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1 – 10 of over 3000Elizabeth Toft Kristjansen and Jesper Ole Jensen
This chapter examines how democratic innovations can strengthen participation in the social housing sector. In Denmark, social housing offers affordable housing to a large number…
Abstract
This chapter examines how democratic innovations can strengthen participation in the social housing sector. In Denmark, social housing offers affordable housing to a large number of Danes. The sector is grounded in traditions for resident involvement and engagement, and the democratic model in the sector is unique to Denmark. The residents have the majority say in all decision-making boards, which enables them to influence both the physical surroundings and social initiatives. Despite the positive merits, the sector faces challenges concerning increased segregation, municipalities allocating an increased share of socially and economically marginalised people to the sector, and less participation in the residential democracy. This chapter studies two cases of initiatives that experiment with democratic innovations to enhance participation in local housing associations. The two cases are innovative initiatives in the social housing sector and illustrate the potential benefits of increased participation. The chapter concludes that project-based initiatives might be on the rise and seem to hold considerable potential for enhancing participation. The challenge, then, is still to secure the coordination and strategic direction of the initiatives while combining them with the formal resident democracy.
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John Giles, Dewen Wang and Albert Park
This paper first reviews the history of social insurance policy and coverage in urban China, documenting the evolution in the coverage of pensions, medical and unemployment…
Abstract
This paper first reviews the history of social insurance policy and coverage in urban China, documenting the evolution in the coverage of pensions, medical and unemployment insurance for both local residents and migrants, and highlighting obstacles to expanding coverage. The paper then uses two waves of the China Urban Labor Survey, conducted in 2005 and 2010, to examine the correlates of social insurance participation before and after implementation of the 2008 Labor Contract Law. A higher labor tax wedge is associated with a lower probability that local employed residents participate in social insurance programs, but is not associated with participation of wage-earning migrants, who are more likely to be dissuaded by fragmentation of the social insurance system. The existing gender gap in social insurance coverage is explained by differences in coverage across industrial sectors and firm ownership classes in which men and women work.
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Youree Park and Karoline Wiegerink
The purpose of this concept chapter is to discover the connection between City Hospitality and smart technologies in today's cities in to understand how technology-driven…
Abstract
The purpose of this concept chapter is to discover the connection between City Hospitality and smart technologies in today's cities in to understand how technology-driven solutions can elevate the level of hospitality experienced in city centres. The goal of City Hospitality is to create livability and lovability for the city's stakeholders – comprising residents, visitors and businesses – by finding synergies between their needs and the city's offering. However, we see that the excessive growth of travel and tourism has taken a toll on the livability of cities such as Barcelona, Venice and Amsterdam, where there are repeated cases of resident dissatisfaction and government interventions triggered by overcrowdedness. Can the currently conflicting needs of the stakeholders be realigned through the merge of Smart City and City Hospitality?
The research identifies residents as an indispensable stakeholder in City Hospitality due to their familiarity with the day-to-day mechanics of the city, leading needs and welcoming behaviour, all of which can create a long-term impact on the hospitality experience perceived by all stakeholders. Research further shows that residents are pivotal to the concept of Smart Community–driven – City Hospitality achieved by a network of empowered residents who participate in, and benefit from the travel and tourism industry through implementing information communication systems. The exemplary case of the mobile application InZutphena is disscussed to underpin and substantiate the concept of Smart Community–driven City Hospitality.
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The notion of social capital refers to social connections between people, such as networking, trust, norms, etc. Rich and good-condition social capital is supposed to enhance…
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The notion of social capital refers to social connections between people, such as networking, trust, norms, etc. Rich and good-condition social capital is supposed to enhance collective action in a society. This is why social capital has attracted more attention in the field of development studies and environmental management studies in recent years. However, the forms and conditions of social capital are different in each society and there is no ideal social capital. Therefore, it is important to know the advantages and disadvantages of the original social capital and how it can be supplemented. In the environmental learning project in Danang, Central Vietnam, social capital was fostered through the activities of the residents' group. New and strong networks of people have been created among broader neighborhoods. The residents' group created multidimensional networks (bridges) in the society and helped to foster social capital. Eventually, the residents' group is expected to bring success to the participatory urban environmental project by fostering social capital in the local society.
Zeenaz Hussain, Jerome Agrusa, Joseph Lema and Babu George
The blessing of the sharing economy is that the benefits of development would largely remain locally; this is also a curse because the costs of development too would do the same…
Abstract
The blessing of the sharing economy is that the benefits of development would largely remain locally; this is also a curse because the costs of development too would do the same. While the sharing economy is touted as a creative disruptor, not much is known about their impacts. This chapter examines the role of shared economy actors in the hospitality industry, particularly guesthouses, in tourism recovery. It presents a micro-case study of guest sentiments on guesthouses in the Maldives. Based on an analysis of 17,576 comments, a total of eight factors emerged including: perceived value for money, local culture, hospitality, services, activities, rooms, food and beverage, and island environment. These reviews are useful to understand the factors appealing to visitors to the guesthouses and could become key inputs to the island's tourism recovery strategy.
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Citizen participation has attracted attention in the context of decentralization. In a disaster reconstruction process, a business plan for reconstruction can be modified in line…
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Citizen participation has attracted attention in the context of decentralization. In a disaster reconstruction process, a business plan for reconstruction can be modified in line with diversified situations of disaster-affected areas by citizen participation. In Japan, the central government makes a decision about the authority in charge of an overall disaster reconstruction and the budget planning, whereas local governments are in charge of creating and implementing a business plan for reconstruction of each local municipality. Therefore, local governments play an important role in organizing citizen participation to realize the reconstruction that fits reality. It has yet to be shown as decentralization reform and citizen participation system in Japan produce the socio-spatial inequality after the Great East Japan Earthquake. However, it remains to be elucidated how local government and community have to operate the institution about citizen participation during the disaster reconstruction process. I have been doing fieldwork on three tsunami-affected sites in Miyagi Prefecture over past 4 years: Onagawa Town, Higashimatsushima City, and Natori City. I have investigated the social processes of making and implementing a reconstruction plan, and citizen participation. The findings from my fieldwork are as follows: First, citizen participation is based on organizing residents at the community level. Second, traditional community organization (such as neighborhood organization abd industrial associations) contribute to organize residents especially in the emergency phase. Third, as the disaster phase moves, local government and community organization need to change the previous participation frame to ensure residents representation and policy legitimacy.
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Agnès Deboulet and Simone Abram
This chapter compares programmes for urban housing regeneration in France and England, showing how ideological similarities reflected in policy ideas and programmes played out…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter compares programmes for urban housing regeneration in France and England, showing how ideological similarities reflected in policy ideas and programmes played out differently in significantly different contexts.
Methodology/approach
The chapter draws on results of several major research programmes, including in-depth extensive fieldwork in a number of cities and regions in France and England. Field research included participant observation in participatory planning events, interviews, home visits, guided walks in the districts, etc. These enabled a multi-site and multi-perspective understanding of urban housing renewal at different sites.
Findings
In both contexts, early promises for participation in housing renewal gave way to an imperative for demolition, justified on purely technical grounds that were not shared with participants. The linking of social mix and demolition for local ‘improvement’ also then appeared to be a contradiction between different policies that few residents could endorse, other than selected beneficiaries. Participation, social mix and demolition thus formed an unholy trinity in urban renewal policies.
Social implications
Housing renewal requires much greater commitment to the experience of residents, to avoid exacerbating social problems rather than relieving them.
Originality/value
The chapter reflects on a wealth of in-depth research over more than a decade to consider the broader implications and outcomes of housing renewal programmes in two countries. It highlights the different balances of power in the two cases and the trajectories of respective urban social politics, including the overlaps between policy objectives and similarities in the government of housing renewal. It also highlights the determination and commitment among residents to the value of housing that is judged from the outside to be ‘poor’.
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Vahid Ghasemi, Giacomo Del Chiappa and Antónia Correia
This chapter analyzes the concept of resident apathy toward heritage tourism and defines influences which underpin resident attitudes toward the development of tourism. It…
Abstract
This chapter analyzes the concept of resident apathy toward heritage tourism and defines influences which underpin resident attitudes toward the development of tourism. It discusses the existing literature on community participation in tourism, paying attention to residents’ behavior toward its development. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, the chapter provides information on analyzing residents’ apathy and identifying the dimensions which shape it. The discussion favors operations which promote internal marketing and branding increase interest in tourism development, and foster conceptual frameworks to advance the subject.
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Weronika Dopierała-Kalińska and Szymon Ossowski
This article discusses issues related to the use of new technologies in local communication on the example of selected Polish cities. It will discuss the tools used by local…
Abstract
This article discusses issues related to the use of new technologies in local communication on the example of selected Polish cities. It will discuss the tools used by local authorities in the process of local communication with residents and entrepreneurs, aimed at increasing their participation in the local decision-making process. The study will focus on tools for empowering residents and increasing civic participation in cities. Based on an analysis of documents, interviews with representatives of city authorities (officials, councilors) and residents, using the IDI method, an attempt will be made to analyze the effectiveness of particular tools used by officials. On this basis, the authors formulate conclusions and recommendations for the future on the selection of the most effective tools used in local communication with residents. The aim of this paper is not only to diagnose the current use of the smart city concept in Poland, but also to create a forecast of its use in the coming years.
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