**Abstract**

The South African education sector has experienced several shifts in the curriculum since 1994, thus affecting the coverage, teaching and examination of environmental impact topics in the South African Further Education and Training Phase (FET) phase. This chapter evaluates the effects of changes in curriculum on the coverage of education for sustainable development content in Geography. A qualitative research approach using an interpretative paradigm was employed in the documents used by Geography teachers in South Africa. The chapter used Margaret Archers, Realist Social Theory as a theoretical framework that guides data analysis and interpretation. Document analysis was the only method used where policy documents and examination papers were the instruments evaluated. The results show that environmental impact topics are covered in varying degrees in the South African CAPS curriculum. The level of coverage of environmental impact topics in the examination question papers fluctuates, sometimes to levels below those stipulated in the CAPS documents. The conclusion that can be reached is that the variable coverage of environmental impact topics in the examinations may have a negative effect on the way teachers address the topics of Geography. This resulted in an emergence of structural and cultural morphogenesis in the teaching of environmental content in Geography.

**Keywords:** environmental education, education for sustainable development, geography, realist social theory, CAPS curriculum


**2.1 Fungal isolation**

Nineteen samples with visible symptoms of leaf blight obtained from soybean lots not less than 0.5 ha in size, were processed. Soybean samples were collected from several places like Emilia, Margarita, Esperanza, Gobernador Crespo and San Justo, in Santa Fe Province. Sampling was carried out between January and May (2005-2006 campaign) under similar climatic conditions (Table 1).

Table 1. Climatic conditions corresponding to different meteorological stations in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. 2005-2006 Campaign. 1: Esperanza; 2: Emilia, Gobernador Crespo and San Justo; 3: Margarita; Tmax: maximum temperature; Tmin: minimum temperature; Tmed: medium temperature; RH: relative humidity.

Fig. 1. Tissue pieces being disinfected by immersion.

Fig. 2. Tissue pieces in moist chambers.

The aim of the present work was to determine the occurrence of phenotypic and genotypic

Nineteen samples with visible symptoms of leaf blight obtained from soybean lots not less than 0.5 ha in size, were processed. Soybean samples were collected from several places like Emilia, Margarita, Esperanza, Gobernador Crespo and San Justo, in Santa Fe Province. Sampling was carried out between January and May (2005-2006 campaign) under similar

**Tmax ºC Tmin ºC Tmed ºC RH %**

**1** 26.8 14.4 22.8 67 **2** 28.8 15.0 22.5 73 **3** 28.1 15.0 22.9 70

Table 1. Climatic conditions corresponding to different meteorological stations in Santa Fe Province, Argentina. 2005-2006 Campaign. 1: Esperanza; 2: Emilia, Gobernador Crespo and San Justo; 3: Margarita; Tmax: maximum temperature; Tmin: minimum temperature; Tmed:

variability between isolates of *C. kikuchii* in various regions of Santa Fe Province.

**Meteorological Station Average**

**2. Methods**

**2.1 Fungal isolation**

climatic conditions (Table 1).

medium temperature; RH: relative humidity.

Fig. 1. Tissue pieces being disinfected by immersion.

Fig. 2. Tissue pieces in moist chambers.

Tissue pieces were disinfected by immersion in 3% w/v sodium hypochlorite for 3 min, rinsed with sterile distilled water (Fig.1) and incubated in moist chambers at 26 ± 0.5 ºC, under alternate light cycles (16 h cold light and 8 h in the dark) (Salvador & Garrido, 1990). (Fig. 2).

Observation with stereoscopic magnifying lens (BOECO Germany, BTB 3-C) was performed from the 3rd day of incubation onwards. Once the conidial structure growth was verified, conidia were taken with a sterile needle and suspended in 1 mL sterile water so as to obtain a homogeneous suspension. To produce monosporic cultures, an aliquot (100 L) was spread over Potato Dextrose Agar (PDA) in a Petri dish and incubated as described above (Dunkle & Levy, 2000). Isolates were labeled with letter C and correlative numbers (Table 2), stored and subsequently included in the strain collection.

Table 2. Origin and designation of *Cercospora kikuchii* regional isolates. G. Crespo: Gobernador Crespo.


**1. Introduction**

#### **1.1. Urban climate change in cities**

In recent years, urban climate change has been observed in most of the world's developed cities. In central Beijing, the annual air temperature rose 0.36°C during 1961–1980. However,

> © 2016 The Author(s). Licensee InTech. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. © 2018 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

during the building boom between 1981 and 2000, it rose 0.94°C [1]. The correlation coefficient between the impervious surface rate and land surface temperature in Beijing reached 0.93, which means the impervious of urban surface is providing a large contribution to urban climate change [2]. Climate models indicate that due to the expected warming of up to 9°C by the 2080s in the Arctic and the southern and central Prairies [3], the number of days with average temperatures above 30°C is likely to increase in cities across Canada, especially those in the Windsor-Quebec corridor (such as Toronto) and portions of British Columbia.  The spatial variability of urban heat islands (UHIs) in cities has been found to be a function of urban surface properties, which in turn are influenced by land cover, especially vegetation cover and building density [4].

The deep urban canopy created by high rises can increase the wind speed in urban areas and affect the urban thermal environment. A simulation comparison of high-rise and low-rise buildings in the Lujiazui district of Shanghai found that with low-rise buildings, wind speed declined 22%, air temperature decreased 7%, and O3 decreased 9% [5]. Another study used wind tunnel measurements to examine wind velocities in Toronto, confirming that among several high-rise towers, wind often accelerated above 10 m/s; this created wind-chill effects and exerted mechanical forces on pedestrians, making it unsafe for them to walk [6]. The openness of urban geometry can be defined using the sky view factor (SVF). The correlation between SVF and the urban thermal environment has been demonstrated in Montreal, Canada [7–9]. A high SVF, which means more open urban space, could be related to a lower UHI index.

After the high-speed urban expansion, real estate developers started to have a major impact on urban reform after 1990s. New large-scale developments started occurring outside the city core. During this period, the sense of building design and construction quality became more important than that in the past. High-rise and detached houses were also developed in some

Urban Renovation and the Simulation Evaluation of Urban Climate Change in Residential…

http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79267

63

After 2000, because of the increased population density, the high-rise building has become the most common construction style in residential development projects. The first demand of residential construction has shifted from meeting the citizens' living to promoting real estate and the urban economy status. The process of urban expansion in Xi'an is showed in **Figure 1**. It is clearly showing that urban occupation has grown rapidly during 2000–2010. Meanwhile, urban building density has also increased because of the high building density of

Residential building is the most typical form of architecture in the city as some related research points out. From 2000 to 2010, area of residential land accounts for the largest proportion in urban land use type [12]. In this study, typical urban planning styles in China were selected and analyzed. Microscale residential districts in Xi'an were selected for representing the typical urban typology of residential districts that developed during different periods and used the urban simulation system scSTREAM (Software Cradle Co., 2011) to evaluate the impact of

To estimate the impact of urban typology to urban ventilation and urban air quality, four typical residential areas were selected. The first area, Sanxuejie, is a low-rise area, a traditional residential zone rebuilt after the 1950s. It retains the urban form used in China Science the Ming and Qing Dynasties (about 600 years ago), with narrow streets between residential buildings, most of which have two floors. The second area, Xitiedaminggong, is a middle-rise neighborhood developed in the early 1990s. All of the residential buildings are five floors in

of the projects, and most buildings were still 5–7 stories.

urban typology change on urban climate change.

**2.1. Urban typology in Xi'an city**

recent development projects.

**Figure 1.** Urban expansion in Xi'an [11].

**2. Methods**

Urban development largely serves the purposes of economic development. Especially in China, large-scale, rapid urban development mostly focuses on the operational efficiency of cities, with little attention to the long-term environmental effects. This is a major cause of China's current environmental crisis, and the problem is rapidly spreading to India as well as other countries of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

#### **1.2. The urban typology changes of cities**

With the accelerated speed of urban development and the constant expansion in Chinese cities, the urban typology has undergone drastic changes in the past 10 years. Xi'an is a historical city as well as one of the most developed cities in China's central plains, which is experiencing rapid urbanization development, urban renewal and expansion. Most of the current urban buildings were constructed after 1979 [10]. Different development styles and residential building types can be observed for the different periods of rapid urban development. The urban typology changes of Xi'an is the epitome and representative that of China.

In China, the government started to pay attention on economic development and infrastructure redevelopment after 1979. In the process of redeveloping existing urban areas, new construction was continuously built on the edges of central urban areas. In order to meet the residential demand for citizens, large factories led to developed residential communities around the factories for their staff and workers. During this period, most of the buildings are built in 5–6 stories, and some of these have seven floors.

Urban Renovation and the Simulation Evaluation of Urban Climate Change in Residential… http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.79267 63

**Figure 1.** Urban expansion in Xi'an [11].

during the building boom between 1981 and 2000, it rose 0.94°C [1]. The correlation coefficient between the impervious surface rate and land surface temperature in Beijing reached 0.93, which means the impervious of urban surface is providing a large contribution to urban climate change [2]. Climate models indicate that due to the expected warming of up to 9°C by the 2080s in the Arctic and the southern and central Prairies [3], the number of days with average temperatures above 30°C is likely to increase in cities across Canada, especially those in the Windsor-Quebec corridor (such as Toronto) and portions of British Columbia.  The spatial variability of urban heat islands (UHIs) in cities has been found to be a function of urban surface properties, which in turn are influenced by land cover, especially

The deep urban canopy created by high rises can increase the wind speed in urban areas and affect the urban thermal environment. A simulation comparison of high-rise and low-rise buildings in the Lujiazui district of Shanghai found that with low-rise buildings, wind speed

wind tunnel measurements to examine wind velocities in Toronto, confirming that among several high-rise towers, wind often accelerated above 10 m/s; this created wind-chill effects and exerted mechanical forces on pedestrians, making it unsafe for them to walk [6]. The openness of urban geometry can be defined using the sky view factor (SVF). The correlation between SVF and the urban thermal environment has been demonstrated in Montreal, Canada [7–9]. A high SVF, which means more open urban space, could be related to a lower

Urban development largely serves the purposes of economic development. Especially in China, large-scale, rapid urban development mostly focuses on the operational efficiency of cities, with little attention to the long-term environmental effects. This is a major cause of China's current environmental crisis, and the problem is rapidly spreading to India as well as

With the accelerated speed of urban development and the constant expansion in Chinese cities, the urban typology has undergone drastic changes in the past 10 years. Xi'an is a historical city as well as one of the most developed cities in China's central plains, which is experiencing rapid urbanization development, urban renewal and expansion. Most of the current urban buildings were constructed after 1979 [10]. Different development styles and residential building types can be observed for the different periods of rapid urban development. The

In China, the government started to pay attention on economic development and infrastructure redevelopment after 1979. In the process of redeveloping existing urban areas, new construction was continuously built on the edges of central urban areas. In order to meet the residential demand for citizens, large factories led to developed residential communities around the factories for their staff and workers. During this period, most of the buildings are

urban typology changes of Xi'an is the epitome and representative that of China.

decreased 9% [5]. Another study used

vegetation cover and building density [4].

62 Sustainable Cities - Authenticity, Ambition and Dream

UHI index.

declined 22%, air temperature decreased 7%, and O3

other countries of Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

built in 5–6 stories, and some of these have seven floors.

**1.2. The urban typology changes of cities**

After the high-speed urban expansion, real estate developers started to have a major impact on urban reform after 1990s. New large-scale developments started occurring outside the city core. During this period, the sense of building design and construction quality became more important than that in the past. High-rise and detached houses were also developed in some of the projects, and most buildings were still 5–7 stories.

After 2000, because of the increased population density, the high-rise building has become the most common construction style in residential development projects. The first demand of residential construction has shifted from meeting the citizens' living to promoting real estate and the urban economy status. The process of urban expansion in Xi'an is showed in **Figure 1**. It is clearly showing that urban occupation has grown rapidly during 2000–2010. Meanwhile, urban building density has also increased because of the high building density of recent development projects.


**4. Methodology**

The methodology that was adopted to build an ideal ML model for Abha's PV power prediction involved four general phases: (1) data collection and presentation, (2) data preparation (to obtain the data in a suitable format for analysis, exploration, and understanding the data to identify and extract the features required for the model), (3) feature selection and model building (to select the appropriate algorithm and prepare a training and testing dataset), (4) and model evaluation (to observe the final score of the model for the unseen dataset).


United States, insurance case law in, 597 U.S. Forest Service (USFS), 179, 521 United States Geological Survey (USGS), 5, 13, 175, 213, 237, 485, 487, 521–522, 523, 532, 646t hazard warning systems (HWS), evolution of, 180t Volcano Disaster Assistance Programme (VDAP) team, 10 Volcano Hazards Program, 103 volcano observatories, 15 -wide systems, for hazard statements, 180t U.S. National Volcano Early Warning System (NVEWS), 9 University of Alaska, 532 Unusual hybrid earthquakes, 219 Upper Te Maari, Tongariro Volcanic Complex, New Zealand, 133, 134–137 risk management and communication strategies, 134t Urgent Request Protocol (URP), 651 Usu 2000, 524–525 Utility Managers, 32t

#### V

Vanuatu Meteorology and Geo-Hazards Department (VMGD), 138 VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index) 6 eruption, 192, 196, 201, 293, 586, 587 Very long period (VLP) earthquakes, 643 Vigías, network of, 519 Villarica (Chile), 74 Virtual Globes, 656, 659 Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), 649t Visitor safety in hydrothermal environments, 86 Visual communication, 624 complex content, communicating, 624–627 considering audience perspectives, 627–630 Visual design, 630 exploring and testing different designs, 631–634 visualising hazard in different formats, 634 Vog hazards, 74–76, 76f Volcanic activity, 389, 590, 591 Volcanic aerosols, 185 Volcanic Alert Bulletins (VABs), 614 Volcanic Alert Level (VAL) systems, 138, 747 bulletins and media advisories, 125t Volcanic ash, 166 Volcanic Ash Advisories (VAAs), 35, 54, 531, 609 Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre (VAAC), 35, 54, 57, 58, 155–156, 278, 530, 531–533, 597, 603, 609, 735 areas of responsibility of all VAACs, 531f at Tokyo, 532–533, 535, 540 at Washington, 534 Volcanic ash and aviation, 51 challenges, 57 ash-cloud detection and forecasts, 57–58 communications, 58–60 science challenges, 60–61 International Airways Volcano Watch (IAVW), 54–55

volcano monitoring, 55–57 warning system enhancements, 61–63 Volcanic Ash Graphic (VAGs), 533, 534f Volcanic ash risk mitigation, enhancement of, 61–62t, 63 Volcanic Ash Transport and Dispersion (VATD), 35 Volcanic Cloud Monitoring, 647t Volcanic Complex Cumbal, 338 risk communication activities in, 344–345 Volcanic crises, 290, 695, 727, 747–748, 752 1971–1985, 209–213 Merapi, Indonesia, 112f at Rabaul, 208 retrospective analysis of, 449 social media and networking, 733–743 and unrest, 228 Volcanic crisis communication, 617–618 implications for teaching of, 710 improvement of student perceptions of, 705–706 student perceptions of best practice in, 708–710 Volcanic Disasters Assistance Program, 156 Volcanic environments, 93, 99, 101, 492–493, 673 Volcanic eruptions, 4, 24, 58, 63, 122, 185, 207, 286, 308, 406, 532, 586, 589, 590, 592, 594, 596, 646–648, 727, 734, 751 Volcanic gases, 65, 166 developing risk mitigation strategies for CO2 flows and accumulations, 71–74 great dry fog, 76–80 health effects of volcanic gases, 68t insidious hazards, 66–71 monitoring and communicating vog hazards, 74–76 perspectives for future, 80 Volcanic Global Risk Identification and Analysis Project (VOGRIPA), 422 Volcanic hazard films (case study), 720–722 data collection and analysis, 724–725 interpretation/discussion, 726–727 Volcanic hazard maps into the future, 634–636 Volcanic hazards, adapting warnings for, 165–167, 189–202 audiences, 191–192 lahar warnings, 199–201 briefings and video, 199 hazard maps, 199 personal factors, 200–201 probabilities of lahars, 200 short-term, immediate, 199–200 lessons to remember, 201–202 post-eruption lahar messages, 198 pre-eruption messages, 192–193 warnings preparation and presentation, 193–198 alert levels, 195 briefing and video, 193–195 personal communications, 197–198 pre-eruption hazard map, 196 probability tree, 196–197 recommendations for evacuation, 197 Volcanic hazards assessments, 214 Volcanic hazard simulation, 697

design and development of, 697–698 happenings during, 698–699 Volcanic Observations and Warning Centers (VOWCs), 532, 533 Volcanic risk communication training, importance of, 692–693 Volcanic risk scenarios, 150 large magnitude basaltic eruptions, 150–152 large magnitude explosive eruptions, 152 volcanic risk webs, 152–155 Volcanic sulphate, 167 Volcanic Traffic Light Alert System (VTLAS), 236, 240, 241f, 244, 245, 246, 249 Volcanic unrest and hazard communication, in Long Valley Volcanic Region, California, 171–186 geologic setting and background, 172–174 hazard communication (1978–2000), 175–183 maintaining community awareness and preparedness, 183–185 Volcano Activity Notice (VAN), 14 Volcano Alert Bulletin (VAB), 608 Volcano Alert Level (VAL) systems, 605, 609–610, 615 producing draft version of revised VAL system and seeking feedback, 617 releasing revised system in collaboration with stakeholders, 617 understanding challenges and benefits of existing VAL system, 616–617 understanding context, 615–616 Volcano alert levels, 14, 208, 315t Volcano Alert Notifications (VANs), 184 Volcano alert systems (VALs), 236 Volcano Colima in Mexico, 413 Volcano contingency plan (VCP), 214, 225 Volcano Disaster Assistance Program (VDAP), 11, 213 Volcano Disaster Prevention Council, 139, 141 Volcano Early Warning System (VEWS), 9, 11, 12, 16 Volcanoes of the World (1981), 422 Volcano explosivity indices (VEI), 651 Volcano hazards program, 176, 734 Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Popayán (OVSPo), 343 Volcanology, quantifying and communicating uncertainty in, 572–573 professionalising, 159–160 Volcano monitoring, 55–57, 125t, 213–214 Volcano Notification Service (VNS), 185 Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation (VONA), 14, 54, 57, 184, 532, 603, 609 Volcano quiescence, 129–132 Volcano-tectonic (VT) earthquakes, 208 Volcano-tectonic (VT) energy, 248 Volcano Traffic Light Alert Systems (VTLAS), 412 Volcview, 647t Volcán de Colima, Mexico, 321 VOLFilm (Multilingual and multiplatform films database), 117

VOLKAM Sheet, 542, 543–544, 544f Voluminous lava flow, 401 Volunteer labour, 44 Vulcan Island eruption, 208, 212, 227f Vulnerability, 42, 43, 61, 74, 87, 100, 116, 117, 127, 129, 399

#### W

Waiata, 465, 468, 470, 471, 472 Waikato Regional Council (New Zealand), 97–98 Waikato Stream and Tongariro River, 256 Waimangu Volcanic Valley, New Zealand, 96–97 Wajib Latih, 314, 315, 316, 317, 319 Wall painting, 421 Ward, Brian, 214 Warning signs, in Japan and Iceland, 92f Warnings preparation and presentation, 193–198 Warning system enhancements, 61–63 Warning tools, modern versus traditional, 111–113 Washington Emergency Management Division, 487 Weekly Volcanic Activity Report (WVAR), 734, 735, 736 contribution of social media to, 735–736 Whangaehu River, 254, 255, 263, 470, 590 White Mountains, 172 Winstone Pulp International (WPI), 473 Wisner, Ben, 337, 482, 490, 492 Work-family relationships, 560, 563 World Organization of Volcano Observatories (WOVO), 55, 117 WOVOdat, 448 Worlds of life, 323

#### X

X-year floodplain, 199

#### Y

Yasur Volcano, Vanuatu, 123f, 133, 137–138, 142 risk management and communication strategies, 134t Year without a Summer of 1816, 447 Yellowstone, 16, 89, 97, 100, 101, 103, 607 Yellowstone National Park, USA, 97, 100 Yellowstone Volcano Observatory (YVO), 103 Youngest Toba Tuff (YTT) eruption, 152

#### Z

```
Zafferana Etnea, 297
Zambales Lahar Scientific Monitoring Group (ZLSMG),
          199, 200
Zapatista Front, 331
Zonation, 124–125
Zones, 13–14, 27f, 73, 93, 107–117, 142, 143, 210, 214f,
          308, 314, 315, 387, 626, 627
```