No abstract

Fires are frequent in urban slums. In general, a fire beginning in a slum community gets out of control and the resultant fire propagation affects large areas. Lack of reliable data on slum fires is an obstacle for immediate application of quantitative methods for fire risk assessment. This article proposes an evolutionary approach to risk assessment in slums. The concepts of structured and unstructured systems for risk assessment are introduced. A sequence of methods is proposed going from qualitative to fully quantitative. In addition, a critical analysis of the index method is provided; such a method might avoid subjectivity in adopting a power rule for risk and safety factors.

This paper considers whether it is possible to apply the concept of food hubs to the area of Piana di Sibari in Calabria, which has been established by regional law as a Quality Agrifood District (Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità or DAQ). This paper considers whether it is possible to apply the concept of food hubs to the area of Piana di Sibari in Calabria, which has been established by regional law as a Quality Agrifood District (Distretto Agroalimentare di Qualità or DAQ). After identifying some features of the food hub concept in the biggest cooperative of the context, the paper will highlight how this situation represents an opportunity for small farmers to access conventional food supply chains from which they would otherwise be excluded. In this view, food hubs are a mixture of alternative and conventional food networks and constitute a way to solve the problem of economic viability of local food initiatives like community supported agriculture.