Landscape Typology Research Articles

Which landscape do you prefer? The role of emotions on choices for landscape management

Landscape preferences refer to the subjective likes and dislikes people have regarding various types of landscapes. However, the specific role that emotions play in this question and their impact on influencing choices for landscape is still poorly studied. To address this gap, we hypothesise that landscapes evoke emotions and we explore whether they have a role in shaping landscape preferences. Using 109 semi-structured interviews we captured the diversity of emotions on different landscapes in SE Spain, employing a random parameter logit model to explain how emotions could influence the probability of choosing a landscape. Results revealed that different landscapes were perceived as preferred, with specific emotions associated with them. Results also showed that two main factors significantly influenced landscape preference choices: specific positive emotions and distinct landscape typologies. These insights may contribute to reframe human-nature relationships in landscape management, considering emotional bonds and human behaviour as important aspects for guiding conservation policies.

TYPOLOGIES OF LAND USE AND LAND COVER ASSOCIATED WITH CASES OF CUTANEOUS LEISHMANIASIS IN A METROPOLITAN REGION IN THE BRAZILIAN AMAZON

Characterizing the probable site of infection of cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) in face of anthropic changes in the Amazon makes it possible to understand the distribution of this disease in order to adopt control measures. The objective of this study is to identify landscape typologies resulting from changes in land use and land cover in the Metropolitan Region of Santarém regarding the occurrence of CL cases in 2012 and 2014. Landscape typologies were developed from TerraClass project data using regular 1 km² cells. Landscape presence and dominance metrics were used to generate cells with a single class and cells with more than one class, called mosaics. For cases of leishmaniasis, the metric was the presence of the disease. Association analyses were extracted from a 2x2 contingency table. The primary forest typology (PP04) had the highest number of cells in both years analyzed. However, changes in land use and land cover were evidenced by the growth in the number of cells with mosaics of agriculture (PP11 and PP12), urbanized areas (PP03 and PP10), and pastures (PP13). The presence of at least one case of CL in each year occurred in ten typologies, particularly in compositions with urbanized areas, pastures, and secondary vegetation. Typologies with the agriculture class, although the number of cells increased, did not follow the same growth logic regarding the presence of the disease. This study makes it possible to identify and characterize the places where CL occurs and provides further information for health surveillance agencies

The role of tourists’ and residents emotions on resilient landscape restoration after extreme events

Forest areas and mountainous territories provide crucial ecosystem services, among which cultural-recreational services are of particular relevance in the Alps. In 2018, the mountain area of Northeast Italy was struck by the VAIA windstorm, resulting in extensive damage to trail networks and substantial landscape transformations in valleys. Restoring the storm-affected area while considering forest resilience and public preferences became a critical need. This research is aimed at assessing the landscape scenic preferences of visitors and residents of the area impacted by the storm with reference to alternative intervention strategies for restoring the VAIA-affected forests. The psychophysical approach was applied to understand residents preferences and a survey was conducted in May 2022, involving 713 residents in the Veneto region. Respondents were requested to evaluate the scenic quality of 8 landscape typologies characterized by panoramic and non-panoramic views, forests with and without fallen trees, and meadows cultivated or abandoned. They were also required to associate eight proposed categories of emotions with the landscapes, providing scores accordingly. To analyze the factors affecting landscape scenic quality we estimated two regression models. The first model highlighted that the scenic quality of the landscape is positively correlated with panoramic views, cultivated meadows, and forests, while abandoned areas or trees felled by VAIA have negative correlations. The second model demonstrated the existence of a strong relationship between landscape quality and the emotions evoked, with certain emotions significantly impacting scenic quality perception. The second model explains a higher proportion of the scenic quality scores than the first one (R2 = 0.788 vs R2 = 0.527) meaning that emotions are a better predictor of scenic quality than the physical characteristics of the territory. Our results suggest that, in order to improve the recreational services of the mountain territories, for restoring the VAIA-affected forests it will be necessary to remove the felled trees and at the same time increase the presence of panoramic views by substituting in some areas the forests with cultivated meadows.

Functional urban ground-cover plants: identifying traits that promote rainwater retention and dissipation

Urban vegetation can influence urban hydrology and reduce the risk of flooding. Urban forestry studies have suggested that tree type and species choice affect the amount of rainwater intercepted and retained. Little information exists, however, for other landscape typologies, and the sorts of ground-cover plants that are best used to retain/detain rainwater during storm events. This is important as many urban spaces are too small to facilitate trees, but can accommodate roadside vegetation, buffer strips, rain gardens, green roofs and stormwater planters. Thus, this research aimed to determine how choice of ground-cover taxa affected rainwater interception and retention. Six model species with contrasting leaf morphologies were used to determine how well rainwater was intercepted, but also dissipated through evapotranspiration (ET). A pot-based system was used to determine how plant water balance changed during late summer in the UK, with the aim to understand how leaf traits affected hydrological processes. Plant choice was important, with fine-leaved taxa, Festuca glauca and Dianthus ‘Haytor White’ showing best rainwater interception and Festuca demonstrating highest rates of dissipation from the substrate. Overall, compared to non-planted pots, those with plants present were more effective at capturing water (by 2.3–3.0x), and evapo-transpiring water (by 2.5-4.0x). Results indicate that ground cover vegetation has potential to aid urban water management in those localities where space is limited for trees. Plant choice and community-structure should be considered, especially when there is a desire to dry out soil/substrate quickly and restore maximum soil moisture holding capacity.

An adaptive social forestry model in West Papua based on cultural forests and the main potential of NTFPS: Theory and practice

The presence of the Job Creation Law Number 11 of 2020 opened a new discourse on social forestry policy in Indonesia. The discourse on the concept of forest resource management is used as the basis for the theory and practice of local community-based development. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model of adaptive natural resource management for the development of site-scale social forestry. As potential superior Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs), the types of Papuan nutmeg and black fruit have been utilized by local communities for generations. A mixed method using descriptive system analysis was used in developing the concept of cultural forest. The results of the study found that a cultural-forest-based adaptive natural resource management scenario in West Papua from case studies on the use of nutmeg in Fakfak and black fruit districts in Teluk Wondama district can be designed as a model for social forestry at the site level. The three landscape typologies of natural forest habitat, secondary forest and home gardens are a systemic-holistic unit that demonstrates certainty of access and ownership for determining site-scale social forestry schemes in West Papua.

Trade-Offs and Synergies between Ecosystem Services Provided by Different Rural Landscape

Ecosystems in rural areas play a crucial role in promoting human well-being and economic development by providing essential resources such as food, water, raw materials, and energy. Furthermore, rural ecosystems offer various services, such as recreational opportunities, climate regulation, biodiversity conservation, and environmental mitigation. However, a narrow focus on provisioning services has led to the standardisation of landscapes, decreased levels of biodiversity and reduced ecosystem services in several areas. Moreover, diverse rural landscapes can enrich the provisioning, regulating, cultural, and supporting services. While much research has explored the relationship between land use, landscape, and ecosystem services, there is still a need to better understand the trade-offs and synergies between these factors in providing ecosystem services. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical analysis of the perception of ecosystem services provided by different rural landscapes in the Tuscany region. Specifically, we used the concept of morphotypes, which describes ‘invariants’ that distinguish six different rural landscape typologies in the region. We surveyed 28 experts to identify rural landscape contributions to 17 ecosystem services. Our results provide empirical evidence and insight into the mechanisms necessary to align the provision of ecosystem services by rural landscapes with current and future needs.

The City on the Rails

The research focuses on the application of the elements of the theory of linear urbanism to the current solution for the rural settlements, from which life is lost and they are becoming open-air museums. Rural settlements are currently experiencing a crisis, most of their residents are moving to the big cities for work and in order to improve the quality of their life. This work is inspired by utopian cities from the early 20th century, such as The Roadtown by Edward Chambless, Plan Obus by Le Corbusier or Green City by Konstantin Melnikov. Similar tendencies as in previously mentioned works could be found in highly developed cities such as Tokyo. The book, “Made in Tokyo,” from Atelier Bow-Wow, has already mapped the use of those utopian tendencies in Tokyo and tries to apply its forms to the existing typology of cities and landscapes. The aim is not to put all the functions in one conglomerate, but rather to create a superorganism within the country. The superorganism consists of several settlements with insufficient facilities. The settlements are interconnected by an already existing railway. The most important transformation is hidden in the utilisation of the transport infrastructure and in the further addition of the necessary facilities in such a way that the individual necessary facilities within the linear composition can be shared between multiple dwellings. The presented paper uses an artistic research approach, using the method “research by design”. It is an applied (practical) normative research, which relies on the theory of linearity and the theory of the garden city and their radical and coherent design concept. The starting point of the research is a critical look at the current methods of chaotic construction in protected landscape areas in Slovakia. It uses the Margecany-Červená Skala site as a case study to demonstrate how linear theory would work in the present day, using Geographic Information System (GIS) data to analyse the site. The main goal of the project is to bring back the attractiveness of the region with the usage of contemporary artistic concepts, technologies and strategies.

From remediation to landscape design: design tactics and landscape typologies derived from post-industrial experiences

For the last few decades there has been a growing interest in transforming post-industrial sites into public spaces with new programmatic contents. However, contamination in such sites poses challenges to the transformation process. In such cases remediation has become not just a technical issue requiring solutions through remedial actions but a design tactic that offers different solutions for the development of ecologically and functionally well-grounded spatial design schemas. The main aim of this research is to investigate the relationship between design and remediation and offer a research matrix and typological classification that show how remediation methods can be interpreted as a landscape design tactic through an examination of ten high profile landscape design cases. As a result of detailed investigation on the cases, eight different landscape typologies were offered, namely: multi-layered landscapes, topo-landscapes, adaptive landscapes, structured landscapes, emergent landscapes, superficies landscapes and traced landscapes.

Residents’ Perception-Based Typology of Forest Landscape: A Case Study of Changsha, Central China

Forest management typically concentrates on biophysical phenomena, while social dimensions are relatively neglected in China. This manuscript aims to develop a typology of forest landscapes based on the individual perception in a cultural context of China with a random sample of 210 residents by utilizing the landscape image sketching technique. The results demonstrated that the typology of forest landscapes could be classified into ‘a recreational space,’ ‘an idealized homeland,’ ‘an untouched forest,’ and ‘a utopian forest.’ These types of forest landscapes suggest new ways of working with the public to achieve management goals of protecting and improving forest education and experience.

Towards a typology of solar energy landscapes: Mixed-production, nature based and landscape inclusive solar power transitions

Development of ground-mounted solar power plants (SPP) is no longer limited to remote and low population density areas, but arrives in urban and rural landscapes where people live, work and recreate. Societal considerations are starting to change the physical appearance of SPPs, leading to so-called multifunctional SPPs. In addition to electricity production, multifunctional SPP produce food, deliver benefits for flora and fauna, mitigate visual impact or preserve cultural heritage. In this paper, we systematically examine the different spatial configurations of multifunctional SPPs that reflect a range of contemporary societal considerations. The purpose of this research is to create and test an SPP typology that can support evidence-based and transparent decision-making processes, from location finding to implementation. Comparative case analysis, expert interviews and questionnaires are used to distinguish different types of SPP. We propose a typology that consists of four dimensions: energy, economic, nature and landscape. These dimensions lead to three main types of multifunctional SPP: mixed-production, nature-inclusive, landscape-inclusive, and their combinations. This typology supports decision-making processes on solar power plants and adds to the existing (solar) energy landscape vocabulary. In doing so, the research supports the transformation of energy systems in a way that meets both the quantitative goals and qualitative considerations by society.

Unsupervised deep learning of landscape typologies from remote sensing images and other continuous spatial data

The identification of landscape classes facilitates the implementation of planning strategies. Although landscape patterns are key distinctive features of landscape classes, existing unsupervised clustering techniques for clustering landscapes rely on categorical input data to quantify such patterns and consider only a limited number of pattern metrics. To unlock the great potential of continuous spatial data, such as remote sensing images, for generating landscape typologies, we adapted a novel unsupervised deep learning method (Deep Convolutional Embedded Clustering; DCEC) to generate a landscape typology for Switzerland. DCEC encodes lower-dimensional representations of input images in a hidden layer, which is simultaneously used to divide the images into well-distinguishable clusters. We applied DCEC to image tiles extracted from satellite images as well as ecological, demographic and terrain layers. DCEC successfully distinguished 45 landscape classes in the continuous input data. We conclude that DCEC is a promising new method in landscape and land-system research.

Long time-series ecological niche modelling using archaeological settlement data: Tracing the origins of present-day landscape

Human activities have shaped the environment since long before the advent of agriculture and resulted in anthropogenic landscapes, which are sometimes perceived as natural, but are clearly shaped by dozens of previous generations. This study is the first to apply ecological niche modelling on a long time-series of archaeological data to illuminate the development of the landscape from the perspective of settlement behaviour and its dependence on environmental conditions. Using a large dataset of evidence of prehistoric settlement activities covering the area of the Czech Republic and spanning 6600 years from the beginning of agricultural prehistory, we analyse to what degree settlement was related to environmental parameters. We quantified the strength of this relation in terms of the predictive power of ecological niche models generated with the MaxEnt method. We observed a significant variability of settlement behaviour over time, but also landscape occupation, which has retained similar general characteristics to now. This shows that settlement strategies were remarkably stable and the presence of previous settlement was beneficial for subsequent land-use. Comparison of prehistoric settlement with contemporary landscape typology also points to a long-term legacy pre-dating historical periods, which makes the landscape our largest and most important heritage monument.

Use of Vegetation to Classify Urban Landscape Types: Application in a Mediterranean Coastal Area

The objectives of this paper are (a) to incorporate vegetation cover into quantitative techniques for identifying and classifying urban landscape types, (b) to implement a methodology to analyse the urban landscape units of three zones in the Mediterranean coastal area and (c) to design a methodology that could be extrapolated to other urban spaces with a similar type and spatial scale. To achieve the objectives, the urban landscape units are characterized in three Mediterranean coastal municipalities in the south of Spain, in the province of Málaga: Benalmádena, Marbella and Manilva. The characterization is based on some of the most representative variables of the urban morphology, such as construction density, road density and building height, also incorporating the presence of vegetation cover, both arboreal and herbaceous and shrub. Data were obtained from the Spanish Cadastral (urban morphology variables) and through remote sensing techniques (vegetation), spatial analysis tools and multivariate analysis were implemented to obtain the characterization and spatial delimitation of the urban typologies. As a result, six clusters are recognized with predominant urban landscape typologies. The proposed procedure is a useful tool to segment the city following landscape criteria, as well as to assess the changes experienced in urban spaces.

Mapping Green Infrastructure Based on Multifunctional Ecosystem Services: A Sustainable Planning Framework for Utah’s Wasatch Front

Most sustainable planning frameworks assess natural and social–economic landscape systems as separate entities, and our understanding of the interrelationships between them is incomplete. Landscape classification in urbanizing environments requires an integrated spatial planning approach to better address the United Nation’s sustainable development challenges. The objective of this research is to apply a multicriteria evaluation which ranked diverse ecosystem–service producing landscapes and synthesize the findings within a unique green infrastructure spatial planning framework. Local government stakeholder derived weighting and GIS classification were operated to map both the urban and natural landscapes of the Salt Lake City region of Utah, one of the most rapidly urbanizing areas in North America. Results were assimilated through five regional landscape typologies—Ecological, Hydrological, Recreational, Working Lands, and Community—and indicated those highest ranked landscape areas which provided multiple ecosystem services. These findings support collaborative decision making among diverse stakeholders with overlapping objectives and illustrates pathways to the development of ecosystem service criteria. This paper contributes to a better understanding of how to integrate data and visualize the strategic approaches required for sustainable planning and management, particularly in urban and urbanizing regions where complex socioecological landscapes predominate.

Landscape transformations in Albania. A photographic survey on the traces of Italian travellers in the Balkans


 
 
 After the fall of the Ottoman Empire, Albania became a possible land of conquest for Italy, France, and Austria. Explorations and surveys of the newly liberated territory involved numerous scientific a nd military expeditions. At the end of the nineteenth century, the Reale Società Geografica Italiana had been carrying out a systematic study of Albanian landscape, mainly aimed at geographical research. Relevant Italian scholars and geographers travelled to Tirana and Valona. Antonio Baldacci (1867-1950) between 1892 and 1902, Roberto Almagià (1884-1962), Aldo Sestini (1904-1988) in 1940, Bruno Castiglioni (1898-1945) who recorded geomorphological aspects as an army officer following Italian troops. Two expeditions in 1940 allowed them to collect all the information needed to publish the fundamental monograph “L’Albania”, printed in 1943. Bruno Castiglioni oversaw the geomorphological aspects of the study, Ferdinando Milone covered anthropology and economics, and Aldo Sestini investigated the geographical features of each region. Another landmark contribution is Antonio Baldacci’s Itinerari albanesi: (1892-1902), which described discovering an obscure land, its natural features and the built environment.
 The contribution for the sixth issue of Sophie draws on a photographic campaign carried out between July 2016 and June 2018, and currently being finalised in the form of a Catalogue of Landscape Typologies. The author c onducts a photographic c ampaign a long the s ame itineraries covered by the aforementioned geographers, discovering similarities and differences with the contemporary Albanian landscape. Manuscripts, diplomatic accounts, publications, and photographs produced by Italian travellers of the early twentieth century are being compared with the current status of the visual environment. Tourism-related activities have altered the scenery of the coast, particularly the so-called Riviera that connects Vlorë with Sarandë, while other sectors of the northern mainland have remained relatively unchanged.
 This ongoing research is expected to inform a general catalogue of Albanian landscapes, intended as a tool for planning future interventions across the country. The catalogue could be a useful tool to build an alternative visual cartography. The Catalogue of Landscape Typologies collects four hundred geolocated shots of selected views, which have been classified and redrawn to identify recurring features and visual landmarks. Images are being disassembled in coherent morphological layers: woods, agricultural plains, cultivated slopes, spontaneous vegetation fields, urbanization areas, water bodies and the profile of the mountains. Contemporary Albania and other countries in the Balkans are rapidly changing the quality of its built environment in an attempt to emerge and progress towards the European standards. On the other hand, one could argue that unique views can be lost along the way.
 
 

The Assessment of the Tourism Potential of the Tagus International Nature Reserve Landscapes Using Methods Based on the Opinion of the Demand

There are different methodologies to assess landscape preferences, however there is no consensual methodology that can be replicated to identify their tourism potential. Recent studies have focused on agricultural landscape preferences due to their cultural characteristics. Although agricultural activity conflicts with the management models of natural protected areas, traditional models and sustainable practices reveal opportunities to boost tourism in this area, both for their aesthetic value, and for the opportunity to preserve biodiversity and maintain “lively landscapes”. The present study focuses on a double approach to collect data to measure the preferences for landscape typologies to realize outdoor/recreative activities in Tagus International Nature Reserve (TINR), among them, agricultural landscapes, such as the agro-silvopastural system “Dehesa/Montado” or olive grove. The preference of the landscapes were evaluated through photographs with pairwise comparison and without photographs observation, in which 174 respondents were consulted with. The different methodologies applied allowed for the extraction of different results, which led to the assumption that in fact there is no single methodology to assess preferences. However, the application of the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) methodology with photographical pairwise comparison allowed for the extraction of more robust results when considering attractions with tourism typologies, revealing that “Cultural tourism/Rural mixed” and “Agritourism” were the most valued. This information is pertinent to support TINR managers and local tourism promoters to plan and structure products and services based on button-up methodologies.

Landscape macrotypologies and microtypologies of Slovenia

This work discusses the historical development of landscape typologies of Slovenia, focusing on methodology, terminology, criteria for the division of territory, and landscape type hierarchy. It presents all five macrotypologies of Slovenia created between 1946 and 2013, Slovenia’s classification in nine selected macrotypologies of Europe produced between 1995 and 2016, and eight examples of microtypologies of smaller areas of Slovenia made between 1985 and 2020. It compares and evaluates similar typologies. If, in addition to the landscape typology, a geographical regionalization was also produced, common points are sought between the two. The macrotypologies and microtypologies of Slovenia are accompanied by an original and updated map.

Landscape Diversity and the Directions of Its Protection in Poland Illustrated with an Example of Wielkopolskie Voivodeship

As part of the implementation of the provisions of the European Landscape Convention, a landscape audit of the provinces has been underway in Poland for a few years. The main objectives of the audit are the delimitation of landscape units, assessment of their values, and identification of the priority of landscapes to be protected. This study presents the results of research on the landscape division of the Wielkopolskie voivodeship and a geostatistical analysis of the differentiation of ecological units. With reference to legal regulations in force in Poland, the landscape diversity of the province was characterized using two divisions: geophysical regionalization and landscape typology. In the case of regional division, the meso- and microregions of physical and geographical rank are referenced. The proposed microregional division is the first example in Poland of such a detailed landscape analysis completed for the area of the voivodeship. In the case of typological division, the study conducted in cooperation with the Wielkopolska Bureau of Spatial Planning in Poznań was used. The statistical analysis included metrics to quantitatively characterize landscape composition, including the landscape division index (DIVISION), Shannon’s diversity index (SHDI), and Simpson’s diversity index (SIDI). The results of the study were then compared with the distribution of areas associated with different forms of landscape protection such as national parks, landscape parks, and protected landscape areas. The applied methodology and the results obtained indicate the important role of physical and geographical microregions in the complex analyses of landscape diversity and their broad application in procedures connected with landscape planning and environmental protection.

Mangrove Species Diversity, Stand Structure, and Zonation — A Case Study at Pahawang Kecil Island

Pesawaran Regency is an administrative area of Lampung Province which has the potential marine tourism with mangrove resources in Pahawang Kecil Island. Pahawang Kecil island is a coastal natural tourist destinations located in Punduh Padada District, Pesawaran Regency. The mangrove ecosystem is a community of mangrove vegetation associated with fauna and microorganisms. There are various components of life in the ecosystem. In addition, the main function of mangroves is to protect stability of the shoreline from sea waves. In fact, the conversion of mangrove ecosystems become a tourist area and fish pond area continues. This impact to the local government and community members to rehabilitation mangroves. However, this prefentive activity to rehabilitation are failed. This failure caused by not according to the mangrove planting area. Planting mangrove is not in the green belt area. Thus, it is necessary to have a preliminary study of landscape typology mangrove vegetation. In accordance with the presidential regulation Number 37 of 2012 which explains that the preservation of mangrove ecosystems is by accommodating deep mangrove ecosystems Regional Spatial Planning and zoning of coastal areas and small islands. The purpose of this study was to identify the condition of mangrove vegetation and create the mapping typology of mangrove vegetation on Pahawang Kecil Island. The research was carried out on vegetation parameters using the combination method of lines and checkered lines with measurement of diameter, height and number of individuals. In addition, measurements of the inundation height of each were carried out in research sites. Pahawang Kecil has the Rhyzophora stylosa species with the highest volume level of mangrove vegetation, namely 3.2538.15 m3 / ha. The location of Pahawang Kecil Island was identified in 10x10 meter dominance species mangrove Rizophora stylosa with a relative density with a value of 94.12%, relative frequency value of 8.47%, and an important value of 105.96%.

Characterizing and classifying urban watersheds with compositional and structural attributes

AbstractCurrent land‐use classifications used to assess urbanization effects on stream water quality date back to the 1980s when limited information was available to characterize watershed attributes that mediate non‐point source pollution. With high resolution remote sensing and widely used GIS tools, there has been a vast increase in the availability and precision of geospatial data of built environments. In this study, we leverage geospatial data to expand the characterization of developed landscapes and create a typology that allows us to better understand the impact of complex developed landscapes across the rural to urban gradient. We assess the ability of the developed landscape typology to reveal patterns in stream water chemistry previously undetected by traditional land‐cover based classification. We examine the distribution of land‐cover, infrastructure, topography and geology across 3876 National Hydrography Dataset Plus catchments in the Piedmont region of North Carolina, USA. From this dataset, we generate metrics to evaluate the abundance, density and position of landscape features relative to streams, catchment outlets and topographic wetness metrics. While impervious surfaces are a key distinguishing feature of the urban landscape, sanitary infrastructure, population density and geology are better predictors of baseflow stream water chemistry. Unsupervised clustering was used to generate a distinct developed landscape typology based on the expanded, high‐resolution landscape feature information. Using stream chemistry data from 37 developed headwater catchments, we compared the baseflow water chemistry grouped by traditional land‐cover based classes of urbanization (rural, low, medium and high density) to our composition and structure‐based classification (a nine‐class typology). The typology based on 22 metrics of developed landscape composition and structure explained over 50% of the variation in NO3−‐N, TDN, DOC, Cl−, and Br− concentration, while the ISC‐based classification only significantly explained 23% of the variation in TDN. These results demonstrate the importance of infrastructure, population and geology in defining developed landscapes and improving discrete classes for water management.