Suchergebnisse

The legacy of colonialism in Northern Ireland has created an ideological divide between Irish nationalism and British unionism through which many questions of political economy are sorted, including questions of conflict, peace and European integration. This paper examines and considers how divergent nationalist discourses surrounding European integration have developed in Northern Ireland throughout history. This divergence can be linked to the fundamentally different and conflicting historical understandings these nationalist projects have of identity, borders and governance.

La mia tesi di dottorato ha come obbiettivo quello di definire quali sono le nuove sfide giuridiche poste dallo sviluppo dei sistemi satellitari duali, in modo da ricercare un equilibrio tra le esigenze di sicurezza e lo sviluppo commerciale. Il lavoro permetterà di identificare le nuove dinamiche relative all'uso dei satelliti duali ed il loro inquadramento giuridico in ambito internazionale, europeo e nazionale. Per rispondere a questi interrogativi, le problematiche giuridiche sollevate sui sistemi satellitari duali saranno affrontate seguendo l'evoluzione storica delle attività spaziali, nello specifico l'uso militare dello spazio, per proseguire poi con il trasferimento di tecnologia ed il controllo delle esportazione che ha caratterizzato l'espansione delle attività spaziali, con l'ingresso dei privati sul mercato delle attività commerciali e dello scambio dei dati, grazie ad una più stretta collaborazione tra ambienti civili e militari. Il primo capitolo si focalizzerà sui programmi spaziali duali sviluppati a livello europeo, per comprendere le nuove sfide sorte da questa rinnovata sinergia civile-militare, evidenziando così la stretta interdipendenza di funzioni militari e civili sugli stessi sistemi spaziali. Risulta inoltre più evidente che in futuro, in caso di conflitto armato nello spazio, gli Stati cercheranno di rendere inoperativi i satelliti dell'avversario. Si pone quindi il problema dell'uso militare di questi sistemi duali, così come devono essere tenute in considerazione le problematiche giuridiche che possono sorgere in caso di un conflitto nello spazio. Dall'evoluzione e dallo sviluppo delle tecnologie spaziali deriva un intero regime di controllo delle esportazioni tra Stati, soprattutto in termini di tecnologia militare ed a duplice uso, che sarà considerato nel terzo capitolo, per analizzare i meccanismi volti a conciliare gli interessi a volte contrapposti relativi alla cooperazione internazionale ed alla sicurezza nazionale. Infine, in considerazione del sempre più crescente sviluppo commerciale delle attività spaziali, che si realizza in primis attraverso la distribuzione delle immagini satellitari ad alta risoluzione, il capitolo finale analizzerà le problematiche giuridiche relative ai dati ottenuti dai satelliti duali di telerilevamento, di navigazione e di telecomunicazione, con lo scopo di conciliare le questioni di sicurezza (nazionale ed internazionale) degli Stati con il soddisfacimento degli interessi commerciali dei privati.

This dissertation examines the experiences of former homeowners in the San Francisco Bay Area who have lost their homes to foreclosure from 2006-2012. Against the backdrop of the ongoing foreclosure crisis that is part of the larger recession, this study asks what foreclosed households have experienced during this period, and how those experiences have shaped the personal meanings they have drawn from foreclosure. While displacement due to foreclosure includes both tenants and former homeowners, this research focuses solely on the effects of the displacement of former homeowners. I ask how former homeowners recover after foreclosure, how foreclosure continues to affect households after foreclosure, and how moving after foreclosure plays a role. In this dissertation, I start to extrapolate theories of larger effects outside of solely that of the built environment, looking at where people have gone after foreclosure in the San Francisco Bay Area and how they discuss their experiences and beliefs about homeownership, moving, renting, credit, and home, after going through foreclosure. This research is a mixed-methods investigation of the spatial and social impacts of foreclosure in the San Francisco Bay Area. Mixed methods allows an understanding of the spatial movements of households and social organization of neighborhoods across the metropolitan region due to foreclosure, as well as an understanding of how these moves are incorporated into individual household-level strategies towards household recovery. This research uses foreclosure record data and matches the addresses of each foreclosed home and the name on the deed to the individual's new address in the US Postal Service's Change of Address data to examine patterns of moving, after foreclosure through GIS analysis. Between May 2010-April 2012, I conducted 55 one-hour semi-structured interviews, 45 with former homeowners who lost their residence to foreclosure in the San Francisco Bay Area between 2006-2011.I use interview data with former homeowners to analyze the impacts of foreclosure, ranging from the mechanics of the foreclosure process, to the impacts on desires to buy a home again, to impacts on credit and personal finances, and the meaning of home. I use interview data to investigate former homeowners' actions and beliefs, after foreclosure. Chapter 2 describes the experience of the foreclosure process, from the perspective of the homeowner. This chapter describes the foreclosure triggers that interview participants discussed, the experience of the foreclosure process and homeowners' attempts to contact the bank, their experiences of trying to secure loan modifications or do short-sales, experiences of losing their savings, and their experiences moving. In Chapter 3, I analyze former homeowners' interest in buying a house again in the future, and how this relates to changed ideas about renting. While former homeowners in their 20s-40s look forward to being able to buy again, they have envisioned financial strategies for how they will buy again and protect themselves. However, after foreclosure, life goals shift, and many consider what really matters in their lives, outside of material goals. In Chapter 4, I look at the relationship between foreclosure and credit. Many former homeowners resist declaring bankruptcy as part of their foreclosure, but with tax and mortgage deficiency liabilities may consider declaring bankruptcy after foreclosure. The damage to credit caused by foreclosure may be long-lasting, and affect employment opportunities, the ability to consolidate consumer debts, and the ability to secure rental housing, which is discussed in Chapter 5. During the foreclosure process, homeowners experience intense pressure from collections or delinquent loan divisions. This contributes to homeowners' efforts to avoid debt after foreclosure. I uncover a paradox where former homeowners feel that credit recovery is important to their personal recovery after foreclosure, however, common strategies of resisting and rejecting consumer credit, and repeated testing for access to credit may actually contribute to slower recovery of credit scores.In Chapter 5, I analyze where households have moved after foreclosure. Using spatial analysis techniques with mapping, I find that in general in the San Francisco Bay Area, the locations with the greatest concentrations of foreclosure are also the locations where households are relocating after foreclosure. The second half of the chapter describes how former homeowners found a rental home, through disclosure of their foreclosure and looking for a sympathetic landlord.The final chapter concludes by discussing a disconnect between non-profit foreclosure prevention, and preventing foreclosures, and summarizing these ways in which experiences during and after foreclosure have shaped the perspectives of those interviewed in this research, and extends this to the implications for policy.The ongoing foreclosure crisis will continue to affect increasing numbers of homeowners, and we should consider whether housing policy and financial institutions are doing enough to prevent the loss of home, financial resources, and human dignity described here. Currently, foreclosure is the only reliable solution for exiting homeownership when property values have fallen. Foreclosure has operated as a machine, and, as I discuss in the chapters to follow, once a homeowner enters that machine, it is difficult to escape. Foreclosure is a process of great uncertainty for the homeowner, and even after foreclosure, their legal and financial situation has not been resolved. The experience has a life-changing effect on many former homeowners, who change their beliefs and behaviors, not just in relationship to homeownership, but also in terms of their life goals, their relationship to banks and financial institutions, their use of debt and credit, and where they live after foreclosure. While there have been policy changes to improve the numbers receiving loan modifications at the margins, there has not been the political will to create a large-scale significant alternative to foreclosure. Without a larger policy intervention, the process of foreclosure presented here will continue to be the only guaranteed resolution for those who cannot stay in their homes, or for whom it is not financially sustainable for them to continue to stay.

Design for Ecological Democracy is indispensable as both field guide and handbook for creating ecological democracy through the design of the buildings, cities, and landscapes of the future. As a field guide, Hester enables the reader to recognize the social and ecological beauty of places when it is encountered with his rich hand-drawn illustrations and watercolor paintings. As a handbook, Hester gives the reader the intellectual tools to apply these ideas in one's own work in planning and design with his thoughtful analysis and clear design principles.