scholarly journals “Common Sense Geography” and the Elected Official: Technical Evidence and Conceptions of ‘Trust’ in Toronto’s Gardiner Expressway Decision

2018 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
pp. 49-76
Author(s):  
Patrick G. Watson
Keyword(s):  
Common Sense ◽  
Expert Advice ◽  
Elected Officials ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Alternative Question ◽  
The City ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

In fields such as Sociology and Political Science, there have been, over the course of three decades, attempts to engage elected officials in “Evidence-Based Decision-Making”. Evidence is generally conceived as “expert” advice provided to politicians. A question that has gained more centrality in recent years is “why do elected officials not trust expert opinion or technical evidence?” and the answer to this question has been sought in historical or general terms (e.g. Irwin 2006; Weiss et al. 2008; Kraft et al. 2015). Here I will propose an alternative question: “when politicians exhibit a lack of trust in expert advice, how is such skepticism publicly accounted for?” I will examine this question by utilizing a case study ethnographic approach to the City of Toronto’s controversial decision to endorse the Hybrid alternative for the Gardiner expressway. By doing so, I intend to show that knowledge controversies are not inherently a form of deficiency on the part of the elected official – that they are ignorant to the implications of evidence – but rather the standard by which elected officials and appointed experts review and understand evidence can lead to very different (although both reasonably ‘correct’) conclusions.

scholarly journals PAISAJES URBANOS, DIFERENCIA Y DESIGUALDAD. EL CASO DE LA BOCA EN BUENOS AIRES / Urban Landscapes, difference and inequality. A case study in La Boca, Buenos Aires

2016 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 69
Author(s):  
Ana Clara Fabaron
Keyword(s):  
Buenos Aires ◽  
Cultural Landscapes ◽  
Urban Landscapes ◽  
Spatial Transformations ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Ethnographic Approach ◽  
Visual Consumption ◽  
City Model ◽  
The City

<p>El propósito de este artículo es reflexionar críticamente en torno a la noción de paisaje y sus vinculaciones con modos -diferenciados y desiguales- de imaginar y habitar la ciudad. El análisis se sustenta en un estudio de caso en La Boca, un barrio de la zona sur de la Ciudad de Buenos Aires, donde confluyen procesos de reconversión urbana y déficit habitacional. Desde un abordaje etnográfico junto al uso de fuentes secundarias, el trabajo explora las principales características y transformaciones socioespaciales del barrio en relación con el resto de la ciudad. El artículo focaliza en prácticas de habitantes y usuarios, en diálogo con distintas aproximaciones al concepto de paisaje, y con estudios que destacan la relación entre una estetización de las ciudades contemporáneas y un modelo exclusivo de ciudad. Desde una perspectiva del habitar -centrada en las prácticas urbanas- el enfoque propuesto procura tomar en cuenta las tensiones e imbricaciones entre los paisajes urbanos cotidianos de sus habitantes y los paisajes culturales orientados a un consumo visual, incorporando en el análisis las relaciones desiguales de poder.</p><p><br /><strong>Abstract</strong></p><p><br />This article aims to critically reflect upon the notion of landscape and its links with -differentiated and unequal- ways of imagining and inhabiting the city. The analysis is based on a case study in La Boca, a neighborhood in the southern area of the city of Buenos Aires, where urban reconversion processes coexists with housing insufficiency. Through an ethnographic approach supplemented with secondary sources, the paper explores the main characteristics and socio-spatial transformations of the neighborhood in relation with the rest of the city. The article focuses in dwellers and passersby practices, in dialogue with different approaches to the concept of landscape, and with studies that emphasize the relation between the aestheticisation of the contemporary cities and an exclusive city model. From a dwelling perspective -centered in urban practices- the proposed approach seeks take into account the tensions and interweaving between the daily urban landscapes of La Boca’ s dwellers and the cultural landscapes oriented toward visual consumption, incorporating in the analysis the unequal power relations.</p>

What is a Culture of Evidence? How do you Get One? and … Should you Want One?

2014 ◽  
Vol 116 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles A. Peck ◽  
Morva A. Mcdonald
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Teacher Education ◽  
Organizational Factors ◽  
Outcome Data ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Retrospective Case ◽  
Large Measure ◽  
Culture Of Evidence ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

Background/Context Contemporary state and national policy rhetoric reflects increased press for “evidence-based” decision making within programs of teacher education, including admonitions that programs develop a “culture of evidence” in making decisions regarding policy and practice. Recent case study reports suggest that evidence-based decision making in teacher education involves far more than access to data—including a complex interplay of motivational, technical, and organizational factors. Purpose In this paper we use a framework derived from Cultural Historical Activity Theory to describe changes in organizational practice within two teacher education programs as they began to use new sources of outcome data to make decisions about program design, curriculum and instruction. Research Design We use a retrospective case study approach, drawing on interviews, observations and documents collected in two university programs undergoing evidence-based renewal. Conclusions We argue for the value of a CHAT perspective as a tool for clarifying linkages between the highly abstract and rhetorically charged concept of a “culture of evidence” and concrete organizational practices in teacher education. We conclude that the meaning of a “culture of evidence” depends in large measure on the motivations underlying its development.

Seismic Damage to Churches: Observations from the L’Aquila, Italy, Earthquake and Considerations on a Case-Study

2010 ◽  
Vol 133-134 ◽  
pp. 641-646 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luigia Binda ◽  
Claudio Chesi ◽  
Maria Adelaide Parisi
Keyword(s):  
Seismic Behavior ◽  
Central Italy ◽  
Seismic Damage ◽  
Crack Pattern ◽  
Damage Analysis ◽  
Classification Procedure ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Heritage Buildings ◽  
The City

The earthquake that hit the city of L’Aquila, in central Italy, on the 6th of April 2009 has severely damaged most of the heritage buildings of the area. Soon after the event, a first survey of damage to ancient churches and palaces has been carried out according to a predefined classification procedure. Subsequently, a more detailed damage analysis was started in order to facilitate decision on future interventions. For one of these churches, S. Biagio Amiterno, damage consisted in the collapse of the upper part of the façade, in the localized collapse of the main vault, and in an extended crack pattern in vaults, columns, and walls. This damage pattern is interpreted here as case study. In more general terms, the exam of specific case studies gives the possibility of shedding light on various issues related to the seismic behavior of the building typologies concerned.

Sustainable Evidence-Based Decision-Making: A Case Study

2002 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-39
Author(s):  
Wendy Young ◽  
Tim Young ◽  
George Rewa ◽  
Peter Coyte ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Evidence Based Decision Making

scholarly journals Parameters for Public Space Architecture. Informal Commerce Dynamics, as an Opportunity to Stimulate Urban Scenarios. Case Study Cali-Colombia

2018 ◽  
Vol 12 (8) ◽  
pp. 27
Author(s):  
Gustavo Arteaga ◽  
Edier Segura ◽  
Diego Escobar
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
City Center ◽  
Interesting Phenomenon ◽  
The Public ◽  
General Terms ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Government ◽  
Space Architecture ◽  
The City

In the last decades, the occupation of the pedestrian routes and in general of the public space in the city center of Cali Colombia, have been evidencing diverse phenomena, which to a great extent respond to the accelerated growth of the urban population, where the migrations that have occurred in the interior of the country (fruit of the social conflicts of the last decades), have particularly marked the realities. In Cali, on 10th and 15th streets, near the Government Building, the Palace of Justice and the Municipal Administrative Center - CAM, the public space in general terms has been stressed in a particular way, which has generated conflicts in the surfaces designed for the pedestrians, since they are occupied by vendors in the midst of the informality routines, forcing the pedestrian to use the automobile tracks being a notorious and interesting phenomenon, when observing the factors that produce it and using them as parameters in the design of architectural spaces that contribute to improvement.

scholarly journals Interfaces entre práticas de coleta seletiva do lixo e conceitos lefebvrianos: um estudo sobre a Pituba, Salvador – BA

GeoTextos ◽  
2009 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
Author(s):  
Denise Maria De Jesus Santos
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Workers ◽  
Geographic Area ◽  
Scientific Investigation ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Terms ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
Waste Separation ◽  
The City

Neste artigo busca-se analisar as diferentes formas de apropriação social que decorrem das práticas de separação do lixo doméstico para a coleta seletiva formal que ocorre na cidade de Salvador. Pautando-se em comprovações empíricas e numa argumentação dialética entre os conceitos lefebvrianos (concebido, percebido e vivido), o estudo, realizado com moradores e trabalhadores domésticos da área da Pituba (que acumula experiências de intervenções oficiais que culminaram com a implantação do Programa Recicla Salvador), revelou que os critérios utilizados para definir a área geográfica de atuação deste Programa, principalmente os níveis de escolaridade e renda/consumo elevados, não apresentam uma consistência técnica. Por meio da investigação científica sobre como o processo de separação do lixo ocorre no ambiente doméstico, constatou-se que, de forma geral, as classes de renda alta/média e com maiores níveis de escolaridade estabelecem uma “apropriação limitada” das ações do Programa que, embora reconhecida pelo concebido, não se efetiva como uma vivência, mas como uma percepção. Em contrapartida, aqueles com menores níveis de escolaridade e renda/consumo estabelecem uma apropriação que, embora não reconhecida pelo concebido, revela na prática cotidiana a incorporação da separação do lixo como algo vivido/experimentado e não somente percebido. Abstract INTERFACES BETWEEN PRATICES OF WASTE SEPARATION AND CONCEPTS OF LEFEBVRE: A CASE STUDY OF PITUBA/SALVADOR-BAHIA This essay intends to analyse the different forms of social appropriation that derives from practices of home waste separation that occurs in the city of Salvador. Based on empirical evidences and on a dialectic argumentation between a conceptual triad (conceived, perceived and experienced spaces), the study conducted among residents and domestic workers in the area of Pituba (that accumulates experiences of official interventions that culminated with the implementation of Salvador Recicla Programme), unveils that the criterion utilized to define the geographic area where the programme took place, specially the levels of education, and high incomes/consumptions, does not present any technical consistence. The scientific investigation of how home waste is separated demonstrates that, in general terms, the high/medium classes with the highest levels of education developed a “limited appropriation” of the actions of the Program that, even though recognized by the conceived, does not become effective as an experience, but only as a perception. On the other hand, those with lower levels of education and income/consumption establishes an appropriation that even though it is not recognized by the conceived, assures on daily practices the incorporation of home waste separation as something experienced and not only perceived.

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