Green Places Research Articles

The Bolotnaya Square: Urban Design in Moscow between social activities and political protests

The article is aimed to explore the so-called Turn to the City in Moscow, as a part of which the city has experienced a growth of interest in the redevelopment of the post-Soviet urban structure; and urban design is considered one of the tools of this redevelopment. On the one hand, the turn to urban design is based on the attention to public, green, and pedestrian places and social activities within these places; on the other hand, it is able to undermine the power of oppositional movements in the city, which also take place on the redeveloped sites. These contradictions between social activities and political protest are analyzed in the case study of the Bolotnaya Square, which became widely famous as a public place during the political actions of 2011- 2012.

PLEASURE PALACE

1 4 6 Y P L E A S U R E P A L A C E C H R I S T I N E K W O N I could direct your eye or tapping foot, direct your ear but I could not direct you here, a bright green place, the sun flooding leaves instead of lids, as if I placed them there, in pleasure of my body and the world, minus body and world, the relationship left to move bodiless, like a season. Once, mid-dance, a girl’s eyes, like Vaseline, clarified, rolling to white as if in sudden boil. She had been mouthing along. I saw a word taut between her lips and life, its twisting shape, and I knew it wasn’t solely drugs but her backpedaling, her posture alone in bed, its embarrassing requests, clinging to the eΔuvial, stamped, glittered, lost. ...

THE CONCEPT OF UNDERGROUND SPACE DEVELOP-MENT CONTROL IN SOUTHERN BADUNG AREA

Culture is a basic component of Balinese people’s lives. All development activities have a purpose relative to the culture and values implicit in the concept of the traditional Balinese spatial plan. However, with changing times, there has been development which is not accommodated in the Balinese traditional spatial concept. This development is underground space development. As a result, the status of this development is pending, based on formal and non formal policies. Besides that, this development is unseen and therefore largely unknown and its suitability to environment hasn’t been measured yet makes its sustainability status is in uncertain state. This paper addresses the concept of controlling the underground space development in the Southern Badung area based on Balinese traditional spatial concept and with a sustainable development approach. The result identified that underground space development in Kuta village was dominated by commercial development as parking lots. There are three zones identified based on suitability for underground space development in Kuta village which are low suitability zone, medium suitability zone and high suitability zone. The evaluation in terms of culture and environmental suitability showed that there were seven priority criteria in formulating the concept of its development, namely: outside of open green place, had mitigation system for disasters, outside of Tahura Ngurah Rai, outside of the coast border, outside of and not directly adjacent to the Holy Region, outside of and not directly adjacent to graves of Kuta. The main result of this research is a concept of underground space development control to create sustainable tourism in Kuta village.

Global concerns on human settlement and cross-cutting issues in living environments

The total population of the world reached 7 billion in October 2011, and the United Nations has forecasted that the world population in 2050 will be around 9 billion. What are the environmental implications of rapid population growth? Globally, over half of the world’s population (54%) lives in urban areas in 2014 although there is still substantial variability in the levels of urbanization across countries. If we review the history, in 1800, only 3% of the world’s population lived in urban areas. In 1900, almost 14% of populations were urbanites and in 1950, 30% of the world’s population resided in urban centres. The world has been experiencing unprecedented urban growth in recent decades. The coming decades will bring further profound changes to the size and spatial distribution of the global population. The continuing urbanization and overall growth of the world’s population is projected to add 2.5 billion people to the urban population by 2050, with nearly 90% of the increase are being concentrated in Asia and Africa. At the same time, the proportion of the world’s population living in urban areas is expected to increase, reaching 70% by 2050. The process of urbanization historically has been associated with other important economic and social transformations, which have brought greater geographic mobility, lower fertility, longer life expectancy and population ageing. Cities are important drivers of development and poverty reduction in both urban and rural areas, as they concentratemuch of the national economic activity, government, commerce and transportation. Urban living is often associated with higher levels of literacy and education, better health, greater access to social services, and enhanced opportunities for cultural and political participation. Nevertheless, rapid and unplanned urban growth threatens sustainable development when the necessary infrastructure and policies have not been developed or not been implemented to ensure that the benefits of city life are equitably shared. Today, despite the comparative advantage of cities, urban areas are unequal and hundreds of millions of the world’s urban poor live in sub-standard conditions caused by rapid sprawl, pollution and environmental degradation, together with unsustainable production and consumption patterns. The United Nations’ system has an essential role to support work for amore sustainable future for everyone. The concept was globally inaugurated in 1987 by the World Commission on Environment and Development (so-called BrundtlandCommission). In the last two decades, the concept of ‘Sustainable Development’ has become essential political and ethical guideline for dealing with the Earth’s ecological and social crisis. The paper on the historical evolution of the concept of sustainability is thought to be a contribution to the 20 th anniversary of the report of the Brundtland Commision, which paved the way to the Rio summit and defined ‘sustainable development’ in 1987 as ‘a development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. This particular way of thinking and acting is deeply rooted in the cultures of the world. The United Nations has introduced a programmatic guideline for the 21 st century’s urbanization and this should be integrally connected to the three pillars of sustainable development: economic development, social development and environmental protection. The UN programme for human settlements (UNHABITAT) was established in 1974 to provide a focal point for all urbanization and human settlement matters within the UN system and is mandated by the UN General Assembly, which has an aim to help the urban poor by transforming cities into safer, healthier, greener places with better opportunities where everyone can live in dignity. The main documents outlining UNHABITAT’s mandate are the Vancouver Declaration on Human Settlements (Habitat I), the Istanbul Declaration on Human Settlements (Habitat II), the Declaration on Cities and Other Human Settlements in the new Millennium Development Goal (MDG). The MDGs are eight goals that all 191 UN member states

Strengthening ecological mindfulness through hybrid learning in vital coalitions

In this contribution a key policy ‘tool’ used in the Dutch Environmental Education and Learning for Sustainability Policy framework is introduced as a means to develop a sense of place and associated ecological mindfulness. The key elements of this tool, called the vital coalition, are described while an example of its use in practice, is analysed using a form of reflexive monitoring and evaluation. The example focuses on a multi-stakeholder learning process around the transformation of a somewhat sterile pre-school playground into an intergenerational green place suitable for play, discovery and engagement. Our analysis of the policy-framework and the case leads us to pointing out the importance of critical interventions at so-called tipping points within the transformation process and a discussion of the potential of hybrid learning in vital coalitions in strengthening ecological mindfulness. This paper does not focus on establishing an evidence base for the causality between this type of learning and a change in behavior or mindfulness among participants as a result contributing to a vital coalition but rather focusses on the conditions, processes and interventions that allow for such learning to take place in the first place.

Managing Urban Wellbeing in Rural Areas: The Potential Role of Online Communities to Improve the Financing and Governance of Highly Valued Nature Areas

The urban and the rural are increasingly interconnected. Rural areas have become places of consumption, as leisure and recreation have become important functions of rural areas. There are also indications that increased urbanisation even leads to a stronger appreciation of green areas situated far beyond city limits. Rural areas with their highly valued natural amenities nowadays seem increasingly to host urban wellbeing, given the positive relation found between green areas and human wellbeing. We provide empirical evidence for this urban–rural interconnection, using results from a survey in the Netherlands. In addition to their attachment to local and regional green places, survey results show that residents of the capital city of Amsterdam have a high appreciation of a wide range of natural, rural places throughout the country. We argue that these (until now invisible) urban–rural ties should be made more visible because these natural areas enjoyed by urban residents can no longer be taken for granted. Financial and other support for nature conservation are therefore needed. However, to organise support for nature can often be problematic because nature is a public good and collective action is often difficult to launch. The invisible and distant ties of urban dwellers for rural areas complicate the task even more. Nevertheless, it is increasingly recognised that the Internet opens many doors for community building and may help to overcome the “illogic” of collective action. In the research project “Sympathy for the Commons”, we aim to investigate the possibilities provided by the internet by building online communities around nature areas and enquiring into the available support and funding that these communities can provide.

Praise as Protector of the Natural World

Praise as Protector of the Natural World Kathy Abbott About two miles from my parish, there is a place where on these blazing hot summer days, you can enter a green lawn under an enclosure of towering oak trees and feel ten degrees cooler. The oaks surround an ancient spring‐fed pond, which has been enlarged and adapted over the years into a pond/swimming pool hybrid. In the 1930s children dove off a floating dock in the middle of the pond, but now they use diving boards and tubular plastic slides along a straight cement wall at the deep end. Despite the cement, the tree canopy and the pond's rounded, dark shape provide the impression that you are at a serene, natural body of water. In fact, native frogs have this impression too, since each August they find their way to the grassy, shaded edge of the water, much to the delight of frog‐catching children. This green place is special, and a new historical marker put up in 2010 says as much. It was founded in 1929 by a group of Jewish summer homeowners from Brooklyn. The pool plus 150 acres were known as The Colony until 1969. The original owners enlarged the natural pond, stocked it with fish, and also allowed swimming. The pool transferred to municipal ownership in 1969 and has been managed and maintained by municipal employees ever since. Because it is a municipal pool, the landscaping is not on par with private swim clubs, but those majestic old oaks are inviting. Since 1995, I have raised my children on the partially shaded beach side of the pool. Under the trees, parents park their strollers and let infants and toddlers sleep. Mothers, protected by a blanket, nurse infants. There are two play structures, one for toddlers and one for older kids, in the wooded recesses around the beach area. Both are welcome respites from the sun at the water's edge. Lots of people know the pattern of the sun, and set up their chairs on the side of the beach where the shade grows as the day progresses. Others place their chairs at the edge of the shade closest to the water in the morning, and then follow the shade as it gradually retracts. Shade is what the skin doctors order, especially for children under age 3. There is something else the shade offers. You feel an almost parental comfort from the stately trees. When you reach a relaxed equilibrium of playing, chatting or observing, you may notice the abiding presence of the trees. Amidst the gentle rustle of the leaves, you can become in tune with the hum, the perpetual motion of the earth's energy within and without. The trees are breathing themselves, sending our lungs pure oxygen, and we, in a divinely complementary way, return the favor by breathing out carbon dioxide. In addition, the trees are performing transpiration by releasing fine water droplets through their leaves, thereby cooling all organisms living beneath their canopy. As one of these organisms, you may sense that you are nourished and suspended in a larger whole. This feeling of comfort from nature, this almost womb‐like experience, is called Biophilia, the love of nature. Biophilia, a term coined by biologist E.O. Wilson, leads us to seek recreation in beautiful natural places, with water, scenic landscapes and clear skies. We want to re‐charge, re‐create ourselves in natural spaces where we momentarily feel free from personal obstacles and challenges. Theologian David Toolan, S.J. calls this felt‐sense of belonging to the infinite a “cosmic embrace.” This intuited awareness of participating in something larger than ourselves is also what theologian Karl Rahner, S.J. defined as the human capacity for “pre‐reflective,” “pre‐conceptual” knowledge that the divine is incarnate in our world. St. Augustine referred to this same non‐verbal knowledge of God when he wrote in the 4th century that Christians, of which the vast majority were illiterate, could read the “Book of Nature” equally as well as the sacred scriptures to find illumination about the order, beauty and love of God. Our ancestors set to music this knowledge of...

Nature-deficit disorder: evidence, dosage, and treatment

Claims have long been made of the health-promoting effects of contact with ‘nature’, but these claims have only recently been subjected to rigorous scientific testing. A strong body of evidence is now in hand. An array of studies ranging from rigorous experiments to large-scale epidemiological work has tied nature to health for outcomes ranging from childhood obesity, to immune functioning and rates of physician-diagnosed disease in adults, to longevity in older adults. Moreover, enough evidence has accumulated to begin to answer key questions about the dosage of nature needed to promote health. Do all forms of nature seem to help? Do small bits of nature help, or is some minimum level required for an effect? Similarly, to what extent is an explicit focus on nature necessary – are effects limited to fishing, hiking, gardening, and the like? The evidence to date suggests, broadly, that total exposure is important; all forms and quantities of exposure are helpful; and the greener the better. From these insights into dosage, nine recommendations are drawn for addressing nature deficits at the population level: green everyday places and views; bring green spaces closer; bring green activities and events closer; make spaces and programs fit nearby users; make green spaces serve multiple activities and uses; support longer visits; reconsider barriers to use; help people start green activities; and help people continue green activities.

Urban Scotland in Hugh MacDiarmid’s Glasgow Poems

Hugh MacDiarmid is sometimes still thought a parochial poet, mostly interested in the depiction of rural Scotland. However, in the 1930s, he wrote several poems about the city of Glasgow but his work on urban predicaments has been largely forgotten. In his Glasgow sequence, MacDiarmid, along with many other writers in the 30s, redefines Scotland as an urban nation. Post-industrial Glasgow urges the whole country to “re-write” itself and the canonical representation of rural Scotland to fade away. Scotland is mercilessly deconstructed in “Glasgow 1938”: Glasgow is no longer “a dear green place”, Scotland no longer a land of peasants but urban hell where filthy disease and dirty capitalism spread around, murdering creation and culture. The stones of Glasgow reveal the betrayal of old Scotland, whose imaginative voice has been muted by sentimentality, Anglo-Scottish education and Calvinism. But even through scathing criticism, it is the need to “re-write” Scotland as a cradle of cultural and political change that emerges. How to “re-write” a nation? By letting anger and its poetical rhythm redefine Scotland and turn it into a communist city of light. The style and syntax of the Glasgow poems tend, not only to express meaning, but to perform. This attempt at writing a long poem stems from MacDiarmid’s experiments to rebuild Scotland anew, from his faith in the political and performative power of his poetry. To “re-write” Scotland means to “re-create” it.

Message from Kevan Wylie: Congress President

Sexual health is a state of physical, emotional, mental and social well-being in relation to sexuality; it is not merely the absence of disease, dysfunction or infi rmity. Sexual health requires a positive and respectful approach to sexuality and sexual relationships, as well as the possibility of having pleasurable and safe sexual experiences, free of coercion, discrimination and violence. For sexual health to be attained and maintained, the sexual rights of all persons must be respected, protected and fulfi lled. This defi nition has served us well over the last decade and the World Association for Sexual Health (WAS) offers its biannual congress to facilitate clinicians, scientists, educators, advocates and all of those with a legitimate interest in human sexuality to meet and share their opinions and fi ndings. It is the wide diversity of interest in the fi eld as well as within the discipline which offers such variety and opportunity to the delegates at our meetings especially at this time when we are consolidating our understanding of the fi eld of sexual health whether this be sexology, sexual medicine or sex education and training to name only a few. This congress will hopefully offer the chance to progress with our legend of forging the future of our professions by allowing respectful recognition that previous boundaries can sometimes be relaxed to allow us to merge with confl uent benefi t to all. The invitation to preside over one of the world’s most important congresses in our specialty is a great honour and one which with the support and contribution from my colleagues at both the Sheffi eld Society for the Study of Sexuality and Relationships (SSSSR) and at the WAS will hopefully remain in your memories in the years ahead. The major contributors to the meeting have been three fold. First, from our carefully selected plenary speakers who have travelled from around the world to provide an insight into an aspect of sexual health from different perspectives. Secondly, from the many groups and teams who have proposed and developed symposia across a wide range of fi elds. Our third group, the largest group, is from individuals who have submitted over 800 abstracts from around the globe. Thank you to our scientifi c committees led by Roy Levin, Alain Giami and Pierre Assalian and supported by our seven UK based track leaders with their members who have all worked endlessly to ensure we try to get the best mix and input across our sessions and symposiums from both experienced scientists and contributors and those who are starting out or developing their career. Yet, the congress cannot be a success without the interaction of the delegates and each and every one of you (including all of the Sassenachs) are very welcome here in Scotland and the opportunity for discussion and expression is warmly encouraged throughout the congress. We are particularly pleased to offer space to meet and interact with each of our 30 plenary speakers in dedicated 30 minutes sessions in order to “meet the expert”. This whole meeting could not have taken place without the input from my colleagues at SSSSR. The society is very much regional in origin but whose aim is to further the opportunities for its members to join the family of sexologists and sexual health workers globally. I want to extend my personal thanks to Roy Levin who has chaired the local scientifi c committee and to my colleagues Debbie Davies-South, Manolee Shankar, Julie Fitter and Kim Monk who have all worked extraordinarily hard and over and above their daytime jobs to ensure the scientifi c and social programme is the best we can deliver in these times of austerity here in the city known as that “dear green place” Glasgu. Take some time to explore beyond the city centre and you will discover one of the most beautiful countries in the world before returning home in anticipation of our next meeting in Rio de Janeiro when I hope that we shall all have the chance to meet once again.

Distribution of Nitrogen Dioxide Concentration in Kaunas 2003–2007

The aim of the present study was to assess distribution of nitrogen dioxide concentration in Kaunas. A passive sampling method was used. Sampling was carried out in 62 measurements points of Kaunas city during four different seasons in 2003-2007. According to the measured concentration average seasonal and annual concentration of nitrogen dioxide was calculated. The study results showed that mean nitrogen dioxide concentration in Kaunas was 18.1 µgm-3. The highest mean seasonal concentration was found during spring (20.1 µgm-3), the lowest - during winter (16.5 µgm-3). The highest nitrogen dioxide concentration was in Centras district (26.3 µgm-3), the lowest in Rokai - 11.4 µgm-3. Using Arc GIS program, maps of nitrogen dioxide concentration distribution were plotted. Nitrogen dioxide concentration interpoliation results revealed that the highest pollution was in Centras, Žaliakalnis, Dainava districts, the lowest was found in the areas with lower traffic flows and more green places.

Kamusal Rekreasyon Olanaklarının Etkinliğinin Belirlenmesi: İskenderun (Hatay) Örneği

This study aimed at determining the effectiveness o f public recreation opportunities generated by active green spaces and cultural places in Iskenderun city. The public recreation area assets were obtained as green space values per capita and indexed at the neighborhood level. The effectiveness of public recreational area opportunities for each neighborhood were estimated by distances between the centers of neighborhoods and the threshold distance between any active green space and the furthest residential housing. And firstly, the effectiveness change values were obtained for each neighborhood from these estimation results. The effectiveness change values were associated with per capita recreation area opportunities (per capita resource value) and thus effective public recreation area opportunities values were found. The received findings indicate that the active green spaces have an unbalanced allocation and this unbalance changes effectiveness o f opportunities in the neighborhood. With reference to these findings, being a neighborhood close to other neighborhoods that have higher per capita resource values brings increasing effective opportunities for this neighborhood. On the contrary, to be close to neighborhoods that have high population density and less opportunities decrease effective opportunities because of high user density.

Social interactions in urban parks: Stimulating social cohesion?

People from all ethnic backgrounds spend some of their leisure time in green areas. This study found that urban parks are more inclusive green places than non-urban green areas, and that urban parks can promote social cohesion. The objective of the research was to establish the extent to which urban parks facilitate social cohesion and how social interaction and place attachment can contribute to such cohesion. Quantitative research (a survey) and qualitative research (observations and interviews) carried out in five urban parks in the Netherlands revealed that there are many similarities in the ways that ethnic groups use urban parks and in the meanings of such parks to these groups. Urban parks are sites where different ethnic groups mingle and where informal and cursory interactions can stimulate social cohesion. Furthermore, being involved and concerned with parks can facilitate attachment to these places. Urban parks can provide a vital locality where everyday experiences are shared and negotiated with a variety of people. The design of a park, its location and people's image of the park in combination with the cultural characteristics of various ethnic groups inform the opportunities for intercultural interactions.

The Earth Only Endures – On Reconnecting with Nature and Our Place in It

Preface: Green Places, Good Places * Part I: Green Places * Becoming Green * Birch Bark and Blue Sky * A Room with a Green View * Unhealthy Places * Part II: Animals and Us * Where the Wild Things Were * Hunters and the Hunted * Animal Magic * Part III: Food and the Land * The Fatta the Lan * Little Houses on the Prairie * The Shadow of the Rain * Rewilding Agriculture * Part IV: People and the Land * Legible Landscapes * Exclusion Zones * Life and Land on the North Atlantic Fringe * Part V: The Future * Ecolution * Liberation * Index

Biology and Building—The Living Learning Center at Washington University's Tyson Research Center: A Journey on the Path to the Living Building Challenge

The result of equal parts serendipity, exploration, creativity, and the enduring persistence of a dedicated team of designers and its university client, Washington University's Living Learning Center, has quickly become a locus of sustainability. It is a deep green place filled with fresh air and daylight, an ongoing achievement in zero net waste, zero net water, and zero net energy design, a space that inspires higher learning about the natural world. The Center is also well on its way to certification as the first living building in the world.

Who is in Charge of the Urban Fringe? Neoliberalism, Open Space Preservation and Growth Control

Cities throughout the world continue to physically expand, complicating access to regional open space for the ever-larger share of the world population that lives in cities. As the importance of a green living environment receives increasing attention, the implementation of strategies for controlling where the urban fringe can and cannot move becomes a prominent issue. European governments face the challenge of designing instruments to effectively guide spatial development against the backdrop of neoliberalism. In search of examples of market-based open space preservation, this paper assesses the mechanisms used to steer urban growth in the metropolitan fringe of two multi-million city regions in the Northwest of America—metropoles with populations growing at a staggering rate that control urban expansion in a liberal planning culture, managing to retain a reputation of liveable and green places. Market-based planning appears to be of limited importance. Explanations and relevance for the European debate are discussed.

Mapping Educational Opportunity: Spatial Analysis and School Choices

Mapping Educational Opportunity: Spatial Analysis and School Choices

The Childhood Factor

This article explores the significance of childhood experience of woodlands and other green or natural places in relation to adult patterns of use and attitudes to such places. It draws on data collected in different parts of Britain. Questionnaires were used to explore the frequency of adults' visits to green places, the frequency with which they reported visiting such places as children, and their attitudes to different attributes of the places they visited. The data show a strong relationship between frequent childhood visits and being prepared to visit woodlands or green spaces alone as an adult. By contrast, not visiting as a child was associated with a very low likelihood of later adult visits. The data also suggest that the physical and the emotional benefits of access to green space are strongly reflected in childhood experience. The significance of these findings for today's children, as they become adults, is discussed.

APPLICATION OF AIRBORNE HYPE RSPECTRAL AND THERMAL IMAGES TO ANALYSE URBAN MICROCLIMATE

Urbanisation is a long standing problem and phenomenon all around the world. It means more and more challenges for scientists. Remote sensing techniques with high spectral and spatial resolution open novel approaches which enable the analysis of vegetated and non-vegetated urban surfaces with high heterogeneity. In this paper it is demonstrated how hyperspectral images and thermal maps can be used for detecting vegetated and built-in areas in a city. Methods were collected and developed that can describe different features of urban climate and ecological state. The most important vegetation indices and urban climate parameters were calculated: red-edge position values for green places, different NDVIs, defining the role of vegetation in surface temperature carried out by masking method, urban heat island intensity, horizontal surface temperature gradient by means of Fourier-transformation and classified thermal maps.

Reconstructing a Community, Reclaiming a Playground: A Participatory Action Research Study

This article describes a participatory action research study that examined participants' perceptions of community and of the West End neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio, where the study took place. It is argued that oppressive situations have developed strong collective identities and social capital among residents, which can lead to the development of community art as a catalyst for social change and inform community-based art education. An asset-based community art curriculum was implemented and two murals were developed. Results from the study indicate that participants conceive of community, in general, as a safe, happy place that is clean and green, and the West End as a place with strong social bonds despite suffering from trash, violence, and drugs. Results also indicate that participants increasingly realized their own ability to affect change in their community to improve the landscape and promote a cleaner, greener place through art. Data reveal that the community art curriculum contributed to social change in the neighborhood by highlighting the role of neighborhood children and reclaiming a playground that had been associated with drugs and violence.