Was there a basis for anticipating the 2010 Russian heat wave?
Randall Dole, Martin Hoerling, Judith Perlwitz, Jon Eischeid, Philip Pegion, Tao Zhang, Xiao-Wei Quan, Taiyi Xu and Donald Murray, 2011.
The 2010 summer heat wave in western Russia was extraordinary, with the region experiencing the warmest July since at least 1880 and numerous locations setting all-time maximum temperature records. This study explores whether early warning could have been provided though knowledge of natural and human-cause climate forcing. Model simulations and observational sea surface temperatures (SSTs), sea ice conditions and greenhouse gas concentrations. Analysis of forced model simulations indicates that neither human influences nor other slowly evolving ocean boundary conditions contributed substantially to the magnitude of this heat wave.
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The Global Impact Of Soil Erosion On Productivity II: Effects On Crop Yields And Production Over Time
By Biggelaar, Lal, Wiebe, Eswaran, Breneman & Reich, 2003.
As more than 99% of human food is coming from the land (Pimentel and Pimentel, 2000), soil is one of our important natural resources and a major factor in global food production. However, soil management has frequently had major impacts, both positive and negative, on the properties of the soil that govern its productivity. Erosion is widely considered to be the most serious form of soil degradation, undermining the long-term viability of agriculture in many parts of the world (Lal, 1994). Oldeman et al. (1991) estimated that erosion accounts for 84% of the total global area of degraded soils, ranging from 68% in South America to 99% in North America.
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Socio-economic Trends and New Territorial Dynamics in the European Union: Convergence and Agglomeration
By Astrid Cullmann and Kurt Geppert, 2012.
In this study, we explore how general socio-economic trends within the European Union are reflected in the development of different types of regions during the period from 1995 to 2009 and how economic disparities between EU regions change in the course of these processes. Overall, there is a decrease of regional inequalities in terms of per-capita income, but this is mainly the result of catching up of the Middle and Eastern European countries. Disparities within the EU15 and the EU 12 have remained constant. Moreover, all of the socio-economic tendencies considered in this study in their spatial dimension the shift towards services, the shift towards technology and knowledge-intensive activities, the rise in labour market participation and the renewed tendency towards urbanisation point at a persistent or even increasing spatial concentration of economic activities. Thus, we observe two overlapping and opposing trends: convergence and agglomeration. Finally, the regions of the new member states have been gradually catching up in terms of income and productivity since 2000, but the wide gap between the EU12 and the EU15 regarding technology, knowledgeintensity and innovation is hardly narrowing. It might take very long for the EU12 countries to approach the development level of the old member states.
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Regional Strategy on Climate Change. Executive Document
By CCDA and SICA, 2010.
The world today faces one of the biggest challenges in history. A phenomenon that can determine a new way of living and developing human actions in the short term. Climate change represents a factor that is directly affecting millions of people nowadays, all species and ecosystems, and the entire society. Based on scientific evidence, the climate phenomenon is the result of an unsustainable development model with a short-term vision; supported by the degradation, pollution and indiscriminate extraction of natural resources worldwide; in a growing dependence on fossil fuels and dynamics of economic growth based on the use of compounds which generate greenhouse gases in exchange of luxury goods and services. Such dynamics consequently produce the so called global warming and evidence an increasingly frequent climate variability and climate change with severe impact on human, material, social, economic and environmental losses worldwide.
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Cities of tomorrow. Challenges, visions, ways forward
User Rating: 4 / 5
European Commission, Directorate General for Regional Policy, 2011
More than two thirds of the European population lives in urban areas. Cities are places where both problems emerge and solutions are found. They are fertile ground for science and technology, for culture and innovation, for individual and collective creativity, and for mitigating the impact of climate change. However, cities are also places where problems such as unemployment, segregation and poverty are concentrated. The 'Cities of tomorrow' reflection process will provide inspiration for policymakers and practitioners involved in urban development, whether at local, regional, national or European level.
19.20.21 Project
User Rating: 4 / 5
The mission of 19.20.21 Project is a multi-year, multimedia initiative to collect organize and better understand population's effect regarding urban and business planning and its impact on consumers around the world. The project is about what the rise of supercites such as Mexico City will mean for us and the earth. 19.20.21 Project is a promise from Richard Saul Wurman, founder of the outstanding TED Conference, to do a longitudinal research and sharing project focused around the rise of supercities in our world — in particular, the 19 cities that will each have more than 20 million inhabitants in the 21st century.
Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2011
User Rating: 3 / 5
Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PricewaterhouseCoopers, 2011
A joint publication by the Urban Land Institute (ULI) and PwC, Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe is a trends and forecast publication now in its eighth edition. The report provides an outlook on European real estate investment and development trends, real estate finance and capital markets, property sectors, metropolitan areas, and other real estate issues. Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2011 represents a consensus outlook for the future and reflects the views of more than 600 individuals who completed surveys and/or were interviewed as a part of the research process for this report.
| Emerging Trends in Real Estate Europe 2011 | [ ] |
Human Factors in 2050: Population Trends, Growth and Urbanization
User Rating: 3 / 5
Arthur C. Nelson
Metropolitan Institute
Virginia Tech, November 2007
Most American states and metropolitan areas have some idea as to the amount of growth they expect over the next several decades, based on estimates of projected demographic, household, market and industry trends. These estimates form the foundation of public policies and are vital for use in goal setting, planning, and implementation of a variety of growth and development strategies. This paper examines a series of projected trends to determine the estimated demand for new housing, commercial, and industrial space over the next half century.
| Human_Factors_2050.pdf | [ ] |
The World in 2025: Demographic and Urbanisation Trends
User Rating: 3 / 5
Gijs Beets,
NIDI - Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute
From EU Seminar “The World in 2025”
Brussels, 24 September 2009
The aim of this presentation is discuss how will be the future demographic and urbanisation trends. The main demographic issues covered are the variation in population growth across world regions, the declining number of children, the rising life expectancy, the international migration, the population ageing and the urbanisation process.
| demography_urbanization.pdf | [ ] |
Housing and neighbourhoods monitor 2011
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Joseph Rowntree Foundation, june 2011
This report explores the interaction between housing and neighbourhood trends across the UK throughout the economic downturn and the start of the recovery.
| Housing and neighbourhoods monitor 2011 | [ ] |
Housing for Europe: Strategies for Quality in Urban Space, Excellence in Design, Performance in Building
User Rating: 4 / 5
URBACT Working Group Hopus (Housing Praxis for Urban Sustainability), 2010
Housing for Europe - Strategies for Quality in Urban Space, Excellence in Design, Performance in Building gathers the results of the Urbact II Working Group “Hopus – Housing Praxis for Urban Sustainability”. It is a multi-disciplinary reflection on urban development, encompassing strategies, governance models, guidance instruments and assessment tools, all considered in the wider framework of current European policies on the city, housing and building technology. The looking glass of a two-year transnational exchange project, bringing together universities and local administrations, allows us to understand the great challenge lying ahead in the 21st century: the quest to create cities which are beautiful, healthy, and attractive places to live.
| Housing for Europe | [ ] |
Learnings, conclusions and guidelines for carrying out urban planning processes in peripheral cities of metropolitan areas.
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NeT-TOPIC New Tools and approaches for managing urban Transformation Processes in Intermediate Cities (URBACT Programme), 2011
Main findings, conclusions and guidelines drawn from the exchange work carried out in the framework of the NeT-TOPIC Thematic Network in relation to the management of urban transformation processes in peripheral cities in metropolitan areas.
| Urban planning processes in peripheral cities | [ ] |
Trends in Housing for Older People (Conference Report)
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HOPE Conference, 8th of May 2008, Copenhagen (Denmark)
The conference was arranged in order to identify the challenges that housing organisations, including social housing companies, face in relation to the growing numbers of older people. Experience and trends in Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, the UK and Denmark were presented and discussed by the representatives from the fi ve countries.
| Trends in Housing for Older People | [ ] |
The Fundamental Importance of Buildings in Future EU Energy Saving Policies
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Taskforce of Actors and Stakeholders from the European Construction Sector, July 2010
In the specific field of energy efficiency, the EU has set an indicative target of achieving 20% energy savings by 2020. The construction sector points out that the best, most cost effective and reliable way to achieve the 2020 target is to motivate and to establish the framework necessary for a total transformation in the way that the energy efficiency of existing buildings is addressed.
| Importance of Buildings in Future EU Energy Saving | [ ] |
World Urbanization Prospects - 2014 revision
United Nations, 2014
In today’s increasingly global and interconnected world, over half of the world’s population (54 per cent) now lives in urban areas, up from 30 per cent in 1950. The coming decades will bring further profound changes to the size and spatial distribution of the global population such that the world’s population in 2050 is projected to be 66 per cent urban. The global urban population is projected to grow by 2.5 billion urban dwellers between 2014 and 2050, with nearly 90 per cent of the increase concentrated in Asia and Africa. Trends in urbanization are integrally linked to sustainable development. With good planning and governance, the increasing concentration of people in urban settlements can facilitate economic and social development, while also offering opportunities to mitigate the adverse impact of consumption and production on the environment. However, rapid and unplanned urban growth threatens sustainable development when the necessary infrastructure is not developed or when policies are not implemented to protect the environment and ensure that the benefits of city life are equitably shared.
This introductory chapter of the report is presented in three sections. The first section offers some context for the global urban transition with a discussion of its associations with other demographic and economic shifts, and the implications for sustainable development. The second section gives a brief description of the data and methods used to estimate and project the urban and rural populations and the populations of cities .The third section provides a roadmap for the chapters that comprise the remainder of this report.
| World Urbanization Prospects - 2014 revision | [ ] |
