2016 - 4th WPSC "Global crisis, planning & challenges to spatial justice in the North and in the South", Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Јuly 3-8th
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Item Open Access Initial considerations on orthodox and heterodox theories of heritage conservation Catherine Jacqueline(AESOP, 2016) Gallois, SuzanneThis paper aims to make an initial reflection on the differences between the different theories of cultural heritage conservation. Seeking thus to contribute to the analysis of contemporary challenges of planning built heritage conservation in Brazil, by recognizing the dichotomy between orthodox and heterodox theories of conservation (meaning of Lixinsky and taken over by Wells, 2015). In the heritage conservation management field as well as in the academic field of research on heritage preservation in Brazil, difficulties in the application of the principles and assumptions of the property cards and other official documents of which Brazil is a signatory, as UNESCO's Conventions, for example, are often criticized. The basic law of preservation of the Brazilian national heritage (Decree-Law No 25/1937) and conservation practices are based on a theoretical framework of European origin, whose same premises date back to the pioneering efforts of heritage conservation of the Renaissance in Italian Quattrocento (Choay, 2001). Far from denying the importance of the trajectory of heritage preservation in Brazil, which saved numerous monuments of destruction in its heroic phase (Fonseca, 2005), it must be recognized that today, in the face of intense social and urban changes in globalized cities, we face with huge technical, social, cultural, political and economic challenges in the field of heritage conservation.Item Open Access Urban revitalization and social control - the case of Praça da Liberdade in Belo Horizonte - Brazil(AESOP, 2016) Faria, Diomira Maria Cicci Pinto; Machado, Ana Flavia; Paglioto, Barbara Freitas; Dutra, Larissa FernandesThe state capital of Minas Gerais, Belo Horizonte, and the Praça da Liberdade (Liberty Square) were inaugurated in 1897, celebrating the republican values, at the expense of the image represented by the colonial city of Ouro Preto, the former capital. Around the Praça da Liberdade buildings were built to house state institutions such as the Government Palace and the state departments, in addition to the public archive and library. This place, since its inception, was established as the political center of the state of Minas Gerais. Due to the socioeconomic growth of the new capital and the inherent administrative functions, the buildings around the square were shown small to house the volume of administrative services and, in 1997, a project was developed to change the use of buildings, prioritizing cultural activities. The implementation of the project foreseen a partnership with the private sector, and for this would be transferred the management and maintenance of most cultural facilities to be created. After more than a decade of debates, in 2010, it was inaugurated the Cultural Circuit Liberty Square - CCPL, composed by twelve museums and cultural centers. This research aims to analyze the impact of revitalization actions in the Praça da Liberdade influence area and its appropriation by tourism. To attain the goal were conducted interviews with institutions that make up the CCPL, a structured questionnaire with managers from thirty-five outlets located in the Square influence area and a literature review regarding the formation of cultural territories, urban revitalization with emphasis in cultural facilities and the anthropological critique of urban renewal processes. Of exploratory nature, the research is justified in order to know in depth the effects and impacts of spatial concentration of cultural facilities in a particular place, which occurred within the last five years.Item Open Access Artistic urban interventions, informality and public sphere: research insights from ephemeral urban appropriations on a cultural district(AESOP, 2016) Costa, Pedro; Lopes, RicardoArtistic intervention in cultural districts can be an outstanding viewpoint to understand the multiple layers of uses and segregations that bring everyday life vitality to the complex organisms cities are. Urban informality contexts can be fundamental for the expression of this diversity and to liminality strategies, particularly interesting in the case of artistic intervention, as artistic creativity is often about transgression, differentiation, and, therefore, conflict. Small initiatives that develop in an informal and ephemeral way by artists who choose the city as stage for their work, exploring the ambiguous and flexible boundaries between public and private spaces are particular interesting, evidencing the usual conflicts verified on creative milieus but being also important to keep these places as vernacular as possible and to avoid gentrification processes. In this perspective, this paper aims to discuss this relation between urban interventions, informality and public sphere appropriation, analyzing the way informal artistic dynamics can contribute to urban re-vitalization and to the enhancement of real creative milieus. Drawing on a research-action based methodology the authors explore the results and impacts of three experiences of urban intervention that they developed in three consecutive years in informal urban contexts in Bairro Alto, the main cultural quarter of Lisbon, Portugal. These ephemeral artistic interventions introduced in the city new spaces of public use, performing different public and private spaces, and bringing them to the public sphere, creating also “new” zones that re-gain a utility in the city, contributing to the vitality and symbolic centrality of this area.Item Open Access Cappadocia: the current issues in planning a World Heritage Site(AESOP, 2016) Dincer, Hamza YukselThe cultural heritage landscapes are facing many threats. These threats can be focused on the human effects simultaneously on the nature. In special cases the threats due to the nature’s and human’s effects, can be together and simultaneous. The effects of threats is widening; the problems of protection are becoming increasingly complex. Cappadocia is a significant example for this situation. Cappadocia in terms of natural and cultural values, with transcultural continuity of daily life, say semi-troglodyte, in cave houses, is a unique masterpiece of nature. The permanent contributions of humanity throughout history have transformed Cappadocia, from a natural area of the simple rural life troglodyte, to a World Heritage Site of UNESCO. The fairy chimneys with their structure easy to dig and shape, are good protectors for cultural continuity created in the natural landscape. The most essential natural threat that Cappadocia is facing today is the erosion. The life of hoodoos that begins with the birth followed by improving ends with a slow process of disappearance, the cycle of nature. The idea to keep or maintain their shape is synonymous to stop the time. Moreover, cultural works created in these hoodoos are the most important values and prestigious in the world and certainly their protection is a humanitarian obligation. The tourism potential of World Heritage sites is very important for local people. But the extreme increase in tourism sector oriented cultural values has become a destructive threat. Development plans and regional planning were shaped by decisions and policies that contribute to this development. The trend is to offer cave houses to tourism demands, transforming them to "boutique hotels". Small traditional institutions lose their vernacular habitat, gradually transforming to holiday villages.Item Open Access Proceedings of the IV World Planning Schools Congress, July 3-8th, 2016 : Global crisis, planning and challenges to spatial justice in the north and in the south(AESOP, 2016) Randolph, RainerWe are publishing here the extended abstracts presented at the IV WPSC. Those which were discussed in the Track Sessions, as well as a considerable number of contributions in Plenary and Special Sessions and Roundtables. Farnak Miraftab´s Opening Keynote “Insurgency, planning and the prospect of a humane urbanism” was published (in portuguese) in ANPUR´s journal Revista Brasileira de Estudos Urbanos e Regionais (Brazilian Journal of Urban and Regional Studies), v.18, n. 3 (2016), p. 363-377 (http://rbeur.anpur.org.br/rbeur/article/view/5499). It is our conviction that these texts reflect an important panorama of ideas, thoughts, experiences and practices of the nearly 600 researchers, scientists, students and practioneers who attended the congress in Rio de Janeiro with the aim to have an unique opportunity to discuss the matter of planning with colleagues from all over the world. As it puts our colleague Carlos Balsas in the conclusions he wrote about his experiences by participating the discussions at the congress: “Attention was directed at the need to look forward to more planning not less, more planning research not less, and more educational opportunities to strengthen urban and regional planning. … Alternative paradigms based on the radical deconstruction of prevailing knowledge sets and philosophies by some of those living in southern and northern hemispheres are making positive strides and can be confidently further developed”Item Open Access How do creative sectors relate to the historical city center: the case of Grand Bazaar in Istanbul(AESOP, 2016) Çetin, ReycanAt the end of the 20th century, the manufacturing sector was removed from the cities, and instead the services sector that produces intangible assets such as information technology and knowledge was recommended for development. In addition, these new development policies defined culture as an economic variable, as well. Information, culture and creativity became key words for economic policies. The attempt to define culture and creativity as economically important factors has led to economic studies of creativity. UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development) asserts that creative economy is important for economic development, not only in developed countries but also in developing countries. UNCTAD also publishes Creative Economy Report to help countries plot their own road maps by emphasizing their unique strengths. Creative sectors are defined differently by different social scientists, but the importance of city life appears to be the common denominator for all of them. The city exhibits not only a physical infrastructure, but also an intellectual infrastructure, in the form of cultural diversity, research resources, meeting places, and tolerance to alternative life styles. Cultural accumulation from the past, traditions and different lifestyles of the city offer an appropriate milieu for creativity. Landry (2000), a pioneer scientist in creative studies, argues that cities that have an ancient history and are able to transfer this history to current generations, have a great advantage in being creative.Item Open Access Exploring alternatives for the redevelopment of peri-central neighborhoods in Rio de Janeiro: an urban design teaching perspective Guilherme(AESOP, 2016) Lassance, Guilherme; Duarte, Cristovão Fernandes; Pessoa, AlexandreStrategic planning has been a means for cities to enhance their ability to attract investment, transforming them into territories that are now essentially understood as real estate profits generators. Acting as a main partner in such a process, the concept of urban regeneration then converges with the rehabilitation of historic centers, an agenda dictated by the postmodern critique and recently reinforced by the concept of 'sustainable city'. The first struggle is culturally driven and emerged as a reaction against the large-scale application of functionalist urban planning precepts incubated in the European context of postwar reconstruction. The second initiative, more concerned with environmental issues, seeks to reorient a whole lifestyle associated with a kind of urban 'product' that had been simultaneously stimulated by the consumer goods industry, especially in North America: the suburban single-family detached house. In both cases, we are talking about a process that resulted in the abandonment of urban centers by the economic elite. In Europe, the return to the city center was initially driven by historical heritage concerns combined with aggressive policies to improve energy performance of old buildings but has since been slowed down by the 'sales success' of these picturesque neighborhoods where the high cost per square meter is driven by the investments strategies of the international financial system (especially in major global cities). This tendency has represented a constant challenge for local governments forcing them to create and make use of legislation specifically conceived to ensure a minimum of social mix.Item Open Access From intentions to consequences in urban design: comparing TOD design guidelines versus actual implementation in San Diego, California(AESOP, 2016) Inam, AseemUrban design and planning initiatives are filled with well-meaning intentions, such as the preservation of historic assets, creation of compact and walkable residential neighborhoods, generation of low-energy and low-impact patterns of development, and types of urban form that promote greater choice in modes of transportation, including access to public transit. However, what matters ultimately are the consequences, more than the intentions, of such efforts. In other words, a key measure of the relative success of such initiatives is whether they have actually had an impact once they are implemented and built. Thus, it is important to understand the on-the-ground impact of well-meaning urban design guidelines as they are translated into built form, as well as the effectiveness of mixed-use transit-oriented developments located within low-density automobile-oriented contexts. This research project examines the relative effectiveness and subsequent impact of two pioneering and related urban design initiatives. In 1989, the City of San Diego became one of the first American cities to propose citywide transit-oriented development (TOD) design guidelines. Formally adopted by the city as public policy in 1992, the TOD Design Guidelines were intended to pursue an urban form that includes a pedestrian-oriented, mixed-use multimodal transportation environment. In 1992, the Rio Vista West project was conceived as the first new transit-oriented development project in San Diego. Completed in 2006, Rio Vista West contains over 1,000 residential units, 325,000 square feet of retail development, 165,000 of office space, and amenities such as a 2-acre park and a day care center.Item Open Access Transitional housing in Athens for young adults in a time of crisis and unemployment(AESOP, 2016) Savvides, AndreasHousing policies and the nature of housing markets are important in providing opportunities for or imposing constraints on the settlement of all strata of society. It is important to combine these housing policies with other goals designed to encourage a mix of households in new housing areas by providing a variety of tenures and ensuring that housing costs would not exceed one-quarter of a household’ s disposable income. But what if this household is made up of young individuals in the age group 18-25, which in the case of countries such as Greece, deep in an economic recession, this group of people are facing an unemployment rate of 51.8% according to the latest EuroStat figures? Young people in this age group need to be especially mobile to secure work where this is available and in many case this is not close to home. Many of these people as they move to new cities are facing spatial segregation, which is closely linked to social and economic distance from appropriate housing venues. In the case of these young people mutual support for safety, professional training or retraining networking is very important. As examples of informal collectives are beginning to appear the question of the spatial and physical implications of housing for mobile, almost nomadic, people in this age that addresses the concerns raised above is becoming an interesting challenge for architects and urban planners tasked with designing this type of housing stock. The methodological approach suggested to become better informed as to the particular circumstances facing this group of people is twofold and is concerned with the socioeconomic profiling of the potential users and the spatial organization of habitation. The first will be addressed through a series of questionnaires disseminated in areas that are already facing an influx of young people searching employment and housing to distil the demographic characteristics of these potential users.Item Open Access Cultural development in the Mediterranean basin as perceived by the shaping of built form(AESOP, 2016) Sapounakis, ArisThe Mediterranean basin, as a geographical, political and economic entity, has been the cradle for the development of the most infamous civilizations of mankind. It thus provided the ground for formal and informal networks to develop and become concretized in built form. Throughout the ages, people have been moving in and around the basin; shrines, castles and even entire cities have been founded, have flourished and at times have been left to deteriorate as migration of people and ideas have been pasting the Mediterranean, as indeed any other geographical entity, with consecutive layers of space and meaning. The paper attempts to provide a quick overview of some important yet not easily perceived aspects of the basin’s cultural development and especially the manner in which they are reflected on built form over the centuries. The aim of the approach is to deepen and improve the understanding of the man-environment relationship in a manner directly relevant to the intricacies of the Mediterranean basin. From the very beginning it has been clear that although the sea may often be conceived as a barrier leading to isolation, many places along a coast may have been be more easily accessible by boat rather than by road. History has shown that maritime transport has proved to be at least equally if not more preferable for moving both people and goods. As early as before the 1st millennium BC, the Phoenicians followed by the Greeks, in search of new productive or simply commercial horizons, have been attracted by distant Mediterranean locations and have been interested in expanding their influence either by conquering existing settlements or by establishing new ones.Item Open Access Preservation of historic cities: case study of tipping Antonina /PR(AESOP, 2016) Fabre Santos, Lilian Louise; Nakamuta, Adriana SanajottiAmong assignments of IPHAN as the institution responsible for preservation of Brazilian heritage, the patrimony of the urban centers is one of the most debated both academically and in the daily practice of the institution. We can understand this fact by the conflicts generated by other public institutions with property owners and especially when the protected object is something as complex as a city. Based on the studies and texts written about the practice of preservation of historic cities by IPHAN, especially the works of FONSECA (2005), SANTANNA (1995) and GONÇALVES (1996), the Equity Letters, articles published on the subject of Magazine Heritage National Historical and Artistic and analysis of Administrative Ordinances published by the institution, we can understand that the conception of historical cities by IPHAN has changed substantially over the course of seven decades of organ operation. The inclusion of new concepts in practical influenced previously consolidated view where the city was understood as a simple sum of material goods, showing that the growth momentum makes it a very rapidly changing. This article aims to highlight this process by analyzing the tipping Antonina, seaside town of Parana state, which unlike most of the historical cities consecrated by the federal tipping presents a heterogeneous architectural ensemble in stylistic character, extremely mischaracterized in bad state of conservation and in a historical context so far ignored by Brazilian historiography.Item Open Access Urban heritage of the everyday: street knowledge and social identities, intersections between urban form and social life, two audiovisual case studies(AESOP, 2016) Mkhabela, SolamAs countries become ever more urbanized and cities densely populated, so does the diversity of their inhabitants grow and bring a plethora of divergent experiences, perceptions, cultures and needs. Planned urban interventions are usually built on knowledge sets developed over time under specific conditions and assume certain norms. Those ‘recognized and approved’ knowledge sets quite often do not take other, more common forms of knowledge into consideration, although these might be more adequate and yet less certain, or even professionally tested. This disengagement potentially leads to misunderstanding of relevant context and results in real problems in implementation, post-factum utilisation and ultimately of design failure: those who need to use the space can actually not appropriate it for their interests and purposes: good and bad design becomes relative to the eye of the street walker. A central aim of this investigation is the exploration of how potentially different forms of perception, understanding, and/ or different forms of knowledge around street space and its use to the city’s many inhabitants can be engaged with around designed urban interventions. The study focuses on the role of audiovisual communication as ‘other’ form of embedding cultural knowledge in urban interventions/ education within the public realm. The proposal is to focus on public space in the form of streets as active basic urban elements that can provide spaces for public engagement in more proactive ways, satisfying different aspirations and needs.Item Open Access Urban space, public realm and rural heritage: a case in the metropolitan area of Lisbon - Vila Franca de Xira(AESOP, 2016) Moreira, Maria da Graça; Crespo, José LuísUrban space is the stage of several cultural expressions, permanent or periodic that set practices with most urban or most rural character, according to the dimension of the agglomeration and to the strength that those traditions have as a mark of a certain way of living. Rural society organizes, traditionally, its festivities with expressions of dexterity similar to the daily activities, with the objective of valorising its members. Some of these activities are presented in the urban centres that polarize them and that, despite being presently completely urbanised, maintain with its rural surroundings strong cultural ties, as part of its population has its roots in the near rural areas, as it is quite frequent in the process of urban development in the last decades. The researched activities can be considered as Cultural Heritage, as: “every property that, being a witness with value of civilization or of culture, that carry relevant cultural interest, must be object of a special protection e appreciation” and all the “intangible goods that constitute structuring parts of the Portuguese identity and of its collective memory”. The intangible cultural heritage of rural areas tends to disappear when the territory is urbanized and lifestyles changed, reducing the daily activities that justified them.Item Open Access Heritage and culture in the evolution of the night time city - the case of Lisbon(AESOP, 2016) Moreira, Maria da GraçaUrban planning is elaborated considering mainly the daily activities of the city or at least those who work 24 hours. The leisure night activities , who can be in some cities an important economic and touristic factor, are in general forgot. May be because there dynamic is very fast in comparison with traditional planning time. Local or regional culture determines the way of appropriation of the urban space by a specific population and presents great variations mainly in the nightly use of public space. Industrial heritage has been, in the last decades, an important element of expansion of the nightly leisure activities by the rehabilitation and / or re-use of the buildings. This research studies the evolution of the centrality, considering the culture and the built heritage of the city as a function of a set of activities that happen during a period that elapses after dinner time. When it is studied the night time period, must considered that it varies along the year for a given place, at medium latitudes. Therefore in this work it is defined as the analyzed period, the one that is bounded by diner time and the first ours of the following day. The evolution of the use of night time, in different activities, depends on the availability of energy so that these activities may work, namely the technologic evolution related to lighting, as well as the one related to comfort, available in closed spaces but nowadays, as well, in open spaces.Item Open Access Rio de Janeiro 2016: management of “Porto Maravilha” urban operation(AESOP, 2016) Affonso, Claudia; Rebelo, Emília MalcataRio de Janeiro ranks second among the six Brazilian municipalities with the highest Gross Domestic Product (5.1%), being its current number of inhabitants of about 6,476,631 (IBGE,2015). This city – internationally well known as Brazil’s iconic postcard – has led, since the beginning of colonization, a key role in the economy, culture and politics of its country. Being one of the main country entry and exit routes of material, social, and cultural goods, among others, the city of Rio de Janeiro has occupied a longstanding strategic role on political and national economic grounds. Thus, with such a rich history, its urban fabric, architecture and cultural identity still keep strong traces of its past. However, throughout its growth, problems also have emerged such as high crime, urban voids and degraded areas. During Brazil's international economic highlight scenario, the city of Rio de Janeiro was chosen in 2009 to host some international-scale events like the Olympic and Paralympics’ Games in 2016. The city hall saw this fact as the opportunity not only host the 2016 events, but also to leverage a huge urban renovation project, also providing a post-event legacy to the city. With this ideas in mind, the city council, supported by the state and federal governments, designed some anchor projects and investments and rendered them operational based on a city planning strategy focused on the renewal of degraded areas. This strategy was anchored on three pillars: Urban Rehabilitation, Real Estate Development and Socioeconomic Development.Item Open Access Urban land stratification and the built environment: spatial mismatch and residential segregation in Bogotá, Colombia(AESOP, 2016) Yunda, Juan G.; Sletto, BjornAccording to the United Nations, Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the most urbanized but also most unequal regions in the world (UNDP, n.d.). This social inequality is reflected in the spatial structure of its cities, which remain characterized by severe residential segregation (Caldeira, 1996; Portes & Hoffman, 2003; Rodriguez & Arriagada, 2004; Coy, 2006; Sabatini, 2006; Inostroza et al., 2013). While the new middle class enjoys dynamic urban spaces with employment opportunities and urban services, lower-income residents are relegated to peripheries, mostly of informal origin which suffer from disinvestment, crime, stigmatization and isolation. Although policy initiatives have been developed to “upgrade” or otherwise improve these marginalized peripheries in an effort to reduce spatial inequalities, in many cases these efforts have unexpectedly reproduced or exacerbated the patterns of residential segregation. One such policy that has failed to promote residential integration is Colombia’s Urban-Land Stratification. Even though the policy has facilitated the delivery of low-cost basic utilities to the urban poor, it may have, nevertheless, promoted social segregation. The production of spatial divisions based on income levels has contributed to the perception of wealth differentiation between different urban areas, exacerbating spatial segregation in Bogota with a variety of severe social, political and economic implications that include over-pricing of middle and higher income areas, lack of generational and social mobility, concentration of poverty, and unequal access to employment and urban services. This phenomena has been analyzed by different studies:Item Open Access Reflections on the ideas of the ‘Occupy Estelita’ protest in Brazil(AESOP, 2016) Leite Trindade, Isabella; Nóbrega, Maria de Lourdes Carneiro da Cunha; Dornelas Câmara, Andréa do NascimentoThe purpose of this paper is to shed light on one of the many faces of the public protests in Brazil –Ocupe Estelita (Occupy Estelita), an urban occupation movement in the city of Recife whose focus centres around an urbanization model that its citizens desire for the city. In 2013, Brazil was rocked by numerous protests in at least 11 major cities. The protests, also known as Manifestações dos 20 centavos (20 Cent Demonstrations), first began in June when the city and state of São Paulo increased transportation fares by 20 centavos (roughly USD$0.09). The protesters’ cause erupted and expanded to include other issues, and Brazilian streets flooded with hundreds of thousands of protesters, especially after heavy police repression was used against them. They protested on a host of issues, out of frustration with government policies, and it was out of these public demonstrations that a new slogan "It’s Not Just 20 Cents" emerged. Brazilians took to the streets demanding more from their government – better public services, urban transit, education, health care and security -- instead of overspending on the 2014 FIFA World Cup and prioritizing a mega-event over the basic needs of its citizens. These demonstrations constitute the largest collective action of ordinary citizens in the country since the impeachment of President Fernando Collor de Mello in 1992; they led to major national and international repercussions, with similar public demonstrations being held by Brazilians living abroad in countries such as Portugal, France, Germany, and Canada.Item Open Access The quality of spaces of services in the intra urban edges of João Pessoa- PB, Brazil(AESOP, 2016) Rebeca Maria Ramos Tabosa1,; Ribeiro da Silveira, José Augusto; Silva, Milena Dutra daHistorically, urban development in Brazil was marked by a socio-spatial inequalities accumulation process and the adoption of public policies that structured a center - periphery urban expansion model responsible for continuous displacement of urban sprawl into rural areas, semirural and natural spaces. It is observed that the last decades have seen a topping urban growth, with a form of anomalous structure which shows the fragmentation and mix of urban territories and "semi-rural" territories, which features real growths in the urban area. In this sense, Joao Pessoa, capital of Paraiba, located in north-eastern Brazil, considered medium-sized city, with a population of about 791,438 inhabitants (IBGE, 2015), has an accelerated urban expansion and suffers intense processes of use and occupation ground modification, with infrastructural disability and low levels of urban provisions in the "new spaces" added to the city. This scenario raises questions about the quality of urban life offered to the population living in the urban edges, making it necessary diagnose and measure this quality of urban life, with a purpose to make decisions within the urban and environmental planning to this dynamic and dispersed space. Investigate the dynamics of urban expansion present in medium-sized cities, besides providing the understanding of local and regional processes and phenomena, also provides a comparative understanding of global processes, given the significant role played by these cities to the current global urbanization, to be continued even for decades in the future.Item Open Access Infrastructures of hope. Urban design for new mobilities in Latin American cities(AESOP, 2016) Vecchio, GiovanniThe paper discusses the contribution of urban design to the infrastructural mobility projects involved in the regeneration of informal areas. Some Latin American examples show how these interventions have helped to shape new images of these cities. The paper investigates thus how urban design can contribute to successful interventions for mobility and discusses the peculiarities of interventions in informal areas. In many settings in fact interventions on mobility and on public spaces are strongly related and oriented by common socio-political aims: we may define them as infrastructures of hope, trying to design new mobilities and opportunities for deprived areas. Thanks to their effectiveness and originality, these interventions are now recognized examples, becoming almost part of a mainstream new approach to the issues of urban regeneration and mobility in urban fabrics, as well represented by cities like Medellin, Bogotà or Rio de Janeiro. These interventions deal with different issues and fields of contemporary urban design, and in particular raise three relevant questions concerning urban design and its relationship with mobility and urban design. The first point is the nature of contemporary interventions for mobility. Within mobile societies, the infrastructures of mobility are no more simple monofunctional artifacts which allow movement from A to B, but become the support for manifold practices (Sheller and Urry 2006). Urban design can thus differently contribute to manifold practices and uses. The second point considers the fact that interventions in the field of mobility, even with the tools of urban design, can be related to the achievement of wider socio-political aims, considering them as a crucial feature towards a full citizenship for all (Del Rio 2012).Item Open Access Cultural Landscape Characters and Evaluations on Hani Settlements in Xishuangbanna, Yunnan(AESOP, 2016) Ziying, ZhuangThe concept of ‘cultural landscape’ was proposed in the 1920’s, mainly refers to the natural scenery, buildings, factories, villages, fields, city, traffic facilities and road, and the complex cultural phenomenon of characters and costumes. As the representative of ‘the collaborative works by human and nature’, ‘cultural landscape’, which is independent of world cultural heritage and natural heritage, became a new type of the world heritage in 1992. Compared with other heritage types, the most prominent feature of cultural landscapes is to emphasize the coexistence of humanity and nature, material and non-material. Settlement cultural landscape is an important category of cultural landscape. And it epitomizes a variety of ways of interacting between human and natural environment. This article summarizes the cultural landscape characteristics of Hani settlement group in the Xishuangbanna, Yunnan province, based on the concept of ‘cultural landscapes’ and ‘cultural landscape inheritance’, the classification and standard of ‘cultural landscape inheritance’. The core feature of this cultural landscape is “vertical-distributed eco-system”, which formed by three sub-ecosystems based on forest, village and terraced field. The completeness of the forest-based ecological subsystem should be the pre-condition for the existence of all other spatial elements below. The magic woods in Hani settlement is the most sacred and strictly protected area. It reflects that Hani people believe in Animism. The scenic forest provides material resources for Hani people. Residence-based living subsystem is the main living space of Hani people.