Complexity in urban agriculture: the role of landscape typologies in promoting urban agriculture’s growth

This research identifies the potential shortcomings of local initiatives to encourage urban agriculture projects by comparing citywide efforts with existing community projects. It investigates how more effectual policy might be developed to accommodate a fuller range of urban agriculture projects, and how urban agriculture stakeholders might use clearer promotion processes to meet stated goals. It hypothesizes the important role of clear urban agriculture definitions, typologies, and links to associated benefits towards meeting the stated goals of policy-makers. Utilizing San Francisco in California as a case study, this paper investigates recent efforts at citywide urban agriculture promotion.     

Valley landscape management: the context of a ‘river contract’ in the Semois valley,Belgium

A trans‐boundary and multi‐disciplinary approach to the river contract project for the Semois valley in Wallonia (Belgium) is described that provided the opportunity for a landscape‐scale focus during actions to restore the watercourses and the associated valley area. A trans‐boundary landscape survey was carried out under the context of the Interreg III European programme. This resulted in the rediscovery of lost views and viewpoints within the landscape and in the implementation of actions leading to the opening up of the valley, which provided opportunities to re‐establish lost landscape features, such as hay meadows. The gathering of many partners in the negotiation process of this project can be seen as an example of ‘landscape democratization’ or participative management of landscapes in a trans‐boundary and trans‐disciplinary context and as such this project is a concrete realization of the aims of the European Landscape Convention (ELC).     

Virtual enclosure,ecosystem services,landscape’s character and the ‘rewilding’ of the commons: the ‘Lake District’ case

Abstract

It is paradoxical that, while there is a generally increasing recognition of the scientific and cultural importance of conserving ‘semi-natural’ pastoral environments, and the negative effects of their widespread abandonment and overgrowth, British ‘rewilding’ activists and environmental managers are effectively advocating policies that will have a similar negative effect on the character of the semi-natural pastoral commons of places like England’s iconic Lake District. This situation, it will be argued, owes to the mindset of ‘virtual enclosure’ whereby the character of landscape is pre-defined by an assumed, behind-the-scenes, Euclidean/Ptolemaic spatial logic that leads to the comprehension of nature as a bounded scenic property; an (e)state of nature with its own economic system and services. This mindset is antithetical to both the practice of pastoral commoning and much contemporary natural science and conservation policy. It fits well, however, with older teleological ideas of nature, as well as modern ideas of privatisation, private property and management control.     

From urban beautification to a holistic approach: the discourses of ‘landscape’ in the Arab Middle East

The English word and Western idea of landscape was introduced during the colonial restructuring of Arab cities in the early decades of the twentieth century. Thereafter, landscape came to be understood predominantly in the context of urban modernity, associated with the Western picturesque tradition adopted in landscaping municipal parks and public urban spaces. The formal conception that prevails today precludes a broader appreciation of landscape as a source of livelihood, the fabric of lived-in experiences and collective identities, just as it reduces the scope of landscape architecture, an emerging profession in the Arab Middle East, to urban beautification. Inspired by the integrative and community-centred conception advanced by the European Landscape Convention, this paper argues for a holistic landscape approach that contributes to development while responding to regional environmental and ecological constraints. The methodology of ecological landscape design is applied to secure a holistic reading of people and place and to engender integrative solutions that address socio-economic, environmental and heritage concerns. A selection of projects are cited to demonstrate the potential of a holistic approach in changing current limited perceptions of landscape and in expanding the discourse of landscape in the region beyond the current focus on appearance and beautification.     

Botanical relics of a lost landscape: herborising ‘upon the Cliffs about the Pharos’ in Genoa,March 1664

This paper uses approaches derived from historical ecology to show how knowledge can be gained about the historical and cultural value of neglected urban landscapes. We study the area around Genoa’s lighthouse and consider the long-term survival of individual plant species and some implications for landscape conservation. We examine topographical representations over the last 500 years to establish the landscape context of the lighthouse. We then analyse the records of plants collected by two English naturalists of the seventeenth century, John Ray and Francis Willughby, and demonstrate how the plants were identified and documented. We survey the current vegetation to establish whether any species identified in 1664 still grow at the site. This exploration of botanical ancestry at a local scale makes it possible to demonstrate cultural–historical values of the lighthouse rocks and their vegetation which should be considered as part of the cultural heritage of the city of Genoa.     

The ‘landscape scale’ in planning: Recent experience of bio-geographic planning units in Britain

Landscape-scale mapping is becoming more widely used as an approach to identifying ‘characteristic’ units of countryside for information gathering and policy delivery purposes. A number of innovative approaches currently being developed and applied in Britain are reviewed. The justifications for producing these methods, as reflected in published sources, are analysed. Interviews with selected professionals, who identify various benefits for more effective policy delivery, integrated planning, partnership formation and public engagement, are reported on. Most of the approaches also override administrative boundaries, which enables a more naturalistic reflection of environmental systems, whilst also creating some political difficulties. Other problems are associated with cost and subjectivity. Overall, the methods are likely to improve joined-up rural decision making, but further research into their effectiveness is needed.     

Detecting people’s and landscape’s identity in a changing mountain landscape. An example from the northern Apennines

Mountain areas in the northern Apennines (Italy) were historically characterised by rural landscapes. Since the 1950s, rapid and widespread land abandonment caused large transformations in the landscape that resulted in a landscape identity crisis. Currently, many people continue to identify and associate themselves with a landscape that no longer exists, whilst others identify themselves with a future landscape that as yet does not exist. This paper explores the concept of landscape identity through empirical research based on a series of in-depth interviews, examination of the contextualised conspicuous spatial and temporal changes and consideration of individual and collective identities. Therefore, firstly, factors influencing the changes in landscape identity through time are identified and, secondly, so-called ‘tipping points’ and their consequential impacts on landscape identity loss or change are detected. Finally, it is the intention of this article to explore and discover the ways in which the concept of landscape identity can be approached and employed in a continuously changing environment.     

‘This is not the jungle,this is my barbecho’: semantics of ethnoecological landscape categories in the Bolivian Amazon

Through a case study with Spanish-speaking Takana indigenous people in the Bolivian Amazon, we explored ethnoecological landscape categories, including their ecological underpinnings, cultural significance and hierarchical organisation. Using field walks and interviews with consultants, we elicited 156 ethnoecological landscape categories, 60 of which related to vegetation types. However, sorting exercises with landscape photographs revealed that vegetation was not a guiding organisation principle. Takana consultants organised ethnoecological landscape categories into geographical regions that contained different landscape features, including vegetation units, topographical or hydrological features. Comparing the documented ethnoecological landscape categorisation with a published scientific botanical classification of vegetation units, we observed some important conceptual differences, which in turn have implications for the management of such landscapes.     

Productivity in buildings: the ‘killer’ variables

Losses or gains of up to 15% of turnover in a typical office organization might be attributable to the design, management and use of the indoor environment. There is growing evidence to show that associations between perceived productivity and clusters of factors such as comfort, health and satisfaction of staff. Some of the management, design and use characteristics which contribute towards better energy efficiency also help productivity, thereby helping to close the loop on a potential ‘virtuous’ circle. Unfortunately, the vast majority of occupied buildings do not have these self-reinforcing qualities and many are unmanageably complex. This paper examines which factors within the control of building designers and managers best contribute to human productivity - the ‘killer’ variables of the title.

L'étude, la gestion et l'utilisation de l'environnement intérieur peuvent être á l'origine de pertes ou de gains pouvant atteindre 15% de la rotation du personnel d'une organisation administrative. Il apparaít de plus en plus qu'il existe des liens entre la productivité perçue et des groupes de facteurs tels que le confort, l'hygiène et la satisfaction du personnel. Quelques unes des caractéristiques de gestion, de conception et d'utilisation qui contribuent à un meilleur rendement énergétique sont également benéfiques pour la productivité, ce qui permet de fermer la boucle d'un cercle vertueux potentiel. Malheureusement, la grande majorité des bâtiments occupés ne possèdent pas ces qualités d'autorenforcement et dans de nombreux cas, sont impossibles à gérer de par leur complexité. Cet article examine quels sont les facteurs que peuvent maîtriser les architectes et les responsables et qui peuvent contribuer au mieux à la productivité de l'Homme (les variables majeures du titre).     

Sizing up ‘the box’ in order to fit in

Participants in design processes make an effort to come up with solutions that will be deemed acceptable, while accomplishing to ‘think out of the box’. Thinking ‘outside the box’ is often announced as a challenge to and for design teams. ‘The box’ is a metaphor often used in creative processes, and in organisational practices, as a term for rules and regulations, everyday routines and tacit knowledge of ‘how things usually are’ and ‘what we know about the world’. Such a challenge is meant to encourage participants to approach a situation with an open mind, challenge the most basic assumptions and be willing to do things differently. Basically, something different is being called for. Studies have shown that it is striking, how much the participants orient to actually ‘fit’ the box, even when asked to develop it. This paper shows how participants in design processes are ‘sizing up the box’, while participating in meetings or workshops in order to develop a design. They identify key stakeholders of the designated design project; they share their own expectations of these key stakeholders' possible perceptions, discuss the success criteria and negotiate the values that are to govern the design team in the development process.     

Landscape and the philosophy of aesthetics: is landscape quality inherent in the landscape or in the eye of the beholder?

The paper proposes that landscape quality assessment may be approached on the basis of two contrasting paradigms, one which regards quality as inherent in the physical landscape, and the other which regards quality as a product of the mind – eye of the beholder. These are termed, respectively, the objectivist and subjectivist paradigms. These paradigms underlie the surveys of the physical landscape and studies of observer preferences.Examination of these paradigms through the approaches taken by philosophers from Plato to modern times demonstrates the ubiquity of the paradigms in underlying human perception of landscape. Until recent centuries, the objectivist paradigm provided philosophers with the basis for understanding beauty, including landscape beauty. However, the philosophers Locke, Hume, Burke and particularly Immanuel Kant identified beauty as lying in the eyes of the beholder rather than in the object. The parallels between Kant's aesthetic philosophy and contemporary theories of landscape quality based on an evolutionary perspective are examined. Most philosophers over recent centuries have adopted the subjectivist view of aesthetics.The paper concludes by proposing that only the subjectivist model should be used in research of landscape quality.     

The ‘Manchester’ landscape evaluation method: a critical appraisal

The discovery of ozone holes and the potential warming of the planet will create a situation to which landscape architects must be prepared to respond. Suggestions as to possible actions are given.     

‘The imaginary texture of the real …’ critical visual studies in landscape architecture: contexts,foundations and approaches

In this paper I examine potential for critical visual research studies in landscape architecture and related disciplines. The reasons for a neglect of imagery in research publications and the gap between landscape architectural practice and theory are considered, and the ways in which this restricts understanding are explored. I argue that visual studies can be used to bridge the practice–theory divide and enable investigations which are currently limited or absent in text-based methods and dissemination. To this end, five kinds of visual study are defined and their philosophical and methodological underpinnings and potential discussed. I conclude with an examination of the relationship between critical thinking and visual processes and the role of the viewer. The overall aim is to provide openings for future visual research studies and the development of critical visual discourses.     

The real estate ‘tsunami’ in Spain: the administration of urban growth in the case of Arroyo de la Encomienda and Valladolid,Spain

The ‘Bilbao effect’ was a key argument in the debate over Oslo's new opera house, set to open this spring. Geographer Marius Hofseth presents Norway's largest urban development project in light of political debates on the role of culture in urban development.     

‘Ma and Pa’ Landlords and the ‘Risky’ Tenant: Discourses in the New Zealand Private Rental Sector

Social constructions of what it means to let and rent housing are revealed in language and are intimately tied to housing outcomes for both landlords and tenants. This paper is concerned with the socially constructed identities of landlords and tenants in the private rental sector and how these are revealed in language. Fairclough's methods of discourse analysis coupled with Habermas' ideal speech situation and theory of communicative action are used to form an analytical framework for examining public debate and discourse on the private rental sector in New Zealand. It is argued that current discourses about tenants and landlords are the result of public debate and stereotypes that have failed to incorporate the experiences of tenants, and further that these stereotypes conceal the multiplicity of identities and motivations for behaviour of both landlords and tenants.     

An examination of the ‘rule of law’ and ‘justice’ implications in Online Dispute Resolution in construction projects

This paper examines the ‘rule of law’ and ‘justice’ implications of using Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) platforms as technology-mediated interfaces for small claim dispute resolution in construction projects. Data is obtained from a questionnaire survey of construction stakeholders, administered using direct non-random sampling of professional contacts with the authors. Data is analysed using SAS 9.4 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC) on a Windows 7 platform. Surprisingly, study findings do not suggest any ‘rule of law’ and ‘justice’ implications for small claim ODR. Tentatively, this conclusion supports wider use of ODR. The originality of the study is that although there is considerable academic and practitioner interest in various alternative forms of dispute resolution (ADR), both practitioner use and academic study of ODR remain sparse. Thus, this study serves as a foundation for further empirical exploration of ODR as a nascent component of ADR.     

‘Day Labour’ and ‘Xenophobia’ in South Africa: the Need for Mixed Methods Approaches in Policy-Orientated Research

Much policy-orientated research in South Africa relies solely on large-scale surveys. Little or no case study research is undertaken as part of studies despite broad international acknowledgement of the benefits of mixing methods. In the South African poverty and demographic literature, strong arguments have been made for the incorporation of case study approaches to arrive at a deeper and more accurate understanding of social phenomena. This paper, which draws on an ethnographic study of ‘day labourers’ (both South African and foreign) in Cape Town, together with an extensive range of relevant literature, extends this line of argument to research on casual employment and relations between South Africans and foreign nationals. It highlights a number of questionable assumptions and superficial analyses present in previous survey-based research on these topics. It also discusses the potential contribution of more case study work and some of the practical issues associated with linking methodologies in development research.