Search

Recently, much of the literature on sharing in cities has focused on the sharing economy, in which people use online platforms to share underutilized assets in the marketplace. This view of sharing is too narrow for cities, as it neglects the myriad of ways, reasons, and scales in which citizens share in urban environments. Research presented here by the Liveable Cities team in the form of participant workshops in Lancaster and Birmingham, UK, suggests that a broader approach to understanding sharing in cities is essential. The research also highlighted tools and methods that may be used to help to identify sharing in communities. The paper ends with advice to city stakeholders, such as policymakers, urban planners, and urban designers, who are considering how to enhance sustainability in cities through sharing.

Scent marking in mice allows males to communicate information such as territory ownership, male competitive ability and current reproductive, nutritional, social and health status. It has been suggested that female mice eavesdrop on these olfactory cues, using them as a means of selecting mates with dissimilar major histocompatibility complex (MHC) genes, known as H2 in mice. The mechanisms underpinning MHC-dependent olfactory communication remain unresolved. Using congenic mouse strains and molecular methods we explore the involvement of the microbial communities, a known source of odourants, in scent marks to test the hypothesis that the microbial communities and hence the olfactory signals are genetically determined. Here we show that the indigenous microbial community of murine scent marks is genetically determined. Both background genotype and H2 haplotype influence the community structure of the scent mark flora, removing the possibility that community composition is solely orchestrated by the MHC. Qualitative and quantitative components of the bacterial community associated with MHC haplotype and background genotype were identified. The analyses confirm that the four groups of congenic mice tested are distinguishable on basis of the microbiology of their scent marks alone, strengthening the role of microorganisms in the development of MHC-dependent odours.

The Specialist Schools Programme in England helps schools establish distinctive identities through their chosen specialisms and achieve targets to raise standards. In September 2004 1956 secondary schools in England were specialist schools. The paper argues that a key feature of the specialist schools programme in England is that a significant proportion of work undertaken in specialist schools is concerned with aspects that relate to the wider community. It argues that the development of the school's role as the hub of learning within the community has contributed significantly to, or even, in some cases driven, the transformation of the school itself. Much of the evidence to support this proposition has, to-date, been anecdotal or subjective. This paper will draw from the experience of specialist schools in England to develop, and test, criteria for assessing the added value of the community dimension to the agenda for transforming secondary education.