Luis Miguel Valenzuela-Montes

Using ‘Mobility Environments' in Practice: Lessons from a Metropolitan Transit Corridor in Spain

Abstract The last few years have seen a growing interest in furthering our understanding of the complex relationships between land use and transport. Nevertheless, putting that knowledge into practice in urban transport planning has been adversely affected by the lack of broad consensus on the main concepts and methods used in this field. To address that issue, this paper proposes a new approach based on the concept of ‘mobility environments’ as a new instrument for mobility planning. To illustrate and assess the ‘mobility environments’ approach, an application has been developed for a metropolitan transport corridor in the city of Granada (Spain), where local institutions are funding the implementation of a new light rail system. This paper highlights a number of important findings related to what exactly ‘mobility environments’ are and how they can be used in planning practice.

Criteria for assessing the level of land–water integration in planning instruments in Andalusia, Spain

ABSTRACT Academia has come to realize that integrating water management and land resources can deliver a significant contribution to achieving sustainable outcomes. However, its implementation in daily practice is lagging behind. In order to address this knowledge–practice gap, this paper suggests the integration of land and water resources management can be improved through the incorporation of specific criteria in the territorial plans and river basin management plans. The proposed criteria were used to develop a methodology to assess the level of integration between water resources and land uses in current planning practice. The case of Andalusia in Spain provided the empirical focus.

Nodes of a peri-urban agricultural landscape at local level: an interpretation of their contribution to the eco-structure

The ecological value of some fine-scale landscape elements tends to be overlooked when they are found in highly human-influenced landscapes, such as peri-urban agricultural ones. These landscapes usually fall beyond the scope of the defined categories of landscape protection, and are thus mapped as areas of little or no ecological interest in the context of extensive analysis. In this paper, we present a method for assessing and visualizing the existing nodes in the field pattern of a peri-urban agricultural landscape. Nodes are identified from the field pattern and characterized according to the presence of relevant features and land uses from the viewpoint of their ecological functions. The method is applied in the Vega del Guadalfeo (south of Spain). Our results show an innovative map of the Vega which may be interpreted as its eco-structure; a model based on nodes to represent the ecological value of the peri-urban agricultural landscape.

Aproximación a los entornos peatonales a través de una encuesta a la población: aplicación a la ciudad de Granada

La movilidad peatonal esta siendo cada vez mas importante por su vinculacion con la idea de ciudades sostenibles. En este punto, es crucial entender las actitudes y percepciones que los peatones tienen respecto a caminar y respecto al entorno urbano. En el presente trabajo se lleva a cabo un analisis cuantitativo y global de los entornos de movilidad peatonal, basado en la informacion obtenida a traves de una encuesta que incluye cuestiones agrupadas en diferentes areas tematicas concernientes a la movilidad peatonal en la ciudad de Granada. Los resultados obtenidos ponen de manifiesto la actitud positiva de la poblacion respecto a caminar, asi como el hecho de que bulevares y calles comerciales son las tipologias de calle de mayor preferencia por parte de la poblacion. Un enfoque integral, basado en la encuesta, permite enriquecer la planificacion de la movilidad local considerando mejoras en los entornos peatonales.

Protection of Peri-urban Agricultural Landscapes: Vegas and Deltas in Andalucía

In recent years, peri-urban agricultural landscapes are gradually receiving significant support in the context of five main fields. The first is from the European Landscape Convention (ELC), since its Article 2 refers not only to outstanding landscapes but also to everyday or even degraded landscapes. A second support is provided by the field of cultural heritage and cultural landscape, connecting the role of agricultural landscapes to patrimonial values. The understanding of landscape as heritage is quite recent and it is connected to the evolution of the heritage concept itself towards ideas such as the “heritagisation of territories and landscapes”. Within this frame, agricultural landscapes are actually being considered as an important part of European heritage. Multifunctionality of agriculture and landscape offers a third approach to strengthen agricultural landscapes based on their role of developing multiple functions and their corresponding economic, ecological and sociocultural services. From the field of protected areas, the advances in its conception and role is leading to an inspirational framework to be applied beyond the traditional boundaries of this body, giving new opportunities to link nature protection and landscape, including agricultural landscapes, which are recognised in some cases as important ecosystems and biodiversity foci. Finally, from a spatial planning viewpoint, different instruments could offer specific solutions to protect and promote vegas and deltas.

Entornos de movilidad peatonal: una revisión de enfoques, factores y condicionantes

palabras clave | espacio publico, medioambiente urbano, movilidad. abstract | Pedestrians play an important role in the urban mobility system, as walking is the most fundamental mode of transportation, and is used to connect with other modes of transportation. Furthermore, pedestrian mobility has a strong relationship with the built environment, thus conforming what is known as pedestrian mobility environments or pedestrian environments. In this way, it is necessary to achieve a better understanding of the factors that encourage people to walk as a form of viable transportation in the city, and improve the quality of mobility when pedestrians attempt to access central urban areas, public places or public transport hubs. With this objective in mind, the paper evaluates the most common analyses regarding pedestrian mobility, through a review of specialized refe- rences in the literature, including the factors considered in these references, and the various dimensions and valuations involved in the decisions by the population to opt for walking as a preferred mode of transportation.