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This study aims to investigate the most effective enablers and tools for inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition in public policymaking organizations.

Based on a literature review, the study summarized 51 individual, organizational, technological and inhabitant-related enablers of inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition, as well as 36 technological and social tools. The study assessed the effectiveness of these enablers and tools based on two rounds of a Delphi study targeting 31 policymakers in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was assessed to determine consensus among participating policymakers.

The findings indicate that the most effective enablers were inhabitants’ willingness to get involved, information technology (IT) infrastructure, IT staff support and inhabitants’ trust in policymakers. Additionally, the study found that the most effective tools for inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition included meetings, interviews, social media and field visits.

Inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition is an important social and economic force that will drive change in any society by enabling the implementation of innovative ideas and practices. A review of the relevant research shows that despite the usability of inhabitants’ knowledge, the degree to which inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition is integrated into the public policymaking system remains unclear. This study of inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition from the policymaker perspective provides a better understanding of the inhabitants’ knowledge acquisition process in policymaking organizations.

There are several studies showing that end-users' participation in the architectural design process of houses is critical to their satisfaction (e.g. Önder et al., 2010; Ammar et al., 2013). Housing that is not adjusted to inhabitants' needs leads to modification works (Davidson et al., 2007) that could be avoided if their design was defined from the beginning with their participation. Digital technologies, such as 3D interactive visualization, benefit co-design processes by helping non-specialists better understand space and design possibilities (Salter et al., 2009; Schroth et al., 2006). However, the available literature shows that existing co-design digital tools were not developed based on potential users’ requirements. This paper aims to define the user requirements of a co-design tool for housing customization.

Interviews were conducted to gather information on how participatory processes occur in housing cooperatives and identify how potential users can collaborate in the design definition of their houses using a digital tool.

The interviews were analyzed, and requirements were defined.

This work contributes to the advancement of knowledge since the tool is defined based on requirements collected from potential end-users. By using a user-centered approach, the tool can contribute to more effective and informed collaboration.

The Covid-19 pandemic highlighted the contradictions inherent to balconies. Despite the attention given to these architectural elements on that moment, there is a knowledge gap concerning the preferences and expectations of the inhabitants in relation to them. For this reason, this paper aims to conduct a critical literature review of the publications about the inhabitants’ perceptions of balconies in order to identify the most relevant criteria to consider during the design process.

The analysis was based on the post-occupancy evaluation (POE) criteria (technical, functional and behavioural).

The results highlighted the relevance of the behavioural criteria for the valorisation of the balconies by the inhabitants and presented indications to the research about these liminal spaces and the design practice of housing buildings.

According to the authors’ best knowledge, this study represents the more holistic study of the kind.

The aim of this chapter is to develop a conceptual model for the analysis of sustainable development and the ranking of cities based on selected standard criteria and metrics of smart cities. The conceptual framework contains standard and measurable indicators that influence the creation and survival of smart cities that could be self-sustaining, Green Resilient. We can measure the level of smartness of cities from two perspectives, first from the point of view of the degree of automation of services, infrastructure, buildings, transport, etc. and second from the point of view of planning the further development of the city in order to raise the quality of life of its citizens. Indicators should satisfy the principles of specificity, measurability, availability, relevance and timeliness (Schomaker, 1997). Researchers in the field of smart cities define different sets of characteristics, on which they construct a system of indicators that together describe the degree of development of a smart city. It must be taken into account the fact that there is no single set of indicators that would refer to the level of smartness of the city. It is a complex phenomenon, which occurs differently depending on the conceptual framework and the goal of classifying cities according to the complex characteristics of smartness, especially if you take into account the fact that the general well-being and quality of life of citizens are more important than only indicators of the quality of city services.

The provision of online information through the use of digital platforms (websites and social networks) can be helpful for public sector organisations to promote transparency and accountability, thereby bringing it closer to citizens, more accessible and with higher added value for society. Whereas the call for government transparency is manifest and seems to be equal for all parts of government, this paper investigates whether small government entities are able to cope with this demand. In addition, the drivers of digital platforms are investigated in the context of Portuguese parishes.

The paper follows a quantitative research approach based on an original data set with more than 3,000 observations collected in two different time periods (2015 and 2020), which looks at the parishes’ use of website and Facebook.

Findings show that about half of Portuguese parishes, which are mostly small entities with on average fewer than 3,500 inhabitants, have an institutional website, whereas almost three out of four have Facebook. The empirical analyses reveal that a lack of organisational capacity of small entities can be an obstacle for the use of an institutional website and of Facebook. Furthermore, factors from the provider side (e.g. being part of a merger, participation in previous elections) and the user side (e.g. having access to broadband internet) are also found to have an influence on the adoption, use, and dropping of a digital platform.

The use of an original data set with more than 3,000 observations, and the research of the influence of size as a proxy of organisational capacity on the presence of parishes on the internet and Facebook, are innovative elements of this paper. In addition, this study adds to the knowledge about the influence of organisational, political, and socio-demographic characteristics on the use of digital platforms by small government entities.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-04-2023-0171

This paper aims to define the socio-spatial considerations of apartment users in Cairo, during their decision-making process. It provides a set of socio-spatial guidelines for professional architecture designers that are based on regionalist sociological theories and the evaluation of participant responses. These guidelines can also help users choose better plan configurations or make socially conscious adjustments as formal residential interiors in Egypt are not arranged based on social interaction at home or the cultural specificity of the region. On the other hand, users have little clue about choosing better plan configurations for sustainable social relationships. Moreover, the private housing sector has mostly neglected the social boundaries that traditionally shaped home interiors. This is because the designers focus on physical attributes to satisfy market demand and economic aspects.

The research reviewed past literature on the impact of different home arrangements relative to inhabitant and social relationships. Simultaneously, preliminary open-ended sorting surveys were undertaken at the Cityscape 2020 exhibition. Based on the results, a comprehensive online survey was developed to map the socio-spatial preferences of users. Finally, a sample of 150 apartment plans was analyzed by using the justified plan graph (JPG) theory to reveal the most common arrangements in the speculative market, measuring unit depth.

The findings of this study will benefit the following: practitioners, including architects and real estate developers, will be able to learn about end-user preferences and offer better products (residential units). Designers can rely on a reference that visualizes recommended home arrangements in the form of justified graphs. This research will expose the academic theories that currently shape residential plans and those that are overlooked and need to be applied. Academics, on the other hand, will learn about the market, and the extent of the influence of architectural theory.

The value of this paper lies in the gathering of theoretical recommendations on traditional home arrangements and investigating the preferences of both professionals and laypeople when choosing between apartments. The open-ended study in this research will test its efficiency in the Egyptian context and serve as a reference for future social studies. It highlights the importance of cultural adequacy and how to design homes related to local residents’ natural lifestyle, by doing so, people will be able to overview the options available in the market and how to manipulate their own houses to control or encourage different social interactions.

This study aims to discuss the contribution of street art projects to the place-making of villages and the effects it generates for local stakeholders.

A conceptual framework is developed based on the main characteristics of the place-making process, street art, creative place-making, as well as place identity, revitalisation and regeneration. This framework defines a set of thematic categories for the qualitative content analysis of online information, e.g. websites, media and blog posts, as well as in-depth interviews with local stakeholders.

This research presents the contribution of street art in place-making involving citizens, local businesses and international artists in a collective act to preserve local identity and revitalise and regenerate villages.

The research is focused only on villages. Cities are not considered in the research.

Street art projects provide villages with several opportunities, such as stimulating place regeneration and revitalisation, giving new shape and decoration to neighbourhoods and streets and attracting visitors and business. Moreover, street art is commonly used to communicate local history, culture, traditions and social and political facts, helping places to vehiculate their identity and their messages to the next generations. Street art is also used as a part of a place branding strategy.

The village gets the opportunity to exploit the street art value proposition to stimulate the restocking of the place, if the primary stakeholders of the place are ready to invest in the new place identity giving trust to the street art project.

Street art projects contribute to the place-making of villages. They are used to communicate place identity, fostering cooperation between local stakeholders and economic and social development.

There is an ongoing discussion on tools that can lead to sustainable tourism, as well as attempts to implement them. In the selection of tools, the attitudes of residents – local stakeholders and their degree of acceptance of such tools should be analysed and taken into account. Some cause conflicts, and hence, the purpose of this study is the comparative analysis of three cities (Prague, Krakow and Braga).

Analysis of the basic types of conflicts was conducted using the division proposed by Moore. The research was conducted among residents – experts representing the tourism sector. Based on the literature review, three hypotheses were formulated. Statistical tests were used to analyse the results.

The results showed a strong impact of the conflict of information and the interests of those dependent on the degree of development of the city’s tourist function. It was established that in the process of achieving sustainable tourism, to minimize conflicts, the following are necessary: paying attention to communication and the involvement of local communities, creating attractions that benefit both residents and visitors, measuring and monitoring tourist traffic, supporting initiatives for new tourist offers and initiating discussions on development problems, and setting common goals for all residents.

The research was conducted during the pandemic and is based on the opinions of experts indicated by the city authorities. While the attitudes of the inhabitants towards the development of tourism were recognized in earlier studies, the awareness of tourists and their readiness to accept limitations related to respecting the needs of the inhabitants were not examined. This aspect may be an interesting direction for further research. A limitation of this research is the small scope of the study, caused both by the restrictions in force during the research period (related to the COVID-19 pandemic) and also by the inability to conduct in-depth interviews with experts. It should also be noted that among the experts participating in the research were tourist entrepreneurs directly interested in rebuilding tourism after the pandemic. Due to this, their opinions may have been biased, but there is no way to prove or disprove this. However, the answers gathered were considered collectively; therefore, the opinions obtained were considered to be objective. Attempts to balance tourism so far have focused mainly on limiting the access of tourists to attractions and tourist areas and introducing (or increasing) admission fees. It is still too early to assess the effectiveness of such tools, hence the lack of scientific analyses of implemented tourism policies.

The role and tasks of institutions managing tourism in cities will probably also change, in particular, so-called destination management organizations. The current declarations indicate the need to respect inhabitants and take measures to limit conflicts arising in the context of the development of the tourist function. However, there is no empirical evidence of the positive results achieved.

The results will allow the implementation of tourism balancing tools that are accepted by the local community.

The selection of the historical cities and the posing of a research problem based on the same tool allowed for comparative inference. The results can help shape tourism management in cities and the choice of tools for their sustainable development.

关于实现可持续旅游的工具以及运用这些工具的尝试始终是学界热议的话题。 在选择工具时, 应当分析和考虑居民和当地利益相关者的态度以及他们对工具的接受程度, 因为有些会引起冲突。基于此, 本文的目的是对三个城市（布拉格、克拉科夫、布拉加）的居民-当地利益相关者冲突进行比较分析。

本文采用摩尔提出的划分方法对冲突的基本类型进行了分析。 该研究是在居民——代表旅游部门的专家中进行的。文章基于文献综述提出了三个假设, 并 使用统计测试来分析结果。

结果表明, 信息冲突和利益冲突的强烈影响取决于城市旅游功能的发展程度。在实现可持续旅游的过程中, 为了尽量减少冲突, 有必要采取以下措施：注重当地社区的参与和沟通, 创造有利于居民和游客双方的景点, 测量和监测旅游流量, 支持旅游产品创新并发起针对发展问题的讨论, 同时为所有居民设定共同目标。

本文选择历史名城作为案例地, 加之基于同一工具提出的研究问题, 使得本研究具备用于比较推断的条件。 研究结果有助于塑造城市的旅游管理以及引导可持续发展工具的选择。

Hay un debate en curso sobre las herramientas que pueden conducir al turismo sostenible, así como los intentos de implementarlas. En la selección de herramientas, se deben analizar y tener en cuenta las actitudes de los residentes – agentes interesados locales y su grado de aceptación de dichas herramientas. Algunas provocan conflictos, de ahí que el objetivo de este artículo sea el análisis comparativo de tres ciudades (Praga, Cracovia, Braga).

El análisis de los tipos básicos de conflictos se realizó utilizando la división propuesta por Moore. La investigación se llevó a cabo entre residentes, expertos que representan el sector turístico. A partir de la revisión de la literatura se formularon tres hipótesis. Se utilizaron pruebas estadísticas para analizar los resultados.

Los resultados mostraron un fuerte impacto del conflicto de información y los intereses de quienes dependen del grado de desarrollo de la función turística de la ciudad. Se estableció que en el proceso de lograr un turismo sostenible, para minimizar los conflictos es necesario: prestar atención a la comunicación y a la implicación de las comunidades locales, crear atractivos que beneficien tanto a los residentes como a los visitantes, medir y monitorear el tráfico turístico, apoyar iniciativas de nuevas ofertas turísticas e iniciar debates sobre los problemas de desarrollo, y establecer objetivos comunes para todos los residentes.

La selección de las ciudades históricas y el planteamiento de un problema de investigación basado en la misma herramienta permitieron realizar una inferencia comparativa. Los resultados pueden ayudar a configurar la gestión del turismo en las ciudades y la elección de herramientas para su desarrollo sostenible.

This paper aims to address the issue of the conservation and management of rural cultural heritage, with the aim being to gain an understanding of current problems and needs through a participatory approach, in recognition of the uniqueness of the relationship between nature, humankind and the built environment as an area of study. To this end, a comprehensive case study – Kemer Village in Turkey – focusing on the social sustainability and participatory approaches for the sustainable development of rural settlements is given. Accordingly, possible conservation, management and sustainability strategies are put forward considering the priorities and perspectives of different stakeholders.

This paper approaches the subject of rural heritage conservation and management from a social sustainability standpoint, involving an on-site investigation to understand the physical and social context of Kemer Village in Turkey, which has links to different periods in history, and contains significant examples of vernacular architecture and that has maintained its cultural characteristics. Tools and criteria for participatory planning approach were applied ensuring the involvement of the local community and stakeholders.

The findings of the present study reveal rural settlements to be important factors in the cultural heritage conservation and indicate the importance of prescient management and the adoption of a sustainable development model. Achieving the desired level of sustainability in historical villages through conservation of the built environment with the involvement of the local community is possible, as can be seen in the case of Kemer Village in Turkey, where the villagers and the local authorities worked in cooperation to ensure the preservation of the village's integrity.

This study will describe possible long-term strategies and actions aimed at involving the local community in the sustainable conservation of the rural cultural heritage while also embracing change. It is important that the concept of sustainability is realized with participatory planning methods. In addition to that, rural heritage and social sustainability together incorporate a widespread but rarely considered set of issues addressing local needs in conservation.

This study aims to unveil the variables that drive Indonesia’s seafood exports to organization of Islamic cooperation (OIC) countries, including a deeper analysis to understand the factors that affect Indonesia’s potential for halal seafood exports, and attempts to validate Linder’s hypothesis, which might occur as part of the determinants of Indonesia’s seafood exports, as well as one of the variables that can affect Indonesia’s potency of halal seafood exports based on economic scale similarities and relative factor endowments.

Using Poisson regression by pseudo maximum likelihood, this study applies the theory of trade gravity and Linder’s hypothesis of Indonesia’s seafood exports to OIC countries and its halal market potency over the 30 years observation period from 1992 to 2021, with 47 countries importing Indonesia’s seafood products during the observation period based on United Nations Comtrade statistics.

The variables that drive Indonesia’s seafood exports are the situation of the economy between Indonesia and its trading partners, the population of importing countries and the common understanding of language. On the other hand, the adjusted-Muslim GDP of importing countries, the adjusted-Muslim GDP of Indonesia and the number of Muslim inhabitants of importer countries are the factors that affect Indonesia’s potential for halal seafood exports. The study also validates the presence of Linder’s hypothesis in Indonesia’s seafood export and could hint Indonesia’s potential for halal seafood exports

Owing to the absence of an Harmonized System code that explicitly accommodates trade in halal commodities, especially in halal seafood exports, it will be more accurate if data are available in the future as material for further studies. Future studies may also consider per capita consumption of seafood, food safety standards and the level of food security from OIC countries as variables that might also influence Indonesia’s seafood exports in an approach analysis using the gravity theory of trade.

This study is part of the authors’ efforts to encourage a greater contribution of the fisheries sector to Indonesia’s GDP by identifying the factors that drive seafood exports, which have so far only been around 2%–3% and have never reached more than 4% in the past two decades. While Indonesia is blessed with extraordinary marine biodiversity and hopes of being the leader of the halal food industry, the fisheries sector is expected to contribute.

Unlike previous studies that used the approach of the gravity model of trade on food exports, this study is specifically in the field of seafood exports, takes Indonesia as the main object of research and also examines Linder’s hypothesis as part of the analysis to identify what drives Indonesia’s seafood exports in the OIC countries market and fill the scant of studies highlighting the factors that could drive halal food exports, specifically in seafood.