scholarly journals Public space as a medium for emerging governance networks in post-privatised large housing estates in Tartu and Vilnius

Author(s):  
Johanna Pirrus ◽  
Kadri Leetmaa

AbstractIn most post-socialist cities modernist mass housing comprises a remarkable share of urban housing with a substantial population living there. Therefore, socialist large housing estates (LHEs) have been a fruitful source for research to gather systematic knowledge concerning segregation and housing preferences. Less is known, however, of contemporary LHE-related urban policies and planning interventions. This study asks how in the post-privatisation era, when former governance structures had disappeared, did new urban governance arrangements related to LHEs begin to emerge. We take a closer look at two LHE areas in post-Soviet cities: Annelinn (Tartu, Estonia) and Žirmunai Triangle (Vilnius, Lithuania). The research is based on expert interviews and document analysis exploring the formation of governance networks in both cities since the 2000s and the rationale behind recent planning initiatives. A common new spatial expectation for housing estates’ residents and contemporary urban planners seems to be a perceptible differentiation of the public, semi-public and private spaces, instead of the former modernist concept of free planning and large open areas between buildings. As the heightened planning interest came at a time when European cohesion measures supported urban budgets, it also has led to tangible investments, and builds the consensus that the public sector should return to post-privatised LHEs. We argue that public space has been a great medium for modern governance networks and bringing LHEs back to the urban agenda in post-socialist cities and that the lessons learned in the post-socialist context provide an insight for the wider global marketization debate.

Author(s):  
Natalia Kostenko

The subject matter of research interest here is the movement of sociological reflection concerning the interplay of public and private realms in social, political and individual life. The focus is on the boundary constructs embodying publicity, which are, first of all, classical models of the space of appearance for free citizens of the polis (H. Arendt) and the public sphere organised by communicative rationality (Ju. Habermas). Alternative patterns are present in modern ideas pertaining to the significance of biological component in public space in the context of biopolitics (M. Foucault), “inclusive exclusion of bare life” (G. Agamben), as well as performativity of corporeal and linguistic experience related to the right to participate in civil acts such as popular assembly (J. Butler), where the established distinctions between the public and the private are levelled, and the interrelationship of these two realms becomes reconfigured. Once the new media have come into play, both the structure and nature of the public sphere becomes modified. What assumes a decisive role is people’s physical interaction with online communication gadgets, which instantly connect information networks along various trajectories. However, the rapid development of information technology produces particular risks related to the control of communications industry, leaving both public and private realms unprotected and deforming them. This also urges us to rethink the issue of congruence of the two ideas such as transparency of societies and security.


Author(s):  
Samuel Llano

This chapter provides an account of how organilleros elicited public anger because their activity did not fit into any of the social aid categories that had been in place since the late eighteenth century. Social aid in Spain relied on a clear-cut distinction between deserving and undeserving poor in order to rationalize the distribution of limited resources and reduce mendicancy on the streets. Organilleros could not, strictly speaking, be considered idle, since they played music, but their activity required no specific skills and was regarded with suspicion as a surrogate form of begging. The in-betweenness of the organillero caused further anger as it challenged attempts to establish a neat distinction between public and private spaces. On one hand, organillo music penetrated the domestic space, which conduct manuals of the nineteenth century configured as female; on the other, it brought women into the public space, which those manuals configured as male.


YMER Digital ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 20 (12) ◽  
pp. 446-455
Author(s):  
Eshetu Mathewos Juta ◽  

The term “urban mass transit” generally refers to scheduled intra-city service on a fixed route in shared vehicles. Public transportation is an important contributing factor to urban sustainability. Effective transportation networks that incorporate public transit livable by easing commute and transportation needs and increasing accessibility. To assess public transportation accessibility in metropolitan networks, two indices are used: the supply level of urban public transportation facilities resource and the public transportation-private automobile traveling time ratio. As the research in the Wolaita sodo town region and the assessment system, an evaluation technique for urban public transportation facility resource supply is developed based on accessibility. Accessibility is a representative indicator for evaluating the supply of bus system. Traditional studies have evaluated the accessibility from different aspects. Considering the interaction among land use, bus timetable arrangement and individual factors, a more holistic accessibility measurement is proposed to combine static and dynamic characteristics from multisource traffic data. The objective is to highlight the main lessons learned and identify knowledge gaps to guide the design and evaluation of future transport investments. Moreover, studies looking at ways to improve the operational efficiency of systems and those seeking to promote behavioral changes in transport users offer great potential to generate learning that is useful for the public and private actors involved.


2009 ◽  
pp. 131-156 ◽  
Author(s):  
Richard Sendi ◽  
Manuel Aalbers ◽  
Marcele Trigueiro

2019 ◽  
Vol 29 (4) ◽  
pp. 549-573
Author(s):  
Honor Brabazon

While the privatisation of public space has been the subject of considerable research, literature exploring the shifting boundaries between public and private law, and the role of those shifts in the expansion of neo-liberal social relations, has been slower to develop. This article explores the use of fire safety regulations to evict political occupations in the context of these shifts. Two examples from the UK student occupation movement and two from the US Occupy movement demonstrate how discourses and logics of both private and public law are mobilised through fire hazard claims to create the potent image of a neutral containment of dissent on technical grounds in the public interest – an image that proves difficult to contest. However, the recourse to the public interest and to expert opinion that underpins fire hazard claims is inconsistent with principles governing the limited neo-liberal political sphere, which underscores the pragmatic and continually negotiated implementation of neo-liberal ideas. The article sheds light on the complexity of the extending reach of private law, on the resilience of the public sphere and on the significance of occupations as a battleground on which struggles over neo-liberal social relations and subjectivities play out.


2008 ◽  
Vol 27 (2) ◽  
pp. 282-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Reitzammer

A scholiast's note on Lysistrata mentions that there was an alternative title to the play: Adôôniazousai. A close reading of the play with this title in mind reveals that Lysistrata and her allies metaphorically hold an Adonis festival atop the Acropolis. The Adonia, a festival that is typically regarded as ““marginal”” and ““private”” by modern scholars, thus becomes symbolically central and public as the sex-strike held by the women halts the Peloponnesian war. The public space of the Acropolis becomes, notionally, a private rooftop, and Adonia-like activity proliferates; boars, myrrh, Aphrodite, ““gardens of Adonis,”” and lamentation all play important roles. The notion that the women of Lysistrata hold an unexpected Adonis festival on the Acropolis, at the very heart of the Athenian polis, provides a more nuanced reading of the play and forces us to rethink the place of the Adonia at Athens as well as, more generally, the distinction between public and private festivals.


Systems ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
EunSu Lee ◽  
Yi-Yu Chen ◽  
Melanie McDonald ◽  
Erin O’Neill

Korea initiated a new experiment, called a dynamic response system for open democratic societies as a principle to respond to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). The global pandemic of COVID-19 led to a surge in demand for healthcare medical masks and respirators, and strained the global supply chain of mask production and distribution systems. This study provides a systemic view of critical personal protective equipment for both healthcare staff and the public to stop the spread of COVID-19. This study investigates the dynamic response system of healthcare mask production to the coronavirus and discusses lessons learned in view of systems thinking. The study shows that it is critical to developing a quick and dynamic response system to the evolving market conditions with flexible and agile operations. Visibility with transparency with information sharing with the public is also critical under global pandemic. Due to the shortage of mask supply, smart consumption is required along with collaboration with public and private sectors, as well as global organizations. Democratic leadership and a well-prepared strategic plan for long-term period are essential to the open society to prepare the global pandemic in the future. This study serves as a benchmark for dynamic and timely responses to the global pandemic.


2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 554-574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yijun Zhou ◽  
Yu Yang ◽  
Jyh-Bin Yang

Purpose Effective BIM application hinges on the development of appropriate strategies for its implementation. Though some strategies have been deployed to facilitate BIM implementation in China, their outcomes are not clear. The purpose of this paper is to provide recommendations regarding appropriate strategies for promoting the development and implementation of BIM in China based on lessons learned from advanced implementation experiences in other countries. Design/methodology/approach First, existing strategies are investigated and barriers to BIM implementation mentioned in previous studies are summarized. Then, the identified barriers are mapped to the strategy contents. Finally, a comparative analysis on different areas is conducted to propose suggestions for identified items of BIM implementation strategies that need to be improved. Findings Six unaddressed barriers to BIM implementation strategies in China were identified from the mapping results: insufficient government lead/direction, organizational issues, legal issues, high cost of application, resistance to change of thinking mode and insufficient external motivation. Originality/value The findings of this study can be used to facilitate the development of appropriate strategies within the public and private sectors for promoting BIM implementation in China and elsewhere.


1997 ◽  
Vol 1997 (1) ◽  
pp. 513-515
Author(s):  
John H. Giesen ◽  
Jon D. MacArthur

ABSTRACT Faced with training and travel dollar constraints, California's Department of Fish and Game and the 11th U.S. Coast Guard District worked to form a multiorganizational partnership designed to leverage required resources to conduct a premier operational-level oil spill response training program in the state. The partnership included no less than six major organizations from both the public and private sectors, each playing critical roles in planning and conducting the training. Major hurdles overcome were curriculum development and operational support. Both of these challenges were resolved through a unified management approach in which the ultimate objective became success of the course. The lessons learned from the program provide guidance and rationale for future such efforts.


2008 ◽  
Vol 26 (4) ◽  
pp. 324-343 ◽  
Author(s):  
Krishan Kumar ◽  
Ekaterina Makarova

Much commentary indicates that, starting from the 19th century, the home has become the privileged site of private life. In doing so it has established an increasingly rigid separation between the private and public spheres. This article does not disagree with this basic conviction. But we argue that, in more recent times, there has been a further development, in that the private life of the home has been carried into the public sphere—what we call “the domestication of public space.” This has led to a further attenuation of public life, especially as regards sociability. It has also increased the perception that what is required is a better “balance” between public and private. We argue that this misconstrues the nature of the relation of public to private in those periods that attained the greatest degree of sociability, and that not “balance” but “reciprocity” is the desired condition.


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