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Throughout the intense urbanisation process that occurred in Portugal during the last decades, social policies related with the built environment, and especially concerning housing, have shown to be insufficient to address and reverse precarious living conditions. Moreover, in this process the urban poor have often been 'invisible', even in major decisions that specifically concerned them, meaning that social policies have at times not only missed their target of reducing precariousness but have also actively contributed to increasing social and spatial exclusion, through inducing the creation of clusters of vulnerabilities or neglecting adequate support. Taking into account the recent worldwide economic crisis and its national impact in producing a condition of 'scarcity', it is urgent to rethink strategies and roles to reduce disparities. The metropolitan urban area of Porto, the second largest in Portugal, is here presented as a 'laboratory' within a broader ongoing research - commissioned by the Portuguese Government to the Porto University - to seek guidelines for social and territorial cohesion.Therefore, having this metropolitan area as background, this paper will start by presenting a critical analysis of different approaches towards the needs and roles of the urban poor, discussing not only how '(in)visible' they have been and how social policies have shaped the city, but also their impact in the concentration or dilution of socially vulnerable groups, and in the perpetuation and rupture of geographically concentrated vulnerability.Secondly, it will suggest the analysis of different types of vulnerabilities, understanding processes that have caused them, and their specific morphological patterns. Then it will be discussed how policies for reducing disparities have been struggling to address this diversity and sometimes missing their targets. Finally, detecting in the international debate on social policies a recent tendency to seek collaborative approaches, we aim to contribute to discussing the tools for this challenge.

The European Union (EU) has been involved in influencing major infrastructure in the fields of transport and energy mainly by means of the Trans-European Networks (TENs) programme begun in the 1990s. Other macro-planning and wider spatial planning exercises, including the European Spatial Development Perspective, made reference to such infrastructure systems, particularly in relation to the need for connectivity and mobility, but normally did not attempt to intervene in an area seen as one of the prerogatives of national states. Much more important have been the wider programmes of liberalization pressed by the EU since the 1980s, but these have had no specific geographical content. A revision of the TENs programmes since 2008 has led to proposals to increase the role of the EU, by drawing up continent wide schemas indicating needs for future investment in many fields of both transport and energy, and introducing new procedures to streamline decision-making by designating projects as of European interest. The initiatives in transport and energy are described here, including the two Regulations currently under discussion within the EU institutions. These include major proposals for cross-European multi-modal transport corridors within an EU core network, and regional schemas for energy drawn up primarily by energy industries and government counterparts. Both are likely to be of real significance for spatial planners throughout the continent, and have major impacts on the shapes of future infrastructure networks. These proposals are analysed, as cases of the rescaling and re-ordering of government, giving more force to the EU in these fields, and reinforcing sectoral- or silo-based decision-making. It is argued that somewhat different outcomes will result in the few areas, such as the Baltic, where long-term macro-regional collaboration has been present, from the rest of Europe, where these sectoral programmes may complicate further the mix of planning impacting on each region, making even more confused the accountability of governance. Suggestions are made for the careful assessment of these schemas by national and regional governments, and for the creation of some spatial planning analytical capability at the EU level, which could examine this type of proposals, with powerful spatial impacts.

A number of organisations with physical planning missions and mandates adopted geospatial information systems (GIS) in the 1990s, and GIS has become a common and necessary tool for urban and regional planning. A state-wide study was conducted during the last decade in Australia to advance the implementation of GIS for use in urban and regional planning and other mandates of local government. One of the research objectives was to identify constraints for GIS adoption at the local government level. Questionnaires were used as an instrument for data collection in two phases, the first in 1991 and again in 1999. The profiles of the survey participants have been published already along with some of the initial research findings (Otawa, 2002a; Otawa, 20mb). Specifically, this paper examines 12 factors hindering GIS adoption in the 22 urban and regional planning organisations in the State of Queensland, Australia that returned the questionnaire. These obstacles were identified first by in-depth reviews of the GIS-related literature published during the 1990s, and questions were formulated from these reviews. Respondents in both surveys ranked the obstacles on a scale of 1 to 4, that is, from least to most important. Statistical analyses of the two surveys have revealed both common and varied obstacles to GIS implementation throughout the state. Some obstacles are unique to a particular organisation, while the majority of the responding entities have others in common. The comparative analysis of the survey results indicates that the early obstacles may have been overcome or have given way to different types of obstacles in the late 1990s. The pattern of change is generally unique to individual organisations, although some present similar trends. Further, this paper suggests general strategies for advancing GIS into the next stages of implementation based on the findings from our long-term research. The constraints-analysis tool used in the research project proved valuable in assessing the efficacy of GIS in planning organisations.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Sustainable Management Development Program (SMDP) partners with low - and middle - resource countries to develop management capacity so that effective global public health programs can be implemented and better health outcomes can be achieved. The program's impact however, was variable. Hence, there was a need to both engage in a strategic planning process and collect useful data to inform the process. We therefore designed a qualitative evaluation and findings that emerged concerning o ur program's contribution to individual career advancement and professional growth; the need for institutional support and a champion to move public health management capacity development efforts forward in low - and middle - resource countries; and interest in diverse professional learning opportunities contributed to program improvement and suggested new strategic directions for CDC's global public health management service delivery. Our inquiry provides a concrete example of how qualitative methods, specifically key informant interviews, can provide useful data for strategic planning within public health settings. It may be useful to readers who are interested in conducting strategic planning within public health and other related areas including health care, mental and behavioral health, and the social sciences.

Abstract: There is consensus that teacher educators should be held responsible for the trainees that they graduate. COVID-19 led to rapid response to the crisis by promoting adoption of remote learning. Ministries of education all over the world aligned rapid response to their long-term learning priorities. Efforts should be geared towards enhancing the skills of teacher educators and the trainee teachers in crisis risk reduction and management through micro-teaching course. Educational media practical skill training is critical to ensuring inclusive and equitable quality education and promotion of lifelong learning opportunities for all. Teachers need Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge to use technology for economic growth, social inclusion, and environmental conservation. Digitalization of the curriculum is about looking ahead of crises that may disrupt learning. However, studies on integration of ICT into pedagogy have revealed gross incompetence of teachers and lack of infrastructure and instructional leadership to support its implementation. Additionally, Ministries of Education in Africa have not institutionalized crisis-risk reduction and management into education policies and programs. Moreover, effective continuous professional development for teacher educators and learners has not been institutionalized in higher education in Kenya. Therefore, adoption and integration of ICT into higher education curriculum and pedagogy is still at a nascent stage. A study was done among fourth year pre-service teacher trainees at Maasai Mara University to establish how effective the media practical skills training prepared them for teaching practice and Technological Pedagogical Knowledge Content. The findings revealed that there was a relationship between media practical skills training and teaching practice. They also revealed that most of the students had pedagogical and content knowledge but no Technological Knowledge. This study has recommended revision of the teacher education curriculum, capacity building of teacher educators in 21st Century skills on Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge and provision of well-equipped resource centers in teacher training institutions.