scholarly journals Spatial Dynamics Regarding Geographical Concentration of Economic Activities. Italian NUTS-3 Analysis

Author(s):  
Stefano De Falco

AbstractFor several years, the themes concerning agglomeration economies have been approached from different perspectives in the scientific debate, as capable of triggering various positive features. The present research starts precisely where many others arrive, that is, given the value of these externalities, analyzing the spatial distribution of the geographical concentration of economic activities and the related influencing factors. To this end, in this contribution an explanatory investigation is carried out into the spatial dynamics deriving from main productive sectors’ concentration in some Italian regions. The proposed methodological approach is based respectively on the LISA spatial autocorrelation models and on the analysis of non-neighboring clusters to understand if the geographical area of reference and / or the particular production sector are influencing variables. The empirical investigation confirms the presence of a parametric interaction between factors related in some cases on the geographical context and in others on the productive sector.

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (67) ◽  
pp. 61-78
Author(s):  
Hernando Gil Tovar ◽  
Derly Cibelly Lara Figueroa

Managerial competencies, defined as the “underlying characteristics of an individual that have a causal relationship with effective or superior performance in the job” (Boyatzis, 1982, p. 12), are key to achievement of productive purposes in the Huila department, in Colombia. The present article, as an investigative result, seeks to identify those managerial competencies, both current and required, of the organizational leaders in the Passifloraceae productive sector in the Huila department, in Colombia. The epistemological paradigm used in this article is that of interpretivism. The reasoning method is deductive, and the methodological approach is mixed. The unit of analysis for this study consists of the directors of the associative organizations of Passifloraceae producers in the productive chain, where two types of players are identified: thirteen (13) leaders of organizations producing passion fruit, and five (5) representatives of institutions in the Huila department that influence the sector. The study concludes with the definition of the map of current managerial competences of organizations in the passionfruit productive sector, and is then contrasted with the map of competences required from these. It also highlights the importance of associativity for small producers, the need to continue conducting research in the sector, and the need to intervene through social outreach projects, so as to generate appropriation and training processes for a set of managerial competencies identified herein, which will strengthen management skills and competitiveness in this type of organization, and ensure, over time, generational change within the sector.


2020 ◽  
Vol 3 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Laura Hall ◽  
Urpi Pine ◽  
Tanya Shute

Abstract This paper will reflect on key findings from a Summer 2017 initiative entitled The Role of Culture and Land-Based Healing in Addressing and Ending Violence against Indigenous Women and Two-Spirited People. The Indigenist and decolonizing methodological approach of this work ensured that all research was grounded in experiential and reciprocal ways of learning. Two major findings guide the next phase of this research, complicating the premise that traditional economic activities are healing for Indigenous women and Two-Spirit people. First, the complexities of the mainstream labour force were raised numerous times. Traditional economies are pressured in ongoing ways through exploitative labour practices. Secondly, participants emphasized the importance of attending to the responsibility of nurturing, enriching, and sustaining the wellbeing of soil, water, and original seeds in the process of creating renewal gardens as a healing endeavour. In other words, we have an active role to play in healing the environment and not merely using the environment to heal ourselves. Gardening as research and embodied knowledge was stressed by extreme weather changes including hail in June, 2018, which meant that participants spent as much time talking about the healing of the earth and her systems as the healing of Indigenous women in a context of ongoing colonialism.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Pluchino ◽  
A. E. Biondo ◽  
N. Giuffrida ◽  
G. Inturri ◽  
V. Latora ◽  
...  

AbstractWe propose a novel data-driven framework for assessing the a-priori epidemic risk of a geographical area and for identifying high-risk areas within a country. Our risk index is evaluated as a function of three different components: the hazard of the disease, the exposure of the area and the vulnerability of its inhabitants. As an application, we discuss the case of COVID-19 outbreak in Italy. We characterize each of the twenty Italian regions by using available historical data on air pollution, human mobility, winter temperature, housing concentration, health care density, population size and age. We find that the epidemic risk is higher in some of the Northern regions with respect to Central and Southern Italy. The corresponding risk index shows correlations with the available official data on the number of infected individuals, patients in intensive care and deceased patients, and can help explaining why regions such as Lombardia, Emilia-Romagna, Piemonte and Veneto have suffered much more than the rest of the country. Although the COVID-19 outbreak started in both North (Lombardia) and Central Italy (Lazio) almost at the same time, when the first cases were officially certified at the beginning of 2020, the disease has spread faster and with heavier consequences in regions with higher epidemic risk. Our framework can be extended and tested on other epidemic data, such as those on seasonal flu, and applied to other countries. We also present a policy model connected with our methodology, which might help policy-makers to take informed decisions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (8) ◽  
pp. 1519-1541
Author(s):  
Vitalii V. PECHATKIN ◽  
Liliya M. VIL'DANOVA

Subject. As digital technologies spread across all industries, active processes of digital transformation need to be managed both nationally and regionally. Assessing the extent of digitalization across types of economic activities is the key issue for setting up the socio-economic development strategy of the region and evaluating its efficiency. Objectives. The study is aimed to formulate and test methodological approaches to assessing the digitalization in types of economic activities and the potential of digital technologies for the real economy. Methods. The study relies upon the dialectical method, systems approach, questionnaires, expert approach, interpretation of empirical facts through tables, etc. Results. We devised a methodological approaches to assessing the extent of digitalization in types of economic activities across regions. The approach combines the quantification and evaluation of the process and helps determine the extent of local digital transformation at the regional level. We devised and tested the methodological approach to rating digital technologies, which have the high potential for raising the competitiveness and resilience to competition of the industrial sector in the Russian regions. As opposed to the existing approaches, the approach accounts for the current scale of digital technologies in the national economy, the potential for growth in the demand and supply in the domestic and foreign markets, and the potential for import substitution with respect to foreign technologies and products. Conclusions and Relevance. What makes the proposed methodological approaches more preferable is that they help assess not only the extent of digitalization in types of economic activities and the predominance of certain types in industrial enterprises, but also determine their potential for import substitution in terms of digital security.


Author(s):  
Юлия Пиньковецкая

Целью исследования являлась оценка двухфакторной производственной функции, характеризующей взаимосвязь обо-рота микропредприятий от величины заработной платы работников и потока инвестиций в основной капитал. Рас-смотрена производственная функция, аналогичная функции Кобба-Дугласа, без ограничений на сумму степеней при факторах. Исследование базировалось на статистических пространственных данных, использовалась информация по 82 регионам России за 2017 г. Производственная функция представляет собой эффективный инструмент управления. Полученные новые знания имеют научное и практическое значение. The goal of the research was to estimate the two-factor production function, which characterizes the relationship between the microenterprise turnover and the employees rate of wages and the flow of investments into the fixed assets. The research examined a production function similar to that of Cobb-Douglas function, without the restrictions on the sum of degrees under factors. The research was based on statistical spatial data; using the information on 82 regions of Russia for 2017. The production function is an effective management tool. The new knowledge obtained is of scientific and practical im-portance. The methodological approach and tools proposed in the article for evaluating the production functions, describing the set of the microenterprises activities in the regions, can be applied in scientific research on the entrepreneurship issues, as well as in justifying the programs of this economy sector devel-opment at the federal and regional levels. The methodology and tools that were used in the research process can be applied in similar studies in the countries with a significant number of territorial (administrative) units. Further research is related to the evaluation of production functions for a set of microenterprises that are specialized in various types of economic activities, as well as those located in municipalities of specific regions.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (12) ◽  
pp. 4541 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luisa Sturiale ◽  
Alessandro Scuderi

The new and more conscious sensibility towards the environmental sphere supports the idea of “green city”, promotes initiatives of structural integration of the green with the built environment and involves a considerable number of disciplines in a cultural and social debate. The literature reports different experiences of collaborative governance, between administrations and citizens, which tend to enhance the interaction between the different social actors involved in the investments of Green Infrastructures, to share objectives and management methods and to assess the extent of ecosystem services. The objective of this article is to propose a methodological approach to assessing green investments in the urban area, which is able to internalize the social perception of citizens regarding this important component for the urban landscape, with a view to guiding the city’s government towards a new urban eco-social-green planning and evaluation model. It presents a concise framework of the scientific debate on climate change and on the effects of urban planning issues; some relevant experiences of Green Infrastructures; and the proposed methodology, applied to the reality of the “urban green system” of Catania, based on an integrated approach between participatory planning and the method NAIADE (Novel Approach to Imprecise Assessment and Decision Environments).


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (24) ◽  
pp. 7237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Della Spina

In the current scientific debate, cities represent the contexts in which resources, capital, skills, and talents are concentrated and, at the same time, they are places where many challenges are concentrated regarding environmental (pollution, waste, climate change), economic (unemployment, social exclusion, well-being), political (instability in governance processes, lack of strategic planning), and cultural (training, creativity and innovation) dimensions. The city and historic centers in particular, are able to experiment the paradigm shift from a linear economy to a circular economy, in which synergic, fair, and inclusive processes capable of activating new forms of urban productivity and social and economic innovation are promoted. In particular, the European Commission identifies cultural heritage as the main driver of development and supports strategies in which it is considered as one of the founding elements of possible transformations, which can be activated through mixed top-down/bottom-up approaches, in the short and long term. In this perspective, cultural heritage can play a decisive role in terms of the urban strategy capable of generating new economic, cultural, and social values, which trigger innovative dynamics of local development. To address current urban challenges, this paper attempts to use a multi-criteria analysis to decision support, starting with a Multi-Stakeholder Decision Analysis (M-SDA), in order to assist decision makers in choosing suitable scenarios to trigger circular development processes, taking into account the role of cultural heritage in a systemic landscape perspective. The result is a hybrid methodological approach for designing complex urban regeneration processes able to assess which new uses/functions and potential actions, identified by the involved community, can trigger a circular development model which could be more suitable to implement a model of “culture-led” and “community-driven” development.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (14) ◽  
pp. 2243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Iacobucci ◽  
Francesco Troiani ◽  
Salvatore Milli ◽  
Paolo Mazzanti ◽  
Daniela Piacentini ◽  
...  

Fluvial avulsion is an important process in the dynamics of the riverscapes and plays a key role in the drainage network evolution in lowland areas, also influencing past and present social processes and economic activities. Crevasse splays represent significant geomorphological features for understanding the fluvial morphodynamics in lowland areas dominated by avulsion processes. Within wide floodplains characterized by very low elevation ranges, the detection and accurate mapping of crevasse splay morphology and features, such as crevasse channels, levees, and deposit, can be very challenging considering floodplain extension, anthropic impact on the natural channels network, logistic difficulties, and in some cases, climate conditions that prevent field work. This research aims at improving the detection and mapping of crevasse splays in lowland areas through the combination of different remote sensing techniques based on optical multispectral imagery and topographic data derived from satellite earth observation missions. The Lower Mesopotamia Plain (LMP) offers a unique opportunity to study the avulsion processes because it presents numerous examples of crevasse splays, characterized by different sizes and states of activity. Furthermore, in this area, a strong correlation exists between the formation and development of crevasse splays and the expansion of agriculture and early societies since the Early Holocene. Different supervised classification (SC) methods of Landsat 8 satellite images have been tested together with topographic analysis of the microrelief, carried out based on two different 1-arcsec DEMs (AW3D30 and GDEM2). The results of this study demonstrate that the combination of multispectral imagery analysis and topographic analysis of the microrelief is useful for discerning different crevasse elements, distinguishing between active and relict landforms. The methodological approach proved helpful for improving the mapping of erosional and depositional landforms generated by the avulsion process and, in the study area, provided the best results for the active landforms.


2018 ◽  
Vol 193 ◽  
pp. 05019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Inessa Karnaukh ◽  
Anna Mikheeva ◽  
Svetlana Ayusheeva ◽  
Taisia Bardakhanova

The implementation of cost intensive construction projects is determined by the availability of natural resources and the environmental capacity of areas. The objective of the research consists in the development of a methodological approach to the assessment of the siting of construction facilities in the territories, characterized by ecological limitations and the substantiation of siting acceptability criteria. The authors analyzed the potential risks caused by the siting of construction facilities on the basis of (1) the impact produced by the facilities, used for economic activities, on the environment, and (2) the assessment of ecological and socioeconomic consequences of this impact. The core method of research consists in the integral ranking of territories, based on the environmental capacity of the natural environment's components and the anthropogenic impact, while their reconciliation represents one of the most relevant objectives of environmentally sustainable development of territories. The analytical results, generated by the co-authors, serve as the starting point for the research-based substantiation of the siting of construction facilities, because the following condition serves as the basic criterion: the anthropogenic impact, produced on territories, must not exceed the self-recovery potential of the local natural system.


2018 ◽  
Vol 58 ◽  
pp. 01025
Author(s):  
Joanna Przedrzymirska ◽  
Jacek Zaucha ◽  
Daniel Depellgrin ◽  
Rhona Fairgrieve ◽  
Andronikos Kafas ◽  
...  

The increasing demand for ocean resources exerts an increasing pressure on the use of ocean space across all European Sea Basins. This underlines issues of compatibility (or conflicts) between different maritime uses as well as between economic activities and environmental protection. The idea of multi-use (MU), as a guiding concept for efficient allocation of compatible activities in the same marine space, can increase spatial efficiency and at the same time provide socio-economic and environmental benefits. However, its transition from a concept to real-world development is facing several barriers. Based on analysis of five European sea basins done under the Horizon 2020 MUSES project (Multi-Use in European Seas), this paper aims to clarify the concept of MU by discussing: 1) the definition in the literature and practice so far, and; 2) how existing regulatory and planning regimes are supporting and challenging the development of several MUs (considered as the most promising). The analytical methodology developed for the MUSES project relied on data collected via desk research and semi structured interviews with key stakeholders (e.g. industry, regulators), over the period of seven months. The semi-quantitative analysis of data conducted, identified the commonalities and differences among countries in respect to each of the analyzed MUs. The paper points out priorities for the MU development in different sea basins and recommends initial steps to overcome existing barriers, whilst maximizing local benefits. This paper is a starting point towards a broader scientific debate on: (i) what could be the role of management policies (like for instance maritime spatial planning - MSP) in supporting and fostering MU concept development, (ii) what are technical and technological challenges for technically advanced MUs, (iii) how added values of MUs concept (e.g. benefits for local economies, positive impacts on environment) could be enhanced.


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