Desert regions : population, migration, and environment

Despite the common understanding of the importance of desert development in the contemporary world, there are relatively few books published to date on this sub­ ject. The books and collective volumes published in this field deal primarily with environmental and physical aspects of desert development such as soil, agricul­ ture, vegetation, water resources, etc. In contrast, this book addresses the issues of regional and urban development in desert areas, which have not been given sufficient attention. The present book is socially oriented. It considers physical development of desert regions not as an end in itself, but rather as an essential precondition for creating socially attractive and desirable environments for human settlement. The book addresses the issues of desert development at three distinctive conceptual levels - region, urban envi­ ronment, and building -and deals with both cold and hot deserts. Approximately half of the chapters in this book are original contributions that have not been published elsewhere. The remaining chapters fall into two groups: 1) chapters which have been reprinted from various refereed journals, and 2) chapters initially printed elsewhere and revised by their respective authors specifi­ cally for this collective volume. In the former case, permission to reproduce the material has been obtained from the respective copyright holders, and the details of original publication and names of copyright holders are indicated in footnotes. Front Matter....Pages I-XVI Introduction....Pages 1-13 Front Matter....Pages 15-15 Long-term Development Patterns of Peripheral Desert Settlements....Pages 17-36 Sustainable Population Growth of Urban Settlements: Preconditions and Criteria....Pages 37-59 Private Construction as a General Indicator of Urban Development....Pages 61-85 The Effect of Remoteness and Isolation on Development of Peripheral Settlements....Pages 87-110 Modeling the Migration Attractiveness of a Region....Pages 111-131 Investigating the Effect of Public Policy on Population Growth in Peripherals Areas....Pages 133-152 Ecological-oriented Options for the Sustainable Development of Drylands....Pages 153-158 Front Matter....Pages 159-159 Physical Environment and Social Attractiveness of Frontier Settlements: Cities of Siberia, Russia....Pages 161-186 Planning Theories versus Reality: A Desert Case Study....Pages 187-204 An Experimental Evaluation of Strategies for Reducing Airborne Dust in Desert Cities....Pages 205-226 Planning in Desert Environments: Three Cases of Responsive Planning....Pages 227-240 The Past as a Key for the Future in Resettling the Desert....Pages 241-248 Front Matter....Pages 249-249 A Desert Solar Neighborhood in Sede Boker, Israel....Pages 251-262 A Bio-Climatic Approach to Desert Architecture....Pages 263-277 Urban Microclimate in the Desert: Planning for Outdoor Comfort under Arid Conditions....Pages 279-289 Adaptive Architecture: Low-Energy Technologies for Climate Control in the Desert....Pages 291-304 Front Matter....Pages 305-305 Desert Settlements in Israel: Socio-economic and Physical Data....Pages 307-321 Back Matter....Pages 323-332 The book addresses three distinctive aspects of desert development: regional planning, urban environment and building. It summarizes the results of 20 years of research carried out by the Center for Desert Architecture and Urban Planning at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. In contrast to other books on desert development, the book considers physical development of desert regions not as an end in itself, but rather as an essential precondition for creating socially attractive and desirable environments for human settlement. Desert Regions consists of three parts, each of which considers different conceptual levels of desert development: I Regional Development and Population Change; II Cities of Cold and Hot Deserts; III Building and Design. In addition to the Israeli experience, the book includes research and design from other countries (Russia, Egypt, India, Mexico) which face acute problems of regional development in climatically extreme areas. "The book addresses three distinctive aspects of desert development; regional planning, urban environment and building. It summarizes the results of 10 years of research carried out by the Center for Desert Architecture and Urban Planning at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. In contrast to other books on desert development, the book considers physical development of desert regions not as an end in itself, but rather as an essential precondition for creating socially attractive and desirable environments for human settlement."--Jacket