HouseMate: A proposed national institution to build new homes and sell them cheap to any citizen who does not own a home

• In a world of unequal wealth and incomes, market provision of housing usually fails to provide quality housing options to young and low-income households. Like other necessary goods characterised by monopoly, like healthcare and pharmaceuticals, access to them via pricing creates inherent social challenges.• Historically, the social challenge of unequal access to housing was solved with public intervention to offer non-market housing at lower regulated price to first time buyers and renters.• The proposed HouseMate program is a 21st century housing supplier, copying the best features of Singapore’s successful housing system. • It will sell new homes to eligible Australian citizens at construction cost price, offering them a discounted mortgage, with purchasers able to pay deposit and repayments using their compulsory super contributions. • This new housing alternative will operate in parallel with the private purchase and rental markets. HouseMate owners will have all the rights and obligations of private homeowners, but with a mandatory occupancy period. • The design of HouseMate addresses all the key housing policy challenges in Australia, includingohigh deposit hurdles for first homebuyers,ouncertainty and high rents for low-income households,oyounger households tying up income in super when homeownership is a higher priority for retirement, oprice effects and inefficiencies of demand-only subsidy programs to homebuyers (like FHB grants) and renters (NRAS payments), and olimited innovation of design and construction in private housing markets.• If secure, low-cost housing via homeownership is a policy priority, there is no reason not to try the HouseMate program.

S3 and Recovery and Resilience Funds: A Case Study Built on the Experience of 10 Spanish Regions

The EU's response to the COVID-19 crisis, namely the approval of the Next Generation package, provides an opportunity to explore to what extent the existing Smart Specialisation regional strategies and related ecosystems have been taken into account in the highly relevant territorial context in which the national Recovery Plans have been designed. According to our results the potential of the Smart Specialisation approach (S3) in relation with its place-based strategic prioritisation may have been overlooked in the process. The research is based on a desk review of relevant documents and recent literature in this field; followed by semi-structured interviews with regional planners and practitioners from 10 Spanish regions (autonomous communities); complemented, in a second phase, by the organisation of a focus group to validate the initial results. During our research we identified the main contributions that the Smart Specialisation approach has so far made to the regions (mainly in terms of participative governance and creation of regional ecosystems); and the unanimous perception shared by all the practitioners interviewed that the S3 approach has led to a change of vision in public intervention. However, all of the interviewed regions have confirmed that the drafting of the national recovery and resilience plan lacked an ex-ante alignment with the regional S3 strategies, and failed to consider the existing regional S3 ecosystems. The separation of the recovery logic (based on the operation of public consultations at national level to identify strategic projects) from the S3 logic (based on a strategic prioritisation exercise conducted by each regional ecosystem) confirms that an opportunity may have been missed in the recovery planning process to consolidate the multi-actor, multilevel and place-based S3 approach. Although there is a certain degree of disappointment among regional practitioners as a result of this misalignment, the majority of them believe in the possibility of an ex-post alignment between the two processes, that can protect existing regional shared visions. However, without clear recognition of the S3 ecosystems and the S3 managing bodies, the significant role that Smart Specialisation could play in the recovery process may be at risk.

Broadband Connectivity, Government Policies, and Open Innovation: The Crucial IT Infrastructure Contribution in Scotland

Broadband connectivity is now essential to ensure a competitive advantage for any business. The analysis of Scotland’s crucial IT infrastructure contribution supported the authors’ thesis that the Government plays a decisive role in Open Innovation ecosystems. Indeed, IT infrastructures are a clear case of market failure where remote areas will never be served by adequate connectivity without public support. The main contribution is the demonstration that the benefits of public intervention are sometimes required and beneficial to correct market distortions and generate positive spillovers in terms of collaboration in Open Innovation ecosystems. Another relevant contribution is a comprehensive analysis of the consistency of the evolution of the public policies that supported the IT Infrastructure in Scotland. Therefore, pivotal is the study of this case study that can be easily generalised to many other contexts where the Government addressed market failures and, at the same time, contributed to generating collaborative environments.

Assement of Anxiety and Factor Related Among Mizan Tepi University Freshman Students, South, Ethiopia 2021

Background Anxiety can disturb a student's academic success and his future, including withdrawal from classes. The dropout rate was found to be twice as high as in the 1st grade compared to the 2nd or 3rd grade. It also causes people around the world to feel excessive anxiety, fear, lack of self-confidence, and embarrassment. One of the key reasons in the current study is the lack of data on the degree of mental illness, especially in higher education institutions. Objective: To assess the anxiety and factors of Mizan Tepi University students. METHODS From April 21th to May 21, 2020, an organization-based cross-sectional survey was conducted in the city of Mizan Tepi. The survey used a structured questionnaire and a self-administered questionnaire-ASQ tool. The stratified sampling method included 301 individuals in the study.Pre-test questionnaires that are also used for data collection. Data analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Result There are 320 freshmen students of these, 301 attended during the investigation. There are 162 (54%) male respondents and 138 (46%) female respondents in the study. The average student age and (SE) age are 21.6, (± 0.13) years old. The prevalence of anxiety was found to be 26.7% among first-year students. Compared with males (16.7%), female freshmen (40.6%) have a statistically higher incidence of anxiety. [AOR 95%CI=3.36 (1.88, 6.01) Conclusion his study shows that anxiety is a common mental problem among college students calling for public intervention to prevent more serious forms of anxiety. This finding indicates that women and older students have a high chance of suffering from anxiety.

CHEPECLETAS: UN COLECTIVO A FAVOR DE LA MOVILIDAD URBANA SOSTENIBLE

En Costa Rica se encuentra el colectivo ChepeCletas que ha encauzado sus esfuerzos en mejorar la calidad del ambiente, a través del uso de bicicletas y las caminatas, así como la recuperación de espacios para la intervención pública, con el fn de convertir a la capital en un espacio para todas las personas. Por tanto, este artículo realizó un análisis dentro del colectivo, basado en los marcos de referencia de diagnóstico, pronóstico y motivo, dando como resultado mayor conciencia del impacto ambiental que genera el uso excesivo de vehículos privados, la construcción de un grupo que se siente como familia, incrementando el empoderamiento ciudadano para el cambio social, así como el interés por la ciudad y la necesidad de retomar los espacios que siempre fueron públicos; pero habían sido olvidados. Utilizar los marcos de referencia permite comprender, desde la visión de los integrantes, qué es, qué permite y qué se hace en dicho colectivo. Sumado a esto, se debe recalcar que este artículo aporta nuevos conocimientos respecto del tema, visualiza otra forma de hacer política desde abajo y crea espacios que integran cada día a más personas. Palabras clave: Movilidad, acciones colectivas, ambiente, política. AbstractIn Costa Rica, where the ChepeCletas collective is to be found, eforts have been channeled to improve the quality of the environment by using bicycles and walking, as well as the recovery of spaces bound for public intervention to turn the capital into a space for all people. Therefore, this article conducts an analysis within the group based on the diagnostic, prognostic and motive reference frameworks which result in a greater awareness of the environmental impact than the excessive use of private vehicles generates. Additionally, the onstruction of a group that feels like family increasing citizen empowerment for social change, as well as interest in the city and the need to retake spaces that were always public but had been forgotten. The use of reference frames allows us to understand, from the point of view of the members, it’s nature, what allows it to be and what is done in said group. In addition to this, it should be emphasized that this article provides new knowledge on the subject, visualizes another way of doing politics from below and creates spaces that integrate more people every day. Keywords: Mobility, collective actions, environment, politics

Political Potency and the Impotency of European Sovereignism: Pandemic and Technocracy

The covid-19 pandemic and the parallel economic and social crisis mark both a decline of neoliberal globalisation and a return of public intervention. As many have stated, the economic policy triptych of the past decades – the opening of markets, withdrawal of the state and privatisation – has substantially disappeared from the agendas of governments around the world. The ‘political’, in a sense, is back. But in what sense? Can we talk about a real paradigm shift? The return of the political that we are witnessing manifests itself in the permanence and persistence of the neoliberal anthropology of the masses, which is the legacy of globalism, of the Maastricht order and of its idea of civilisation (even more than its political economy dogmas).

Public art as research in the open

In 1979, the Chilean artist Alfredo Jaar staged his first public intervention in the context of military dictatorship. His inquiry on states of happiness anticipated a working method that Jaar has been following since. In taking Studies on Happiness as an early example of social aesthetics, this article will show that the work itself is not only seen as the product of making (poïesis), but that the process itself is seen as the embodiment of knowledge, the dwelling and outcome of an intended action. However, this action is not simply an act in the everyday (praxis), but as an intended action it is intelligent in itself and calls for the practical wisdom of acting (phronesis). As soon as the project includes a relational process and forms of participation, both in nature of unforeseeable outcome, the aim is no longer the production of a (common) object; rather, it is the social relation itself, established through the aesthetic or “boundary” object that puts into action the relation as well as the reflection on the conditions of its becoming. We will assess how play and phronesis can mediate between research and art by creating a situational knowledge, that is both critique and contributory: a research in the open.

Hatching Prosperity Together: A Dynamic Assessment of Relationships in Business Incubation in New Zealand

<p>The concept of business incubators has attracted much attention in recent years, both as descriptive of an increasingly important phenomenon and as an effective public intervention in the economies of lagging cities, regions, and countries. However, little empirical research has explored this phenomenon. To better understand what type of relationships contribute to the performance of newly hatched business ideas, the following study applies a social capital and proximity lenses to explore relationships in business incubation and how they contribute to start-up performance. Through the use of open-ended questions this study carried out semi-structured interviews with 25 total participants of the New Zealand incubation system. These in-depth interviews allowed participants to express their perspectives on business incubation. This study revealed that there are tensions that exist in the incubator environment which are as much about the relationship between the two central participants - incubator personnel and entrepreneur - and other stakeholders, as between the two central participants themselves. These tensions, if not aligned, restrict incubating entrepreneurs from gaining advantage from business incubators. Additionally, the study reveals that the role of geographical proximity in business incubation is surprisingly of less importance than other forms of proximity.</p>

Hatching Prosperity Together: A Dynamic Assessment of Relationships in Business Incubation in New Zealand

<p>The concept of business incubators has attracted much attention in recent years, both as descriptive of an increasingly important phenomenon and as an effective public intervention in the economies of lagging cities, regions, and countries. However, little empirical research has explored this phenomenon. To better understand what type of relationships contribute to the performance of newly hatched business ideas, the following study applies a social capital and proximity lenses to explore relationships in business incubation and how they contribute to start-up performance. Through the use of open-ended questions this study carried out semi-structured interviews with 25 total participants of the New Zealand incubation system. These in-depth interviews allowed participants to express their perspectives on business incubation. This study revealed that there are tensions that exist in the incubator environment which are as much about the relationship between the two central participants - incubator personnel and entrepreneur - and other stakeholders, as between the two central participants themselves. These tensions, if not aligned, restrict incubating entrepreneurs from gaining advantage from business incubators. Additionally, the study reveals that the role of geographical proximity in business incubation is surprisingly of less importance than other forms of proximity.</p>