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Sustainability
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Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design
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Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design

A special issue of Sustainability (ISSN 2071-1050). This special issue belongs to the section "Environmental Sustainability and Applications".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 December 2020) | Viewed by 10942

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jon Burley

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
School of Planning, Design and Construction, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA
Interests: wildlife habitat design; surface mine reclamation planning and design; landscape theory; landscape ecology; environmental design; visual quality assessment; conceptual design
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Prof. Dr. Luís Carlos Loures

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
VALORIZA - Research Centre for Endogenous Resource Valorization, Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre, 7300 Portalegre, Portugal
Interests: environmental impact on mediterranean ecosystems; sustainable management; environmental planning; landscape architecture; spatial and environmental planning; low-density planning; climate change adaptation; circular economy
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It is a pleasure to invite you to contribute to this Special Issue addressing Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design. The state-of-the-art in reclamation has grown and evolved from surface mine origins, to address landscape transformations of dysfunctional environments to more useful settings in a sustainable manner. This Special Issue features research across this spectrum in the social, natural, and engineering sciences and the planning and design arts. Articles that describe reclamation research on surface mines, brownfields, greyfields, and other disturbed conditions, such as from landscape catastrophes are encouraged. Case studies concerning actual projects are also welcomed. This Special Issue in this open access journal is an excellent opportunity to feature one’s scholarship, reaching many corners of the world.

Dr. Jon Burley
Dr. Luis Loures
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Sustainability is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2400 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Surface mine reclamation
  • Post-industrial reclamation
  • Landscape architecture
  • Environmental engineering
  • Landscape disturbance
  • Urban reconstruction
  • Agricultural productivity
  • Forest restoration
  • Environmental perception

Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

18 pages, 3560 KiB  
Article
Innovative Techniques for Landscape Recovery after Clay Mining under Mediterranean Conditions
by Diana Turrión, Luna Morcillo, José Antonio Alloza and Alberto Vilagrosa
Sustainability 2021, 13(6), 3439; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su13063439 - 19 Mar 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3400
Abstract
Open-pit mining results in profound modifications at different environmental scales that may persist for very long time periods, or even indefinitely. Considerable research efforts in mine reclamation strategies have been made, although reclamation failures are still common. In dry climates, such as in [...] Read more.
Open-pit mining results in profound modifications at different environmental scales that may persist for very long time periods, or even indefinitely. Considerable research efforts in mine reclamation strategies have been made, although reclamation failures are still common. In dry climates, such as in the Mediterranean Basin, successful actions may depend on features related to proper species selection and restoration techniques, which may substantially contribute to provide substrate stability and facilitate the regeneration of the main ecological processes. In this context, we developed the TECMINE case-study aimed to evaluate the feasibility and suitability of innovative restoration practices applied to clay-mine reclamation under Mediterranean conditions. The restoration strategy was designed at the landscape level with two main approaches: the recovery of natural geomorphology shapes and ecological restoration, including vegetation recovery and soil quality, based on proper reference ecosystems. After the geomorphological land remodeling, a combination of several innovative restoration techniques was implemented to reclaim plant communities and ecosystem functioning. These techniques involved: (i) accurate species selection according to microhabitat characteristics; (ii) high-quality plant production; (iii) surface remodeling to improve substrate stabilization; and (iv) implementing rainfall collection to enhance resources availability, soil fertility improvement and the amelioration of abiotic conditions for seedlings. Finally, we developed a monitoring program to assess the success of the implemented restoration techniques over time. The application of these innovative techniques has reported interesting results and represents a step forward in the improvement of mine restoration under Mediterranean climate. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design)
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20 pages, 3776 KiB  
Article
A Model to Evaluate the Flooding Opportunity and Sustainable Use of Former Open-Pits
by Izabela-Maria Apostu, Maria Lazar and Florin Faur
Sustainability 2020, 12(21), 9275; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12219275 - 08 Nov 2020
Cited by 9 | Viewed by 2320
Abstract
As a result of open-pit mining exploitations, impressive size gaps occur in the landscape. Their flooding leads to the occurrence of so-called open-pit lakes and represents an interesting way to reclaim and use sustainably the degraded land. In the literature, there are numerous [...] Read more.
As a result of open-pit mining exploitations, impressive size gaps occur in the landscape. Their flooding leads to the occurrence of so-called open-pit lakes and represents an interesting way to reclaim and use sustainably the degraded land. In the literature, there are numerous plans, strategies, and guidelines for mine closure and open-pit recovery, but these are usually developed at the regional or national level and offer general suggestions, which must be evaluated and approached case-by-case. Because there is still no way to evaluate the opportunity of flooding the open-pits, a methodology for assessing this opportunity was developed to identify the open-pits that are suitable for flooding, this being the main objective of the paper. The paper is novel because of the multicriteria evaluation of open-pits and their remaining gaps, the logical succession of the criteria, and the proposed concept, methods, models, and equations that allow a complex assessment of the flooding opportunity. The methodology also aims to ensure maximum safety conditions in the former mining perimeter, the socio-economic and cultural requirements of local communities, the harmonization of the land in accordance with adjacent ecosystems, and the sustainable development of the region. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design)
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14 pages, 2469 KiB  
Article
Soil-Based Vegetation Productivity Model for Coryell County, Texas
by Bin Wen and Jon Bryan Burley
Sustainability 2020, 12(13), 5240; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12135240 - 28 Jun 2020
Viewed by 1620
Abstract
Managers, scientists, planners and designers of landscapes are interested in systematic investigations, to predict the reconstruction of disturbed soil resources for optimum vegetation productivity. In this study, a predictive equation for estimating neo-soil plant growth in Coryell County, Texas was developed. The equation [...] Read more.
Managers, scientists, planners and designers of landscapes are interested in systematic investigations, to predict the reconstruction of disturbed soil resources for optimum vegetation productivity. In this study, a predictive equation for estimating neo-soil plant growth in Coryell County, Texas was developed. The equation predicts the vegetation growth for wheat (Triticum aestivum L.), oats [Avena sativa L. (1753)], sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], cotton lint (Gossypium hirsutum L.), Bermuda grass [Cynodon dactylon (L.) Pers.], and rangeland production in general. The results suggest that an all-vegetation predictive model was highly significant (p ≤ 0.0001), explaining over 80% of the variance. The equation employed hydraulic conductivity as a main-effect variable; bulk density and hydraulic conductivity as squared terms; and percent clay times bulk density, bulk density times soil reaction, hydraulic conductivity times available water holding capacity, and hydraulic conductivity times soil reactions as first order interaction terms, with each predicting variable containing a p-value equal to or less than 0.05. The results suggest that an annual crop equation and a plant-specific cotton lint equation also have merit. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design)
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16 pages, 12961 KiB  
Article
Analysis of Façade Color and Cost to Improve Visual Integration of Buildings in the Rural Environment
by María Jesús Montero-Parejo, Lorenzo García Moruno, Antonio Manuel Reyes Rodríguez, Julio Hernández Blanco and Jacinto Garrido Velarde
Sustainability 2020, 12(9), 3840; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/su12093840 - 08 May 2020
Cited by 7 | Viewed by 2814
Abstract
In recent decades, rural buildings have proliferated in the rural environment, in many cases clashing with the surroundings. One of the main objectives in rural areas must be to maintain a balance between economic and sustainable development. In the exterior design of buildings, [...] Read more.
In recent decades, rural buildings have proliferated in the rural environment, in many cases clashing with the surroundings. One of the main objectives in rural areas must be to maintain a balance between economic and sustainable development. In the exterior design of buildings, it is necessary to follow technical and scientific criteria that respect the natural environment, and one of the most important parameters in this scenario is façade color. This article analyzes the costs of using different colors on façades and how color variations affect the integration of buildings in the rural landscape. It addresses the context of rural buildings in the Extremadura region of Spain, where large areas of undeveloped land are available to drive economic development. Ten technical projects and photos of buildings were used for the study. A palette of suitable colors developed and proposed in previous studies was used to improve the external finishes of the façades. The variation in cost was calculated between the current designs and improved alternatives simulated using infographs, and a survey was conducted to determine how the rating of the landscape integration changed. The analysis shows that a building façade in a suitable color is always a significantly better rated solution than a finish in white (by 9%–14%). The results obtained are important because they show that a small variation in the cost of a building can significantly increase the rating of its integration and, therefore, give value added to the intervention because it respects the natural environment. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Sustainable Environmental Reclamation: Landscape Planning and Design)
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