1,720,964 research outputs found
The seismic risk in Istanbul: An innovative assessment method
No full textOver the last century, an unprecedented settlement expansion, generated by an exceptional world population growth, has made cities all around the world always more prone to disasters. Natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, could be potentially more dangerous when hit megalopolis and their neighborhoods particularly fragile. Amid the most important global cities, Istanbul is characterized by one of the highest levels of seismic risk. Within its territory, there are numerous highly vulnerable neighborhoods. Some of them are located around Ä°stiklal Caddesi, famous pedestrian street, which is being visited by a great number of people (both Turkish city-users and international tourists) twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Part of the old and historical neighborhood of Pera/Galata, in the today's BeyoÄŸlu Belediyesi, it is a highly attractive zone full of economic activities, acting as heart of the city. Since the importance of this area, its specific seismic risk has been assessed using two different approaches, one traditional and one proposed by the author, which have provided two different responses. The "standard method", based on generic variables applicable to the whole Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality, shows how this zone is not amongst the most risky area of the city. Whereas, "the experimental method", calibrated on more precise information and more specific variables typical of the case study area, demonstrates that the level of seismic risk is significant. Finally, a scheme of urban/district emergency evacuation system is here proposed indicating some shelter areas and classifying the streets, inside the case study area, according to their level of safety
Urban seismic vulnerability assessment and emergency planning solutions
No full textOver the last century, an exceptional w orld population’s grow th has continuously increased the demand for new land. This
unprecedented settlement expansion (planned and/or informal) has compromised also territories on volcanoes slopes, in
proximity of seismic active fault zones, in alluvial and landslides areas, making cities all around the w orld alw ays more prone to
natural disasters.
Urban seismic vulnerability, disaster risk reduction and emergency planning are becoming issues even more relevant. Despite the
existence of several methods to assess seismic risk and urban vulnerability, few approaches focus on those global-city
neighborhoods particularly vulnerable (e.g. high-density residential areas, central business districts, sites of historical and
cultural heritage).
Another crucial aspect, traditionally not so much considered in the urban vulnerability assessments, is the so-called fourth
dimension of risk: “the time”. Indeed, in complex and dynamic environments typical of mega-cities, vulnerability changes in
function of the time of the day, the day of the w eek and the season.
The present w ork is an attempt to fill both these gaps, w hich are still open issues for the scientific community and for disaster
management. The proposed GIS-based model includes (i) a physical vulnerability, determined by static characteristics of an
urban environment, and (ii) a socio-demographic vulnerability, estimated interpreting dynamic behaviors peculiar of local
population. In the assessment of the first parameter, several indicators are exerted: (i) main construction material used, (ii)
building heights, (iii) condition of the buildings, (iv) presence of components hung on the building facades, (v) location of
emergency facilities, (vi) quality of the mobility infrastructure system and (vii) availability of green and open areas. In the
assessment of the second parameter, (i) an individual know ledge factor of the urban system has been correlated to (ii) the
exposed population, subdivided into residents and different categories of city-users daily frequenting the neighborhood
analyzed. Strictly related to the neighborhood land-uses, the extent of the different categories of exposed population changes
over the time, therefore the exposure term assumes here a dynamic dimension.
Results of the model applied to a case study (an historical district in the center of Istanbul, Turkey) are presented together w ith
some consequent emergency planning solutions. An urban/district “emergency evacuation plan” has been developed to minimize
human casualties during and after seismic shocks, to efficiently coordinate operation teams and to arrange emergency goods.
Several shelter areas and a pedestrian evacuation route system are propounded for the case study
COASTAL STATE INDICATORS AND COASTAL VULNERABILITY INDEXES TO IMPROVE EARLY WARNING SYSTEMS. The case study of the Catalan Coast
No full textHalf of the world's population lives within 60 km of the sea and this figure is likely to rise up to 75% by the year 2025. The extraordinary development of the built environment and of the population densities in the coastal areas are making coastal communities highly exposed. The sea level rise induced by climate change is worsening this coastal vulnerability scenario and a considerable amount of people are expected to be susceptible to and threatened by coastal flooding in the near future. Given that the northern part of the Mediterranean coastal areas is location of critical infrastructure and buildings, it represents one of the most highly exposed coastal area in the world. Its shores are indeed characterized by high rate of population densities and economic activities that extremely increase the risk of facing impacts and losses subsequent to hydro-meteorological hazards. Considering the rising values of both occurrence and magnitude of storm-induced damages, adequate assessment and forecasting tools are needed in order to enhance the resilience of coastal systems and thus the capability to reduce disaster risks and cascading effects. In particular, thanks to more sophisticated and improved numerical tools, coastal observations and data collection, it is now possible to implement in a timely manner operational morphodynamic predictions able to reduce coastal risk linked to incoming storms. In this scenario, the Integrated COastal Alert SysTem (iCoast) project has been aimed at developing a tool able to address coastal risks caused by extreme waves and high sea water levels in European coastal areas. In the framework of iCoast, a set of Coastal State Indicators (CSIs) has been developed in order to improve the forecasting and the assessment of coastal risks. CSIs are indeed parameters able to provide end-users with an essential information about coastal hazards and related impacts. CSIs have been chosen as parameters that can be retrieved from the meteorological and the hydrodynamic modules. They include both physical variables used as trigger for meteorological and flood warnings from the majority of the operational National/Regional warning systems and further essential parameters, so called ‘storm integrated' coastal-storm indicators, which describe the physical processes that drive coastal damages, such as erosion, accumulation, flooding, destructions. With the target of improving, produce and disclose/spread more efficient general warning messages, in the iCoast approach, specific sets of CSIs have been selected subsequently to their aggregation, weighting and comparison with established thresholds. In such a way, it has been possible and easier to deliver, tailored and adapted alert messages in relation to the different end-users characteristics and requirements. In the present study, the set of CSIs chosen in the framework of the iCoast Project is presented along with their performances tested for the case study of the Spanish NW Mediterranean Coast (i.e. Catalan Coast) while hypothetic risk scenarios are subsequently delineated and analyse
Il piano strategico delle Aree Gioco Urbane: accessibilità, continuità e influenza dei servizi
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Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Get PDFThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Analysis of vegetation dynamics and precipitation in Africa for drought monitoring purposes
No full textThe purpose of this study was to complete the existing ITHACA drought EWS, developed for the African continent and based on the monitoring of vegetation phenological parameters, introducing proper procedures able to monitor rainfall conditions in near real-time and detect anomalies using the SPI. The studied relationships between rainfall and vegetation dynamics allowed to determine the areas where the spatial and the temporal variability in vegetation conditions are closely related to the climate, that is, the areas where the monitoring of vegetation could be correctly integrated by the rainfall anomaly one, and, finally, the best rainfall cumulating interval to be used for SPI calculation purpose
Variations on the Author
Get PDF“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
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