Hybrid Landscape Research Articles

A Qualitative Phenomenological Investigation of Pre-university English as a Second Language Learners’ Experiences in Malaysia

This research study explicitly analyses pre-university learners’ individual learning experiences of English as a second language in a public university in Malaysia. In an attempt to gauge participants’ individual learning experiences, this study drew from Skinner’s (1957) behaviourism, Krashen’s (2020) nonnative language acquisition and Vygotsky’s (1974) sociocultural theories of learning. The behaviourism theory puts forth that learning a second language is a mechanical process which relies heavily on habit formation (Skinner, 1957). Krashen’s (2020) nonnative language acquisition and Vygotsky’s (1978) sociocultural theories, on the other hand, posit that a new language is naturally and effortlessly acquired through social interactions that require cognitive reasoning (Vygotsky, 1978). The qualitative findings received from one to one unstructured interviews were analysed in relation to the aforesaid theories. The findings revealed that informants studied English for university admission and that their sociocultural environment inhibited them from speaking the language outside the classroom. Discerning that the conventional teaching of English would not help them to attain their goal, informants though asserted to experience a drop in motivation throughout their English course, established an artificial linguistic environment for them to receive comprehensible inputs of English from various sources. Four out of five informants affirmed their preference to learn English in English speaking nations to be able to practice English in the wider community, while one underlined his/her preference for non-English speaking nations due to the fear of having difficulties in understanding accented English and of being laughed for his/her poor command English by native English speakers. Frequent addition of the linguistic suffix ‘lah’ from Bahasa Malaysia was added to standard English by local informants, leading to the creation of a hybrid landscape. Pedagogical implications for second language teaching and learning are raised alongside a revision of the structure, content and teaching strategies of existing English as a second language course.

Grappling with Weeds: Invasive Species and Hybrid Landscapes in Cape York Peninsula, Far Northeast Australia

The control of various introduced species brings to the fore questions around how species are categorised as ‘native’ or ‘invasive’, belonging or not belonging. In far north Queensland, Australia, the Cape York region is a complex mixture of land tenures, including pastoral leases, National Parks and Aboriginal land, and overlapping management agreements. Weed control comprises much of the work that land managers in Cape York do. However, different land managers target different introduced species for control, and the ways in which certain species are understood as more or less problematic indicate how land managers understand and seek to order landscapes. Through investigating the various positions that introduced species occupy, I will explore how Cape York emerges as a ‘hybrid landscape’ that is produced in contested, overlapping and ambiguous ways, and is rife with ‘feral dynamics’.

Social support services for dementia during the COVID-19 pandemic: A longitudinal survey exploring service adaptations in the United Kingdom.

To understand how the delivery of dementia-related social support services across the UK adapted during the pandemic. We devised a two-part online and telephone longitudinal survey. Providers participated between March and June 2021, and again 3 months later. Information relating to services delivered and delivery methods employed was collected before and during the pandemic at two timepoints (T1 and T2). A total of 75 participants completed the survey at T1, with 58 participants completing the survey at both timepoints. Thirty-six participants had complete data at T1. Day care centres and support groups were the most delivered primary services. During the pandemic, services shifted from in-person to remote or hybrid. While in-person services started to resume at T2, most services remained hybrid. At T2, the frequency of service delivery increased, however, a decreasing trend in usage was observed across survey timepoints. The telephone was the most employed format to deliver remote and hybrid services, however, reliance on videoconferencing software significantly increased at T1. Videoconferencing software was often used alongside the telephone and emails to remotely deliver services. Services were able to adapt and provide support to some service recipients. Complementing novel approaches to service delivery with more traditional formats may facilitate access to service recipients with limited digital literacy. Following the easing of public health measures, many service recipients may be reluctant to engage with in-person services. Thus, the provision of in-person and remote services needs to be carefully balanced amidst the current hybrid landscape. Two public advisors (a former unpaid carer and a person living with dementia) were involved in designing and piloting the tool, interpreting the results and disseminating the findings. Both public advisors have experience in delivering dementia-related social support services before and or during the pandemic in the United Kingdom.

Fatty acids and mineral composition of seed oils extracted from different Rosa L. taxa

In the study, the macro and micro elements and fatty acid contents in rose seeds, which are generally evaluated in the waste category, were determined. Among the plants belonging to these taxa, only the registered varieties belonging to four taxa were used, while the others were genotypes. The plant materials of the study include rosehip (R. canina L.), Yildiz variety of rosehip (R. canina L. cv ‘Yildiz’), Syrup rose (R. heckeliana Tratt. subsp. vanheurckiana), Austrian briar (R. foetida Herrm.), lax rootstock [R. caesia Sm. (Syn: R. laxa Retz.)], wild rose [R. montana subsp. woronovii Chaix subsp. woronovii (Lonacz) Ö. Nilsson L.], hybrid landscape roses (R. x hybrida) and Hosap rose [R. pisiformis (Christ) D.] taxa. It was determined that the contents of nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium and calcium of the macro elements examined in the seed samples differed statistically from each other. The seeds of different Rosa L. species examined within the scope of the research can be considered as one of the fruit oil sources with its 3.71-10.01% oil content. The fatty acid contents were determined as follows: linoleic acid (ω6) contents in the taxa ranged from 41.63 to 50.11% with an average of 44.88%; oleic acid (ω9) ranged from 20.80 to 30.27% with an average of 24.95%; linolenic acid (ω3) varied between 14.00-28.51% with an average of 19.20%; arachidic acid ranged from 0.75-1.63% and the average was 1.97%; eicosenoic acid ranged between 0.13-0.65% and averaged 0.33%; palmitoleic acid contents ranged from 0.08-0.60; behenic acid varied between 0.08-0.19% with 0.11% average. It was observed that the (ω3/ω6 ratio of the hybrid rose, which is especially used as a landscape rose and whose fruits are not evaluated, had an average value. R. canina ‘Yildiz’ cultivar showed a high (ω3/ω6 ratio, which is important in health terms. The high oleic acid contents found in these taxa are important results.

Earthquake-induced landslides coupled to fluvial incision in Andean Patagonia: Inferring their effects on landscape at geological time scales

Earthquakes can deeply shape the mountainous landscape through co-seismic landslides, generating large amounts of sediment that are then transported and distributed by rivers, controlling the landscape evolution. This influence is observed in the Liquiñe-Ofqui Fault System (LOFS), an active intra-arc fault system extending hundreds of kilometers through the Andes in Chilean Patagonia. For example, on April 21, 2007, a 6.2 Mw earthquake in the Aysén Fjord triggered over 500 landslides with volumes reaching 12–20 Mm3. Although there is a well-defined recurrence time, no study has focused on the effects of co-seismic landslides and sedimentary dynamics on the evolution of this mountainous landscape. In this research, we seek to improve the long-term understanding of the interaction between landslides and fluvial incisions in this segment of the Andes. For this reason, we implemented the HyLands landscape evolution model to simulate landslide activity coupled to fluvial incision. We consider the landslides that occurred during the 2007 earthquake as a precedent and simulate nine scenarios of ten seismic cycles over 21,000 years based on the 2100-year recurrence time documented in this region for the Holocene. We further used multiple uplift rates, sediment erodibility, drainage area, and channel slope exponent ratios (m/n) associated with the stream power law to assess the parameterization's impact on the landscape. According to our results, earthquake-induced landslides are a fundamental mechanism in the landscape's evolution in this region. Deposits from landslides can create transitory landscape forms that can intervene in fluvial dynamics. A significant part of the landslide sediment can remain on the slopes for thousands of years. We identified that parameterization considerably impacts the evolutionary response of the landscape in the evaluated time scale. Low m/n ratios can generate a different evolutionary response than other scenarios because the slopes are constantly driven towards their threshold angle, intensifying the interaction between landslides and fluvial incisions. Based on our analysis and considering the seismic history of the Aysén Fjord, we can explain a critical primary control of the LOFS on landscape erosion and sediment production. Implementing a hybrid landscape evolution model can help to infer the contribution of sediments associated with large earthquakes and improve the understanding of the role of landslides in the evolutionary history of Andean Patagonia. However, we stress that it is essential to advance in capturing erodibility and incision parameters of the stream power law in the Andes and local geomechanical information. Finally, we believe the landscape evolution models can help to deepen the knowledge of these processes in other Andean basins exposed to these geomorphic processes.

Urban identities of the Vietnamese Northwest Mountain Region

The Northwest mountainous region of Vietnam is bordered to the north by China and to the west by Laos, including six provinces of Lao Cai, Yen Bai, Lai Chau, Dien Bien, Hoa Binh, and Son La. This is a land of forests, mountains, hills, valleys rivers and streams. A land of cultural diversity, with a population of more than twenty ethnic minorities with their own customs and lifestyles, and many unique values that determine the landscape architecture of the villages and the urban areas. In the process of socio-economic development, however, these values are gradually losing their inherent identity and being replaced by new hybrid landscape architectures, which do not fit the natural, cultural, characteristics and socio-economic conditions of the region. Therefore, the purpose and content of the article is: 1. Surveying and analyzing the current situation of landscape architecture in six representative urban areas, namely Dien Bien, Lai Chau, SonLa, Hoa Binh, Lao Cai and Yen Bai, in the general context of natural, cultural characteristics and socio-economic conditions of the whole Northwest Mountainous region.2. Developing a system of criteria for landscape identification and assessment. 3. Identifying the landscape architecture. 4. Proposing solutions with regard to landscape architecture in order to preserve and develop the identity of Northern mountainous urban areas.

Developing conservoltaic systems to support biodiversity on solar farms

Despite a booming renewable energy sector in Australia, there are few studies investigating the potential for land sharing between renewable energy and nature conservation. We introduce the concept of conservoltic systems, where solar energy and wildlife conservation can occur simultaneously. Habitat conversion is one of the leading threats to biodiversity globally (Fischer & Lindenmayer, 2007). Renewable energy initiatives such as large-scale solar, wind and hydroelectric power installations have recently boomed, requiring large areas of land for power generation. To offset decreasing land available for biodiversity and nature conservation, land sharing (i.e. using the same land for multiple purposes; Fischer et al., 2008) could maximise land value. Agrivoltaic systems (agriculture + voltaic [solar energy]) are one of the suggested multifunction land uses for renewable energy. In these systems, solar energy and agricultural practices coexist to produce beneficial outcomes for both industries, emerging to better meet the needs for multiple commercial-scale financial returns (Adeh et al., 2019; Dinesh & Pearce, 2016; Dupraz et al., 2011). No such scheme, however, exists for combining solar energy and wildlife conservation in Australia. Here, we introduce the concept of conservoltaic systems to identify and exploit opportunities to combine solar energy production and biodiversity conservation. Innovative design and management strategies on solar farms could contribute to nature conservation. Solar panels may provide suitable habitat and structural complexity for wildlife, including shelter from predators, perch or nesting structures and shading (Nordberg et al., 2021; Figure 1 and 2), which can be enhanced with appropriate management (e.g. targeted habitat restoration activities). Consequently, a few studies from Europe have identified opportunities to enhance pollinator biodiversity on large-scale solar parks (Blaydes et al., 2021, 2022; Montag et al., 2016). Clearly defining the required characteristics of conservoltaic sites and the management required for wildlife to benefit from such opportunities is urgent, especially given the current and rapidly increasing extent of solar farms worldwide (Agha et al., 2020; Nordberg et al., 2021). Furthermore, building solar farms on sites degraded by previous land uses, such as arable cropland or livestock grazing, especially in areas with low productivity, provides an opportunity to minimise land conversion while simultaneously increasing land value by creating habitat for local wildlife. We are, however, lacking research on appropriate locations, configurations and management schemes on solar farms to enhance biodiversity retention and recovery. We urgently require empirical data on wildlife use of solar farms and adjoining areas to successfully identify land sharing opportunities of hybrid landscape designs, or ‘conservoltaic’ systems. A collaborative approach across industry, land managers and research organisations is needed to facilitate land management schemes that promote energy production and conservation actions simultaneously (Moore-O'Leary et al., 2017). Eric J. Nordberg: Conceptualization (equal); writing – original draft (lead); writing – review and editing (equal). Lin Schwarzkopf: Conceptualization (equal); writing – original draft (supporting); writing – review and editing (equal). Open access publishing facilitated by University of New England, as part of the Wiley - University of New England agreement via the Council of Australian University Librarians. There is no raw data associated with this article.

The cooling effects of hybrid landscapes at the district scale in mega-cities: A case study of Shanghai

Green spaces and water bodies can mitigate urban heat islands, and their cooling effects are influenced by certain characteristics and the surrounding environments. Under the influence of diverse built environments, what kinds of hybrid landscapes have a cooling effect, and which are ineffective? It is an essential issue to mitigate heat islands on the district scale, especially in mega-cities, and there remain fewer quantitative studies targeting it. This study developed a technical framework to analyze the cooling intensity and efficiency of hybrid landscapes in different built environments and took a typical mega-city, Shanghai, as an example. The samples were classified into five groups by characteristics of the built environment based on the proportions of buildings and their shadows. Furthermore, the efficient cooling intervals and the cooling intensities of hybrid landscape elements were identified based on their marginal effects. The findings showed that of all the elements, urban forests have a cooling capacity across various built environments, while water bodies and grasslands do not. In general, hybrid landscapes' cooling effects are weaker in districts with higher building density. This technical framework provides a way to mitigate heat islands in districts by planning hybrid landscapes, which can be generalized and be of practical value.

Fortaleza, Brasil – um porto afogado na areia (1869-1940)

Fortaleza, capital of Ceará (Brazil) has an unprotected coastal line without a natural port. Since the beginning of the 19th century, the Government and the public considered this an obstacle to the city’s economic development. Therefore, port improvement projects were encouraged and implemented; however, the artificial anchorage construction altered the coastline, had a direct impact on the environment, with rapid silting of the port, and pushed engineers to find alternatives. This article aims to understand the actions taken by engineers regarding their interventions in the port of Fortaleza between 1869- 1940, focusing on the effects and consequences of the techniques and technologies used in this specific physical-geographic space. Envirotech’s theoretical-methodological assumptions, technical and governmental reports, specialized journals, and maps endorse the creation of the port envirotechnical system, not limited to Fortaleza, but to an extended area of hybrid landscape including urban and natural limits with direct impact on the environment.

Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age. By Lizabeth Cohen

Saving America's Cities: Ed Logue and the Struggle to Renew Urban America in the Suburban Age. By Lizabeth Cohen

One Digital Health: A Unified Framework for Future Health Ecosystems.

One Digital Health is a proposed unified structure. The conceptual framework of the One Digital Health Steering Wheel is built around two keys (ie, One Health and digital health), three perspectives (ie, individual health and well-being, population and society, and ecosystem), and five dimensions (ie, citizens’ engagement, education, environment, human and veterinary health care, and Healthcare Industry 4.0). One Digital Health aims to digitally transform future health ecosystems, by implementing a systemic health and life sciences approach that takes into account broad digital technology perspectives on human health, animal health, and the management of the surrounding environment. This approach allows for the examination of how future generations of health informaticians can address the intrinsic complexity of novel health and care scenarios in digitally transformed health ecosystems. In the emerging hybrid landscape, citizens and their health data have been called to play a central role in the management of individual-level and population-level perspective data. The main challenges of One Digital Health include facilitating and improving interactions between One Health and digital health communities, to allow for efficient interactions and the delivery of near–real-time, data-driven contributions in systems medicine and systems ecology. However, digital health literacy; the capacity to understand and engage in health prevention activities; self-management; and collaboration in the prevention, control, and alleviation of potential problems are necessary in systemic, ecosystem-driven public health and data science research. Therefore, people in a healthy One Digital Health ecosystem must use an active and forceful approach to prevent and manage health crises and disasters, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

HyLands 1.0: a hybrid landscape evolution model to simulate the impact of landslides and landslide-derived sediment on landscape evolution

Abstract. Landslides are the main source of sediment in most mountain ranges. Rivers then act as conveyor belts, evacuating landslide-derived sediment. Sediment dynamics are known to influence landscape evolution through interactions among landslide sediment delivery, fluvial transport and river incision into bedrock. Sediment delivery and its interaction with river incision therefore control the pace of landscape evolution and mediate relationships among tectonics, climate and erosion. Numerical landscape evolution models (LEMs) are well suited to study the interactions among these surface processes. They enable evaluation of a range of hypotheses at varying temporal and spatial scales. While many models have been used to study the dynamic interplay between tectonics, erosion and climate, the role of interactions between landslide-derived sediment and river incision has received much less attention. Here, we present HyLands, a hybrid landscape evolution model integrated within the TopoToolbox Landscape Evolution Model (TTLEM) framework. The hybrid nature of the model lies in its capacity to simulate both erosion and deposition at any place in the landscape due to fluvial bedrock incision, sediment transport, and rapid, stochastic mass wasting through landsliding. Fluvial sediment transport and bedrock incision are calculated using the recently developed Stream Power with Alluvium Conservation and Entrainment (SPACE) model. Therefore, rivers can dynamically transition from detachment-limited to transport-limited and from bedrock to bedrock–alluvial to fully alluviated states. Erosion and sediment production by landsliding are calculated using a Mohr–Coulomb stability analysis, while landslide-derived sediment is routed and deposited using a multiple-flow-direction, nonlinear deposition method. We describe and evaluate the HyLands 1.0 model using analytical solutions and observations. We first illustrate the functionality of HyLands to capture river dynamics ranging from detachment-limited to transport-limited conditions. Second, we apply the model to a portion of the Namche Barwa massif in eastern Tibet and compare simulated and observed landslide magnitude–frequency and area–volume scaling relationships. Finally, we illustrate the relevance of explicitly simulating landsliding and sediment dynamics over longer timescales for landscape evolution in general and river dynamics in particular. With HyLands we provide a new tool to understand both the long- and short-term coupling between stochastic hillslope processes, river incision and source-to-sink sediment dynamics.

Mixing realities: reflections on presence and embodiment in intermedial performance design of Blue Hour VR

ABSTRACT Created for the 2019 Prague Quadrennial’s 36Q°, Blue Hour VR was a site-responsive mixed reality performative installation that placed the spectator, as experiencer, within a hybrid landscape of real-time three-dimensional computer graphics and 360-degree video. This article describes the design process, staging and experience of Blue Hour VR from the vantage point of its creators. Using a phenomenological perspective, the article discusses how Blue Hour VR staged presence and embodiment within an intermedial haptic experience. Blue Hour VR demonstrates how virtual reality technology can be harnessed by a mixed reality performance design, which includes both the material and virtual environment, creating a complex stratigraphy of intermedial textures and visual dramaturgies that co-exist inside, outside and in between perceptual realities. In doing so, the article aims to contribute to the limited body of work on mixed and virtual reality in the context of theatre and performance design.

De Monte Albán a chinatown: montajes fallidos, mudanzas inciertas

<p>El artículo aborda tres sitios en Mexicali, México, encadenados no solo territorialmente, sino por los hilos de la historia: el río Nuevo, los condominios Monte Albán y el barrio La Chinesca. Cada uno de estos lugares evidencia no solo la conformación de un paisaje híbrido; sino que, según se argumenta en el texto, ciertos lugares fundacionales inscritos en dicho paisaje han sido transformados por diversas formas de especulación. Así, los cambios en el territorio son definidos por una sucesión de montajes fallidos y mudanzas inciertas.</p>

Creative Destruction and Commercialization of Traditional Villages: Likeng, Wangkou, and Jiangwan in Wuyuan, China

Since the latter half of the 20th century, rural communities with unique place-based assets have been re-imagined as tourist destinations, and broad rural areas have been gradually incorporated into urban consumption systems. In some locales, traditional villages have been transformed from productive spaces to consumption spaces. Focusing on three traditional villages in Wuyuan that share similar cultural assets: Likeng, Wangkou, and Jiangwan, this study evaluated if this transformation, sometimes termed as “creative destruction,” is occurring in China’s traditional villages, and to uncover the motivations driving this change. Based on the commercialization of the traditional village space, this study found that the creative destruction model highlights the role of tourism as a dominant driver transforming a rural landscape. The case study approach is applied to three communities and the stakeholder’s benefits game is analyzed during every stage of commercialization. The most significant finding is the recognition that the creative destruction model should be revised when analyzing the commercialization stages in China’s traditional villages, especially because of the need to assimilate the influence of interested local governments and other stakeholders. Furthermore, the revised model may reveal future development directions from productive rural landscape to diversified hybrid landscape.

EMERGING HYBRIDITY AND THE NEW VERNACULAR LANDSCAPE

The vernacular landscape, defined by pragmatic adaptation, must shift from subject of scholarship to realm of design operations. The vernacular is dynamic, constantly redefined at the intersections of continuity and change. It provides the necessary foundations for a discipline expanding in pursuit of resiliency and adaptive response. The landscape of Nepal’s Mustang district, peripheral to the Nepali state for most of its history, is being shaken by seismic economic, infrastructural, and demographic shifts. In response to emerging continuities and discontinuities, its landscape is being remade as a hybrid landscape, a new vernacular. This practice of hybridization must continue to evolve where new resources and opportunities emerge at the intersections of continuity and change.

Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literature by Warwick Research Collective (WReC)

Reviewed by: Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literatureby Warwick Research Collective (WReC) Caitlin Vandertop (bio) Warwick Research Collective (WReC): Sharae Deckard, Nicholas Lawrence, Neil Lazarus, Graeme MacDonald, Upamanyu Pablo Mukherjee, Benita Parry, and Stephen Shapiro. Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literature. Liverpool UP, 2015. Pp. 256. £19.99. The recent study from the Warwick Research Collective (WReC) intervenes in current debates in world literature by highlighting a general failure within the disciplines of postcolonial and world literary studies to interrogate the subject of capitalism. While approaches such as the "alternative modernities" paradigm have affirmed a cultural pluralism in recent years, the materialist framework presented in Combined and Uneven Development: Towards a New Theory of World-Literatureunderscores the factors that continue to limit the texts and languages that are published, taught, and circulated within an uneven literary marketplace. By emphasizing "the context of capitalism as a world-system" (WReC 14), the Collective articulates an understanding of modernity as a singular and global phenomenon without precluding heterogeneity and difference. They are thereby able to address a series of timely questions: How, firstly, to reject Eurocentrism without recourse to a concept of postcolonial difference that loses sight of the global universality of capitalism's origins and effects? How to configure modernity as a phenomenon that is both irreducibly specific to individual locations and relational, insofar as it is formed in and through the colonial relationship? And how, finally, to make postcolonial critique sensitive to the uneven structures, institutions, and markets that continue to shape the possibilities of world literature? The Warwick study provides a way into these questions with its suggestive focus on combined and uneven development, a theory initially introduced by Leon Trotsky in his studies of early-twentieth-century semi-colonial Russia and China to explain the "amalgam of archaic with more contemporary forms" (qtd. in WReC 11). Trotsky's work shows how the spaces transformed by capitalist or capitalizing social relations continued to sustain rural populations, subsistence agriculture, and traditional social dependencies. Such phenomena were not simply the legacy of archaic cultural practices or psychic characteristics but were actively kept in place and reproduced. The result, according to Trotsky, was a hybrid landscape of modernity and tradition that saw "industrial plants built alongside 'villages of wood and straw'; and peasants 'thrown into the factory cauldron snatched directly from the [End Page 189]plow'" (qtd. in WReC 11). One of the most striking examples of combined unevenness mentioned in the Warwick study is the rapidly expanding cities of semi-colonial China in the nineteenth century. The authors draw on Liu Kang's account of the development of colonial enclaves and port cities such as Shanghai and Peking, where the latest evolutions in production, commerce, and finance were introduced under the control of imperial powers who were "actively propping up an archaic landholding system, and supporting landlords, officials, militarists, and comprador elites in prolonging prior forms of social organisation" (WReC 11). Modernization in such spaces is revealed to be a process of uneven development that involves industrialization and urbanization in certain areas and the "development of underdevelopment" in others (13). By drawing on these landscapes of uneven development, the Warwick Research Collective complicates the developmentalist narratives inherent to globalization and stagist-Marxist discourses alike—whether these celebrate the spread of capitalism as a "tide lifting all boats" or affirm the belatedness of "primitive" accumulation in the face of capital's inevitable universalization (22). In contrast to both positions, the Collective suggests that capitalism "does not smooth away but rather producesunevenness, systematically," such that the idea of an "achieved" modernity—in which unevenness is "superseded, harmonised, vanquished, or ironed out"—is "radically unhistorical" (12–13; emphasis in original). As with the uneven landscapes of the capitalist world-system, so with the uneven "world" of world literature: here, too, the Warwick Research Collective rejects the idea of a "level playing field"—"a more or less free space in which texts from around the globe can circulate, intersect and converse with one another"—as an "idealist fantasy" that they identify in the work of a number of literary comparativists, including Jonathan Culler...

Uneven urban metabolisms: toward an integrative (ex)urban political ecology of sustainability in and around the city

ABSTRACTExpanding cities present a sustainability challenge, as the uneven proliferation of hybrid landscape types becomes a major feature of 21st century urbanization. To fully address this challenge, scholars must consider the broad range of land uses that being produced beyond the urban core and how land use patterns in one location may be tied to patterns in other locations. Diverse threads within political ecology provide useful insights into the dynamics that produce uneven urbanization. Specifically, urban political ecology (UPE) details how economic power influences the development decision-making that proliferate urban forms, patterns of uneven access, and modes of decision-making, frequently viewing resource extraction and development through the urban metabolism lens. The political ecology of exurbia, or, perhaps, an exurban political ecology (ExPE), examines the symbolic role nature and the rural have played in conservation and development efforts that produce social, economic, and environmental conflicts. While UPE approaches tend to privilege macroscale dynamics, ExPE emphasizes the role of landowners, managers, and other actors in struggles over the production of exurban space, including through decision-making institutions and within the context of broader political economic forces. Three case studies illustrate the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches, demonstrating the benefits for and giving suggestions on how to integrate their insights into urban sustainability research. Integrated political ecology approaches demonstrate how political-economic processes at a variety of scales produce diverse local sustainability responses.

The hybrid landscape of public space in Thessaloniki in the context of crisis

The article focuses on trends that redefine the public nature of public spaces in Thessaloniki by departing from publicly owned and managed spaces and introducing new agents to their management. The first trend is characterised by official urban policies that introduce the private and voluntary sector into the management and maintenance of public space. While forming part of the dominant neoliberal paradigm, privatisation processes materialise through a local mix of mechanisms in crisis-stricken Thessaloniki. The second trend originates from citizen-led initiatives and seeks to reassert ‘publicness’, foregrounding collective activity and participation. A case of urban farming of an abandoned military camp is reviewed as an example of this trend. The article argues that the two trends contribute to the creation of a hybrid landscape of public space in which the commonly perceived binary of private and public is redefined towards two divergent directions, representing different imaginaries of ‘publicness’.

“Hybrid Landscape” in the Near East

In 2015 Syrian President turned to Russia with a request for military assistance to fight the jihadist organization “Islamic State” (ISIL) prohibited in Russia. The RF Council of Federation has given permission to RF President to use armed forced of the Russian Federation in the territory of Syria. One of the purposes of the Russian involvement in military actions was to prevent spreading of terrorism at the distant approaches to our country. Military actions have been waged on vast expanses of Syria with its specific landscape and climatic conditions, in deserts and semi-deserts. The consequences of military actions that flared up time and again in this region and their effect on the natural environment have been investigated in detail and discussed in mass media. Modern military actions have acquired special nature owing to technological advances in the military area and they turned into the new, so-called “hybrid war”. This war of a new military and technical generation combines traditional and non-traditional irregular wars and requires hi-tech weapons. In other words, the hybrid war required the hybrid methods of its waging. High-accuracy weapons allow for conducting military actions without intrusion to the enemy’s territory and making strikes over many thousand kilometers using aircraft and seabased missiles equipped with the modern devices of objective control, satellite navigation, etc. As a result, the spatial and in-depth damage and destruction of the natural environment become sharply reduced. So, we are speaking here about new ecologized military actions which consequences may be termed as “hybrid ecology”.