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Sustainable land use depends on both the socio-economic processes that trigger spatial development and the effectiveness of spatial governance tools that aim to regulate these processes. The ESPON Sustainable Urbanization and land-use Practices in European Regions (SUPER) research project aims to analyze the main land-use dynamics in Europe, looking at and comparing the interventions implemented in the various countries in order to promote sustainability. In particular, a sample of 227 interventions was chosen from a total of 39 European countries. This paper analyzes them on the basis of four different variables: (i) the scale at which the interventions are conceived; (ii) the type of territories subject to them; (iii) the type of interventions; (iv) the type of instruments behind these interventions. On this basis, it develops a number of considerations concerning the effectiveness of the interventions implemented in Europe to promote more sustainable use of land.

The incremental recognition of the importance of land as a finite resource has led to the adoption and implementation of an increasing number of sustainable land use practices in European cities and regions. This paper reflects on these experiences, building on the evidence collected in the framework of the ESPON SUPER pan-European research project. In particular, the authors look at the project’s database, which includes 235 examples of sustainable urbanization interventions gathered from all around Europe. In doing so, they reflect on the outcomes of these interventions, focusing on both their scope and objectives and the types of instruments that were adopted in their implementation. The objective of this contribution is to critically analyze the rich set of practices collected throughout the project and to provide guidance for decision and policy makers aiming at promoting a more sustainable use of land. In this light, it suggests a number of recommendations and warnings, bearing in mind that no “right instruments” or “right targets” exist that could prove successful for all European cities and regions.

Geographic information system (GIS) software has been essential for visualising and determining heating and cooling requirements, sources of industrial excess heat, natural bodies of water, and municipalities. Policymakers highly encourage the use of GIS software at all administrative levels. It is expected that the heating and cooling demand will continue to increase. For a reliable heat and cooling supply, we must identify heat sources that can be used to provide heat or for removing surplus heat. We propose a method for identifying possible heat sources for large heat pumps and chillers that combines geospatial data from administrative units, industrial facilities, and natural bodies of water. Temperatures, capacities, heat source availability, as well as their proximity to areas with high demand density for heating and cooling were considered. This method was used for Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Excess heat from heat generation plants and industries, sewage water treatment plants, and natural heat sources such as rivers, lakes and seawater were included. The study’s findings provide an overview of possible industrial and natural heat sources, as well as their characteristics. The potential of the heat sources was analysed, quantified, and then compared to the areas of heating and cooling demand.

The article presents the population problem of urban functional area around selected medium-sized cities in Poland and the Czech Republic. Research work refers to six cities (on the Polish side - Jelenia Góra, Legnica and Wałbrzych – located in Lower Silesia region; on the Czech side - Hradec Králové, Liberec and Ústí nad Labem). These core cities with suburban areas co-create the functional urban areas with varied demographic structure and development dynamics. In the analysed period, the population growth was observed only in Liberec. The largest total population among studied areas refers also to Liberec functional urban area. The population in suburban areas of the examined Polish and Czech cities is relatively younger than in the core cities. Functional approach for development of urban areas founding depart from perception of demographic problem and challenges only by prism of administrative borders becomes more important.

In order to ensure a balanced accessibility to major transport ways, supporting spatial development and economic growth, a GIS model to assess accessibility it was proposed. The model is measuring the average cost of travel (by car, usually) from a point to a predetermined number of destinations measured in units of time (minutes). Using the ARCGIS Spatial Analyst module, accessibility territorial indicators were calculated and presented as cartograms and maps that are outlining the accessibility to major transportation routes and to major cities. The proposed model to assess accessibility was tested for Tulcea county (NUTS III level) and for the South East region (NUTS II level).

RésuméL’évolution des systèmes urbains de la Bulgarie et de la Roumanie est rythmée par les deux logiques de l’inertie de la structure hiérarchique et de l’ouverture à l’international. Ce couple de forces annonce des mutations qualitatives qui pourraient déboucher sur l’apparition d’une nouvelle propriété : le polycentrisme. Amorcé par la spontanéité ou par la programmation politique, le polycentrisme serait une solution alternative à la centralité des capitales qui, captives du processus de métropolisation, sont incapables de coordonner un développement équilibré et cohérent des territoires nationaux. AbstractTwo complementary forces influence the urban systems of Bulgaria and Romania: the inertia of the urban hierarchy versus international openness. These two forces herald qualitative changes, which may give rise to a new characteristic: polycentrism. Whether spontaneous or a planned policy, polycentrism would be an alternative solution to the centrality of the capitals, which, caught up in metropolisation process, are incapable of coordinating balanced, cohesive development of the national territories.

Case studies of the ESPON Climate project require an integrated twofold approach: an analytical approach and an explorative approach. Seven case studies were chosen that cover all five types of climate change regions identified in the exposure cluster analysis, but also different legal–administrative families. These studies not only provide an in‐depth analysis of climate change vulnerability in Europe, but also explore a wide variation of European regions and corresponding differences in climate change exposure, sensitivity, impact and adaptive capacity.

En este artículo se estudian las variantes diacrónicas y diatópicas de enjundia y esponja en iberorromance para determinar cuáles son los étimos de cada una de ellas en esta área de la Romania. A partir del análisis fonético de los posibles étimos (axungiam y *axungulam para enjundia y sus variantes; spongiam y *spongulam para esponja y sus variantes), se concluirá que aquellos con la secuencia -ngiV- son el origen de las variantes con [ɲ], [nts], [ndz] (> [nθ]), [ɲ(t)ʃ], [ɲ(d)ʒ] (> [Ṽʒ], [ŋx]) y [nd], y que aquellos otros con -ngul- lo son de las variantes que han evolucionado a [ɲʎ] y [ʎ]. In this article, the historical and geographical variants of enjundia and esponja in Ibero-Romance are studied to determine the etymons of each of those variants in this Romance area. Through the phonetic analysis of the potential etymons (axungiam and *axungulam for enjundia and its variants; spongiam and *spongulam for esponja and its variants), it will be concluded that those containing the sequence -ngiV- are the source for the variants exhibiting [ɲ], [nts], [ndz] (> [nθ]), [ɲ(t)ʃ], [ɲ(d)ʒ] (> [Ṽʒ], [ŋx]) and [nd], while those containing the sequence -ngul- are the source for the variants exhibiting [ɲʎ] and [ʎ].

Durante el ciclo primavera-verano de 2013 se evaluó, en la Cañada Oaxaqueña, México, el efecto de nitrógeno (N) en niveles de 0, 50 y 100kgha-1 sobre la evaporación, evapotranspiración, eficiencia en el uso del agua y rendimiento de semilla, fibra y biomasa, así como longitud de pepónide de dos variantes de estropajo (Luffa cylindrica L). Se probó un diseño de bloques completos al azar, cuyos tratamientos fueron los tres niveles de N con tres repeticiones. La relevancia del estrudio radica en la búsqueda de materiales que tengan aplicaciones en la extracción de aceite o utilización de fibra, que se adapten a las condiciones de aridez de la zona, como lo es el estropajo. Los resultados indicaron que la aplicación de 50 y lOOkgha·-1 generó mayor rendimiento de semilla, número de orificios/cm2 y longitud de pepónide. Con el tratamiento de lOOkg·ha-1 aumentaron la cantidad de biomasa, el rendimiento de fibra y la eficiencia en el uso del agua para semilla, fibra y biomasa. La evaporación se ajustó a un modelo cuadrático, mientras que la evapotranspiración se ajustó a un modelo lineal. El N afectó de manera positiva al cultivo de estropajo.