scholarly journals The Surco canal, an ancient irrigation canal in Lima, Peru, and a citizens’ campaign for its protection

Water History ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Javier Lizarzaburu

AbstractThe present text discusses a number of pre-Hispanic irrigation canals in Lima, the Peruvian capital, often considered as the second largest city built on a desert. Some of the original canals are still in use but given that most have been excluded from official urban narratives, citizens are not aware of them and the role they still play in the city. A brief description of Lima’s canals through the ages is provided, including present day management and the risks affecting them. This paper focuses on the Surco canal and a citizens’ campaign carried out between 2016 and 2018 to raise awareness about it. The impact the campaign has had on the wider city is discussed. A general overview of the cultural context in which pre-Hispanic issues have historically been considered in Lima and how this campaign also tried to address them is included as well. As this paper is part of a special issue, Water History in the time of COVID-19, it has undergone modified peer review.

2020 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ángel Borrego ◽  
Maite Comalat Navarra

PurposeGoogle Maps is a web platform that allows users to review businesses and services, including libraries. Given the impact of online reviews on the corporate reputation of companies and institutions, it is important to understand how library users disseminate and process reviews on online sites. This study explores whether Google Maps is being used by users of public libraries in the city of Barcelona (Spain) to share their views on libraries' facilities and services and what perception of the library they transmit.Design/methodology/approachRecords corresponding to the 40 public municipal libraries in Barcelona were retrieved from Google Maps. For each library, the average “rating” (a quantitative assessment of the library) and a sample of the ten most recent “reviews” (a text and/or photograph(s) that accompanies the rating) were analysed. Reviews were categorised into eight categories: “children's areas”, “collections”, “location”, “facilities”, “general reviews”, “opening hours”, “staff” and “technology”.FindingsAll of the city's 40 public libraries are present in Google Maps and have been reviewed by users, usually with high ratings. The number of replies to users' reviews by library managers is negligible. Reviews with low ratings tend to be longer than those with high ratings. In the reviews, children's areas, collections and library location are given positive ratings. Facilities also receive positive reviews, although to a lesser extent, and two issues receive criticism: noise and lack of seating space for studying. Three aspects of the libraries attract similar numbers of positive and negative reviews: staff, opening hours and technology. The study concludes that Barcelona's public libraries should devote more resources for keeping the information in their profiles updated. They should also monitor users' opinions and create guidelines to offer feedback, especially to negative reviews.Research limitations/implicationsThe research is limited by being restricted to a single platform (Google Maps) and a single city (Barcelona). Those writing reviews in Google Maps may not constitute a representative sample of library users. “Local guides”, who tend to award higher ratings than other users, participate in a programme that allows them to earn points that may be exchanged for benefits. Therefore, it is possible that at least some “local guides” publish reviews on public libraries they hardly know (if at all) just to obtain benefits. Similarly, the large number of users commenting on study spaces suggests that young people may be over-represented.Originality/valueMany studies have analysed transaction data in online library settings, including visits, searches, downloads, etc. but there are no examples of analyses of user-generated content such as texts or photos uploaded to review sites and social media. The results of this study will help to improve the understanding of how library patrons see public libraries and to design effective strategies to respond to and generally manage their suggestions and complaints.Peer reviewThe peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/OIR-09-2019-0291


2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 291-300 ◽  
Author(s):  
DAVID BRITAIN

AbstractThis article assesses the sociolinguistic impact and importance of the other articles in this special issue on Paris, considering three main themes that are evoked. First, the contribution of the articles here to the development of work on language variation and change on Hexagonal French within the variationist paradigm. Second, I address what I see as the important contribution made to our understanding of the ‘city’ as a sociolinguistic site. Finally, I focus on ethnicity as a social construct in recent variationist work in cities and consider what the articles here, and in comparison with cities elsewhere, add to our understanding of the impact of immigration on local manifestations of language variability. In each case, I attempt to show how these articles foreground or even problematize these three issues, and provide a prospectus for further research that can address unresolved questions.


Author(s):  
Claudio Petit Laurent Charpentier ◽  

"The present text emerges as a process of artistic research that aims to elaborate a visual proposal about the problematic of masculine identity in the current social and cultural context. For this, it is necessary to generate a theoretical framework on the subject of gender, starting with the feminist theories and the studies of masculinity, which will allow to establish the categories of analysis from which the imaginary will arise for the elaboration of the visual proposal. It starts from the notions of the gender understood as social construction, and therefore establishes a visual reference link with the city as a material manifestation of the structures of meaning that delimit the processes of elaboration of identity of the individuals. Finally, on the basis of a semiotic analysis methodology regarding the set of signs and symbols that make up the imaginary built from the categories proposed by the theoretical framework, a visual proposal will be articulated through pictorial language that poses a questioning the rigidity of these structures, alluding to the diversity of masculinities that are experienced today."


2005 ◽  
Vol 21 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 29-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farokh Parsizadeh ◽  
Yasamin O. Izadkhah

This paper provides a general overview of the impact of the 26 December 2003 Bam, Iran, earthquake on the functioning of the local government and its services. Almost all Bam's municipal offices, hospitals, and schools were seriously damaged or destroyed during the earthquake, and the impact on the personnel and the functioning of local government agencies in the city of Bam and the surrounding area was very serious.


Author(s):  
Maria Alessandra Panzanelli-Fratoni

The editions of legal texts are a major and important part of 15th-century book output, amounting to about 15% of the surviving extant editions. The category comprehends two types of work: (a) the collections of Roman and Canon Law, with their medieval supplements and commentaries; (b) acts and regulations produced by governments and by local authorities as part of their day-to-day activity. After a general overview, this article focuses on the first group of texts, which offers an opportunity to address some key questions related to the impact of printing in a particular cultural context, that of the university. A study of legal texts printed in the 15th century aims to provide a relevant contribution to a better understanding of the impact of printing by comparing elements of continuity and discontinuity with the manuscript and later printed tradition.


Author(s):  
Endy Gunanto ◽  
Yenni Kurnia Gusti

In this article we present a conceptual of the effect of cross culture on consumer behavior incorporating the impact of globalization. This conceptual idea shows that culture inûuences various domains of consumer behavior directly as well as through international organization to implement marketing strategy. The conceptual identify several factors such as norm and value in the community, several variables and also depicts the impact of other environmental factors and marketing strategy elements on consumer behavior. We also identify categories of consumer culture orientation resulting from globalization. Highlights of each of the several other articles included in this special issue in Asia region. We conclude with the contributions of the articles in terms of the consumer cultural orientations and identify directions for future research.


2015 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 181-192 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pinar Yazgan ◽  
Deniz Eroglu Utku ◽  
Ibrahim Sirkeci

With the growing insurrections in Syria in 2011, an exodus in large numbers have emerged. The turmoil and violence have caused mass migration to destinations both within the region and beyond. The current "refugee crisis" has escalated sharply and its impact is widening from neighbouring countries toward Europe. Today, the Syrian crisis is the major cause for an increase in displacement and the resultant dire humanitarian situation in the region. Since the conflict shows no signs of abating in the near future, there is a constant increase in the number of Syrians fleeing their homes. However, questions on the future impact of the Syrian crisis on the scope and scale of this human mobility are still to be answered. As the impact of the Syrian crisis on host countries increases, so does the demand for the analyses of the needs for development and protection in these countries. In this special issue, we aim to bring together a number of studies examining and discussing human mobility in relation to the Syrian crisis.


2013 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-50 ◽  
Author(s):  
Evinç Doğan ◽  
Ibrahim Sirkeci

This study examines the ways in which the city image of Istanbul is re-created through the mega-events within the context of the European Capital of Culture (ECoC) 2010. Istanbul “took the stage” as one of the three ECoC cities (Essen for the Ruhr in Germany and Pécs in Hungary), where the urban spaces were projected as the theatre décor while residents and visitors became the spectators of the events. Organisers and agents of the ECoC 2010 seemed to rebrand Istanbul as a “world city” rather than a “European capital”. With a series of transnational connotations, this can be considered as part of an attempt to turn Istanbul to a global city. In this study we examine posters used during the ECoC 2010 to see whether this was evident in the promoted images of Istanbul. The research employs a hermeneutic approach in which representations, signs and language are the means of symbolic meaning, which is analysed through qualitative methods for the visual data (Visual Analysis Methods), namely Semiotics and Discourse Analysis. The analysed research material comes from a sample of posters released during the ECoC 2010 to promote 549 events throughout the year. Using stratified random sampling we have drawn 28 posters (5% of the total) reflecting the thematic groups of events in the ECoC 2010. Particular attention is also paid to the reflexivity of the researchers and researchers’ embeddedness to the object of research. The symbolic production and visual representation are therefore investigated firstly through the authoritative and historically constituted discourses in the making of Istanbul image and secondly through the orders of cultural consumption and mediatisation of culture through spectacular events. Hence enforcing a transnationalisation of the image of the city where the image appears to be almost stateless transcending the national boundaries. Findings and methodology used in this study can be useful in understanding similar cases and further research into the processes of city and place branding and image relationships. 


2015 ◽  
Vol 26 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 116-123
Author(s):  
A. P. Korzh ◽  
T. V. Zahovalko

Recently, the number of published works devoted to the processes of synanthropization of fauna, is growing like an avalanche, which indicates the extreme urgency of this theme. In our view, the process of forming devices to coexist with human and the results of his life reflects the general tandency of the modern nature evolution. Urbanization is characteristic for such a specific group of animals like amphibians, the evidence of which are numerous literature data. Many researchers use this group to assess the bioindicative quality of the environment. For this aim a variety of indicators are used: from the cellular level of life of organization up to the species composition of the group in different territories. At the same time, the interpretation of the results is not always comparable for different areas and often have significantly different interpretations by experts. Urban environment, primarily due to the contamination is extremely aggressive to amphibians. As a consequence, the urban populations of amphibians may be a change in the demographic structure, affecting the reproductive ability of the population, the disappearance of the most sensitive species or individuals, resizing animals, the appearance of abnormalities in the development, etc. At the same time play an important amphibians in the ecosystems of cities, and some species in these conditions even feel relatively comfortable. Therefore, it is interesting to understand the mechanisms of self-sustaining populations of amphibians in urban environments. To assess the impact of natural and anthropogenic factors on the development of amphibian populations were used cognitive modeling using the program Vensim PLE. Cognitive map of the model for urban and suburban habitat conditions were the same. The differences concerned the strength of connections between individual factors (migration, fertility, pollution) and their orientation. In general, factors like pollution, parasites, predators had negative impact on the population, reducing its number. The birth rate, food and migration contributed to raising number of individuals. Some of the factors affected on the strength to of each other as well: the majority of the factors affected the structure of the population, had an influence on the fertility. Thanks to it the model reflects the additive effect of complex of factors on the subsequent status of the population. Proposed and analyzed four scenarios differing strength and duration of exposure. In the first scenario, a one-time contamination occurs and not subsequently repeated. The second and third scenario assumes half board contamination, 1 year (2 scenario) and two years (scenario 3). In the fourth scenario, the pollution affected the population of amphibians constantly. In accordance with the results of simulation, much weaker than the natural populations respond to pollution - have them as an intensive population growth and its disappearance at constant pollution is slow. Changes to other parameters of the model showed that this pollution is the decisive factor -only the constant action leads to a lethal outcome for the populations. All other components of the model have a corrective effect on the population dynamics, without changing its underlying trand. In urban areas due to the heavy impact of pollution maintaining the population is only possible thanks to the migration process – the constant replenishment of diminishing micropopulations of natural reserves. This confirms the assumption that the form of existence metapopulations lake frog in the city. In order to maintain the number of amphibians in urban areas at a high level it is necessary to maintain existing migration routes and the creation of new ones. Insular nature of the placement of suitable habitats in urban areas causes the metapopulation structure of the types of urbanists. Therefore, the process of urbanization is much easier for those species whicht are capable of migration in conditions of city. In the initial stages of settling the city micropopulationis formed by selective mortality of the most susceptible individuals to adverse effects. In future, maintaining the categories of individuals is provided mainly due to migration processes metapopulisation form of the species of existence is supported). It should be noted that the changes in the previous levels are always saved in future. In the case of reorganizations of individuals we of morphology can assume the existence of extremely adverse environmental conditions that threaten the extinction of the micropopulations. 


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