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Adaptive Governance in Practice: Towards Climate Resilient Water Management in Dutch Coastal Agriculture
Full text linkThis study investigates the practical merits and limitations of adaptive governance, an approach aimed at guiding the intricacies of climate adaptation in complex socio-technical ecological systems. Despite its recognition as a key strategy, questions persist regarding the potential of adaptive governance as a vehicle for meaningful adaptive change. To address this gap, this paper investigates the governance context of the water-adaptation process to drought and salinity in The Netherlands, with a focus on coastal agriculture in the northern Netherlands. Using an interpretative science approach, the study delves into the experiences and subjectivities of stakeholders engaged in adaptation initiatives combating water-related challenges through semi-structured and conversational interviews. The study presents an exploration of central adaptive governance elements (polycentricity; knowledge and learning; leadership; flexibility and variety; and communication) in theory and relates these to the reality of involved actors. The findings reveal how the aspired polycentric and flexible nature of adaptive governance negatively affects the other elements in practice by affecting collaboration and motivation for adaptation, and observes that (perceived) central leadership is much less influential than expected. The findings contribute to our understanding of the governance of lasting adaptivity, highlighting that the adaptive governance paradigm, although it remains useful, must be re-evaluated for contemporary use. Opportunities for the field are discussed
Coerced Recognition through the Service Interface: A Design Ethics Framework for Revealing User Oppression
Full text linkThis research expands the phenomenologically-inspired HCI branch with an original design ethics framework that reconceptualizes user interfaces as service interfaces. This shift towards services is deemed necessary to grasp how people can be oppressed by designers while trying to use computing services such as artificial intelligence. Drawing on the critical integration of Peter-Paul Verbeek’s theory of technology-mediated morality with Georg W. F. Hegel’s master-slave dialectic, we examine a particular aspect of user oppression: coerced recognition. This entails the phenomenological-dialectical process in which users are coerced to recognize themselves as lesser beings compared to designers when giving form to service interfaces. The phenomenon of coerced recognition unveils how user oppression can be produced by design while pointing towards the possibility of liberation through mutual recognition between users and designers
Recent Cyber-Physical-System developments and their safety & security management risk factors
Full text linkIntroduction: Recent developments in a wide variety of cyber-physical system (CPS)designs have resulted in many safety and security concerns. These are caused by increasingcomplexity, connectivity to the outside world, and a variety of component types, all contributing toincreased system vulnerability. Simultaneously, the use of digital models, big data analytics, remotecomputing, online services, and machine learning extends manufacturing systems far beyond theirphysical and visible boundaries.Focusing on industry and healthcare settings, this study explores the challenges faced by safety andsecurity management originating from these developments.Method: The scoping review method was used to gather literature on safety and security concerns.These are grouped and linked to the CPS components. Subsequently, their impact is reviewed fromthe perspective of safety and security management systems.Results: The findings indicate that safety and security management become entangled, many newrisks need to be considered, and the availability of online digital real-time system components andemployee skills are critical factors. Some of the sensors and safety metrics software must now beclassified as safety-critical because robots and people have started to share the same workspace. Therapid developments and many unresolved issues on design, ethics, data and software quality, externalsupervision, standards and guidance, legal frameworks, and online system components abroadurgently require attention.In the discussion, several recommendations are made regarding how safety and security managementcan address these challenges.Conclusions: While robots and people increasingly mingle on shop floors and in care situations, safetymanagement is lagging behind current CPS developments. New critical safety aspects require theattention of safety and security management.Practical applications: These findings in safety and security management systems will contribute toavoiding harm to people and the environment in companies operating CPS.
One sentence summary: This study presents a structured way to deal with safety management ofCyber-Physical-Systems
Not-Not as Another Spatial Logic of Constitutive Negation: Revisiting Hiroshi Hara as an Early Cosmotechnical Turn in Japan
Full text linkThe article introduces Japanese architect Hiroshi Hara (1936–) and his creative criticism against unilateral globalisation in the 1970–80s as a unique legacy of pioneering cosmotechnical criticism in Japan. The growing vocabulary of cosmotechnics has offered opportunities to revisit the legacies of alternative perspectives to architecture, urbanisation and technology and thereby redefine the role of architecture as a major world-making agency in the Anthropocene. Joining such efforts, the present review examines Hara’s 1987 book Space <From Function to Modality> (1987), which collects six interconnected essays written in 1975–1987, focusing especially on ‘On Homogenous Space’ in 1975 and ‘From Function To Modality’ and ‘Not-Not and a Spatial Tradition of Japan’ both in 1987 to trace the trajectory of his three main concepts ‘function,’ ‘homogenous space’ and ‘modality.” Following how he appropriates of Heideggerian ‘tool’ as its pivot and articulates a constitutive negation called Not-Not, this review contextualises its relevance in contemporary cosmotechnical criticism initiated by Yuk Hui, through their respective reinvestigations into geometrical space and Eastern traditions of constitutive negation. The article concludes by highlighting Hara’s non-essentialist approach to avoid the East-West axis and decentralise globalisation from beyond his own horizon in Japan
Cosmotechnical Difference in Architecture and Urbanism
Full text linkThis issue of Footprint explores the intersection between architecture, technology and cosmology. It does so by examining the concept of ‘cosmotechnics’, as proposed by the philosopher Yuk Hui. Cosmotechnics – defined as ‘the unification of the cosmic and moral order through technical activities’ – proposes that technology is not a universal category but always exists in a co-productive relationship with a specific cosmology. While cosmotechnics has fomented new scholarship in philosophy, STS and cultural theory, its implications for architecture remain underexplored. Here, we introduce the concept of cosmotechnics, distinguish it from previous approaches to technology and cosmology, and outline its unique relevance to architectural discourse. In doing so, we present a core theme of the issue: technologies, cosmologies and architectures do not only influence one another, but are indeed inseparable, mutually Introduction Cosmotechnical Difference in Architecture and Urbanism Dulmini Perera and Samuel Koh, editors Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, Germany constitutive, and conjoined in continual coevolution. Finally, we introduce the contributions that comprise the issue – a diverse set of explorations of the theoretical and practical intersections between cosmotechnics and architecture.
Modelling and Analysis of Autonomous Airport Surface Movement Operations based on Multi-Agent Planning: Explorative Case Study at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol
No full textBoth EASA and SESAR JU define a vision and roadmap towards an autonomous air traffic management system. Furthermore, past and ongoing SESAR JU projects investigate how to increase the efficiency and predictability of current operations by means of automation. In this paper, we explore the operational implications that result from fully-automated airport surface movement operations modelled with high realism. A hierarchical multi-agent system model was developed to coordinate and control all movements on the airport surface. It comprises the Airport Operations Agent to handle the flight schedule and runway configuration, the Routing Agent to compute conflict-free trajectories, and the Guidance Agents to instruct and monitor the Aircraft Agents while these execute the planned routes. The model incorporates the decisive processes and elements of airport surface movement operations such as pushback, engine-start, inbound and outbound holding, compliance to CTOT-slots, and wake turbulence separation for takeoffs. To compute conflict-free trajectories for all taxiing agents, we tailored and extended state-of-the-art multi-agent motion planning algorithms: the two-level routing algorithm combines Priority-Based Search (PBS) with Safe Interval Path Planning (SIPP). We defined different sizes of aircraft, accounted for a minimal safety distance between them, and calibrated their speed limits in curves with historic ADS-B data. Using the real-world flight schedules of two of the busiest days at Amsterdam Airport Schiphol, including different runway configurations, we examine the performance of the autonomous taxiing system with respect to the historic operations. For the considered simulation conditions, we show that the MAS yields 30% lower taxi times that vary less and are more predictable, and increases runway capacity
Paradigm Change: A landscape-based approach as a new paradigm for Valparaiso
Full text linkContemporary urbanization has positioned urban areas as pivotal in global development, with cities driving economic activity while facing critical environmental challenges. Alongside this, concerns about climatic pressures on urbanized and natural areas are evident worldwide. This paper presents a landscape-based approach as a new paradigm for urban planning and design in Valparaíso (Chile), addressing challenges posed by contemporary urbanization and climate change. Cities increasingly serve as economic hubs yet face significant environmental threats, particularly in regions like Valparaíso, which is vulnerable to wildfires, floods, and landslides due to its geography and socio-ecological fragmentation.
Recent climate change impacts, exacerbated by inadequate planning and regulatory frameworks that fail to recognize hydrogeomorphological structures and socio-ecological systems, have heightened urban vulnerability and ecological degradation, leading to the loss of vital vegetation and ecosystems. This study underscores the interconnectedness of urbanization and natural systems, advocating a shift from traditional paradigms toward an adaptive landscape model. This model aims to create a healthy water system for freshwater supply, groundwater recharge, diverse ecosystems, and ecotones, integrating green/blue infrastructure, risk, and resilience strategies.
The research methodology follows two approaches: first, situating the study within new paradigms that examine ecology, landscape, and infrastructure as urban-environmental articulators; second, analyzing historical urban processes that have led to Valparaíso’s current deterioration. Finally, this study discusses urban paradigms that promote coexistence between urban development and ecological preservation, ensuring a sustainable future for the city and its inhabitants
Incorporating Behavioral Adaptation of Human Drivers in Predicting Traffic Efficiency of Mixed Traffic: A Case Study of Priority T-Intersections
Full text linkAs automated vehicles (AVs) are increasingly being deployed on our road network, it becomes important to understand how human drivers interact with them in mixed traffic. This research investigates how mixed traffic factors affect human-driven vehicles (HDV) gap acceptance behavior at a priority T-intersection. Using a driving simulator, four scenarios were tested by varying AV driving style (less defensive, more defensive, and HDV-like) and AV recognizability (distinguishable or not from HDVs). Gap acceptance models were estimated based on the collected trajectory data. These models were then implemented in SUMO, a microscopic traffic simulation platform, where a T-intersection network was set up. Simulation runs varied based on AV driving style, recognizability, penetration rate of AVs (0-75% in 25% increments), and whether HDV behavioral adaptation was considered. The minor road had only traffic composed of HDVs, while the major road had both AVs and HDVs (i.e., mixed traffic). Vehicle delay and queue length on the minor road were used as performance indicators to evaluate the effect of mixed traffic, on the travel efficiency of minor road vehicles. The results indicate that minor road vehicle delays increase with higher AV penetration rates in traffic on the major road. Recognizable and less defensive AVs causes more delays for minor road vehicles compared to other scenarios. Ignoring behavioral adaptation led to a delay underestimation of up to 75% for minor road vehicles. In conclusion, there is a behavioral adaptation in gap acceptance of HDVs in mixed traffic environments. This is affected by AVs recognizability, the driving style of AVs, and their penetration rate. Taking into account the behavioral adaptation is essential for accurately assessing traffic efficiency in mixed traffic conditions. This will help to direct policy decisions related to AVs recognizability and driving style and about infrastructural interventions
Bubble Image Velocimetry technique applied to wave overtopping flow characterization - challenges and opportunities
Full text linkThis study employs the Bubble Image Velocimetry (BIV) technique to characterise the flow velocity of individual extreme waves that overtop sea dikes. Physical experiments were conducted in the small-scale wave flume at the Marine Engineering Laboratory (LIM) of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya – BarcelonaTech (UPC). The primary objective was to develop more precise models for forecasting wave overtopping of structures with an emergent toe, which are typically found on sandy beaches and commonly utilised as promenades in urbanised coastal environments. The NewWave theory was employed to simulate extreme individual wave overtopping in a realistic random sea state: the utilisation of focused wave groups, as opposed to long-duration irregular wave time series, offers a number of advantages, including improved experimental repeatability and enhanced measurement capabilities due to greater temporal resolution. The present study examines the potential of employing the BIV technique for non-intrusive measurements and offers preliminary insights into the characterisation of overtopping flow velocity for the selected structure. The study demonstrates that overtopping flow fields are highly non-uniform, which challenges the assumptions of simplified models such as Boussinesq or non-linear shallow-water models. The BIV technique is therefore crucial in capturing the complex spatial and temporal variations in flow velocity
Evaluating Potential Fuel Savings of External Alternative Ground Propulsion Systems
Full text linkThis study evaluates the potential fuel savings from using external Alternative Ground Propulsion Systems (AGPS) at Zurich Airport, based on Automatic Dependent Surveillance–Broadcast (ADS-B) surface trajectory data collected from May 1, 2024, to September 30, 2024. Using the Aircraft Emissions Databank of the International Civil Aviation Organization to analyse conventional taxiing and AGPS-assisted taxiing modes, our research estimates fuel consumption during the taxi phase of departing aircraft. The findings indicate that adopting AGPS could reduce taxi fuel consumption by up to 58.9 %, amounting to 5.77 million kg of jet fuel saved, which is equivalent to 18.23 million kg of CO2 emissions, at Zurich Airport alone. The study highlights the significance of selecting aircraft with longer taxi durations for towing to maximize fuel-saving benefits. Even with limited AGPS resources, substantial reductions can be achieved; for instance, deploying just four AGPS units could cut taxi fuel consumption by up to 33.3 %. While the study offers a promising approach to reducing emissions, it acknowledges that practical challenges, such as the need for operational adjustments, must be overcome to ensure the successful implementation and effective use of AGPS in real-world applications