8,853 research outputs found
Green Infrastructure Network for Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Reduction: performance assessment of spatial connectivity
No full textUna transizione verso una relazione più sostenibile tra natura e società è fondamentale per una maggiore resilienza climatica. Le soluzioni basate sulla natura e le infrastrutture verdi possono contribuire a questa trasformazione. Ma il modo in cui esse sono progettate e distribuite nel territorio influenza la loro efficacia. Garantirne la connessione nello spazio ne supporta le funzioni ecologiche e il flusso dei servizi ecosistemici. La tesi esplora i vantaggi di costruire una rete di infrastrutture verdi per rispondere ai bisogni della società in condizioni di cambiamento climatico. Si tratta di una raccolta di articoli che studiano l'implementazione e la valutazione di una rete verde a diverse scale spaziali. Il primo articolo presenta una metodologia applicata a scala regionale per progettare una rete di infrastrutture verdi. Il secondo capitolo si concentra sull'uso di bacini di ritenzione idrica come risposta alla scarsità d'acqua in agricoltura a scala di bacino idrografico. Il terzo paper presenta un’applicazione a livello europeo cha valuta il cambiamento di uso di suolo e di servizi ecosistemici indotto da una rete di aree protette più estesa. L'ultimo paper stima il contributo di una rete verde urbana contro eventi climatici estremi. I risultati mostrano gli effetti positivi di una rete di infrastrutture verdi per l'adattamento ai cambiamenti climatici, fornendo spunti per un miglior uso di questo approccio da un punto di vista ambientale, sociale ed economico
An integrated approach for the estimation of agricultural drought costs
No full textThis study proposes a novel method to assess the overall economic effects of agricultural droughts using a coupled agronomic-economic approach that accounts for the direct and indirect impacts of this hazard in the economy. The proposed methodology is applied to Italy, where years showing different drought severity levels were analysed. Agricultural drought stress was measured using the fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fAPAR). Using a comprehensive, field-level dataset on agricultural yields, fAPAR-based statistical models were applied to major Italian crops and direct crop productivity impacts were estimated. Local level, crop-dependent productivity shocks were fed into a regionalised Computable General Equilibrium model specifically calibrated for the Italian economy. Direct and indirect aggregate impacts after allowing for interregional trade and input reallocation were obtained. Total estimated damages ranged from 0.55 to 1.75 billion euro, depending on the overall drought severity experienced, while regional losses showed large spatial variability. Although most of the losses were concentrated on agriculture, other related sectors, such as food industry manufacturing and wholesale services, were also substantially affected. Moreover, our simulations suggested the presence of a land-use substitution effect from less to more drought-resistant crops following a drought. This study sheds light on the characterisation of the total damages caused by droughts while provides a tool with applicability in the implementation of drought risk management plans and the evaluation of drought management policies
A Network Approach to Green Infrastructure: How to Enhance Ecosystem Services Provision?
No full textLandscape fragmentation is increasingly undermining the capacity of ecosystems to provide services and benefits to humans. The development of a green infrastructure network can enhance the provision of ecosystem services connecting ecosystem features. We review and explore the concepts, methodologies, and applications that allow to analyse connectivity of green infrastructure networks and the role of spatial connectivity for supporting and maintaining ecosystem services. Together with connectivity, the quality, quantity, diversity, redundancy, and distances of ecosystem elements result to be important characteristics to support the provision of services. We report how spatial and connectivity-based methodologies (for example, network indices and spatial pattern analysis) can support characterisation and prioritization of green infrastructure networks for crucial interventions, both for preserving and restoring connection elements
Mapping a Green Infrastructure Network: a framework for spatial connectivity applied in Northern Italy
No full textGlobal environmental changes, including landscape fragmentation, are threatening the integrity of ecosystems and reducing their capacity to deliver ecosystem services. Spatial configuration of a green network supports ecological functions and services, that depend on living organisms and material movements across the landscape. It is important to study the structure of green infrastructure networks and to develop robust methodologies that can inform future planning. In this paper we describe a framework for connectivity analysis and enhancement within the green infrastructure networks. We review and combine methods to map and analyse the current spatial network configuration of green elements, in order to identify the key nodes and links that can maintain connectivity and consequently support the benefits provided across the landscape. The study explores the creation of network scenarios and the improvement or reduction of connectivity by adding, preserving, or removing corridors and core areas. Methods include morphological spatial pattern analysis, landscape connectivity metrics and graph theory elements. The analysis has been applied in the Northern Italian Plain, considering green riparian zones and the protected areas as elements of the network. The results show that this method can be used to analyse the status of green infrastructure networks and to identify the main needs for maintaining and improving network connectivity. This is important in the current context of change, as it may support decision-makers in developing tailored adaptation strategies that exploit nature-based solutions to reduce the risks caused by the major drivers of change
Natural water retention ponds for water management in agriculture: A potential scenario in Northern Italy
No full textlimate change is affecting water quantity and quality, with severe impacts on agricultural production. The use of nature-based solutions to address these challenges is increasing. Natural water retention ponds have been identified as viable solutions for water management in agriculture. This paper aims to characterize water retention ponds, and to quantify their effectiveness, direct and indirect benefits, and costs. The paper analyses the case of the Lamone river catchment in Emilia-Romagna Region (Italy), characterized by large seasonal variability of water flow and availability. This is an important agricultural area that relies heavily on irrigation. Here water retention ponds are systematically applied to store water in winter, for use during the dry season. They can play a strategic role in ensuring irrigation water availability, while preserving minimum environmental flow. The paper analyses both the benefits of ponds for the water balance at sub-catchment scale, and the environmental effects produced by ponds having an ecological functionality. We develop an implementation scenario for new ponds, and we appraise the contribution of new ponds whose siting is chosen in order to maximize landscape connectivity. Their hydrological effects are evaluated under present and future climate change scenarios, showing how they may increase water availability for irrigation, while improving the river flow regime. More water for irrigation can favour additional agricultural production, while a more ecologically oriented design of ponds can favour to landscape ecological improvements. The investment costs of ponds are justified in economic terms, and the additional costs of improved design are expected to be balanced by the ecosystem services obtained. The business model required to operate this type of intervention is discussed, together with potential funding channels. We discuss two innovative incentive models based on compensation of land and production lost, and on tradable development rights that can be applied to widely support NBS implementation
An integrated approach for the estimation of agricultural drought costs
No full textThis study proposes a novel method to assess the overall economic effects of agricultural droughts using a coupled agronomic-economic approach that accounts for the direct and indirect impacts of this hazard in the economy. The proposed methodology is applied to Italy, where years showing different drought severity levels were analysed. Agricultural drought stress was measured using the fraction of Absorbed Photosynthetically Active Radiation (fAPAR). Using a comprehensive, field-level dataset on agricultural yields, fAPAR-based statistical models were applied to major Italian crops and direct crop productivity impacts were estimated. Local-level, crop-dependent productivity shocks were fed into a regionalised Computable General Equilibrium model specifically calibrated for the Italian economy. Direct and indirect aggregate impacts after allowing for inter-regional trade and input reallocation were obtained. Total estimated damages ranged from 0.55 to 1.75 billion euro, depending on the overall drought severity experienced, while regional losses showed large spatial variability. Although most of the losses were concentrated on agriculture, other related sectors, such as food industry manufacturing and wholesale services, were also substantially affected. Moreover, our simulations suggested the presence of a land-use substitution effect from less to more drought-resistant crops following a drought. This study sheds light on the characterisation of the total damages caused by droughts while provides a tool with applicability in the implementation of drought risk management plans and the evaluation of drought management policies
Andrea Bacová
No full textAndrea Bacová focuses on research and teaching in the field of residential architecture. Her work includes systematic research on residential buildings and their urban context. She actively participates in promoting Slovak architecture and is the author of several publications and exhibitions
Viewer-, Author-, and Ownership in the Work of Andrea Zittel
No full textAndrea Zittel invites others to collapse the distinctions between artist, viewer, and collaborator by interacting with her usable works. This thesis explores the process of interacting with Zittel\u27s works, and how it affects viewer-, author- and ownership
The Lettere of Andrea Calmo: authorial artifices and historical reality
No full textopenNonostante l’edizione di Vittorio Rossi del 1888, la raccolta di "ingegnosi cheribizzi" e di "fantastiche fantasie" di Andrea Calmo è ancora avvolta da un certo mistero. L’autore, dissimulando la propria identità dietro alla “maschera” dell’umile pescatore veneziano, è stato in grado di offrire uno spaccato della cultura e della società nella Venezia cinquecentesca.
In particolare, è il quarto libro delle Lettere ad aver suscitato maggiore interesse tra gli studiosi ed i lettori: pubblicato nel 1566, a diversi anni di distanza dai primi tre, questo libro si distingue per il fatto che tutte le epistole sono indirizzate a delle donne immaginarie o realmente esistite.
In questa sede si propone, in primo luogo, uno studio della biografia del Calmo accompagnata da un’analisi del contesto storico-culturale della Venezia cinquecentesca; in secondo luogo, invece, viene proposto un commento di alcune lettere dell’ultimo libro dell’opera calmiana, che cerchi di far luce principalmente sull’aspetto linguistico e contenutistico del testo.Despite Vittorio Rossi's 1888 edition, Andrea Calmo's collection of "ingegnosi cheribizzi" and "fantastiche fantasie" is still shrouded in a certain mystery. The author, dissimulating his own identity behind the "mask" of the humble Venetian fisherman, was able to offer a cross-section of culture and society in sixteenth-century Venice.
In particular, it is the fourth book of the Letters that has aroused greater interest among scholars and readers: published in 1566, several years after the first three, this book stands out for the fact that all the epistles are addressed to women imaginary or actually existed.
Here we propose, first of all, a study of Calmo's biography accompanied by an analysis of the historical-cultural context of sixteenth-century Venice; secondly, however, a commentary on some letters from the last book of Calmo's work is proposed, which seeks to shed light mainly on the linguistic and content aspect of the text
Trusted Tales: Creating Authenticity in Literary Representations from Ex-Yugoslavia
No full textThis research deals with questions of authority and authenticity and how they are expressed, constructed, and appropriated within the Anglophone book market. It considers the body of literature written about ex-Yugoslavia since the 1990s Balkan conflicts by exiled writers from the region which has entered the international literary canon. Books’ routes from original publishers into English translation are discussed through practices of trust, one of the crucial social devices underpinning their exchange. Within these cross-cultural processes, the role of cultural brokers is crucial. Symbolic and cultural resources are specifically mobilised through their powerful author brands.
By exploring authenticity in the context of book publishing, I further look at how ideas and practices of community are employed and negotiated by writers and those who promote their books. My field is multi-sited and fluid, reflecting how different individual and national positions are enacted and performed through strategies ranging from unconscious dispositions to deliberate intentions. This research thus brings together ideas of the author as an authentic, representative voice together with exile as a position that grants them a new lease of relevancy in the post-socialist context.
Although ex-Yugoslav books occupy a ‘high end’ niche of the UK market, constrained by commercial as well as political, cultural, and institutional forces, in public discourse ideas of the ‘free market’ and ‘free speech’ are mobilised to produce various types of modernisation narratives. The (post)socialist production of literature is perceived as having to ‘evolve’ into a capitalist model: this would allow not only healthy competition and consumer choice but guarantee an individual writer ‘free speech’ as a basic human right. Therefore, the most general question this research raises is what kind of foreign literature gets translated into English, under what socio-cultural conditions and which politics of representation it serves within the project of world literature
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