Rui Alexandre Castanho

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 Mauro Raposo, Rui Alexandre Castanho, Mariana Machado, Conceição Castro, Pedro Santos and Carlos Pinto-Gomes

City and countryside, by their mutual dependency, constitute a unique system, which is the basis for the development of a global landscape. This interaction is far from the country being simply the city’s food supply. The interaction should be reinforced through ecological corridors allowing the biodiversity movement that guarantees the landscape identity. In this regard, life’s standards are strictly related to the landscape quality. Moreover, landscape biophysical features determine the vegetal potential and consequently their uses and techniques adopted by man toward his territorial settlement. Contextually, two Iberian case studies have been selected and analyzed from a multidisciplinarity perspective, aiming to determine how vegetation series may influence the maintenance and sustainability of urban green spaces. Bearing this in mind that a landscape architecture project is dynamic and considering the fourth dimension: time—mainly regarding the vegetation development, creating new volumes and spaces‑considering their natural evolution, a deep knowledge of the plant material is seen as a critical factor for a sustainable landscape planning at several levels.

Part of the book: Landscape Architecture

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 Sérgio António Neves Lousada, João Pedro Gouveia and Rui Alexandre Castanho

In fact, it is pivotal the development, use, and management of the best and most suitable coatings to be supplied to vessels—especially those designed for long journeys; not only to increase their stability and safety but also to minimize their maintenance cost. In this regard, it should be also considering the function, the vessel typology and its routes, as well as the quality of the waters by which it will navigate. Topics that are critical to promote a better dimensioning process of vessels. Thus, the present chapter, via an extensive literature review articulated with practical approaches, aims to define relevant directions for vessels structural development processes regarding the water quality (sea or river waters), where they will outline their routes. Therefore, the study looks for a relationship between the vessels structural coating design process and the quality of the water where they navigate. Moreover, such a process not only will optimize/minimize the costs with the periodic maintenance of the vessels linings, but also to relate it with its routes—contributing to the revitalization of their structural dimensioning.

Part of the book: New Innovations in Engineering Education and Naval Engineering

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

By Pedro Pimentel, André Oliveira, Gualter Couto, João Crispim Ponte and Rui Castanho

WTO (World Tourism Organization) recognizes that adventure tourism is a journey that includes at least two of three elements: (a) physical activity, (b) natural environment; and (c) cultural immersion. With this in mind, the Autonomous Region of Azores, classified as one of the OR (Outermost Regions) by the European Union (EU), meets several of those elements. Therefore, the Archipelago shows several potential for the development of this typology of tourism. However, this insular region faces many challenges. Some of those obstacles are also great opportunities for regional development towards new sustainable models. For example, there is the islands’ geographical location, which enables exceptional territorial development opportunities and growth opportunities. Contextually, the Archipelago’s nine islands afford great variety to the destination, and the tranquil rural landscape fits the perfect framework for unparalleled, charming, and relaxing experiences. Moreover, the Archipelago’s specific characteristics, as its volcanic nature, make the destination a perfect place to be explored. These are just some examples of the region’s potential to develop this typology of tourism, based on nature, and consequently, a vehicle to achieve the so-desired regional sustainability.

Part of the book: Peripheral Territories, Tourism, and Regional Development

By Ana Vulevic, Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, José Cabezas, Luis Fernández-Pozo, Jacinto Garrido Velarde, José Martín Gallardo, Sérgio Lousada and Luís Loures

Although the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) has made a considerable contribution to increasing transport infrastructure and improving transport services, it still often seems that border regions have reduced accessibility compared to central regions. The Iberian border regions of Alto-Alentejo (Portugal) and Badajoz (Spain) were analyzed. Studies conducted in the Iberian territories confirm some of these regions’ unsustainability and the non-impact on the inhabitants’ quality of life. Also, a few questions arise: Can we verify the change in methods and measures used by development strategies? Is it necessary to acquire a more comprehensive view of corridor flows and interactions through common regional development strategies for managing development corridors? Will we influence the change of the methodological approach to be strategic and that it does not imply a corridor only in terms of the flow and mobility of people and goods, but also the search for the causes of movements in growth corridors? So, infrastructure and connectivity planning, regional economic development, and land use planning are critical contexts in developing territorial policies in the planning of development of corridors and their integration into development processes. This study proposes a framework for strategic corridor governance to increase accessibility and regional equity.

Part of the book: Peripheral Territories, Tourism, and Regional Development

By Rui Alexandre Castanho, Gualter Couto and Rossana Santos

Part of the book: Peripheral Territories, Tourism, and Regional Development

By Sérgio Lousada, Luís Loures and Rui Alexandre Castanho

The present study aims to propose the creation of an artificial beach in the municipality of Machico and its complementary infrastructures, located on the south-eastern coast of the Madeira Island (Portugal). Machico’s beach sand consists of a mixture of black volcanic sand and round basalt stones. Usually, it has clear waters and a quiet sea. This beach also has a mooring infrastructure, thus allowing access to the sea. In order to achieve this study’s main goals, it was initially carried out an extensive review and bibliographic research. Subsequently, a sand beach and its shelter groins were simulated and designed to hypothetically promote the retention of the sand and mitigate the tidal effects. In addition to model the beach dynamics, an extensive characterization of the extreme maritime regime was performed. The model was developed based on topographic and hydrographic site surveys and the data using Wave Watch III model at 32.0°N, 17.0°W—obtained from SONEL web page, which gathers new data every 6 hours. Besides, the study also contemplated the analysis of the sea inundation quota for a return period of 100 and 500 years and its development along with the Master Plan of the City of Machico. Furthermore, some final remarks and conclusions will be shown; besides, some future projects should be developed to expand the knowledge of this thematic field.

Part of the book: Landscape Architecture