The modification of the Turia River’s course in the 1960s marked a pivotal transformation in Valencia’s urban landscape, evolving from a flood protection measure into a hallmark of sustainable urban development. However, recent rainfalls and flooding events produced directly by the phenomenon known as DANA ((Isolated Depression at High Levels) in October 2024 have exposed vulnerabilities in the infrastructure, particularly in the rapidly urbanized southern areas, raising questions about the effectiveness of past solutions in the context of climate change and urban expansion. As a result of this fragility, more than 200 deaths have occurred, along with material losses in 87 municipalities, whose industrial infrastructure accounts for nearly one-third of the economic activity in the Province of Valencia, valued at 479.6 million euros. This paper presents, for the first time, a historical-document-based approach to evaluate the successes and shortcomings of Valencia’s flood management strategies through policy and spatial planning analysis. Also, this paper remarks the ongoing challenges and potential strategies for enhancing Valencia’s urban resilience, emphasizing the need for innovative water management systems, improved drainage infrastructure, and the renaturalization of flood-prone areas. The lessons learned from Valencia’s experience in 1957 and 2024 can inform future urban planning efforts in similar contexts facing the dual pressures of environmental change and urbanization.

The 19th century proved to be one of the most complicated periods in Spanish history for the Spanish Crown, as it faced both internal conflicts—the French War of Independence—and external conflict—the independence of what were its territories in most of America. France did not remain indifferent to this and always had a clear idea of where to draw the boundaries of what “belonged” to it. Thus, amid the wave of independence movements in the Spanish colonies, the French continued to produce rich cartography to establish these boundaries and settle their power over the new nations that were arising after the period of revolutions. The cartography of Rigobert Bonne, the last cartographer of the French king and the Revolution Era, and one of its disciples, Eustache Hérisson, represent the perfect witness to the changes over the borders of the Spanish colonies during the change of the century. This study aims to analyze such cartography, examine the rich toponyms it offers, and examine the changes in the boundaries created over time between both empires. The main cartography we will rely on will be that of Bonne, one of the most important cartographers of the 18th century, and his disciple Hérisson, a geographer engineer, who lived through the onset of the conflicts and always prioritized the French perspective and the interests of their nation.

The erudite priest Marciano Di Leo (1751–1819), a prominent personality in the historical and geographical panorama of his time, not only in his home territory, authored a vast literary and poetic production but also tried his hand at producing some maps, referring to a province of the Kingdom of Naples. At a time when the principles of geodetic cartography had become increasingly known, even locally, hand in hand with improvements in technology and accuracy of measurements, the author reflected on the historical narratives of the progress of the European (and Neapolitan) Enlightenment and translated them into an unpublished manuscript of statistical, historical, and geographical nature, accompanied by numerous maps of various scales. The rediscovery of a largely unknown—and therefore not very thorough—minor cartographic production underscores the spread, even in more marginal contexts, of the most innovative ideas and increasingly precise scientific foundations in the cartographic-mathematical representation of the territory. It also illustrates the role of a number of intellectuals in the service of the political choices of their time, in an attempt—often unrealized—to bring about a decisive change of course in public administration, in accordance with Enlightenment ideals and in the spirit of reform that spread throughout Europe thanks to the French Revolution.

City planning is becoming more and more crucial as modernization and urbanization progress quickly. Making maps is an essential and helpful way in the city planning process for gathering data about the layout of a city and its elements, including the roads, traffic, buildings, and environment. Thanks to advancements in technology, computer software is now used to create maps, yielding more accurate and varied results. As a result, cartography is now closely related to and plays a crucial part in city planning. This brief essay will discuss the value of cartography in urban development and planning, as well as the connection between the two.

Google Earth images in the Marche Region of Central Italy revealed a circular structure consisting of a ring system made up of concentric hills and valleys. Cartography, DEM, geological, and available geophysical data were used to constrain the possible origin of the structure. Located in the Messinian foredeep deposits of the Central Apennines, it has a rim diameter of 3.75 km and a central uplift connected to its southernmost part. As it was formed in the clays of the Lower Pliocene, and clays are believed to have emerged definitively after the Upper Pliocene, its age might be constrained to the Lower Pleistocene. Similar concentric structures are usually found in impact craters, sedimentary domes, and volcanic landforms. As salt domes and magmatic activity are not found in this region, this study seeks to validate the results of previous work that it was the result of an ancient impact crater of hydrological, brachyanticline, or clayey diapiric origins. Specifically, an observed second ring portion with a curvature radius about double the first in size will be investigated in this work. This second ring portion appears to be concentric to the first one and is visible along its northern and western parts. Although double concentric rings are usually due to impact craters, the absence of the ring portion in the other two directions and the probable deviation of a river, deduced by studying hydrography, support the hypothesis that it might be of clay diapir origin.

Urban morphologies in the global south are shaped by a complex interplay of historical imprints, from colonial legacies and ethnic tensions to waves of modernization and decolonization efforts. This study delves into the urban morphology of Hangzhou during the late 19th and early 20th centuries, unraveling its transformative patterns steered by a convergence of spatial politics, economic forces, and cultural dynamics. Drawing upon a unique blend of historical map restoration techniques, we unearth pivotal morphological nuances that bridge Hangzhou’s transition from its pre-modern fabric to its modern-day urban layout. We uncover key shifts such as the movement from intricate street layouts to systematic grids, the strategic integration of public spaces like West Lakeside Park, and the city’s evolving urban epicenter mirroring its broader socio-political and economic narratives. These insights not only spotlight Hangzhou’s distinct urban journey in the context of ethnic conflicts, Western influences, and decolonization drives but also underscore the value of context-sensitive urban morphological research in the global south. Our findings emphasize the criticality of synergizing varied methodologies and theoretical perspectives to deepen our comprehension of urban transitions, sculpt place identities, and invigorate public imagination in global urban planning.