With growing urbanization and climate change fueling land degradation and putting traditional development models under pressure, construction practices supporting ecological resilience and responsible land use have become urgently needed. Smart modular construction, which is adaptive, has minimal impact, and is highly digitized, may offer a fresh stimulus for land restoration and progressive development. This research looks at modular systems from the perspective of architectural flexibility for use as infrastructure.

This study is based on the conceptual design activity of a Smart Reconfigurable Modular Envelope (SRME) via a duly accessible 3D modelling software, with reference to real case studies of modular building systems. The design issues considered are ease of transport, minimum interruption at the site, and the opportunity provided by the land itself to adapt to variable land conditions. The technical decisions, however, were seconded by research work in sustainable materials and modular foundations that do not require deep excavation and in light integration with some basic smart technologies, such as environmental sensors at a bare minimum cost. Scenario analysis extended to potential land use in degraded, transitional, and rural environments.

Rapid deployment with little environmental impact is made possible by the suggested SRME concept, which shows great promise for application in delicate landscapes. Over time, smart sensors enable more adaptive use and improved site management by providing basic real-time monitoring of environmental data like temperature, humidity, and air quality. The system promotes the circular use of materials and components.

Given this modular construction ability, the construction could go beyond the current trend of efficient-type building and land stewardship. Modular systems, fabricated via merging digital fabrication and ecological design principles with that of circular construction, could be envisaged as tools for the restoration of degraded landscapes, the enabling of flexible development, and the support of resilient socio-ecological futures.

Addressing the topic of brownfields that are located near waterways involves several disciplines. These are areas that, due to the complexity and specificity of the dimensions involved and their dynamics, require an integrated approach and innovative methods of analysis and planning/design. These areas usually present a high landscape value while being affected by forms of degradation and risks to the environment. The relocation of manufacturing activities, which began as early as the last century in Europe and has accelerated in recent decades in southern Italy, has led to the gradual decommissioning of substantial portions of industrial heritage in many rural and peripheral areas and urban centers. Important and strategic industrial areas by the sea, or along the edges of water, lakes, rivers, and estuaries, have also become threatened by the progressive loss of or decrease in economic activities, investments, infrastructure, and related services. Methods: This paper, after an examination of best practices in design and planning for the rehabilitation and reuse of brownfields, will analyze two or three case studies that are significant in terms of their context specificity and location in relation to the waterway. The goal is to understand the potential of such interventions to promote sustainable transformation and counter abandonment. Strategies will be devised to avoid this risk, enhancing the coasts as spaces for rebirth and innovation.

The paper will seek to bring out, based on the analysis of the case studies, the type of relationship with the environment, and the design responses with respect to intervention priorities, that have emerged by proposing a regeneration model.

Possible and diverse design strategies for the regeneration, preservation, and enhancement of the industrial heritage, involving resources and actors in the area by returning the industrial heritage of the sites to the site of collective cultural heritage, are proposed.

Understanding the impact of different agricultural practices on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in salt-affected soils is crucial for the adoption of best practices aimed not only at reducing the salt content of the soil and improving crop productivity but also at preserving the environment. A meta-analysis of 72 peer-reviewed published studies was conducted to obtain the central trend in CO₂ and N₂O emissions in response to different fertilization and irrigation practices on salt-affected soils. The results showed that high nitrogen (N) fertilizer rates (>200 kg N ha^-1) increased CO₂ and N₂O emissions by 44% and 83%, respectively, compared to low N rates (<200 kg N ha^-1). The combination of organic fertilizer and N reduced CO₂ emissions by 63% and N₂O emissions by 62% compared to those under the single application of organic fertilizer. Irrigation levels below a 60% field capacity (FC) reduced CO₂ emissions by 44% and N₂O emissions by 85%, while irrigation above a 100% FC increased CO₂ emissions by 24% and N₂O emissions by 47% compared to those under 100% FC irrigation. Nitrogen application at a rate below 200 kg N ha^-1 combined with an irrigation level below an 80% FC reduced CO₂ emissions by 2.5% and N₂O emissions by 75% compared to those under 100% FC irrigation. Positive relationships were obtained between soil salinity and GHG emissions, while CO₂ emissions decreased with increasing soil pH under fertilization practices. These results show that deficit irrigation, reduced use of nitrogen fertilizers, and the combined application of nitrogen and organic fertilizers are all practices potentially capable of reducing the greenhouse gas emissions from salt-affected soils.

Land-use governance is critical for contributions to the global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as it shapes a wide range of environmental, social, and economic outcomes. Community conservancies have proliferated across rangelands in various African countries over the past three decades, exemplifying innovative arrangements of land- and resource-use governance. By 2023, Kenya had established 230 conservancies, covering 9.04 million hectares and accounting for 16% of the country’s total land area, highlighting the growing importance of community-led land stewardship. The conservancies seek to enhance both livelihoods and biodiversity, while strengthening local cultures, values and institutions. They are expected to address multiple cross-cutting social–ecological challenges, as envisioned by the SDGs. This paper aims to assess the effectiveness and capacity of conservancies to address relevant SDG targets, using case studies from the Maasai Mara region in Kenya. This is relevant as local interventions such as conservancies have been addressing issues related to global goals in diverse and innovative ways for a long time, and interest is increasing in local-level implementation amid urgent need for accelerated action. Multiple data sources were used, entailing primary data from in-depth interviews, a focus group discussion and documents review, as well as secondary data collated from a review of primary and grey literature. Analysis considered how many SDG targets were addressed, and the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of leveraging conservancies to align their development objectives with the SDGs. The results show that conservancies are contributing to addressing crucial social–ecological challenges corresponding with specific SDG targets related to advancing human well-being, enhancing environmental and biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. However, conservancies are susceptible to structural and systemic barriers which encumber inclusive participation, raising social justice concerns. The findings offer valuable insights for policy and practical recommendations.

Gully erosion poses a significant environmental threat in southeastern Nigeria, with severe impacts observed in the Idemili Drainage Area, including ecological degradation, infrastructure damage, agricultural land loss, and community displacement. This study examines the spatiotemporal dynamics of land use and land cover (LULC) changes in relation to gully expansion, aiming to quantify their interconnections, identify erosion-prone locations, evaluate causative factors, and guide sustainable land management strategies. Landsat satellite imagery from 1992, 2002, 2013, and 2025 was processed using Google Earth Engine (GEE) with the Random Forest algorithm and analyzed spatially in ArcGIS 10.8. Image preprocessing included geometric, radiometric, and atmospheric corrections to ensure accuracy. The classification employed Anderson’s (1976) system, categorizing the land into barren land, built-up areas, farmland, forest, shrubs, and water bodies. The analysis identified trends, magnitudes, and rates of land cover transformations. The results indicated a dramatic increase in built-up areas, rising nearly sixfold from 6.01% in 1992 to 41.75% in 2025, while farmland and forest cover significantly decreased by 49.23% and 35.30%, respectively. Between 2013 and 2025, built-up areas expanded rapidly by 114.76%, coinciding with consistent reductions in farmland, forests, and shrublands. Additionally, the increase in water bodies suggests altered drainage patterns contributing to gully formation. The substantial growth of built-up areas and reduction in protective vegetation cover are identified as primary landscape changes exacerbating runoff and soil instability, thereby intensifying the susceptibility to gully erosion. These findings demonstrate a critical relationship between LULC changes and environmental degradation, emphasizing the urgent need for effective land management and targeted erosion mitigation measures in the Idemili Drainage Area.

Access to affordable housing and equitable neighborhoods remains one of the most pressing challenges in modern urban life. Policymakers have long sought to enable low-income households to access neighborhoods offering better schools, safer environments, and stronger economic opportunities. However, such mobility-oriented initiatives can inadvertently disrupt local housing markets or even exacerbate existing inequalities. This study examines the effects of the Small Area Fair Market Rent (SAFMR) policy on the geographic distribution of Housing Choice Voucher (HCV) usage and on local housing prices across U.S. metropolitan areas. SAFMR represents a policy shift from metropolitan-wide rent subsidy standards to ZIP code-level adjustments, with the goal of expanding voucher-holder access to high-opportunity neighborhoods. Using a difference-in-differences framework and a rich panel of housing and voucher data, we document the policy’s heterogeneous impacts across neighborhood opportunity levels, housing price tiers, Gini index levels, and voucher household concentrations. We find that SAFMR led to overall price declines in high-opportunity neighborhoods, though low-tier housing appreciated while high-tier segments declined. In low-opportunity neighborhoods, medium-tier housing saw the sharpest declines, while low-tier units gained modestly. Negative effects were most pronounced in high-opportunity neighborhoods with high income inequality, while large annual increases in voucher households led to price gains in high-opportunity areas but declines in low-opportunity ones. These findings underscore that the success of mobility-oriented housing policies needs the presence of complementary interventions to stabilize vulnerable submarkets and prevent spatial inequality.

The negative effects associated with territorial transformation have become one of the key variables of planetary imbalance in the current context of climate change. Environmental disasters, floods, droughts, etc., are often the unexpected result of poor territorial management, causing environmental damage or even resulting in the loss of human life.
This complex and sometimes difficult-to-detect phenomenon, known as diffuse territorial anthropization, has behavioral patterns whose cause–effect relationships are not always easy to assess. However, this problem exists in a diverse catalog of highly evident situations in developed European countries, especially on the Mediterranean coast.
This paper reviews case studies that have occurred in this area over the last decade. By observing spatiotemporal GIS patterns and using geostatistical analysis, it is evident how unbalanced growth and transformation processes in land use have contributed to increasing territorial vulnerabilities, causing serious environmental problems or catastrophic flooding episodes.
This study will explore the serious environmental problems that emerged in 2015 in the Mar Menor coastal lagoon, located in southeastern Spain, as a result of changes in land use in its watershed, which shifted from traditional dryland agriculture to intensive irrigated agriculture. It will also explore the recent flooding in southern Valencia, which caused more than 200 deaths by 2024. This problem is largely influenced by the transformation of the area's territory in recent decades.

This study investigates sustainable landscape renewal at the Alhambra through the lens of rain gardens and hydrological restoration. Facing increasing environmental pressures such as seasonal droughts, flash flooding, and soil degradation, the Alhambra presents an opportunity to integrate site-responsive water-sensitive strategies within a historic context. Through topographic and hydrological analysis, the research identifies key zones where rain garden systems can be implemented to manage stormwater, improve infiltration, and enhance microclimates. In parallel, it explores the reactivation of historic water flows and passive irrigation channels, aligning ecological restoration with the site’s heritage identity. Drawing from techniques such as vegetated swales, permeable surfaces, and native planting design, the project develops adaptable, small-scale interventions compatible with conservation guidelines. The approach emphasizes low-impact, reversible strategies that reinforce natural water cycles while improving soil stability and biodiversity. Engineering tools such as GIS mapping, water flow modeling, and soil performance evaluation are applied to assess feasibility and long-term benefits. By focusing on hydrological functions as a foundation for land restoration, this study contributes to ongoing conversations about sustainable practices in heritage landscapes. It offers a replicable model for integrating nature-based infrastructure into culturally sensitive sites and aligns closely with the themes of the “Landscape Architecture and Land Restoration” session.

In the face of escalating soil degradation, particularly in regions prone to salt–alkaline stress, sustainable agricultural practices are becoming increasingly critical. Salt–alkaline conditions compromise plant health, reduce crop yields, and hinder agricultural productivity. One promising avenue for mitigating these stressors is through the use of soil microbes that can enhance plants' resilience to abiotic stress. This research investigates the role of microbial consortia in alleviating salt–alkaline stress in fruit crops, with a focus on the integration of plant-growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) and mycorrhizal fungi to improve nutrient uptake, enhance the soil structure, and promote plants' stress tolerance mechanisms. By leveraging molecular biology techniques, including metabolomics and transcriptomics, we explored the synergistic interactions between plant hosts and microbial communities under saline–alkaline conditions. Our findings highlight the critical role of microbial diversity in modulating plants' stress responses, enhancing their root architecture, and improving osmotic balance within plants. The application of microbial inoculants showed a significant reduction in stress-induced metabolic disruptions while simultaneously increasing the overall plant biomass, yield, and fruit quality in species like citrus and tomato. This research not only demonstrates the potential of microbial-based solutions to improve resilience to environmental stresses but also offers a promising strategy for restoring degraded agricultural lands. These results could contribute to the development of more resilient agricultural systems and support the transition towards sustainable practices that bridge the gap between ecological restoration and food production.

The benefits of nature exposure on human health, mental well-being, and overall quality of life are widely recognized. In urban environments, public green spaces play a crucial role in mitigating climate change, improving air quality, restoring biodiversity, and addressing social challenges such as poverty, inequality, and minority segregation while fostering a reconnection with nature. This study investigates the social and environmental services provided by five distinct public green spaces in Faro, Portugal, varying in typology and vegetation density. To explore these dynamics, we employed two complementary methodologies. First, a survey was conducted among a random sample of 300 Faro residents to assess personal characteristics, health and well-being, perceptions of key green spaces, visitation frequency, and the perceived impact of these visits on individual well-being. Simultaneously, field assessments combined with satellite imagery allowed for a detailed inventory of tree species within the selected green spaces, including measurements of trunk circumference and conservation status. The collected data was analyzed using the My-tree tool to quantify key ecosystem services, such as carbon sequestration, stormwater regulation, and air pollutant removal. Results indicate that green spaces with higher tree density and significant blue infrastructure positively influence residents’ well-being. Among them, Mata do Liceu was identified as the most effective in mitigating climate change. Moreover, findings suggest a negative correlation between self-rated stress levels and the frequency of visits to green spaces, reinforcing the crucial role of urban nature in promoting mental health.