Search results

This paper aims to provide an introduction to how worker co-operatives and other organisations based on principles of the participatory economy have been adopted in a range of international contexts as a vehicle for transforming places with a strong aspiration to address location-specific social challenges.

Through a presentation of four narrative cases, the paper exemplifies international experiences of co-operative approaches to place-making. It critically reflects on the philosophical and strategic underpinnings of the projects implemented in Rochdale, Preston, Bologna, Rome and Cincinnati.

The practical experiences of a number of local projects of place-making involving co-operatives are conceptualised. The research has identified the importance of institutional, organisational and legal constraints for transformative cooperative-based place-making initiatives. It shows a strong relevance of the place’s historic legacy and communal governance for the choice of place-making approaches.

Further investigation is needed to establish whether co-operatives have the same driving force potential in terms of local regeneration and community wealth building place-making in non-Western contexts and less developed locations.

The paper highlights cases that incorporate place-making practices involving the co-operative organisation and municipal participation and considers their transferability potential.

The paper advances an important conversation relevant to researchers, educators, co-operators, politicians and local officials on diverse contemporary approaches in towns and cities that seek to reshape and regenerate local socio-economic fabric by engaging tradition, principles and organisation models developed within the co-operative movement.

Due to the influence of complex and intersecting factors, self-governed public open spaces (POSs) (managed by local communities) are subject to collective action dilemmas such as tragedy of the commons (overexploitation), free-riding, underinvestment and mismanagement. This review paper adopts a multi-dimensional and multi-tier social-ecological system (SES) framework proposed by McGinnis and Ostrom, drawing on collective action theory to explore the key institutional-social-ecological factors that impact POS self-governance.

In this paper, Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis (PRISMA) was utilized to systematically screen and review the relevant literature for the period from 2000 to 2023 in three databases: Web of Science, Scopus and Google Scholar. A total of 57 papers were chosen for in-depth analysis.

The literature review identified and categorized several variables associated with the self-organizing system of POS; consequently, an SES-based POS management framework was developed for the first time, consisting of 114 institutional-social-ecological sub-variables from different dimensions and three levels. Compared to ecological factors, among others, governance organizations, property-rights systems, socioeconomic attributes and actors' knowledge of SES have been commonly and primarily studied.

There is still room for the refinement of the conceptual SES-based POS collective action framework over the time (by adding in new factors), and indefinitely empirical research validating those identified factors is also worth to be undertaken, particularly testing how SES factors and interaction variables affect the POS quality (collective action).

The findings of this study can provide local policy insights and POS management strategies based on the identification of specific SES factors for relevant managers. Moreover, this research makes significant theoretical contributions to the integration of the SES framework and collective action theory with POS governance studies.

Public realm urban regeneration projects aim to provide facilities for the common good such as improved road systems, public parks, museums and cultural institutions. Driven by political priorities, the expected benefits for society comprise of the proposed regeneration outcomes articulated in a masterplan vision. As a philosophical concept, common good in the context of urban regeneration is explored in this study to understand the expectations for major, long-term regeneration projects and the intended project objectives. In the approach to governance, there should be a relationship between monitoring indicators adopted by the regeneration project as part of the governance framework and their alignment with the common good. These concepts are analysed through a case study of the development and reporting of benchmark indicators established at the start of a major 20-year urban redevelopment in 2010. The monitoring and enhancement concept implemented required indicators to be developed and embedded in the regeneration process to, not only monitor, but also enhance sustainability. The longitudinal case study, at the interim point 10 years since the establishment of these indicators, will evaluate the sustainability of the urban regeneration and evaluate current evidence for the common good. The indicators were developed following the principles of a theme orientated framework in line with the UK and Scottish Government approach at that time. The process of indicator development was iterative, refined and finalised through working closely with local authority, Scottish Enterprise and partnership stakeholders (civic oriented organisations) to capture evidence of progress towards the masterplan vision. Ten years on, conclusions examine whether these indicators could be used a proxy for common good. The conclusion will identify the extent to which we would need to revise indicators to address any gaps to become a more accurate measure of common good.

There is a growing importance for public facilitation of corporate social responsibility and involvement of civil organizations in securing territorial cohesion and development. In the present article, the authors focus on how we are to understand a locally sensitive organization of territorial cohesion in the Danish context. Traditional sociological concepts and standardized area-types used for administrative purposes have turned out not being very helpful in understanding the interrelation between inequality, urbanization and territorial cohesion. The authors argue for a processual and relational approach to urbanization.

The present article is based on interview material and policy documents from three Danish case studies representing urban, suburban and rural forms of settlement. The case studies are part of a cross-European research project.

The authors show how territorial governance play a key role in the strategies of densification/de-densification facilitating shielding capacities of collective efficacy, and reversely that bottom-up innovations are crucial for the ability of territorial governance to mobilize territorial capital and mediate in effects of territorial inequality. Spatial imaginaries legitimize these efforts to organize cohesion. The spatial imaginaries work as common frame of references for the interplay between strategies of (de)densification and collective efficacy, and they activate particular balances between growth agendas and everyday life.

These findings represent an original perspective on how and why urbanization impact on places in a more specific and variated way than often portrayed as it highlight how social capacities tied to place might work with or against existing social, economic and cultural structures shaping territorial cohesion.

The purpose of this paper is to map the process of (social) valuing by people encountering built heritage in their daily environments. Value-based approaches are not well researched and formalized in Flemish policy context. New questions and issues are emerging in relation to values-based heritage management and the (adaptive) reuse of heritage within a context of spatial development and urban renewal practices. This paper firstly focus on what factors influence the process of (social) valuing, secondly on the hybrid character of the process and finally at the conflicts between the values frames of the different actors. This way it also inquires the potentials of participatory design supporting alternative regimes of care.

Within the research trajectory, the authors approached built heritage as a social construction and a social product, where there are as many stories as users. What heritage is and how heritage is dealt with, forms the basis of negotiation and valuation processes. An ethnographic approach was embarked on to get a grip on the socio-cultural significance of immovable property heritage in Flanders.

This paper describes the process of (social) valuing of by people encountering built heritage in their daily environments and offers an integrated conceptual framework for this kind of dynamic processes.

New questions and issues are emerging in relation to values-based heritage management and the (adaptive) reuse of heritage within a context of spatial development and urban renewal practices. This paper firstly focuses on what factors influence the process of (social) valuing, secondly on the hybrid character of the process and finally at the conflicts between the values frames of the different actors.

The pattern of racial segregation in U.S. elementary and secondary schools has changed significantly over the last 25 years. This chapter examines the relationship between the racial composition of schools and the choices white parents make concerning the schools their children attend. Restricted access files at the Bureau of the Census allow us to identify each household's Census block of residence and, in turn, suburban public school districts and urban public school attendance areas. We find that the racial composition of schools and neighborhoods are very important in the school and location decisions of white families.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the 2015 Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Road World Cycling Championship in Richmond, Virginia.

An array of eclectic methods included in situ witness observations of several of the races, 21 semi-structured random interviews and multiple discussions with elements of UCI, the city of Richmond’s planners, residents and business owners during and after the championship in fall 2015.

This paper has uncovered five findings: First, the material investment was considerably smaller than that of other events (common good criterion CGC i – good governance); second, pre-planning was critical to successfully hosting the event; third, this event included not only two entities as one would expect at first glance, but many (common good criterion CGC ii – good management); fourth, a filière approach to community service and the exploitation of clustered thematic activities was of critical importance to successfully hosting the 2015 UCI Road World Cycling Championship; and fifth, this event enabled the opportunity to market other city and regional assets (common good criterion CGC iii – good outcomes).

Cities hoping to bid for events ought to consider hosting unique events such as road championships. Those cities will benefit from careful event pre-planning, responsible event hosting and post-event legacies in the form of socio-economic and mindscape memories.

Bidding and pre-event planning is increasingly seen as an opportunity to locate, create and develop support for common good urban projects, which will remain valuable after the event is over or which will need to be built in spite of the bid’s result.

This study fills an unresearched gap on the impact of events on a city’s future non-motorized sustainable transportation priorities.

This paper aims to present a legal study addressing the way in which tourism development and planning in mountain areas can be adapted to climate change issues. It gives examples of attempts to regulate such development by law. Recent legislation in France has created new obligations targeted at ski resort managers. Urban planning and tourism development are key topics of the new French Mountain Act (law of 28 December 2016). The law moves back and forth between two goals, economic development and the protection of nature, and it is sometimes difficult to understand the general coherence of the text. Nevertheless, two significant new legal elements can be highlighted. Planning policies in mountain areas have to take climate change issues into account in the process of authorising major tourism building projects. Moreover, for the first time, the law requires obsolete ski lifts to be dismantled when they are no longer in use. Of course, although these measures are only legally theoretical at the moment, they represent important progress and are initially relevant to many ski resorts affected by global warming, especially in low-altitude mountain areas. Many of these are already experiencing a lack of snow, and a new economic model needs to be drawn up.

This paper is based on a review of French laws having an effect on mountain areas’ adaptation to climate change.

This paper presents two innovations included in the new French Mountain Act (law of 28 December 2016).

This paper underscores problems emanating from global warming in mountain areas. Some ski resorts are facing a lack of snow. The main issue is to anticipate the fact that many ski lifts, or other structures or buildings created for the snow economy, could become obsolete. Legal tools can provide a solution by forcing administrations or operators to be cautious when making decisions relating to new tourist investments, and to dismantle obsolete ski lifts.

The purpose of this paper is to understand the applications of metaverse-related technologies in US urban libraries, explore excellent cases of US urban libraries' practices in using metaverse-related technologies to serve patrons and try to find the factor that may affect the application of metaverse-related technologies in libraries at this stage.

To gather information about how and whether libraries use metaverse-related technologies such as three-dimensional (3D) technology, radio frequency identification (RFID), virtual reality augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) in their services. Firstly, the authors visit 150 US urban library websites that are members of the Urban Libraries Council. Secondly, the authors calculate the proportion of services provided by urban libraries that use metaverse-related technologies and introduce outstanding cases. Lastly, the authors discuss the factors that influence the application of metaverse-related technologies in urban libraries in the United States based on data published by the Institute of Museum and Library Services.

Metaverse-related technologies have been widely used in US urban libraries, but there are differences in the popularity of the applications of different technologies. In all, 84% of libraries use 3D technology, mainly in 3D printing services and 3D model building services; 76% of libraries use virtual and augmented reality technologies in their services, mainly concentrated in head-mounted VR device experiences, AR device experiences, virtual tours and virtual exhibitions; 62% of libraries use Internet of things (IoT) technology, mainly in self-checkout machines and book location services. However, AI technologies are less used in libraries, with 28% of libraries mentioning the applications of AI in their services, mainly focusing on intelligent search, virtual assistants and robot librarians. In addition, this study finds that library operating expenditures and population served do not affect the application of metaverse-related technologies in libraries.

This paper provides updated statistical data on the use of metaverse-related technologies in US urban libraries and aims to help library managers understand the overall applications and best practices. With this as an inspiration, they could formulate corresponding development plans to better serve their communities with metaverse-related technologies.