Urban Structure in Hot Arid Environments
Urban Structure in Hot Arid Environments

Author: Mahmoud Tavassoli

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2016-07-20

Total Pages: 268

ISBN-13: 3319390988

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This essential reference guide to strategies and solutions for urban planning in hot arid environments reflects the journey toward many cities, towns and villages in Iran, which are documented and presented in the form of case studies and comparative analysis. It is the outcome of extensive research on the influence of historical, cultural and climatic factors on urban spatial forms and rural complexes in Iran’s Hot Arid Zone. The environment of the Hot Arid Zone offers valuable insights into how to overcome historical difficulties, how to endure harsh climatic conditions, how to be innovative and creative in responding to problems in new ways, and how to utilize natural energy sources. Considerable attention is given to the recognition of values, current problems and the renewal of traditional fabrics, urban blocks and traditional buildings. Important aspects in both academic education and in the urban design profession include traditional urban structures and traditional approaches to using natural energy as a creative process that is continuously changing and renews itself over time – a dynamic characteristic from which we can glean many lessons for the future. This book is based on a book previously published by the author in Persian. This version is an extensively revised version.

Urban Challenges and Urban Design Approaches for Resource-Efficient and Climate-Sensitive Urban Design in the MENA Region
Urban Challenges and Urban Design Approaches for Resource-Efficient and Climate-Sensitive Urban Design in the MENA Region

Author: Elke Pahl-Weber

Publisher: Universitätsverlag der TU Berlin

Published: 2013-06-10

Total Pages: 212

ISBN-13: 3798325340

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In an era defined by climate change, huge resource consumption, a lack of social cohesion, rapidly accelerating technological innovations, economic shifts, and the transformation of political systems, solutions must be pursued at every level of action. This book shows how solutions from urban design and planning can, by integrating the approaches of multiple disciplines, be the first steps toward envisioning the sustainable, energy-efficient, and climate-sensitive city of the future. This book is compiled for readers from a range of professional backgrounds. Its intended audience includes the government bodies, municipalities, urban planners, engineers, architects, civil servants, and citizens who are part of urban development, from initiation through implementation. The facts and findings presented herein are relevant to any national or international debate concerning urban development which aims to create sustainable, resource-efficient, and climate-sensitive urbanization processes. The text and visuals of this book are intended to serve as a comprehensive decision support tool, taking into account that current and future urban challenges and planning tasks can only be tackled through an interlinked and stakeholder driven iterative process. As a result of the Young Cities research project, this book acts as a multilayered reference manual by providing: (a) a brief outline of the MENA region’s urban challenges; (b) a proposal for generic principles and actions for creating an energy- and resource-efficient as well as environmentally sustainable urban environment; (c) the opportunities and impacts of each discipline involved in an integrated planning process; and (d) the findings of the applied principles in the 35 ha “Shahre Javan Community” pilot project.

Out of Water - Design Solutions for Arid Regions
Out of Water - Design Solutions for Arid Regions

Author: Liat Margolis

Publisher: Birkhäuser

Published: 2014-10-27

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 3038210064

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Water scarcity is becoming increasingly familiar to us. Although access to water resources is an issue of global concern, arid climates are where necessity begets inventions that may serve as examples for action or prevention across a multitude of climate zones and geographies. In facing the prevalence of water scarcity across the globe, due to a mix of climatological and man-made factors, the question we must ask ourselves today is Water for What? Which approaches can landscape, urban and architectural designers take in order to apply their specific professional skills and means? What potential do available technologies and materials offer, and what methods and tools can be derived from social engagement? Based on five years of research, the preparation of and feedback on a traveling exhibition, as well as a major conference, the results of the Out of Water project are laid out here in a series of case studies and essays by international experts, including analytical drawings of both projected and implemented solutions.

New Trends in Urban Planning
New Trends in Urban Planning

Author: Dan Soen

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2013-10-22

Total Pages: 376

ISBN-13: 148314576X

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New Trends in Urban Planning: Studies in Housing, Urban Design and Planning presents the trends in urban planning with a wide array of theory and practice in various countries. This book deals with the overall problems facing urban planners in their striving at an enhanced quality of life in human settlements. Organized into seven panels encompassing 29 chapters, this book begins with an overview of the planning aspects of a general nature. This text then highlights some of the important trends in the recent change of focus due to the view that the settlement is a better contemporary definition than urban planning. Other chapters consider that the theory and practice of urban planning is found to be inadequate for the purpose of remedying deficiencies in urban areas. The final chapter deals with the specific developments that are taking place in Israel and elsewhere. This book is a valuable resource for teachers, practitioners, researchers, administrators, and politicians.

Groundwater Resources Development and Planning in the Semi-Arid Region
Groundwater Resources Development and Planning in the Semi-Arid Region

Author: Chaitanya B. Pande

Publisher: Springer Nature

Published: 2021-05-27

Total Pages: 571

ISBN-13: 3030681246

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This book addresses the various challenges in achieving sustainable groundwater development, management, and planning in semi-arid regions, with a focus on India, and discusses advanced remote sensing and GIS techniques for the estimation and management of groundwater resources. The book is timely as there is a need for a better understanding of the various tools and methods required to efficiently and sustainably meet the growing demand for clean surface and groundwater in developing countries, and how these tools can be combined with other strategies in a multi-disciplinary fashion to achieve this goal in water-scarce regions. To wit, the book combines remote sensing and GIS techniques, runoff modeling, aquifer mapping, land use and land cover analyses, evapotranspiration estimation, crop coefficients, and water policy approaches. This will be of use to academics, policymakers, social scientists, and professionals involved in the various aspects of sustainable groundwater development, planning, and management.

Extractive Industries in Arid and Semi-arid Zones
Extractive Industries in Arid and Semi-arid Zones

Author: Joachim Gratzfeld

Publisher: IUCN

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 122

ISBN-13: 2831707412

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This publication aims to contribute to planning and management approaches that minimize land degradation and desertification in arid and semi-arid zones as a result of extractive industries operations. Both operational and policy guidance are included to help those government departments responsible for the licensing, planning and monitoring of extractive industries activities to take account of environment and development issues in their decision-making.

Climate Change and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones
Climate Change and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones

Author: Karmaoui, Ahmed

Publisher: IGI Global

Published: 2019-02-22

Total Pages: 432

ISBN-13: 1522573887

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Ecosystems provide services that are crucial and beneficial to the human population. The management and conservation of these services can assure the wellbeing of the local population. Climate Change and Its Impact on Ecosystem Services and Biodiversity in Arid and Semi-Arid Zones is an essential reference source that studies the effects of climate change on biodiversity and ecosystem services in dry regions and examines various strategic local, national, and international policy developments to help overcome these impacts. Featuring research on topics such as poverty reduction, climate change, and adaption policies, this book is ideally designed for environmentalists, policymakers, government officials, academicians, researchers, and technology developers who want to improve their understanding of climate change impact, vulnerability, and sustainability, and the strategic role of adaptation and mitigation.

Arid Land Systems: Sciences and Societies
Arid Land Systems: Sciences and Societies

Author: Troy Sternberg

Publisher: MDPI

Published: 2019-08-19

Total Pages: 380

ISBN-13: 3039213474

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Understanding deserts and drylands is essential, as arid landscapes cover >40% of the Earth and are home to two billion people. Today's problematic environment–human interaction needs contemporary knowledge to address dryland complexity. Physical dimensions in arid zones—land systems, climate and hazards, ecology—are linked with social processes that directly impact drylands, such as land management, livelihoods, and development. The challenges require integrated research that identifies systemic drivers across global arid regions. Measurement and monitoring, field investigation, remote sensing, and data analysis are effective tools to investigate natural dynamics. Equally, inquiry into how policy and practice affect landscape sustainability is key to mitigating detrimental activity in deserts. Relations between socio-economic forces and degradation, agro-pastoral rangeland use, drought and disaster and resource extraction reflect land interactions. Contemporary themes of food security, conflict, and conservation are interlinked in arid environments. This book unifies desert science, arid environments, and dryland development. The chapters identify land dynamics, address system risks and delineate human functions through original research in arid zones. Mixed methodologies highlight the vital links between social and environmental science in global deserts. The book engages with today's topical themes and presents novel analyses of arid land systems and societies.

Desert Development
Desert Development

Author: Yehuda Gradus

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 332

ISBN-13: 9400953968

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The fact that approximately one-third of the world's land mass is arid desert may be congenial for the camel and the cactus, but not for people. Nevertheless, well over half a billion people, or 15% of the world's population live in arid desert areas. If the world's population were distributed evenly over the land surface, we would expect to find about 30% of the population inhabiting arid desert areas. Does the fact that 'only' 15% of the world's population live in an arid desert environment reflect the harshness of the environment? Or is it a testimony to the adaptability and ingenuity of mankind? Do we view the glass as half-full? Or half-empty? The contributors to Desert Development: Man and Technology in Sparselands adopt the position that the cup is half-full and, in fact, could be filled much more. Indeed, many arid desert zones do thrive with life, and given appropriate technological develop ment, such areas could support even greater popUlations. While the dire Malthusian prediction that rapid world population growth exceeds the carrying capacity of existent resource systems has gained popularity (typified by the 1972 Club of Rome book, Limits to Growth), there is a growing body of serious work which rejects such pessimistic 'depletion' models, in favor of models which are mildly optimistic.

The Regional Impact of National Policies
The Regional Impact of National Policies

Author: Werner Baer

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2012-05-01

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 0857936700

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Brazil is a country of continental proportions whose gross domestic product is unevenly distributed among its various regions. The impact of general domestic economic policies has often been perceived as not being regionally neutral, but as reinforcing the geographic concentration of economic activities. This detailed book examines the regional impact of such general policies as: industrialization, agricultural modernization, privatization, stabilization, science and technology, labor, and foreign direct investment. Written by recognized and respected scholars, this book fills a significant gap in the current literature on regional development in Brazil. Researchers and students in economics, economic history, political science and regional studies, and others interested in the economics of transition to a market system will find this comprehensive collection an invaluable resource.