Traces the evolution of Renaissance philosophy and aesthetics, architecture, horticulture and social attitudes as reflected in the villas and gardens of the Medici family. Allowing the reader to see an alternative way to see the development of the Renaissance. This book shows the evolution of the Medici villas, from defensive farms through humanist retreats to princely palaces, charts the rise of a family from humble farmers to European royalty enabling students to see how a family could rise through the classes in early modern Italy. The Medici spearheaded the movement to rediscover the classical world; in so doing they promoted the humanist philosophy of living in harmony with nature, evolved a new ideal of villa life and created the template for Renaissance architecture. Offering students and readers alike, a clear example of how the classical world influences the Renaissance world.

This book provides an empirical analysis of the concept of play as a form of spatial practice in urban public spaces. The introduced City-Play-Framework (CPF) is a practical urban analysis tool that allows urban designers, landscape architects and researchers to develop a shared awareness when opening up this window of possibility for adventure. Two case studies substantiate and illustrate the development process and testing of the framework in Canberra, Australia, and Potsdam, Germany. The appropriation of public spaces that transcend boundaries can facilitate an intrinsic connection between people and their immediate environment, towards a more joyful ontological state of human existence in which imagination, co-creation and a sense of agency are key elements of the design approach. The framework presents an alternative understanding of public spaces and public life, reflecting on theory and its implications for practice in a post-pandemic world in dense urban centres. A bridge between theory and practice, this book explores possibilities on what future design ought to be when openness and ambiguity are consciously integrated parts of practice and process. The book presents a valuable discussion on public space and play for academic audiences across a wide range of disciplines such as landscape architecture, urban design, planning, architecture and urban sociology, which is informative for future practice.

The aim of this book is to highlight the great potential of decentralized (i.e. local or urban) energy policies in achieving environmentally-benign developments for modern cities. Urban sustainability is placed in the context of the debate on global sustainable development. A wide array of policy initiatives is discussed and evaluated, ranging from market-based energy policies to technological innovation policies for the energy sector. A theoretical framework for technology adoption processes is developed and empirically tested. The main question addressed is: which are the critical success factors for successful urban energy policies? This question is also dealt with in a meta-analytic context by assessing and comparing the performance of energy policies in various European cities, with a particular view to renewable energy.

This book traces the evolution of Singapore's parks system, from colonial to present times. Further, it contextualizes the design and planning of parks in the general discourse on western and eastern traditions: early twentieth century western conceptions 'imported' during colonialism; modernism; postmodernism, and the contemporary ecological debate. Park system planning products respond to national policies and result in structural urban elements and a range of park types. Global (western ideology) and local issues have influenced park system planning and the physical design of individual parks over time. However, in Singapore the eastern literature has not addressed the development of parks and urban green spaces in terms of historical perspective. The publication reveals the interrelations between visual representations and changing political ideologies. Singapore's system of public parks is shown to represent an iconography created by the state. Its set of constructed narratives elucidates on the potential social, cultural and environmental roles of public parks. However, Singapore's park system presents a novel paradigm for expanding Asian cities, characterized by evolving urban imaging strategies. In framing Singapore's case study within the broader perspective of eastern applications of western planning and design practices, and constructions of nation in post-colonial countries, the manuscript establishes the contribution of the Singaporean model of design and planning of parks to the international debate.

Explores the philosophy of walking by following the author on the walks made by Sartre, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rousseau and other philosophers. Walking is fundamental to the work of some famous philosophers but until this book has been a neglected topic. Also includes chapters on Coleridge, Andre Breton and surrealism and Virginia Wolff to consider the wider intellectual context of walking. Bruce Baugh travelled extensively to retrace the walks by these figures, so the book is able to relate the walks themselves to the ideas of the philosophers discussed.

Explores the philosophy of walking by following the author on the walks made by Sartre, Kierkegaard, Nietzsche, Rousseau and other philosophers. Walking is fundamental to the work of some famous philosophers but until this book has been a neglected topic. Also includes chapters on Coleridge, Andre Breton and surrealism and Virginia Wolff to consider the wider intellectual context of walking. Bruce Baugh travelled extensively to retrace the walks by these figures, so the book is able to relate the walks themselves to the ideas of the philosophers discussed.

This book focuses on the politics of street trees and the institutions, actors and processes that govern their planning, planting and maintenance. This is an innovative approach which is particularly important in the context of mounting environmental and societal challenges and reveals a huge amount about the nature of modern life, social change and political conflict. The work first provides different historical perspectives on street trees and politics, celebrating diversity in different cultures. A second section discusses street tree values, policy and management, addressing more contemporary issues of their significance and contribution to our environment, both physically and philosophically. It explores cultural idiosyncrasies and those from the point of view of political economy, particularly challenging the neo-liberal perspectives that continue to dominate political narratives. The final section provides case studies of community engagement, civil action and governance. International case studies bring together contrasting approaches in areas with diverging political directions or intentions, the constraints of laws and the importance of people power. By pursuing an interdisciplinary approach this book produces an information base for academics, practitioners, politicians and activists alike, thus contributing to a fairer political debate that helps to promote more democratic environments that are sustainable, equitable, comfortable and healthier.

This book examines the use of big data in regenerative urban environment and how data helps in functional planning and design solutions. This book is one of the first endeavors to present the data-driven methods for regenerative built environments and integrate it with the novel design solutions. It looks at four specific areas in which data is used - urban land use, transportation and traffic, environmental concerns and social issues - and draws on the theoretical literature concerning regenerative built environments to explain how the power of big data can achieve the systematic integration of urban design solutions. It then applies an in-depth case study method on Asian metropolises including Beijing and Tehran to bring the developed innovation into a research-led practical context. This book is a useful reference for anyone interested in driving sustainable regeneration of our urban environments through big data-centric design solutions.

This book presents a study into the art of Jiangnan classical garden. Jiangnan ("the south of the Yangtze River") refers to the water network region along the lower reaches of the Changjiang River (formerly known as Yangtze River), where Jiangsu Province Chinese gardens were primarily constructed during the 16th and 17th centuries of the later Ming and early Qing dynasties. The Jiangnan garden, an architectural space where artificial and natural elements are combined, represents the elite of classical Chinese gardens and serves as a prime exemplar for its northern counterpart, the Ming and Qing imperial gardens. The book pursues an interdisciplinary approach, combining historical information with case studies and other methods. Charts and pictures are used to supplement and reinforce the conclusions drawn from the macro narrative, enhancing the authenticity and readability of the historical monographs. It represents the first study of the classical art of landscape design in China, offering readers an insightful introduction.

This book tackles the emerging smart urbanism to advance a new way of urban thinking and to explore a new design approach. It unravels several urban transformations in dualities: economic relationality and centrality, technological flattening and polarisation, and spatial division and fusion. These dualities are interdependent; concurrent, coexisting, and contradictory, they are jointly disrupting and reshaping many aspects of contemporary cities and spaces. The book draws on a suite of international studies, experiences, and observations, including case studies in Beijing, Singapore, and Boston, to reveal how these processes are impacting urban design, development, and policy approaches. The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated many changes already in motion, and provides an extreme circumstance for reflecting on and imagining urban spaces. These analyses, thoughts, and visions inform an urban imaginary of smart design that incorporates change, flexibility, collaboration, and experimentation, which together forge a paradigm of urban thinking. This paradigm builds upon the modernist and postmodernist urban design traditions and extends them in new directions, responding to and anticipating a changing urban environment. The book proposes a smart design manifesto to stimulate thought, trigger debate, and, hopefully, influence a new generation of urban thinkers and smart designers. It will be of interest to scholars, students, and practitioners in the fields of urban design, planning, architecture, urban development, and urban studies.

This book is a comparative analysis of the architecture of central public spaces of capital cities in Central and Eastern Europe during the period of their authoritarian and post-authoritarian development. It demonstrates that national identity transformations cause structural changes in urban public spaces, and theorises identity and national identity within urban planning in order to explain the influence of historical, cultural, mental, social as well as ideological and political conditions on the processes of shaping and perceiving the architecture of public space. The book addresses the process of shaping and restructuring historic centres of European capital cities of Kiev, Moscow, Berlin, and Warsaw, which developed under authoritarian regime conditions throughout the 20th century and were characterised by ideological determinism and the influence of state ideology and politics on the architecture of public spaces. The book will be useful for urban planners, architects, land management specialists, art historians, political scientists, and readers interested in the theory and history of cities, the fundamentals of urban planning and architecture, and the planning of cities and public spaces.

This book addresses issues that waterfronts face in small Mediterranean port towns due to increases in the tourism industry. Integrating theory and pragmatic approaches, Waterfront Design in Small Port Towns proposes a design matrix which can go on to be implemented in waterfronts globally. The demand for a sustainable regeneration of the urban waterfront is constantly growing and represents the ultimate challenge to preserve and value the uniqueness of the region and to activate an overall redevelopment of small port towns. To understand these issues, Waterfront Design in Small Port Towns contains an in-depth investigation of the cultural and environmental assets and spatial socio-economic factors of the urban waterfront. This is conducted through the author's original methodological framework, the Waterfront Design Matrix, which responds to the specific scales and idiosyncrasies of the archetypical waterfront. The methodological and theoretical approach developed in the book can be applied to different geographical locations and countries, presenting comparable characteristics. This book is an ideal read for professionals and students alike with an interest in urban design and planning.

By focusing on the skyscraping transnational building, this book bridges two key debates on the transformation and emerging problems besetting major cities - globalization and ecological and sustainable building design. While such structures tend to be constructed and/or used by transnational companies and are generally viewed as emblems of a 'global city', they nevertheless impact seriously on their local environment, posing numerous environmental burdens on it. By examining office blocks held by multinational firms in Amsterdam, Sao Paolo and Beijing, the book analyses how transnational buildings might be made sustainable. It compares and contrasts the different social mechanisms that are, or may be, in place and how sustainable building practices that are being activated in certain locations could be adopted elsewhere.

Environmental quality is one of the most important issues faced by contemporary urban and regional policy. Amenities such as access to the natural environment, attractive neighbourhood characteristics and high quality public goods and services, play a direct role in determining where people choose to live and how much they are willing to do so. Likewise, negative environmental conditions, such as contamination, influence the real estate markets and the 'value' of a region. Increasingly, regions become winners or losers based on the quality of life they offer their inhabitants. Bringing together a team of leading scholars, this book addresses the issues of environmental valuation, answering questions such as: What kinds of features matter? How large of an affect do they have? How do they affect the spatial distribution of the population? And how should the value that people place on their environment affect urban and regional policy?

A study of particular aspects of the politics of planning a new town, this book, originally published in 1980, covers events from the inception of Stevenage in 1946 up to 1978. As a case study, the focus is on two expansion schemes, which were intended to extend the designated area of the town, and on the public protest that the two schemes engendered. Emphasis is placed on the structure and action of three groups of people: the 'urban managers' - the Stevenage Development Corporation; Stevenage industrialists; and local organisations engaged in protest. The theoretical focus is on the thesis of 'urban managerialism': the book examines the constraints placed upon both the structure and action of the Stevenage urban managers over the previous thirty years. In showing how matters work in practice, it directs light on issues of theory which other sociologists of planning, such as Pickvance and Castells, had only discussed in the abstract. The author argues that the experience of Stevenage illustrates a case of urban policy (particularly in housing and employment) being determined by the interests of industry alone, while at the same time pointing to the interrelationship of Stevenage industry and the town's Development Corporation. He examines the membership, strategies and aims of the various protest groups involved over the years, and casts considerable doubt on the notion that the groups were 'for democracy' and 'against bureaucracy'. Finally, he concludes, controversially, that in Stevenage's case, public participation and protest were basically irrelevant to the decision-making processes.

This book provides examples and suggestions for readers to understand how public investment decisions for sustainable infrastructure are made. Through detailed analysis of public investment in infrastructure over the last few decades in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Finland, the author explores how the decision-making processes for major public works spending, many of them requiring quite rigorous and detailed computational methodologies, can result in plans that underserve large portions of the population, are inequitable, and fail to efficiently preserve public property. Beginning with some of the commonly offered explanations for the slow pace of investment and repair in a supposedly prosperous society facing serious environmental challenges, the book then explores media's role in shaping the public-at-large's understanding of the situation and the unimaginative solutions put forward by politicians. It continues with some case studies of infrastructure investment, or lack thereof, including an exploration of competing uses for government funds. It concludes with some suggestions. It is aimed at a large readership of professionals, students, and policy makers in political science, urban planning, and civil engineering.

This book examines the nexus between conservation, land conflicts, and sustainable tourism approaches in Southern Africa, with a focus on equity, access, restitution, and redistribution.

While Southern Africa is home to important biodiversity, pristine woodlands, and grasslands, and is a habitat for important wildlife species, it is also a land of contestations over its natural resources with a complex historical legacy and a wide variety of competing and conflicting issues surrounding race, cultural and traditional practices, and neoliberalism. Drawing on insights from conservation, environmental, and tourism experts, this volume presents the nexus between land conflicts and conservation in the region. The chapters reveal the hegemony of humans on land and associated resources including wildlife and minerals. By using social science approaches, the book unites environmental, scientific, social, and political issues, as it is imperative we understand the holistic nature of land conflicts in nature-based tourism. Discussing the management theories and approaches to community-based tourism in communities where there are or were land conflicts is critical to understanding the current state and future of tourism in African rural spaces. This volume determines the extent to which land reform impacts community-based tourism in Africa to develop resilient destination strategies and shares solutions to existing land conflicts to promote conservation and nature-based tourism.

The book will be of great interest to students, academics, development experts, and policymakers in the field of conservation, tourism geography, sociology, development studies, land use, and environmental management and African studies.

Table of Contents

1. Land Conflicts in Southern Africa: the sustainability of Tourism and Conservation

Regis Musavengane & Llewellyn Leonard

Part 1: Land governance and sustainable tourism management

2. An alternative governance approach towards addressing the intersection between mining developments and impacts on tourism and conservation sites in Southern Africa

Llewellyn Leonard

3. The Deepening Challenge of Governance of Wildlife and Land Issues in the Context of Rising Citizen Participation in South Africa

Tariro Kamuti

4. Leadership and Governance Intricacies in Communally-owned Protected Areas: The Case of Somkhanda Game Reserve, KwaZulu Natal, South Africa

Oscar Mthimkhulu & Adrian Nel

Part 2: Managing natural disasters and land reform tourism crises

5. Complex effects of natural disasters on protected areas: the case of Cyclone Idai in Mozambique

Pekka Virtanen, Luis Cristóvão, & José Mourinho

6. The challenges and prospects of community-based tourism post Zimbabwe's land reform programme in the Midlands Province.

Zibanai Zhou & Dzingai Kennedy Nyahunzvi

7. A review of post-restitution land rights agreement conflicts and their resolution at &Beyond Phinda Private Game Reserve in KZN, South Africa

Jones Mudimu Muzirambi, Simon Naylor, & Kevin Mearns

8. Environmental Operational Research for Sustainable Tourism and Conflict Management in Community-based Natural Resources Management

Regis Musavengane

Part 3: Managing land use, access, and benefit-sharing conflicts

9. The state, community-based tourism and wildlife user rights in tourism concessions in Botswana

Joseph Mbaiwa & Emmanuel Mogende

10. COVID-19, conservation, and tourism in Namibia’s Conservancies: socioeconomic and land-use impacts

Eduard Gargallo & Jona Heita

11. Conflicts between Conservation and community livelihoods: lessons from KwaNibela and iSimangaliso Wetland Park, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.

Zwelakhe Thulasizwe Mascot Maseko & Inocent Moyo

12. The partially transformed frontier: Aspirations, limitations, and tensions of transfrontier conservation in the Maloti-Drakensberg

Oscar Mthimkhulu & Adrian Nel

Part 4: Conclusion

13. The future of community-based tourism amid socio-economic and political conflicts in Southern Africa

Llewellyn Leonard & Regis Musavengane

The volume examines the role of telecommunications in the development process. While it seems obvious that telecommunications contribute to the efficient operation and productive growth of an economy, telecommunications may be a cause, a consequence, and a manifestation of development. There has been a growing interest among researches in examining the impact of telecommunications in both industrialized and developing societies. The purpose of this volume is to bring together the research in the field in order to make it more widely available, and to put research questions and findings within a development framework.

In Istanbul, urban transformation and housing production processes are so intricately entwined and intertwined that they elicit a plethora of predictable and unexpected subject matters to be studied holistically. This book provides an insight into the scales, thresholds, and dilemmas of housing transformations in Istanbul from past to present, with a focus on cause-and-effect relationships. It scrutinizes Istanbul from new perspectives as the primary scene, target, and playground for neoliberal market acts and actors, on the one hand, and seeks to shed light on future prospects with regard to housing needs and expectations of twenty-first century users in line with the unique dynamics of Istanbul, a city without ends, on the other hand.

Two hundred years ago, Sir Stamford Raffles established the modern settlement of Singapore with the intent of seeing it become 'a great commercial emporium and fulcrum'. But by the time independence was achieved in 1965, the city faced daunting problems of housing shortage, slums and high unemployment. Since then, Singapore has become one of the richest countries on earth, providing, in Sir Peter Hall's words, 'perhaps the most extraordinary case of economic development in the history of the world'. The story of Singapore's remarkable achievements in the first half century after its independence is now widely known. In Planning Singapore: The Experimental City, Stephen Hamnett and Belinda Yuen have brought together a set of chapters on Singapore's planning achievements, aspirations and challenges, which are united in their focus on what might happen next in the planning of the island-state. Chapters range over Singapore's planning system, innovation and future economy, housing, biodiversity, water and waste, climate change, transport, and the potential transferability of Singapore's planning knowledge. A key question is whether the planning approaches, which have served Singapore so well until now, will suffice to meet the emerging challenges of a changing global economy, demographic shifts, new technologies and the existential threat of climate change. Singapore as a global city is becoming more unequal and more diverse. This has the potential to weaken the social compact which has largely existed since independence and to undermine the social resilience undoubtedly needed to cope with the shocks and disruptions of the twenty-first century. The book concludes, however, that Singapore is better-placed than most to respond to the challenges which it will certainly face thanks to its outstanding systems of planning and implementation, a proven capacity to experiment and a highly developed ability to adapt quickly, purposefully and pragmatically to changing circumstances.

This book proposes the idea of interstitial space as a theoretical framework to describe and understand the implications of in-between lands in urban studies and their profound transformative effects in cities and their urban character. The analysis of the interstitial spaces is structured into four themes: the conceptual grounds of interstitial spaces; the nature of interstices; the geographical scale of interstices; and the relationality of interstices. The empirical section of the book introduces seven cases that illustrate the varied nature of interstitiality to finally discuss its implications in the broader field of urban studies. Reflections upon further lines of enquiry and theories of urbanisation, urban sprawl, and cities are highlighted in the conclusion chapter. This is the ideal text for scholars of urban planning, strategic spatial planning, landscape planning, urban design, architecture, and other cognate disciplines as well as advanced students in these fields.

- The book tackles five cutting-edge topics in the field of urban studies: the anti-progress movement, resilient urban model, localism, the urban commons, and the bottom-up urbanism. - The use of an attractive cultural narrative, the eco-lifestyle, to analyse and interpret architectural and urban spaces. - The use of the ecological crisis as starting point and backbone of that narrative. This topic is a mainstream concern in contemporary society.

Reframes ecology as an integrative notion that includes history, culture, society and materiality, in addition to technology, within contemporary ecological housing programs Argues that, when viewed through the lens of landscape, social and political implications of ecological housing offer important lessons for the future Gathers a wide range of contributions from the USA, Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Mongolia, Hungary and India Includes over 130 black and white illustrations.

Roman Domestic Medical Practice in Central Italy examines the roles that the home, the garden and the members of the household (freeborn, freed and slave) played in the acquisition and maintenance of good physical and mental health and well-being. Focussing on the period from the middle Republic to the early Empire, it considers how comprehensive the ancient Roman general understanding of health actually was, and studies how knowledge regarding various aspects of health was transmitted within the household. Using literary, documentary, archaeological and bioarchaeological evidence from a variety of contexts, this is the first extended volume to provide as comprehensive and detailed a reconstruction of this aspect of ancient Roman private life as possible, complementing existing works on ancient professional medical practice and existing works on domestic medical practice in later historical periods. This volume offers an indispensable resource to social historians, particularly those that focus on the ancient family, and medical historians, particularly those that focus on the ancient world.