Social Return and Economic Viability of Social Farming in Catalonia: A Case-Study Analysis

Abstract In Europe, Social Farming (SF) and agritourism are multifunctional agriculture activities that arise when agricultural land is abandoned in rural and peri-urban areas; it is difficult to develop commercial agriculture if it is not intensive. In our research, we studied SF in Catalonia, carrying out a census and classification of 161 initiatives and a more in-depth analysis of 10 projects (or 9 in some cases), identifying their viability and the economic, social, and environmental return on investment (SROI) for the resources used in each case. The methodology included questionnaires, in-depth interviews, and Canvas and SROI analyses. Although SF has developed in many European countries, it is incipient in the Iberian Peninsula. The projects in Catalonia combine agrarian activity, socio-health care and social policies, with the aim of offering innovative solutions to the needs of different groups at risk of social exclusion.

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Proactive Value Co-Creation via Structural Ambidexterity: Customer Success Management and the Modularization of Frontline Roles

Journal of Service Research ◽

10.1177/1094670521997565 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 109467052199756

Author(s):

Bryan Hochstein ◽

Nawar N. Chaker ◽

Deva Rangarajan ◽

Duane Nagel ◽

Nathaniel N. Hartmann

Keyword(s):

Value Creation ◽

Functional Role ◽

Service Firms ◽

Study Analysis ◽

Case Study Analysis ◽

Multilevel Perspective ◽

Business To Business ◽

Depth Interviews

An increasing number of business-to-business (B2B) service firms have transitioned to recurring revenue-based solutions. These subscription B2B solutions are becoming increasingly common, yet offer challenges for long-term renewal if value is not consistently realized by the customer. To address this concern, customer success (CS) management has emerged. CS management is based on regular proactive action taken by the seller to (a) educate, prepare, and engage customers for value co-creation; (b) demonstrate the value delivered by the solution; and (c) provide a channel for advocacy on behalf of customers within the service-providing firm. Our findings highlight the under-researched topic of CS in B2B settings. Specifically, we propose the CS function and role as a structural alternative to within-person (i.e., cross-functional) ambidexterity and emphasize the ability of a CS focus by service firms to complement existing firm operations in value creation efforts. Our case study analysis provides a multilevel perspective (i.e., executive, functional role employees, and customers) via in-depth interviews that offer unique insights on “how parts of the service-sales system work together.” Overall, CS is growing as a practice that propagates value to the customer via ongoing success with solutions while improving service-firm renewal and growth of subscription business.

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Classification of Landforms for Digital Soil Mapping in Urban Areas Using LiDAR Data Derived Terrain Attributes: A Case Study from Berlin, Germany

Land ◽

10.3390/land9090319 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 9 (9) ◽

pp. 319 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mohamed Ali Mohamed

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Human Impacts ◽

Soil Mapping ◽

Fuzzy Classification ◽

Small Scale ◽

Ground Truth Data ◽

Terrain Attributes ◽

Lidar Dem

In this study, a knowledge-based fuzzy classification method was used to classify possible soil-landforms in urban areas based on analysis of morphometric parameters (terrain attributes) derived from digital elevation models (DEMs). A case study in the city area of Berlin was used to compare two different resolution DEMs in terms of their potential to find a specific relationship between landforms, soil types and the suitability of these DEMs for soil mapping. Almost all the topographic parameters were obtained from high-resolution light detection and ranging (LiDAR)-DEM (1 m) and Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER)-DEM (30 m), which were used as thresholds for the classification of landforms in the selected study area with a total area of about 39.40 km2. The accuracy of both classifications was evaluated by comparing ground point samples as ground truth data with the classification results. The LiDAR-DEM based classification has shown promising results for classification of landforms into geomorphological (sub)categories in urban areas. This is indicated by an acceptable overall accuracy of 93%. While the classification based on ASTER-DEM showed an accuracy of 70%. The coarser ASTER-DEM based classification requires additional and more detailed information directly related to soil-forming factors to extract geomorphological parameters. The importance of using LiDAR-DEM classification was particularly evident when classifying landforms that have narrow spatial extent such as embankments and channel banks or when determining the general accuracy of landform boundaries such as crests and flat lands. However, this LiDAR-DEM classification has shown that there are categories of landforms that received a large proportion of the misclassifications such as terraced land and steep embankments in other parts of the study area due to the increased distance from the major rivers and the complex nature of these landforms. In contrast, the results of the ASTER-DEM based classification have shown that the ASTER-DEM cannot deal with small-scale spatial variation of soil and landforms due to the increasing human impacts on landscapes in urban areas. The application of the approach used to extract terrain parameters from the LiDAR-DEM and their use in classification of landforms has shown that it can support soil surveys that require a lot of time and resources for traditional soil mapping.

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Building Reconstruction After Large-Scale Disasters A Case Study of Ishinomaki City After the Great East Japan Earthquake

Journal of Disaster Research ◽

10.20965/jdr.2016.p0780 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 11 (sp) ◽

pp. 780-788 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Michio Ubaura ◽

◽

Junpei Nieda ◽

Masashi Miyakawa ◽

Keyword(s):

Land Use Planning ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Large Scale ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Recovery Process ◽

Great East Japan Earthquake ◽

Planning System ◽

Compact City ◽

Building Reconstruction

In large-scale disasters and the subsequent recovery process, land usage and urban spatial forms change. It is therefore important to use this process as an opportunity to create a more sustainable spatial structure. This study considers the urban spatial transformations that took place after the Great East Japan Earthquake, their causes, and accompanying issues by investigating building construction in the recovery process. The authors discovered that individual rebuilding is primarily concentrated in vacant lots within the city’s existing urbanized areas. This is likely due to the spatial impact of the urban planning and agricultural land use planning system, the area division of urbanization promotion areas, and the urbanization restricted areas, all of which were in place prior to the disaster and which have guided development. On the other hand, there are areas severely damaged by tsunami in which there has been little reconstruction of housing that was completely destroyed. The authors concluded that building reconstruction in Ishinomaki City resulted in both the formation of a high-density compact city and also very low-density urban areas.

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Managing the Transition towards Circular Metabolism: Living Labs as a Co-Creation Approach

Urban Planning ◽

10.17645/up.v4i3.2170 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

pp. 5-18 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Libera Amenta ◽

Anna Attademo ◽

Hilde Remøy ◽

Gilda Berruti ◽

Maria Cerreta ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Resource Consumption ◽

Raw Material ◽

Soil Resource ◽

Study Approach ◽

Waste Production ◽

Innovative Solutions ◽

Living Labs ◽

Five Phases

Resource consumption and related waste production are still rapidly increasing all over the world, leading to social and environmental challenges and to the production of the so-called ‘wastescapes’. Peri-urban areas—in-between urban and rural territories—are particularly vulnerable and prone to develop into wastescapes because they are generally characterised by mixed functions and/or monofunctional settlements, as well as by fragmentation in a low-density territory that is often crossed by large infrastructure networks. Moreover, peri-urban areas are generally the selected locations for the development of plants for waste management. In this way, they are crossed by waste flows of a different nature, in a landscape of operational infrastructures and wasted landscapes. Implementing Circular Economy (CE) principles, interpreting waste and wastescapes as resources, is a way to significantly reduce raw material and (soil) resource consumption, improving cities’ metabolism. A circular approach can positively affect the spatial, social and environmental performances of peri-urban areas. However, the transition towards a CE presents many challenges. This article outlines an approach to address these challenges, presenting a co-creation process among researchers, experts and stakeholders within Living Labs (LLs) processes. LLs are physical and virtual spaces, aiming at the co-creation of site-specific eco-innovative solutions (EIS) and strategies. In the LLs, public–private–people partnerships are developed by applying an iterative methodology consisting of five phases: Co-Exploring, Co-Design, Co-Production, Co-Decision, and Co-Governance. This article presents a case study approach, analysing the co-creation methodology applied in two peri-urban living labs, located in the Metropolitan Areas of Naples (Italy) and Amsterdam (The Netherlands), within REPAiR Horizon2020 research project.

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Issues and Problems Faced by Rural Farmers in Paddy Cultivation: A Case Study of the Iban Paddy Cultivation in Kuala Tatau, Sarawak

Journal of Regional and Rural Development Planning ◽

10.29244/jp2wd.2017.1.2.174-182 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 1 (2) ◽

pp. 174

Author(s):

Daniel Ugih Echoh ◽

Norizan Md Nor ◽

Salfarina Abdul Gapor ◽

Tarmiji Masron

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Irrigation System ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Group Discussion ◽

Great Distance ◽

Rice Farmers ◽

Depth Interview ◽

Paddy Cultivation

Rice is an important staple food in Asia. However, modernization and rapid development have reduced and threatened the practice, especially maintaining traditional hill rice cultivation, as in this case study by the Iban in Kuala Tatau located in the largest state in Malaysia, called Sarawak. It is important to understand the problems and challenges of this issue to ensure food security among the rural population in Sarawak, particularly the Iban. Therefore, this paper aims to discuss the issues and problems faced by rice farmers in Kuala Tatau, Sarawak. The respondents were Iban farmers in Kuala Tatau; named Sungai Semanok and Kuala Serupai, were selected as it is at a great distance from urban areas named Bintulu, and they still practices paddy cultivation. For the purpose of obtaining the data, qualitative research methods through in-depth interview techniques, group discussion and observation were utilized and the data were analyzed using content analysis. The results showed that the rice sector faced major problems such as the decrease of the number of farmers and a weak system in the distribution of subsidies. However, there were differences shown in results between the two villages as well, which were in term of inadequate agricultural land, and issues on drainage and irrigation system, depending on the distance of the village from urban area, transport facilities, and other issues as discussed in the following section.

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ANALISIS TINGKAT KESEHATAN BANK DILIHAT DARI STANDAR NON PERFORMING LOAN (NPL) PADA PT. BANK PERKREDITAN RAKYAT RAGA DANA SEJAHTERA CABANG PADANG

10.31219/osf.io/qavdy ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Yori Qalbi Khairi ◽

Ratna Widayati

Keyword(s):

Quantitative Approach ◽

Public Confidence ◽

Bank Capital ◽

Study Analysis ◽

Case Study Analysis ◽

Health Level ◽

The Impact ◽

Bank Soundness

This study aims to determine the level of bank health at PT. BPR Raga Dana Sejahtera in the Padang branch by using non-pefoming loan standards in 2015-2017, the impact of non-performing loans on company profits in 2015-2017, efforts made to overcome non-performing loans at PT. BPR Raga Dana Sejahtera Padang branch in 2015-2017. Data was collected using interviews and documentation. Data were analyzed using case study analysis with a quantitative approach. The results showed that the classification of the Bank's health level there are four categories, namely: healthy, healthy enough, less healthy, and unhealthy. the impact of non-performing loans to the Bank is the decline in profits, disruption of cash turnover, reduced level of bank soundness, reduced bank capital, and decreased public confidence. efforts made to overcome problem loans at PT. BPR Raga Dana Sejahtera Padang branch is a restructuring, rescheduling, foreclosure guarantee, and write off loans (write off receivables).

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Defining Deforestation Patterns Using Satellite Images from 2000 and 2017: Assessment of Forest Management in Miombo Forests—A Case Study of Huambo Province in Angola

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11010098 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 98 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Vasco Chiteculo ◽

Azadeh Abdollahnejad ◽

Dimitrios Panagiotidis ◽

Peter Surový ◽

Ram Sharma

Keyword(s):

Forest Management ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Bare Soil ◽

Vegetation Types ◽

Forest Protection ◽

Management Zones ◽

Management Zone ◽

The Impact

A few studies have recently been published on changes in land use/land cover (LU/LC) of Angolan Miombo forests, however, none have attempted to offer forest management solutions for degraded Miombo forests. Landscapes are witness to past and present natural and social processes influencing the environment, where each period in the past leaves footprints on the landscape’s development, which can be described by a continual decrease in forest area over time. The expansion of degraded areas from 2000 to 20017 began near urban areas where many Miombo forests have been eliminated or highly degraded, particularly in the southwest and northeast of the Huambo province. Large areas of degraded forests were observed along the Benguela railway (Caminho de ferro de Benguela). Our detailed analysis of the landcover map suggests that the impact has been devastating and there is no form of forest protection, which leads to unregulated exploitation. Descriptions of the Miombo forest dynamics are explained using height–diameter curves developed for different vegetation types that provide important insights about forest structures in the management zones. The height–diameter models differed for all vegetation types, and four management zones (MZ) were created based on a set of particular attributes. The vegetation types differed in each management zone, which included agricultural land and bare soil (MZ–E), grassland or savanna (MZ–C), open Miombo forests (MZ–B), and closed Miombo forests (Miombo forests). The four management zones were easily identified on the available maps and the height–diameter models developed represent a fundamental tool for future studies on forest planning.

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National Land Use Policy against the Misuse of the Agricultural Land—Causes and Effects. Evidence from Poland

Sustainability ◽

10.3390/su11226403 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 11 (22) ◽

pp. 6403 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Alina Źróbek-Różańska ◽

Joanna Zielińska-Szczepkowska

Keyword(s):

Side Effects ◽

Urban Areas ◽

Local Governments ◽

Agricultural Land ◽

Real Estate Market ◽

The Real ◽

The Real Estate ◽

Real Effects ◽

The Real Estate Market ◽

Depth Interviews

Land suitable for agricultural production is limited and should be used in a sustainable manner and protected. Countries of the former communist bloc, where the majority of the agricultural land was dynamically privatized, are in a special situation. Land has been used there also to serve the needs of growing cities, for investment speculation and as entitlement to subsidies. Therefore, legal regulations protecting agricultural land were introduced. In the case of Poland, particular attention should be paid to the radical act of 2016, which completely stopped the sale of Treasury resources and strongly limited sales on the private market. However, the new act caused a number of side effects and various pathologies. This article examines the real effects of policy aimed at combating the misuse of agricultural land. It was assumed that most of the side effects will be observed around big cities, defined as Functional Urban Areas. The following methods were used: a survey in Polish FUAs, analysis of transactions on the real estate market in 2015–2018 and in-depth interviews with representatives of local governments and relevant institutions. The study revealed a number of pathologies, such as ways of circumventing new restrictions or searching for legal loopholes.

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Quality of Resilient Cities, the Issue of Urban Waste

Advances in Environmental Engineering and Green Technologies - Smart Cities as a Solution for Reducing Urban Waste and Pollution ◽

10.4018/978-1-5225-0302-6.ch007 ◽

2016 ◽

pp. 197-223

Author(s):

Elzbieta Dagny Rynska ◽

Anna Teresa Oniszk-Poplawska ◽

Urszula Kozminska

Keyword(s):

Urban Areas ◽

Construction Waste ◽

Industrial Plants ◽

Case Study Analysis ◽

European Guidelines ◽

Other Substances ◽

Explosion Impacts ◽

Environmental Burdens

This chapter focuses on the metabolic concept for the management and treatment of construction waste and organic fraction of municipal solid waste in urban areas. Analysis of related Dutch, German and Polish guidelines for environmental zoning of industrial plants, allows formulation of conditions for an optimal siting of waste infrastructure within urban unit. Protection zones are defined in accordance with specific requirements for waste facilities, which treat and recycle both municipal and construction waste. Distances from inhabited areas are related to environmental burdens generated by such facilities (incl. parameters such as odours, noise level, explosion impacts and emissions of other substances). Moreover, this chapter provides the analysis of a selected case studies of waste facilities processing. A comparison of European guidelines and implementation of practical solutions is described in the case study analysis, including the issues open for the discussion about sustainable siting for waste processing infrastructure within an urban unit.

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