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Promoting rural regions is crucial for societies all over the world. Prosperous and vital rural regions can contribute to solving many pressing problems that threaten humanity, such as climate change, poverty, hunger, health or clean energy. The attractiveness of rural regions can be improved through targeted measures and support. For the design of such targeted interventions, high-quality assessments of rural attractiveness can provide a solid information basis. However, the attractiveness of rural regions is a complex construct and therefore difficult to assess. Thus, in this paper, we present tools for the assessment of rural attractiveness that address these complexities and support use and interpretation of the results of rural attractiveness assessments by stakeholders: First, we develop a Rural Attractiveness Index (RAI) which provides a general blueprint for assessing rural attractiveness, yet still is flexible and adaptable to each specific context. As integrated measure of rural attractiveness it also facilitates interpretation by stakeholders. Second, to further enhance interpretation and communication, we propose to visualize the RAI in map-based form. We demonstrate the application of these tools through an illustrative showcase in a European context. We discuss strengths, limitations and challenges of the presented tools and highlight directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linked Data represents the new trend in geoinformatics and geomatics. It produces a structure of objects (in a form of concepts or terms) interconnected by object relations expressing a type of semantic relationships of various concepts. The research published in this article studies, if objects connected by above mentioned relations are more similar than objects representing the same phenomenon, but standing alone. The phenomenon “forest” and relevant geographical concepts were chosen as the domain of the research. The concepts similarity (Tanimoto coefficient as a specification of Tversky index) was computed on the basis of explicit information provided by thesauri containing particular concepts. Overall in the seven thesauri (AGROVOC, EuroVoc, GEMET, LusTRE/EARTh, NAL, OECD and STW) there was tested if the “forest” concept interconnected by the relation skos:exactMatch are more similar than other, not interlinked concepts. The results of the research are important for the sharing and combining of geographical data, information and knowledge. The proposed methodology can be reused to a comparison of other geographical concepts.

Nowadays, new urban development strategies emphasize on pedestrian construction where pedestrian zones must meet the standard requirements in order to improve citizen mobility. Urban economies, social justice, and sustainable transportation may be impacted by pedestrianization. Certainly, pedestrianization and walkability can significantly reduce traffic congestion in historic and downtown districts. Concerning historical urban attitudes and relevant potentials, this paper proposes reconstructions to build better pedestrian areas in historic places where private car traffic and public transport lanes are also considered in pathway construction. As a case study, a historic area in the Iranian city of Kerman has been studied due to its unique cultural and climatic conditions. Consequently, all guidelines and regulations for changes to potential streets of historical districts into pedestrian zones have been carefully reviewed followed by defining scenarios of walkability and non-walkability (turning historic passageways into new roadways) of streets as well as improving traffic conditions. In addition to investigating variables including costs, traffic enhancement, and urban development priorities, the analysis has been done by performing the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results indicated that non-walkability-based scenarios (passage and roadway widening) could merely reduce delays while incurring significant expenses and the highest destruction of historic districts. Nevertheless, the analysis carried out using three criteria showed that walkability and the development of public transportation could provide the most reliable solutions (the highest point) to secure sustainable transportation. Nowadays, new urban development strategies emphasize on pedestrian construction where pedestrian zones must meet the standard requirements in order to improve citizen mobility. Urban economies, social justice, and sustainable transportation may be impacted by pedestrianization. Certainly, pedestrianization and walkability can significantly reduce traffic congestion in historic and downtown districts. Concerning historical urban attitudes and relevant potentials, this paper proposes reconstructions to build better pedestrian areas in historic places where private car traffic and public transport lanes are also considered in pathway construction. As a case study, a historic area in the Iranian city of Kerman has been studied due to its unique cultural and climatic conditions. Consequently, all guidelines and regulations for changes to potential streets of historical districts into pedestrian zones have been carefully reviewed followed by defining scenarios of walkability and non-walkability (turning historic passageways into new roadways) of streets as well as improving traffic conditions. In addition to investigating variables including costs, traffic enhancement, and urban development priorities, the analysis has been done by performing the analytical hierarchy process (AHP). The results indicated that non-walkability-based scenarios (passage and roadway widening) could merely reduce delays while incurring significant expenses and the highest destruction of historic districts. Nevertheless, the analysis carried out using three criteria showed that walkability and the development of public transportation could provide the most reliable solutions (the highest point) to secure sustainable transportation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]