Parking Situations Research Articles

Marine Parks and Reserves in Italy

After repotting the present situation of marine parks and reserves in the Mediterranean Sea and along the Italian coasts, the author lists and comments on the proposals for the establishment of further marine parks and reserves in Italy. The major bureaucratic and other obstacles to the establishment of these areas are discussed.Scientists, conservationists, and some formerly indifferent people, are pressing hard for the institution of such marine parks and reserves, and even though the areas may cover only a tiny fraction of the Mediterranean Sea, their establishment in the face of steadily increasing human populations may set a good example for others; the adoption of anti-pollution measures by a few factories in the areas concerned suggests that this campaign may be having some effect already.

An analysis of the parking situation in the downtown area of West Berlin

The parking situation in the Zoo district of West Berlin is considered. The demand for parking places in different blocks and of different parking time classes is assigned to the supply of existing facilities (parkhouses, public parking lots, etc) in such a manner that an expression for the societal costs associated with the parking system is minimized. Societal costs include among other things walking costs, when vehicles are assigned to blocks other than the final destination ones. Supply and demand are measured in terms of physical parking places, not in terms of automobiles or trips. The minimization is carried out in an L.P. model of the transportation type. This analysis gives an overview of what an “optimal” utilization of existing parking facilities would look like. For example how far would drivers have to walk from their vehicles to reach their final destinations? Where would there be empty places on the streets? The paper concludes with some recommendations for a more effective parking system in downtown West Berlin.

Scorpions, Squirrels, or Sunflowers?

'WHAT WOULD YOU MOST ENJOY observing or studying in a park or natural outdoor situation: scorpions, squirrels, or sunflowers? Or toads, tepees, or trees? Would you guess that little girls enjoy flowers more than boys do, or that boys would rather chase lizards than collect tree leaves? Naturalists and environmental educators have developed intuitive opinions on these and similar questions, based upon professional experiences in working with young people in the outdoors. I was no exception. However, in an effort to either substantiate or correct old beliefs through the acquisition of more systematic and reliable data, a study was devised to objectively measure one's preferences or predispositions for various aspects of the natural, outdoor environment. A primary objective of the study was to obtain knowledge that might assist interpreters and educators to more effectively plan programs and activities that recognize measured predispositions of children.

The Natural Sciences in Africa: The Belgian National Parks

Ten years before the Second World War, King Albert founded the Brussels Institute of the Belgian African National Parks (Congo), and, as a gesture of scientific solidarity and cooperation, a third of the Institute's administrative Commission is normally composed of members of foreign scientific institutions, nominated by the King. This section at present includes one Swedish scientist, two American, one French, one Dutch and two British.1 The Institute is fulfilling a dual mandate. One objective is the conserving of Nature's resources, for the living generation is a trustee morally charged with the duty of protecting these resources and handing them, intact and enhanced, to generations who are yet to come. The President and Director is Dr. Victor van Straelen, who is one of the best brains in Belgium and a savant of more than national repute. He brings to the Parks Institute his long experience as Director of the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences and of the present Soil Survey of Belgium. In the Institute's reserved areas, the comparative constitution of Nature (and its reconstitution where it has been misused or otherwise impoverished) is being constructively studied for the common good. It is thus desirable as far as possible to exclude artificial external action by man calculated to alter the balance of Nature under scientific observation, during the period of exploration and inventory. How can Man now obtain the best biotic potential of the earth considered within the framework of the whole environment? The still dimly realized trustee-task of conservation and the problem of protection are regarded, in the eyes of the Institute, as relatively static. The scientists and skilled observers of the Parks are engaged also on a task which is dynamic. In the tropics in general and in Africa in particular, the scientific exploration and study of life-cycles of insects are for example only in their infancy. One of the sectors of Science which, at this early stage, has been most enriched by the present systematic exploration of the Parks is that of the flora. The carefully chosen geographic situation of the central Park (Albert) places it in a strategically admirable position of perspective for direct and comparative observation in four of the five floral-provinces of the African region. Within a total area not much greater than the West Riding of Yorkshire, this Park includes, in close connection but in violent contrast, parts of the sultry equatorial forest, of two of the great inland seas, and of alpine heights crowned with perpetual snow. 1 Mr. Tracy Philipps is a member of the commission. The subject of this note is treated more fully by him in the Nineteenth Century, October 1949.