Search Results

Human Settlement and Urbanization

Annalee Yassi, Tord Kjellström, Theo de Kok, and Tee L. Guidotti

in Basic Environmental Health

This chapter focuses on human settlement and urbanization. Topics discussed include the nature and requirements of human settlements, housing and health, factors causing increased urbanization, rural ... More

This chapter focuses on human settlement and urbanization. Topics discussed include the nature and requirements of human settlements, housing and health, factors causing increased urbanization, rural economic and social development, urbanization and health, and the healthy “healthy cities” approach to prevention.Less

The Historical Ecology of Walrus Exploitation in the North Pacific

Erica Hill

in Human Impacts on Seals, Sea Lions, and Sea Otters: Integrating Archaeology and Ecology in the Northeast Pacific

This chapter examines the historical ecology of the Pacific walrus considering the association between human settlements and walrus migration routes along the North Pacific Coast on both sides of the ... More

This chapter examines the historical ecology of the Pacific walrus considering the association between human settlements and walrus migration routes along the North Pacific Coast on both sides of the Bering Strait. It also discusses how humans adapted their hunting strategies to deal with the habitat preferences of female and juvenile walruses. These observations have major implications for our understanding of how cooperative hunting developed along the coasts of the Bering and Chukchi seas. Hunting by large crews aboard umiat (large, open skin boats) is a strategy that has long been associated— exclusively—with whaling. But emerging archaeological evidence has the potential to demonstrate that North Pacific Eskimos around the Bering Strait lived and hunted in large, cooperative kin groups before whaling emerged as the preferred subsistence strategy.Less

Building Castles in the Sky

W. Patrick McCray

in The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future

In the mid-1970s, Gerard O'Neill's ideas and designs for human settlements in space began to secure a beachhead in American popular culture. This chapter shows how he extended the ... More

In the mid-1970s, Gerard O'Neill's ideas and designs for human settlements in space began to secure a beachhead in American popular culture. This chapter shows how he extended the engineering-oriented foundation for his visioneering to a wider base of enthusiasts. Through conferences, workshops, and the accretion of new ideas, O'Neill continued to describe a future in which space-based settlements remained plausible, at least in technical terms, and desirable. At the same time, his “humanization of space” idea mutated as journalists, politicians, writers, college students, and counterculture figures embraced or opposed it. This inherently messy process reflected a decade marked by social confusion, political realignment, and economic uncertainty.Less

The History of Urban Ecology: An Ecologist’s Perspective

Mark J. McDonnell

in Urban Ecology: Patterns, Processes, and Applications

Urban ecology emerged as a sub-discipline of ecology in the early 1970s due, in part, to the fact that human impacts on the planet were becoming well documented and the growing size of human ... More

Urban ecology emerged as a sub-discipline of ecology in the early 1970s due, in part, to the fact that human impacts on the planet were becoming well documented and the growing size of human settlements was resulting in serious environmental problems that threatened the health and wellbeing of both urban and non-urban dwellers around the world. Influenced by these events, coupled with the demise of the ‘balance of nature’ paradigm, ecologists have acknowledged that human settlements are legitimate subjects of ecological study. The creation of the UNESCO Man and the Biosphere Program (MAB) in 1974 and the establishment of two urban LTER programs by the US National Science Foundation in the late 1990s were instrumental in encouraging the study of the ecological and social components of urban ecosystems around the Globe. Urban ecology has evolved as a unique field of study through the integration of several disciplines that investigate the ecological and human dimensions of urban ecosystems. Urban ecologists can be engaged in basic (i.e., fundamental) research focused on understanding the structure and function of urban environments, or they can be engaged in applied (i.e., practical) research that is focused on solving important environmental problems. The interdisciplinary field of urban ecology is at the forefront of creating the knowledge base, conceptual frameworks and tools that are crucial for building and maintaining sustainable and resilient cities and towns in the future.Less

Paleoindian Settlement in the Southeastern United States: The Role of Large Databases

James S. Dunbar

in New Directions in the Search for the First Floridians

The authors cite two large research open-access databases developed in recent years, popularly known by their acronyms PIDBA (Paleoindian Database of the Americas) and DINAA (Digital Index of North ... More

The authors cite two large research open-access databases developed in recent years, popularly known by their acronyms PIDBA (Paleoindian Database of the Americas) and DINAA (Digital Index of North American Archaeology), for aiding in their study of early human settlements in Southeastern North America. With nearly half a million sites indexed so far, many with complex data records listing hundreds of attributes, DINAA has several orders of magnitude more information than PIDBA. PIDBA, however, encompasses image and attribute data on ca. 30,000 Paleoindian artifacts. Information recorded in both PIDBA and DINAA documents not only the number and distribution of Paleoindian artifacts and components found and recorded to date but also the possible proxy measures of human demography and settlement range, which can be compared with figures from later periods or from different states or regions.Less

Mirror Lake: Past, Present, and Future

Gene E. Likens and James W. Labaugh

in Mirror Lake: Interactions among Air, Land, and Water

This chapter discusses the hydrological and biogeochemical characteristics of Mirror Lake and the changes that resulted from air-land-water interactions and human activities. Since the formation of ... More

This chapter discusses the hydrological and biogeochemical characteristics of Mirror Lake and the changes that resulted from air-land-water interactions and human activities. Since the formation of Mirror Lake, both the watershed and the lake have undergone many changes, such as vegetation development and basin filling. These changes are ongoing, and Mirror Lake is continuing along an aging pathway and ultimately, it will fill with sediment and no longer be a lake. The chapter also identifies major factors that affected the hydrology and biogeochemistry of Mirror Lake: acid rain, atmospheric deposition of lead and other heavy metals, increased human settlement around the lake, the construction of an interstate highway through the watershed of the Northeast Tributary, the construction of an access road through the West and Northeast watersheds to the lake, and climate change. The chapter also offers future recommendations for management and protection of Mirror Lake.Less

The Peaceful Settlement of Disputes

Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser and Ban Ki-Moon

Shara Kay (ed.)

in A Year at the Helm of the United Nations General Assembly: A Vision for our Century

This chapter discusses the mediation efforts of United Nations. Among them are the 1988 ceasefire that ended hostilities in the Iran–Iraq War, the 1988 agreement leading to the withdrawal of Soviet ... More

This chapter discusses the mediation efforts of United Nations. Among them are the 1988 ceasefire that ended hostilities in the Iran–Iraq War, the 1988 agreement leading to the withdrawal of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, and the 1991 Paris Peace Accords that brought an end to the longstanding conflict in Cambodia. The UN's commitment to peacefully resolve disputes is also reflected in the creation of the Advisory Board of the Special Human Settlements Programme for the Palestinian People. The resolution establishing the Advisory Board was drafted by a committee that included Palestine, Israel, Jordan, the United States, Chile, and Rwanda. These international actors, including key players on the issue of Palestine, came together to help make progress towards peace.Less

Introduction

Stephen Constantine

in Community and Identity: The Making of Modern Gibraltar Since 1704

Gibraltar has a very long history. There is archaeological evidence of human settlement on the peninsula stretching back several thousand years. This book focuses on the policing of entry and the ... More

Gibraltar has a very long history. There is archaeological evidence of human settlement on the peninsula stretching back several thousand years. This book focuses on the policing of entry and the regulations that Britain's colonial authorities put in place, also analysing the origins of those who did secure settlement in Gibraltar. This exercise is particularly necessary because the ethnicity of people in other places has been translated by them into a sense of national identity, and this has carried political implications. The second major theme of the book is to consider why settlers came and stayed. Several chapters explore aspects of the economic history of Gibraltar. First, the book discusses the demographic roots of Gibraltarian identity during the period 1704–1819, before turning to Gibraltar's fortress economy between 1704 and 1815 and its government and politics. It also looks at Gibraltar's economy and living standards in the nineteenth century.Less

Improving the Scottish Climate

Fredrik Albritton Jonsson

in Enlightenment's Frontier: The Scottish Highlands and the Origins of Environmentalism

This chapter begins with the story of a dry, sulfurous fog that enveloped Europe in the summer of 1783. The fog was bitter to the taste, stung the eyes, and degraded plants with an acidic bite. The ... More

This chapter begins with the story of a dry, sulfurous fog that enveloped Europe in the summer of 1783. The fog was bitter to the taste, stung the eyes, and degraded plants with an acidic bite. The chapter considers the broader controversies surrounding the issue of climate in the age of the Enlightenment. The conventional identification of climate with latitude competed with neo-Hippocratic views that stressed its contingency and complexity. Many natural historians contended that human settlement might alleviate, and eventually improve, a bad climate. A minority of observers sought to quantify the physical parameters of climate by collecting meteorological data, but most preferred to discuss climate in qualitative terms. Interest in species mobility and ecological exchange often overshadowed concerns regarding the climate's physical characteristics. In all of these, the Scottish Highlands offered a laboratory for rival hypotheses.Less

Palatine

Filippo Coarelli

in Rome and Environs: An Archaeological Guide

This chapter describes the Palatine as the hill best suited for human settlement, and as one which lies at the heart of the system of hills that in time became the city of Rome. It notes that the ... More

This chapter describes the Palatine as the hill best suited for human settlement, and as one which lies at the heart of the system of hills that in time became the city of Rome. It notes that the most important development in the Palatine's history was Augustus's choice to reside there, where he was born, at first in the house of Hortensius, which he later enlarged by adding other nearby houses. The chapter explains that further excavations led to the unearthing of the house of Augustus on the southwestern corner of the hill. It explains that the name Palatium (Palatine) thus came to stand for the Imperial “palace” par excellence and later became a common noun in all European languages. The chapter provides descriptions of both the Western and Eastern Sections of the Palatine, and enumerates some of the structures to be found in those areas.Less

In defence of the public city

Martin Coward

Rowland Atkinson, Lisa Mckenzie, and Simon Winlow (eds)

in Building Better Societies: Promoting Social Justice in a World Falling Apart

This chapter examines the predominant locus of human settlement and organisation — the city. In the 2006 UN Habitat, the United Nations' urban programme announced that the majority of the world's ... More

This chapter examines the predominant locus of human settlement and organisation — the city. In the 2006 UN Habitat, the United Nations' urban programme announced that the majority of the world's population now live in cities. In doing so they underlined the common perception that global life in the 21st century is predominantly urban. While scholars have questioned its city centric premise, what might be described as the ‘urban age thesis’ expresses a widespread perception that global urbanisation represents an epochal shift in the nature of human settlement. Global urbanisation could thus be described as a process of structural transformation on a planetary scale, the emergence of a distinctive global condition characterised by agglomerations of urban fabric.Less

The Memory of Date Palm Green

Gareth Doherty

in Paradoxes of Green: Landscapes of a City-State

This chapter focuses on the memory, history, color, and the “urbanism” of the green of the Bahraini date palm. The date palm is the most iconic Bahraini vegetation and one of the main sources of ... More

This chapter focuses on the memory, history, color, and the “urbanism” of the green of the Bahraini date palm. The date palm is the most iconic Bahraini vegetation and one of the main sources of green on the islands. The chapter shows the historical power of green as articulated through the life cycle of the date palm. Green is often considered an antidote to the urban. We only have to think of green parks in dense urban settlements, which can offer relief from the surrounding “asphalt jungle.” However, greenery in desert areas such as Bahrain is an indicator of human settlements, not relief from the same, due to cultivation of the land through agriculture, orchards, and gardens.Less

The Place in the Middle: A Geohistory of the Red Sea

Alexis Wick

in Red Sea: In Search of Lost Space

This chapter presents a geohistory of the Red Sea in order to articulate its basic setting in the long term, as it has come to be imagined today. It first considers the origin of the name “Red” and ... More

This chapter presents a geohistory of the Red Sea in order to articulate its basic setting in the long term, as it has come to be imagined today. It first considers the origin of the name “Red” and the appellation “Red Sea” before describing the sea's geological structure. It then looks at available evidence suggesting that the Red Sea was the site of some of the earliest human settlement and navigation, and more specifically, that humans have been interacting with the sea and its coast since time immemorial. It also discusses the foundational long-term features of the spacetime signified by the name “the Red Sea” and offers a narrative emplotment of the place. Finally, it examines the dynamics of coffee as a distinct feature of the Ottoman Red Sea world.Less

The Historical Neighborhood and Its Decline

Emily Talen

in Neighborhood

This chapter reviews what is known about how neighborhoods were laid out and experienced, before the city was fundamentally restructured by technological and social changes emerging out of the 19th ... More

This chapter reviews what is known about how neighborhoods were laid out and experienced, before the city was fundamentally restructured by technological and social changes emerging out of the 19th century. To what degree was the neighborhood ever identifiable, serviced, diverse, and connected? Counteracting the often more ambiguous contemporary understanding of neighborhood requires drawing on a broad historical and global perspective. Interconnection, localized identity, human scale, adjacency, access, the need for a graspable spatial unit to belong to—these are the regularities of urban experience that establish a more durable foundation for the traditional concept of neighborhood. Historical examples of neighborhood are important precisely because neighborhood form emerged as a regular feature of urban experience all over the globe, despite profound differences in urbanization processes.Less