José Cabezas Fernández

By Luís Carlos Loures, Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Ana Vulevic, José Cabezas and Luis Fernández-Pozo

Spatial and urban planning processes regarding border cooperation have reached unprecedented levels in recent decades, not only due to their potential for territorial integration, i.e., infrastructure construction and planning activities worldwide. Bearing in mind the European project, for a united and strong network of nations, this scenario is more evident in European territories. In this regard, through multivariated analyzes of city cooperation on European border areas, it is possible to identify the factors that influence the territorial success and also a sustainable regional development and even their effects over the urban agglomerations. From the identified factors, the study pointed out one that is common to all cases: connectivity-movement between cities.

Part of the book: Urban Agglomeration

By José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Luis Carlos Loures, Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Cabezas Fernández, Luis Fernández-Pozo, Sérgio António Neves Lousada and Patrícia Escórcio

The need to understand what land use is has motivated the development of programmes that aims to identify it and quantify it—CORINE Land Cover (CLC) in 1985. From this official and open geodatabase—through the using of geographic information system (GIS) tools—the amount of area established for each land use has been identified in all the 28 member states of the EU. This mostly corresponds to agricultural and forestry uses. Between 1990 and 2012, it was possible to determine countries with variable land use models such as Finland, Latvia, Portugal and Spain—the rest of the states presenting stable land use models. Additionally, some countries are characterized by the predominance of one or two land uses. Contextually, the proposal aims to develop a retrospective study regarding the land-use changes in the EU territories from 1990 to 2012, through the available tools such as CLC.

Part of the book: Land Use

By Rui Alexandre Castanho, Sérgio Lousada, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Patrícia Escórcio, José Cabezas, Luis Fernández-Pozo and Luís Loures

Considering the complex dynamics, patterns, and particularities that peripheral and insular territories/regions present—e.g., as the fragility, they show to achieve a sustainable development and growth—a study that analyzes the land uses of this territories is seen as pivotal to identify barriers and opportunities for a long-term sustained development. Contextually, a general analysis was carried out through case study research methods covering those territorial typologies of the insular territory of Madeira Island, Portugal. The study, which was carried out through GIS mapping tools, enabled us to identify the land use changes in the last decades over the territory—allowing to establish a relation and identification of the associated barriers and opportunities presented by the territories to face the emerging sustainable development challenges. The study reveals the evident limitations of “ultra-peripheral” territories not only by the physical spatial dimensions but also by the difficulty to reconvert land uses. Thus, the main actors and their policies over the territory are even more relevant and need to be conducted in a more reasonable way—considering the fragility of this regions; such actions present higher impact over the territory and over their inhabitants’ life’s quality standards and finally on the long-term sustainability.

Part of the book: Land Use

By Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Cabezas, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, José Martín Gallardo, Luis Fernández-Pozo, Sema Yilmaz Genç, Sérgio Lousada and Luís Loures

In the last decades, there was a significant population growth in urban areas. In this regard, the European major cities are not an exception; in fact, they are even still more affected by that populational exodus and consequently for an urban growth. Therefore, and considering that the urban parks in the cities are not growing at the same pace, a question is raised: “Are the public green spaces in the European major cities still able to provide the needed ecosystem services to their populations?” Based on the above-mentioned question, the present chapter aims to provide the first insights and answers to this question. Contextually, the study uses a case study research (CSR) method over several European major cities. Besides, GIS tools crossing statistical data are also used to analyze the data and consequently understood and establish a state of the art regarding this relevant issue.

Part of the book: Landscape Architecture

By Ana Vulevic, Rui Alexandre Castanho, José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, José Cabezas, Luis Fernández-Pozo, Jacinto Garrido Velarde, José Martín Gallardo, Sérgio Lousada and Luís Loures

Although the Trans-European Transport Network (TEN-T) has made a considerable contribution to increasing transport infrastructure and improving transport services, it still often seems that border regions have reduced accessibility compared to central regions. The Iberian border regions of Alto-Alentejo (Portugal) and Badajoz (Spain) were analyzed. Studies conducted in the Iberian territories confirm some of these regions’ unsustainability and the non-impact on the inhabitants’ quality of life. Also, a few questions arise: Can we verify the change in methods and measures used by development strategies? Is it necessary to acquire a more comprehensive view of corridor flows and interactions through common regional development strategies for managing development corridors? Will we influence the change of the methodological approach to be strategic and that it does not imply a corridor only in terms of the flow and mobility of people and goods, but also the search for the causes of movements in growth corridors? So, infrastructure and connectivity planning, regional economic development, and land use planning are critical contexts in developing territorial policies in the planning of development of corridors and their integration into development processes. This study proposes a framework for strategic corridor governance to increase accessibility and regional equity.

Part of the book: Peripheral Territories, Tourism, and Regional Development

By José Manuel Naranjo Gómez, Jacinto Garrido Velarde, José Martín Gallardo, José Manuel Jurado Almonte, Julian Mora Aliseda and José Cabezas Fernández

Between 38°50′30”N/7° 04’35 W and 37°10′13”N/7°23′38”W has located the southernmost border of Europe, which stands apart from Portugal and Spain, which separates part of Portugal and Spain, making it one of the furthest from the central European area. A feature of this Spanish-Portuguese border stretch is that it is closely linked to the Guadiana River, one of the major waterways that cross the Iberian Peninsula from east to west. In 1998, the Albufeira Convention was signed, promoting Iberian cooperation at a scientific and technical level to strengthen the links of communication and collaboration at the technical level - the challenge of shared management of the waters and international basins that affect both countries. The Convention presented challenges and objectives on which the competent administrations have been working since then. Another peculiarity of this territory, except in a few situations, is its low population density. Therefore, knowing the demographic and environmental changes of the municipalities bordering the ‘Raya’ (common name as the border is known in these areas) constitutes valuable information that leads to the territorial management of these peripheral areas.

Part of the book: Peripheral Territories, Tourism, and Regional Development

By Teresa Batista, Salustiano Torre, José Fermoso, Nuno Morais, Ramona Avila, Carlos Pinto Gomes, Rui Alexandre Castanho and José Cabezas Fernández

Climate change has been recognized as one of the most serious environmental, social, and economic challenges facing the world today. Contextually, the Intermunicipal Plan for Climate Change Adaptation in Alentejo Central (PIAAC-AC) has already identified the tendencies and future scenarios of climate change in Alentejo Central until the end of the twenty-first century, namely the increase in the number of days with very high temperatures, the number of tropical nights and heat waves, and the general decrease in annual rainfall. In this scenario, the concerns with school communities and users of social services increase. The project “LIFE-myBUILDINGisGREEN”—“application of nature-based solutions for local adaptation of educational and social buildings to Climate Change,” developed in partnership with CIMAC (Portugal), CARTIF Technology Center (Spain), Diputación de Badajoz and CSIC—Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cientificas (Real Jardin Botanico— Spain—Project Leader), and the Porto City Council (Portugal), focuses on the construction sector, in particular on education and social services buildings in cities in Europe. It aims to implement the prototypes (building adaptation) of nature-based solutions (NBS) on walls, roofs, playgrounds, and exterior surfaces on three pilot buildings. The overall objective is to contribute to improve resilience in these buildings using autochthone vegetation.

Part of the book: Urban Green Spaces