Atmospheric deposition of potentially toxic elements in a peri-urban industrial landscape: Evaluating legacy vs. current pollution

Moving away from a static concept for the landscape that surrounds us, in this research article, we approach the visual landscape as a dynamic concept. Moreover, we attempt to provide an interconnection between the domains of landscape and cartography by designing maps that are particularly suitable for characterizing the visible landscape and are potentially meaningful for overall landscape evaluation. Thus, the present work mainly focuses on the consecutive computation of vistas along highways, incorporating actual landscape composition—as the landscape is perceived from an egocentric perspective by observers moving along highway routes in peri-urban landscapes. To this end, we developed an integrated method and a Python (version 2.7.16) tool, named “RouteLAND”, for implementing an algorithmic geoprocessing procedure; through this geoprocessing tool, sequences of composite dynamic geospatial analyses and geometric calculations are automatically implemented. The final outputs are interactive web maps, whereby the segments of highway routes are characterized according to the dominant element of the visible landscape by employing (spatial) aggregation techniques. The developed geoprocessing tool and the generated interactive map provide a cartographic exploratory tool for summarizing the landscape character of highways in any peri-urban landscape, while hypothetically moving in a vehicle. In addition, RouteLAND can potentially aid in the assessment of existing or future highways’ scenic level and in the sustainable design of new highways based on the minimization of intrusive artificial structures’ vistas; in this sense, RouteLAND can serve as a valuable tool for landscape evaluation and sustainable spatial planning and development.

Since Pahl’s celebrated 1966 article ‘The rural-urban continuum’, scholars have persistently sought to question and complicate antithetical constructions of town and country. Yet such binary formulations remain stubbornly embedded at the level of public discourse. This chapter explores a type of landscape that, it is argued, became increasingly significant in the twentieth century, referred to here as ‘in-between landscapes’. In-between landscapes could take a wide variety of forms: gardens and parks, views out to distant countryside, ‘ruralized’ roads planted with trees, wooded slopes and ravines too steep for building, water meadows and flood plains, urban commons, and what were perceived to be ‘rural’ enclaves, typified by groups of buildings visibly much older than those encompassing them. These landscapes were at once highly modern, in that they were characteristic, indeed well-nigh universal, elements in twentieth-century urban and peri-urban landscapes, and also resistant to modernity in their marginality and, often, ‘left-behindness’. In exploring how and why in-between landscapes mattered so much to many urban people, this chapter demonstrates that ‘the rural’, both as discursive construct and as spatial practice, continued to play a vital role in structuring lived experience in twentieth-century Britain.

Since Pahl’s celebrated 1966 article ‘The rural-urban continuum’, scholars have persistently sought to question and complicate antithetical constructions of town and country. Yet such binary formulations remain stubbornly embedded at the level of public discourse. This chapter explores a type of landscape that, it is argued, became increasingly significant in the twentieth century, referred to here as ‘in-between landscapes’. In-between landscapes could take a wide variety of forms: gardens and parks, views out to distant countryside, ‘ruralized’ roads planted with trees, wooded slopes and ravines too steep for building, water meadows and flood plains, urban commons, and what were perceived to be ‘rural’ enclaves, typified by groups of buildings visibly much older than those encompassing them. These landscapes were at once highly modern, in that they were characteristic, indeed well-nigh universal, elements in twentieth-century urban and peri-urban landscapes, and also resistant to modernity in their marginality and, often, ‘left-behindness’. In exploring how and why in-between landscapes mattered so much to many urban people, this chapter demonstrates that ‘the rural’, both as discursive construct and as spatial practice, continued to play a vital role in structuring lived experience in twentieth-century Britain.

The ecological value of some fine-scale landscape elements tends to be overlooked when they are found in highly human-influenced landscapes, such as peri-urban agricultural ones. These landscapes usually fall beyond the scope of the defined categories of landscape protection, and are thus mapped as areas of little or no ecological interest in the context of extensive analysis. In this paper, we present a method for assessing and visualizing the existing nodes in the field pattern of a peri-urban agricultural landscape. Nodes are identified from the field pattern and characterized according to the presence of relevant features and land uses from the viewpoint of their ecological functions. The method is applied in the Vega del Guadalfeo (south of Spain). Our results show an innovative map of the Vega which may be interpreted as its eco-structure; a model based on nodes to represent the ecological value of the peri-urban agricultural landscape.

Patterns and drivers of farm-level land use change in selected European rural landscapes

How the Dutch city of Tilburg gets to the roots of the agricultural ‘kampen’ landscape

The pyramids and temples of the Egyptian Old Kingdom (early-mid-third millennium bc) are testament to an epoch of global significance in the evolution of monumental stone architecture. The basalt quarries of Widan el-Faras and gypsum quarries of Umm es-Sawan, located in the Northern Faiyum Desert of Egypt, were key production sites in the foreground of this transformation to large-scale stone quarrying. Yet, the significance and value of these archaeological sites in shaping elements of the cultural landscape of the Northern Faiyum Desert, currently under nomination for World Heritage listing, remains largely in the background. This paper attempts to develop a methodology to articulate ‘outstanding universal value’ and to raise the significance of the largely mundane and non-monumental remains of these production sites. By deploying formulations in landscape archaeologies and key concepts used in the nomination of the Blaenavon industrial landscape in South Wales as a World Heritage Site, it argues for the cultural landscape of the Northern Faiyum Desert authenticating one of the world's oldest ‘industrial’ landscapes related to large-scale stone quarrying.

“New Wilderness” as an Element of the Peri-Urban Landscape

The paradigm shift from traditional branch banking to electronic banking, the newly emerged service delivery channels and rapidly increasing penetration rates of mobile phones are the motivators of this study. Technology has become an increasingly vital element in the competitive landscape of the financial services industry. Innovations in telecommunications have led to usage of mobile devices in banking. This paper reviews recent technological advances in banking and forces that will drive or inhibit mobile banking services adoption. Drawing on the relevant literature and empirical implications of the study, the paper proposes a model that conceptualises different affecting factors in electronic banking environment, and particularly in mobile banking. A quantitative survey sheds more light on this researched issue. The data was collected in Finland during May–July 2002 and includes 1,253 survey responses.

Industrial decarbonisation has become an increasingly important policy issue in recent years, as governments and nations aim to tackle the climate crisis. This study makes use of UK research council and Horizon 2020 data to map the research landscape for industrial decarbonisation. This includes an analysis of 435 projects funded by various UK research councils, and 239 projects funded under Horizon 2020 linked to industrial decarbonisation. This study finds in the UK case, University–Industry–Government links are critical elements of the decarbonisation research landscape. Universities playing key roles in the UK system are often members of the prestigious Russell Group. In the case of the European industrial decarbonisation landscape (as captured by projects funded under Horizon 2020), private firms play a crucial role. This study also maps a country-to-country collaboration network based on industrial decarbonisation research projects funded under Horizon 2020. This study examines the link between country position in the network and share of electricity consumption that comes from coal; no significant relationship is identified.

The article is devoted to the analysis of the functional structure and identification of patterns of spatial and temporal organization of cultural landscapes of the Ukok plateau, which is located in the Southeastern Altai on the border of Russia, China, Mongolia and Kazakhstan. This territory is interesting because, despite the inaccessibility and absence of settlements with a permanent population, it has a long history of economic development, as well as important sacred significance for the indigenous population of Altai. Based on the analysis of literary sources, own field observations, as well as the results of interviews, the main types of cultural landscapes of the plateau: cattle-breeding, border, industrial, environmental-conservation, tourist-recreational, sacred. Each of them has its own internal structure with a characteristic set of elements and obvious spatial coherence. It was revealed that different types of cultural landscapes in their territorial organization are determined by different geographical and social factors – positional (border cultural landscapes), natural landscape (cattle breeding and environmental-conservation), natural resource (industrial), transport and landscape aesthetic (tourist-recreational), historical and religious-mythological (sacred). Modern trends in the dynamics of Ukok's cultural landscapes caused by climatic, socio-economic and institutional changes are also revealed. In particular, the geography of pasture lands and the mode of use of pastures have changed as a result of changes in snowfall, as well as the formalization of the rights of economic use of the territory. The development of tourism determines the diversification of the economic activities of local livestock breeders and the emergence of new elements in the cultural landscapes of Ukok. The borderline and environmental-conservation status of the plateau led to the actual elimination of previously existing hunting cultural landscapes, and the problem of transport accessibility and harsh working conditions became prerequisites for the collapse of the mining industry and the degradation of industrial cultural landscapes. The article contributes to the understanding of the processes of formation and development of cultural landscapes of underdeveloped peripheral territories with a predominance of traditional nature management. It is important to take this into account in the strategic planning of their development.

A total of 56 atmospheric deposition samples were collected on a yearly basis from the Baicheng-Songyuan areas, Jilin Province, Northeast China. Each sample was subdivided into wet (soluble) and dry (insoluble) fractions, and the concentrations of toxic trace elements including As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Hg, Mn, Mo, Ni, Pb, Se, and Zn in both fractions were analyzed. The bulk fluxes and ecological and human health risk of these toxic trace elements in atmospheric deposition were evaluated. The bulk deposition fluxes of toxic trace elements decreased in the order of Mn > Zn > Cr > Pb > Cu > Ni > As > Co >Mo > Cd > Se > Hg. The fluxes of toxic trace elements in dry fraction accounted for 74.7–99.9% of their bulk deposition fluxes, indicating that the atmospheric deposition of toxic trace elements in the study area is predominantly dry atmospheric deposition. The mean values of the geo-accumulation index (Igeo) and enrichment factor showed moderately heavy contamination with Cd via dry atmospheric deposition, but no contamination from other toxic trace elements; Cd and Hg in dry atmospheric deposition were in the moderate to considerable ecological risk levels, while other trace elements were at low ecological risk levels. The health risk assessment showed that the effects of toxic trace elements in dry atmospheric deposition via three exposure pathways were in the order of ingestion > inhalation > dermal contact for adults and children. The mean values of hazard quotient (HQ) and hazard index (HI) of toxic trace elements via three pathways were less than one, indicating that their non-carcinogenic risks in dry atmospheric deposition may be low or negligible for adults and children. The mean values of carcinogenic risk (CR) and total carcinogenic risk (TCR) of As and Cr via the three pathways for adults and children were between 10−6 and 10−4, indicating that the carcinogenic risk levels of As and Cr were tolerable or acceptable, and the mean TCR value of Cd through the three pathways for adult and children was less than 10−6, implying that the carcinogenic risk level of Cd was negligible. Mn, Ni, Cr, and Co in dry atmospheric deposition were mainly contributed from the crustal sources, while As, Cd, Cu, Hg, Mo, Pb, Se, and Zn in dry atmospheric deposition were derived from both crustal and anthropogenic sources. The results obtained in this study advocate the necessity for monitoring atmospheric deposition in some rural areas, and also provide a scientific basis for controlling contamination posed by toxic trace elements in dry atmospheric deposition.

There is a need for knowledge of trace element levels in different population groups. Several applications can be identiŽ ed. One is as reference levels that can be used to detect changes in environmental exposure. Another is to reveal deŽ ciency of essential elements, or in some cases toxicity. Toxic elements need to be monitored, as the exposure may be close to levels where adverse effects can arise. Absorption of elements occurs via the gastrointestinal tract and the lungs, and the absorbed fraction may depend on the route of exposure. Diet is the main source of exposure to trace elements in the general population that are not occupationally exposed. Toxic elements may enter the food chain through contamination of the environment, e.g. through atmospheric deposition or naturally high levels in soil. Essential elements are widespread in most foods, as they are also essential to plants and animals used for food production. Adolescents constitute a little studied group in regard to trace element levels in blood. They have a high recommended energy and nutrient intake per kg body weight. Moreover, a high energy intake may expose them to more toxic trace elements via the diet than adults. However, many adolescents do not consume an adequate diet and may therefore risk deŽ ciency of essential elements. In a longitudinal Swedish nutritional survey, almost 400 adolescents (boys and girls) were sampled for blood and serum at the ages of 15 and 17 years for a trace element study within the survey. The adolescents were living in the two Swedish cities, Uppsala and Trollhattan. The cities differ in that Trollhattan has long had metal industries such as several smelters, while Uppsala is a university city, with almost no industrial metal emissions. The two cities also represent different socioeconomic structures, with a higher percentage of the adolescents’ parents having university-level education in Uppsala. The elements analysed were the well-known toxic elements cadmium, mercury and lead, as well as the essential elements cobalt, copper, zinc and selenium (1). The elements rubidium, platinum, palladium, rhodium, thallium and tungsten were also analysed. The analytical method used was inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), which enables rapid and simultaneous multielement analyses. The trace element concentrations were then related to the adolescents’ age, gender, socioeconomic status and residential area (city) (2). It should be noted that the age factor may also re ect temporal changes in environmental exposure. This is mainly relevant for toxic elements. The in uence of Ž sh consumption on mercury and selenium concentrations, and of dental amalgam Ž llings on mercury concentrations, was also investigated (3). The adolescents’ blood concentration of lead was low from an international perspective, and also decreased between 15 and 17 years of age (2, 4). Decreasing blood lead has been reported in conjunction with decreasing use of leaded petrol, but the present decrease may also be a result of dilution of body burden in the growing adolescents. There was also a signiŽ cant difference in blood lead concentration between Uppsala and Trollhattan (pB0.0005, F ig. 1). Boys had higher levels of lead in the blood than did girls. Reasons for a gender difference may be a higher haematocrit, or a higher energy intake in the boys. The levels of cadmium in blood were signiŽ cantly higher in smokers than in non-smokers (pB 0.0005). Blood cadmium was also positively in uenced by socioeconomic status (2). The reason for this relationship is not obvious, but the higher consumption of vegetables in the higher socioeconomic groups may play a role, as vegetables are one of the main food groups contributing cadmium to the diet. It was shown that in this study population, Ž sh consumption was a statistically signiŽ cant predic-

This concluding chapter weaves together the elements of the multifaceted landscapes of Mount Shamrock. The town and mine were entwined, each reliant on the other for existence and continuity and part of a landscape that extended across several scales. The landscape revealed through this study was found to be meaningfully constituted and social structured to transmit ideas of identity and status. For the residents meaning was embedded in the landscape, created and perpetuated, used and understood, through the mechanisms of journey, narrative and event. This chapter demonstrates the symbiosis of mine and settlement and the efficacy of a landscape-based approach to the investigation of an industrially focused nineteenth century township.KeywordsLandscapeMount ShamrockHistorical archaeologySocialIntegrated

Industrial devastation is a major problem of all mining areas which undoubtedly warrants the incre sing attention being paid to it by geographers.1 A geographical approach to the study of derelict land, subsidence, and the disposal of industrial waste is valuable in providing data on the evolution of industrial landscapes and, more important, forms a basis for planned reclamation and restoration. In a paper previously published in the Journal% the unique subsidence phenomena of the mid-Cheshire saltfield were dicussed mainly from the standpoint of morphology and historical evolution. This short paper forms a sequel in which it is intended to amplify some of the points then raised, but not fully explored, relating to the effects of subsidence on human activities; in particular it draws attention to some new features of the land use problems of the saltfield which it was not permissible to publish when the original paper was prepared in 1954. Subsidence in its more violent forms is now rarely experienced in mid-Cheshire; the cataclysmic upheavals of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries have given way to a more insidious form of subsidence which works stealthily to the same end?dereliction. The change is to be explained largely by the adoption of different techniques of salt working, and by shifts in the location of salt manufacture. An important result of this latter change has been the appearance of subsidence in new areas within the saltfield, mainly near Sandbach. Subsidence was first experienced in this area during the eighteen-nineties, and was probably caused by the pumping of brine at the Wheelock salt and chemical works; it was then relatively insignificant in comparison with the great havoc wrought at Winsford and Northwich, the dominant centres of salt and chemical manufacture. However, after the First World War there were significant changes in the organization and distribution of the mid-Cheshire salt industry, which resulted in the virtual disappearance of salt manufacture from Northwich, the stagnation of the industry at Winsford, and its rapid expansion at Middlewich and Sandbach. 3 The consequent changes in the distribution and character of industrial dereliction can be seen from a comparison of the two maps (Fig. 1: a, b), which show the several elements of the industrial landscape in 1932 and 1957 respectively. The growth of the salt industry at Middlewich and Sandbach was accompanied by the formation of several large subsidence flashes within the area (Fig. 2a). Most of these were of the trough-like variety associated with natural brine pumping and, as they often lay in the valleys of rivers and small streams, the troughs were soon permanently flooded. It is unfortunate that the growth of salt manufacture in this part of the saltfield antedated the introduction of controlled brine pumping for, although most of the damage has occurred in unpopulated areas, this southward expansion of subsidence is a disturbing feature which shows little sign of abatement.4 Just as the expansion of salt manufacture at Middlewich and Sandbach has had unfortunate repercussions, so the almost complete decay of the salt industry at Winsford has appreciably reduced the incidence of subsidence. The great flashes to the south of the town have grown but little since the nineteen-thirties (Fig. 1: a, b) and have begun to silt up in part. In the Northwich area the introduction of controlled brine pumping by the chemical industry, the abandonment of the brine shafts which tapped the bastard reserves in the flooded rock-salt mines, and the contraction of the salt industry have combined to make subsidence much less virile than it formerly was. This does not mean to say that subsidence is no longer a problem over much of