A Critical Reflection on the "Deficits to be Overcome" in Urban Agriculture in Bulgaria
Review the book of Dona Pickard (2022).Urban agriculture for improving the quality of life. Examples from Bulgaria. Springer
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Review the book of Dona Pickard (2022).Urban agriculture for improving the quality of life. Examples from Bulgaria. Springer
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Technological tools that provide observing time and space simultaneously helped the emergence of new research areas concerning the effects of physical space on people and cultures and the capability of human perception in shaping space. Geographic Information System (GIS), particularly, goes beyond the physical aspect and enables “exploration of space” in relation to different questions, resources, and layers of the humanities. This study presents a method for applying Spatial Humanities in Ottoman studies as a new approach that enriches the field with its interdisciplinary structure by focusing on space. It discusses the contributions of this new field to the researcher to understand space. The study concretely exemplifies the interaction between concepts of space, humanities, and technology through a case study on the spatial thinking of the 16th century Ottoman archival documents, more specifically the Ottoman urban and administrative history. With a sample prepared from archival records of the Ottoman Empire, it maps administrative division with GIS technology and investigates the potential of Spatial Humanities.
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Neighborhoods are complex units that reflect the financial, administrative, social, and spatial structure of Ottoman cities rather than simply being places of residence. For this reason, a wealth of information about neighborhoods and their inhabitants can be found in many historical sources, particularly in the Ottoman archives. Although these sources present valuable content, especially regarding names and locations, their richness necessitates studies on the methodology used in neighborhood studies. This study aims to contribute to neighborhood studies both descriptively and methodologically, while also exploring the limits of archival sources for the study neighborhoods. Besides, the study proposes an alternative method to the existing literature on determining and spatializing neighborhoods. In this context, based on the judicial court records, an inventory is prepared to choose the neighborhoods of Istanbul in the suriçi (intra muros) between 1730 and 1787. Furthermore, these neighborhoods are mapped using the ArcGIS program from Geographic Information Systems. Focusing on the 18th century, we present the sources, methods, and stages needed to determine the number, location, and names of Istanbul neighborhoods.
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Responses to extreme poverty include ensuring the authenticity of related data. Therefore, studies of data consolidation on handling extreme poverty in rural areas are important. The integration of poverty studies into social science and development fields is crucial for advancing knowledge in these disciplines. This study aims to describe data inequality and collection accuracy in Indonesia. It used a data consolidation approach based on SDGs Desa to explore the disparity in central and regional poverty data collection, which impacts the loss of access to basic rights. Furthermore, this study relied on survey data from 100 villages in 4 of the 5 regencies piloting the projects to tackle extreme poverty in East Java, Indonesia. The results showed that the accuracy of the data influenced the poor categorization, social assistance distribution, and the seriousness of the state in alleviating extreme poverty. Therefore, it becomes the basis for further study in unravelling the dynamics in the design of data collection in rural areas.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has sparked an unprecedented crisis in the globalized, modern economy. Cities actively promoting their image faced the challenge of maintaining a positive perception of the place and modifying their offers due to massive coronavirus infections. As a time of gradual stabilization, the post-pandemic period requires cities to introduce or continue appropriate changes in their marketing strategy to ensure competitiveness to the effects of the pandemic. This paper aims to present selected changes in the city offers addressed to residents and tourists during the pandemic and to determine how these changes may affect the city’s image as one of the factors of competitiveness. A review of literature and research published in the years 2021–2022 was used, presenting solutions implemented by cities to maintain a positive image, demand, and stakeholder satisfaction. Examples of changes applied by territorial units are described from the perspective of two primary target groups of the cities: residents and tourists. Based on the analyzed secondary data, the author notes an increase in the interest of local communities in nearby tourist destinations and the need to transform marketing messages that encourage residents to engage in local tourism. Among some of the city’s recipients there was also more attention given to the use of coworking spaces. Also, a positive impact of temporary urban planning on community participation in urban marketing was observed. Referring to the literature related to the city image, these changes can directly affect the competitiveness of cities and support the gradual economic recovery after the crisis caused by the global pandemic.
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Z okazji 200-lecia Łodzi przemysłowej Interdyscyplinarne Centrum Studiów Miejskich Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego zorganizowało konferencję naukową pt. „Przeszłość, teraźniejszość i przyszłość Łodzi”, której celem było szerokie i nowatorskie spojrzenie na miasto, nie tylko na jego bogatą historię, ale również na wyzwania, przed którymi stoi.
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In this article, we analyse the conditions behind the formation of the tenant initiative Moje Písnice, which existed in Prague between 2016 and 2020. In the theoretical part, we explain the concepts of urban movements and tenant movements in Central and Eastern Europe and emphasise the role of everyday life and emotions in the genesis of a collective actor. We use qualitative methodology based on an analysis of 12 in-depth semi-structured interviews with members and one supporter of the Moje Pisnice Initiative. This initiative provides an illustration of the formation of collective actors in the urban space in Central and Eastern Europe. We focus specifically on the historical and social conditions behind the initiative's development and the emergence of a shared identity and shared housing expectations and the disappointment resulting from unfulfilled hopes. Other important factors that we discuss are the intersubjectivity of emotions and the emancipatory potential of the initiative's organisational structure, which enabled the participation of people with no prior experience with activism. We also focus on the public's sense of disillusionment with civic engagement and with the political system in general since 1989. This research contributes to the study of tenant movements in postsocialist countries, which are often an overlooked actor in one of the most important processes in the post-1989 transformation - privatisation. In contrast to previous research, we focus on the role of shared emotions and the subjective experience of historical processes.
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Contemporary texts in public space offer different forms and functions. Regulative, commercial, transgressive and last but not least pandemic texts use multimodal means in the composition of text forms and for the transfer of corresponding information, offers, bids or bans. The spectrum of use is truly extensive. Against this background, the article asks about intermediality in urban texts such as posters and notices, because intermedial relations – mainly known from audiovisual and hypertextual contexts – are efficient strategies of textual effect. The phenomenon of intermediality is explained from the perspective of components, relationships and functions in the text because these three kinds of manifestation can synthetically show the emergence and pragmatic manifestation of intermediality. Individual examples are from June and July 2021 and were photographed in Warsaw, Berlin and Luxembourg.
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This article aims to bridge the gap between migration studies and humanities by conducting an interdisciplinary exploration of the relationship between mobility, modernity and the urban imaginary in the twentieth century. What are the connections between the rise of the modern city and the construction of transnational identities? How did the phenomenon of migration in its turn veer the socio-economic trajectory of the modern city towards transnationalism? Answering these questions allows us to better understand the negotiation of identity in the urban imaginary of the twentieth century.
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The article presents socio-demographic, physical-functional and cultural-symbolic change aspects of chosen local communities in Poland, which aretheresult of the gentrification process, making itself real in their space. In the first part of the article information about genesis and the course of gentrification with the characteristic of the main actors’ groups taking part in it is addressed. The second part of the article is devoted to the description of changes being experienced by local communities. Conclusions included in the end concentrate around consequences of progressive gentrification process for local communities and attempts to set a path to prevent negative aspect of theconsequences mentioned.
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Models developed in Highway Capacity Manual (HCM) are not suitable to cater to the effects of mixed traffic conditions and hence, its use is unjustifiable. This research investigates such a challenging problem as the effect of undesignated pedestrian crossings on the entry capacity of roundabouts. For the present study, field survey data were collected using video cameras from three roundabouts such that the base section (roundabout without pedestrian influence) and non-base sections (with pedestrian influence), both scenarios, were captured. A modified HCM equation was developed to estimate entry capacity and further, the reduction in capacity with respect to pedestrian volume is determined. Lastly, a relationship was developed to check the effect of pedestrian crossflow on the entry capacity. The relation shows that capacity reduced to 1841 Passenger Car Unit (PCU/h) when the pedestrian flow increased to 288 pedestrians/hour.
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The attractiveness of public transport is not high and therefore it is obvious that private transport is the preferred mode of transport. The interest in public transport has declined even more since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, during which passengers feared the rapid spread of the disease in public vehicles. As a result, the habit of traveling individually has increased. This paper highlights the massive increase in private transport in the V4 Countries by the use of private vehicles and the related decrease in use of public transport. It also presents some of the relevant tools of the Smart City concept that could improve the use of public transport in cities. This paper is aimed at highlighting the current use of public bus transport (including public transport) in the V4 countries vis-a-vis the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and highlighting the information and communication technology (ICT) - related means of incentivization.
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This research study provides a new framework to optimize pedestrian simulation parameters required to replicate emergency evacuation conditions specifically observed in high rise buildings, passenger vehicles and transport terminals. The simulation experiments are performed with generalised social force model in VISWALK simulation environment. The data required for optimization are obtained by conducting several evacuation experiments. The results indicate that pedestrian behavioural aspects, such as the relaxation time, distance from the other pedestrian and force exerted by closest pedestrians, have a significant impact on total evacuation time. The outcomes are in consistence with field observations and the calibrated parameters would help in simulating future scenarios including building level simulations and further simulating emergency evacuation of passengers from transport terminals and vehicles.
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Cities are often characterised by the presence of universities and by a greater number of students, often commuters, with an average age of less than 30 years. The study focused on the city of Enna (Italy), where the university students represent a significant percentage of residents and also a good rate of local travel demand. The survey campaign was conducted over a period of more than one year. A bivariate statistical method was applied highlighting significant variables regarding several features of a car sharing system. Additionally, non-parametric statistics and a before and after analysis were performed to evaluate the influence of implementation of the shared transport service. The results can also offer insights into the improvement of transport supply in urban context and the possible implementation of the co-creation actions between the companies managing the service with the end-users.
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Present study evaluates the various congestion indexes in terms of speed performance index, volume to capacity ratio and congestion index based on travel time on the urban roadway network of 5.7 km in length, operating with mixed traffic conditions (traffic with varying static and dynamic characteristics of vehicles). The mitigations measures have been proposed to cater to the present traffic demand by converting the uncontrolled intersection to a partially controlled or signal-controlled intersection. In order to check the effectiveness of such mitigation measures, various scenarios have been generated in the developed and a well calibrated simulation model. It has also been observed that the speed performance index has improved by 8.88 percent while providing channelized intersection at one of the point elements and 11.52 %when the two-point elements have converted to channelizing intersection.
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The paper is focused on assessment of the transport services in small towns. Current legislation in the Slovak Republic, however, does not clearly determine which cities must provide the urban public transport (UPT). Analysis of the current state of the UPT evaluated 71 district towns of the SR and it was found out that 21 towns did not provide operation of the UPT. Another criterion for evaluation was the number of inhabitants of the city over 10,000 in Slovakia and selected regions of the Czech Republic and Poland. The paper presents results of a research conducted in the area of a transport operation, along with a proposal for the content of the methodology, based on a multi-criterial analysis to assess the need to introduce the UPT. The EU research results, regarding dependency of a GDP size and transport performances in UPT in selected EU states, Switzerland and Norway, are presented, as well.
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This paper presents a novelty approach to usage of the fiber-optic phase-based sensor in railway transportation. We designed and tested the real deployment of this sensor working on the principle of light interferences within optical fibers. The proposed construction of the sensor allowed to increase the sensitivity and thanks to this can be detected and calculated individual axles and wheels of tram vehicles. We performed long-time period measurements (April to September 2019) in diverse climatic conditions, including measurements of 642 tram passages (several different construction types) in real urban traffic. The detection accuracy level was slightly above 99.4 %.
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This article is an expression of thinking about the spaces of local democracy, which was based on the research project “Gdańsk as a Shared Place” (2014–2015). Due to the fact that the theses and results of this ‘old’ project are updated in the light of the deepening crisis of the social in the pandemic conditions, I present in the article the content selected from the research report, hopefully emphasizing their impor- tance in shaping various, sometimes surprising forms and places of democracy. I am doing this, counting on the fruitful expansion of the field of understanding and practicing bond-forming, communal forms of social life. Thus, I follow the path that Professor Stanisław Kawula (1939–2014) pioneered in social pedagogy, tirelessly describing the social condition and – thus – updating the dimensions of democracy in various perspectives [for example, in relation to the diagnosed risks (2003; 2005 etc.)]. Hence, I dedicate this text to him, and choosing the horizon of local experience, I want to draw attention to the meaning of research descriptions of this local dimension, which is especially important today, in a social crisis condi- tion. I conclude with a reflection on the meanings of non-consensual democracy, inscribed in urbanity as a way of social life, and emphasize the importance of a neighborhood which – literally: having a place – locates democracy in a special way. Such a location allows us to capture its essential meanings and show the democratic productivity of everyday, neighborly production of commonality, that is the common good, constantly crumble and constantly arouse mutual attention and ask for care.
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In this article, we refer to lifelong learning infrastructure, as can be oberved and accessed by the subjects of this study near their home/location, in accordance with the recommendations of the Memo- randum on Lifelong Learning.1In order to estimate the accessibility and access to education and lifelong learning, we conducted a case study on a street in Chisinau. We note that in the Republic of Moldova, the processes of educa- tion reform through modernization have focused mainly on intellectual aspects (curriculum, teacher training, textbook reform), while “material”/infrastructure aspects (training environment and means of education) were given less attention, citing lack of financial means or division of responsibility between authorities at different levels.In this context, we note that in 2020, Chisinau, along with 54 other cities in 27 countries around the world, joined the UNESCO Global Network of “Learning Cities”. Selected cities are outstanding examples of locations where lifelong learning can become a local reality. We analyze development strategies at different levels in order to pursue the objectives related to ensuring quality education from the perspective of lifelong learning.
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This paper proposes a quasi-standardized hypothetical interview-guide question and demonstrates its applicability in addressing participants’ general life aspirations, and, in particular, the embedded migration aspirations. The proposed interview question is related to the hypothesized behavior of participants in the off chance of having won the national lottery. Based on fieldwork results, conducted in rural Hungary between 2014-2019, the paper demonstrates how this question, introduced as a closing question during interviews, may be useful in addressing cultural values and attitudes in an agency-oriented way and with a reduction of perceived structural constraints affecting them. The question was eligible in differentiating between forms of geographical mobility, reflecting some migration-related phenomena that were formerly claimed challenging to be specifically addressed, revealing that pro-migration structural constraints might mask general attitudes to stay among those seemingly opting for emigration, and conversely, structural, restraining-constraints that, in some cases, mask pro-migration attitudes among those seemingly aspiring to stay.
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