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- Concentrations of available heavy metals in mediterranean agricultural soils and their relation with some soil selected properties: a case study in typical mediterranean soilsPublication . Nunes, Jose Rato; Ramos-Miras, Jose; Lopez-Pineiro, Antonio; Loures, Luis; Gil, Carlos; Coelho, Jose; Loures, AnaThe characterization of the content of trace metals in soils is an instrument in many programs of environmental protection, including the establishment of regional-level standards to detect sites affected by contamination. The objectives of the present study were to study the available levels of Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn in surface horizons of agricultural soils in a typical European Mediterranean region, to establish the geochemical baseline concentration (GBC), background level (BL), and reference value (RV) of each of these available metals, and to investigate their possible correlations with soil properties. To establish the GBC and RV values, we used the " standard threshold method". Topsoil samples (0-20 cm) were collected from 630 sites, and extracted with Diethylene Triamine Pentaacetic Acid (DTPA) to determine their available heavy metal concentrations. The GBC values established were: 0.04 to 0.90 mg kg(-1), 0.70 to 2.50 mg kg(-1), 0.10 to 6.30 mg kg(-1), 0.30 to 7.90 mg kg(-1), 0.29 to 4.50 mg kg(-1), and 0.18 to 2.50 mg kg(-1) for Cd, Cr, Cu, Ni, Pb, and Zn, respectively. Soil properties were found to be correlated with the available heavy metal content, suggesting that the enhanced mobility of heavy metals are related to anthropic activities.
- Sustainable planning of cross-border cooperation: a strategy for alliances in border citiesPublication . Kurowska-Pysz, Joanna; Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Loures, LuisIn recent years, cooperation among nations has become a critical issue towards sustainable development of neighbor cities in border areas. In this regard, sustainable common planning approaches and policies are an increasing reality, particularly in European territories. Considering the significant amount of cross-border cooperation (CBC) projects and strategies within Europe, it is crucial to promote research approaches that are able to identify the most positive approaches towards the establishment of alliances in border territories, serving as pivotal methodologies for achieving success. Contextually, the present study considered direct and indirect research methods and tools, literature reviews, data collection, computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) and computer-assisted web interview (CAWI), all applied over two European border cities: Cieszyn (Poland) and Cesky Tesin (Czech Republic). These methods enabled the assembly of perspectives of local authorities, public and private institutions, non-governmental organizations, and entrepreneurs from the cities under study. Through the analysis of the collected data, five conditions have been identified for the success of strategic alliances in CBC projects: (i) well defining the alliance goals; (ii) ensuring participation in the alliance of various groups of stakeholders; (iii) involvement of both partners with extensive experience in CBC; (iv) ensuring the coherence of the key objective; and (v) guaranteeing the alliance benefits both sides. These conditions might effectively contribute to achieve more successful outputs in CBC projects, highlighting the relevance of previously developed strategies on the definition of future approaches.
- Post-industrial landscapes as renaissance locus: the case study research methodPublication . Loures, Luis; Gospodini, A; Brebbia, CAThe fact that several countries are now facing various problems produced by landscapes constructed during the modem period [e.g. industrial revolution], currently in complete physical and functional decadency, contributed to enlarge the negative public perception about these spaces. However, this perception associated with the need to protect the environment has been in the last decades the catalyst to the redevelopment and renaissance of these landscapes. Often in advantageous locations near city centres, situated along waterways, supported by existing infrastructure, and adjacent to residential communities, these landscapes are environmentally impaired assets that need to be returned to productive uses, and reintegrated into the surrounding community. The reclamation and conservation of these landscapes constitute, additionally, an important cultural objective, which is inherently sustainable in that it encourages the positive re-use of redundant buildings that are part of our industrial and commercial heritage. This paper addresses the urgent need to reclaim these landscapes, influenced both by two different tendencies connected with the abandonment of industrial landscapes: on the one hand, the urban pressure related to the city's administration and stakeholders' will to urbanize those areas and on the other hand, the increasingly public awareness of the necessity to protect industrial heritage. This paper presents an approach based on the case study research method. This approach and the way it is applied in this paper may be empirically described as the research and analysis of several successful post-industrial landscape reclamation design approaches, in order to build a set of design principles that might inform and serve as a basis to the redevelopment of similar landscapes.
- Assessing spatial and temporal variability for some edaphic characteristics of Mediterranean rainfed and irrigated soilsPublication . Telo da Gama, José; Rato Nunes, José; Loures, Luis; Lopez Piñeiro, António; Vivas, PauloMediterranean soils are particularly threatened by salinization and low levels of organic matter content. In order to assess an edaphic sustainable use, we need to study its characteristics and better understand the temporal and spatial evolution. In this study, a total of 14,852 ha located in a western Mediterranean basin were selected as the study site where 1417 and 1451 topsoil samples were analyzed in 2001/2002 and 2011/2012, respectively, for Soil Organic Matter (SOM) content, pH water (pH(w)) and electrical conductivity (EC). Classical statistics and geostatistics techniques were used and the individual soil samples were related with the cultural system (CS) practiced-rainfed/irrigation-and the Reference Soil Group (RSG)-Cambisols, Calcisols, Luvisols, and Fluvisols. Predictive maps were created by interpolation using the Ordinary Kriging algorithm. The main results of this study were that, when transitioning from a rainfed to irrigation CS, SOM content is maintained in Cambisols but decreases in the other RSGs, pH(w) is maintained and EC increases in Fluvisols, Luvisols, and Cambisols. Over time in the rainfed CS all RSGs maintained SOM and pH(w) but EC increased in Fluvisols, Luvisols, and Calcisols and in the irrigation CS SOM decreased in Luvisols, pH(w) increased in Fluvisols and Calcisols and EC increased in all RSGs.
- Assessing the effectiveness of precision agriculture management systems in mediterranean small farmsPublication . Loures, Luis; Chamizo, Alejandro; Ferreira, Paulo; Loures, Ana; Castanho, Rui; Panagopoulos, ThomasWhile the world population continues to grow, increasing the need to produce more and better-quality food, climate change, urban growth and unsustainable agricultural practices accelerate the loss of available arable land, compromising the sustainability of agricultural lands both in terms of productivity and environmental resilience, and causing serious problems for the production-consumption balance. This scenario highlights the urgent need for agricultural modernization as a crucial step to face forthcoming di culties. Precision agriculture techniques appear as a feasible option to help solve these problems. However, their use needs to be reinvented and tested according to di erent parameters, in order to define both the environmental and the economic impact of these new technologies not only on agricultural production, but also on agricultural sustainability. This paper intends, therefore, to contribute to a better understanding of the impact of precision agriculture through the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV)/remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) and normalized di erence vegetation index (NDVI) techniques in small Mediterranean farms. We present specific data obtained through the application of the aforementioned techniques in three farms located along the Portuguese-Spanish border, considering three parameters (seeding failure, di erentiated irrigation and di erentiated fertilization) in order to determine not only the ecological benefits of these methods, but also their economic and productivity aspects. The obtained results, based on these methods, highlight the fact that an e cient combination of UAV/RPAS and NDVI techniques allows for important economic savings in productivity factors, thus promoting a sustainable agriculture both in ecological and economic terms. Additionally, contrary to what is generally defended, even in small farms, as the ones assessed in this study (less than 50 ha), the costs associated with the application of the aforementioned precision agriculture processes are largely surpassed by the economic gains achieved with their application, regardless of the notorious environmental benefits introduced by the reduction of crucial production inputs as water and fertilizers.
- Relevance of intermittent rivers and streams in agricultural landscape and their impact on provided ecosystem services—a Mediterranean case studyPublication . Kaletová, Tatiana; Loures, Luis; Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Aydin, Elena; Gama, José Telo da; Loures, Ana; Truchy, AmélieEcosystem services (ES), as an interconnection of the landscape mosaic pieces, along with temporal rivers (IRES) are an object of research for environmental planners and ecological economists, among other specialists. This study presents (i) a review on the importance of IRES and the services they can provide to agricultural landscapes; (ii) a classification tool to assess the impact of IRES to provide ES by agricultural landscapes; (iii) the application of the proposed classification to the Caia River in order to identify the importance of this intermittent river for its surrounding agricultural landscape. The classification of the ES follows the Common International Classification of Ecosystem (CICES) classification that was adapted for the purposes of this study. Firstly, the list of ES provided by agricultural landscape was elaborated. In the next step, we assessed the potential of IRES to provide ES. Next, IRES impacts to ES within the agricultural landscape were evaluated according to observations from the conducted field monitoring in the study area. This study focuses on the relevance of the intermittent Caia River-a transboundary river in Spain and Portugal-and its ephemeral tributaries in the agricultural landscape. Our study estimates that each hydrological phase of IRES increases the ES provided by the agricultural landscape. However, the dry phase can potentially have negative impacts on several services. The intensification of the agricultural sector is the main provision of the water resource within the Caia River basin, but we were able to identify several other ES that were positively impacted. The present study is in line with the conclusions of other authors who state that IRES constitute a valuable resource which should not be underestimated by society.
- Accessibility dynamics and regional cross-border cooperation (CBC) perspectives in the portuguese—spanish borderlandPublication . Vulevic, Ana; Castanho, Rui Alexandre; Naranjo Gómez, José Manuel; Loures, Luis; Cabezas, José; Fernández-Pozo, Luis; Martín Gallardo, JoséAccessibility plays a major role in achieving sustainable transport, and therefore urban and regional sustainability. The urban public transport system promotes mobility and realizes a large part of urban movements. Moreover, improving accessibility in order to promote sustainable transport requires the application of new concepts and indicators as a powerful tool in the process of creating a balanced urban transport system. In this regard, one of the main goals of this research is to present an overview of the relevant accessibility indicators and assessment of accessibility in regional Cross-Border Cooperation (CBC) in order to transcendence challenges and obstacles for sustainable transportation in these regions along of Portuguese-Spanish border. This paper focuses on the accessibility of cross-border cooperation scenarios along the border regions of Alto Alentejo (Portugal) and Badajoz (Spain) where the Case Study Research Method (CSR) made it possible to recognize accessibility as a key factor in territorial success. Also, accessibility analysis can assess improvements as well as regional imbalances. In addition, this methodology can be used to identify missing links, which requires new investments enabling long-term sustainability.
- Cross-border cooperation (CBC) in Southern Europe-An iberian case study. The eurocity Elvas-BadajozPublication . Alexandre Castanho, Rui; Loures, Luis; Cabezas, Jose; Fernandez-Pozo, LuisThe experiences of cross-border cooperation (CBC), undertaken not only in Europe but throughout the world, have enabled areas to gain greater importance in recent decades at an international level, showing potential for integrative functions and joint development as exemplified by several CBC projects. The present paper assesses the impact of CBC projects by analyzing a protocol established in 2013 between the cities of Elvas and Badajoz, which induced the creation of the Eurocity Elvas-Badajoz. The paper kicks off with a critical review on territorial factors for success in CBC areas, considering the analysis of several case studies throughout Europe. The lessons learned, taken from the analyzed case studies, and the identified territorial success factors were used as assessment points for the investigation of the target study area, the Eurocity Elvas-Badajoz. The investigation explores public participation perceptions towards the identification of what changes with respect to standards of life with the CBC project, providing the current state of affairs and identifying where to place efforts in order to reach sustainable development for the region. While being a transition area, it presents several opportunities for growth. These opportunities have not yet been object of analysis and debate with respect to lasting, sustainable successful growth. The present research enables the identification of several territorial factors for success in the study area, such as the connectivity/movement between cities and strong political commitment. From the identified critical factors, it was possible to highlight the importance of public transportation as a priority for achieving success in this CBC project.
- Evaluación de las áreas de servicio de la alta velocidad ferroviaria en la España peninsular desde un enfoque SIG multi-métodoPublication . Naranjo-Gómez, José Manuel; Alexandre Castanho, Rui; Cabezas-Fernández, José; Loures, LuisThe high-speed railway stations are the only access point to enjoy this rail service. Thus, its location and spatial distribution, and the roads to access them, acquires great importance. For this reason, taking into account the population of the Spanish peninsular municipalities, the degree of coverage offered by the 36 existing operating stations is determined. A methodology based on the method of determining floating catchment areas in three steps, is developed using territorial accessibility measures which were obtained through the network analysis tool offered by a Geographical Information System. The results represented by thematic cartography allow identifying the municipalities with the highest high-speed rail coverage. The municipalities with less coverage are also identified, where the road access of the residents in these municipalities to high-speed rail stations should be improved.
- Accessibility and connectivity - Movement between cities, as a critical factor to achieve success on cross-border cooperation (CBC) projects. A European analysisPublication . Alexandre Castanho, Rui; Vulevic, Ana; Cabezas Fernandez, Jose; Fernandez-Pozo, Luis; Naranjo Gomez, Jose Manuel; Loures, LuisNowadays, cross-border cooperation (CBC) is an undeniable reality in the space encompassed between European borders. This contributes to economical and social sustainable development, as well as to cohesion for trans boundary areas, which include administrative and territorial units from neighboring countries. A correct conceptual basis for the methodological approach to connectivity lies in the fact that the development of transportation systems, as integrated networks at different scales, is deeply changing their operation and the way they induce urban and regional development patterns. Overloaded transport corridors in the context of changing transportation flows are becoming an important issue for accessibility, impacting CBC indirectly, but harshly. Different modes of transport create different patterns of accessibility, with different influence in CBC accordingly. Throughout the present research, CBC European case studies, where connectivity-movement between cities, has been identified as a key factor for their territorial success, were assessed, described and analyzed. In the period of 2001-2006, improvements and further imbalances have occurred in accessibility development across regions and modes. Some signs indicate that the core-periphery pattern is slowly changing which leads towards an upgrade on the accessibility of places, regions and cities.