Volumen 23 (2020): Edición 2 (November 2020)

Vegetation formations are an important component in the urban structure, as they perform a wide range of ecosystem services there. The climate modification to improve the environmental and residential quality of the city is one of the important functions. The paper presents the results of the microclimate assessment in the chosen localities of Nitra town, Slovakia, with an emphasis on the stage and differences in air temperature and relative humidity. The climate elements were measured at 7 spatially different sites (sites A to G), each of them at two comparative sites, vegetation stand and open area. The largest average air temperature difference between the vegetation stand and the non-vegetation area was 1.2 °C at the locality D. The largest air temperature difference in the vegetation stands was measured between the street space (site E) and the city park (F), reaching 2.3–2.5 °C. The relative air humidity reached the highest differences between the park (locality F) and the street space (G) measured at 3:00–8:00. These reached 19.6% to 24.4% with higher relative humidity in the popular city park. The highest differences between the compared habitats were measured at locality G and averaged 9.6% at 04:00 – 07:00 in a preference to a tree canopy. The research results confirmed the importance of the vegetation structures in the process of mitigating the urban climate extremes and the environmental quality improving.

EU-wide strategy promotes the deployment of green infrastructure across Europe. Integrating green infrastructure in spatial planning, policy and strategy development at regional/national levels is the task of each EU member state. The aim of this article is to give an example and evaluate one of the ongoing projects at national level, namely National project – Support of Biodiversity with Green Infrastructure Elements in Municipalities of Slovakia “Green municipalities of Slovakia“. The aim of the national project is to implement green infrastructure at local level through vegetation elements in order to maintain and restore biodiversity and ecosystems outside of protected areas Natura 2000. The programme supporting tree planting in rural municipalities is an important tool for the creation of basic elements of green infrastructure throughout Slovakia. As part of the national program, an implementation plan for 6 municipalities in Slovakia in 2020 is proposed. Subsequently, the implementation projects in terms of the use of vegetation in different categories of green spaces, types of vegetation, representation of tree species, including costs and benefits, are proposed. Based on the results, the potential and limits of the programme and specific suggestions for its further use are set. In 6 municipalities, a total of 17 suitable localities were selected for the project, which is an average of 2.83 localities per municipality. A total of 467 woody plants individuals were proposed, representing a total of 19 woody plants species. The total cost of planting is an average of €12,601.10 per municipality, €7,312.05 per ha of area, and €161.90 per single tree. The average number of trees per ha is 45.15 individuals and per each municipality it is 77.83 trees. In the conclusions, a potential risk of the programme regarding the subsequent maintenance of trees, which is not funded under the program, is highlighted.

Every ecosystem on Earth is affected by people as well as has an impact on them. The connection between nature and culture, human knowledge and wisdom of Nature, between us and our environment, is in fact very strong, although sometimes underestimated. It can be promoted by a different way of designing architecture and urban plans – these all should change the quality of our decisions and consequently, once we are acquainted with better options or choices to select, also the quality of our lives will be raised. The Fourth Nature concept is being researched with the goal to identify strategies that create straight connections between culture and Nature, in order to provide humanity with better conditions for living in cities. We are urban beings, living with a current prognosis of being a part of a bigger number of urban dwellers each day. Many different ways the Fourth Nature can be practiced, seen and experienced by in several scales and forms could change our living conglomerates. As valuable places in cities, due to their insertion in the urban tissue and also as coexistence and knowledge development areas, university campuses are here taken to examine this aimed optimal relation between Nature and culture. University campuses have been for centuries an important part of human culture. Creating their own ecosystems, campuses impact on the functioning, sustainability and in the overall also on the appearance of the city, through a blue-green infrastructure implementation and its connections. Within the urban structures, they fulfil their role more significantly and provide important spatial, social, economic, visual and health functions. The area, which is often labelled as public or semi-public space, is thus a part of the blue-green infrastructure and its quality affects also the quality of the surrounding environment. The Fourth Nature is seen as a tool or as a turning point in the current environmental crisis and the university campuses are considered to be the modifiers of the quality of their surrounding environment. The intercrossed analysis of their properties in the current context may bring new ideas and application parameters for the design of the contemporary urban landscape.

The neighbourhoods in the former Soviet Union were after the World War II often planned according to the self-consistent microdistrict concept similar to Clarence Perry's neighbourhood unit. Each residential district was based on the walkable community centre in the middle whereas the area itself was surrounded by arterial streets as the main transport routes with basic services. However, the recent situation of many of those neighbourhoods is rather dim – the bad condition of housing, faded public spaces and unorganised greenery systems are between the most crucial issues. The results of the research made on the case study of the Jubilejny district in the city of Mogilev, Belarus, show that population ageing is the main threat for these areas. Residents are dissatisfied with uncertain housing situation besides inappropriate parking options and lack of opportunities to spend a leisure time outside. Therefore, our proposal to the future development of the Jubilejny district includes short term improvements such as leisure activities within the public spaces or regeneration of green spaces as well as long-term designs regarding a community garden and other nature-based solutions.

According to the results of the analysis of domestic and foreign literary sources, one of the most innovative ways of ensuring the stability of anthropogenically modified ecosystems is proposed, that is the creation of a system of protective type ecotones, which will allow providing ecological safety on the railways using exclusively natural environmental restoration mechanisms. On the experimental areas, we have described the taxonomic structure of forestry groups and phytocoenotic activity of species in forest grouping. We have also calculated the closeness, viability of the tree-stands, and also the projective shelter. To determine the noise effect, the noise-permeability of forest strips and the scattering of sound-currents from planting action have been analyzed. Based on research and calculations, a zone of sound shadow is determined depending on the size of the obstacle and the length of the sound wave. The acoustic effect of reducing the sound level is determined by such factors as bandwidth, dendrological composition, and design of plantations. The one-factor dispersion analysis allowed confirming that the investigated sections of the tracks of Lviv Railways differ significantly from each other according to these data. The results of the research were also subject to correlation analysis. The coefficients of pair correlation of structural indices of protective type ecotones were calculated with reduction of acoustic load on sections of the tracks of Lviv Railways. Therefore, the interrelation with the distance, the horizontal closure of the tree canopy, the distance between the trees, the height of the shaft and the crown density were reliably established. On this basis, the multiplicity regression equation for complex estimation of acoustic load reduction and prediction of noise reduction with specified parameters of protective type ecotones were calculated.

The earth is rapidly urbanizing. One of the most effective means of dealing with the emergency caused by rapid urbanization is green infrastructure now. Ankara as a metropolitan capital city is also rapidly losing its urban-rural integrity due to rapid urbanization. Although different spatial plans have been made since the declaration of the Republic, the city continued oil-stain expansion and the green area system could not be protected. The Imrahor Valley, which is of ecologically vital importance in the urban-rural integrity, is one of the valuable areas under threat. The valley is an ecotone between the rural and urban ecosystems, southeast of Ankara city center. The valley has come to the point of losing its natural and rural character, especially with the urban transformation practices on the valley floor, slopes and surrounding areas. In this context, the ecological processes to which the Imrahor Valley is connected and dependent and human interventions in these processes are examined in three layers at different levels initially: the province, the city containing the central districts and the basin containing Lake Mogan-Eymir Lake-Imrahor Valley. Then, we focus on the transformation of the Imrahor Valley, one of the most important ecological components of the metropolitan city of Ankara, between 2003–2020. All transformational interventions in the Imrahor Valley affect all natural processes of the Valley irreversibly. It is necessary to re-read and interpret the Imrahor Valley landscape within the framework of the green infrastructure approach in all spatial planning studies and plan changes to be made regarding the metropolitan city.

Green, recreational spaces are lacking in most low-income urban areas of Cape Town, South Africa. Public open spaces that do exist are often considered nuisance plots, as they attract anti-social behaviour. Thus, there is a dire need to create green, recreational spaces in such areas to provide the benefits of parks to the community members who live there. Nuisance plots are unsafe and should be developed into safe, convivial, and beautiful spaces for local communities to utilise. Using the development of a community park in the Cape Town township of Nyanga as a case study, this paper demonstrates the communality and contestations involved in the planning and implementation of green infrastructure in an urban landscape marred by socioeconomic inequalities. Sourcing data from nine months of ethnographic fieldwork, this paper aims to i) show the importance of inclusive planning and decision-making through participation of all stakeholders in urban design and spatial planning projects; ii) to highlight the complexities and social contestations of such projects, and the need to consider the social relations of an area during the planning and implementation phases; and iii) to emphasise the importance of incorporating sense of place and belonging in design and planning decisions.

Evidence shows that maintaining a relationship with nature is essential for human health and wellbeing. This is of great importance when migration to urban areas is increasing globally and the need for nature as well as green and blue spaces as a source of recreation and relaxation is highly regarded for the health and wellbeing of local communities. Sustainable urban development and alternative design solutions to address urban compactness and densification are becoming increasingly important tools to counteract the adverse effects of urban sprawl. In the context of the highly compact bicultural capital city of Wellington, Aotearoa-New Zealand, this paper examines the effects of urban densification and compact city development in urban green spaces. It explores how architecture and landscape architecture can transform urban environments into desirable places to live and capitalise on the potentials of interstitial spaces, outdated zoning and changing land-use. To achieve that, it looks at green and blue infrastructure design solutions and opportunities that foster sustainable intensification and by offering new views for health and wellbeing that improve the social, cultural and environmental health of the city.

The following article presents the results of analyses of source materials regarding the presence of a defense work in the city space and the results of one case – the Warsaw Fortress System. Information on the characteristics of the fortified landscape was presented, with particular reference to one of the types of fortifications – the ring fortress. A very important element was to trace the history of this object and its changes in the last 150 years. Individual objects characterized by interesting architecture, terrain and interesting vegetation perform different functions in the city landscape. These functions result primarily from the different use of objects. It is also evident that these objects in the future may also develop as a result of adaptation to new purposes or use. They have a very large spatial and natural potential.

Crop year impacts have been studied in a long-term trial of the Nagygombos experiments of the Szent István University, Gödöllő, Hungary. The present paper is intended to give an overview of 18 winter wheat Triticum aestivum L. varieties tested during the time range between 1996 and 2018. All of the varieties were studied under similar agronomic conditions, each of them for min 3 years in a series of a polyfactorial replicated field trials. The 120 kg.ha-1 N plant nutrition applications of the respective crop years were processed in the evaluation. Amount of grain yield, protein (%), wet gluten and farinographic values of the varieties examined were compared. The results obtained suggest that most of the varieties had a rather high variation concerning yield figures, however protein, and farinographic indicators proved to be more stable characteristics. Wet gluten values were influenced mainly by the crop year. The study supports an evidence that Fusarium graminearum infection of the trials was in accordance with the pre-harvest moisture conditions of a crop year. The study may support a conclusion that certain varieties have shown a higher stability in quality manifestation regardless to the amount of their grain yield. Alföld 90, Jubilejnaja 50, Mv Magdaléna and Mv Toldi varieties proved to be the best quality varieties in this research series.