196,057 research outputs found
Opportunities for urban farming: the case study of the San Martino hill in Naples, Italy
No full textIn the midst of the economic crisis the management of urban farming represent a key challenge for improving ecological performances within the city. Indeed agricultural areas have a great potential in terms of urban re-generation, fostering cities resilience and its energy efficiency, even in the perspective of climate change hazards. Further agricultural areas are also crucial for social opportunities and new jobs creation in the perspective of integrating both ecological and urban services in the framework of a more competitive (and attractive) cities. According to the MEA definition of ecosystem services as constituents of well-being (MAE, 2005), the paper presents a case study addressed to the following questions:
• Can we consider the urban agricultural areas as an ecological infrastructure for the city?
• And, if affirmative, can we manage it in a more integrate way?
The study is structured as a case study research and focuses on a former agricultural area in the city centre of Naples, Italy. This is an almost three hectares area on the hill of San Martino featured by being an important city’s landmark. Despite the abandonment of a the crops, the agricultural land use is still typical of the hill and it represents a core potential to provide ecological and urban services for the city. The study discusses a demonstration project aimed at assessing comprehensive viability for managing agricultural use in order to protecting the natural soils and updating both urban and ecological services (such as waste management, social security, sliding risk reduction) through a non-conventional public service policy
Riqualificazione ambientale e nuovi modelli di gestione nel progetto della via pedamentina a Napoli
No full textLa Pedamentina di San Martino rappresenta un formidabile caso studio per indagare le opportunità di rigenerazione urbana attraverso processi di Public/ Privare Partnership (PPP) improntati ad esaltare il valore urbano (e quindi anche ambientale. la proposta di riqualificazione ha l’obiettivo di mettere a sistema il capitale naturale e culturale della scala, per riproporre in un’idea SMART la diversità del sistema urbano in oggetto. La proposta ha come focus la gestione combinata delle aree verdi e della scala attraverso una collaborazione tra ente pubblico e soggetto privato (l’associazione fondo agricolo) in cui i diversi attori partecipano secondo le loro competenze e necessità, intervenendo sia economicamente che nella suddivisone delle responsabilità e delle mansioni
Integrated model for the management of agricultural areas in urban space. The case study of via Pedamentina in Naples (Italy)
No full textIn the midst of the economic crisis the management of urban spaces represent a key challenge for improving city life and attracting people and resources because of the quality of urban and ecological services is a crucial issue in the development of sustainable (and smart) communities.
The paper presents a case study research aimed at assessing the feasibility of an integrated model for managing agricultural areas in urban spaces in order to upgrade their urban, social and environmental performances. The use of a case study method is due to the specific research questions finalized to:
• Provide a design proposal consistent with the requirements of urban upgrading of ancient cities
• Provide a design methodology that it could be replicate to other similar context
• Provide a proposal that is ecological and sustainable in terms of social and economical efforts
The project focuses on via Pedamentina in Naples, an historic stair-street running down the slope of the San Martino hill. Despite the street is located in a very central urban area, the agricultural land use is still the typical feature of the hill, adapting its use and its nature to the urban form, so that the soil quality is almost the original one.
In such special context, the project aims at addressing some key demands of residents concerning the upgrade of urban services such as waste management, social security, protection from sliding risk.
According to this, the project sets out three goals:
• the recovery of the agricultural use, with a program guide that enhances the ecological services of the area;
• the maintenance of the scale, with particular emphasis on waste management
• the functional upgrade of the scale to the requirements of accessibility and security.
The project focuses on the management of both private agricultural areas and public stairs, through an economic cooperation between users/ residents and public/ private bodies. The model reference is the Public/ Private Partnership (PPP) developed in the UK and USA whose goal is to stimulate the private entity towards the direct management of services and goods for public use
Smart and Resilient Cities. A Systemic Approach for Developing Cross-sectoral Strategies in the Face of Climate Change
No full textIl cambiamento climatico è considerato una delle principali problematiche ambientali che affliggono le città contemporanee. Allo stesso tempo, i modelli di sviluppo urbano e la crescita della popolazione urbana rappresentano i principali fattori che contribuiscono al cambiamento climatico, provocando un aumento dei consumi energetici totali e delle relative emissioni di gas serra. Pertanto, è necessaria una svolta negli attuali modelli di sviluppo urbano per poter controbilanciare le questioni legate al cambiamento climatico. Questo studio si concentra sui concetti della Smart City e della Resilient City. In dettaglio, sulla base della letteratura esistente, sono state analizzate le sinergie tra i due concetti, evidenziando come il concetto di Smart City è sempre più ampiamente interpretato come un processo rivolto a rendere le città più vivibili e resilienti e, quindi, in grado di rispondere più rapidamente alle sfide emergenti (Kunzmann, 2014). Tuttavia, le iniziative in corso per migliorare l'intelligenza e la resilienza nelle città europee sono molto frammentate e gli strumenti operativi in grado di supportare le strategie multi-obiettivo sono ancora in una fase preliminare. Per colmare questo gap, adottando una prospettiva sistemica, le principali caratteristiche di un sistema urbano intelligente e resiliente sono state identificate e organizzate in un modello concettuale. Tale modello rappresenta un primo passo verso lo sviluppo di uno strumento operativo in grado di orientare pianificatori e decisori nella realizzazione di strategie multi-obiettivo rivolte a migliorare le capacità di risposta dei sistemi urbani complessi di fronte ai cambiamenti climatici
Integrated model for the regeneration of historic urban spaces in Naples (Italy)
No full textIn the midst of the economic crisis the management of urban spaces represent a key challenge for improving city life and attract people and resources. The quality of urban and ecological services is crucial for developing sustainable (and smart) communities that can share goals, benefits and responsibilities in the daily management of the common public resources.
The paper presents a case study research aimed at assessing the feasibility of an integrated model for managing open spaces in order to upgrade their urban, social and environmental performances. The use of a case study method is due to the specific research questions finalized to:
- Provide a model consistent with the requirements of urban upgrading of ancient cities
- Provide a model that it could be replicate to other similar context
- Provide a model that is ecological and sustainable in terms of social and economical efforts
Further the case study research is consistent with the aim of designing a specific case study proposal by which it is possible to assess and adjust the model itself.
The project focuses on via Pedamentina in Naples, an historic stair-street running down the slope of the San Martino hill. The staircase is featured by a typical and specific morphology: narrow and steep stairs bordered by allotments and gardens. Houses are grouped in the main turning points and along the few branches of the street leading to the main agricultural funds. Despite the street is located in a very central urban area, the agricultural land use is still the typical feature of the hill, adapting its use and its nature to the urban form.
In such a special context, the project aims at addressing some key demands of residents, which – given the special features of this living environment – are to be dealt with in a non-conventional style of public service policy
European Cities Dealing with Climate Issues: Ideas and Tools for a Better Framing of Current Practices
No full textContemporary cities have to deal with numerous challenges, from the growth and aging of urban populations to the scarcity of resources;
from environmental degradation to climate change. Climate-related impacts on urban areas are becoming one of the most urgent challenges
for urban development: cities are the main contributors to energy consumption and GHG emissions, paying also the highest price for the
climate impacts. Thus, climate issues have gained increasing importance in the last decades, both in terms of the metaphors coined by
scholars (low-carbon cities, transition cities, smart cities, resilient cities, etc.) and in terms of the initiatives undertaken on different
institutional levels. Unfortunately, mitigation and adaptation are generally regarded as two different approaches, neglecting the potential
synergies and trade-offs between the related strategies. Hence, based on the growing awareness of the need for mainstreaming mitigation
and adaptation policies at city level, this study will provide an overview of the state of the art of the mitigation and adaptation initiatives in
Italian metropolitan cities. Then, focusing on the concepts of the “smart” and the “resilient” city – as key concepts for reducing CO2 emissions
and improving the ability of cities to respond to climate impacts – and with reference to a conceptual framework for building up a smart and
resilient urban system carried out in previous research works (Papa et al., 2015), the study will examine case studies of Rotterdam and
Barcelona, highlighting how this framework may improve our understanding and contribute to better integration of the fragmented on-going
strategies and initiatives
Zinc-α2-glycoprotein hinders cell proliferation and reduces cdc2 expression
No full textZinc-α2-glycoprotein (Znα2gp) is widely distributed in body fluids and epithelia. Its expression in stratified epithelia increases with differentiation. We previously showed that Zn α2gp has ribonuclease activity, and that squamous tumor cells grown on a matrix of Znα2gp were growth-inhibited. Here we demonstrate, both by adding Znα2gp to the culture medium and, more unequivocally, by stably transfecting SiHa cells with Znα2gp cDNA, that the introduction of Znα2gp into SiHa tumor cells reduces proliferation. In response to Znα2gp, we find an accumulation of the cell population in G2/M by flow cytometry, paralleling the reduction of proliferation. In order to distinguish growth inhibition by cell cycle arrest from that produced by apoptosis or differentiation, we examine by RT-PCR how Znα2gp affects the expression of genes commonly used as markers of these properties. No changes are observed for PCNA, p53, c-myc, or bcl-2. Only cdc2 expression responds to Znα2gp, with a reduction of up to over a factor of two. Cdc2 is the only cyclin-dependent kinase regulating the G2/M transition without redundancy and is required as a rate-limiting step in the cell cycle. Its increased expression has been directly linked to increased proliferation and decreased differentiation of advanced tumors; conversely, its downregulation by Znα2gp might hinder tumor progression. © 2001 Wiley-Liss, Inc
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