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This paper aims to explore challenges and opportunities of shifting from physical to virtual employment support delivery prompted by the Covid-19 pandemic. It investigates associated changes in the nature and balance of support and implications for beneficiary engagement with programmes and job search.

The study draws on longitudinal interviews conducted with beneficiaries and delivery providers from a neighbourhood-based employment support initiative in an English region with a strong manufacturing heritage between 2019 and 2021. The initiative established prior to the Covid-19 pandemic involved a strong physical presence locally but switched to virtual delivery during Covid-19 lockdowns.

Moving long-term to an entirely virtual model would likely benefit some beneficiaries closer to or already in employment. Conversely, others, particularly lone parents, those further from employment, some older people and those without computer/Internet access and/or digital skills are likely to struggle to navigate virtual systems. The study emphasises the importance of blending the benefits of virtual delivery with aspects of place-based physical support.

Previous studies of neighbourhood-based employment policies indicate the benefits of localised face-to-face support for transforming communities. These were conducted prior to the Covid-19 pandemic and the more widespread growth of virtual employment support. This study fills a gap regarding understanding the challenges and opportunities for different groups of beneficiaries when opportunities for physical encounters decline abruptly and support moves virtually.

Tourism in Coimbra today is influenced by the fact that the Univer(s)city was distinguished as a World Heritage Site in 2013. The number of visits has grown very significantly in recent years, but the diversification of the tourist offer is still weak and unable to take advantage of existing resources. This paper aims to present genealogy tourism as an alternative urban cultural tourism in Coimbra.

Methodology involved mapping the Jewish culture elements in the city of Coimbra, and a route was outlined and proposed.

Genealogy tourism resources are identified in the historic centre of the city. These alternative spaces need urban rehabilitation and (re)functionalisation, which allowed the authors to rethink tourism in Coimbra. They are the motivation to visit for all urban cultural tourists, especially Israelis/Jews, and provide contact with places where the experiences of ancestors combine with the history and memory of places, with recent discoveries and the elements of Jewish culture in the city.

It is concluded that the quantity, diversity, authenticity and singularity of the heritage resources that bear witness to the Jewish presence in Coimbra are sufficient assets to create a route, to enrich the tourist experience in the city and to include the destination in the Sephardic routes.

Restaurant dining is an important part of people's live, and the restaurant industry is one of the largest industries in the hospitality sector. Thus, this study explores the effects of restaurant diningscape on customer satisfaction and word of mouth.

Based on a literature review on restaurant servicescape and special functions of dining spaces, diningscape was conceptualized as a multidimensional construct. Data were collected from 378 restaurant patrons using snowball sampling in Macao, China. The validity and reliability of constructs were assessed using confirmatory factor analysis. Structural equation modeling was used to validate the proposed hypotheses between constructs.

Results showed that diningscape has a second-order factor structure consisting of five dimensions, namely food and drinks, service quality, servicescape, social functions and soundscape. Diningscape positively influences customer satisfaction and word of mouth.

Social function is the dominant factor of diningscape while female customers are more sensitive towards food and drinks, service quality, servicescape and soundscape. Thus, restaurants should not overcrowd their premises. Additionally, restaurants must strive to provide a wide variety of food and drinks, show service intimacy and be decorated specially with appropriate sonic environment as female customers can have a big influence on where to dine.

The study reveals that diningscape is multidimensional and shall be characterized in a holistic manner. Additionally, it helps restaurant managers to focus on the more important features, such as social functions, and food and drinks that customers value most.

The purpose of this paper is to present alternative ways of addressing inequality in age-friendly work by drawing attention to the limitations of place-based approaches in meeting the needs of dispersed communities.

A case study of the age-friendly programme Ambition for Ageing (AfA) is used to explore three examples of working with minority communities.

Place-based age-friendly development risks further marginalising older people belonging to dispersed communities of identity or experience; therefore, we need to adopt adopt an intersectional approach to inequality in later life.

Three ways that age-friendly programmes may become more inclusive of minority groups who are geographically dispersed are identified: bringing community members together; co-production; and supporting visibility in mainstream settings.

This paper brings together insights from the AfA programme, critically assessing place-based approaches in relation to working with dispersed communities of identity. It offers some ways to mitigate limitations through adopting tailored equality approaches.

The purpose of this paper was to report on the evaluation of the network and resources for violence prevention and reduction in the chosen area of focus. This area had experiences deprivation, significant implications due to Covid-19 restrictions and a lack of outdoor recreation space.

Network analysis methodologies are increasingly being used in criminological research and evaluations to assess the structures of social and economic networks. This study explored, using a mixed-methods network analysis methodology, the nature of the established violence reduction network in a specific geographical location in West Midlands.

A breadth of network activity is taking place across the community; however, the network analysis highlighted gaps in terms of specialist provision for early years and support from those with lived experience. It was perceived that a lack of continuity, in terms of changes in key roles, has affected the network. Funding mechanisms were perceived ineffective, and not encouraging of development of localisation services. Relationships between network members were predominantly positive with organisations having good communication and accessing support from one another; however, identifying shared goals and better collective working would benefit the network.

This study pioneers using an innovative, mixed methods network analysis to explore a public health approach to violence prevention and reduction. Quantitative data collection and analysis allowed for assessment of the networks capacity and density, whereas qualitative data provided insights and detailed accounts of how the network functions.

Nonprofit organisations (NPOs) are an increasingly fundamental part of our society. Meeting rising demand requires NPOs to attract enough resources, especially volunteers, to enable service delivery. This paper aims to adopt a novel theoretical lens to reframe this marketing challenge to inform practice and extend theory.

Practice-based exploration of a volunteer-enabled NPO, parkrun, through in-depth interviews and secondary source analysis.

The research identified that the brand community connects volunteers through three inter-connected levels. The big idea of parkrun, the focal brand, resonated with people through being “on their wavelength”, something they believed in. The local, physical event meant engagement was “on their patch”, anchored in place. Finally, the brand community enables people to volunteer “on their terms”, with fluid roles and flexible levels of commitment.

Not all NPOs have service beneficiaries who are able to volunteer, services with different volunteering roles, or operate through a local physical presence. However, taking a focal brand approach to consider the brand community through which people volunteer for an NPO, the practices that reinforce that community, and how to offer volunteers significantly greater flexibility in both role and commitment presents an opportunity for NPOs to rethink how volunteering works for them in the future.

Clear recommendations for practice include the opportunity to integrate service beneficiary with service delivery enabler (volunteer) to strengthen the implicit social contract, increasing participation to deepen the social identity felt towards the brand, and key practices that reduce barriers to volunteering.

The paper extends volunteering theory from the traditional individual needs approach to a focal brand community perspective. The marketing challenge of attracting volunteer resources to NPOs is understood through rethinking the boundaries between service beneficiaries and service enablers, anchored in social identity theory. It provides clear recommendations for practice through reframing the recruitment challenge.

The Village model, most extensively developed in the USA, is an innovative response to ageing populations and older adults who wish to remain living independently within their community. The “Urban Villages” participatory action research study aimed to test the potential of the Village model to work with groups of older adults in two economically deprived, inner-city neighbourhoods in Manchester, UK.

Participatory methods were used to work with residents to, first, adapt the Village model to the Manchester setting, and second, to develop and deliver community projects that supported ageing in place. The study aimed to involve marginalised individuals and groups in the co-design, leadership and implementation of the projects. Ethnographic methods were applied to observe and reflect on the development of “Urban Villages”. Interviews and focus groups were organised to gather the views of the residents involved in the community projects.

Residents were supported to develop and test seven projects, all aimed at reducing social isolation and supporting ageing in place. The study provides new insights into challenges related to co-production with older people in deprived neighbourhoods. These challenges are presented under the following headings: individual capacity and expectations; collective capacity including communication and knowledge; and the capacity of place.

To date, only a limited amount of literature is available showing how co-production with older adults can be realised when working with marginalised groups and deprived communities. The paper explores the potential of participatory approaches to develop age-friendly initiatives through strengthening the capacity of older adults to age in place.

This paper aims to explore the symbolic meanings of physical places and social spaces for community members with and without disabilities in the process of relocation of people with disabilities into the communities. It particularly focuses on the potential of city events to become places for interacting with each other.

The data was gathered using two methods: drawing ecological maps (indicating places a person visits) and conducting interviews with people with disabilities and other community members. The ecological map is based on the theory of Bronfenbrenner (1979, 1986). Empirical data was gathered in four Lithuanian communities by drawing ecological maps and conducting interviews with community members with disabilities (35) and without disabilities (24).

Data shows that two groups occasionally overlap in physical locations but seldom interact socially. However, city events which are rare, but provide a clearer structure for persons with disabilities and are attractive to other community members as well, offer a good starting point for inclusion.

Further research of community places where people with disabilities live and act could focus on, first, the gender differences in people with disabilities participation; second, on the challenging versus nonchallenging community environments and their role in the people with disabilities learning to live and act as community members and citizens. It is also essential to explore the meaning of privacy in the participation of people with disabilities, and the potential of private and less private places to facilitate their inclusion.

In the context of the ongoing deinstitutionalization, it is essential to identify the means of and desirable support for people with disabilities for their interaction in cafés, markets, bus stops and street corners, which encompass fewer preconditions for preparation. This implies, that practitioners should consider developing the abilities of people with disabilities to cope with the “chaotic order” of social gatherings. However, community-based citizenship implies not only festive city events but participation in decision-making. Thus, social policy actors should consider including people with disabilities in the community councils, increasing information accessibility and thus implementing the vision of an inclusive community.

The originality and value of the research lies in revealing the “framed” nature of people with disabilities participation. This type of participation is determined by their institutional experience, financial means and whose appearance (“coming in groups”) is frequently noticed by the community members.

The study aims to understand the meaning of event-based and place-based community practices, as well as the resulting social impacts.

An ethnomethodological approach was followed (participant observation and interviews were supplemented by secondary data), with the analysis being exploratory and interpretative.

The festival and the place reinforce the community’s social practices, which have impacts beyond the festival, benefiting individuals, the community and the place, becoming a means for valorisation and diffusion of the rural way of life, and placemaking.

In this study the authors focus on social practices in the context of an event and of a place (the village where the event occurs). The authors connect to theories of practice, which they apply in the analysis. The value of the study lies on the underlying mechanisms (how communities exercise social practices in the context of festivals, and what social impacts may lead to) rather than its context-dependent specific results.

National and regional authorities can play a role in providing local communities with adequate tools to overcome the challenges they encounter. This can be done by issuing appropriate (events) plans and policies while giving room for the locals to voice their opinions.

Community-based festivals are key social practices that can strategically impact placemaking, strengthening community bonding, forging connections with outsiders and promoting well-being practices that discourage rural depopulation.

There is a scarcity of research that deepens the understanding of the role of festivals in placemaking and their social impacts, particularly in the rural context. This study contributes to closing this gap by focussing on the social practices of a community-based festival in a village in the interior of Portugal.

Meeting Centres (MCs) are a complex community-based psychosocial intervention to support people affected by dementia. The purpose of this paper is to describe the process of identifying the essential features of MCs from a UK perspective.

The essential features were examined within a concept analysis framework, which combines both static and evolutionary methods, enabling multiple stakeholder groups to be included in the process in an iterative manner.

Eleven essential features were developed, providing a conceptual model of the UK MCs. The underpinning rationale is sufficiently flexible to enable community-based development, while at the same time providing a robust platform upon which to build the evidence base.

While some features may be common to other types of community-based support, the combination of characteristics and the underpinning ethos differentiates MCs and enables each one to meet the needs of its own community.