Search

Covid-19 outbreak has mostly affected people in the second half of their lives, at risk of isolation and loneliness; in fact, the impact of the pandemic was even more severe for the well-being of the elderly. Such a recent event has to be framed within the challenge of the demographic increase of people aged 65 years or older, which is particularly relevant in the European context. This paper explores which gaps have to be filled up in order to make cities a suitable place for the elderly to live in, particularly after any emergence of dysfunction and fragility in health, employment, transportation and welfare systems due to the pandemic. We assess the relative contribution of each regressor to the explained variance, that may advise policy makers about which urban features are perceived to be the most relevant for the elderly, even before the pandemic, and must be implemented. Our results have several policy implications. The assessment should provide a contribution to European decision-making processes headed to improve the perception of age-friendliness in urban environments, implementing a paradigm for reference, given the great heterogeneity of features characterizing European cities. • It is important to understand suitability of urban environments for the elderly. • The analysis covers 83 cities in Europe and the perceptions of their citizens. • The age-friendly city environment was associated with an elder-friendly city. • The R-squared decomposition identifies the most relevant features of cities. • Our results contribute to improve policies for cities after Covid-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: In this paper a methodology for measuring transit service quality is proposed. The methodology is based on the use of both passenger perceptions and transit agency performance measures involving the main aspects characterizing a transit service. The combination of these two types of service quality measurement fulfils the need to provide a reliable as possible measurement tool of the transit performance. Considering passenger perceptions is fundamental because the customer''s point of view is very relevant for evaluating the performance of a transit service. At the same time, the use of a more objective measurement provided by the transit agency can be a useful solution for obtaining a more comprehensive service quality measurement. The proposed procedure is applied to a real case study of a suburban bus line; a series of subjective and objective indicators are calculated on the basis of users’ perception about the service and measurements provided by the transit agency. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

• The performance of ecosystem services is distinct from its importance. • Interactions between socio-cultural values and forest preferences are assessed. • Divergent preferences are linked to a different score for specific socio-cultural values. • Addressing socio-cultural values can allow for legitimizing management choices. As an attempt to clarify the meaning of 'values' within ecosystem services (ES) assessments, this paper proposes the integration and fine-tuning of the concept of 'socio-cultural values' within the ES assessment framework. Firstly, it makes a conceptual clarification between biophysical, social or monetary value indicators describing the performance of a service, and socio-cultural values reflecting opinions on the importance of a (set of) service(s). Secondly, it provides a practical application to illustrate how to interpret 'social value indicators' through their interactions with 'socio-cultural values'. An adequate use of these 'socio-cultural values' combined with subjective social value indicators' makes it possible to take the opinion of a wide range of actors into account and to give meaning to their expressed preferences instead of blindfolding on caricaturized profiles. The case study in this paper deals with the Ardennes forests (Belgium). Wider public preferences for different structural forest characteristics (as performance-oriented ES value indicators) actually relate to different 'socio-cultural values'. The study results reveal a mismatch between current forest management strategies and wider public preferences. This paper clearly demonstrates the potential of 'socio-cultural values' to improve legitimacy and to foster consensus-building of decision-making in natural resource management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Most corruption research suffers from one common problem: There is no objective measure of public-sector corruption for a cross-section of countries. Studies on the determinants or the effects of corruption typically rely on indicators of corruption perception. In recent years, a second type of indicator reflecting experience with bribery has become available. If corruption perception is primarily informed by experience with corruption, these two types of indicators should be very highly correlated, which they are not. This study examines the variation in individual corruption perception that cannot be explained by individual corruption experience alone. We find that both respondent characteristics and country characteristics affect corruption perception beyond what can be explained by individuals' first-hand experience of corruption. Some of these biases may force us to reevaluate results of corruption research that is based on perception data, as well as the anti-corruption policies designed in response to these results. • We ask why individuals evaluate corruption differently than how they experience it. • Respondent and country traits may affect the formation of corruption perception. • Respondent traits beyond the experience of corruption change corruption perception. • For countries, higher income, growth, and trust seem to bias perception downwards. • Free media and electoral competition seem to inflate corruption perceptions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To cope with the challenges of increasing older adults residing in cities, the World Health Organization (WHO) introduced the "Age-Friendly City" framework in 2007 (World Health Organization, 2007). One of the main themes is accessible physical environment that has major impacts on mobility, independence and quality of life of older adults, and their ability to "age in place". Mobility of older adults is conducive to their physical, emotional, and social wellbeing. Mobility patterns of older adults, how built environment impacts older adults' mobility have been well-studied by academics. These studies often required advanced research technique and substantial data collection; it is challenging to incorporate these study approaches into the Age-Friendly City (AFC) framework that emphasizes bottom-up participation of stakeholders. On the other hand, studies led by local stakeholders often relied too much on subjective data sources. To facilitate the formulation of strategies and action plans towards age-friendly city, a concise set of age-friendly city indicators needs to be developed: a set of indicators that has high objectivity but agrees well with subjective views of local older adults, that could be easily understood, and is easy to implement. This study piloted the adoption of the core indicators set proposed in " Measuring the age-friendliness of cities: a guide to using core indicators " (World Health Organization, 2015) in an old urban district in Hong Kong. This study focused on factors related to mobility: walking environment, public transport, and accessible public buildings and spaces. Objective assessments have shown generally high level of performance in these physical environment attributes; the subjective ratings by local older adults were found to have medium relationship to the respective objective indicators. However, the relationship is weak in the subdomains of "neighbourhood walkability" and "accessible public spaces and buildings". It was found that the set of indicators is concise, easy to understand, and easy to implement. Yet, some refinements are suggested, such as: (1) include "affordability of public transport" in the indicator set, and (2) incorporate "quality of access" on top of "having a mean of access" into the objective indicators under "neighbourhood walkability" and "accessible public spaces and buildings". The "input" resources and "output" facilities and services by the government and private sectors that have led to the age-friendly city "outcomes" reflected by the indicators are also introduced. • This study modified and adopted the core indicator set in World Health Organizatino (2015) • Small, concise set of indicators, easy to be implemented by non-technical stakeholders • Evaluation of age-friendliness in public transport, walking environment, public buildings and spaces • Objective indicators and subjective views generally agree with one another [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]