Luís Loures

By Di Lu, Jon Burley, Pat Crawford, Robert Schutzki and Luis Loures

Part of the book: Advances in Spatial Planning

By Luís Loures and Jon Burley

Part of the book: Advances in Spatial Planning

By Luís Carlos Loures, Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Ana Vulevic, José Cabezas and Luis Fernández-Pozo

Spatial and urban planning processes regarding border cooperation have reached unprecedented levels in recent decades, not only due to their potential for territorial integration, i.e., infrastructure construction and planning activities worldwide. Bearing in mind the European project, for a united and strong network of nations, this scenario is more evident in European territories. In this regard, through multivariated analyzes of city cooperation on European border areas, it is possible to identify the factors that influence the territorial success and also a sustainable regional development and even their effects over the urban agglomerations. From the identified factors, the study pointed out one that is common to all cases: connectivity-movement between cities.

Part of the book: Urban Agglomeration

By Yuemin Jin, Jon Burley, Patrica Machemer, Pat Crawford, Haoxuan Xu, Zhen Wu and Luis Loures

Investigators are seeking methods to assess the visual and environmental quality of the landscape across urban areas. In addition investigators are interested in applying these predictors to study landscape transformation and change. In our study we employed an environmental quality prediction equation, which assesses environmental quality to create a visual quality map of southern Michigan and then evaluated the map’s ability to determine the map’s reliability. Through the Kendall’s coefficient of concordance statistical test, we determined that the map is significantly reliable (p ≤ 0.01) and conclude that constructing such a map of a large area is possible. We then applied this approach to quantify environmental quality change to southeast Michigan (Detroit metropolitan area) from land-use maps in the 1800s, and from a map constructed in 2008. Only areas with cliff detritus had statistically significant changes. Many of these cliff detritus areas are now being transformed back to pastoral urban savanna environments, a vision that had been embraced by Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright’s approach compares differently with the grand vision Le Corbusier had for urban areas, a series of multiple-use towers spaced across an urban forest. The sprawling towers of Shanghai, P.R. of China exemplify this model in a modern manner.

Part of the book: Urban Agglomeration

By José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Luis Carlos Loures, Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Cabezas Fernández, Luis Fernández-Pozo, Sérgio António Neves Lousada and Patrícia Escórcio

The need to understand what land use is has motivated the development of programmes that aims to identify it and quantify it—CORINE Land Cover (CLC) in 1985. From this official and open geodatabase—through the using of geographic information system (GIS) tools—the amount of area established for each land use has been identified in all the 28 member states of the EU. This mostly corresponds to agricultural and forestry uses. Between 1990 and 2012, it was possible to determine countries with variable land use models such as Finland, Latvia, Portugal and Spain—the rest of the states presenting stable land use models. Additionally, some countries are characterized by the predominance of one or two land uses. Contextually, the proposal aims to develop a retrospective study regarding the land-use changes in the EU territories from 1990 to 2012, through the available tools such as CLC.

Part of the book: Land Use

By Rui Alexandre Castanho, Sérgio Lousada, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Patrícia Escórcio, José Cabezas, Luis Fernández-Pozo and Luís Loures

Considering the complex dynamics, patterns, and particularities that peripheral and insular territories/regions present—e.g., as the fragility, they show to achieve a sustainable development and growth—a study that analyzes the land uses of this territories is seen as pivotal to identify barriers and opportunities for a long-term sustained development. Contextually, a general analysis was carried out through case study research methods covering those territorial typologies of the insular territory of Madeira Island, Portugal. The study, which was carried out through GIS mapping tools, enabled us to identify the land use changes in the last decades over the territory—allowing to establish a relation and identification of the associated barriers and opportunities presented by the territories to face the emerging sustainable development challenges. The study reveals the evident limitations of “ultra-peripheral” territories not only by the physical spatial dimensions but also by the difficulty to reconvert land uses. Thus, the main actors and their policies over the territory are even more relevant and need to be conducted in a more reasonable way—considering the fragility of this regions; such actions present higher impact over the territory and over their inhabitants’ life’s quality standards and finally on the long-term sustainability.

Part of the book: Land Use

By Luis Carlos Loures

Part of the book: Land Use

By Luis Loures

Part of the book: Landscape Reclamation

By Yoichi Kunii, Paige O’Keefe, Jon Burley, Luis Loures and Marifaye Regina Villanueva

Planners, designers, governmental organizations, and citizens are interested in creating enduring safe buildable environments. Landscape hazards such as earthquakes, wildfires, hurricanes, tornados, flooding, volcanoes, radon, air pollution, sinkholes, avalanche, landslides, and blizzards create a complex set of destructive forces that form disturbances obliterating life and structures. In our study, we examined these forces across the lower 48 states of the United States of America. We applied geographic information system (GIS) technology to identify areas of extreme hazard and areas of low risk. Our investigation indicated that most of our study area (approximately 83%) was exposed to highly reoccurring destructive forces and that only relatively small patches (Upper Midwest-portions of Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota) and thin stretches (Rocky Mountain Front Range—eastern Montana, Wyoming, and eastern Colorado) of land were relatively secure from these forces. This means that in the long term, much of the study area is not safe from disturbances that will destroy much of the built environment, challenging notions of sustainability for numerous metropolitan areas, United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Biosphere Reserves, UNESCO World Heritage Sites, National Parks, other noted historic sites.

Part of the book: Landscape Architecture

By Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Cabezas, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, José Martín Gallardo, Luis Fernández-Pozo, Sema Yilmaz Genç, Sérgio Lousada and Luís Loures

In the last decades, there was a significant population growth in urban areas. In this regard, the European major cities are not an exception; in fact, they are even still more affected by that populational exodus and consequently for an urban growth. Therefore, and considering that the urban parks in the cities are not growing at the same pace, a question is raised: “Are the public green spaces in the European major cities still able to provide the needed ecosystem services to their populations?” Based on the above-mentioned question, the present chapter aims to provide the first insights and answers to this question. Contextually, the study uses a case study research (CSR) method over several European major cities. Besides, GIS tools crossing statistical data are also used to analyze the data and consequently understood and establish a state of the art regarding this relevant issue.

Part of the book: Landscape Architecture