WSEAS wwai 2008, Corfu Island, Greece

Prof. Doctor Rui António Rodrigues Ramos
Territory and Environment Group,
Department of Civil Engineering,
School of Engineering,
University of Minho - Campus of Gualtar
4710-057 Braga
PORTUGAL
Tel: +351 253 604720
Fax: +351 253 604721

Email: rui.ramos@civil.uminho.pt

Abstract: The environmental dimension is a key factor in a city sustainable development and must be incorporated in the planning process of the dense and complex urban areas. Nowadays particular emphasis is given to the problems of water, soil and air pollution in urban context. However, those evaluations not always motivate the indispensable environmental and social conscience to mitigate the origin of the pollution problems. So, in some cases the public health is in risk, mainly when the presence of preoccupying levels of contamination can be identified in soils and plants.
In Portuguese cities, and around the world, people are making small but significant changes to help sustain our ecosystem every day. In that context, the kitchen garden is gaining renewed interest as one component of the movement towards local, fresh, and seasonal foods. But the urban pollution is a preoccupant threat to the sustainability and viability of kitchen gardens as domestic production areas of food with appropriate quality.
In a recent research work in the city of Braga, in the Northwest part of Portugal, a serious problem of contamination was detected and compromises the environmental viability of kitchen gardens in the urban area. The research identify that the lettuces produced in the urban area of the city, usually included in the inhabitants food diet, accumulates significant levels of cadmium, lead and zinc. Also the analytical results of soils samples reveal high values for those metals. The lettuce and soils samples from several urban kitchen gardens present cadmium, lead and zinc concentrations levels higher than the standard limited fixed by the European Commission Regulation. The concentrations levels are also higher than the samples from kitchen gardens in rural neighbourhood areas.
Understanding the interrelations between urban pollution and the sustainability of urban kitchen gardens is essential to the cities planning process. Healthier and better planned cities must integrate social and ecological conscience for more sustainable attitudes and behaviours.

Brief Biography of the Speaker:
Academic degrees

2000: PhD, Urban and Regional Planning - Civil Engineering Engineering School, University of Minho, Portugal

1993 MSc Civil Engineering Faculty of Engineering of University of Oporto, Portugal

1900 Licenciatura Civil Engineering Faculty of Engineering of University of Oporto, Portugal

Previous and current scientific and/or professional activities

· Territory, Environment and Construction Centre - University of Minho

Since 2000 ‑ PhD Researcher, Territory and Environment Group

· University of Minho ‑ Civil Engineering Department

Since 2007 ‑ Accompanying Committee Member, Doctoral Program in Civil Engineering

Since 2000 ‑ Assistant Professor, Urban and Regional Planning Group

1993/2000 ‑ Lecturer

· University of São Paulo (Brazil), São Carlos School of Engineering - Department of Transportation

Since 2000 ‑ Invited Professor

Publications (most recent)

Rodrigues; D.R.; Ramos, R.A.R.; Mendes, J.F.G. (2008) A decision support system for university campus quality of life evaluation based on users perception - A case study applied on the University of Minho Campus.
9th International Conference on Design & Decision Support Systems in Architecture and Urban Planning. The Netherlands.

Fonseca, F.; Ramos, R.A.R. (2008) Territorial governance and the sustainable development in rural territories: an imperative or a utopia? The case of Almeida (Portugal). The 4th IASME/WSEAS International Conference on Energy, Environment, Ecosystems and Sustainable Development (EEESD'08). University of Algarve, Faro, Portugal.

Fonseca, F.; Ramos, R.A.R. (2008) Almeida heritage as factor for local and sustainable development.
Heritage 2008 International Conference. Vila Nova Foz Côa, Portugal.

Ramos, R.A.R.; Silva, A. N. R. (2007), A spatial analysis approach for the definition of metropolitan regions—the case of Portugal. Environment and Planning B: Planning and Design, 34(1), pp.171 – 185. London: Pion.

Ribeiro, Rochele A.; Ramos, R.A.R. (2007) A methodological approach in order to define a geographical territorial structure classification through an application in the south of Brazil. 10th International Conference on Computers in Urban Management and Urban Planning, University of São Paulo, 11-13 July, 2007.

Magagnin, R. C.; Silva, A. N. R. ; Ramos, R.A.R. (2007) An assessment of evaluation methods applied in decision support systems for sustainable urban mobility planning. 10th International Conference on Computers in Urban Management and Urban Planning, University of São Paulo, 11-13 July, 2007.

Mendes, J.F.G.; Rodrigues, D.S.; Ramos, R.A.R. (2005) A GIS-based multicriteria model for the evaluation of territorial accessibility. In Kungolos, A.; Brebbia, C.A. e Beriatos, E. (Eds.) Sustainable Development and Planning II. pp. 795‑804. ISBN:1-84564-050-0. Southampton: Wit Press, Computational Mechanics Publications.

Costa, M. S., Silva, A. N. R.; Ramos, R.A.R. (2005) Sustainable urban mobility: a comparative study and the bases for a management system in Brazil and Portugal. Em Wadhwa, L.C.; Brebbia, C.A. (Eds.), Urban Transport: Urban Transport and the Environment in the 21st Century (Advances in Transport). pp. 323‑342. ISBN:1‑84564‑008‑X, Southampton: Wit Press, Computational Mechanics Publications.