Suchergebnisse

In recent years, the widespread use of social media has increasingly impacted planning practice and policy making. Although a growing body of literature examines the impact of social media on urban governance and planning, there is a lack of theoretical understanding on the extent to which social media can support collaborative planning. This study identifies a typology of support functions of social media: information sharing refers to one-way information flows from government to citizens or from individuals and organizations to a wide audience in real time; social networking is about the networking of individuals and organizations, perhaps crossing geographical boundaries for collective actions; citizen participation is related to different levels of citizen power that may be enhanced by social media; and communication is diverse, characterized by multimodal, interactive and mass self-communication in various online public spheres. These support functions can be employed to assist different phases and scales of collaborative planning. Nevertheless, there are several potential challenges of using social media in urban planning, including population bias, privacy concerns, information credibility, (self-)censorship, and opinion polarization. The integration of social media, digital tools and traditional participation methods can help to support more inclusive planning processes.

In recent years, the widespread use of social media has increasingly impacted planning practice and policy making. Although a growing body of literature examines the impact of social media on urban governance and planning, there is a lack of theoretical understanding on the extent to which social media can support collaborative planning. This study identifies a typology of support functions of social media: information sharing refers to one-way information flows from government to citizens or from individuals and organizations to a wide audience in real time; social networking is about the networking of individuals and organizations, perhaps crossing geographical boundaries for collective actions; citizen participation is related to different levels of citizen power that may be enhanced by social media; and communication is diverse, characterized by multimodal, interactive and mass self-communication in various online public spheres. These support functions can be employed to assist different phases and scales of collaborative planning. Nevertheless, there are several potential challenges of using social media in urban planning, including population bias, privacy concerns, information credibility, (self-)censorship, and opinion polarization. The integration of social media, digital tools and traditional participation methods can help to support more inclusive planning processes.

This study investigated the perceptions of the role of Botswana's social studies teachers at secondary school level in fostering citizenship competencies and skills. Survey questionnaires were used to collect data comprising close and open-ended questions. The total population comprised forty-one respondents purposively sampled from nine junior and senior secondary schools in rural and urban locations. These included thirty four social studies teachers and seven head of departments. Data were analyzed quantitatively using descriptive statistics. The findings revealed that, contrary to expectations the Botswana's social studies curriculum does not promote the acquisition of citizenship skills. There is a disconnection between what social studies teachers think they do and what actually happens on the ground. In fact, the mere teaching of citizenship skills does not automatically translate into equipping learners with the relevant and appropriate competencies. Successful implementation of citizenship education requires political commitment and social studies teachers who are well trained and competent to handle educational reforms.

AbstractUsing the quantitative method, this paper examined barriers to water‐efficiency behaviour amongst rural and peri‐urban residents in Eastern Cape, South Africa and identify opportunities for promoting it. The result showed positive associations between water‐efficiency behaviour and income, personal capabilities and poor knowledge of efficient water conservation measures. Rural and peri‐urban households identified cost as the overarching barrier to installing water‐efficient appliances. Financial incentives emerged as a significant opportunity for promoting water‐efficient behaviour. The result suggests rural and peri‐urban residents are open to water efficiency behaviour where financial incentives are provided for the voluntary installation of efficient taps and other water‐saving devices. The findings underscore the need to educate the rural populace about the use and benefits of water‐efficient appliances. The study contributes to methodological approaches in household water behaviour studies and provides further insights on water efficiency behaviour within a specific African population often overlooked in mainstream academic endeavours of this kind.

The lack of robust studies carried out on urban roads in developing countries makes it difficult to enhance traffic safety, ensuring sustainable roads and cities. This study analyzes the contribution of a number of explanatory variables behind crashes involving injuries on arterial roads in Irbid (Jordan). Five binary logistic regression models were calibrated for a crash dataset from 2014–2018: one for the full database, and the others for the four main crash causes identified by Jordanian Traffic Police reports. The models show that whatever the crash cause, the three most significant factors linked to an injury or fatality lie in urban road sections that are in large-scale neighborhood areas, have fewer than six accesses per kilometer, and have a low traffic volume (under 500 veh/h/ln). Some of these results agree with previous studies in other countries. Jordan's governmental agencies concerned with urban road safety might use these results to develop appropriate plans and implement priority actions for each crash cause, in addition to undertaking further research for comparative purposes. ; Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities RTI2018-101770-B-I00

Nowadays, large parts of the world population (50-60%) are living in urban areas, which represent the most energy consuming systems (Buckley et al., 2009). Local governments are therefore asked to take new responsibilities in terms of energy management, adopting the urban scale as level of action, developing new methods and strategies to bring energy sustainability (saving/producing) and environmental quality into the cities. The development of a new energetic and environmental planning approach that can set energy as primary key - leading to a high level of urban efficiency and having a broad effect on other urban areas - is hence highly important. Different studies have pointed out the fundamental energetic role of urban morphology and typology (Ratti et al., 2004). Recognizing the key role of planning and design, and the contribution of modeling, some questions are arising: is it possible to analyze the performances of the built environment in a georeferenced way, considering the effect of urban design/form aspects, in order to achieve a better knowledge of those city characteristics that influence energy demand? Which is the role played by typologies in (re)orienting the energy analyses/model? Which targets can be achieved in reducing cost and energy? The project explore different factors involved in the energy performance of the city, in particular using an innovative evaluation model of heat energy demand, which has urban typologies as starting and key point of the analyses. A dynamic and georeferenced method has been specifically developed, allowing the estimation of the energy behavior of the "real" city. The empirical study is applied at the City of Gorgonzola - Italy, which holds potential both for the dimension of the built environment and the variety of urban typologies, which allow a comparison between them. Purpose of the paper is thus to analyze the results coming from the estimation, that can lead to a strong integration between energy, urban design and planning system.

Am Beispiel von Damaskus werden die grundlegenden Veränderungen der sozio-politischen Struktur in den großen Städten Syriens, den politischen Zentren, während der Mandatszeit analysiert