The transition to electric buses involves a shift in public transport systems, requiring changes to the role of public transport authorities (PTAs). This study analyses how PTAs' role as planners and procurers of public transport is impacted by electrification, employing a sustainability transition perspective. Through thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with 25 interviewees involved in eight public procurements, both qualitative and quantitative changes were identified. The findings show that the organisational model influences how electrification changes the role and responsibilities of PTAs, as new technology alters established procurement logics and the reinterpretation of procurement principles. Additionally, this transition necessitates changes in long-term strategic planning, including adjustments in ownership structures and the distribution of responsibilities. The emergence and assessment of new questions and phenomena, for example, regarding battery production and sustainability, further change the role of the PTA. The rapid pace of this technological change challenges PTAs' ability to proactively manage developments, creating a dynamic where PTAs both take on new responsibilities and react to market changes. This study highlights the emerging tensions between PTAs' procurement principles and long-term planning objectives, calling attention to the need for a balanced approach to manage their evolving assignments effectively in the face of new technology.
Urban Air Mobility (UAM) has emerged as a promising solution to enhance metropolitan urban mobility. A critical determinant of UAM’s success is vertiport siting, which directly influences accessibility and travel time benefits. However, existing research lacks a evaluation of different data-driven clustering approaches for vertiport placement. This study systematically compares six clustering-based vertiport allocation strategies against an expert-defined benchmark (OBUAM) in the Munich Metropolitan Region (Ploetner et al., 2020). More specifically, the travel time efficiency improvements, accessibility enhancements, and transport equity impacts are assessed across different allocation scenarios. Results indicate that clustering-based siting significantly outperforms expert-defined siting in all the three perspectives. Notably, the K-means++ approach achieves the highest travel time saving (10.05%), accessibility gains (7.16%) and the lowest Gini coefficient (0.512), demonstrating its advantages in planing vertiport locations. The inferiority of DBSCAN, OBUAM and MS scenarios reveals that neither concentrating vertiports excessively in urban centers nor distributing them too evenly across the region optimizes transport efficiency. All clustering-based methods offer a practical, data-driven alternative that does not rely on domain expertise or excessive computational resources, making them easily adaptable for real-world UAM planning. Sensitivity analyses further explore the influence of key parameters on the indicators. Findings highlight that reducing pre-flight time has a more significant impact on travel time saving, accessibility and equity than increasing UAM cruise speed, while higher fares significantly disproportionately reduce accessibility benefits and equality.
Monitorowanie stanowi integralny element zarządzania programami rewitalizacji. Istota monitorowania podkreślona jest zarówno w literaturze przedmiotowej, jak i w dokumentach strategicznych na poziomie centralnym i regionalnym. Także zapisy programów rewitalizacji podkreślają kluczową rolę monitoringu dla skutecznego zarządzania procesem wdrażania programu. Liczne opracowania i raporty wskazują jednak na uchylanie się gmin od jego prowadzenia. Dokumenty sporządzone na poziomie centralnym zawierają wprawdzie wskazówki w odniesieniu do prowadzenia monitoringu i ewaluacji, mają one jednak dość ogólny charakter. W części województw ustanowione zostały regionalne wytyczne dotyczące prowadzenia rewitalizacji w ramach Regionalnych Programów Operacyjnych, które odnoszą się też do systemu monitorowania. Najbardziej szczegółowe zasady przyjęto w województwie wielkopolskim (Ciesiółka 2019). Wytyczne obligują samorządy terytorialne do monitorowania efektów programów rewitalizacji. Celem artykułu jest refleksja nad obowiązkiem monitorowania programów rewitalizacji, a także nad zakresem zbieranych danych i możliwością ich wykorzystania na poziomie regionalnym.
W opracowaniu wykorzystano analizę danych zastanych, metodę studium przypadku oraz wywiadu e-mailowego.
Political science, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
The research examines the implication of Nigeria’s lopsided land transport structure for performance and efficiency in the freight transport sector using the Lagos–Kano corridor as a case study. A comparative analysis of road and rail performance in freight transport using defined performance indicators shows that road transport performed better on all but two indicators, namely, freight ton-kilometres moved per vehicle hour travelled and throughput per unit of energy consumed. Other performance indicators such as absolute throughput of freight, freight ton-kilometres performed, speed, freight throughput per unit cost of operation and revenue per ton of freight moved favoured roads over rail. Clearly, rail comparative advantage relates to capacity, but freight shippers are looking for speed that shortens vehicle turnaround time. The lesson is that freight shippers will not explore modal comparative advantages (such as capacity and lower freight rates) except such advantages are complemented with competitiveness conferred by technology (especially speed).
Couples' residential decisions are based on a large variety of factors including housing preferences, family and other social ties, socialisation and residential biography (e.g. earlier experience in the life course) and environmental factors (e.g. housing market, labour market). This study examines, firstly, to what extent people stay in, return to or leave their hometown (referred to as ‘migration type’). We refer to the hometown as the place where most of childhood and adolescence is spent. Secondly, we study which conditions shape a person’s migration type. We mainly focus on variables capturing elements of the residential biography and both partners’ family ties and family socialisation. We focus on the residential choices made at the time of family formation, i.e. when the first child is born. We employ multinomial regression modelling and cross-tabulations, based on two generations in a sample of families who mostly live in the wider Ruhr area, born around 1931 (parents) and 1957 (adult children). We find that migration type is significantly affected by a combination of both partners' place of origin, both partners' parents' places of residence, the number of previous moves, level of education and hometown population size. We conclude that complex patterns of experience made over the life course, socialisation and gendered patterns are at work. These mechanisms should be kept in mind when policymakers develop strategies to attract (return) migrants.
Cities. Urban geography, Urbanization. City and country
Innokentii G. Aktamov, Damdin D. Badaraev, Irina D. Wang
<p>The investigation is devoted to the analysis of the life support system of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the PRC. The main goal of this article is to determine the structural components of this system, as well as to characterize its content features. The relevance of this topic is determined by the peculiarities of the socio-economic development of this region, its strategic and geopolitical significance in the implementation of the PRC’s domestic and foreign policy. The concept of a life support system is not yet widely used in modern sociological science, including due to the need to include various parameters to identify a holistic model. Initially, this term was used to describe the physical conditions of the environment. Within the framework of this article, the authors attempted to give a general description of the life support system in terms of socio-economic and socio-cultural parameters. The objectives of the investigation are to identify the most characteristic features of the existing practice of forming a life support system in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region of the People’s Republic of China, to determine the factors that can influence economic and socio-cultural processes. Special attention is paid to the analysis of official statistics data in relation to the empirical data of the authors. The results obtained make it possible to formulate scenarios for the predicted development of the region in the context of its participation in global projects initiated by China in the last decade. The article was carried out within the framework of the implementation of the state assignment of the IMBTS SB RAS.</p>
Sociology (General), Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
home to the Creation Museum. Others have made lesser-known contributions to history, like Titusville, Pennsylvania, which is the site of the first drilled oil well. Many others are former industrial cities like Buffalo, New York; Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and Rockford, Illinois, which were forced to retool and reinvent themselves when their once-robust manufacturing industries fell prey to deindustrialization and suburbanization. Others are sleepy small towns that Soderlind came upon by chance. Along the way, Soderlind connected with family and friends from her past and grew a new appreciation of intergenerational ties and family legacy. An amusing motif, illustrating the theme that we can continue to grow and learn new skills even with advanced age, was Soderlind’s reminders that her father followed her travels on social media. Yet the book’s most resonant theme may be how relationships shape our lives, and how those relationships we take for granted may indeed be the ones we should appreciate most. Two critical turning points (spoiler alerts) are the death of her beloved canine companion Colby and a return trip to New York to celebrate Jessica’s fiftieth birthday—occasions that crystallize for Soderlind the book’s final observation that love is ‘‘worth all the sorrow’’ that comes with loss. This book is a surprising choice for Contemporary Sociology, which typically features books written by and for sociologists. Soderlind is an essayist, journalist, and director of the MFA in Creative Writing Program at Manhattanville College, where she teaches courses in narrative nonfiction and memoir. As such, the book does not have an overarching research question or hypothesis, a method, or literature review. It does not cite a single reference. There is no methods section, end notes, or appendix. However, it could be an excellent supplemental reading for an undergraduate or graduate level course on narrative, as Soderlind expertly weaves her personal stories and positionality throughout her observations of her cross-country journey. The Change was published as part of University of Wisconsin Press’s ‘‘Living Out: Gay and Lesbian Autobiographies’’ series, which includes more than three dozen memoirs authored by a diverse group of LGBTQ scholars. Other books in the series convey the experiences of being a gay Jew in Nazi Berlin, a therapist who has grappled with their own mental illness, a survivor of sexual abuse, a soldier deployed to Iraq, and a gay man growing up on a banana plantation in rural Colombia. The Change, taught with other books in the series, could provide rich insights into the vast diversity of experiences among LGBTQ persons in a course on sexualities. Selected chapters of the book also may be useful for an Urban Sociology course. I personally found the lively and surprising local histories to be the most engaging and interesting (and sociological) parts of the books; readers’ reactions to the author’s personal ruminations and sense of humor may be a matter of taste. The Change is not intended to be an academic book, nor should it be judged as one. Rather, Soderlind has authored a 200page long personal meditation on one woman’s relationships, choices, crises, and capacity to bounce back from and grow stronger from these crises—in ways very similar to the trajectories of decline and reinvention experienced by the towns and cities she encountered on her journey. The extended metaphor is effective and thought-provoking. Readers will be prompted to think about the choices and coincidences that have shaped their lives, the losses they’ve experienced, and the lessons learned through loss, and they may be inspired on their own paths to reinvention and redirection.
Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, continues to change at a rapid pace in response to city branding efforts. Significant investments in the city’s urban infrastructure and its built environment are widespread, as Abu Dhabi attempts to compete on the world stage and lure in tourists, corporations, and investors alike. City planners have been busy updating the city’s urban spaces and streetscapes. They have been transforming it into a sleek and modern contemporary Arab city with a ‘high-end’ feel – which has been successful thus far. As a result, Abu Dhabi’s name has become synonymous with luxury, and the city’s overall quality, livability, and resilience have improved significantly. At the other end of the spectrum, the lower-income segments of the society appear to be missing from the urban planning effort. Some of the urban upgrading interventions might be unintentionally taking away some of the vibrant and diverse aspects of informal street life. This is especially true in some areas, where monotonous and sterile newer environments and streetscapes are replacing the older, informal environments, mostly inhabited by lower-income workers. This paper takes a closer look at some of these older spaces and streetscapes in Abu Dhabi. Through a case study, it attempts to shed some light on some of these vibrant areas, which could potentially vanish soon. It also attempts to highlight the energetic nature of these streetscapes and bring this to the attention of city planners. The paper argues that valuable lessons could be learned from these informal spaces and that these lessons could contribute positively to future planning efforts in the city.
Architecture, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
Systems theory [1,2] suggests that healthy communities promote healthy individual development. That is, healthy systems take care of their component parts, and they do this, in part, by conducting positive exchanges with external systems. However, the thinking on what characterizes a “healthy” community continues to change over time. Social exchange theory [3] emphasizes the norms of reciprocity and the underlying relationships of trust that develop in healthy communities. Other authors stress the need for various forms of capital, not only economic and political, but also social, environmental, cultural, and spiritual [4,5]. Contemporary theory underlying the trend towards “New Urbanism” [6] has its roots in the writings of Jane Jacobs [7]. Jacobs, a U.S. citizen, challenged the prevailing notions of urban planning in the United States, claiming that urban renewal of the 1940s and 1950s had hurt the health of cities due to single use zoning that located residents, parks, business, government services, etc. in separate sections of the city. This tended to leave these areas unused for extended periods of each day, thus isolating various groups and uses. She further insisted that high rise towers and open plazas created wind swept areas with little appeal to pedestrians, who preferred denser neighborhoods with short blocks and buildings of moderate height. Consequently, contemporary views of “livable communities” maintain that density and diversity are good for the health of cities. Healthy communities are more pedestrian-friendly and less automobile-centric. Mixed-use zoning keeps a flow of people through streets, neighborhoods, and districts, which is good for business, safety, and tourism. Locally-sourced food is more sustainable for the environment and healthier for individuals [7–9]. But how does this all relate to the current and future provision of social services? And how should social institutions collaborate with those of the economic and political sectors to maximize individual and societal well-being? Those involved with the settlement house movement of the late 1800s and early 1900s in Great Britain and the United States certainly understood the impact of the environment on individual functioning and worked with both government and business leaders to better organize communities and services to meet the needs of residents. Deinstitutionalization and the movement toward community-based social services in the U.S. in the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s recognized the potential positive influence of healthy communities on individual functioning [10,11]. This special collection, therefore, aims to focus on the contextual factors that characterize “healthy communities” and that impact individual development and well being around the world. Researchers from various fields including psychiatry, public health, sociology, political science, community planning, economics, kinesiology, and social work present their theoretical, empirical, or practice-based studies on critical issues involving healthy communities. To begin, Roseland and Spiliotopoulou provide a historical overview of urban sustainability theory and practice, and explain why urban sustainability planning and development currently face limited and inconsistent application [12]. The authors argue that urban sustainability today needs “to embrace equity, inclusion, and other social considerations; encourage the integration of human and
Reflecting the new urban entrepreneuralism, city marketing is more than the mere promotion of place, being used in some cities to rebuild and redefine their image, allied to which has been a strategy of targeting specific types of activity which both reflect and bolster the image. Examining the experience of Glasgow, this paper focuses on the implications raised by the use of such marketing techniques, showing that they have social and political implications which practice tends to overlook.
There has been transformation of the food retail sector in the last 20 years, accompanied by multi-nationalization of the supermarket sector itself. Modern supply chains comprise the production and trade of high-value produce, usually destined for export to high-income markets or for supermarket retail. Two striking changes in the retail food sector have been the movement of supermarket chains towards specialized wholesalers in the organization of their procurement systems, and the emergence of strict quality and safety standards. Debates on the supermarket revolution and its impact on small farmers continue in the literature. Some writers suggest that small farmers are excluded from modern supply chains because they cannot meet supermarkets’ requirements. However, some writers imply that small farmers are not under threat. In this context, this paper aimed to examine the relationship between buyer and supplier, and reveal the structural and behavioural stresses of the modern supply chain in the context of the pear supply chain in Bursa (Gürsu). There are two research questions: 1) Are small farmers excluded from modern supply chains? 2) Are there differences between farmers in modern and traditional supply chains? The study concluded that there is a dual structure at work, in which traditional and modern supply chains intertwine and operate side by side. The study also found that small farmers are not excluded from the modern supply chain, and that there are no differences between farmers in modern and traditional supply chains.
Maíra Vieira Dias, Paulo Sérgio Scarazzato, Edson Moschim
et al.
Os seres humanos são essencialmente visuais e contam com a informação óptica para a maioria dos aspectos de seu cotidiano. A luz e suas influências têm sido estudadas há bastante tempo, mas são relativamente recentes as pesquisas que abordam seu impacto na saúde. Na década de 1980, a comprovação científica da ligação entre doenças depressivas e a privação da luz deixou clara a existência de outros efeitos não-visuais daquela fonte de energia. Grande salto foi dado pela Commission Internationale de L’Éclairage (CIE), que, em 2004 e 2006, promoveu simpósios com divulgação do extenso trabalho até então realizado para compreender como a luz interfere no metabolismo humano e em sua psique. Embora o impacto da luz na saúde humana já tenha sido demonstrado, ainda há muito a ser aprendido, principalmente sobre seus efeitos no sistema visual. Maiores níveis de iluminação nos olhos podem aumentar a atividade, o estado de alerta e o bem-estar, desde que dentro de determinados limites. Este trabalho apresenta o estado da arte referente a dispositivos de medição utilizados atualmente para avaliar como a luz influencia a saúde humana. Seu objetivo é suscitar a promoção de discussões e reflexões em uma área de investigação ainda muito pouco explorada nos meios técnico e acadêmico brasileiros.
Architecture, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology
At the turn of the twentieth century, the Chicago-based architect Dwight Perkins designed a prescient metropolitan plan for the American city that reimagined the polis as a terrain for sociological investigation and political activism. He collaborated with social scientists affiliated with the University of Chicago and with local, grass-roots activists to leverage design as a vehicle for social change. He argued that strategically placed, small-scale interventions would ameliorate the devastating impact that unplanned growth had on the urban poor and that these spaces would advance democratic social ideals in a city highly segregated by race, ethnicity, and wealth.
Not only was Perkins a pioneer in understanding the city as a heterogeneous collection of cultural groups, he also rethought the manner in which the city was visualized by mediating its architectural representation through the lens of the social sciences. He abandoned illusionistic rendering techniques and illustrated the city as a series of sociological data-maps that combined statistical facts on population density, disease transmission, mortality rates, and criminal activity with geographic projections of Chicago. This new cartographic strategy helped him to identify and create public spaces and social services that benefited underprivileged communities. In doing so, Perkins was one of the first American architects to challenge the socio-economic conditions of the laissez-faire metropolis. Although largely ignored in histories of urban planning and architecture, his nascent social practice contributes to a critical reappraisal of cities that remains relevant today.
Architecture, Urban groups. The city. Urban sociology