

区域空间规划生态分级保护研究 ——以华蓥山东麓为例

生态分级保护是空间规划中重要支 撑性内容,是全面协调生态保护与开发利用 关系,实现各类空间差异化管控,促进区域 可持续发展的重要途径。本文以华蓥山东麓 为例,通过生态功能重要性和生态敏感性评 价,同时结合景观生态安全格局进行分析, 构建生态保护分级指数模型,按保护程度由 高至低将研究区划分为Ⅰ、Ⅱ、Ⅲ、Ⅳ级。其 中,I级保护区为基本生态控制区,实行严格 的生态保护制度;II级保护区为生态缓冲区, 实行生态修复与城乡建设、产业发展负面清 单管理制度;III级保护区为农业生态区,加 强农业生态环境保护,建立健全绿色生态农 业导向机制;IV级保护区主要为城镇村庄生 态区,加强城乡居民点环境保护,推进人居 环境建设。研究结果可为华蓥山东麓生态修 复保护总体规划提供借鉴,对华蓥山自然保 护区与城镇建设区之间生态过渡地带的精细 化、精准化、差别化管理具有重要意义。     

重塑矿山工业景观规划实验(之二)——兖矿集团兴隆庄煤矿采空区重建规划设计研究

我国能源结构以煤炭为主的格局短期内不会改变.煤炭生产造成地表塌陷的采空区日益扩大,极大地消耗着我国形势本已严峻的土地资源.一般来说,采空区的利用就是土地复垦、养鱼、绿化等.该文研究采取一定技术措施,利用煤矸石填筑采煤塌陷区作为建筑用地,造基建房,不仅可减少煤矸石污染、占地问题,同时解决采空区内村庄的就地安置难题,变采空区为居住用地,村民不用搬迁.一举多得,为解决兖州矿区的可持续发展、重建矿区生态环境提供了一条重要的技术途径.