scholarly journals Strenghtening our civil servants' mission for the common good

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Author(s):  
Luisa Bravo
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Academic Standards ◽  
Double Blind ◽  
The Past ◽  
Relevant Field ◽  
The Common ◽  
Institute Of Technology ◽  
European Chapter

This issue of The Journal of Public Space marks our Editorial Team’s fourth year of activities, that I’m proudly leading as Editor in Chief. Over the past three years we have published eight issues, 121 papers from more than 140 authors from 30 countries, engaging more than 60 academic reviewers at the global level. More than 50% of those papers were double blind peer reviewed, following academic standards; other published papers included reports from United Nations events (like the Habitat III conference and the 9th World Urban Forum) or reports concerning art-based or placemaking-led projects, professionals’ viewpoints, artists’ portfolios, editorials from influential scholars, leading experts affiliated to global NGOs and practitioners serving as guest editors. In this issue we are publishing two viewpoints related to the Placemaking movement, one from Ethan Kent, Co-director of the newly established PlacemakingX and Senior Fellow at Project for Public Spaces in New York, and another from Jeroen Laven, Anna Bradley and Levente Polyak from Placemaking Europe, the European chapter of the global Placemaking movement, founded by STIPO in Rotterdam. Each viewpoint opens a new section of the journal, aimed at incorporating placemaking as a relevant field of action: we are interested in publishing articles related to design projects and community-led interventions, collecting successful and also unsuccessful stories, from research into action, from theory to implementation, providing case studies, best practices on capacity building, education and empowerment, tackling the complexity of the process, at the community and governmental level, from top-down to bottom-up, with a particular focus on youth.  With this issue we welcome two new academic partners, who will be cooperating with us during the coming years: KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Centre for the Future of Places, based in Stockholm (Sweden) and RMIT University, based in Melbourne (Australia).

Creative Participation and the Expansion of Political Engagement

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yannis Theocharis ◽  
Joost de Moor
Keyword(s):  
Political Participation ◽  
Public Space ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Research Topic ◽  
The Common ◽  
Catch Up ◽  
Ongoing Assessment ◽  
Do So

Creative participation refers to citizens’ invention of, and engagement in, new action forms that aim to influence, or take responsibility for, the common good in society. By definition, these action forms are constantly evolving and cannot be listed or summarized. Yet some, like guerrilla gardening, have over time become more established in political repertoires, and specific arenas are known to be particularly productive sites for their development. These include in particular the Internet, and lifestyles and consumption. The constant changes in how citizens become active represented by creative participation present considerable challenges for scholars of political participation—both in terms of theory and methodology. In particular, such forms test our ability to distinguish political from nonpolitical activities. However, how political creative participation is, is often subtle and implicit, and therefore hard to establish. Yet being able to do so is essential for an ongoing assessment of the quality of participatory democracy. With conventional forms of participation declining and creative participation becoming more common, scholars must be able to agree on definitions and operationalizations that allow for the comparison of participatory trends. For instance, a key concern has been whether creative forms of participation crowd out more conventional ones, like voting or lobbying politicians. Developments in survey research have been able to show that this is not the case and that creative participation may in fact increase conventional participation. In addition, qualitative research methods like focus groups and ethnography, allow for more open-ended explorations of this elusive research topic. As to who participates, creative participation has enabled traditionally underrepresented groups like women and young people to catch up with, and sometimes overtake, those older men who have long dominated conventional political participation. Still, education remains a key obstacle even to creative participation. The COVID-19 crisis that took hold of the world in 2020 has compromised access to collective action and public space. It has thereby once more put the onus on citizens to engage creatively with ways to influence, and take responsibility for, society. At the same time, the crisis presents a need and opportunity for political participation scholarship to engage more deeply with theoretical debates about what it means to be political or to participate.

scholarly journals Doing Public Theology in African Christianity: A Reflection on Communiques by Churches in Ghana

2021 ◽  
pp. 190-200
Author(s):  
Kwabena Opuni-Frimpong
Keyword(s):  
Public Space ◽  
Common Good ◽  
Holistic Approach ◽  
Public Theology ◽  
The Public ◽  
African Christianity ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
The People ◽  
The Common ◽  
Public Concerns

Faith in public life can be associated with Christianity in Ghana from the days of the early Western missionaries. Christian faith perspectives on matters of public concerns however, assumed a wider scope with the practice of regular issuance of communiques to governments and the people of Ghana by the churches. Christian ministry is expected to be holistic. A holistic approach in Christian ministry is considered to lead to the holistic development of the nation for the common good and the glory of God. Church leaders subsequently, bring their faith perspectives to matters of public concerns as a ministerial mandate to be in pilgrimage with the people. The study is a reflection on how the churches’ communiques are done and the factors that make the communiques theological in the public space. It further seeks to identify the contribution of the construction of communiques to public theology in Christianity in Ghana. The study as qualitative, examines both available primary and secondary sources. Copies of communiques of some selected churches, ecumenical bodies and joint communiques by ecumenical bodies are examined to appreciate insights of communiques by the churches. The study seeks to make a contribution to the theological construction of public theologies in Ghana and African Christianity. KEYWORDS: Public Theology, African Christianity, Communique, Common Good

Effective Modern Campaigns Against Inequality and Poverty in the United States

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fred Brooks ◽  
Amanda Gutwirth
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Social Work ◽  
Public School ◽  
Common Good ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Past ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The Common ◽  
Public School Educators ◽  
Macro Social Work

If one of the goals of macro social work in the United States is to decrease poverty and inequality, by most measures it has largely failed that mission over the past 40 years. After briefly documenting the four-decade rise in inequality and extreme poverty in the United States, three organizing campaigns are highlighted—living wage, Fight for $15, and strikes by public school educators—that fought hard to reverse such trends. A strategy, “bargaining for the common good,” which was implemented across those campaigns, is analyzed as a key ingredient to their success.

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