Suchergebnisse

In the context of infrastructure and natural hazard planning, a new agenda for applied research is emerging which, focused on resilience, integrates government, hazard science, engineering and economics. This paper sets out the context and key tenets guiding the direction of this topic of enquiry, including the New Zealand legislative and policy context under which infrastructure decisions are made, core principles implied by the resilience objective, current norms and challenges in the practice of infrastructure planning, and key criteria for decision-support tools. While decision-making processes strongly informed by cost-benefit analysis (CBA) continue to be common in the New Zealand policy process, this paper demonstrates that there are certain distinguishing features of infrastructure networks that make it challenging to effectively and validly apply standard CBA approaches, particularly when resilience values are at stake. To help address this challenge, a new conceptual framework is presented to assist in the critical review and selection of decision-making tools to support infrastructure planning. This framework provides a synthesis of the ways through which contextual uncertainties influence the relative advantages and appropriateness of different decision support tools. Ultimately, we seek to promote a diverse but also nuanced approach to analysis supporting infrastructure planning under seismic and other natural hazard risk.

"The transition process in central and eastern Europe (CEE) had a profound effect on how individuals interact. Economic and social institutions have changed, requiring an adaptation process by individuals in the move toward a market economy. How each individual accesses, manipulates and uses their networks will determine the use of their social capital. Within CEE, there is a presumption of low levels of social capital. This paper was written as a conceptual framework for a research project entitled 'Integrated Development of Agricultural and Rural Institutions' (IDARI) in CEE countries. One element of the IDARI project is to understand the emergence and maintenance of cooperative behaviour in light of rural restructuring and institutional change in CEE. A link exists between social capital formation and cooperation amongst individuals, as both concepts imply social interaction and the formation of trust. This paper questions the rationale of applying the contested 'western' concept of social capital to CEE countries. It argues that although the concept was developed to understand processes within established democratic systems, it nevertheless is instrumental for analysing how trust is formed, and for understanding cooperation amongst individuals. As such, this framework reconciles literature from sociological and economic disciplines. Social networks and use of those networks (social capital) is becoming more important in light of accession to the EU, particularly when opportunities within and access to rural and regional development programmes are dependent on existing networks. Social capital is seen as a dynamic entity, a form of institutional change, which leads to innovation in the existing governance structures. Thus social capital provides a powerful explanatory tool for processes of institutional change." (author's abstract)