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The paper critically dissects the contemporary policy landscape and its ability to counter precarious work for construction workers in the Indian context. By focusing on the governance challenges faced by welfare institutions and the pre-existing fault lines exposed by the pandemic, the paper argues that social policies are languishing and inefficient to respond to the challenges of growing precarity. The paper uses Breman's conception of 'Footloose labour' to understand informality related to construction workers and Gilbert and Terrell's social policy analytical framework to understand the institutional response. The two major arguments that make the social policy languish are the inability of the policy to alter neoliberal employment relationships and the operational challenges that institutions face in implementing welfare schemes for many footloose labourers. Moreover, the situation is further exacerbated by inherent contradictions of the state which is entangled between promoting economic growth through neoliberal policies while consecutively ensuring labour welfare. If the Institutional challenges persist along with the persuasion of neoliberal reforms, footloose labour is only going to be further marginalized and pushed to limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China's Social Credit System (SCS) has been widely considered a centralized surveillance project, whereas recent research found multiple scoring systems co-existing in various fields at multiple administrative levels and in diverse forms. Despite the broadened view toward the complexity of SCS, these research projects continue to focus on SCS mainly as political and digital control mechanisms. Instead, this paper is interested in the social and cultural meanings of SCS constructed in the media, both at the national and local levels. Based on the analyses of news reports since the year 2003, when the term SCS was officially coined, this paper examines the historical narratives about SCS, including its rationales, stakeholders, and intended goals/tasks. It argues that the SCS construction has been a societal project anchored in a distinct moral orientation of financial credit. While credit systems are often used to classify consumers and financial subjects in Western contexts, the case of Chinese SCS shows that the moral dimension of financial credit scoring has enabled its spread into other non-financial domains. Also, the institutionalization of such moral standards is considered an effective approach to addressing various socio-economic and ethical issues that have long baffled economic development and social justice in China's reform era. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How does an authoritarian past shape voters' left-right orientation? Recent studies investigate "anti-dictator bias" in political ideology, where citizens in a former right-wing (left-wing) dictatorship may display a leftist (rightist) bias in their ideological self-identification. In this paper, I provide evidence for a "pro-dictator bias" where citizens hold ideological positions close to those of the dictator, depending on their experiences prior to transition. In countries with high economic growth under dictatorship and without violent ruling party ouster, authoritarian successors could continue mobilizing the popular base and invoke positive sentiment on the past in democratic elections. Such positive sentiment can facilitate individual ideological orientation close to the ideological label of the former dictatorship. I test this hypothesis by combining individual- and country-level data covering 1985 to 2018 from 48 countries. I demonstrate that voters in countries with high economic growth during dictatorship and without violent party exit are more likely to have pro-dictator bias in ideology. I further show that voters in former developmental states show pro-dictator bias from the history of economic growth and more peaceful transition. The findings emphasize the role of pre-transition features in shaping alternative legacies on voter attitudes in post-authoritarian societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the nonlinear impact of political risk and economic development on tourism revenues. A dynamic threshold panel model is applied to a sample of 119 countries over 8 years. A positive association between economic development and tourism revenues is identified. The results also show that the impact of improvements in political stability on growth in tourism revenues is dependent on the current level of economic development. For highly developed countries, increased political stability does not impact tourism revenues. However, there is a significant positive impact of improved political stability on tourism revenues for less-developed countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the changes and continuities in TV representations of Chinese Communist Party's revolutionary history and interprets them within the broader context of China's political, economic and cultural transformations since the 1990s. Drawing on a comparative analysis of three state-sponsored TV dramas produced between the late 1990s and mid-2010s, it traces how the state-sanctioned revolutionary narratives have changed over time in response to the Party's propaganda imperatives on the one hand, and to the market-oriented production environment on the other. The paper argues that while recent TV productions in the new century have made increasing concessions to audience taste by adopting visually stimulating depictions and introducing fictional characters as points of identification for the audience, the revolutionary narratives were still aligned with the Party's propaganda agenda at different times. This shows the ongoing competition between ideological and commercial interests in Chinese TV production during the era of market reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article the author reviews the papers published in the journal which explore the themes of property rights and land development in developing countries. The author reviews Susan Whiting's paper on land conflicts in the Shandong and Hunan provinces in China on property rights, one by Daniel Abramson on land redevelopment projects in Quanzhou City, China, and one by Lanchih Po on rural property rights and urbanization in the Changping district of Beijing, China.

Rapid economic development accelerates the generation of municipal solid waste (MSW), and thereby calls for an effective and reliable waste management strategy. In the present work, we systematically investigated the status of MSW management in a mega-city of China (Guangzhou). The data were collected from literatures, government statistics and field sampling work. It can be found that a combination of waste sorting by individual residents and a necessary quantity of sanitation workers is one of the most feasible strategies to achieve a sustainable waste management. With implementation of that integrated strategy, approximately 0.03 million tons of metal, 0.24 million tons of paper, as well as 0.46 million tons of plastics can be recycled/recovered for further processing. A cost reduction of 70 million US$ is achieved in comparison with the un-optimized system due to the sale revenue of recyclable materials and the saving from waste disposal fees. The values of environmental assessment were expressed as environmental load units. The developed scenarios could decrease the environmental cost, namely, 0.66 million US$. Based on the studies, waste sorting is urgently needed in Guangzhou. However, to make the proposed strategy to be more economically feasible, the sorting should be performed individually as well as with public participation. The establishment of a win–win situation for all stakeholders is an effective path for the improvement of the integrated waste management system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chicago uses tax increment financing (TIF) to promote economic development to a greater extent than any other large American city. This paper conducts a comprehensive assessment of the effectiveness of Chicago’s TIF programme in creating economic opportunities and catalysing real estate investments at the neighbourhood scale. This paper uses a unique panel dataset at the block-group level to analyse the impact of TIF designation and investments on employment change, business creation and building permit activity. After controlling for potential selection bias in TIF assignment, this paper shows that TIF ultimately fails the ‘but-for’ test and shows no evidence of increasing tangible economic development benefits for local residents. Implications for policy are considered. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper investigates the labor-controlling orientation of the Japanese developmental state and its consequences today. Developmental state studies has given us a robust epistemological grid whereby we can make non-Western state formation intelligible. Yet, mainstream authors have tended to treat the working class as a mere appendage to state– business relations, relegating labor politics at the analysis of state– society relations. By using democratic Japan—a prime example of this sort of obfuscation—in combination with Marxian state theory, this paper outlines the difficulties, addresses them, and extends the scope of developmental state studies to labor. After identifying main tenets of the literature, the author constructs a theory of labor control as a stabilizer of relative state autonomy. The author applies this to Japanese labor movements since 1945 and interprets events and processes of labor oppression/regulation through which Japanese capitalism subsumed the working class under the aegis of the developmental state. Labor control, emerging out of an "exceptional state" (Poulantzas, 1974), evolved into a refined socio-relational system that insulated developmental goals from labor movements. This Japanese trajectory keenly mobilized big business and elite labor, which transformed labor control into a bilateral and then a tripartite league in defense of industrial policy and its deskilling/reskilling intervention. By the 1970s, this achieved the famous docility of Japanese labor. The historically constructed character of docile labor force was exploited once again when Japan made a neoliberal turn in its post-development phase. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Differing definitions of ‘urban’ settlements can make comparative analysis of trends in urbanisation difficult. Definitions used by many African countries include small settlements which may not exhibit the degree of labour specialisation away from agriculture that economic theories about urbanisation presume. This may mean there is a mismatch if urban data are presumed by decision-makers to be proxies for structural economic transformation. After examining these definitional issues this paper provides five illustrative African case studies based on detailed analysis of census and agricultural employment data. It finds that for Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana and Mali in situ urbanisation of settlements at the bottom of the urban hierarchy has played a significant part in recent urbanisation processes. In Rwanda complex boundary changes have also contributed to a very significant redefinition of previously rural people as ‘urban’ yet overall the urbanisation level did not increase between 2002 and 2012. Significant employment in agriculture is found within small, and some larger, urban centres in all these countries. It is shown that these issues tend to be disregarded in analyses of urban trends for these countries which often present a more positive narrative of urban economic change than the census data support. These examples are contrasted with Botswana, where in situ urbanisation has also occurred but in this case driven by real occupational change. The paper concludes that the impact of definitions on apparent trends in urbanisation in Africa needs to be understood given the significance attached to these trends by policy makers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent research has argued that human capital has become the key driver of city growth and that there is a widening divergence between high- and low-skill cities. This skilled-city view includes several stylised propositions. The first is that more skills and human capital generate stronger economic growth; the second is that already-skilled cities are becoming ever more skilled; and, the third is that larger cities tend to have stronger concentrations of, and faster growth in, high-skilled, cognitive occupations. Using a detailed data set for occupational change in 85 urban Travel to Work Areas in Britain between 1981 and 2015, this paper evaluates whether these propositions apply to British urban evolution, and how they relate to the 'hollowing-out' of medium-skilled jobs. The results confirm the close interactive relationship between growth and high-skilled occupations. However, some of the skilled-city propositions, such as 'smart cities becoming smarter', and a positive relationship between agglomeration and high-skilled employment growth, do not apply in Britain where other factors have been more important. The pattern of high-skill growth has shown a strong regional dimension, and the 'emergence' of newer smaller cities, particularly in southern England, has been more evident than the 'resurgence' of large core and industrial cities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As recovery from the Great Recession continues, economic development scholars and practitioners are again focused on the pace and the sustainability of recovery, as well as on efforts to minimise the severity of future downturns. This paper contributes to the literature by exploring the relationship between industry diversity and economic resilience over time. Using fixed effects models with data from the Bureau of Labour Statistics and the Census Bureau, the paper examines the influence of industrial diversity and concentration on unemployment rate stability in Ohio counties between 1977 and 2011. Results indicate that while more concentrated counties had lower unemployment rates when times were good, counties with more diverse industry structures fared better during times of national or local employment shocks. The paper also finds that there is a relationship between concentration in particular industries and the ability to withstand a shock changes over the 35 years examined, thus highlighting the need to take care when interpreting findings over shorter periods and the need to consider the particular industry of dependence. While local policymakers have little ability to affect industrial concentration in the short run, the paper recommends that highly concentrated counties adopt policies that may help buffer their economies to effects of negative shocks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An overview of the municipal solid waste (MSW) management in Beijing, a city with a resident population of about 19.61 million in 2010, is presented in the article. Economic development and population growth have resulted in a MSW generation increase from 2.96 million tons in 2000 to 6.20 million tons in 2007, fluctuating to 6.35 million tons in 2010. The components of MSW over the past decade are characterized by increasing food and paper contents, and a decreasing ash content. The percentage of food waste, the main putrescible component, increased steadily from 45.77% in 2002 to 66.98% in 2010. Combustible materials, such as plastic, paper, textile, wood and food waste, accounted for 94.66% of MSW in 2008. There are 15 landfill sites, 2 incinerators and 2 composting plants in Beijing, with a total designed capacity of 15,380 tons/day in 2010. The main waste disposal technology used in Beijing is landfill, which accounts for 92.27% of the total designed capacity in 2008 and 78.54% in 2009. The designed capacity of the existing disposal plants cannot cope with the actual quantity of waste generation, resulting in overloading and premature closure of landfill sites. Solid waste incineration has been given priority in technology development and financial support over other disposal methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that analyses of food security highlight fundamental contradictions at the heart of the globalization project. It examines the concept of food security and evaluates how national strategies to promote it have been undermined by economic liberalization since the 1980s. It finds that unless current policies are drastically reformed, traditional patterns of food insecurity will continue to hinder development in the South. It also identifies new problems of malnutrition, in the form of obesity, that are set to ravage populations in the North and South. The diffusion of obesogenic environments is allied to globalization and presents a new challenge for public health policy. Globalization and health are inherently linked and, by reconceptualizing the concept of food security, this paper draws attention to this link and argues that such connections should inform national policy in an era of globalization. Imbalances in power throughout the food chain help explain food insecurity in the past and present. The paper concludes that, as in the past, purposeful public intervention is required to promote food security. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade the English planning system has placed greater emphasis on the financial viability of development. ‘Calculative’ practices have been used to quantify and capture land value uplifts. Development viability appraisal (DVA) has become a key part of the evidence base used in planning decision-making and informs both ‘site-specific’ negotiations about the level of land value capture for individual schemes and ‘area-wide’ planning policy formation. This paper investigates how implementation of DVA is governed in planning policy formation. It is argued that the increased use of DVA raises important questions about how planning decisions are made and operationalised, not least because DVA is often poorly understood by some key stakeholders. The paper uses the concept of governance to thematically analyse semi-structured interviews conducted with the producers of DVAs and considers key procedural issues including (in)consistencies in appraisal practices, levels of stakeholder consultation and the potential for client and producer bias. Whilst stakeholder consultation is shown to be integral to the appraisal process in order to improve the quality of the appraisals and to legitimise the outputs, participation is restricted to industry experts and excludes some interest groups, including local communities. It is concluded that, largely because of its recent adoption and knowledge asymmetries between local planning authorities and appraisers, DVA is a weakly governed process characterised by emerging and contested guidance and is therefore ‘up for grabs’. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the merits of public health activism that advocates for social change in which health is the outcome of interest. We acknowledge that while efforts at the individual level are important, social network models consider the underlying mechanisms that lie outside the public health sector. This paper considers the inequitable health of Indigenous people who bear a disproportionate share of the negative health consequences due to economic development programs that follow an assimilation model. This paper discusses a combination of theoretical constructs to understand and solve the problems at hand. It concludes that while the attention paid to technological and behavioral solutions at the individual level yields important health outcomes, attention should also be paid to structural causes that address social, political and economic barriers to prevent disease, disability and premature death. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For theorists interested in screen cultures and the digital economy, looking beyond Facebook and YouTube prompts a more refined conceptualization of participation and monetization on social networks. This paper examines YY as representative of Chinese platforms that monetize spectacles of social inequality. I first discuss why these financially successful platforms have eluded the attention of media and cultural critics, and then explain how these social network platforms blend subversive texting with streaming through a format called 'bullet screen'. This format collapses social inequality into a spectacle of money flowing and vanishing on screen. This investigation contributes to the theoretical discussion of mixed-semiotics, reorients several Marxian neologisms and explains what texting means on screen in both semiotic and economic terms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the foreign policy priorities and concerns of the People's Republic of China as expressed by that nation's official international, English language publication, China Daily. The paper argues that, contrary to the conventional wisdom, the official Chinese press can be a useful tool in assessing Chinese foreign policy priorities as result of its propaganda function. Within this paradigm, it finds that China's primary foreign policy priorities are sovereignty and territorial integrity and that China considers itself primarily a regional rather than a global power. It concludes that China's foreign policy is driven by pragmatism rather than ideology because of China's domestic project of economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article looks at the growing crisis of press legitimacy in Great Britain. It explores the response of successive Royal Commissions on the Press to economic growth within the post-war press industry, which depicted the difficulty of the Commissions to reconcile ideological legacy. The contribution of the programme of reform and ideological re-interpretation in easing the crisis is examined.

The paper considers the notion that innovation in territorial governance is associated with a set of core neoliberal ideas about local economic development which have come to constitute a new and pervasive consensus. Through a case study of attempts to construct city-regional institutions in Manchester, England, over a period of 25 years, it attempts to track the themes that have underpinned the development of a local politics of economic development. The paper considers the extent to which evolution of city-regional institutions and policy accord to wider ideas about post-political forms of governance and the erosion of democracy in cities. It concludes by considering the degree to which this experience is representative of a wider orthodoxy in the governance of local economic development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In China, economic reforms over the last three decades, have transformed its urban governments so that economic growth takes priority over other policy goals. The purpose of this paper is to explore how talented worker housing policies have emerged within one of China’s first-class cities, namely Shenzhen, to address its affordability problems but also to enhance local economic competitiveness. Whilst Shenzhen is heading in the direction of an international, entrepreneurial city focusing, in particular, on high value-added industry, it needs to attract and retain professional, skilled workers to sustain this growth trajectory. Drawing on the concept of urban entrepreneurialism, the paper examines how talented worker housing policies and procedures have been initiated and implemented in Shenzhen in relation to its economic development strategy and affordable housing programme. The paper suggests that not only is policy delivery proving problematic, but affordability problems remain insurmountable, thus potentially limiting the effectiveness of this particular urban entrepreneurial strategy in supporting place competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Burakumin (部落民), the largest minority in Japan, are a (re)construction of the modern period, much like race and ethnicity. Since Japan's modernization, the Burakumin have been discriminated against in various ways; for example, young Burakumin have been driven to suicide due to discrimination in marriage and employment. The terms Buraku （部落） and Burakumin were established during Japan's period of modernization. They settled in the Japanese language by the early 1900s. Existing studies, however, locate Buraku discrimination as originating in feudalism, or as reflecting Japan's fixed system of society. Alternatively, Western researchers have attempted to understand Burakumin in relation to India's system of outcastes. Both approaches are wanting, since the existence of Burakumin has experienced repeated (re)construction and reconceptualizing. Non-Burakumin have been integrated into existing or formed new Buraku communities; for example, this paper explores the formation of four new Buraku in a city where the Japanese Naval Station required a huge supply of day laborers. I show that agreements to supply Burakumin laborers reflected the mobility of capital and bio-power, as defined by Michel Foucault. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

'Borrowed size' is an emerging policy concept in several European countries, presenting theoretical potential to explain contemporary urban dynamics unaddressed through conventional urban growth theories that emphasise the role of agglomeration economies. In its original conceptualisation by Alonso, the concept describes and explains the situation that especially smaller cities that are located in a larger 'megapolitan complex' do perform better because they have access to agglomeration benefits of larger neighbouring cities. This paper scrutinises the concept of borrowed size, thereby focusing on its conceptualisation and reviewing its empirical justification thus far. Our empirical analyses show that the concept must be stretched in terms of scale and scope to enhance its policy value. Borrowed size occurs when a city possesses urban functions and/or performance levels normally associated with larger cities. This is enabled through interactions in networks of cities across multiple spatial scales. These networks serve as a substitute for the benefits of agglomeration. Theoretically, the borrowed size concept demands a recasting of the geographical foundations of agglomeration theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to a highway is an important issue for distribution centres. In the Netherlands, distribution centres are located at only two kilometres from a highway, on average. This paper estimates the impact of highway proximity on distribution centres’ rents by using hedonic pricing techniques. We show that a one kilometre increase to the nearest highway decreases rents of an average sized distribution centre by about 11,000 euro per year. The distance to the geographic centre of the whole country is also shown to affect rents. For other types of industrial real estate, similar results are found. Based on our results, policymakers responsible for spatial planning or economic development may be able to make better decisions when developing new distribution centres. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how far policy-makers understand the structure of the development industry, the perceived characteristics of developers and the extent to which such actors can be considered policy-responsive. If these matters are poorly understood, the effectiveness of planning policy may be undermined, especially where the private sector is responsible for undertaking most development. The paper is based upon empirical research on the Scottish Executive’s perceptions of, and policy stances towards developers between 1999 and 2007. It finds that the Executive appeared to have only limited understanding of what drives the development process or motivates individual developers and seemed unfamiliar with important differences within the industry, sectorally and geographically. Instead, ‘the notional property developer’ was incorrectly conceived as a malleable and potentially compliant partner with shared objectives to the State. The paper calls for a more thorough understanding of the development industry as a prerequisite to effective urban policy-making. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For much of the 1990s and 2000s, the emphasis of urban policy in many global cities was on managing and mitigating the social and environmental effects of rapid economic growth. The credit crunch of 2008 and the subsequent recession have undermined some of the core assumptions on which such policies were based. It is in this context that the concept of resilience planning has taken on a new significance. Drawing on contemporary research in London and Hong Kong, the paper shows how resilience and recovery planning has become a key area of political debate. It examines what is meant by conservative and radical interpretations of resilience and how conservative views have come to dominate ‘recovery’ thinking, with élite groups unwilling to accept the limits to the neo-liberal orthodoxies that helped to precipitate the economic crisis. The paper explores the implications of such thinking for the politics of urban development. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper utilises a reduced-form equilibrium model to investigate the possible sources of real estate investment differentials among 22 provinces, five autonomous regions and four municipalities of the People’s Republic of China. The model is estimated using panel data from 2001 to 2006, yielding a total of 186 observations. Specifically, empirical results suggest that demographic, economic and planning factors are the major determinants to cause real estate investment to vary among Chinese regions. The relatively small coefficient estimate of real interest rates indicates that it has a significant but modest impact. Based on the coefficient estimates, this paper finally suggests that the Chinese government should focus and work on several policy parameters in order to achieve a more balanced state of real estate investment across Chinese regions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper critically examines developments in Irish urban governance through an ethnographic account of one community's historical memory and contemporary structure. During an era of rapid economic growth, the Irish state has courted previously excluded communities, offering them greater 'inclusion' as 'partners' in responding to urban decay and crime. The micro-governance structures this creates, however, become sites of contest between competing community factions and class-cultural imperatives. Tensions emerge between aspirational community leaders championing the aesthetics (if not the values) of 'respectability' and residual residents who are presented as ' rough'. The paper demonstrates that nuances of class-cultural identity dictate the character of partnership governance at the community level with particular implications for local regeneration and crime control agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the geography of corporate headquarters in the Australian urban system, giving consideration to their location, control of capital and performance. The paper argues that, while considerable recent attention has been given to global cities in the networks of corporate power, the spatial organisation of company headquarters remains important within national urban systems. In the case of Australia, Sydney and Melbourne dominate the corporate landscape, although the smaller cities of Adelaide, Brisbane and Perth occupy important niches. The paper demonstrates that there are clear variations in the relative performance of companies across the Australian urban system. There is also a pattern of sectoral specialisation within Australia’s cities which, in part, helps to explain the different development trajectories and relative levels of corporate performance. The paper concludes by exploring some of the implications of the study for the understanding of urban systems. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper analyses urban planning practices in South Yorkshire to reveal how EU strategic spatial ideas and values are reproduced. Specifically, the paper examines how the notion of spatial justice was interpreted as the organising concepts within the European Spatial Development Perspective became situated within a territory severely affected by deindustrialisation in the 1980s, but subsequently a major beneficiary of EU Structural Fund programmes. The analysis reveals how policy-making at this scale used a construct of polycentric urban development that reasserted a model of economic growth based on the indigenous assets held in city centres at the expense of more redistributive measures targeted at the former coal-mining communities in the sub-region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

By analysing the evolution of local governments' roles in different periods of China's growth in transition, this paper explores local fiscal incentives to use subsidised land and infrastructure as key instruments in regional competition for manufacturing investment since the mid 1990s. Local land development behaviour is related to China's current land use institutions and intergovernmental arrangements. On the basis of panel data covering prefectural-level cities from 1999 to 2003, the paper empirically identifies and compares the fiscal impacts of different forms of land leasing (by negotiation versus by auction/tender). Policy implications are drawn from this analysis, for the further reform of China's urban land system and fiscal institutions.

This paper aims to analyze mindfulness in education from a critical perspective. We first examine the historical underpinnings of human capital theory, which encourages educators to view students as efficient laborers in a neo-liberal society. Using the lens of Bourdieu's capital theory, we further examine how mass media inadvertently distorts the definition of mindfulness by exploring the development of a specific mass media story and by identifying how mass media factors beyond headlines and titles reframe mindfulness. We argue that this type of reframing has created a public perception of students who practice mindfulness as not only successful in social relationships but also as valued laborers who expand economic growth. This analysis opens two doors of discourse. First, mindfulness in education should be de-capitalized and shifted toward a spiritual focus. Second, we ask educational writers and publishers to redirect mindfulness applications away from their original purpose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This short paper considers 'maritime history' as a sub-discipline of history. It examines its origins and defines maritime history as the study of humankind's relationship with the sea. It reviews that relationship and stresses the economic dimension and the need for an understanding of the business of shipping. The relevance of maritime history is examined in the contexts of the world today and historiography. In the former, the paper views the maritime dimension as crucial. On the historiographical aspect the concept of globalisation is considered in terms of a process and an outcome. In both cases, an understanding of maritime history is seen as vital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an era when traditional engines - or suppliers - of development are being increasingly criticized, sport is being seen by some as a vehicle that can reach communities with messages in a way that politicians, multilateral agencies and NGOs cannot. The list of development-through-sport initiatives is impressive, spanning many aspects of international development, from national development strategies to HIV/AIDS awareness. Those that favour the use of sport in such a manner are quick to point out its qualities. However, the traditional field of development is taking longer to warm to the idea that sport might be an engine that drives development initiatives forward. This paper, the first of three, begins by outlining some of the ways that sport is being used for development. It concludes by noting that these schemes receive insufficient evaluation. The following two papers discuss how these initiatives might be evaluated, and share the results of the evaluation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper is concerned with the observation that rights-based approaches to development have tended to ignore the ways in which religion and culture shape understandings of human rights. Although religious traditions often act against the pursuit of human rights, there are also areas of overlap and consensus. The first part of the paper suggests that the absence of a research agenda within development studies on 'religion and development' has meant that a significant indigenous mechanism for pursuing rights has been overlooked. Drawing upon examples from India, the second part of my discussion then asks whether a language of social justice based upon the concept of duty is more appropriate than one based upon rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

South Africa after liberation in 1994 is one of very few countries in the world that is involved in a complete redesigning of its welfare system and has adopted the developmental perspective as the paramount official political goal for social welfare and social work. After several years, it is worth studying the experiences and results in practical social work. Outcomes are important for social welfare and social work in both developing and developed countries. The basic idea in the social development perspective is to link the promotion of human welfare to economic development, thereby redefining the concept of development so that it becomes socially relevant. This perspective on social development was given international recognition in the UN World Summit on Social Development held in Copenhagen in 1995. The White Paper makes explicit references to the definitions of social development and to the World Summit. The opening chapter of the White Paper states, social development and economic development are two interdependent and mutually reinforcing processes.

Government policy in post-1994 South Africa, whilst upholding the principles of community participation and development, has been firmly wedded to a neoliberal growth agenda. This paper critically examines whether one element of that new growth agenda, that of Spatial Development Initiatives, has catalysed both 'bottom-up' development and also meaningfully assisted micro-entrepreneurs through more 'top-down' interventions. The paper focuses on two specific projects, namely the Saldanha Steel Plant and the Paternoster Fish Market, which have been components of a Spatial Development Initiative in the Western Cape. The serious constraints faced by communities in engaging with opportunities for socio-economic upliftment is clearly a cause for concern, and it is suggested that a careful re-evaluation of South Africa's development paradigm is urgently required. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reviews the current state of literature on peri-urban research in sub-Saharan Africa. This research has been led by multi-lateral and bilateral development agencies that have sought to find a role in urban development. The review finds that the donor-driven research has remained largely descriptive. It has neither emphasized nor theorized the rapid and contentious peri-urban transformations associated with globalization. The paper identifies these contradictory transformations and then reviews a range of social development theories, suggesting to what extent they are useful to a meaningful engagement with these contradictions. It highlights in particular the potential role of structuration theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Union has established an 'open method of coordination' (OMC) among the member states as a means of pursuing economic and employment growth coupled with greater social cohesion. The paper analyses the assumptions underlying this strategy, the manner of its operation and its implications for policy learning and for governance. It argues that the OMC has in substantial measure been inspired by the experience of EMU, but that this is a perilous paradigm on which to base social benchmarking and the OMC. Second, it argues that the dynamic development of the OMC will depend crucially on the extent of public involvement in scrutinizing the policy areas which political leaders choose for benchmarking, the best practices which they identify in other member states, and the efforts which they then make to improve national performance. The conclusion is that the OMC is likely to have substantial implications for domestic and European governance, but that these could vary depending on the manner of its implementation. Finally, the paper considers the implications of the analysis for the broader theoretical literature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the domestic growth and overseas expansion of Turkish firms as part of the treadmill of production. The treadmill of production is an environmental and political-economy approach to society’s insatiable hunger for material goods. In this approach, economic growth leads to withdrawals of natural resources, and the addition of waste to the environment that stresses both nature and society. Drawing on the treadmill of production approach, I argue that logistical service providers are a coping and modernisation mechanism for accelerated urban growth and economic expansion. This process is visible in the expansion of privatised waste management, and even more so in rapidly urbanising regions where growth and modernisation are of great importance to policy-makers. Owing to the importance of growth and expansion, logistics firms in newly industrialised countries, like their counterparts in the Global North, increasingly export logistical services overseas. This, in turn, accelerates the treadmill of production internationally. As such, this paper will also look at the expansion of Turkish firms into Pakistan. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Investment in transportation infrastructure has been widely utilized as an instrument for inducing economic growth. Such investment usually leads to job creation and an increase in per capita income that attracts population through migration to the region. This increases the utilization of the transport infrastructure over time, resulting in high levels of congestion. The congestion negatively impacts the attractiveness of the region and the gross regional product (GRP). Regions cyclically invest in transport infrastructure that temporally spurs economic activity and migration, and reduces congestion. This research employs a system dynamics simulation approach to capture and mimic the behavior of these complex and cyclical relationships over time. Our approach suggests the modeling of key demographic, transportation infrastructure, travel behavior, and economic activity components to determine the impact of infrastructure investments on regional growth. Given a set of prospective investment scenarios, the model replicates and projects levels of productivity, travel demand, congestion, GRP, and net migration patterns over time. The model also provides insights into the duration of critical cyclical patterns given these prospective infrastructure investments. The simulation model presented in this paper seeks to be utilized as guidance to support decision-making processes that lead to the execution of more exhaustive transportation studies that organize the execution of such investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores how differently situated actors in Norway and Ethiopia relate to global gender and development policies and interpret the concept gender equality. We show that a universalizing gender language influenced by both United Nations policies and the World Bank’s gender discourse have made strong imprints on how gender equality is conceptualized at policy and grassroots levels in Ethiopia and in Norwegian gender and aid policies. However, diverging meanings of gender equality also emerged in our research, showing how an apparently dominant terminology may be transformed by actors whose conceptualizations are contextually embedded, selective and strategic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses urban entrepreneurialism in relation to the commodification of urban heritage in the context of China. The case study is Lijiang Old Town in Yunnan province. It is found that there are three markets through which profit is extracted from urban heritage: the tourist market, the real estate market and the capital market. These markets, ranging from simple to complex, reflect the Lijiang local government’s innovative efforts to deepen the commodification of urban heritage and enhance local competitiveness. By discussing how profit is distributed, I argue that Lijiang’s local government and its ruling elites have benefited more from tourist revenues than any other groups. An analysis of Lijiang’s demographical displacement demonstrates that urban heritage is implicated in the complicated choices made by ordinary individuals in the face of political control and capital accumulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India has joined the league of rich industrial nations which have accorded top priority to the promotion of telecommunications (both basic telephone systems and value-added services) as well as the new information technologies. The economic policy of 'liberalization' has resulted in a scramble among multinationals to invest in the Indian technology market. However, in the effort to promote these information technologies and the infrastructure necessary for their effective functioning, developing countries like India have overlooked the social and cultural consequences, besides the neglect of other priority sectors like education, employment generation, poverty alleviation, health and medical care, etc. The hope is that the new policy will stimulate industrial and economic growth. This paper takes a hard critical look at Indian government policy on telecommunications and the new information technologies, and the implications of such a policy for the social and cultural life of the nation. The critique takes the stance that information technologies are not a-historical or a-cultural and that they imagine on society in ways that aggravate social conflict, and challenge the cultural values of communities. The focus of the paper is on the possible implications of the technologies for employment, privacy, surveillance, human relations, consumerism, and efficiency in administration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper suggests that the possibility to experiment with relationships using system dynamics should lend the method easily to introducing experimental learning in economics and, possibly, also other social science disciplines. This would, however, require modifying teachingformats and creating new text materials and user- friendly computer programs incorporating the possibility to assemble hypothesized relationships by students with little computer or mathematical expertise. The paper reports work in progress towards the development of a simulation laboratory consisting of a text and a user friendly simulation program on issues of economic development as an example of the materials needed for integrating practicum with teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Aviation CO2 emissions are growing along with traffic growth and expected technological efficiency improvements are not enough to reduce this continuous increase. International organizations are concerned and are implementing incentive rules in order to reduce them. IATA has stated a carbon neutral growth of emissions from 2020 onward within its roadmap. This paper aims to analyze suitable measures that could help to reach this target and focuses on their impact on the finances of 15 varied Spanish airlines. With these goals, an estimation model is designed in order to carry out a forecast of the 2017–2025 Spanish air market. This is comprised by three submodels: (i) the traffic model estimates the annual performance for Spanish carriers in each of their routes, (ii) the biofuel model is in charge of estimating the biofuel prices, emissions and regulations (with special attention to mandatory blending percentage), and (iii) the operating cost model estimates the carrier's expenses structure. Data from several sources (regarding 2016 traffic statistics and forecasts of growth and fuel prices to name but two) is gathered and merged in order to feed the model. Aggregated results show that an average 3% per year increase of mandatory blending percentage should be applied for a 2020 CNG in the base scenario. Regarding the different biofuel feedstocks investigated, Camelina's performance presents a good compromise in respect to price, emissions, and production issues. A further study on the airline's cost structure shows that differences in the operating model (legacy, low cost, etc.) and route configurations can lead to big differences in terms of impact of biofuels introduction on the total airline costs. This could indicate that perhaps the design of distance-specific financial schemes would be desirable. In addition, high sensitivity to changes in common fuel price and traffic growth is observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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This paper applies the dynamic panel data generalized method of moments estimator to the data on commercial passenger air traffic at all primary airports in the United States to evaluate the impact of traffic volume and number of destinations served with non-stop flights on the key indicators of regional economic development. We find that number of destinations served with non-stop flights has a much clearer and more robust impact on level of employment, number of business establishments, and average wage in the region. Passenger traffic volume affects employment and average wage, but not number of establishments. At the sample median, connecting a metropolitan statistical area with an extra destination, keeping everything else constant, creates 98 jobs and facilitates the opening of four new business establishments that employ people. The corresponding numbers for the sample mean are 223 jobs and 15 businesses. The impact of air travel on regional economic development is influenced by competition on the respective airline markets. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Transportation infrastructure investment (TII) has significant influence on regional economic development. This paper aims to measure the potential economic impact of TII and to help policymakers to evaluate different alternatives and strategies at the regional level through a system dynamics (SD) approach. First, an SD model is established to simulate the impact of TII on the economy and employment. The relationship between transportation investments and economic development is examined and the relevant employment and economic indicators are identified. Second, the variables, flow diagrams, and structural equations of the SD model are defined. Third, the program Vensim is employed to establish the SD model with economy, transportation, and employment subsystems. It is then calibrated based on the historical statistics data in Liaoning Province, China. Finally, scenario analysis of different transportation investment plans is presented. The results will help investors, policymakers, and government agencies to estimate the potential outcomes of proposed transportation investment plans and to further develop optimal policies for transportation investment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]