Landslides are a worldwide occurring hazard that can produce economic impact and even fatalities. The collection and monitoring of data regarding active landslides are important for predicting future landslides in that region, and is critical to minimize the losses caused. In the expanding metropolitan area of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, drastic changes of land use and increasement of construction zones represent a current evolution issue. The urban sprawl phenomenon imposed the expansion of the city limits and outside the old built-up area, and due to the hilly terrain and geomorphology, natural hazards such as landslides and erosion processes are susceptible to appearance or reactivation. The study incorporates interdisciplinary research composed of evaluation of a landslide susceptible hotspot located in an area of interest to the municipality by means of geodetic and topographic precise measurements, combined with the use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) monitoring of surface movement and GIS spatial analysis. The data obtained in a span of over two years reveal that the investigated slope is subjected to a shallow active landslide of a few centimeters per year, and based on the 64 individual placed landmarks the highest displacement value was 67 mm. Through geomatic tools the exchange rate of the slope surface was evaluated with comprehensive volume calculations, such as displacement, erosion, and accumulation that illustrate a volume of material displaced of 107.2 m³ and the accumulated one of 55.7 m³. The results provide valuable insight into the complex landslide and erosion dynamics that are crucial when predicting future movements and prevention measures.

The Transylvanian region of Romania is a place of rich history since ancient times, where the original natural environment around architectural heritage sites or buildings has not been severely altered by urban development. Unfortunately, many such places are left by the authorities to degrade or totally collapse for lack of funds, vision or initiatives. The current paper addresses the potential of Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) in the assessment of a viable and feasible prospect of restoration on a 19th century mansion that belonged to a nobiliary family. UAV use is rising in many industries and has become very popular in the last decade, but for survey engineering and related domains they represent a quantum leap in technology. Integrating UAV-acquired data and structure from motion software, has enabled modern techniques to obtain useful metrics from the field, accurate photorealistic 3D models for visual inspection, structural damage analyses, architectural rehabilitation-restoration, conservation and spatial analysis of the surrounding area. In this work a socio-cultural planning and design process is explored and presented to improve the local community and inclusion in a tourist circuit based on the regional potential, as well as an evaluation of accessibility derived from a vector-raster database that highlights the central position of the cultural heritage in regards to the axis of circulation between the important metropolitan areas and the local tourist attractions. This established workflow of modern topographic and construction measurements is fully integrable into the architectural process, building information modelling, heritage conservation and reconstruction.

Slope failures and landslides cause economic damage and deaths worldwide. These losses can be minimized by integrating different methodologies, instruments, and data monitoring to predict future landslides. In the constantly growing metropolitan area of Cluj-Napoca, Romania, changes in land cover, land use, and build-up areas are an issue. The unprecedented urban sprawl pushed the city limits from the Somes River to hilly terrain prone to landslides and erosion. This study focuses on a landslide-prone area where a previous slope failure caused significant economic losses. It combines topo-geodetic measurements, UAV monitoring of surface displacement, GIS spatial analysis, ground-penetrating radar investigations, and geotechnical assessment. Two years of data show that the slope is undergoing surface erosion, with soil displacements of a few centimeters. Geodetic monitoring of the retaining wall’s control points indicates a small rotation. Coupled with georadar profile imaging showing changes in soil and rock layers with an uplift trend, it was deduced that the area suffers from a global instability. The findings provide valuable information about the dynamics of landslides and erosion for forecasting future movements and developing preventative strategies based on a new methodology that combines affordable and prevalent instrumentation and techniques.

Watercourses act like a magnet for human communities and were always a deciding factor when choosing settlements. The reverse of these services is a potential hazard in the form of flash flooding, for which human society has various management strategies. These strategies prove to be increasingly necessary in the context of increased anthropic pressure on the floodable areas. One of these strategies, Strategic Flood Management (SFM), a continuous cycle of planning, acting, monitoring, reviewing and adapting, seems to have better chances to succeed than other previous strategies, in the context of the Digital-Era Governance (DEG). These derive, among others, from the technological and methodological advantages of DEG. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) stand out among the most revolutionary tools for data acquisition and processing of data in the last decade, both in qualitative and quantitative terms. In this context, this study presents a hybrid risk assessment methodology for buildings in case of floods. The methodology is based on detailed information on the terrestrial surface—digital surface model (DSM) and measurements of the last historical flash flood level (occurred on 20 June 2012)—that enabled post-flood peak discharge estimation. Based on this methodology, two other parameters were calculated together with water height (depth): shear stress and velocity. These calculations enabled the modelling of the hazard and risk map, taking into account the objective value of buildings. The two components were integrated in a portal available for the authorities and inhabitants. Both the methodology and the portal are perfectible, but the value of this material consists of the detailing and replicability potential of the data that can be made available to administration and local community. Conceptually, the following are relevant (a) the framing of the SFM concept in the DEG framework and (b) the possibility to highlight the involvement and contribution of the citizens in mapping the risks and their adaptation to climate changes. The subsequent version of the portal is thus improved by further contributions and the participatory approach of the citizens.

This paper presents a case study of the village of Mrkovi in the Bay of Kotor, Montenegro, showing the importance of landscape identification and assessment in planning the revitalization and development of Mediterranean rural settlements. The research revealed the methods of identification and evaluation of different landscape types. Moreover, it showed how such an approach could considerably contribute to the preservation of the space’s identity and quality by taking into account the existing characteristics of the space or the relationship between cultural and natural heritage. The identification of the landscape types was followed by the evaluation of individual elements and assessment of vulnerability in relation to the space’s natural, cultural, and visual quality. The first step in the process of preserving the elements that contribute to the landscape’s identity was the spatial identification of the cultural pattern of traditional terraces with drystone walls. The results of analysis indicate a high risk of degradation of the basic landscape value. The effects of future interventions in the space, especially the planned construction of a tourist resort, can be mitigated if they comply with the guidelines related to the rational use of the space and delimitation of the construction zones. This paper points out the importance of a responsible attitude and planned approach regarding the cultural and natural landscape of Mediterranean rural settlements.

This study explores and compares the predictive capabilities of various ensemble algorithms, including SVM, KNN, RF, XGBoost, ANN, DT, and LR, for assessing flood susceptibility (FS) in the Houz plain of the Moroccan High Atlas. The inventory map of past flooding was prepared using binary data from 2012 events, where “1” indicates a flood-prone area and “0” a non-flood-prone or extremely low area, with 762 indicating flood-prone areas. 15 different categorical factors were determined and selected based on importance and multicollinearity tests, including slope, elevation, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Terrain Ruggedness Index, Stream Power Index, Land Use and Land Cover, curvature plane, curvature profile, aspect, flow accumulation, Topographic Position Index, soil type, Hydrologic Soil Group, distance from river and rainfall. Predicted FS maps for the Tensift watershed show that, only 10.75% of the mean surface area was predicted as very high risk, and 19% and 38% were estimated as low and very low risk, respectively. Similarly, the Haouz plain, exhibited an average surface area of 21.76% for very-high-risk zones, and 18.88% and 18.18% for low- and very-low-risk zones respectively. The applied algorithms met validation standards, with an average area under the curve of 0.93 and 0.91 for the learning and validation stages, respectively. Model performance analysis identified the XGBoost model as the best algorithm for flood zone mapping. This study provides effective decision-support tools for land-use planning and flood risk reduction, across globe at semi-arid regions.