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Green Belts are longstanding planning designations, which primarily seek to prevent urban sprawl. Importantly, they form the open spaces close to where most people live, but we lack clarity over how Green Belts are used and valued by publics, and the cultural ecosystem services they provide. To address this policy and research gap, a public participatory mapping survey was conducted on the North-East England Green Belt, with 779 respondents plotting 2388 points. The results show for the first time that in addition to being a planning policy zone, Green Belts are important, and widely used open spaces for 'everyday nature', providing several cultural ecosystem services including recreation, connection with nature, sense of place and aesthetic value. Several factors were found to influence the supply of cultural ecosystem services in Green Belts, including proximity to urban areas, woodland land cover and access designations. Whereas most demand pressures on Green Belts were on public rights-of-way, nature designations and deciduous woodlands. Pervasive barriers inhibiting Green Belt's full potential were identified including management issues, concerns over personal safety and lack of access. We argue that opportunities to further enhance the cultural ecosystem services provided Green Belts and peri-urban landscapes more broadly, not only come from planning policies themselves, but from the design and delivery of approaches integrating urban, rural and land-use policy silos. The findings have wider implications for policy including potential conflict with future development, and opportunities for greater access to greenspace. As well as their primary policy purpose to prevent sprawl, Green Belts protect important open and greenspaces for people to enjoy and interact with nature, exercise and escape from pressures of everyday life. To understand how people physically use and interact with Green Belts, primary data on use are needed, as relying on access designations alone will not account adequately for use patterns. Public participatory mapping which involves people answering questions by placing points on a map can provide a useful way to identifying areas that are important; areas which may require improved management in the Green Belt, and opportunity areas for future improvements. The areas of Green Belt closest to where people live where found to be some of the most heavily used and important in terms of being in nature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The expansion and intensification of horticultural systems in the peri-urban area of Mar del Plata derived in economic benefits, but also in environmental problems. It is hypothesized that the management of these systems under a conventional approach led to less sustainable systems compared to the alternative ones, increasing environmental impacts due to the incorporation of greenhouses. Therefore, the aim of this study was to evaluate the environmental sustainability of horticultural systems in Mar del Plata, considering different cases associated to representative typologies. Methodologically, a Horticultural Environmental Sustainability Index was elaborated, composed of indicators associated with the ecological, social, and economic dimensions of sustainability. Based on semi-structured interviews, the index was applied to seven systems with a conventional approach and greenhouse production (SCBC), seven systems with a conventional approach and open field production (SCAC), three systems with alternative approaches and greenhouse production (SABC), and other three systems with alternative approaches and open field production (SAAC). The systems that applied alternative approaches (SABC and SAAC) showed greater environmental sustainability, with a wide gap between these and the conventional systems (SCBC and SCAC). Finally, it is necessary to deepen the study and highlight the contribution that each system can make to the environmental sustainability of horticultural production. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gaby Steiner is a visual artist and photographer from Switzerland. During her visits to Beijing she witnessed dramatic urban changes and started to explore the transformations around the Beijing Greenbelt as a researcher with a camera. This visual essay includes the photographic exploration of a particular aspect of rapid urban change in China. It is about the greenbelt of the City of Beijing and its effects. The photographic work is intended to illustrate the background to social and urban change. The artistic and photographic perspective is complemented and further illuminated by Yimin's analytical perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Green Belt in England is probably the most longstanding and internationally recognised Urban Growth Boundary (UBG). However, developers, think tanks and academics often accuse UGB's of being the leading cause of the housing affordability problems around the world and articulate an alternative vision of Transit-Oriented Development (TOD). This paper, based upon a regional case study of the West Midlands and 74 interviews with planners and planning stakeholders, argues that the debate around TOD in the Green Belt needs to be more cognisant of regional geographical variation in public transport provision. Moreover, drawing upon the views of planners who play a key a role in allocating land for development, the paper underlines that decisions regarding TOD need to made strategically as reflecting the policy's purpose as a regional growth management policy. Reflecting on the broader academic literature, it highlights the need for greater strategic integration of transport and land-use planning alongside reviving strategic planning to evaluate various spatial blueprints for urban growth management. The paper has broader relevance to international debates about the feasibility and potential of TOD, especially in addressing housing affordability problems around the world. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reflects on the new National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF)1 which was published on 24 July 2018. The paper highlights issues which those interested in developing land need to be aware of and how it has, in many respects, been influenced by recent case law. 71lis represents the largest overhaul of national planning policy since the introduction of the current NPPF in 2012. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Green Belt (GB) in the southeastern Bering Sea lying along the continental slope is a biological hotspot where summertime high primary production is sustained by continuous input of nutrients and iron. To understand the mechanisms to sustain the GB, we need to know how dissolved iron (D-Fe), which regulates the GB production, is drawn from the abundant source in the adjacent shelf should be clarified, but no quantification has ever been done yet. In the present paper, using hydrographic and D-Fe data taken by a cruise and hydrographic database, we estimate horizontal D-Fe flux from the outer-shelf along 25.4 σ θ and 26.2 σ θ density surfaces, which are proposed as possible pathways by previous studies. The hydrographic data shows that the cold outer-shelf water is distributed in the slope region, and we estimate that 10% (65%) of the water-mass in the slope is originated from the outer-shelf at 25.4 (26.2) σ θ . Assuming that this portion of the along-slope geostrophic transport is derived from the outer-shelf through horizontal isopycnal mixing, and using the observed D -Fe concentration, we estimate the D -Fe flux of Ο (10 3 ) molFe/day at 25.4 σ θ and Ο (10 4 ) molFe/day at 26.2 σ θ . The large flux at 26.2 σ θ is consistent with the vertical maximum of D -Fe concentration previously observed off the shelf break at this density range, and the flux provides sufficient iron into the euphotic zone via the subsequent enhanced vertical mixing off the shelf break, which is estimated to be Ο (10 3 ) molFe/day based on our prior studies. Since our estimated D -Fe flux through horizontal mixing at 25.4 σ θ and the vertical mixing off the shelf break altogether are comparable to the minimum D -Fe requirement by phytoplankton in the GB, which is estimated as Ο (10 3 –10 4 ) molFe/day, we suggest that both processes could play important roles in providing D-Fe to the euphotic zone in the GB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article surveys the territorial politics of housing policy with particular reference to the Conservative Party. It examines the how attempts to establish a new planning framework under the previous Coalition government came unstuck and sets out the implications of the planning impasse for home ownership and 'generation rent'. The territorial and tenure dimensions of the 2015 General Election are considered and possible future Conservative conflicts over land release are explored. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For the past few centuries, anti-nomadic legislation has attempted to settle nomads who traveled throughout England and elsewhere in Europe, as their mobilities challenged the sedentarist goals of modern nation states. As recently as 1994, the nomadic way of life was effectively criminalized in England and Wales, revealing the unbalanced power relations between Gypsies and Travelers and the state. This article will examine and highlight the agency and spatialities of resistance of nomadic Gypsy and Traveler groups in England who are struggling for the recognition of their right to legally inhabit caravan sites in areas such as Green Belt land. The selection of places in the Green Belt for their homes offers another contested landscape that runs counter to the typical understanding of Gypsies and Travelers residing in marginalized places due to discrimination or wanting to remain unnoticed. By drawing from Gypsies and Travelers' own narratives, this article documents how they navigate through policies designed to constrain them. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The history of vernacular landscapes at the urban fringe is poorly studied, limiting our understanding of the contemporary character of the fringe and our knowledge of the urbanization process. This article argues the necessity of a combined analysis of the legacies of planning and the footprints of former landscape ideals in order to understand the conditions for spatial planning at the urban fringe. After first introducing the methodological use of landscape/planning history, the article focuses on the Swedish discourse on landscape change and landscape planning concerning the urban fringe in the 1930s. Particular focus is placed on the discourse on agricultural landscapes at the urban fringe. The third section of the article presents an examination of the footprints of the 'landscape convention' (i.e. an agreement on the meaning of landscape in relation to law and justice) resulting from the landscape discourse of the 1930s. The article argues that the legacy of the 1930s explains some of the difficulties arising when planners of today aim to utilize the farm landscape as a resource for recreation at the urban fringe. The shadow of the landscape discourse of the 1930s also creates difficulties in dealing with peri-urban landscapes in Swedish planning and Swedish law. With the ongoing discourse on how to implement the European Landscape Convention, such knowledge is particularly useful. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Prediction of air pollution impacts of a proposed fossil fuel-based power plant has been made using meteorological data, information on stack characteristics and emission rate, baseline air quality and validated model condition. It is observed that under normal operation, the emission rate of SO[SUB2] and NO[SUB2] is significant, while under a worst case scenario, the SPM emission rate is significant. It has been predicted that 24-hr average SO[SUB2], NO[SUB2] and SPM concentrations due to proposed plant in normal operation would be around 38 μg/m[SUP3], 40 μg/m[SUP3] and less than 1 μg/m[SUP3], respectively, beyond the site boundary. The total 24-hr average SPM concentration under the worst case beyond site boundary would be below the national air quality standard for SPM in a mixed industrial area. Therefore, the impact of proposed power plant on local air quality would be acceptable. However, the implementation of a green belt comprising various tree species which will act as dust attenuators around the site boundary along with efficient control measures at source would efficiently mitigate and minimised pollution impacts from the proposed power plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aiming at solving the problems of serious waste of water resources, air pollution and backward cleaning equipment in city garden working vehicles, a water-saving cleaning system for road green belt was investigated. After researches of new-type nozzle design, rotary mechanism design, automatically single chip microcomputer control, ranging and monitoring study, the system was established. The experiment indicates that the system shows cleaning condition and brings great convenience to workers because it is highly automated. Compared to traditional artificial gun cleaning devices, the system may realize adjustable water coning and outlet angle so as to control the water's spraying range. It can be applied to different green belts varied in widths and heights, which hardly need special operation but mak better irrigating effect and saves manpower. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pan, Z., 2020. The allocation method of vegetation types in the green belt of the bay city landscape park. In: Yang, Y.; Mi, C.; Zhao, L., and Lam, S. (eds.), Global Topics and New Trends in Coastal Research: Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering. Journal of Coastal Research, Special Issue No. 103, pp. 1093–1097. Coconut Creek (Florida), ISSN 0749-0208. In view of the low utilization rate of resources in most of the green belt vegetation allocation methods used in the bay city landscape park, this paper puts forward the research on the allocation methods of green belt vegetation in the bay city landscape park. Analyze the ecological efficiency of the green belt, calculate the value of the direct green service function according to the geographical location of the vegetation filter belt and the river bank buffer belt, establish the regression model, enrich the level of plant community, stabilize the structure of plant community, and realize the allocation of vegetation types in the green belt of the bay city landscape park. The experimental results show that compared with the conventional allocation method, the resource consumption of the proposed method is lower and the resource utilization rate is greatly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]