scholarly journals Who Has the Right to Decide? Pula and the Problem of Demilitarized Urban Zone

2019 ◽  
pp. 135-148
Author(s):  
Maciej Falski

In 2007, the Croatian army decided to close its military base on the Muzil peninsula, which is a part of the city of Pula. Muzil hosts about 20 percent of the city; moreover, it is located in a very attractive area with the view on the seaside and the city’s historical center. After the city received the area, negotiations began to decide about the future of the demilitarized land. This paper discusses the attitudes of two main actors of the public debate: the city council supported by the central authorities of Croatia and a nongovernmental organization established by a number of residents of Pula. The former wanted to transform the demilitarized area intoan elite tourist resort, while the latter proposed opening the peninsula to residents to rei ntegrate the postmilitary area with the city. The two attitudes are related to different ideas of usefulness and the city as a community of residents. The right to space reflects the fundamental question of participation in the public debate. Moreover, Pula can be seen as an example of the city, where extensive and uncontrolled development of tourism violates the interests of the local community.

2016 ◽  
Vol 24 (2) ◽  
pp. 193-208 ◽  
Author(s):  
João Sarmento ◽  
Marisa Ferreira

In the past decades many cities have experienced growing pressure to produce and stage cultural events of different sorts to promote themselves and improve economic development. Culture-led development often relies on significant public investment and major private-sector sponsoring. In the context of strained public finances and profound economic crisis in European peripheral countries, local community low-budget events that manage to create significant fluxes of visitors and visibility assume a particular relevance. This paper looks at the four editions (2011–2014) of Noc-Noc, an arts festival organized by a local association in the city of Guimarães, Portugal, which is based on creating transient spaces of culture by transforming numerous homes, commercial outlets and other buildings into ephemeral convivial and playful ‘public’ environments. By interviewing a sample of people who have hosted (sometimes doubling as artists) these transitory art performances and exhibitions, artists and the events’ organizers and by experiencing the four editions of the event and engaging in multiple informal conversations with the public, this paper attempts to discuss how urban citizens may disrupt the cleavages between public and private space permitting various transgressions, and unsettling the hegemonic condition of the city council as the patron of the large majority of events.


Author(s):  
Michael P. McDonald ◽  
Micah Altman

This introductory chapter provides an overview of the Public Mapping Project, which reveals a fundamentally different approach to redistricting: one that allows the public to draw its own fully legal districts that are politically fair, protect and even enhance minority representation, and respect local community boundaries. One of the reform efforts in public mapping occurred in the city of Minneapolis, where voters approved a Charter Amendment that transferred redistricting power to the city's Charter Commission. The Charter Commission, in turn, solicited interested members of the public to serve on the nine-member Redistricting Group to advise the commission on the drawing of new city council districts. This lead to the development of the DistrictBuilder software, which empowers the public to provide their suggestions to Minneapolis' Redistricting Group during the public comment period.


Author(s):  
Oleksii Chepov ◽  

The article implements the purpose of reviewing and systematizing and outlining the problems of control functions of the territorial community of Kyiv, which can be implemented by the local government - Kyiv City Council in cooperation with the Kyiv City State Administration. It is noted that the problems of legal relations in the field of land resources become especially large if they are implemented in the capital of Ukraine. The point of intersection of private financial resources, local and state public interests and related investments - the capital is also a place of realization of the rights of the territorial community to a comfortable and healthy living environment, satisfaction of their property, cultural and educational interests. It is obvious that the special status of the capital of Ukraine - the hero city of Kyiv requires special, more complex mechanisms of control in the field of land relations by the territorial community, in order to rationally and legally overcome potential conflicts between the interests of the community and individual stakeholders as private. , and the public interest, which is to obtain and exercise the right of ownership and use of land. It is established that the powers of local governments in the field of regulation of land relations are exercised on the basis of a significant array of bylaws of the Kyiv City Council. It is stated that a significant number of conflict issues related to illegal construction, preservation of unique forests within the city require appropriate legislation that would make the powers of the Kyiv City Council to control the acquisition and use of land within the city really effective and wider, than in other local governments to balance the interests of state power and the associated critical pressure of capital on land use in the city, and the interests of the local community.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 250-259
Author(s):  
Paul Gready

Abstract This essay attempts to capture the human rights implications of COVID-19, and responses to it, in the city of York (UK). Three human rights contributions are identified: ensuring that responses enhance dignity, the right to life, non-discrimination, and protect the most vulnerable; using human rights when balancing priorities and making difficult decisions; and optimizing the link between disease and democracy. The overarching aim is to localize and contextualize human rights in a meaningful way in the city, and thereby to provide meaningful guidance to the City Council and statutory agencies when implementing the difficult measures required by the pandemic, and to support civil society advocacy and monitoring. This work, led by the York Human Rights City (YHRC) network, illustrates the value of a localized ‘thick description’ of human rights and the multi-dimensional picture of challenges, innovations and solutions facilitated by such an approach.


1986 ◽  
Vol 15 (3) ◽  
pp. 273-292 ◽  
Author(s):  
N.J. Williams ◽  
J. Sewel ◽  
F. Twine

ABSTRACTIt has been argued that council house sales will contribute towards a more general process of residualization of public sector housing. Empirical evidence is presented in this context derived from surveys of purchasers and non-purchasers of council dwellings in the city of Aberdeen. This evidence confirms that purchasers and non-purchasers exhibit different socio-economic characteristics and after only four years of the Right to Buy legislation significant numbers of households in social classes I, II and III have left the public sector via the mechanism of sales. The small number of sales relative to the stock as a whole, however, has meant that the overall contribution of sales towards residualization has been small. This evidence from Aberdeen is compared to evidence from elsewhere and related to the varying pattern of sales across the country as a whole.


Lituanistica ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Julija Paškevičiūtė

The article focuses on the origins of French culture in Palanga, a Lithuanian seaside resort, that go back to the years of the rule of the Tyszkiewicz family. The emphasis is put on Palanga Botanical Park (created before the end of the nineteenth century) as the most significant trace of French culture present in the resort and the seaside region until now. The specific symbols in the park created according to the will of the Counts Tyszkiewicz reflect the actualities of French culture. The importance of this space in the city is revealed, and Édouard François André’s principles of park creation are discussed in a new context. They are related to the dialogue that has been established between the residents of Palanga, the park, its creator, and his granddaughter Florence André since the first years of the independence of Lithuania. In order to give a meaning to Édouard André’s creation and to the relationship between the two countries, the correspondence between the great-granddaughter of the famous French landscape designer and the former director of the park, Antanas Sebeckas, is disclosed. It reflects the endeavour of these two personalities and its value for the international relations in representing French culture to the public. Florence André’s letters to the author of this article are also an important resource as she explains the reasons why the park plays an essential role in Palanga. It is shown how certain personal life events (Florence André’s wedding ceremony in Palanga, the park created by her great-grandfather) have become an inclusive part of the history of the town and represent intercultural relations and exchanges. The article is also based on some memories and narratives of the members of the local community in which the park features as a symbol and tradition of the city.


2015 ◽  
Vol 3 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 358-393
Author(s):  
Bruno Irion Coletto ◽  
Pedro Da Silva Moreira

The right to healthcare in Brazil is seriously protected by the courts. Judicialization of everyday implementation of this public policy is a fact. One explanation may be provided by the way judges understand the effectiveness of this right. People hold subjective right to individualized healthcare benefits, and so they hold standing to sue the state in order to achieve it, regardless any consideration of public policies. Through an analysis of the jurisprudence on this issue, this paper aims to provide a critical understanding not just about what is actually happening in Brazilian courts regarding healthcare, but also to criticize it. The conclusion is that a “strong” conception of constitutionalism and fundamental rights may revel itself as “weak,” from the standpoint of general equality. Judicialization ends up empting the public debate, leading the task of solving the distribution of scarce resources to a “gowned aristocracy.” 


2007 ◽  
pp. 233-251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luis V. Casaló ◽  
Carlos Flavián ◽  
Miguel Guinalíu

This chapter introduces the concept of m-government and its implications for both citizens and public institutions. Although m-government is currently in an initial phase of development, its potential in the relationship between the public sector and the citizen is obvious because of, for example, the large number of mobile phone users among the public. In addition, the development of m-government initiatives generates a good number of bene?ts for the public sector that operates it as well as for the public, who experience improved accessibility to electronic public services. Because of this, this chapter analyses m-government initiatives developed by the Zaragoza City Council (Spain) in order to describe its bene?ts, implications for the relationship between the City Council and the citizen, and the future perspectives of these initiatives. We have speci?cally chosen a country like Spain due to the fact that mobile telephone usage is widespread and, at the same time, local government level has been chosen as the citizen participates more in the relationship with the public sector when it is at the local level.


2008 ◽  
Vol 87 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-145 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERT ANDERSON

Edinburgh introduced Britain to the university centenary, an established form of celebration in continental Europe. The ceremonies in 1884 can be seen in the framework of the late nineteenth-century ‘invention of tradition’. Such events usually asserted the links of the university with national and local communities and with the state. The Edinburgh celebrations marked the opening of a new medical school, after a public appeal which itself strengthened relations with graduates and wealthy donors. The city council, local professional bodies, and the student community all played a prominent part in the events of 1884, which were a significant episode in the development of student representation. Analysis of the speeches given on the occasion suggests that the university sought to promote the image of a great medical and scientific university, with the emphasis on teaching and professional training rather than research, for the ideal of the ‘Humboldtian’ research university was still a novelty in Britain. Tercentenary rhetoric also expressed such themes as international academic cooperation , embodied in the presence of leading scientists and scholars, the harmony of religion and science, and a liberal protestant view of the rise of freedom of thought. The tercentenary coincided with impending legislation on Scottish universities, which encouraged assertions of the public character of these institutions, and of the nation's distinct cultural identity. One striking aspect, however, was the absence of women from the formal proceedings, and failure to acknowledge the then current issue of women's admission to higher education.


2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (51) ◽  
pp. 629-650
Author(s):  
Arthur Hirata Prist ◽  
Maria Paula Dallari Bucci

Resumo Este artigo propõe uma análise dos aspectos políticos e jurídicos do Direito à Cidade sob a perspectiva do conceito de esfera pública. O Direito à Cidade é interpretado como um elo dinâmico entre a mobilização política, a democratização das relações sociais e do aparato institucional do Estado e a garantia de melhores condições materiais de existência no espaço urbano. A partir da revisão bibliográfica sobre o tema das lutas sociais urbanas no Brasil e na cidade de São Paulo, pretende-se demonstrar que o Direito à Cidade é exercido pela população a partir dos embates na esfera pública responsáveis por impulsionar a renovação da ordem jurídica e atribuir novos sentidos ao Direito existente.


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