Spatial planning and architectural design for the integration of civil infrastructure into landscapes: Inferences from renewable energy works and dams

R. Ioannidis, Spatial planning and architectural design for the integration of civil infrastructure into landscapes: Inferences from renewable energy works and dams, PhD thesis, Department of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering – National Technical University of Athens, June 2022.

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[English]

The case of renewable energy has demonstrated that the integration of civil infrastructure into landscapes can be a major challenge. Negligence over impacts to landscapes and marginalization of communities affected by those impacts, perpetuates a vicious cycle of public unrest and developmental disorder.

In this work, we initially investigate how civil infrastructure transforms landscapes, both quantitatively-spatially and qualitatively-perceptually. Then, utilizing the results of this investigation we propose upgrades to spatial planning and architectural design of infrastructure, aiming for its improved integration into landscapes. The study goes into more detail in the study of wind, solar, hydroelectric energy works and dams but the inferences drawn refer to all major infrastructure works.

The analysis is structured in three levels at gradually decreasing spatial scales: (A) The global scale, at which a comparative assessment of the generic landscape impacts of renewable energy infrastructure was carried out. (B) The national-regional scale, at which the spatial planning of infrastructure was investigated, focusing on visibility analyses and how they can be improved. (C) The project’s site scale, at which the architectural treatment of infrastructure was investigated in terms of its costs, utility and future potential.

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