Search

Municipalities as key players in the transport transition, local authorities are increasingly using consultative public participation in planning. So far, however, it is unclear to what extent they use participatory processes in mobility-related planning and how these are organised. This paper closes this knowledge gap based on an analysis of the consultative, discursive participation processes for mobility-related planning in German cities since 2015. 180 cities and 350 procedures were analysed to determine to what extent an what characteristics in German municipalities use consultative, discursive participation procedures inmobility-related planning and what possible in- fluence of the respective context can be derived from this. The study analyses 'participation-oriented' cities with guidelines for citizen participation, which were compared to a random selection of 'typical' municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Baden-Württemberg and Saxony as well as the three German city states. It is clear that discursive consultations are carried out regularly, in particular in municipalities with guidelines and larger cities. Yet in most cities such processes are still the exception. Worth criticizing is that the formats used can usually reach only certain groups of the population and that for a significant proportion of the processes examined no information on the results of participation can be found. As a result, the potential of discursive citizen participation in addressing the municipal transport transition have not yet been sufficiently utilised. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In line with the European Commission's target, land take in Germany has to be reduced to net zero by 2050. This not only presupposes greater inner urban development and more efficient development outside existing settlements, but also puts a greater planning and political focus on renaturation. The aim of this paper is to investigate the implementation of no net land take policy using the example of the highly dense and urbanised federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. Based on an online survey, the current and potential use of (planning) instruments to implement this policy in all 396 municipalities in North Rhine-Westphalia was investigated. The findings suggest that the municipalities are not yet in a position to consistently implement no net land take. Particularly in the field of renaturation, this is often due to a lack of experience and uncertainties in the use of the existing (planning) instruments, but also to lacking awareness of the problem and a lack of political and social acceptance for higher housing densities. Since the necessary instruments are defined in current legislation and the concepts for implementation are generally known, it is important to support municipalities in using the available instruments and concepts even without direct pressure to act. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The systematic protests by the nuncio Fabio Chigi against the peace treaties negotiated during the Congress of Westphalia (1643–1649) have long been interpreted as a papal diplomatic failure, at a time when the ideal of Christianity was definitively giving way to a Europe made up of states. This paper seeks to move away from this categorical interpretation of the phenomenon. By studying the correspondence of the nuncios stationed in Madrid, Paris, Brussels and Vienna, the aim is to analyse how the peace of Westphalia was received, and determine whether this reception differs from the protest politics pursued by Fabio Chigi in Münster. It emerges that the nunciatures had varied reactions to the negotiations and the treaties, within fragmented contexts where the peace in Germany was just one of many current events, which were dominated by ongoing conflicts. The primary characteristic of these reactions is that they result from the local activities of each nuncio. By focusing on the variety of reactions, this study offers a polycentric and interconnected understanding of papal diplomacy at the time of the Congress of Westphalia. It aims to provide a better comprehension of the ‚agency' of the apostolic nuncios in redefining the diplomatic culture of the Holy See, through their differing receptions, practices and uses of the notion of peace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For this paper, the perception of the integration of refugees in the community of Everswinkel (North Rhine-Westphalia) was traced from a post-migrant perspective. For this purpose, representatives of the community, volunteers and residents of suburban neighbourhoods were asked about the changed situation of refugee migration since 2015. In order to arrive at a broader perspective on migration, which no longer sees immigration as a downstream problem affecting only migrants, but rather as a condition to be negotiated for the entire host society, the conceptual triad of alliances, antagonists and ambivalences of Naika Foroutan was operationalized. The results of the surveys turned out to be very heterogeneous and some contradicting views of integration were observed. On the one hand, diverse pro-plural alliances have emerged in Everswinkel, which materialize in particular in the offers and institutions of the community. On the other hand, these are accompanied by anti-plural antagonists who are, for example, strongly conveyed through topics such as neighbourhood coexistence or the topic of living. In addition, a third perspective, that of the ambivalence and contradictions in the perception of the integration of refugees, comes into focus. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening inner urban development is a guiding principle of Germany's sustainability policy and the key to achieving the 30-hectare target. To date, however, it is hardly possible to determine retrospectively the share of building construction activity realized as inner and outer urban development. On the one hand, there is the genuine fuzziness of the inner urban area (Innenbereich) as a spatial construct, and on the other hand, there is the lack of available small-scale data on building construction activity. Against this background, this paper presents for the first time a methodological approach to determine and evaluate the relevance of inner urban development for large areas and over longer periods of time for Germany. The method is applied for the federal state of North Rhine- Westphalia and the housing construction activity from 1979 to 2011. The result shows a positive trend, indicating that cities and municipalities have succeeded in realizing more housing as inner urban development over time. At the same time, significant differences between urban and rural areas are apparent. A central conclusion is therefore to support smaller municipalities in their efforts for more inner urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Strengthening inner urban development is a guiding principle of Germany's sustainability policy and the key to achieving the 30-hectare target. To date, however, it is hardly possible to determine retrospectively the share of building construction activity realized as inner and outer urban development. On the one hand, there is the genuine fuzziness of the inner urban area (Innenbereich) as a spatial construct, and on the other hand, there is the lack of available small-scale data on building construction activity. Against this background, this paper presents for the first time amethodological approach to determine and evaluate the relevance of inner urban development for large areas and over longer periods of time for Germany. The method is applied for the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the housing construction activity from 1979 to 2011. The result shows a positive trend, indicating that cities and municipalities have succeeded in realizing more housing as inner urban development over time. At the same time, significant differences between urban and rural areas are apparent. A central conclusion is therefore to support smaller municipalities in their efforts for more inner urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Previous research has demonstrated the negative effects of study-related stressors on the mental health of medical students. It has been found that social resources such as social identity, dual identity and social support help buffer negative mental health outcomes. Notably, social status has been found to weaken the connection between stress and depressive symptoms. Based on these findings, the present study investigates how social resources (i.e., social identity, social support, dual identity and status) mitigate the impact of study-related stressors on the mental health of medical students who carry an inordinate stress burden. Methods: The data collection was based on a questionnaire (online and paper–pencil) which was distributed to medical students in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. The sample (224 participants) consisted of 77.2% female and 22.8% male medical students (36.2% human medicine students (HMS) and 63.8% dental medicine students (DMS)). The questionnaire included graphical scales and standardized questionnaires. We investigated demographic data, study-related stressors (i.e. academic performance, clinical practice, faculty relations) and depressive symptoms as outcomes, and social identity, social support, dual identity and status as moderators. The analyses were performed using SPSS 25 for Windows. Results: We found significant positive associations between study-related stressors and depressive symptoms. While dual identity as well as social support by fellow students emerged as buffers in these associations, the other social resources did not. As regards status, it was found to work as a buffer only in HMS, who typically enjoy a significantly higher status than dental medical students. Conclusion: It is only social resources such as support from fellow students and dual identity, but not other resource types, that can be effective buffers against depressive symptoms associated with study-related stressors. These findings can be used to promote students' identities in relation to both fellow students and the faculty, or the university as a whole, enabling students to better cope with stress and, thus, suffer less from depressive symptoms. Furthermore, the HMS, who ascribe a relatively high status to themselves, can use their status as a buffering factor in stressful situations, in which little can be done from the outside. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The balance-of-power concept has been solidified in the discourse of international relations by the mid-seventeenth century. However, the phrase balance of power was not mentioned once in the Peace of Westphalia (1648), and alternative legal principles of status quo ante (bellum) or uti possidetis were still very influential. Although the balance-of-power idea was not written explicitly in the Peace of Westphalia, its implicit presence was evident and it was often referenced during the negotiations. Several alliances concluded in the second half of the seventeenth century against France reference the balance-of-power idea. By the signing of the Peace of Utrecht (1713), the balance of power became a leading principle and it was referenced repeatedly in the treaties themselves. The idea was first used in historiographical and abstract legal texts, but it became alluded to or explicitly noted in the 'everyday' pamphlets referring to specific state and dynastic policies. The discrepancy between political discourse with the clear presence of the balance-of-power idea and international treaties with the clear absence of the idea until Utrecht is peculiar. The paper traces the path of the balance-of-power concept from the diplomatic background to the diplomatic foreground. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose -- This paper aims to examine a cluster-based strategy implemented in the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia under the 2007-2013 "Regional Competitiveness and Employment" programme. Departing from traditional discretionary approaches, a substantial share of the funds was now allocated on a competitive basis. The authors analyse the resulting distribution of funds across stakeholders and sub- regions and try to assess the pros and cons of this process, which constitutes a novel delivery system for cluster policies. Design/methodology/approach -- Following a literature review, the paper applies two sets of regression models to explain the distribution of funds under the new policy delivery system. Interviews with stakeholders provide evidence on the efficacy and efficiency of the competitive funding process. Findings -- The changes introduced in the 2007-2013 funding period benefit universities and research organisations, as well as intermediary organisations, whereas the private sector and especially small firms capture a rather small piece of the pie. Contrary to the "innovation paradox" hypothesis, structurally weak sub-regions did not lose out in state-wide funding contests. The presence of universities with an overall high volume of third-party funding is the key variable explaining the spatial distribution of funds. This interview evidence identifies the duration of the selection process and its administrative complexity as main weaknesses, which the authors attribute to bureaucratic rationality on different levels. Originality/value -- This is the first analysis of a competitive funding scheme at the sub-national level, using the German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia as a case study. It sheds light on the mechanisms of funding allocation in the 2007-2013 funding period of the European Union's cohesion policy, which was reoriented towards supporting regional competitiveness and employment in response to the Lisbon Agenda. While competitive funding is still seen as mobilising regional stakeholders and improving the quality of projects and the selection process, these findings highlight administrative complexity as a main deficiency, which has partly been addressed in the 2014-2020 funding period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims at introducing a recent European collaborative project dedicated to lithic studies of the Neolithic. It unites a group of archaeologists from France, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany, who belong to different research traditions. Our first meetings stressed the need for a cross-border dialogue and a common language for lithic analysis, including raw material analysis, blank production and tool production. We began by highlighting the differences and proximities between the different approaches, the potentialities to bridge these differences, the archaeological goals and the training needed. Our project, therefore, aims to harmonise our study practices in order to promote international communication and collaboration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

“Energiewende”, which roughly translates as the transformation of the German energy sector in accordance with the imperatives of climate change, may soon become a byword for the corresponding processes most other developed countries are at various stages of undergoing. Germany's notable progress in this area offers valuable insights that other states can draw on in implementing their own transitions. The German state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is making its own contribution to achieving the Energiewende's ambitious objectives: in addition to funding an array of ‘clean and green’ projects, the Virtual Institute Power to Gas and Heat was established as a consortium of seven scientific and technical organizations whose aim is to inscribe a future, renewable-based German energy system with adequate flexibility. Thus, it is tasked with conceiving of and evaluating suitable energy path options. This paper outlines one of the most promising of these pathways, which is predicated on the use of electrolytically-produced hydrogen as an energy storage medium, as well as the replacement of hydrocarbon-based fuel for most road vehicles. We describe and evaluate this path and place it in a systemic context, outlining a case study from which other countries and federated jurisdictions therein may draw inspiration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The German federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) is home to one of the most important industrial regions in Europe, and is the first German state to have adopted its own Climate Protection Law (CPL). This paper describes the long-term (up to 2050) mitigation scenarios for NRW's main energy-intensive industrial sub-sectors which served to support the implementation of the CPL. It also describes the process of scenario development, as these scenarios were developed through stakeholder participation. The scenarios considered three different pathways (best-available technologies, break-through technologies, and CO2 capture and storage). All pathways had optimistic assumptions on the rate of industrial growth and availability of low-carbon electricity. We find that a policy of "re-industrialisation" for NRW based on the current industrial structures (assumed here to represent an average growth of NRWs industrial gross value added (GVA) of 1.6% per year until 2030 and 0.6% per year from 2030 to 2050), would pose a significant challenge for the achievement of overall energy demand and German greenhouse gas (GHG) emission targets, in particular as remaining efficiency potentials in NRW are limited. In the best-available technology (BAT) scenario CO2 emission reductions of only 16% are achieved, whereas the low carbon (LC) and the carbon capture and storage (CCS) scenario achieve 50% and 79% reduction respectively. Our results indicate the importance of successful development and implementation of a decarbonised electricity supply and breakthrough technologies in industry-such as electrification, hydrogen-based processes for steel, alternative cements or CCS-if significant growth is to be achieved in combination with climate mitigation. They, however, also show that technological solutions alone, together with unmitigated growth in consumption of material goods, could be insufficient to meet GHG reduction targets in industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Slope and roughness are basic geophysical properties of terrain surface, and also sources of error in satellite laser altimetry systems. The full-waveform satellite laser altimeter records the complete echo waveform backscattered from the target surface worldwide, so it may be used for both range measurement and inversion analysis of geometric parameters of the target surface. This paper proposes a new method for inversion of slope and roughness of the bare or near-bare terrain within laser footprint using full-waveform satellite laser altimeter data, Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and topographic prior knowledge. To solve the non-uniqueness of the solution to the inversion problem, this paper used the SRTM and airborne Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) data in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, to establish a priori hypothesis about real information of topographic parameters. Then, under the constraints of prior hypothesis, the theoretical formulas and rules for slope and roughness inversion using the pulse-width broadening knowledge of satellite laser altimeter echo full-waveform were developed. Finally, based on the full-waveform data from the Geoscience Laser Altimeter System (GLAS) that was borne on ICE, Cloud, and Land Elevation Satellite (ICESat) and SRTM in the West Valley City, Utah and Jackson City, Wyoming, United States of America, the inversion was carried out. The experiment compares the results of proposed method with those of existing ones and evaluates the inversion results using high precision terrain slope and roughness information, which indicates that our proposed method is superior to the state-of-the-art methods, and the inversion accuracy for slope is 0.667 ° (Mean Absolute Error, MAE) and 1.054 ° (Root Mean Square Error, RMSE), the inversion accuracy for roughness is 0.171 m (MAE) and 0.250 m (RMSE). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The spatial structure of urban areas plays a major role in the daily life of dwellers. The current policy framework to ensure the quality of life of inhabitants leaving no one behind, leads decision-makers to seek better-informed choices for the sustainable planning of urban areas. Thus, a better understanding between the spatial structure of cities and their socio-economic level is of crucial relevance. Accordingly, the purpose of this paper is to quantify this two-way relationship. Therefore, we measured spatial patterns of 31 cities in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. We rely on spatial pattern metrics derived from a Local Climate Zone classification obtained by fusing remote sensing and open GIS data with a machine learning approach. Based upon the data, we quantified the relationship between spatial pattern metrics and socio-economic variables related to 'education', 'health', 'living conditions', 'labor', and 'transport' by means of multiple linear regression models, explaining the variability of the socio-economic variables from 43% up to 82%. Additionally, we grouped cities according to their level of 'quality of life' using the socio-economic variables, and found that the spatial pattern of low-dense built-up types was different among socio-economic groups. The proposed methodology described in this paper is transferable to other datasets, levels, and regions. This is of great potential, due to the growing availability of open statistical and satellite data and derived products. Moreover, we discuss the limitations and needed considerations when conducting such studies. • We apply local climate zones representing cities by their density, building types, heights, greenness and land cover. • Socio-economic indicators can be modelled by means of urban spatial pattern metrics extracted from local climate zone maps. • Grouping cities into quality of life levels show similarities in the spatial pattern of low-dense built areas. • The proposed method helps to obtain empirical evidences that may contribute to urban planning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes a methodological approach that is able to analyse socio-demographic and -economic data in large-scale spatial detail. Based on the two variables, population density and annual income, one investigates the spatial relationship of these variables to identify locations of imbalance or disparities assisted by bivariate choropleth maps. The aim is to gain a deeper insight into spatial components of socioeconomic nexuses, such as the relationships between the two variables, especially for high-resolution spatial units. The used methodology is able to assist political decision-making, target group advertising in the field of geo-marketing and for the site searches of new shop locations, as well as further socioeconomic research and urban planning. The developed methodology was tested in a national case study in Germany and is easily transferrable to other countries with comparable datasets. The analysis was carried out utilising data about population density and average annual income linked to spatially referenced polygons of postal codes. These were disaggregated initially via a readapted three-class dasymetric mapping approach and allocated to large-scale city block polygons. Univariate and bivariate choropleth maps generated from the resulting datasets were then used to identify and compare spatial economic disparities for a study area in North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW), Germany. Subsequently, based on these variables, a multivariate clustering approach was conducted for a demonstration area in Dortmund. In the result, it was obvious that the spatially disaggregated data allow more detailed insight into spatial patterns of socioeconomic attributes than the coarser data related to postal code polygons. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most critical steps in a multitemporal D-InSAR analysis is the resolution of the phase ambiguities in the context of phase unwrapping. The Extended Minimum Cost Flow approach is one of the potential phase unwrapping algorithms used in the Small Baseline Subset analysis. In a first step, each phase gradient is unwrapped in time using a linear motion model and, in a second step, the spatial phase unwrapping is individually performed for each interferogram. Exploiting the temporal and spatial information is a proven method, but the two-step procedure is not optimal. In this paper, a method is presented which solves both the temporal and spatial phase unwrapping in one single step. This requires some modifications regarding the estimation of the motion model and the choice of the weights. Furthermore, the problem of temporal inconsistency of the data, which occurs with spatially filtered interferograms, must be considered. For this purpose, so called slack variables are inserted. To verify the method, both simulated and real data are used. The test region is the Lower-Rhine-Embayment in the southwest of North Rhine-Westphalia, a very rural region with noisy data. The studies show that the new approach leads to more consistent results, so that the deformation time series of the analyzed pixels can be improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The apparently sudden reemergence of religious movements in world politics since the 1970s stunned scholars of international relations who had clung to the myth that secularization of politics and diplomacy began when the Peace of Westphalia in 1648 ended Europe's "Wars of Religion." The author challenges that myopia, arguing that even in (or especially in) the twentieth and twenty-first centuries religion remains a principal driver of politics in European civilization and the current "Clash of Civilizations." [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]