scholarly journals “Force Majeure”: The Transformation of Cultural Strategy as a Result of Urban Shrinkage and Economic Crisis. The Case of Riga, Latvia

2021 ◽  
Vol XXII (2021) ◽  
pp. 63-86
Author(s):  
Anastasiya Matyushkina

Cultural strategies have been commonly used to address the consequences of urban shrinkage, particularly in a post-industrial context. Proliferated growth-oriented models, such as “creative city,” have threatened the sustainable development of shrinking cities. Alternative cultural models that prioritize social inclusion, local sensitivity, and affordability are thus urgently needed. Using Riga as a case study, this paper explores the process of transformation to an alternative cultural strategy in a post-socialist shrinking city and identifies planning and governance tools that stimulate its development. Employing qualitative interviews and document analysis, the relations between emergent and deliberate cultural strategies are investigated. The results show how the organization of the European Capital of Culture 2014 during the severe shrinkage and economic crisis led to five elements of an alternative cultural strategy: (1) a shift from investing in cultural “hardware” to “software,” (2) a locally sensitive approach, (3) cultural decentralization, (4) strengthened civic engagement, and (5) inclusiveness. These elements of an emergent strategy were recognized by local authorities and stimulated changes in the deliberate cultural strategy. This study supports the idea that urban shrinkage offers municipalities an opportunity to reimagine traditional planning practices and emphasizes the important role of civic actors’ participation in coproducing public services and governance strategies.

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (45) ◽  
pp. 11-17
Author(s):  
T. O. Zinchuk ◽  
◽  
T. V. Usiuk ◽  

The articles aims to substantiate the socio-economic, environmental, historical and cultural role played by green tourism and its contribution to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals based on current innovative trends and capabilities of tourism in the face of challenges posed by the ongoing crisis in global economy caused by the latest pandemic. The objectives of the research were to detail the theoretical, methodological and applied approaches to the development of green tourism, which is a market sector providing travel services. The definition of green tourism has been made more profound through connecting it with the Sustainable Development Goals, which is rather logical. The motivating factors for the development of green tourism have been analyzed taking into account the model of multifunctionality in agriculture and its importance in rural development policy. The nature of changes in the green tourism sector has been identified with respect to the peculiarities of the current global situation, when a pandemic is restraining the world tourism intensity, on the one hand, and is stimulating local tourism, on the other. It is worth adding that local tourism is mostly green and focused on the conservation of the environmental and natural resources, as well as sustainment of mostly rural areas. The research carried out shows that green tourism can become a driving force for economic growth in rural areas, a motivator for employment, a factor in preserving rural culture and traditions in a particular area. At the same time, the results of the research prove the existence of a link between green tourism and national economic, environmental, socio-cultural, intellectual, energy security due to the most typical development priorities of such tourism. On analyzing the experience of the countries that suffered the pandemic most, we have found some prospects for green tourism development. It is a new system of partnership between the state, business and civil society which can become an additional incentive to preserve the potential of green tourism. Thus, strategic guidelines for green tourism development based on institutional priorities, with the current economic crisis challenges in mind, have been designed.


2021 ◽  
Vol 102 ◽  
pp. 03001
Author(s):  
Ana Cristina García-Luna Romero

This academic work aims to provide an intricate definition of the terms at hand as well as explain the relationship between smart cities and the sustainable development that they present based on a comparative analysis of case studies and experiences in the Mexican context. The endeavour to achieve being an architectural proposal of an innovative solution adapted to current conditions that will be carried out by an academic team, thus incorporating sustainable criteria, universal accessibility and social inclusion. This research work reflects the theoretical aspect, providing an intricate academic reflection and giving background information also establishing the complexity that lies within Latin American metropolis emphasizing in Mexican cities, as to provide insight into the academic dynamics in order to educate professionals on the field from an updated perspective in which they´ll be able to determine and analyse the implementation of smart cities from an architectural standpoint and the impact they would have on the quality of urban life in those Mexican cities.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jelena Ignjatovic

The Sustainable Development Strategy implies a targeted long-term process that affects economic, social, environmental and institutional aspects of life. The goal is to meet the social and economic interests of citizens, reduce poverty, reduce unemployment and gender inequalities and reduce negative impacts on natural resources and the environment, resulting in long-term economic growth with economic efficiency, technology and innovation. Accordingly, in 2015, the United Nations adopted Resolution A / RES / 70/1 - Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, based on three dimensions of sustainable development: economic growth, social inclusion and environmental protection. At the end of the 20th century, parallel with the theory of development, which turned into the concept of sustainable development, there was globalization that integrated the entire world regions in order to gain as strong economic and financial positions as possible on the world stage. Today, Serbia is not in a position to choose whether to engage in modern globalization processes, but it must continue the initiated transitional reforms and accession to the European Union, regardless of the economic, political or environmental consequences. By implementing national policies, Serbia should aim at national and economic sovereignty, which will further influence sustainable development. Only by changing the current economic policy, by creating a national strategy based on the exploitation of domestic economic and industrial potentials, by reducing unemployment, social responsibility and individual freedom, economic growth and sustainable development can be achieved. This work, besides the introduction, consists of materials based on the presentation of the sustainable development strategy of the Republic of Serbia and also presents the results and discussion that draft the current situation with possible solutions to achieve sustainable development in the future. Finally, the final ratifications are provided.      


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (20) ◽  
pp. 5553 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yi Liu ◽  
Wei Yang

The Chinese central government has recognized that village–government networks are promising for the sustainable development of rural villages. Though many local governments tend to deploy various hands-on or hand-off governance tools to influence the sustainable development of village-governance networks, the number of villages successfully achieving “good governance” is still rare. Therefore, this study empirically elaborates on the application of three classic tools of governance networks, analyzing how leaders of local government and village communities influence the effectiveness of these tools. The data were collected by snowball interviews, careful observations, and documentary analysis in Xiaonan village, a representatively successful case of rural-village governance networks in China. We detected that governance tools are often inadequately used and under-development in Chinese rural-village governance networks, accompanying a strong interaction between the effectiveness of tools and leadership. Excellent leadership is necessary for a successful rural-village governance network and its scaling-up.


2013 ◽  
Vol 14 (10) ◽  
pp. 1909-1915
Author(s):  
Daniel Augenstein ◽  
Bert van Roermund

In March 2000, the Lisbon European Council agreed upon a new strategic goal for the European Union: to become the “most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion.” One decade and the sobering experience of a global economic crisis later, the European Commission's new 2020 Strategy sets out a vision of Europe's social market economy for the 21st century that “shows how the EU can emerge stronger from the economic crisis and how it can be turned into a smart, sustainable and inclusive economy delivering high levels of employment, productivity and social cohesion.” If somewhat more modest in its targets, Europe 2020 reiterates the guiding ambition to enhance the EU's economic performance in the internal and global market that already dominated the Lisbon strategy. The lesson learned from Europe's “lost decade” is that the EU needs to replace the “slow and largely uncoordinated pace of reforms” with a “sustainable recovery” in order to regain its competitiveness, boost its productivity, and put it on “an upward path of prosperity.” This is, then, the EU's first “Lisbon” agenda that heavily relies on the internal market and that depicts social inclusion and political stability as conditioned upon further European economic integration. The recipe to defy what has grown from a “merely” economic crisis into a social and political crisis of the Union and its Member States is a combination of “smart,” “sustainable,” and “inclusive” growth.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Diego Santos Vieira de Jesus ◽  
Daniel Kamlot ◽  
Veranise Jacubowski Correia Dubeux

The aims are to identify and examine the inconsistencies and incongruities of the definitions of “creative economy”, “creative city” and “creative class” in their application to the study and the formulation of public policies in the Global South. The central argument points out that 1) the idea of “creative economy” seemed to conceive peripheral societies would be flat tables on which pre-given economic governance strategies for creative sectors could be replicated; 2) the concept of a “creative city” by the mainstream does not deal with the specific political-economic obstacles in the Global South, so it seems more feasible to define “creative city” from a culturally specific understanding of what creativity is and recognize the motivations for creating a creative city can come from different actors according to local circumstances; 3) the mobilization of creativity in the exercise of the profession is a weak criterion for defining the “creative class”, which motivates difficulties regarding the self-identification of individuals as members of it. They reproduce hierarchical regimes that exclude differences.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 58 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jessica Berg ◽  
Jonas Ihlström

A lack of transport opportunities has been shown to be a barrier for accessibility and social inclusion in contemporary society. In rural and sparsely populated areas, access to public transport is often poor compared to urban areas, leading to fewer possibilities to participate in normal relationships and activities among rural dwellers. Based on qualitative interviews with rural dwellers in Sweden, the aim of this study was to explore how access to transport can meet the needs of mobility and activity participation in everyday life and how different modes of transport are being used. The study has been permeated by the time-geographical perspective, which considers people’s use of time and space and the restrictions they face in order to carry out activities, including travel. The results show that travel by private car plays a central role in realizing everyday activities for rural dwellers, as well as a perception of the car as being the norm in contemporary society. Frequent car use is the consequence of a combination of time-space restrictions, habit, and a lack of services, activities, and public transport in rural areas. Poor public transport services limit children’s and adolescents’ independent mobility in particular. Further, the physical environment influences the ability to use public transport, for example if roads and bus stops are seen as unsafe. Based on the results of the study, several measures and improvements are proposed that could increase mobility and accessibility in rural areas and reduce car dependency.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (8) ◽  
pp. 68-89
Author(s):  
Diego Pacual López-Carmona ◽  
Manuel Hernández-Pedreño

El acceso y la permanencia en una vivienda digna constituyen  elementos fundamentales en los procesos de inclusión social. Los inmigrantes son un colectivo tradicionalmente vulnerable ante los procesos de exclusión residencial y, desde el origen de la crisis, esta vulnerabilidad se ha visto incrementada, en gran medida por su expulsión del mercado de trabajo. Desde el enfoque de las trayectorias residenciales de los inmigrantes, se ha analizado la situación actual de la exclusión residencial de este colectivo en España. Para ello se han combinado técnicas cuantitativas con revisión de estudios previos y legislaciones. Mediante el análisis cuantitativo realizado con datos procedentes de las principales fuentes estadísticas oficiales, se han analizado las principales problemáticas que afectan a los inmigrantes en relación con la exclusión residencial. Posteriormente, se ha realizado un análisis de la evolución y el impacto de las políticas públicas destinadas a combatir la exclusión residencial de los inmigrantes en España. Finalmente, se presenta un diagnóstico de la situación actual. The access to and the stay in a decent housing are key elements in social inclusion processes. Immigrants are a traditionally vulnerable group to residential exclusion processes and since the beginning of this economic crisis, this vulnerability has greatly increased due to immigrants have been excluded from the labour market. From the approach of the immigrants’ residential trajectories, the current residential situation of immigrants in Spain has been analysed. For that purpose, quantitative techniques and the review of previous studies and legislations have been combined. By the quantitative analysis carried out with data from the official statistical sources, the main problems affecting immigrants in terms of residential exclusion have been analysed. Subsequently, an analysis of the evolution and impact of the public policies aimed at combating the immigrants’ social exclusion in Spain has been carried out. Finally, a diagnosis of the current situation is submitted.


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