Torsten Wiedemann

A monitoring tool for the provision of accessible and attractive urban green spaces

Abstract The availability of accessible and attractive green spaces is an integral part of urban quality of life. This paper presents an integrated indicator designed for: (1) the monitoring of the urban green space provision against quantitative and qualitative targets; (2) the comparison between cities and city parts; (3) the assessment of the effects of future policy scenarios; (4) the indication of locations where action is required. The indicator development was guided by five principles: “citizen based”, “functional levels”, “preconditions for use”, “variety of qualities”, and “multiple use”. The parameters were derived from the available research on public preferences and use of green spaces. The indicator is made operational in a GIS-based working procedure starting from the residential places and based on a two-step approach: (1) The accessibility: which green spaces are within reach at different functional levels? (2) The attractiveness: which are the accessible green spaces’ qualities? The GIS-model was applied in four cities of Flanders (northern part of Belgium): Antwerp, Ghent, Aalst and Kortrijk. This article explains the underlying ideas and the construction of the monitoring tool and discusses the suitability as a touchstone for current and future policy as well as its possible guiding role in local planning situations.

STREAM (Spatiotemporal Research Infrastructure for Early Modern Brabant and Flanders): Sources, Data and Methods

This article presents the technical characteristics of the Belgian STREAM-project (2015–2019). The goal of STREAM is to facilitate and innovate historical research into local and regional processes...

User-Centered Design of a Collaborative, Object Oriented Historical GI-Platform

The project STREAM (Spatio-Temporal Research Infrastructure for Early Modern Flanders and Brabant) aims to create a research infrastructure that will allow spatio-temporal analyses in order to improve our understanding of the demographic, social and economic changes that occurred in Flanders and Brabant (Belgium) between 1550 and 1800. The Carte de Cabinet of count Joseph de Ferraris (1771–1778) offers information on various subjects for that time period and is considered one of the most important products of Belgian cartographic history. Hence this historical map was used as the main source document to develop a vectorial geographical database that constitutes an important step towards the creation of a research infrastructure. To build this geographical database a retrogressive method was used in order to interpret the historical map and its related data in an absolute geographical reference system, which the Carte de Cabinet lacks. Since STREAM results from a collaboration between researchers from different disciplines a specific user-oriented editing platform was developed to support the different actors. This platform allows the digitisation of the historical road network in a geographic reference system based on the current road network by means of a slider, a shift tool and an editing tool. Initial analyses have confirmed the strong geometric distortions of the Carte de Cabinet but also the multiple possibilities for spatio(-temporal) research when combining the information of the Carte de Cabinet with cartographic analyses of other cartographic documents.