Despite the fact that the strategic dismissal of a number of military bases has been affecting contemporary urban and rural areas and becoming a new challenge for city planning and policy-making, little attention has been paid to this complex topic at an international level. Several authors have suggested that collaborative planning processes are crucial for the success of military real estate conversion. This article analyzes the Italian policy for the alienation and leasing of public real estate between 1997 and 2012 through the analysis of two projects whose focus was on military real estate in central Italy. This analysis shows why collaboration was not able to solve the significant urban challenges related to the conversion of these areas. The authors suggest taking national policy and local variables and solutions into further consideration (e.g. the quality and design of the physical environment, the policy tools available in the potentially conflictual institutional setting of military base conversion) rather than considering the collaboration with the local community alone.
Geopolitical changes over the last twenty years and new forms of war and military technology have had unnoticed effects on contemporary towns and cities. Areas and properties used by the military in very different ways and locations have become available for new civilian functions. Similar questions have been addressed by various disciplines, which have shown traits common to other types of abandoned areas and at times the problems have been simplified. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the complex process of abandonment and use in Italy over the last twenty years and the most significant EU programmes. It highlights issues that are to be addressed in this service and which will be used to compare projects and experiences in Italian and European towns and cities.
Elephant foot yam [Amorphophallus paeoniifolius (Dennst.) Nicolson] is an important tuber crop grown in many parts of India for its starchy corm and the average yield of this crop is far below the potential productivity of 100 tonnes/ha. One of the reasons attributed to the lower yield is the imbalanced application of essential plant nutrients. Site specific nutrient management (SSNM) is the application of plant nutrients based on the soil and crop need, yield target and developed with the aid of models such as QUEFTS. This paper gives the result of four year study conducted to calibrate and validate the QUEFTS model for elephant foot yam cultivation and the development of SSNM zonation maps and secondary and micronutrient fortified customised fertilizers for the crop in major growing environments of India. Data collected from different field experiments conducted in major elephant foot yam-production regions of India during 1968 to 2011 were used to calibrate the model. The derived parameters of minimum and maximum accumulation of N (130 and 460), P (900 and 2100) and K (100 and 170) are proposed as standard borderline values in the QUEFTS model for elephant foot yam. A linear increase in corm yield was suggested by the model with N, P and K uptakes of 3.97, 0.71, and 7.05 kg N, P and K/1 000 kg corm. The average NPK ratio in total plant dry matter was 5.56:1:9.88. Based on these results, the model was calibrated using historical data as well as by conducting field experiments. It can be observed that fertilizer best management practices by SSNM resulted in an average actual corm yield of 33.45 tonnes/ha, whereas, the model predicted a yield of 35 tonnes/ha. The results of the study showed good agreement between predicted and measured corm yields during the four years, which indicated that the calibrated model can be used to improve NPK fertilizer recommendations for elephant foot yam in India. Based on the results and using soil fertility maps and agro ecological unit maps, SSNM zonation maps and secondary and micronutrient fortified customised fertilizers were developed for major elephant foot yam growing environments of India.
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