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The authors investigate two contrasting, yet mutually constitutive strategies for regulating open drug scenes in the city of Aarhus, Denmark: A strategy of dispersing marginalized substance users from the inner city, and a simultaneous strategy of inclusion in a new, gentrifying neighbourhood.

The authors apply a multi-temporal ethnography approach, including data from studies dating back to 2002. This enables us to scrutinize reconfigurations of processes of exclusion and inclusion in urban city life based on studies that in different ways feed into the broader picture of how socially marginalized citizens are included and excluded in urban space.

The municipality of Aarhus sways between strategies of dispersion and exclusion and those of inclusion of marginalized citizens. Taken together, these strategies constitute a “messy middle ground” (May and Cloke, 2014) in responses to the street people rather than either clear-cut punitive or supportive strategies. Finally, we point to the limit of inclusion in more recent strategies aimed at including marginalized citizens in urban planning of a new, gentrifying neighbourhood.

The article builds on studies that in critical engagement with the dominating focus on punitive or revanchist approaches to regulation of homeless citizens' presence in urban space have shown how such regulating practices are rarely punishing alone. We contribute to this literature by showing how seemingly contradictory attempts to exclude, disperse and include socially marginalized citizens in different urban settings are relational rather than in outright opposition. In continuation of this, we show how dispersal strategies both depend on and are legitimized by the promotion of alternative and more inclusive settings elsewhere.

It is noted that cities in the region of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) have a very poor Walkability Index. It is typically the forgotten mode of transport. Moreover, walking has become impossible. This is not just due to the scorching weather conditions but also due to the excessive dependence of the residents on the private automobile. The purpose of this paper is to explore walkability urban problems and to propose smart urban solutions so as to encourage walking in GCC cities.

This present paper defines walkability and portrays its advantages and benefits. It adapts the criteria of walkability to meet GCC cities’ planning needs. Furthermore, it analyzes Masdar City in Abu Dhabi as an example of encouraging walkability using smart solutions. The pilot case study for this present paper, King Abdullah national park in Dammam, Saudi Arabia, will be the application pool of those criteria. However, a questionnaire has been formulated in order to solicit some facts about attaining pedestrian comfort in that park.

The paper provides various smart urban solutions so as to encourage walkability in GCC cities.

Through presenting an overview of walkability in GCC cities and suggesting smart urban solutions, an additional study would be required to encourage walkability in other environments using various intelligent urban features.

This study examines the activities and congruence of positioning strategies in the UK store card sector. Using a triangulation research methodology, the results confirm the prevalence of challenging and aggressive branding activities. The findings identify “Service”, “Value for money”, and “The Brand Name” as the most popular positioning strategies pursued by Marks & Spencer Card brand. In the case of Harrods Card brand, “Top of the range” and “The Brand Name” are the two dominant positioning strategies employed. The study further uncovers congruence between the two card brands' marketing “communications” efforts and consumers' “perceived” strategies. However, there is no congruence between managers' “presumed” strategies and the brands' marketing “communications” efforts. More specifically, although positioning activities in “communications” are successfully recognized by the target group, managers' positioning “presumptions/intentions” are not clearly transmitted in “communications”. Conclusions, managerial implications, limitations and future research directions are discussed.

This article aims to examine positioning strategies of international and multicultural‐oriented service brands.

Following review of the literature and pilot study, three main populations (executives and experts, companies' marketing communications, and the target group of consumers) were examined. The methodology concerned triangulation research involving face‐to‐face long interviews, secondary data, content analysis and mail survey.

The paper highlights that while no single positioning strategy is significant across the four card brands (Visa, MasterCard, Amex and Diners Club), “the brand name” positioning strategy appears to be the most preferred among Visa, MasterCard and Amex and not Diners Club. The findings also show that “top of the range” positioning strategy is favored among Amex and Diners Club card brands. However, “country of origin” positioning strategy is incompatible within the study setting.

Apart from the low response rate from survey of the general public, another limitation of this study is the concentration on a single sector of the services industry. The latter poses difficulties for generalization across all service brands.

Service managers now have an insight into the positioning activities of the plastic card brand sector. These serve as building blocks and benchmarks for appreciating and operationalizing the concept of positioning – a research issue that is missing in the extant literature.

This study is a step forward in the operationalization of the concept of positioning. The research also provides diagnosis of the congruence between management's presumed positioning strategies, firm's actual positioning practices and target group's perceptions of the positioning strategies. Without such knowledge, managers cannot expect to choose the best competitive options to defend or enhance their positions in the market place.

The purpose of this paper is to formulate and solve a new emergency evacuation planning problem. This problem addresses the needs of both able and disabled persons who are evacuated from multiple pick-up locations and transported using a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles.

The problem is formulated using a mixed integer linear programming model and solved using a heuristic algorithm. The authors analyze the selected heuristic with respect to key parameters and use it to address theoretical and practical case studies.

Evacuating people with disabilities has a significant impact on total evacuation time, due to increased loading/unloading times. Additionally, increasing the number of large capacity vehicles adapted to transport individuals with disabilities benefits total evacuation time.

The mathematical model is of high complexity and it is not possible to obtain exact solutions in reasonable computational times. The efficiency of the heuristic has not been analyzed with respect to optimality.

Solving the problem by a heuristic provides a fast solution, a requirement in emergency evacuation cases, especially when the state of the theater of the emergency changes dynamically. The parametric analysis of the heuristic provides valuable insights in improving an emergency evacuation system.

Efficient population evacuation studied in this work may save lives. This is especially critical for disabled evacuees, the evacuation of whom requires longer operational times.

The authors consider a population that comprises able and disabled individuals, the latter with varying degrees of disability. The authors also consider a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles, which perform multiple trips during the evacuation process.

This paper focuses on the “Fresh'n Fruity Loves You” marketing campaign by New Zealand Dairy Foods, conducted to maintain the company's high market share in New Zealand. The campaign was started partly because there were several players in the yoghurt market and competition was intense; and it was determined that New Zealanders were increasingly looking for convenient and healthy foods to eat.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the transportation organizational service provision and travel behavioral responses after the March 2011 disaster in North East Japan. This research aims to identify the areas for capacity building in transportation to support resilient built environments.

A case study approach was taken to examine the transportation organizational service provision in one of the most devastated communities after the 2011 Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Data on post-disaster transportation arrangements were collected from local newspapers, desk reviews of reports by transportation operators and the local council, semi-structured interviews with local council and community groups, and a residents’ questionnaire surveying travel behavior. Organizational responses were analyzed by: the pre-disaster phase, the emergency phase, the rebuilding (temporary settlement) phase and the recovery (permanent settlement) phase.

Transportation demand changes dramatically in the emergency phase. In the re-building phase, an efficient and effective provision of a transportation service is required. The recovery and pre-disaster phases are critical as these are the time to build capacity for resilience. Practical application of the land use and transportation planning process is recommended in forming a transportation master plan.

This research is the first attempt to analyze the transportation organizational responses after a disaster in four discrete temporal dimensions. The knowledge provided in the paper is derived from the examination of the transportation responses in a city after a major disaster. The findings are more generally applicable to any built environments that are aiming for resilience.

In this article we consider community well‐being and new approaches to reinvigorating partnership working for older people's services. In particular, we focus on improving transport for older people. We draw on findings from a series of public consultations, group discussions and interviews with older people in 10 purposively selected localities in England. Although there was great diversity in the issues raised by older people on the subject of transport, both across and between the sites, we point to a number of core analytical themes which could assist commissioners in developing a citizens' framework designed to address this traditionally ‘wicked’ issue.

The paper adapts and applies a modified SERVQUAL approach compliant with the EN 13816, a European standard on service quality in public transport. The purpose of the study is to provide a quality evaluation tool readily usable by transport operators willing to certify the service offered.

Correspondence between the SERVQUAL and the standard is ensured by guaranteeing that the 15 attributes investigated encompass the eight macro‐areas of the norm. Primary data were collected by means of an on‐board survey conducted in Cagliari over a two week period.

The study shows the possibility to implement a SERVQUAL approach abiding by the requirements set by the EN 13816. The results illustrate a high degree of importance placed on attributes such as on‐board security, bus reliability, cleanliness and frequency, with these latter three characterized by the widest negative gaps between perceptions and expectations. The sole quantitative supply of transport does not seem to influence quality perceptions more than attributes such as staff courtesy and bus comfort.

The results are too specific to enable their generalization. Moreover, the SERVQUAL framework might be improved with the inclusion of additional attributes.

The study provides public transport operators with a tool characterized by a good degree of openness and flexibility, so to fit individual needs. It might also be of interest for practitioners wishing to explore the main drivers of satisfaction among transport users.

The purpose of this paper is to show the changes to date between the apartheid (ideological) and democratic use and management of public space. The abolition of apartheid laws in urban areas led to a great deal of contestation for space and also to new forms of management of public space.

This paper looks briefly at the background which led to public space being “reserved” on a racial basis. It then examines examples of the contestation for space that developed with the relaxation and, finally, abolition of apartheid legislation. It finally provides and discusses some of the solutions that have developed in both the use and management of public space.

Little has been practically resolved in relation to contestation over various aspects of urban public space. Where public space interventions have been private sector led, such interventions are not without their own difficulties.

Generally the paper confines itself to Johannesburg. The paper relies on the personal experience of the author and research of written material – time constraints have not permitted research through questionnaires.

The practical implications of the results to date are summarised and recommendations made for application to other South African towns and cities.

Relatively little is available on the practical applications of the subject matter in South Africa. The paper could be of value in developing further debates, both in South Africa and in world cities subject to mass immigration.