The Somerset Levels and Moors Flood Action Plan: A 20 year plan for a sustainable future

Posted on: 6 March 2014
By: mackene
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This Plan sets out targets and aims to prevent the same level of flooding hitting Somerset’s levels and moors that has been suffered in 2014.

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Spatial analysis of green infrastructure in Europe

Posted on: 6 March 2014
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Healthy natural areas often fulfil important yet unseen functions, from preventing floods to filtering air. A new report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) proposes a method for mapping this ‘green infrastructure’. The report maps a network of natural and semi-natural spaces and other environmental features in Europe with a good capacity to deliver  ‘ecosystem services’. These include air filtration, erosion protection, regulating water flow, coastal protection, pollination, maintaining soil structure, water purification, and carbon storage. The report also identifies key habitats for large forest-dwelling mammals and the analysis of connectivity among them. The objective of this report is to propose a feasible and replicable methodology for use by different entities and at varying scales, when identifying Green Infrastructure (GI) elements. The proposed methodology will help those policymakers and practitioners define a landscape GI network to identify areas where key habitats can be reconnected and the overall ecological quality of the area improved.

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Insolvency in construction contracts

Posted on: 6 March 2014
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The construction industry has seen more than its fair share of insolvency in recent years. The contributory factors, making this industry more prone than any other, are a combination of its working on very low profit margins and reliance on so many different contributors in a chain. The author of this article argues that understanding insolvency and what to do to minimise its impact before the event is worthy of closer inspection.

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The ideas and values behind 1947 UK planning system and how planning has changed since

Posted on: 6 March 2014
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The author of this article argues that in order to understand the ideas and values that influenced the establishment of the 1947 UK Planning system, it is necessary to consider the period preceding the Second World War, and in particular the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The article contains a list of references.

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Nations and the wealth of cities: A new phase in public policy

Posted on: 6 March 2014
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This report from the Centre for London aims to address the challenges for national governments that result from globalising cities. It uses the example of the UK as a locus for a new suite of city oriented national policies and initiatives that seek to marry local leadership with national frameworks in a global system.

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Urban Design Collective

Posted on: 6 March 2014
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Urban Design Collective (UDC) is a non-profit organization that works as a collaborative platform for professionals from the fields of Architecture, Urban Design/ Planning to promote livable and sustainable cities through community engagement.

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National Biodiversity Climate Change Vulnerability Model

Posted on: 6 March 2014
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Natural England has developed a new map-based modelling approach to help assess the vulnerability of priority habitats to climate change. The Model indicates the relative vulnerability of priority habitats in different geographical areas and helps guide interventions which can increase their resilience. The report on the model demonstrates how the model will inform the development of national and local adaptation strategies for biodiversity, and help prioritise the actions to be taken as part of these strategies.

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Cycling in London: an update

Posted on: 5 March 2014
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The London Assembly Transport Committee conducted an online survey of cyclists from November to December 2013. This report presents the findings of the survey together with nine recommendations to the Mayor and Transport for London.

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Round table: At the cutting edge of carbon

Posted on: 5 March 2014
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Report on a round-table debate which addressed the issue of how much progress the construction industry has made in reducing operational emissions and how much it still has to cut to achieve its long-term carbon goal.

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Tourism visa openness report for the Silk Road countries

Posted on: 5 March 2014
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This report presents a global vision of travel facilitation in the world, complemented with a specific analysis of this important issue along the Silk Road. Considering the size and complexity of this thematic route, comprising a wide diversity of partners in different continents, travel facilitation along the Silk Road through improved visa measures represents a significant challenge, yet also an immense opportunity to promote tourism development. It is hoped that the report will be an important step towards building a collaborative approach to travel facilitation along the Silk Road, contributing to the work initiated twenty year ago, when in 1994, 19 countries adopted the Samarkand Declaration on Silk Road Tourism, calling for ‘the adoption of facilitation measures that would reduce travel barriers and stimulate tourist flows along the Silk Road.

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