Explore the vast range of titles available.

\"This highly innovative book is a multidisciplinary study of green and its significance from multiple perspectives: aesthetic, architectural, environmental, political, and social. It is centered on the Kingdom of Bahrain, the smallest and greenest of the Arab states in the Persian Gulf, where green has a long and deep history appearing cooling, productive, and prosperous--and a radical contrast to the hot, hostile desert. As is the case with cities around the world, green is often celebrated as a counter to gray urban environments, yet green has not always been good for cities. To have the color green manifested in arid environments is often in direct conflict with 'green' from an environmental point of view; this paradox is at the heart of the book. Given the resources required to maintain green in arid areas, including cities, the provision of green often bears significant environmental costs. In arid environments such as Bahrain, this contradiction becomes extreme and even unsustainable. Based on long-term ethnographic fieldwork, Gareth Doherty explores the landscapes of Bahrain where green represents a plethora of implicit human values and lives in dialectical tension with other culturally and environmentally significant colors and hues. The book's six chapters focus on: Blue, Red, Date-palm Green, Grass Green, Beige, and White. Implicit in his book is the argument that concepts of color and object are mutually defining and thus a discussion about green becomes a discussion about the creation of space and place\"-- Provided by publisher.

Increasing concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter (PM) can cause a serious threat to urban air quality and human health. To reduce PM pollution in urban environments, pragmatic screening and planting of tolerant tree species can be effective and sustainable ways. However, our understanding of the effects of the capture ability of PM[sub.2.5] on plant tolerance, and efforts to devise explicit assessment tools for suitability analysis for urban green belt plantations, are still inadequate. In this study, six common green tree species (Pinus tabuliformis, Abies holophylla, Juniperus chinensis, Salix babylonica, Robinia pseudoacacia, and Populus alba) from three pollution sites in Shenyang City, China, were collected in order to assess their PM[sub.2.5] capture ability, biochemical characteristics, leaf microstructures, and air pollution tolerance index (APTI). The results revealed that different sites and tested plant species can significantly affect the amount of PM[sub.2.5] retained by leaf surfaces. The PM[sub.2.5] retention amount of Abies holophylla was the highest at the SFH site and 1.41–8.89 times that of other tested species (p < 0.05). Morphological plant attributes, such as leaf surface roughness (r = 0.52 **) and contact angle (r = −0.57 **), were strongly related to the PM[sub.2.5] retention amount. The PM[sub.2.5] retention amount per unit leaf area had the strongest and most significant negative influence on total chlorophyll content (r = −0.743 **), indicating that the accumulation of leaf PM[sub.2.5] reduced the photosynthetic efficiency of the plants. Among the tested plants, Robinia pseudoacacia had the highest APTI value and was identified as the most resilient plant at all three sites, whereas Juniperus chinensis had the lowest APTI at all study sites. However, the integration of PM[sub.2.5] capture ability with APTI showed Pinus tabuliformis to be the best species for the construction of urban green belts in Shenyang City.

The Chinese flowering cherry (Cerasus serrulata), an ornamental tree with established medicinal values, is observed to suffer from leaf blight within Xi’an’s greenbelts. This disease threatens both the plant’s growth and its ornamental appeal. In this study, 26 isolates were obtained from plants with typical leaf blight, and only 3 isolates (XA-10, XA-15, and XA-18) were found to be pathogenic, causing similar symptoms on the leaves of the host plant. Based on sequence alignment, the ITS and LSU sequences of the three selected isolates were consistent, respectively. Following morphological and molecular analyses, the three selected isolates were further identified as Mortierella alpina. The three selected isolates exhibited similar morphological characteristics, including wavy colonies with dense, milky-white aerial mycelia on PDA medium. Therefore, isolate XA-10 was used as a representative strain for subsequent experiments. The representative strain XA-10 was found to exhibit optimal growth at a temperature of 30 °C and a pH of 7.0. Host range infection tests further revealed that the representative strain XA-10 could also inflict comparable disease symptoms on both the leaves and fruits of three different Rosaceae species (Prunus persica, Pyrus bretschneideri, and Prunus salicina). This study reveals, for the first time, the causative agent of leaf blight disease affecting the Chinese flowering cherry. This provides a deeper understanding of the biology and etiology of M. alpina. This study lays a solid foundation for the sustainable control and management of leaf blight disease in the Chinese flowering cherry.

Green belts are an urban planning approach meant to address urban sprawl and enhance resilience. Many Latin American cities located in arid lands would benefit from the green belt; however, little is known about the factors that determine green belt implementation in these regions. The purpose of this study is to fill this gap by examining the case of Hermosillo, Mexico, a rapidly growing city located in a desert environment with an envisioned green belt. A cross-disciplinary team worked with city officials and NGOs to implement a portion of the green belt by identifying suitable soils to locate and design a park within strategic segments of the green belt. However, rapid urbanization and the urgent need for recreational spaces led to the destruction of the landscape. A reflection on lessons learned stress the need for engagement with local communities and real estate developers to integrate social needs and market forces into the planning process for effective green belt implementation. Recommendations include a combination of bottom-up and top-down approaches, with efforts centered around housing development that provides the needed infrastructure and public space and is fully integrated to the rest of the city. For cities in arid lands, it becomes critical to adopt soft-path approaches for water resources management, assessment of soil conditions, and reconditioning of poor or polluted soils. To maintain the ecological functions of the protected land, efforts must be accompanied by policies that support the vision for the green belt, means to regulate gentrification, and resources allocated for enforcement.

This research proposes a green belt as a strategic response to urban expansion in Lomas del Paraíso, Villa María del Triunfo, Lima. Uncontrolled urban growth threatens the local ecosystem, exacerbates the lack of public spaces, and limits employment opportunities. The study employs an integrated methodology that includes urban, community, and especially environmental analysis. This involved the collection of climatic data, and the identification of local flora and fauna, supported by digital tools such as Google Earth, AutoCAD 2023, Revit, and 3D Sun-Path. The proposal incorporates urban, environmental, technological, and community-based design strategies grounded in permaculture principles, circular economy frameworks, and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These approaches emphasize the symbiotic relationship between the community and the Lomas ecosystem. The feasibility and potential impact of the proposed green belt were compared with similar case studies, such as Medellín’s metropolitan green belt (Jardín Circunvalar) and the Arví Ecotourism Park. These benchmarks highlight the relevance of community involvement and user awareness in ecological preservation. In conclusion, implementing a green belt in Lomas del Paraíso would not only curb unregulated urban sprawl but also enhance community–nature connectivity and promote sustainable development through integrated environmental, social, and urban strategies.

Green belts, consisting mainly of natural forests, woodlands, and agricultural areas surrounding major cities, play an essential role in regulating urban development and controlling the expansion of metropolitan areas. Although this concept has been extensively studied in the world’s major metropolitan areas, it remains relatively unknown in many countries, particularly in Africa. There is a great need for research to better understand urban vegetation cover on the continent. This article proposes a systematic review of African publications on green cover for the period 2010 to 2024. A descriptive and thematic analysis of the selected scientific papers was carried out using a database established to examine the state of existing research and understanding of the management of these plant formations in Africa. The results of these analyses highlight several major challenges facing urban forestry, including increasing anthropogenic pressures, lack of urban planning that integrates urban forestry, and shortcomings in the management of existing forest landscapes. The thematic analysis has also helped to identify the topics addressed by African researchers, identify gaps in research, and suggest directions for future studies. Three priority areas emerge from this analysis: the conservation of natural or artificial green belts around cities, the impact of these forest landscapes on urban heat islands (climate impact), and the sustainability of ecosystem management in the context of sustainable urbanization. These guidelines will enable a better understanding and valorization of green belts in Africa, thus contributing to the construction of more sustainable cities and the efficient management of forest landscapes.

Urbanization and economic growth have substantially modified the land utilization structure, affecting ecosystem services and their spatial distribution. As a crucial component of Beijing’s urban framework, the city’s green belts, located at the periphery of its core metropolitan area, play a vital role in supplying urban ecosystem services. They also represent a focal point for land use transformation conflicts, making them an important study area. This research utilizes land utilization data from 2000, 2005, 2010, 2015, and 2020 as the primary dataset. It adopts a modified standard equivalent factor and integrates it with the Patch-Generaling Land Use Simulation (PLUS) model to model land utilization in Beijing’s green belts for 2035 under three scenarios: the natural development scenario (NDS), ecological protection scenario (EPS) and cultivated protection scenario (CPS). The study aims to analyze and project the spatial and temporal evolution of ecosystem service values (ESVs) in 2035 under different scenarios in the green belts of Beijing. The results indicate that (1) land use in Beijing’s green belts is dominated by cropland and construction land. Construction land has expanded significantly since 2000, increasing by 500.78 km2, while cropland has decreased by 488.47 km2. Woodland, grassland, and water have also seen a reduction. Overall, there is a trend of woodland and water being converted into cropland, with cropland subsequently transitioning into construction land. (2) In the NDS, construction land increases by 91.76 km2, while cropland, grassland, and water decrease. In EDS, the growth of construction land decelerates to 22.09 km2, the reduction in cropland decelerates, and the conversion of cropland to construction land is limited. Grassland and water remain largely unchanged, and woodland experiences a slight increase. In CPS, the conversion of cropland to construction land is notably reduced, with construction land increasing by 11.97 km2, woodland increasing slightly, and grassland and water decreasing slightly. (3) The ESV ranking across scenarios is as follows: EPS 1830.72 mln yuan > CPS 1816.23 mln yuan > NDS 1723.28 mln yuan. Hydrological regulation and climate regulation are the dominant services in all scenarios. ESV in EPS attains the greatest economic gains. This study contributes to understanding the effects of land utilization changes on ESV, offering valuable empirical evidence for sustainable development decision-making in swiftly urbanizing areas.

Beijing is among the first cities in China to implement a greenbelt policy to improve urban vegetation, which plays a crucial role in enhancing the urban ecological environment. The policies have shown remarkable results. However, long-term evaluation of the performance of the greenbelt policies in Beijing has not been carried out in order to quantitatively evaluate their effectiveness. In this study, long-term satellite observations of the normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI), land surface temperature, precipitation, and night-light from 2000 to 2020 are used to investigate the spatio-temporal variabilities in NDVI and explore the mechanisms of the impacts of the greenbelt policies in Beijing. The main results are as follows: (1) From 2000 to 2020, the overall NDVI in Beijing exhibited an upward trend, with the proportion of high-NDVI (>0.8) areas increasing from 26.18% in 2000 to 53.64% in 2020. The proportion of low-NDVI (<0.2) areas continued to decrease from 0.64% in 2000 to 0.2% in 2020. (2) The 1st Greenbelt Zone shows a significant increase in its NDVI (with an average increase of 0.296 units in the NDVI at district level), indicating that the policy’s implementation had a notable effect, while the 2nd Greenbelt Zone was mainly in a degraded state and a declining trend, indicating that its performance fell short of expectations. (3) During the preparation for the 2008 Summer Olympics, while the 1st Greenbelt Zone had a slightly negative effect on NDVI improvement, probably due to urban re-construction, the 2nd Greenbelt Zone showed a significant positive effect, leading to an increase of 0.013 units in the NDVI at district level. In addition, the correlation analysis shows that an increase in annual average land surface temperature leads to a decrease in the NDVI, while annual precipitation has a positive relationship with NDVI changes. This study highlights the importance of long-term satellite observations in evaluating the performance of greenbelt policies in Beijing. The evaluation approach developed in this study can be readily applied to similar cities globally.

The authors would like to make the following corrections about the published paper [...]

International attention on the environmental impacts of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) is increasing, but little is known internationally about the large corpus of Chinese BRI environmental research. We present the first systematic review of the Chinese and English-language BRI environmental research, supported with text mining and sentiment analysis. We found that the research is dominated by Chinese authors writing about BRI routes within China in Chinese, even though concerns around BRI are largely about impacts and benefits within host countries, and the volume of publications in English is recently catching up. Different disciplines and methods are well-represented across languages, apart from specific types of Chinese social science papers. The sentiments of academic research are largely neutral and less polarised than media discourse. We recommend that scientists and practitioners should pay more attention to BRI environmental impacts in developing countries and proactively engage local voices.